| Michael Gurstein on Tue, 16 Apr 2002 19:44:38 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> The British Columbia Aboriginal Rights Referendum |
This below is the set of questions put out by "Elections BC", "a non-partisan" Office of the Legislature of the Government of British Columbia as a "referendum on the principles to guide the province's approach to treaty negotiations with Canada and First Nations in British Columbia." My opinions on the issue of Aboriginal Rights and Treaties are complex and beside the point, however, the complete lack of neutrality in this appalling piece of rubbish is an embarrassment to any professional social scientist (not to speak of anyone who believes in the democratic process!). Concerned citizens in British Columbia are boycotting the referendum or planning to spoil their ballots. I think it would not be untoward for professional social scientists world wide to look to their organizations to pass resolutions disavowing the contempt for democracy and for professional methods of opinion gathering indicated by this effort and condemning the Government of British Columbia for besmirching its democratic traditions in this way. Letters to the Premier and the local newspaper as below might also be useful as indicating that such a complete lack of professionalism and ad herence to the spirit of democracy shames BC before the entire world. Michael Gurstein, Ph.D. NYC and Vancouver BC ----------------------------- ----------------------------- Whereas the Government of British Columbia is committed to negotiating workable, affordable treaty settlements that will provide certainty, finality and equality: Do you agree that the Provincial Government should adopt the following principles to guide its participation in treaty negotiations? 1. Private property should not be expropriated for treaty settlements. Y N 2. The terms and conditions of leases and licenses should be respected; fair compensation for unavoidable disruption of commercial interests should be ensured. Y N 3. Hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities on Crown land should be ensured for all British Columbians. Y N 4. Parks and protected areas should be maintained for the use and benefit of all British Columbians. Y N 5. Province-wide standards of resource management and environmental protection should continue to apply. Y N 6. Aboriginal self-government should have the characteristics of local government, with powers delegated from Canada and British Columbia. Y N 7. Treaties should include mechanisms for harmonizing land use planning between Aboriginal governments and neighbouring local governments. 8. The existing tax exemptions for Aboriginal people should be phased out. Y N (Mark your choice for each statement by marking a X in the Yes or No box beside question 1 to 8.) ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- Those who wish to comment on the above might want to send emails to [email protected] (Tel. 1-800-661-8683) with copies to: The Premier: [email protected] The Vancouver Sun (newspaper) letters to the editor: [email protected] http://www.elections.bc.ca/referendum/referendum_main.html http://www.treatyreferendum.ca/principl.htm # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: [email protected] and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected]