i absolutely love it! POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!! all others f--k off!

I love it too. Enough is enough. White people have alot to learn from our First Nations Elders.

The way of the future is the one of the natives are taking. I am ashamed by white intellectual lefties who talk the talk but let these corporations run over our rights. Power to the people , the natives must be scaring the crap out of the ruling class elite, imagine a active organized population that takes control over their own resources. I love it and support it 100 %, noting was accomplished without struggle. Once the drooling masses wake up we can control the agenda and brake up this corrupt government and economic system, look at what's happening in South America, there is a different way. Otro Mundo es posible, another world is possible.

These Native Elders should be our political leaders.

As a resident of Northern BC Ive got to say I feel some empathy for the Tahltan people, but my empathy lies mainly with the people who want to grow and develop their homeland, not run back to the stone age and make baskets to sell. The Tahltan are powerful people, they have one of, if not the, lowest unemployment rates amongst aboriginal people and they are known for being shrewd negotiators who dont stand around with their hands out looking for "grants" and "special funding" like a number of other bands do. They are a trustworthy and proud people who Im honoured and happy to count amongst my friends and customers. I would hate to see the progress they have made be derailed by a number of people coming from outside forcing them to go back to being subservient and needy. Its pretty tough to buy pickups and housing with roots and berries. 10 years ago the Tahltan people couldnt get any credit from local businesses to buy needed supplies or even get hotel rooms when their elders came to the larger centers for medical attention. Now they are an economic power and a driving force to be reckoned with. As I said before, Id hate for them to go backwards. Surely, there must be a middle ground?

"Tahltan are powerful people"
"they are known for being shrewd negotiators"
"trustworthy and proud people"
"Im honoured and happy to count amongst my friends and customers"
"I would hate to see the progress they have made be derailed by a number of people coming from outside forcing them to go back to being subservient and needy..."
"Now they are an economic power and a driving force to be reckoned with. As I said before, Id hate for them to go backwards."

What a bunch of condescending, prejudicial clap-trap. I pity the Talhtan if this "steveoverhere" is the type of person they have to deal with day-in day-out. This parasite just won't be shaken off the skin of the land easily, least not without belching aloud his racist & environmentally-destructive bullshit.

Since it's the Tahltan and Iskut elders who are putting the boots to this plan, it would be interesting to hear who steveoverhere thinks is the 'outsider'.

Raven, you are a perceptive reader.

Predjudicial? my ass- I live here and I count my friends by who they are not what colour they are. I dont give a rats ass if they are green with three eyes. Don't call me predjudiced and then spew your ususal power to the people crap. Not sure where you're at but being proud and trustworthy is considered a benefit where I come from. As I said before, you cant buy home or medical treatment with baskets, moosemeat and berries. All I asked for was a middle ground, not your "back to wiping your ass with a stick" mentallity. Sounds to me like your the one with race issues.
Racist?? Horeshit....

(We durned near had a game before the fight broke out.)

The Tahltan elders seem to have unraveled the "certainty" promised by previous Tahltan leaders. Now, can they replace the leaders they don't like with leaders all Tahltan will accept? Can they craft some sort of leadership that represents both their grow-slow approach while also making room for the grow-fast Jerry Asps of their community?

Why would they (or anyone else besides, maybe, Cleopatra) want to make room for Asps?

So... a question for all the people who said they supported the Tahltan elders...have you put some money where your computer keyboard is? This is far more than a "native issue", although it certainy is an example of exactly that. Coal bed methane extraction takes vast amounts of clean water, diverts it, forces it underground to push up the methane..and the water is then thoroughly polluted with just about any kind of nasty crap you'd care to name...we have to stop abusing and misusing our water... notice the government promised HOW MUCH per year if the council would pimp for the corporations...I guess this is the kind of "democracy" the Iraqi people will wind up with now they've had the much touted election...yes, it is a native issue as regards the Tahltan council and local politics but it goes far beyond that, it is the federals interfering, again, in local and provincial business, it is global corporatism trampling over all of us, it is continued polluting of water and land, it is , to me, from all points, a battle we should all take on, not just verbally, not just in the comments section of the Tyee, but in a most basic way. SEND MONEY! The Tahltan will need money for legal fees... it takes money to go nose to nose with oil companies and a federal government which has never been a friend to first nations people. Those of you who claim to be christian...take another look at your Bible...we are supposed to honour God's creation, not exploit and shit upon her. The people are our cousins. Surely to heaven we can give some meaningful support to our own family members!! Ten bucks.. more if you can afford it...stop the empty talk and get real here. Right now these old people are fighting OUR fight...surely to god we can at least chip in and buy them some coffee and donuts! And some legal representation.

