Clark Presses Need to Share Economic Benefits with First Nations
.html)
Prince George, B.C. – In an address that was nearly a word for word rehash of the one delivered to the Truck Loggers Association a week ago, Premier Christy Clark pressed the theme of “promise made, promise kept”.
She talked about balanced budgets assuring those in attendance at today’s Natural Resource Forum that Finance Minister Mike de Jong will deliver a balanced budget next month.
She stressed the importance of the forestry sector, and that those in resource extraction today are building on the foundation that forestry has developed. She also told the capacity crowd this is the time to open the doors of economic benefits and prosperity to First Nations, “Let’s bring them inside the tent” said the Premier, a comment which brought a round of applause.
But the Wet’suwet’en say meaningful consultation has been lacking.
"Time is running out," said Chief Karen Ogen in a release issued yesterday, "If Wet'suwet'en is to participate meaningfully in the LNG industry choices and plans for our aboriginal title lands, the BC government must provide us with the necessary information to begin Crown Consultation on the new LNG industry. Taking First Nations support for granted and treating consultation with Wet'suwet'en First Nation as an inconvenient after thought is not consultation in good faith."
Chief Ogen said the Wet’suwet’en require “meaningful prior consultation and a fair share of the estimated $9 billion in annual LNG revenues to rebuild the four pillars of our community and effectively address the poverty, social conditions and poor housing conditions faced on a daily basis by our members."
When the Premier was asked if she planned to meet with the Wet’suwet’en, Clark replied “We have been deeply engaged with Aboriginal communities across the province, there’s a lot of them, so different communities have seen different levels of consultation but affected communities, we have been working with all of them. John Rustad (MLA Nechako –Lakes) met with the Wet’suwet’en and has been in regular communication with them. We still have more work to do though, and I think that was reflected in their letter”.
Although not making a direct commitment to meet with the Wet’suwet’en, Premier Clark said “I hope I can, I hope to meet with as many First Nations leaders as possible.”
There has been no indication of when such a meeting might take place.
Comments
A balanced budget… of course.. they took millions from ICBC and hydro and put it in general revenue. Balanced in the sense of the financial swindling she and her party are known for..
“When the Premier was asked if she planned to meet with the Wetâsuwetâen, Clark replied âWe have been deeply engaged with Aboriginal communities across the province, thereâs a lot of them, so different communities have seen different levels of consultation but affected communities, we have been working with all of them. John Rustad (MLA Nechako âLakes) met with the Wetâsuwetâen and has been in regular communication with them. We still have more work to do though, and I think that was reflected in their letterâ.
So the answer was NO..
Or… they could get an education, a job and become productive people in our communities instead of continually begging or free money? Just a thought
I agree with pgmakesmecrazy. The handouts have to stop.
No one else going to comment ? To funny how this topic is one no one wants to look insensitive to the First Nations . As long as the lawyers are in the natives corner they will never settle and why would you ? Free money for ever?
I think that it goes without saying that the First Nations have rights to a large section of land in BC. Governments and business need to have meaningful dialogue with them when it comes to crossing these lands for any reason. That’s the way it is to-day. For people to make remarks about **free money** is just foolish. Some land claims have not yet been settled and some have.
So as the situation now stands in BC there are three big players in the Province.
1. The Provincial Government
2. First Nations
3. Big Business.
All of the above stand to gain from any mining, pipeline, logging, business in this Province, and they all stand to make money.
Left out in the cold, are the other residents of BC, the taxpaying public, who must go to work everyday to earn money to pay taxes to support all the different costs of running a Province. Whats our take in all of this.
What we need to do is set up a fund that puts money into an infrastructure fund for BC. This fund would get a percentage of any money paid to the Province, First Nations, and Business, and would be used to provide services to the Province. That way everyone in the Province would benefit from these mega projects, not just those listed above.
We need this money to go into a separate account so that it can be monitored on a regular basis, so that the people of the Province are aware of where the money is spent.
This business of Governments, either Federal, Provincial, or Municipal, hiding money in various accounts, and moving it around to use as they see fit, while legal, is not good for the taxpayers, and needs to stop.
To make it a clear as I possibly can, we the people are being manipulated on a regular basis, and the three levels of Government have convinced themselves that we are too **stupid** to know the difference.
So we have a choice. We can prove them right or prove them wrong.
Hmm… so rare of the media these days, you set a good example Thompson Citizen!
http://www.thompsoncitizen.net/article/20130130/thompson0101/130139999/-1/thompson/racist-anti-aboriginal-slurs-and-offensive-comments-prompt-thompson
Could all this talk about consultation, inclusion, partnerships, etc have anything to do with the jrp Enbridge decision? Time to get the squeaky wheels on board?
Comments for this article are closed.