And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: "chris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Defiant Westbank band begins logging Crown land
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 1999 10:51:13 -0700
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Vancouver Sun, Sept 8.99
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Defiant Westbank band begins logging Crown land
One native leader says a security force will be formed to block attempts to
halt the timber cut.
Jim Beatty with Kim Pemberton Vancouver Sun
.
VICTORIA -- In a move that some say could spark native Indian unrest across
B.C., the Westbank First Nation asserted Tuesday what it says are its
aboriginal rights by logging Crown lands without the necessary provincial
approvals.
And the head of the neighbouring Penticton band said a security force of 50
of his members is ready to block any attempt by the RCMP or the forests
ministry to halt the logging.
Frustrated by months of provincial inaction, Westbank Chief Ron Derrickson
ordered more than a dozen loggers into an Okanagan forest Tuesday afternoon,
citing the Supreme Court of Canada's Delgamuukw decision.
"We have basically all the Indians in B.C., along with some in Alberta and
the Yukon, supporting us as we begin cutting our own aboriginal lands,"
Derrickson said shortly after his men began falling timber.
"If they go in and try to stop us, this whole province is going to get shut
down. Every other band is going to exercise its rights. I think it will be
so widespread it will have an explosive effect."
Numerous native groups are backing the Westbank band and say Tuesday's
action could have widespread effects as other bands grow increasingly
frustrated by lengthy treaty talks and the failure of the B.C. government to
recognize aboriginal title.
Chief Stewart Phillip, who heads the militant Penticton band as well as the
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said a security force of more than 50 of his
own band members has been established and will move in if any provincial
authority attempts to stop the tree cutting.
"We would provide security by way of a blockade to deny access to any
enforcement agency -- either RCMP or forestry," said Phillip.
"To be honest I'm a bit nervous. The provincial government is in complete
disarray. When a government is so low in the polls they could try and
increase their popularity by coming in in a heavy-handed way."
Forests ministry spokesman Paul Lickhoff said the staff from Kamloops and
Penticton district have been in touch with the Westbank band and intend to
visit the logging site today.
"We're making arrangements for our compliance and enforcement staff to visit
the site [today] and we'll assess the situation," he said.
"We're going to see if they're cutting down a whack of trees or one. We
don't know how much of an issue they got going here."
The logging is taking place about 20 kilometres northwest of Westbank, a
community just across Lake Okanagan from Kelowna.
The Westbank band claims the province has been unwilling to recognize native
entitlement and has refused to allow the band to cut timber on land it has
traditionally claimed.
After 10 months of inaction and frustration, Derrickson said it was
important for natives to assert their aboriginal claim on the land.
"We are not a blockade type of band. We are businessmen. We negotiate,"
Derrickson said, adding he became frustrated with a province unwilling to
offer realistic solutions.
In taking Tuesday's action, Derrickson cited the Delgamuukw decision, which
says aboriginal title is protected by the Constitution. The sweeping
judgment found natives have a legal interest in resource development on
lands whose title was never surrendered.
The Westbank Indians are a small but moderate, progressive and business-like
band who have been more likely to be involved with negotiations than with
militancy.
Frank Cassidy, an aboriginal affairs specialist at the University of
Victoria, said the Westbank action may be a sign of increased native unrest.
"It's certainly not an anomaly. It's the tip of the iceberg," Cassidy said
Tuesday. "What aboriginal people are saying is that if you won't recognize
our aboriginal title, we will assert our aboriginal title."
Cassidy said the B.C. government has failed to adequately address the
ramifications of the Delgamuukw decision -- and that has led to increased
native frustration.
"It's more than a tactic, it's more than a strategy. It's a move to put the
Crown on notice that it" must adequately respond to Delgamuukw, Cassidy
said. "The Crown is going to have to prove that it has a better title to
that land than Westbank has to that land."
Peter Smith, spokesman for the aboriginal affairs ministry, played down the
controversy and said it would likely have little effect on other bands.
"I don't think this is a powder keg waiting to go off," Smith said Tuesday.
"While Westbank has taken this action, I don't think it signals First
Nations breaking away from the treaty process," he said, suggesting the
action is counterproductive to settling treaty claims.
Smith called it a serious situation but could not say what action the
government might take in response.
Tuesday's action, which was threatened for weeks, is being supported by the
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and Grand Chief Phil Fontaine of the Assembly of
First Nations, as well as the Okanagan and Shuswap bands.
Derrickson said the forest ministry annually issues timber-cutting licences
to large companies for about 7.6 million cubic metres of wood from the
aboriginal area claimed by the Westbank.
In an effort to stimulate the native economy and get its members working,
Westbank has attempted to get annual cutting licences for 600,000 cubic
metres.
All they have been offered, said Derrickson, are paltry amounts of
wind-blown and burned timber that isn't even within his band's traditional
territory.
"They won't even give us decent timber," he said. "It's just a joke. Nobody
will meet with us and now it's come down to this.'
There are about 190 bands in the province, of which about 130 are in treaty
negotiations with the province.
While the Westbank Indians are technically in the treaty process, there have
been no active talks for about a year.
The Westbank band is also involved in bilateral talks with the federal
government that would give it self-government status.
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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