Editorial

Negotiating dignity |

The deal may have been signed, but contrary to most media reports the fundamental
issues for the Dene and Metis of the Northwest Territories remain unresolved. The tentative
land claims accord reached Sept. 5 between the federal government and the Native peoples
comes after decades of frustrating negotiations, continually stalled by Ottawa’s colonial
mentality.

While the agreement is a first step in giving the Dene and Metis a semblance of control
over 180,000 square kilometres of northern territory, it concedes subsurface rights over a
much smaller area of 8,200 square kilometres. The government retains energy and mineral
rights over the larger area, as well as veto power over Native decisions.

The deal contains a commitment to continue negotiations until 1991, when the finalized
document will come before the Dene nation in a full plebiscite. It will be a crucial vote for
everyone.

The government will continue to push hard for an agreement which extinguishes
historical aboriginal rights. Native claims have been a major impediment to the wholesale
rape of the north. With this issue out of the way, the door could open to the construction of
the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, a prerequisite to exploiting the oil and gas resources of the
Beaufort Sea. , ;

While the Mulroney government was quick to congratulate itself on the signing, Dene
leader Bill Erasmus was equally quick to warn Canadians that there is still little to celebrate.
The most fundamental question of self-government for Native peoples remains unresolved,
but a crack has been opened.

It should be remembered that this land deal was a reworked version of what the
government had called a “final offer’ earlier this year. That offer, which contained
absolutely no guarantee of self-government, was overwhelmingly rejected by the Dene at
their annual assembly in July. The vote was 294 delegates against, four in favour, and one

abstention.

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election, the Tory “final offer” suddenly was not so final; for the first time self-government

became a negotiable item and the signing took place.
At stake is the cultural survival of the Dene and Metis. The land area offered is not large EDITOR Published weekly at
when one considers a traditional lifestyle of hunting, trapping and fishing. More critically, Sean Griffin 2681 East Hastings Street
without control over their own affairs, the ability of the Native people of the north to ASSISTANT EDITOR. Veeooe B.C.
withstand the expected onslaught of transnational development and colonization will be Dan Keeton Phone (604) 251-1186 (
negligible. —
The intent of the Tory government is clear: to give a perception that they are sympathetic BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER Roe Seen ear @ $35 3
to Native claims, and, most importantly as part of their free trade deal, to unlock the vast Mike Proniuk two years @ Fpreion $32 one year
resources of the north and ship them down to a hungry U.S. market. GRAPHICS — Sa iakouel
The Dene assemblies will continue to meet over the next few years in a time-honoured Angela Kenyon registration number 1560 ;
form of democracy. The decisions they take will have an impact not only on future -

generations of Dene and Metis, but on the future of Canada itself.