Okay Anne, where does one send money, so that the right people get it.

The Tahltan need what any community or government need - representative leaders who work with their long term interests in mind. That long term interest will certainly include some development - mining, forestry etc. - done in a way to benefit them.

Those who think that they, or we, can turn off all such development to our advantage are in dreamland - and will be left behind.

Nowhere have I read in these articles that the Tahltan Elders or Iskut band have refused all resource development. It seems to me that their position is to slow down this hysterical rush to plunder their resource base so they can properly assess the risks and costs. After they are convinced that developments will benefit their tribe, they could very well procede. I think the words of panic that these people are 'anti-development' sound like they are coming from a few self-interested individuals who want to make a profit at their expense.

On another note, what a wonderful film documentary subject this would make!

Contact

, he'll give you an address...or contact nooneisillegal, they have meetings in Vancouver...

Watch the herring season...it is estimated that roughly three-quarters of all returning herring are heading for the Tahsis and Esperanza inlets... the west coast of the Island appears to be the last place the once massive swarms are happening...three days ago there were fiftyseven boats out there waiting for them...way to go, Fisheries, send the entire fleet here, haul'em out until they're on the brink of extinction... some twenty years ago the seine fleet lay off the first nations village of Sliammon...the people , our cousins, called it the "city of lights"...they fished out so much herring that to this day there hasn't been any sign of herring in what was once a rich spawning area...of course Fisheries denies their actions in any way contributed to the disappearance of an entire genetic strain...their story is that after more than twelve thousand years of going to Sliammon to spawn the herring suddenly decided to join up with the genetic strain which goes to Denman and Hornby...yep...duh...

Last year the herring season was a bust on the east coast of Vancouver Island..could it be that Fisheries decision to allow the removal of tonnes of krill for use in the pellets fed to feed lot salmon starved out the herring?

Without krill, and the small fish which feed on them, there is no food for salmon and halibut...having heavily and negatively impacted the very foundation of the wild fishery on the east coast , is Fisheries now going to allow the decimation of the fishery on the west coast of the Island? I wish I had a clue about research, I'd love to know who the big money backers are!!!

From where I sit, the best chance of defence I have, not for myself, but for my grandchildren, is to support those who dare stand up to the global Phillistines. B.C.'s future is winter tourism? Oh, yeah, right, and don't we just have the snow pack to prove it!! Global warming is going to increase, the ski bums and ski bunnies are going to have to learn to roller blade. The Fiberals have altered the rules and the corporations can now play Monopoly with vast tracts of land to which the Province has no legal claim in the first place. Matthew is right, we can't turn off all development, but we can support those who are trying desperately to ensure that "development" doesn't turn the province into a wasteland. Until corporations are required by law to do their extractions CLEANLY, and to repair any damage they cause, they shouldn't be allowed to charge in and continue their assault on the earth. You'd think their mothers never taught them to clean their room and pick up after themselves!!

Anne, you may have erroneously assumed some of these suckers had mothers.

Aside from that you make excellent points especially about the financial interests some writers here have that they aren't talking about when they attack the elders.(p)

The nugget in this article is the Elders vs the Tribal Council. This is not the first time a tribal council has been trumped by the Elders and or the grass roots of a particular band. Imagine...the idea that corrupt local officials occur in cultures other than our own! I just hope it is not purely outrage over the financial inequities that drives the Elder's involvement. I like to believe they are truly concerned over their (our) environment.
Get those rats out of the kitchen!

