To The Editor:
Scientists know that First Nations people have lived in what is now Canada for at least 12,000 years.
Europeans arrived about 500 years ago and colonized the land. At first, Indigenous people were treated as allies. As more and more settlers arrived from Europe and the demand for land increased, administrators began to regard First Nations populations as dependents and an impediment to growth and prosperity. This began decades of legislated assimilation.
The laws of Indigenous peoples, including the Wetsuweten, predate those of Canada, are equally authoritative, and are entitled to respect. The Crown has a moral duty to engage in good faith negotiations with the Wetsuweten to resolve the issue of ownership and jurisdiction over their ancestral lands. These negotiations must be recognized as being between two systems of legal and political authority.
Denial of Indigenous rights cannot continue just because it inconveniences so-called economic development by self-interested governments. If Indigenous people do not have the right to veto pipeline projects impacting their lands and waters, who does?
I want Canadian provinces and the Federal government to stop basing their economies on the oppression of Indigenous peoples rights.
Aboriginal land title issues must be resolved.
Michael Jessen, Nelson, BC
Read more here:
Letter: We must resolve aboriginal land title issues - The Nelson Daily