\
We their penchant for euphemisms, such machines display frequently promote
Canada Post Corporation might well violence as a means of solving problems. }
take to terming its recent spate of strikes And while the messages may tend to be
“extended vacation eaten “voluntary P E O P L 2 & S S U E S abstract — featuring unspecified conflicts
semi-annual cost reduction measures.” Its es in no particular time or place — there’s t
program of privatizing postal services one out on the market in Canada that is
accompanied by a hard-nosed anti-union —_ announce their plans and actions in clear duced by the alleged space-age technology anything but subtle. : 2
stance has prompted three postalstrikesin —_ Janguage.”” He notes, for example, that, far exceeded the “soft whoosh” claimed by “Contra” is the name and shooting R
the past 15 months, with the technicians in “Calling something a ‘super mailbox’ begs the Advanced Light Rapid Transit’s sup- Sandinista soldiers is the aim of a machine i
the Union of Postal Communications the question of whether people who must _ porters back when the costly system was ThisMagazine writer Jim Smith found ina ¢
Employees still on the picket line. use such lockboxes instead of receiving forced on the municipalities (most of | Toronto video parlour. He reports, “In
Well, it turns out that the Crown corpo- home delivery. consider them ‘super.’ ” which wanted something cheaper and less the game, one Canadian quarter allows n
ration’s use, or misuse, of language hasn’t The chairman’s comments suggest the _intrusive).-This isn’t mentioned in the you to choose the tactics and the targets 0
gone unrecognized. The Canadian Council obvious: Canada Post knows how unpop- __release, which lists rubber-cushioned for a pair of light-skinned attackers who t]
of Teachers of English has just handed the _ylar its privatization measures are, and is wheels, new lubricants, sound absorbing wreak havoc, at your command, on p
enterprise the council’s “Public Double- trying to disguise its service-cutting with panels and strategically placed trees as darker-hued, sinister figures which are p
speak Award.” ; honeyed words. Such doublespeak, Coe —_ experimental solutions to the noise and Sandinista Communists. Your contras can a
The chair of the council’s ““doublespeak asserts, is in a sense “worse than out-and- privacy problems. slit the throat of a Sandinista, blow up a it
commission,” Simon Fraser University out lies for which one might be held legally Neither is there any mention of the fact small building that could be either a bar- S
professor Richard Coe, explained why the or politically responsible.” that area residents have complained of racks or a health centre and use special- ti
corporation — at this date still publicly : SkyTrain’s deleterious effects for the two forces quick-kill techniques to eliminate
owned — won the uncoveted award. No ot sa ge years it has been in service — long before unsuspecting Sandinista supporters.” tl
other unwitting contestant could come up Wir it might not be a candidate for — the Ombudsman’s report was initiated — There’s a partially happy ending to this g
with phrases such as “to streamline and the above-mentioned doublespeak or the predictions of these problems by part of the tale. When Smith wrote the p
enhance” mail collection and “more pla- | commission, we wonder if a recent press critics years before the system went into. arcade’s owner to complain, they respon- ¢;
ces to... post your mail” when referring to release from B.C. Transit might not qual- —_ operation. Those critics include residents ded that they hadn’t been aware of the | $s
actual reductions — in this case, about ify for another category: perhaps one along the Commercial Drive corridor, “disgusting” game and had subsequently
one-fifth of the mail boxes and reductions _called ““Underspeak.” who pressed the provincial Socreds to put ordered it removed from the premises.
in mail pickup from the remaining boxes In announcing a $1-million program to _ the system underground in that area — to Meanwhile left-wing Toronto alderman ai
in Vancouver. alleviate the noise and loss of privacy suf- no avail. For many, who have seen their Jack Layton, acting on Smith’s complaint,
Canada Post also proved a winner fered by Greater Vancouver residents —_ property values plummet with SkyTrainin © promoted a resolution adopted by council
when it announced the closure of local along the rapid transit line, the Socred-- their backyards, these long overdue mea- that recommended to the Metro Licensing
post offices and their replacement by created Crown corporation refers to “the sures are still a case of too little, too late. Commission that the game, and all games
stamp counters or substations with the concerns about SkyTrain voiced by cer- promoting violence, be banned from the
ge : : ; : 3 ae * * * : ; cee
statement: “We are not closing post tain residential neighbourhoods.” Should city. Unfortunately, the commission has
offices — we are replacing them with anyone be fooled by this phrasing into hose of us with children will be particu- _ proved reluctant to monitor the content of in
something better.” And who else in the thinking the residents might be a tad sub- larly interested in this item we found video games. (
past year came up with a term comparable _ jective in their objections to the noisy, while perusing the latest issue of ThisMag- Smith writes that other “Contra”
in Orwellian stature to “‘super mailboxes,” intrusive trains, they can read the report azine. It concerns the pervasiveness of machines have been found in Toronto,
in reference to instituting a rural-type of — by Ombudsman Stephen Owen — referred right-wing messages and how theyaimat and that the Nicaraguan Embassy has
mailbox in the place of home delivery of to briefly in the release — or they can the youngest and most vulnerable people reported there is at least one copy of the
mail in new urban housing subdivisions? simply try to carry on a conversation among us. game in Ottawa, a few short ‘blocks from
Coe cautions that, “As Englishteachers, beside any section of the elevated track Many of us are concerned about the the embassy. So the “next target” is N
we have no official opinion about whether —_ and see how long it takes before the roar of influence of video arcade games, and not Ottawa. Meanwhile, if there are any found D
Canada Post ought to reduce costs by _ passing trains jangles their nerves. only because they entice young people to inB.C. communities, we urge our readers h
closing post offices or restricting or privat- Owen’s report found, among other use up a parent’s — or the child’s to take appropriate action. And to let us ye
izing services, but we want them to _ things, that the decibel level of noise pro- own — hard-earned quarters. Thethemes know about it. cL
4 Pacific Tribune, September 14, 1988