Talhtan Elders = sustainable development

Just as there's more to being a good guy than buying a round of beers for the boys every once in awhile, there's more to being non-racist than having a friend or two who might have a different coloured skin than yours, steveoverhere. Regarding Canada's First Nations, perhaps the primary form of racism has been one group of people (settlers) deciding that their idea of "progress" or what is right for people to strive for (i.e. a pickup truck) is so superior that they have the right to impose it on others without their consent. One error in thinking that many people make when talking about this situation is to assume that First Nations' peoples have only two choices, our way or the stone age. It may be simply a lack of precision in your writing, but it appears to me that you are making both the above mistakes. On the other hand, if what you mean by a middle ground is deciding in their own time and in their own way, what they want their future to look like, then I guess that's what they're doing, isn't it?

As for your stereotype about Native peoples and handouts, it strikes me as more than a little hypocritical that people could come to a place, steal everything in sight without paying a cent, talk about it like they've done the locals a huge favour, and then call them lazy (looking for a handout) and untrusworthy.

Damned good points Paul Abbott.

The ultimate dream of new-age pioneers is to have that shiny new pickup truck to prove to the world the owner is a success.

Unfortunately, shackling yourself to a job to make the payments paints an entirely different picture of what passes for the good life.

Incidently, a really good way to pay for the gas guzzler is to get a job in a resource industry.

Oh, what a coincidence. We were just talking about resource industries weren't we.

our people from our community does not have to suffer the impacts left behind by the resource idustries, to benifit others that do not have to go through the negative consequences years down the road.our land is our life, because alot of us still depend on our land for our way of survival.some of us choose to live in a concrete jungle, while those of us believe to be connected to mother earth.

Paul- i belive in some respects you may be correct but I can back up that so called stereotype with cold hard facts and personal experiences. My children are members of a band who continually hold meetings (for money)to look for funding (for projects that only benefit certain families who happen to hold power) and basically leave everyone out of everything invluding the "elders". My children, who are leagl members, cannot get a dime for their own education because we are not "on the good side" of council. I agree there are crooked and corrupt people everywhere who do anything to advance their own causes. White people have no monopoly on greed.
As far as new age pioneers. Most of them come from Vancouver and Victoria to save us all from poverty and to give us the good life and bring their own definitions of that same good life. And that new shiny pickup? Up here its pretty much a necessity with a 5 to 10 hour drive to proper medical facilities. We dont have much in the way of transit although we do subsidise a great deal of BC Transit with our resource dollars and taxes. We dont choose gas guzzlers to be trendy or to be with it, we choose em because we have crap for roads, plain and simple. I believe no one has forced any one elses dreams or goals on me, I know what I want. I want to be happy, I want to work to provide a better life for my kids, I want us to get along and I dont want some elses hand in my wallet, regardless of colour.

steveoverhere, if you are so concerned about the rights of the common band members including your children and the elders, whom you say are being ignored by a band council that works behind closed doors, why are you not on side with them?

My read of this, and it is heightened by your closing sentence, is that because you might make a buck off the resource development plans, you too have tossed the elders and their supporters out of the picture.

You might just consider the band's land and resources as the collective wallet that elders are working so hard to keep out of the hands of exploiters and their camp followers.

The following is from:
www.lbl. gov/Education/ELSI/sustain-main.html

Sustainable development is a new term that grew out of the conservation/environmental movement of the 1970's. While the conservation/environmental movement asked questions about preserving the Earth's resources, sustainable development includes questions about how human decisions affect the Earth's environment.

At this moment, sustainable development means different things to different people/groups. The most widely held definition is that of the Brundtland Commission Report of 1987 which stated we must " meet the needs fo the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". In other words, when people make decisions about how to use the Earth's resources such as forests , water, minerals, gems, wildlife, etc., they must take into account not only how much of these resources they are using, what processess they used to get these resources., and who has access to these resources. Are enough resources going to be left for your grandchildren to use and will the environment be left as you know it today?

