Justice: Not on the Map Yet

Here's a little known fact for readers outside of British Columbia: BC turns 150 years old this year. In 1858, after enough loyal British subjects had been dropped off to keep the original Coast Salish, Haida, and other First Nations people down and the Americans out, Governor James Douglas proclaimed the Crown Colony of British Columbia. 13 years later, BC would join Confederation, be ignored by the rest of Canada in perpetuity, and leave us to stage such elaborate, big-budget pleas for attention like Expo '86 and the 2010 Winter Olympics. This would be why the Provincial Government doesn't have anything by way of significant funds to commemorate this occasion, save for a few dopey TV spots and this exercise in historical revisionism being touted by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Mike De Jong: renaming the Georgia Strait as The Salish Sea.

For those of you just joining us, the governing BC Liberals have been bending over backwards to secure the support of BC First Nations after their pathetic attempt to resolve any and all outstanding Aboriginal issues in the mail-in referendum of 2002. For those of you scoring at home, this page started his Hibachi with his referendum ballot, and enjoyed a couple of bratwursts with that nice, smoky, tyranny of the majority flavour. Since that time, Aboriginal policy in British Columbia has been front-loaded with all kinds of symbolic gestures, particularly around the upcoming Olympics, and what renaming the Strait is really about is just another way for the Liberals to say they're sorry without actually having to do anything and let them continue to smugly feel good about themselves.

It also appears that the Salish Sea is going to be the only pat on the collective head of BC's First Nations this year: why won't there won't be a Haida Bay or a Nisga'a Mountain put on the map? Simple - the traditional territory of the Coast Salish people is where the Olympics are being staged, and just like how the Tsawwaseen Treaty enabled the government to expand the Roberts Bank Superport, Liberals are all for recognizing the aspirations of Aboriginal Peoples if it means they can get something in return. If Mike De Jong, Gordon Campbell, and the rest of the gang in Victoria want to do something 'historic' for BC First Nations to mark this 150th anniversary, this page can suggest a few things:

-Build actual social housing so that impoverished aboriginal people living in BC's urban areas can live with dignity and turn their lives around.

-Join the lobby to make the Federal Government hurry up with creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the fate of aboriginal children who were sent to Residential Schools and never came home.

-Do away with a treaty negotiation process that relies on coercion, bribery, and pitting First Nations against each other.

I'm sure there are other ideas which are more constructive than changing the names on a map. This page encourages readers to share them with the powers that be so that First Nations can experience real positive change rather than just a name change.