C-FAR #292 October, 1995
Our Home or Native
Land-Native Lands Claims Fiasco,
A Review by Doug Collins
Minorityitis-the favouring of minorities at the expense of the majority-starts
usually with an assertion by the minority that they are victims. This status
of victimhood-given the propensity of Europeans to feelings of guilt-is
used to pry open the door for all manners of privileges. We will not be
able to deal rationally with the many minority-majority conflicts I n the
country, unless we start with a firm grasp of the facts, rather then self-serving
tales of victimhood. A new book Our Home or Native Land offers some valuable
debunking of the notion that Canadian aboriginals, Indians, native people,
or whatever the politically correct moniker is, are a victimized minority.
Far from it they enjoy privileges the majority does not. Worse, if the
current orgy of guilt and secretive lands claims settlements continue apace,
we may find ourselves stripped of much of our country. Vancouver journalist
Doug Collins reviews Our Home or Native Land [available from C-FAR Books
for only $20.00 postpaid.]
"Mel Smith, QC, the constitutional expert has written the definitive
work on Indian land claims. . The 565,000 status Indians in Canada have
been given virtual immunity from all taxes-federal, provincial or municipal.
Which doesn't stop the Indian `nations" demands for more of everything.
We may be throwing billions of dollars their way but it is not enough.
. The first chapter of Our Home and Native Land, headed `Fiscal Folly',
is alone worth the price of the book. . Indians don't have to pay GST or
PST in Park Royal South, or, for that matter, in any bit of land they own.
Which inspires a worrying thought. If we give half the country to them,
which is by no means an impossibility, they won't have to pay taxes in
that half either. And if current trends continue, that is exactly what
will happen, courtesy of our brilliant political leaders. In the Northwest
Territories. They already control one-fifth of the Canadian land mass,
,thanks to Brian Mulroney and the ever-pliant Liberals and NDP. We have
to atone for `past wrongs,' you know. Tax exemptions, Smith points out
that ingenious techniques are used to arrange sales on reserves which are
not subject to taxes. And I would say that that has been engineered for
the most part by ingenious white salesmen. But who can blame them? They
are just playing by the rules. The feds have been generous with your money,
as always. `Revenue Canada has ruled that even though goods may be purchased
OFF the reserve, they will not be subject to GST if they are delivered
to the reserve by the seller, states the author. What must surely take
the cake, he continues, is that the Indians are entitled to the GST `rebate
credit' paid to lower income Canadians![Indians get the rebate even though,
if they live on the reserve, they don't pay GST] What could be better?
That's right in line with the something for nothing attitude fostered by
the feds, except that you are paying for the nothing. Remember that old
saying, `it beats the band?' The band-the Indian band-is now beating us.
With a little help from its friends. Status Indians on reserves are beyond
the reach of provincial and municipal property taxes, too. Some like the
Squamish, do not pay taxes for garbage collection. But the point is they
can not be compelled to pay a dime, no matter what service they enjoy,
including police protection. Incomes earned on the reserve are also non-taxable.
Even if Indians work off -reserve, no more than 3,000 in the whole country
will have to pay income tax, thanks to new guidelines issued by Revenue
Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada had ruled that off- reserve income
was taxable, but the.feds jumped in to change the rules again. `The whole
thing is farcical,' states Smith. It is also scandalous, ridiculous and
crazy. But what else can we expect when we are ruled by fools who practise
the politics of racial preference and appeasement? India `self- government'
is another seamy expression. You pay; they govern. There is never any mention
of `self- governed' managing their own affairs, like welfare affairs. Reserves
have the right to collect property taxes, however, and that's why Central
Saanich on Vancouver Island has lost about 4.8% of its tax base. Indian
affairs, meaning the feds, gave the Tsawouts that right without giving
the municipality time to negotiate an agreement. But Central Saanich, says
Smith, still has to provide fir protection, water, sewer services, and
much else, and the band is `dragging its feet' in the matter of paying
for them. . Apartheid is acceptable. Especially if you are Indian living
apart on white foolishness." (North Shores News, July 12, 1995)
Indian Land Claims &
Nunavut: Let's Have None of It!
C-FAR Associate and award-winning columnist Doug Collins observes:
" When the RCMP crawled into the Indian blockade smoking the pipe
of peace, we shouldn't have been surprised. Wimpland forever! It's the
same with the financial blockade known as Indian land claims. We are in
for a royal screwing, and if you want the full story, you have to read
Mel Smith's appropriately named book, Our Home and Native Land." [See
review above.] "It shows we are governed by the biggest bunch of burglars
in creation, and what Smith has done by the mainstream media years ago.
The author is a QC and a former advisor to B.C. governments on constitutional
affairs and he has presented his case against Indian land claims fact by
devastating fact. . Here are a few of the things he opposes. The Inuit
[Eskimos] have been given effective control of the huge Nunavat area in
the Northwest Territories, including outright ownership of 350,000 square
miles. Thst is equal to 40 per cent of B.C. On top of that, they will be
paid $580 million over a 14-year period. How many Inuit are there? About
17, 500." (North Shore News, July 5, 1995) In Nunavat, Southern Canadian
taxpayers will pay so that a huge territories' population can play at self-government.
"Ottawa has conferred nearly $1-billion in cash compensation since
1984 on fewer than 27,000 natives on the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Thats nearly $37,000 per person, or more than $145,00 for a family of four!
