mowich

Strange...........I've read four different articles on the counter-protestors in Edmonton, watched several broadcasts including one on cbc about it - and if anyone was going to mention any of the groups mentioned above it would be them - and you know what not one single mention of any of them. Where do you get your news from?

Don't hold your breath, the drama queen doesn't like facts.

By not allowing remote FN communities to partnership with resource companies is simply condemning them to decades more of subsistence living on government funding. Resource extraction in such communities is the ONLY way the bands will be able to provide decent employment for their people. In addition to employment the ongoing royalties will give the bands funds to build better homes, well-maintained water plants, better schools, better health facilities and the list goes on. I will never support the implementation of UNDRIP as it would enshrine two levels of law in Canada and no democratic country in the world would or should stand for that. What does need to happen is abolishment of the Indian Act followed by every single FN living on a reserve given title to their own land. What is standing solidly in the way of those two necessary changes is the AFN. Just as the men who claim hereditary titles in the Wet'suwet'en band, the chiefs who sit on the AFN believe they have an almost divine right to rule over their people. Neither of the two truly care about the welfare of their people which is blatantly obvious in the current situation. They do not wish to see the power they have over their people diminished in anyway which would be the result if the Act was gone and title to the land was in the hands of individual band members. For all that the radical activists scream and holler for UNDRIP, they side-step the two issues that would actually see concrete changes for the better in the lives of FNs.

I wonder if the Eastern Canadians who are running short of propane to heat their homes, or the thousands of Canadians - many of them FNs in remote communities facing grocery shortages think this is entertaining?

They will not move until they are assured that those working on the line will not be put in danger and have unfettered access to the work site. The small group of anti-line people have shown time and again they cannot be trusted to obey the injunction. Had they done so, the RCMP would not be necessary. Really you do need to get a better grip on what is happening on the ground there.

If by these people you mean the so-called hereditary Wet'suwet'en chiefs, you could be right. However, as Chief Clarence Louie of the Okanagan band has proven, there are FNs who are well able to run profitable businesses. With the help of others on his reserve he turned a failing community into a shining example of what FNs can do when they take the time to learn good business practices, put them in place and insist that meetings are held on time - not on Injun Time as he is fond of stating. The bands that want to buy the TM line are also well versed in business economics and their reserves are also well run. Unfortunately, many reserves fail to realize that this is the 21rst century and subsistence living has only exacerbated their problems. Until those bands realize that the way forward, the only way forward for remote communities lies with resource extraction, they will continue to be dependent upon the government for handouts.

Yes, the liberals recognized UNDRIP. It is not, however, enshrined in Canadian law and with any luck never ever will be. It would be absolutely disastrous for our country.

".....but I do for the stupid resource company that was given consent to put their pipeline elsewhere." Rather misplaced contempt considering it was the 20 bands and communities along the line that gave consent.

Throwing away more money on remote bands that exist only on government hand-outs is and always was a no-win situation as is evidenced by multiple bands who STILL are without clean water, decent housing, social services support for their suicidal youth and a plethora of other problems that have plagued such communities for decades. The only way out of poverty is good jobs that will provide employment for the FNs and funds to improve living conditions.

It's great to see your utter contempt for those First Nations working hard to improve the quality of life for their people by partnering with resource companies which offer them the ONLY way out of poverty./s

In absolute and total agreement with every single word, Zeitgeist.

Jonathan Kay – Meet Canada’s new racists : our self-mortifying ‘progressive’ urbanites https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jonathan-kay-meet-canadas-new-racists-our-self-mortifying-progressive-urbanites

From the BC court injunction ruling 2019 BCSC 2264, para. 152: "...the defendants [hereditary chiefs] chose not to engage in consultation with the plaintiff [Coastal Gas] or to challenge the permits and authorizations when they were issued."

It would be nice to think so, bush_cheney but the fact is that all but the Conservatives are so far left that the idea they would support a non-confidence motion on anything that touches upon the pipelines or the FNs is pie-in-the-sky thinking.

About time this benighted simpleton got 'woke' to the fact that her intervention in this matter is neither warranted nor wanted. HOW DARE SHE!

Excellent post, scribblet and thank you for the link.

True that, Dougie.

"Today, we have one of the best balance sheets of any developed country. But the truth is, Canada never repaid most of that debt. It’s just that, two decades later, the economy is so much larger that what was a crippling burden in the 1990s is easily manageable now. And we have plenty of room to borrow more without harming our creditworthiness much. In a zero growth economy, this would have to end. Deficit spending would become more difficult, because there would be no growing out of debt ― it would all actually accumulate and become increasingly harder to pay off over time. Inevitably, governments would have to spend less on social programs, or tax more to maintain the current ones." The One Big Problem With A Zero-Growth Economy www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/zero-growth-economy_ca_5d8f7ad5e4b0ac3cdda97a2f ET call home.

I was a Canadian Ranger for 7 years, Dougie. I can tell you personally that if called upon to take down a blockade, I would and could have done so. Besides, those on the barricades would be so stunned to see the Rangers, the troops would have them out of there in no time.

Well it's all about the Mohawks now and the Wet'suwet'ens for and against the line are being left to twist in the wind as the focus has now turned to the Eastern rail blockades. This isn't about a pipeline anymore it is about one Indigenous group unsupported by a majority of their own people who have taken the law into their own hands in a so-far very successful attempt to bring our nation to grinding halt. And no one in any level of government has the balls to say enough is enough.

Several bands have already spoken up against the influx of NGO bought protestors, environmental warriors, guilt-ridden whiteys and various other groups hoping to capitalize on the media coverage - but you have to hunt hard and long to find coverage about it and don't bother going anywhere near the liberal bought cbc or the extreme left tyee. BC's Premier Horgan had Extinction Rebellion thugs outside his home this morning. Now I am no fan of Horgan's but that type of behavior is waaay beyond the pale. The time has come for a united Indigenous voice soundly condemning these thugs and telling the rest of the hangers-on and wanna be seen on FB types to go home.

Good question about the Mohawks, scribblet. Not their land under question. Not their decision about the line one way or the other. Totally superfluous to the issue. Their entrance into the protests/blockades has nothing to do with supporting the so-called hereditary chiefs for all their hollow words and poorly made signs. It is solely based on self-interest and the goal of causing as much economic chaos to the country as possible. If they had an iota of care or compassion for the Wet'suwet'en people, they would not be holding up essential goods and services to the community by blockading rail lines. Woos is absolutely right. The RCMP are staying along the right of way as the injunction dictated - to maintain law and order and safe passage for the Coastal Gaslink employees - over a 1000 of them being Wet'suwet'en.

Whilst giving each and everyone the ' finger' and a resounding FU.

Why don't we task Canadian Rangers with the job of removing the thugs and punks from the blockades. There are Ranger regiments all across Canada well equipped and able to do the job.