Don't vote for the Liberals! Vote for the Liberals!
Huh?
Election fever creates election confusion
for Aboriginal voters in Canada/BC Elections

News and Comment
by Tehaliwaskenhas -Bob Kennedy, Oneida
Publisher, Turtle Island Native Network
www.turtleisland.org

It's true, we're being told not to vote for the Liberals in the British Columbia provincial election because they're likely to be more adversarial than the current NDP government, and because they want to have a province-wide referendum on treaties. In a red-neck right-wing driven agenda led by Gordon Campbell's Liberals, how do you think we'll fare in such a vote?

It's also true, we're being told to vote for the Liberals in the Canadian election because if the Alliance Party wins then we're all toast. No more treaties. No more Aboriginal rights. No more Indians. That's about the size of it if Stockwell Day, the bible thumping fundamentalist, no special rights wanna-be prime minister - your basic average essential inheritance from the Reform Party, gets into power in Ottawa.

Remember them? It's important we don't forget the three R's. Remember Reform Racism. Just because they put a new label on a new leader doesn't mean they've stopped leaning to the far right of Canada's political spectrum. These guys are not our friends, no matter what they call themselves.

Speaking of political smoke and mirrors. British Columbia gets the top award in that category. After all, Liberal in BC sure as hell doesn't mean Liberal as Canada has known Liberal in the traditions of the liberal democracy-driven regimes of St. Laurent, Pearson, Trudeau and Chretien. Gordon Campbell himself must have Alliance-envy. There's absolutely no doubt he and the BC Liberals could easily stake out some common ground in Stockwell Day's cowboy camp.

It gets even more confusing if you're an Aboriginal person considering voting in either the federal or provincial election. Take for example if you live in Vancouver Mt. Pleasant. The candidate for the BC Liberals is an Indian. Gail Sparrow, former chief of the Musqueam Indian Band.

Say what? But I thought you said the BC Liberals can't be trusted to deal with us fairly and that they don't have our best interests in mind? In fact, the Sparrow women are long known for their strategic minds and political savvy. Me thinks Gail Sparrow is a wise wise women. I suspect the best case scenario is that if she wins, even her naysayers win. The odds on favourites to win the BC election are the Liberals, so isn't it far better to have someone from 'our' camp in 'their' camp if they're going to form the government? In fact, because the 'writing is on the wall' --- for weeks now, representatives of major Aboriginal organizations have been meeting privately with BC Liberal officials to discuss key issues and strategies in the event they take power. You can bet that has not been happening with the federal Alliance.

I once heard Stewart Phillip suggest in a rather matter-of-fact way that a Liberal victory in BC is no big deal. The President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, when confronted with the possibility of having to deal with a Gordom Campbell administration, said as Indian people "we always become stronger in those kinds of situations". Perhaps it means we'll have to all work together for the common good to fight the common enemy?

The other thing to consider is that nothing much seems to be happening anyway in treaty talks under the current government, so what have we got to lose? How about time and money. Also, all the efforts spent on educating these NDP people and the residual Socred dinosaurs in the bureaucracy. Then there is the tough task of the inevitable wake-up call we'll have to deliver to Mr. Campbell and friends just to get their attention. In a BC Liberal scenario there will be no one step forward and two back for us. From day one it will be - take two steps back.

Scary tales in the federal election arena too, although it may be a simple matter of 'the devil you know rather than the devil you don't know'. I can't ever imagine a 'day' of peace if the Alliance Party forms the next Canadian government. Throughout the campaign they've been talking about equal rights and no more decisions based on race. The problem with their simplistic gobbledy-gook is that it is code for 'get rid of the Indians'. These people do not even respect their own laws, Constitution and due process. Imagine the treatment we'll receive. Assimilation 101 will be mandatory! If we let Alliance win, it will be a tough lesson to have learned. They'll make the '69 White Paper look like kid's stuff.

Hmm! The White Paper. That's right, it was a Liberal scheme designed to march us into mainstream madness. That's right, Mr. Chretien was the author of the dastardly deed as then Minister of Indian Affairs. You're also right when you ask, but isn't the current Liberal government the same one that refuses to change its Comprehensive Claims Policy demanding we extinguish our Aboriginal rights at the treaty tables? Isn't this the same government that used military-type tactics at Burnt Church, New Brunswick, and was silent over Gustafsen Lake violence and the Dudley George death at Ipperwash? Isn't this the same government lambasted time and again by the United Nations, Human Rights organizations, and it's own auditor general for its inadequate treatment of Aboriginal people? Right again!

In times like this, the Serenity Prayer is about the best advice we'll ever get. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can. Wisdom to know the difference.

And they wonder why we still talk a lot about sovereignty and self government. But that's a can of worms to open on another day.