THE TWA
iS ON

° Talks with the aboriginal groups may have impact on annual allowable cuts.

Treaty talks coming up fast

The provincial government must act
quickly to quell fears about planned
treaty talks with aboriginal groups,
say participants in a recent B.C. Fed-
eration of Labour workshop on treaty.
negotiations.

And while strongly supporting just
settlements, delegates generally
agreed the Fed should clearly state
labour’s position that existing rights
and freedoms must be safeguarded.

The sessions gave union representa-
tives a chance to discuss the pro-
vince’s plans to negotiate treaties with
Indian bands, who, unlike those in
other parts of Canada, have never
agreed to treaties.

 _ In spite of federal government and
British colonial policy dating far back
into Canada’s history, British Colum-
bia has until recently resisted treaty
negotiations, former B.C. Supreme
Court judge Tom Berger explained to
delegates.

Only with recent court judgements
on aboriginal title have both Social
Credit and New Democratic Party
provincial governments conceded the
need to settle these long-standing dis-
putes, Berger noted.

The B.C. Fed and other labour or-

ganizations, including IWA-Canada,
have long advocated just and speedy
settlement of land claims as a way to
bring certainty to future land-use de-
velopments and as a means of provid-
ing bands with the means to create
sound economies and secure commu-
nities.

Delegates used the workshops to
better inform themselves about treaty
negotiations, which have been the
subject of recent attacks, especially
by Reform Party Members of the Leg-
islative Assembly and Members of
Parliament, on the grounds of that the
New Democratic Party has been “se-
cretive” about the negotiations and its
agenda.

These attacks are especially ironic,
noted Nisga’a Tribal Council president
Joe Gosnell in his address to dele-
gates, because when Reform Party
House Leader Jack Weisgerber was
minister responsible for aboriginal af-
fairs in the old Socred government, he
actually initiated the process of land
claims talks and agreed to keep the
negotiations secret.

Meanwhile, at the recent Union of
B.C. Municipalities convention at
Whistler, Premier Mike Harcourt

promised an open process in which
municipal government representatives
will be privy to the negotiations.

Following their workshop discus-
sions, delegates urged the Fed to
make clear labour’s concerns and to
press the provincial government to
ensure that labour laws, human rights
and civil liberties are upheld in all
treaties negotiated.

“We need to assure fairness to the
aboriginal peoples of this province,”
says delegate and United Fishermen
and Allied Workers Union general sec-
retary Dennis Brown, “and we also

e OUT FOR JUSTICE —
Workers at the Termi-
nal Forest Products
Mainland sawmill in
Vancouver are striking
against racism and in-
equality in the work-
place. Local 1- 217
pulled the workers out
of negotiations and
went to strike on Sep-
tember 9. On the pick-
et line outside the
plant gates are 1. to r.
Mohinder Lidhar, Bal-
har Kandola, Satnam
Gill, Joginder Sunner
(plant committee
member, John Wood-
lan, Dave Kohli, and
Chris Thaell.

need to ensure that the rights of work-
ing people are not diminished in the
process,that things we have fought
long and hard for — social programs,
health and safety, environmental leg-
islation, the right to organize, the right
to free speech — are also protected.”

Because of the sensitivity and im-
portance of the land claims issue, del-
egates to November’s B.C. Fed
convention will hear a report from
Aboriginal Affairs Minister John
Cashore, then debate the issue at a
special opening session planned for
November 28.

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There’s someone waiting for you
rer Take care. On and off the job.

Labor and mani

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‘Canada Industry

8C Forest

12/LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER, 1994