Tuesday morning, a group that included a handful of old white guys who looked, well, kind of like me demonstrated outside the Langford home of Premier John Horgan.
In doing so they invoked the name of the Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n, to which the obvious question is: Which ones?
For despite the best efforts of outsiders who would weaponize the Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n for their own purposes, it has become clear that deep divisions exist within that community. The Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n themselves don鈥檛 speak with one voice, so how can anyone else presume to stand on behalf of them all?
This applies to both sides of the tug-of-war, those who drag out Indigenous people to justify the gas line they want to see built, and those who do so in opposition. To be blunt, that鈥檚 cherry-picking. That鈥檚 selectively using Indigenous people as human shields to advance another agenda: climate change, corporate profit, a general-purpose rage against the machine, whatever. They should make a Heritage Minute: paternalism, a Canadian tradition.
It doesn鈥檛 help that the narrative has been over-simplified by those on either side and inflamed by social media indignation. To accept that the 20 elected councils along the gas-project route gave the project all the blessing it needs is to ignore the role of the five hereditary chiefs whose opposition has led to the current wave of cross-Canada protests. Yet to argue that elected councils have no legitimacy because they are a construct of the Indian Act, or that they have no say beyond the border of reserves, is a conveniently dismissive approach that ignores the feelings of those who did the electing.
People seeking a deeper understanding of the divisions could do worse than turning to APTN News, which, not surprisingly, offers nuanced perspectives not found in other media or espoused by those who shout loudest.
Among them are arguments advanced by Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n supporters of the pipeline: 鈥淎long with revenue from Impact Benefits Agreements and Provincial Pipeline Agreements, Indigenous businesses will benefit from $620聽million in contract work for the project鈥檚 right-of-way clearing, medical, security and camp management needs. There is another $400 million in additional contract and employment opportunities for Indigenous and local B.C. communities during pipeline construction.鈥�
The implicit message is that when you have spent 150 years on the outside looking in, and finally have a shot at sharing the kind of prosperity enjoyed by others, it鈥檚 frustrating to have that threatened by outsiders who were reared in the kind of comfort you were denied.
The counter-argument is that the hereditary chiefs are charged with responsibility for protecting the land, and that can鈥檛 simply be ignored 鈥� a position that dovetails nicely with that of those whose primary concern is the environment in general and climate change in particular.
The thing is, what happens when such interests clash? Environmental groups already squirm trying to reconcile opposition to logging with Indigenous involvement in 麻豆传媒映画Island鈥檚 forest industry. Several Indigenous groups have expressed interest in investing in another pipeline project, the Trans Mountain expansion. Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced last week that up to 129 First Nations communities will be consulted in the next few weeks to ensure they have a shot at 鈥渕eaningful economic participation鈥� in Trans Mountain, which the federal government purchased from the private sector in 2018.
鈥淭his next step will be focused on different models of economic participation such as equity-based or revenue-sharing options and will seek to build momentum towards a widely acceptable option for the groups that we鈥檙e consulting with,鈥� The Canadian Press quoted Morneau as saying.
鈥淲e鈥檒l also explore whether the participating communities are willing to work together, either through an existing entity or a new one.鈥�
The hearts and minds tug-of-war continued Tuesday when included among the provincial budget documents was an eight-page backgrounder titled Building the Foundations of Reconciliation. It was more or less a summary of existing initiatives, but included one key phrase: 鈥淚ndigenous people have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands, territories and resources.鈥� What wasn鈥檛 clear was who will speak on behalf of Indigenous people, or how differences between and within Indigenous bodies get worked out.
That鈥檚 a question more important to some than others. Long after the well-meaning, passionate student protesters have moved on with their lives, long after the ideologues have embarked on the next chapter of their class war, long after the gas companies have made their billions and long after the politicians have turned their focus to the next crisis, the Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n will be left to figure out how to live with one another, how to answer the tricky questions.
They don鈥檛 need the advice of聽you, me, or a bunch of non-Wet鈥檚uwet鈥檈n blocking the premier鈥檚 driveway in their name.