Right now the laws allow corporations to do whatever they want to do and get away with it. The basic target of a corporation is profit. Profit NOW, and for a few, and to hell with all the future generations. My grandchildren are "status" first nations, their mother's family has always lived on this coast. Since first human life my daughter-in-law's family has used the resources. They were not "stone age people" at all, that's ingrained paternalistic racist bullshit! The people whose blood flows in the veins of my granddaughters had navigational skills which got them to Japan and back home again..got them to California and back, to what is now Mexico and back. There is still evidence today of their version of "fish farms", they built stone "corrals" and urged schools of fish into them, by slapping the water with their paddles. When the tide went out the fish were left behind and easily harvested. These people someone called "stone age" had mastered (and mistressed??) the smoking, curing and preserving of fish, they.........ah, what's the use, those who are committed to racist bullshit will not pay attention anyway!! For years I have started every public reading by sharing the "Song For The Dead", and I never had any trouble doing it. Recently I did a public reading on Lasquetti. I confidently started the Song For The Dead and I choked. I couldn't see the words on the page, all I could see were the faces of my granddaughters, my daughter-in-law, members of her family...I live in the heart of what is their homeland now, and all around me is evidence of a civilization which , quite frankly, didn't need anything we brought with us when we came. Yes, there are deep and endemic problems with band councils...who set up the system, who trained people in whose rules... who set the standard and example...you think it's an accident there is dysfunction in band politics? The amazing thing is that there isn't more!! And yes, a number of the Elders are coming out of a long history of alcohol and other problems. SO? Our premier is a lurching drunk! And people will still vote for the slob come the election. The elders at Sliammon got sick and tired of the on-going go-round and did a sit-in which resulted in a positive change in band politics, and a council which did more in a few years than had been done in almost a generation... with the advice and support of the elders...but their politics is not OUR business... the encroachment by corporations IS our business! If you are Christian, which probably most of you will claim to be, ask yourself why we tolerate a situation where corporations virtually shit on the creator's loving handiwork? I am not a Christian, I don't accept that it's okay to put arsenic in water or steal the water to force it down a hole to push up methane so some witherdicks and numbnuts can stuff more money into their already overfull bank accounts. They are stealing and destroying what belongs to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of ALL OF US. I don't know about you but when they start poisoning the water I get just a tad upset. And when they steal from my granddaughters I get decidedly pissy.

One consequence of the Elders activism may be an injection of legitimacy into their local political process, that is, their band elections. If Jerry Asp (or for that matter, any other chief in B.C.) wants to be leader then it should be on the basis of a clearly laid out election platform that spells out what he is going to, who he is going to do it with, and when he is going to do it. He should also make clear to the local electorate all the thing he WON'T do as well. Given that type of platform, he and anyone else, can claim their legitimacy and mandate for subsequent decisions. To do otherwise comes across as nothing more than crude politicking, similar to what's happening in Victoria right now. Only difference, the seniors of this province don't get upset when the land is being targetted for wholesale and irreversible destruction, but rather when the price of their meds start to go up! But then I don't expect otherwise from the sons and daughters of the colonial onslaught - "we carved this province out of land..." Yeah, I can see that - the scars and the bruises are everywhere, and the bleeding never stops!

I don't know if you're still on the thread, steveoverhere, but I'd suggest that your personal experience is a small part of a much larger picture. If you're interested in learning about it you might try reading Olive Dickason, Ernie Crey & Susan Fournier, Noel Dyck, Cole Harris, and Robin Fisher, among others.

Until you learn some of the most basic facts about the situation of First Nations' peoples in Canada, you will continue to hold and perpetuate some of the most odious and distorted stereotypes (and maybe you will regardless). Who's hand is in whose wallet steve? How do you think you were able to get the resource job in the first place? Whose property is the economy of your community based on?

As for the pickup, you've completely missed the point.

Beyond that, I hesistate to speak for Native people -- it's really not my place to do so.

You can, however, speak to values and principles that support and promote justice while repelling injustice; after all, that is what this society is uniquely striving for, lest it degenerate into a wanton political oligarchy.

"Lest it degenerate into a wanton political oligarchy?"

I thought it already had.

Ok....lets get one thing staight.....water does not get pumped down the hole to force the gas out. There is no freshwater pumped out and into a well. Water comes up from the coal formation to decrease the pressure on the coal, which in turn allows the gas to be released from the coal ( a process called adsorption). Once the pressure reaches a specific level the gas then flows through fractures in the coal seam to the well and up to the surface. Just wanted for you to know how it realy works. As well..... water can be potable, saline or non-existant (dry) in the coal seam. There are distinctions between a variety of CBM areas throughout the world that make them all very unique. Issues associated with one such CBM area are not always associated with them all. Just thought people would like to know what realy happens.