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Category Archives: In the News

New Moose Hunting Regulations in Northwest BC

Update: theTyee.ca has picked up the story: Province shortens hunting season following Tahltan blockades. On the heels of last fall’s Tahltan aboriginal protests of the open moose hunt in the Klappan and elsewhere in northwestern BC, Tahltan Wildlife Committee and the British Columbia Ministry of the Environment have revised the rules for moose hunting. From [...]

Public Discussions of Hunting Protests in Northern BC

One of my summer projects is to learn more about public attitudes towards indigenous rights in British Columbia. I am also looking for current examples of the stigmas and stereotypes associated with indigenous hunting by non-native people (Figure 2, in which foraging is confused with pastoralism, for example). Conveniently, events surrounding a blockade in Tahltan [...]

Accusing the Capitalist Witch

We’ve been discussing witchcraft in the Anthropology of Religion this week. The idea that accusing someone of witchcraft may be a way of enforcing norms against wealth accumulation or self-aggrandizement came up several times in our classroom conversations. Is anyone out there (in anthropology, in the mainstream press) considering that the outrage against AIG executives [...]

Vancouver Island Treaty Group Takes Issues to Human Rights Tribunal

The Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group (southern Vancouver Island) is going to Washington DC to argue its rights have been violated before Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. At heart: the slow place of land claims and outstanding grievances related to uncompensated land expropriations for a railroad in the 1880s. The HTG will be heard next week. See: [...]

Anthropology, Dick Pound, and the Savagery Issue

Anthropology, the ‘Indian industry’, white man’s guilt and Jared Diamond have been implicated as justification for Vancouver Olympic Committee Dick Pound’s comment that 400 years ago Canada was full of savages. In a Globe and Mail column, Margaret Wente writes: … North American native peoples had a neolithic culture based on subsistence living and small [...]

Political Consensus Opposes Drilling in Klappan

The Terrace Standard reports that Nathan Cuthen’s (NDP) victory in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding in the recent federal election was partly the result of his association with anti-coal bed methane drilling in the Klappan. Consensus among candidates against drilling appears to exist in the region. But, it seems that Cullen was better than other candidates [...]

Totems in Stanley Park from Local First Nations

The Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations claim Stanley Park as part of their traditional territories. Yet, for generations, the totem poles in the park have been from communities in other parts of British Columbia. Now, local First Nations have rectified that situation and erected their own gateways in Stanley Park. The Vancouver Sun covers [...]

Clayoquot Sound: Diverging Interests of Native and Environmentalists

Mark Hume has a terrific article in the Globe and Mail (or here) about the politics surrounding aboriginal involvement in the environmental movement in BC. For example: One of the ironies in Clayoquot Sound is that the native company now fighting environmentalists was saved from financial collapse two years ago by Ecotrust Canada – a [...]

Truth, Reconciliation, and Residential Schools

Prime Minister Harper will read Canada’s apology for residential schooling in the House of Commons tomorrow. The CBC has a number of features associated with Harper’s speech. The National (CBC TV) is broadcasting special productions as part of its nightly newscasts this week. And, the CBC.ca has an extensive online historical package on its website. [...]

Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation

Terry Glavin cautions that we must not forget the truth component of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He elaborates at theTyee.ca.