Also:

Salmon return after century-long absence (Vancouver Province)

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The 9-0 decision upholds native-only fisheries and answers questions about native only fishing going back to 1998.

Listen to the discussion between Michael Smyth, Doug Kelly, and Phil Eidsvik on CKNW.

CKNW on-air host Sean Lesley interviews MP John Cummins and then Grand Chief Ed John of the First Nations Summit about the decision. The callers to the program have interesting perspectives too. Listen here:

Also:

Kapp news (Fieldnotes)
All fisherman should be treated equally (CKNW)
Aboriginal only fishery rights upheld (CKNW)

Supreme Court should reconsider its fishing decision (Letter by John Cummins, MP in Vancouver Sun)

The Supreme Court based its legal conclusions on a demonstrably mistaken view of the record. Given what can charitably be called a bizarre decision riddled with obvious errors, it now has an obligation to reconsider its decision.

Court decision legitimizes racial bias (Vancouver Sun)

Ethnocultural leaders might be tempted to celebrate this ruling, but they shouldn’t. The flip side of racial preferences is racial profiling. When governments engage in racial preferences they are practising racial profiling by meting out differential treatment to individuals based on generalizations about the racial groups to which they belong.

The crude, two-fisted “affirmative action” model endorsed by the Supreme Court is obsolete. It’s strange the justices didn’t know that.

Native fishing program part of much bigger agenda (Ernie Crey in Delta Optimist)

And, by the way, Section 15.2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not just about aboriginal people and race; it’s also about gender, colour, ethnic and national origin, religion, age and mental and physical disability. Section 15.2 permits governments to adopt policies and programs designed to ameliorate disadvantage and poverty among these groups.

A bad decision on race-based fisheries (Ottawa Citizen)

The Supreme Court of Canada understands that aboriginal people have suffered hardship. But the court’s good intentions, expressed in a troubling decision last week, take the country to a place we don’t want to go, one where it’s acceptable to confer and withhold rights according to race.

Exclusive aboriginal fishery in B.C. not a charter violation: top court (CBC.ca):

Despite the Supreme Court ruling, the judges identified a “real conflict” over the issue, because non-native fishermen were treated differently based on “racial differences.”

“It is established, in this case, that the right given by the Pilot Sales Program is limited to aboriginals and has a detrimental effect on non-aboriginal commercial fishers who operate in the same region as the beneficiaries of the program,” the court ruling said.

“It is also clear that the disadvantage is related to racial differences … The right to equality afforded to every individual under Section 15 [of the charter] is not capable of application consistently with the rights of aboriginal fishers holding licences under the Pilot Sales Program. There is a real conflict,” it said.

Top court supports aboriginal-only commercial fishery (Canwest)

Eight of the nine Supreme Court justices dismissed the case on the grounds that the licences are part of an affirmative action program, and therefore do not violate the equality guarantee of the charter. Retiring Justice Michel Bastarache agreed, but indicated he would have dismissed the case solely on the basis of the section of the charter that guarantees certain rights and freedoms for aboriginals. Bastarache wrote that he didn’t even need to consider whether the licences violated the equality rights of the non-aboriginal fishermen because he believes the program falls under section 25 of the charter and that section takes priority.

Supreme Court upholds aboriginal-only fishery (Vancouver Sun)

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that an aboriginal-only commercial fishery is consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it sought to improve the economic conditions of a disadvantaged group, in this case, three aboriginal bands from B.C.

Canada urged to cancel native commercial fisheries after court decision (Vancouver Sun)

Conservative MP John Cummins (Delta-Richmond East) said the court ruling leaves non-native gillnet fisherman on the Fraser River economically disadvantaged.

“They are the ones paying the price,” he said. “Their hardship has been ignored by the courts. They’re ordinary Canadians who bought a boat, a licence and some gear. They never made a huge whack of money. They made a living.”

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From the government’s press release:

The Chehalis have a long history of respecting Kweh-Kwuch-Hum as sacred and there is archaeological evidence of an established and structured community in the area from 1,500 years ago. Events like weddings, name ceremonies, memorials, potlatch celebrations, and spiritual activities such as rites of passage and the Winter Dance ceremonial continue to take place in the area and its longhouses, as they have done for years and generations before. Aboriginal people from all over the region have traditionally come to Chehalis to participate in Winter Dance activities …

Government actions regulations provide direction for the establishment of land designations that protect forest values including First Nations cultural heritage resources, watersheds, ecosystems, fisheries, species at risk and recreation sites or trails.

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Takla representatives are angered that their rights and Territory have been seriously damaged by mining and forestry in the past and nothing has been done. “The government still hasn’t cleaned up the contaminated mercury mine at the Bralorne site”, stated Councillor Kathaleigh George. “It’s on their top 10 list of contaminated sites, and they won’t clean it up. This is in an important camping and hunting area and our Nation has a hard time accepting new mining when there is this old unfinished business”.

This action looks very similar to the continuing checkpoint/blockade of the Ealue Lake Road near Iskut Village. That checkpoint restricts access to the headwaters of the Nass, Skeena, and Stikine Rivers and to the hunting and camping areas of Tahltans.

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Original Post: Imperial Metals, owner of Red Chris Mine near Iskut, British Columbia, reports that the Federal Court of Appeal has “reconfirmed the Federal environmental assessment of the Red Chris project, which concluded the project is unlikely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” The application against the mine and its environmental certificate was made by Mining Watch Canada.

Also: To lake or not to lake: where to put Canadian mine tailings? (I Think Mining)
Canadian Ministries still ultimate authority in mine environmental assessments (Int’l Business News; June 17, 2008)
Miners Win Court Battle (Terrace Standard; June 17, 2008)
Red Chris Mine Buoyed By Ruling (Toronto Star; June 17, 2008)
Another Mine in Northwestern BC Attracts Media Attention (Fieldnotes)
Federal Court Halts Red Chris Mine (MiningWatch; Oct 4, 2007)

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Six months after announcing massive cost overruns had forced his company to suspend construction at the Galore Creek copper-gold mine, the president and chief executive of NovaGold Resources Inc. said a fresh set of plans contemplates a mine with an even greater mineral output.

More to follow, I’m sure.

See also: Galore Creek Mine Development Suspended

(Hat tip to Matthew)

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See the press release from Friends of Wild Salmon.

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This bibliography lists and summarizes materials on the Tahltan language, including linguistic and anthropological research papers, dictionaries, collections of stories, and teaching materials. We hope that the bibliography will give language teachers, linguists, anthropologists, and all others interested in Tahltan language and culture (and Athabaskan languages in general) an awareness of what materials exist and how they might be useful in a range of scholarship.

Download the bibliography by visiting the Journal’s page for the article. Or download the pdf here.

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