In last week’s Editorial, it was stated that the BC Conservative Party is now calling for the repeal of BC’s adoption of UNDRIP. The Editorial went further to say that doing so will be a step backwards for reconciliation. I would like to ask the Editor to consider a more nuanced approach to dissenting political opinions. There is a much, much more important discussion to be held regarding UNDRIP, and it has to do with exactly who has the authority to write and shape Canadian laws… or the laws of any other Nation State. I have watched with alert ears in recent years as the “Mainstream Media” rationalized their misplaced disrespect for the prospects of a Trump Presidency; the aftershock of being so wrong about their foregone conclusions. But this “Earthquake” was soon followed by Brexit… again to the shock of the so-called political and media experts. This past month, the “Far-Right” and “Middle-Right” of Europe has become the fixation fear of the Mainstream Media. So what is going on? I plead with the Editor to dig deeper.
Once-upon-a-time there was an alliance of Western Democracies. These Sovereign Nation States won a war against Tyranny then sought to build a new, better world of peace and commerce for all. Part of this new World Order was the UN. It was ultimately guaranteed with American Money and the might of the US Military. Five Nations held an absolute Veto on any resolution or action. Two of those Nations were not Democracies. Over time, the UN has become bloated and inefficient. Once an admirable institution of peaceful international cooperation, it has recently devolved into an expensive cesspool of irrelevance and comedic farce. China, Russia and Cuba are actually on the UN Human Rights Council for instance. More recently the Body has decided to demonize Israel for responding Militarily to a terrorist attack that saw 1500 of its citizens killed in premeditated brutality while the terrorists live-streamed their horror show for the world to watch online. In short, the UN never should be writing the laws of any nation. But the true issue is even deeper.
There is an actual organization with an actual website that states a very strong and radical agenda for the entire world. This organization is not democratic, but for some reason the world’s wealthy, and politically powerful all attend its conferences and even elected governments implement its policy ideas into their own laws. What is worse, this organization does not even try to influence the general voters…it overtly seeks to bypass democracy and influence politicians and business leaders directly. Incredibly, the Mainstream Media has gaslit the political left into calling people who quote this organization’s website conspiracy theorists. The World Economic Forum is a literal open political conspiracy that does not care about democracy or national sovereignty… matter of fact it openly calls such things out of date and impediments. I remember a time in the 1990s when the Mainstream Media was very critical of such undemocratic organizations and agents of Globalization. What happened?
Let’s look at Europe again. The headlines read “Far Right Populism this…” and “Farmers organize Right Rally that.” What is really going on? There is an ancient forest in Poland called Bialowieza. In 2018, the foresters of Poland decided that it needed to be selectively logged to remove a beetle outbreak. Then came the Mainstream Media with the Headlines “Far Right Polish Government wants to log Europe’s last large Old Growth Forest.” In Brussels, unelected bureaucrats deemed the Polish government in violation of EU environmental laws and fined the Polish Government daily until it ceased logging. Let’s look at that again… EU tells Poland how to manage its forests?? When did that happen? What is behind all of this “Right Wing Populism?” Could it simply be a cry and demand to regain democratic rights people are suddenly realizing have quickly slipped away to unaccountable and unelected foreign institutions?
Let’s come back to Canada.
As per the Editorial last week: “While everyone in BC theoretically has the same rights, it’s important to keep in mind that Indigenous people in Canada have historically been mistreated and haven’t had the same opportunities afforded to white Canadians. UNDRIP is not about giving a group of people special treatment, but instead seeks to recognize the rights Indigenous people have that are protected by the Canadian Constitution. Rights are not a finite resource and recognition of the rights of others does not mean fewer rights for other parties”
There are a few things that need to be addressed in this statement. First of all, Canadians do not have, and never have had “theoretically” the same rights. Teenage Sikh boys are allowed to wear ceremonial knives to school. Nobody else is. Turbans worn for religious reasons exempt you from helmet laws… nobody else is allowed to put on a Turban and not wear helmets. Catholics are entitled to send their children to Catholic Schools… non-Catholics are not entitled to do so (this was settled in a literal court case in Saskatchewan a few years ago). French Canadians are entitled to trial in French or English anywhere in Canada, non-French Canadians are not entitled to a trial in French anywhere. And to point, Indigenous Canadians have certain rights to hunt and fish that nobody else has. British Law has never granted equal rights to everybody…neither in theory nor practice. If you want equality under the law, you have to go the way of France or the US and write Statutory Laws of a Secular Republic for all citizens equally. It is funny how many Canadians do not understand that notions of legal equality are an influence of American legal culture…legal equality is not a Canadian, or British idea. Further, if Indigenous rights are already protected by the Canadian Constitution, why do we even need UNDRIP?
Could it be the very symbolism of forfeiting national sovereignty that the authors truly desire? And finally, the last line. Unfortunately, when Rights are translated into access to finite minerals, timber, wildlife, water and arable land they do mean fewer rights for other parties. Only one party owns the rights to a gold mine, or timber tenure. And this is the most important point of all: arguing over who controls the means of production is the oldest thing our species has done. So who do you want making these important decisions? Your duly-elected national government or un-elected UN faux-intellectuals who live off of tax money and have zero accountability for the effects of their bad ideas in real life? The foresters of Poland should manage the forests of Poland. And Canadians should go through the necessary process of reconciliation and economic inclusion without the UN, EU, WEF, or any other non-Canadian involved. We historians have a term for what happens when separate ethnic groups squabble where there is no clear monopoly of sovereignty over a fixed and bordered landmass, Balkanization. I do not suggest this become a vision for Canada or the world. As for the UN, it should go back to distributing food aid in times of famine, educating girls in developing nations and eradicating polio. Leave the law writing and judicial implementation to the elected governments and legitimate courts of democratic nation states. I beg that the media do better and actually listen to what the reasonable political right is really saying.
Joseph Nusse
Valemount, BC
