The Electric Pencil

Intercontinental Cry reports on a new study from the The International Boreal Conservation Campaign (IBCC) that lays out how Canada’s “free mining” laws, a holdover from those quaint days of colonialism, is still resulting in First Nations communities being essentially stripped of their rights to natural resources.

From the release accompanying the report:

Over a half-million sq km of mineral claims are currently staked across Canada’s Boreal Forest under a “free entry” tenure system implemented 150 years ago during the Klondike gold rush era. Under the free entry system, mineral rights are acquired automatically without consideration of other land-use priorities or the prior and informed consent of affected Aboriginal people.

Also posted at IC, taken from the report, is the following map. I think it’s a must see for anyone who still wonders why First Nations communities continue the legitimate fight for management of their land and the resources found within them (click map to enlarge).

That’s what Daniel Marc Weinstock, professor of philosophy at the Université de Montréal and member of the advisory committee for the Bouchard-Taylor commission, muses in today’s La Presse. Weinstock tells the paper he has difficulty recognising the report in what the Gazette reported over the weekend and wonders if maybe the paper was taken for a ride. Weinstock is backed up by Rachida Azdouz, a vice-dean at UdM and also on the advisory committee, who thinks that the Gazette’s report most likely distorted the final report’s recommendations.

Excerpt:

« Il faut lire ça avec circonspection. La question linguistique a été mentionnée, mais la façon dont cela a été rapporté est vraiment démesurée », résume Mme Azdouz. « Ce que j’ai lu dans The Gazette était extrêmement distortionné, à un point tel que je me suis demandé si le journaliste n’avait pas été victime d’un canular », de renchérir le professeur Weinstock qui lui aussi avait eu à commenter le projet de rapport peu après Pâques.