VICTORIA — The question that dominated a Richmond public meeting this week on the impact of a recent court decision on Aboriginal title was a simple one: “Why weren’t we told sooner?”
Residents had learned just this month, courtesy of a letter from Mayor Malcolm Brodie, that the B.C. Supreme Court decision recognizing Aboriginal title over hundreds of acres of city land could have a “negative impact” on private land within the area.
(Incognito)
A City of Richmond letter to property owners in the Cowichan Aboriginal title area recognized by the B.C. Supreme Court has brought the judgment’s potential impacts into stark reality.
“For those whose property is in the area outlined in black,” the letter explained, “the Court has declared Aboriginal title to your property which may compromise the status and validity of your ownership.”
OTTAWA – An internal audit says more than 130 Indigenous artworks were unaccounted for in a collection managed by Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada.
The report, dated last November, was published earlier this month on the department’s website and looks into the practices of the Indigenous Art Centre.
The audit notes the collection managed by that body consists of more than 5,000 artworks from First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists, valued at roughly $14.4 million.
When it was proposed that property rights be enshrined in the Constitution, the New Democratic Party (NDP), Canada’s socialist party, came out adamantly opposed to it, and so this never happened.
When I returned to Canada in 1981, after having lived in the United States for 15 years, then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was in the process of what was called “repatriating” the Canadian Constitution. I remember being appalled by the process and the final result. To be clear, a good argument could be made for doing what the PM was doing. At the time Canada already had a constitution, it was called the British North America Act of 1867, but it was an act passed by the British Parliament when granting Canada independence and as such could only be amended by said Parliament. Since it stemmed from the constitutional tradition of England, the British North America Act was not that bad for what it was, but the idea of devising a made-in-Canada constitution had a lot of merit both because it would give more independence to the country and also provide an opportunity for Canada to craft a formal Bill of Rights that could be referenced moving forward. But, as ever, the devil was in the details and on this score the process and the result were seriously flawed.
This week, about 150 homeowners in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond received letters from the city’s mayor, Malcolm Broday, advising them that an August B.C. Supreme Court ruling “may compromise the status and validity of your ownership.”
That’s an understatement. The ruling, if it survives an appeal by the city and the province, could extinguish the homeowners’ titles to the properties they have owned and occupied for decades.
What if the asinine land acknowledgments by which moonbats in North America express their hatred of their own country are not just deranged virtue signaling? What if liberals actually follow through on the notion that our countries belong not to those who built them but to the descendants of the nomadic savages who wandered around in this region before civilization arrived?
Americans must regard us as loons.
h/t patthedog
The City of Vancouver has refused to reveal the cost of renaming Trutch St. šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm St., claiming doing so could “harm” the government and indigenous people.
In response to a request filed by the Western Standard, the director of access to information & privacy said the data was “excepted from disclosure” under Sections s. 16(1) and s. 18.1 of British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act.
(Incognito)
This week, over 100 homeowners in Richmond, B.C., got a notice no one wants to receive: Mayor Malcolm Brodie warned that due to a recent court decision, the title to their homes may be worthless.
In August, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled in Cowichan Tribes v. Canada that the Cowichan hold Aboriginal title over parts of the Fraser River and Lulu Island in Richmond.
A federal briefing note shows cabinet officials privately told the Chinese Communist regime not to “repeat Canada’s past mistakes,” directly comparing Beijing’s mass detention of Uyghurs to the Indian Residential School system.
The May 6, 2024 document, titled Assistance To China and prepared for the minister of international development, reveals that Canadian diplomats drew parallels between China’s forced labour programs and residential schools, despite international findings that Beijing’s actions amount to genocide.
OneBC has announced that a British Columbia teacher fired over his comments on residential schools will be their first candidate.
Jim McMurtry told the Western Standard he was ” so excited” to join the party and praised leader Dallas Brodie for tackling head on issues that others have been afraid to skirt around.
If Canadians can find a single takeaway from this year’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, on Sept. 30, it’s that, rather than being a sombre day to reflect on historical injustices suffered by Indigenous-Canadians — because there were indeed many — it has instead become a war between those who are rightfully concerned with accuracy and truth, and those who have foolishly abandoned truth in favour of narrative and grievance peddling.
We are living in an era of historic spending on Indigenous priorities. The 2024–25 federal budget devotes nearly $32 billion toward programs and services. That level of commitment demands more than applause — it demands evidence and accountability. The question is simple: where is all that money going, and is it truly reaching the people it is meant to help?
Canadians know that the over-incarceration of Indigenous peoples is a national shame.
About 30 per cent of federal inmates are First Nations, Métis and Inuit, according to the most recent data available. A staggering half of all female federal inmates are Indigenous.
We are a country that loves reports. Canadian governments love to measure people and trends – and, too often, to use reports to stand in for action. But what is needed is a coalition of the willing that can put their minds to actually making change.
Certainly it’s a national shame but natives receive preferential sentencing and literally billions upon billions are showered upon reserves every year.
It’s not my fault. Do less crime. Raise your kids up. Demand Band financial transparency to tackle corruption. You’re not victims.
Another National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR) has come and gone. This is the fifth since the shocking Kamloops claim was made on May 27, 2021. The orange shirts worn by those who believe in the truth of the claim pay tribute to the 215 indigenous students at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS) they believe died under sinister circumstances, and were buried by priests to hide their crime with the forced help of children — as young as six. That’s the Kamloops claim.
(Incognito)
