Aboriginal rights a threat to Canada's resource agenda, documents reveal

[arikara]

The Canadian government is increasingly worried that the growing clout of aboriginal peoples’ rights could obstruct its aggressive resource development plans, documents reveal. Since 2008, the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs has run a risk management program to evaluate and respond to “significant risks” to its agenda, including assertions of treaty rights, the rising expectations of aboriginal peoples, and new legal precedents at odds with the government’s policies.

Yearly government reports obtained by the Guardian predict that the failure to manage the risks could result in more “adversarial relations” with aboriginal peoples, “public outcry and negative international attention,” and “economic development projects [being] delayed.” “There is a risk that the legal landscape can undermine the ability of the department to move forward in its policy agenda,” one Aboriginal Affairs’ report says. “There is a tension between the rights-based agenda of Aboriginal groups and the non-rights based policy approaches” of the federal government.

The Conservative government is planning in the next ten years to attract $650 billion of investment to mining, forestry, gas and oil projects, much of it on or near traditional aboriginal lands. Critics say the government is determined to evade Supreme Court rulings that recognize aboriginal peoples’ rights to a decision-making role in, even in some cases jurisdiction over, resource development in large areas of the country.

snip

Since 2007, the government has also turned to increased spying, creating a surveillance program aimed at aboriginal communities deemed “hot spots” because of their involvement in protest and civil disobedience against unwanted extraction on their lands. Over the last year, the Harper government has cut funding to national, regional and tribal aboriginal organizations that provide legal services and advocate politically on behalf of First Nations, raising cries that it is trying to silence growing dissent.


http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2014/mar/04/aboriginal-rights-canada-resource-agenda

Too bad the cbc wouldn't write something like this.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. The CBC

is increasingly a gutless disappointment. They're more concerned with political fluff pieces and food fights, human interest stories, and promoting a wholesome view of Canadiana. And their new commenting system is joke.

[arikara]

2. I agree with everything you said

I rarely even go to the CBC website anymore since they made their changes. Most of the stuff they have up now is just reposted from somewhere else and they don't even allow comments on it. They advertise as much as the networks do now too, really offensive ads like for the enbridge pipeline.