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PEOPLE'S VOICE LEAD EDITORIALS: ISSUE OF OCT. 16-31, 1999
(These editorials are from the Oct. 16-31, 1999 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
THE VANCOUVER CIVIC ELECTION
For many years, Vancouver's Committee (later "Coalition") of Progressive Electors was at the cutting edge of labour-backed civic reform movements in Canada, until the crushing defeats of 1993 and 1996 nearly led to COPE's demise. But with a new strategy and a strong slate of candidates, COPE has a real shot at breaking the Non-Partisan Alliance stranglehold on the city. A breakthrough by the COPE/Green alliance in the Nov. 20 election would be a victory for independent labour political action, and a major boost for the concept of unity in action of labour, environmental groups, public education supporters, the women's movement, anti-poverty activists, and other progressives.
Labour and left activists need to give strong support to the COPE/Green slate, not because COPE in its present form is perfect (far from it!), but because there is a desperate need for working people to gain a voice on Vancouver city council, and on the school and park boards. We also need to help elect candidates of joint civic reform slates in Victoria and other cities. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day, and the powerful civic reform movement of the 1970s and '80s won't be rebuilt in one municipal election. But the way to begin rebuilding that movement is to get into the campaign, not to sit on the sidelines. Let's roll up our sleeves and help elect COPE/Green candidates next month!
SUPPORT FIRST NATION FISHING RIGHTS
The decision of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court to recognize the historic treaty rights of the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy peoples to earn a decent living harvesting wildlife is long overdue but welcome.
Unfortunately, the corporate media has spread considerable false information about the implications of the decision. This racist misinformation campaign is similar to the media/Reform Party attack against the First Nations peoples seeking to earn a living from the fisheries and forests of their unceded territories in British Columbia. In both regions, it is vital for working people to understand that the recognition of the inherent rights of First Nations is not some kind of "giveaway" to a special interest group. What is at stake is the need to reverse the legacy of many decades of poverty and oppression which began with the colonial theft of aboriginal lands and resources.
Of some 3,000 boats active in the lobster fisheries on the East Coast, only 40 are operated by indigenous people. Of those 40 boats, most of which are very small, only three or four are new to the fisheries. In the short term, the indigenous fishers pose no threat to the vital lobster resource. Seen in this light, the sudden promotion of conservation concerns by the corporate media is dubious at best.
The real threats to the fisheries and woods in the Maritimes are the large corporations that suck up all living matter from the seabeds and clearcut the forests. Battles between indigenous and non-indigenous fishers only serve to promote the further devastation of the lands and seas.
We are confident that the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy will make every effort to reach a meaningful and fair accord with non-indigenous fishers and non-status indigenous peoples, an accord which will take into account the measures needed to preserve this resource for future generations.
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