The cash is only the start. In the NWT, aboriginals secured outright ownership
of more than 500,000 square kilometers-an area over half as big as Ontario.
They also wield virtual veto power over future development of a tract five
times larger, courtesy of the regulatory process requiring their input.
In the biggest settlement area, known as Nunavut, federal legislation .
mandates the creation of a provincial-style government in 1999. It will
include a legislature, up to 15 government departments, a Court of Appeals
and Supreme Court, and a plethora of boards and commissions. This elaborate
bureaucratic structure will serve a population currently numbering less
than 22,000 [natives and non-natives]. Capital costs to establish Nunavut
government are estimated at $334- million, while start-up costs between
1999 and 2008 will add $520-million. Virtually all these expenses will
be covered by outside taxpayers.' (Albert Report, July 17, 1995) "With
the creation of Nunavut, . the regions 18,000 Inuit . will effectively
acquire a form of self-government, in as much as they make 80 per cent
of the new territories population. However," there will be almost
total "reliance on transfer payments from Ottawa, which are expected
to account for 95 per cent of Nunavut's revenue in 1999." (Globe and
Mail, August 19, 1995)
Doug Collins continues:" Also in the NWT, another agreement covers
an area nearly one-third the size of B.C. and includes outright ownership
of an area seven times the size of Prince Edward Island. The bonanza ,
plus $130-million over 15 years, went to 1,755 Sahtus, Denes, and Metis.
Reform MP Mike Scott said to the House that that was equal to $130,000
for each adult, and, if every adult Canadian were to receive the same amount,
the government would need more than $3 trillion !"(North Shore News,
op.cit.) "In the Yukon, legislated settlements hastily rammed through
Parliament by the Chretien Liberals last June may prove even more problematic.
As in the NWT, four small groups of natives have been granted generous
amounts of land and money. But the Yukon settlements, to number 14 when
other deals are signed, also allow each band to pass laws and administer
programmes governing off-reserve band members. That means areas like Whitehorse
and Dawson will be saddled with a welter of laws and social programmes
that vary from house to house depending on the occupants' ethnicity. Aside
from the inherent racism involved, Mr. Smith says `the mishmash of jurisdictional
disputes and intergovernmental wrangling is too horrible to contemplate."'
(Albert Report, July 17,1995)
The cost to taxpayers of our Indian policy are horrific. An Ottawa
1969 White Paper on Indian Policy, during the tenure as Indian Affairs
Minister of one Jean Chretien proposed "to give $50-million to native
organizations. But whereas that money was originally intended to assist
in assimilation, it was diverted to lobbying for the new Indian demands.
By 1985, funding to native political organizations had grown to $`100-
million annually. Writes Mr. Smith: `Thus the Indian industry was born.'
The flood of taxpayer money was borne abundant fruit. Since 1975, spending
by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has risen
by 721 per cent. In the 1994-95 fiscal year, Ottawa budgeted a total of
$5.859-billion on native programmes (or roughly $10,000 for each of Canada's
600,000 status Indians.) As well, reserve Indians enjoy broad tax exemptions
and quality for subsidized housing, post-secondary school education and
free medical benefits like dental care." (ibid.)
Doug Collins continues: "In Saskatchewan, both levels of government
have committed themselves to giving 26 Indian bands over $446-million to
buy more than one-and-a-half million acres. States the author: "they
have been given the money to buy up land and equivalent to 1,500 Stanley
Parks.' Stanley Park? Wendy Grant, of the `First Nations'-first in more
senses than one-says it, too, belongs to the Indians. `We can claim downtown
Vancouver. It is ours.' Don't laugh. Crazier things are going on. Financial
Institutions smelt the wind along time ago. With an eye to business, Ron
Jamieson, vice-president of the Bank of Montreal, has stated: `The fact
that by the end of the decade, aboriginal people are going to own or control
a third of the Canadian land mass and be the recipient of $5-billion and
6-billion.' Smith says that estimate is too low. If present trends continue,
land claims in B.C. alone could cost $8-billion to $12-billion. Why is
this sellout taking place? Because bureaucrats, politicians and lawyers
have set up an `insidious parasitic Indian industry' and because of most
of the mainstream media have pumped the Indian case. . Frequently, the
media have ignored bills dealing with massive giveaways, as Reformer Scott
Lamented in the Shatu case. The land claims game is enriching lawyers.
`it is an eternal feast for them,' a consultant has stated. You are paying
for it of course. If costs of all kinds are included, negotiating for land
claims settlements in the Yukon alone has been estimated at $90 million,
says Smith. The politicians-especially the Harcourt lot-say there is no
alternative to what they are doing. They blame it on the courts. But the
author shoots that screen full of holes. There is no legal base for what
is going on. `no court in Canada has found that Indian ownership includes
fee simple ownership,' he states. `Yet, large areas are being conveyed
outright.' Whatever base there is has been invented by politicians who
run for cover story every time some fat cat Indian leader like Orvide Mercedi
shouts `racist'. But they have no compunction about granting Indians advantages
based solely on race. . Indian programmes of all sorts are `budgetary volcanoes
rising in a sea of public debt,'" Smith concludes sadly..
C-FAR NEWSLETTER #292, Oct, 1995
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