Editorial A denial of rights Denial of the fact that aboriginal people own their homeland and its resources has again been ratified by a Canadian court — this time by the Ontarto Court of Appeal, whose three (non-Native) judges last week dismissed a 112-year-old land claim to 10,400 square kilometres sur- rounding Lake Temagami. The court upheld an 1850 treaty, even though it was signed by someone who was not a member of the Teme-Augama: Anishnabi people who have lived there for 6,000 years. However, the Ontario decision goes even further than before. It denies that genuine historical treaties and commitments need to be adhered to and, most alarmingly, that the provinces and the federal government have the power to unilaterally extinguish aboriginal rights. “To avoid that acknowledgement,” Chief Gary Potts told the Tribune two weeks before the court’s ruling, “you need to deny that aboriginal people are ‘peoples’ (and) if that doesn’t succeed, you’ve got to freeze aboriginal people in time .... “ Chief Potts said this is equivalent to freezing Europeans at the stage of cave dwellers, something they would not accept. He called efforts to deny aboriginal people their homeland and resources “a double standard based on racism.” The decades-long land claims struggle in British Columbia is highligh- _ ted at an historic conference at which aboriginal peoples’ views of “ownership” were outlined: ““We own the land, but we know we must share it with our neighbours,” said a Nisga’a Tribal Council member. The response of provincial and federal governments is to drag claims through years of expensive litigation, while at the same time rapidly exploiting and depleting their resources. Again we see power, based on greed and racism, paraded as justice. Last week the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada protested their exclusion from a federal meeting of scientists to discuss chemical contamination of the Arctic food chain — and the health of 26,000 Inuit. Only three examples, the most recent, of denial by our system and its governments of the most fundamental of human rights — the right of peoples to exist as a people. Racism and. brutality; debasement and indignities continue to be meted out. The pillage continues. BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER Mike Proniuk GRAPHICS Angela Kenyon Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C., V5K 1Z5 Phone: (604) 251-1186 Fax: (604) 251-4232 Subscription rate: Canada: @ $20 one year @ $35 two years ® Foreign $32 one year Second class mail ygistration number 1560 ithout them, we’d be lost. Lacking the big budget for circulation sales that other, larger-scale newspapers enjoy, we rely on our readers and supporters to increase the reach of the Pacific Tribune, on a one-to-one basis. Several friends pitched in to sell sub- scriptions in the recently concluded annual drive. Top honours go to Bert Ogden of the Kingsway press club for sel- ling 18 new subscriptions and two rene- wals. Bert wins the trip “for two to off the miles logged in selling subs in the town’s famous hot springs. Second prize goes to Ernie Knott of Vic- toria, who sold nine new subs and 12 renewals to win a dinner for two at Jericho restaurant. Betty Griffin comes in third to win a certificate at the People’s Co-op Bookstore, while Reg Walters and Heather Keely take fourth and fifth place, and a Tribune sweatshirt, respectively. Regarding clubs, the highest achieve- ment for sales outside Greater Vancouver was scored by Kamloops, where readers sold seven new subs and 12 renewals. For “in-town,” the Kingsway club gets the nod for selling 36 new and 57 renewed sub- Four people also scored in the prize draw, winning dinner coupons, bookstore certificates and Tribune sweatshirts. They include Martin Clarke, C. Shannon, Peter Barone and Murray Bush. * * ok is month marks more for Bert Ogden than being the one to get top honours _for Tribune subscription sales. It also marks his departure from 24 years of working full time for the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union. Bert, who since 1977 has been director of the union’s | Harrison, where, we presume, he can soak _ People and Issues Benefit Fund, and before that a full time organizer, left the position recently and is moving from Vancouver back to his old stomping grounds in Sooke. First things first: Bert stresses that he is not retiring. Instead, he and wife Jill will be purchasing a gillnetter-troller vessel to return to commercial fishing, and to the UFAWU local Bert was a leading member of “before he moved to Vancouver. And Bert fully intends to continue to be part of the progressive and trade union move- ment. In fact, he was among the top vote- getters when elected to the UFAWU general executive board at the union’s convention last month. Bert actually started his working life as a logger and member of the International Woodworkers back in 1944. He worked in various camps on Vancouver Island, par- ticularly around Cowichan Lake, prior to, and for a short time after, he took up commercial fishing in 1957. He bought his first vessel in 1960: In 1965, Bert was hired as a full time organizer for the Island, a position he held until 1977, when he moved to Vancouver ~ to become the union’s welfare director. He has also served for several years on the board of the Tribune publishing company. Bert looks forward to an active job of fishing, which he notes will likely include as volunteer crew several of his grand- children. Friends can get in touch through Box 12, Sooke, B.C. VSO INO. oe he banning of intermediate range nuclear missiles from European terri- tory through the historic INF treaty has been justly hailed as a victory for the world’s peace forces. The tens and hundreds of thousands who marched for an end to the arms race in Bonn, London, New York, Toronto and Vancouver, to name some prominent locations, had the cumulative effect of opening the doors toa new, promising era of disarmament. But even on a smaller scale, the day-to- day work of peace activists helps. Such an observation was made at a recent work- shop sponsored by the Nanoose Conver- sion Campaign, the Vancouver Island group that works to end the use by the U.S. military of the Canadian armed for- ces testing range in Nanoose Bay. The word comes from Patti Willis, a member of the campaign’s environmental committee. She has a copy of an environ- mental impact study on the effects of using Behm Canal in Alaska as the site of a U.S. ° Navy acoustic measuring station. The facility records acoustic signals from sub- marines to test their vulnerability to detec- tion. Willis noted that Nanoose Bay — which tests weapons such as SUBROC missiles and nuclear depth charges — was considered a candidate site for the acoustic measuring station. But according to the report, it was rejected because of “‘interna- tional, political and information security considerations.” In short, the actions by the Nanoose . campaign, which include everything from roadside public information distribution, daily monitoring of the test range, and blockades, have had the desired effect. Willis also noted a recent speech by Gen. Paul Manson to the Conference of Defence Associations in which he acknowledged that public concerns about the environ- ment are causing difficulties for the mil- itary in several areas, including Nanoose Bay. Willis observed: “It is often by indirect means that citizen activists learn of their effectiveness.” * * * W: noted with some interest the other night the topic of CBC TV’s Forum, in which the subject of the media and its fairness was aired. We didn’t watch the whole program, so we’re not sure if the ~ subject of Dale Goldhawk was raised. Goldhawk, as we noted in a feature story a couple of months ago, is the presi- dent of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) who was told by CBC management to vacate that post or face dismissal from his job as host of the radio phone-in program, Cross-Country Checkup. The CBC brass had claimed that since Goldhawk headed an organization strongly opposed to the then-pending Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, his credibility was comprom- ised as host of the topical show. Rather than lose his job, Goldhawk resigned his position as ACTRA president last November. But the association, charg- ing that the CBC had no right to impose such a condition on a broadcaster and union leader, is keeping the position of president unfilled. It aims to return Gold- hawk to the post pending a decision by the Canada Labour Relations Board on ACTRA’s charge that the CBC commit- ted an unfair labour practice. Additionally, the association is plan- ning to hold a public forum “on the sup- pression of free speech by the CBC.” 4 « Pacific Tribune, March 13, 1989