Natives in the West have demanded and got private property rights! They no longer want to live under a dependant quasi-communist regime - I say this means there is hope for all of us! It also bods well for effective development of our northern energy resources. Read on.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 23, 2009
GITXSAN AND NISGA’A BANDS PAVE WAY
FOR WORKABLE TREATIES
Native Proposals for Private Property and Abolition of Indian Act
Historical Steps in Right Direction
Vernon – The BC Conservative Party is commending the Nisga’a communities of New Aiyansh, and the Gitxsan native peoples for their historical and progressive moves toward independence and self sufficiency, said party President, Wayne McGrath.
The Nisga’a Lisms Government in New Aiyansh has become the first native community in Canadian history to move from a socialist model of government titled personal property to a private property model that will allow Nisga’a people living in that community to buy and sell their land to anyone they want, regardless of native status.
“This is monumental,” said McGrath. “It cannot be overstated how important this move is toward bringing Nisga’a people into the fuller community of B.C. with all of the benefits and wealth creation offered by the ownership of private property. It is a fact of history that virtually all personal wealth is dependent upon the ownership of private property. This is a first in Canada and we strongly support it.”
In the case of the Gitxsan, they have petitioned the federal government to remove their “Indian Status” which would mean they would forgo the reserve system and become taxpaying citizens in exchange for a share of resource wealth.
“The Gitxsan proposal has tremendous potential as well,” said McGrath. “But B.C. must insist that it is compensated by the federal government for any deal that is tied to a share of resource wealth which is the exclusive jurisdiction of the province,” McGrath explained.
“We would not oppose such a deal, so long as the federal government takes full financial responsibility for it as per its obligations according to the Terms of Union BC signed when we joined confederation.”
McGrath said that the two proposals of private property and resource sharing in exchange for relinquishing Indian Status could form the basis for all treaties to come. He said such an approach would be readily acceptable to all British Columbians.
“It is a way of bridging the gap between native communities and the rest of BC in a manner which would unite the province rather than divide it as the current treaty process has done.”
McGrath said that where a community such as the Gitxsan becomes prosperous and self sufficient, that the BC Conservative Party would like to see a “phase out period” where resource revenues are no longer dedicated specifically to those native communities, but are shared proportionately with them and the larger surrounding community. “Eventually, once they have achieved parity with other citizens of BC, then there is no longer a need to dedicate resources specifically to them,” said McGrath.
“The ironic thing in all of this is that we have been saying for years that the lack of private property ownership and the Indian Act are the biggest impediments to natives’ advancement. Yet the BC Liberal government has insisted that bloated treaties with cumbersome regulations entrenching natives as second class citizens via ‘Indian Status’ was the only way to go. Now the native peoples themselves are proposing this.”
“This is just one more file that the Premier has bungled to the detriment of all parties involved. We sincerely hope he will step back and adopt these principles, which we have been advocating, as the basis for any new treaties to come. This is a model that can actually work,” concluded McGrath.
A BC Conservative Government would scrap the BC Treaty Commission and replace it with an observer body that would oversee treaty making exclusively by the federal government, as per its constitutional obligations.
British Columbia would make lands and resources available on the conditions that private property ownership form part of every treaty, and Indian Status and the Reserve system be abolished, with compensation paid to BC for any/all lands or resources offered for settlements.
Wayne McGrath
250.542.7744
nwmcgrath@shaw.ca
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