New contributor Lori Oliver, who grew up in the Digby area, takes a look at the tensions between white and Mi’kmaq lobster fishers in South West Nova Scotia. The issues go deeper than most newspaper reports suggests, she writes, poverty, racism and colonialism are at the root of the current problems.
This week’s brand new weekend video shows highlights from the recent town hall tour organized by a coalition of individuals and groups opposed to the Alton Gas development. It seems only shareholders and politicians are in favour of the Alton Gas project. Everybody else, not so much.
A quick read on how all that focus on “conquered people”, shameful as it is, ignores a larger question. How come government lawyer Alex Cameron was allowed to make a very similar argument in June?
Premier McNeil has said he didn’t know that a government lawyer was calling the Mi’kmaq a conquered people in court, and the duty to consult non-existent. The language may have been more subdued, but that same lawyer made the same argument in June, and that he held these controversial views was widely known.
Arguing in court that the Sipekne’katik Band is a conquered people and that therefore the duty to consult does not apply is exactly the wrong thing to do for the McNeil government, writes contributor Art Bouman. But he isn’t surprised, it’s all about money and fossil fuels.
Ken Summers takes the pulse of the Alton Gas project in light of the company’s recent announcement that it will not begin its brining operation this year. The company’s future here doesn’t look quite as bright as it did say three years ago. It’s what happens when you’re not welcome.
We know the friendship treaties between the Mi’kmaq and the Crown are important, but if you’re at all like me that’s probably where your knowledge ends. Now there is an excellent book that shows how treaty relationships have remained a vital part of the collective memory of the Mi’kmaq through time, and how and why the Mi’kmaw interpretation has slowly gained traction. That didn’t just happen, it took a lot of skillful and fearless effort.
Some ordinary people fighting environmental hazards in their backyards, and a bunch of students as well, showed up at the start of the fall session at Province House, and they aren’t very happy with the Liberal government.
Chances are that Justin Trudeau,federal ministers and Stephen McNeil are going to find their inboxes and Facebook and Twitter timelines rather full this week. The group that is trying to stop Alton Gas from dumping brine into the vulnerable Shubenacadie River kicked off a one-week social media blitz to make the politicians aware of the issues.
This weekend’s weekend video is Seeking Netukulimk, by Martha Stiegman. Learn about Mi’kmaq treaties and stewardship of the land in this lyrical documentary by a master documentary maker.