itemonstrate outside B.C. Forest Products
tto logging of the Stein Valley; Joe Mathias

cies, once they are achieved, can be trans-
lated into political reality.

There are other strains, as well. Aborigi-
nal leaders wonder why trade unionists are
so obsessed about the possible job disloca-
tion that may accompany claims. They
point out that unemployment in non-
Native communities has never approached
the catastrophic levels which are common
on reserves.

Environmental groups have their doubts
about the economic policies of some abo-
riginal and labour groups. Areas proposed
for preservation by some environmental
groups could be key economic development
centres after.claims.

And some trade unionists are skeptical
about some aboriginal economic develop-

ment policies, seeing them as little different
from conventional corporate strategies for
resource extraction. Labour also insists on
job protection and union conditions in any
new economic development projects.

This time, though, there are hopeful signs
that the lull that followed Nanaimo will not
be repeated. Local coalitions have sprung
up in several areas and the B.C. Federation
of Labour has established a special commit-
tee of its executive council to guide the fed-
eration’s work in the area of land claims,
economic policy and resource development.

The test of the new unity, however, will
be the degree to which the groups involved
are.able to take actions together around
specific issues, whether they be environmen-
tal questions, aboriginal rights issues or

(top right) addressing delegates to the B.C. Federation of Labour convention in 1986.

economic struggles like the fight to save
unemployment insurance.

To build that unity, a massive education
program is required to change the public
opinion to reflect a strong majority which
understands the necessity of .a realistic,
comprehensive claims process that protects
employment while resolving aboriginal
rights and title.

If Kim Campbell and the Tory policy-
makers can resolve their problems before
that unity is forged, they will have a free
hand to remake the province in the image of
Alcan and its friends.

Geoff Meggs is editor of The Fisherman
and has written extensively on land claims
issues.

Flawed book

a useful
work for

reference

AFTER NATIVE CLAIMS? The Impli-
cations of Comprehensive Claims
Settlements for Natural Resources in
British Columbia. By Frank Cassidy
and Norman Dale, !RPP/Oolichan,
Lantzville,, 1988, 229 pages, $16.95.

What do B.C.’s aboriginal people’s
want? A new book on the implications of
current claims proposals offers an insight
into the diversity of Indian aspirations
and suggests some of the reasons for
concern and suspicion in the non-Indian
community.

Researched and written by academics
Frank Cassidy and Norman Dale,
“After Native Claims?” is hampered bya
cumbersome “scenario-based analysis”
format and a reluctance to confront hard
questions.

But its comprehensive catalogue of
current B.C. aboriginal proposals for
development of fisheries, forestry and
land make it an important reference tool
for anyone concerned about the eco-
nomic future of the province.

The authors loosely group the various
schemes into three scenarios, or possible
outcomes. One scenario assumes close
partnership between multinationals and
Indian groups to pursue conventional
resource extraction.

A second scenario would see elaborate
“co-management” systems in which
Indian and non-Indian authorities would
negotiate resource development policies.
The third and most utopian scenario
proposes a province with near-auto-
nomous Indian homelands developing
alongside non-Indian hinterlands which
are integrated into the world economy.

Not surprisingly, many current Native
proposals fall into the category of corpo-
rate partnership. The most far-reaching
of these included suggestions by several
tribal councils that they would consider
joint ventures for offshore oil drilling in
B.C. waters if their economic and envir-
onmental concerns were met.

The forestry section of the book hints
at what many observers have believed —
that Native logging practices, particu-
larly in Alaska, have been environment-
ally destructive. This sensitive issue was
raised sharply at the Tin-Wis conference
in Tofino.

Socialists and environmentalists may
not like these proposals, but they can
hardly expect all Native organizations to
be prepared to wait for a New Demo-
cratic Party government to get their piece
of economic development.

By treating all three of their scenarios
as equally valid or probably, Cassidy and
Dale evade the question of who would
benefit from the types of development
proposals detailed in their book. They
also duck the question of who sets B.C.’s
current economic agenda.

The job of creating a “‘people’s” eco-
nomic agenda remains to be done. A
good place to start might be with the
series of forums on economic policy the
B.C. Federation of Labour is promising
to hold around the province this year.
They could provide the basis for a grass
roots answer to the question examined in
this book.

— Geoff Meggs

Pacific Tribune, May 1, 1989 e 17