Editor:
Re: TNG oppose Prosperity.
It is no surprise that the Tsilhqot’in National Government, and many others, too, continue to oppose the very idea of Prosperity mine, whether it destroys Teztan Biny or not.
However such a mine were to be developed, the impacts on the local ecosystem and Tsihqot’in culture and society would be devastating.
But that is not even the central objection.
The central fact that continues to elude government, the corporate sector, and especially the mainstream media, is that aboriginal rights and the sovereignty issue that underlies them must be recognized.
Contrary to common opinion, even the modern treaty process is not about “extinguishment” of those rights and the aboriginal self government rights that are recognized and affirmed in the Canadian constitution and that are interpreted as “sovereignty” by First Nations.
First Nations would be foolish indeed were they to acquiesce in such an “extinguishment.”
I don’t believe that any First Nations that are fully aware of the power of those rights will ever consent to give them up.
If the mine, indeed any resource extraction, were to proceed without prior consultation and accommodation, and we believe even permission, from the First Nation on whose lands the resources are situated, an illegal act will have occurred.
This is the situation British Columbia finds itself in after more than 150 years of neglecting a fundamental concept of its own English legal system, the concept that those who first occupy the land are the owners of it.
David Williams
President
Friends of the Nemaiah Valley
