Indians, labour, environmentalists seek unity
By GEOFF MEGGS
TOFINO - "We should be able to agree on one key concept," Nuu-Chah-Nulth Chief Simon Lucas told environmentalists and trade unionists Feb. 3.
"We have to leave a world for our children that is richer than ours, with resources and opportunities. We can no longer borrow resources from our children. It would be total sacrilege."
With those words, Lucas opened a three-day gathering that brought together three groups — native people, labour and environmentalists — in an historic effort to find common ground.
The result, an accord adopted unanimously by 175 delegates late Feb. 5, lays the basis for a new coalition dedicated to "developing peoples' alternatives to the policies of the present government."
Among those pledging to seek ratification of the accord in their respective organizations were representatives of 40 labour organizations, 27 Indian nations, numerous environmental groups, the New Democratic Party, youth groups, the Communist Party, the Green Party and other organizations.
The accord calls for active support of aboriginal title and rights and for common action to develop "a shared vision about how we can justly and sus-tainably share in this earth.
"This includes a process of learning about the full meanings of terms like democracy, community, local control and ownership."
The participants pledged to work together on a regional basis around resource development and environmental issues.
Labour participants included Cliff Andstein, of the B.C. Fed, Frank Kennedy, of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, and delegations from locals of the IWA, the UFAWU, the CPU and the PPWC. The NDP was represented by provincial council president Elaine Bernard and several MLAs, as well as MP Bob Skelly.
NDP MLA Joan Smallwood, a member of the steering committee which organized the conference, said the meeting may be marked as the beginning of real community control over eco-
• Delegates from more than 150 B.C. labour, Indian and environmental organizations gathered in Tofino Feb. 4 and 5 to seek common ground on an environmentally-sound economic development program for the province. Despite some sharp differences, the delegates laid the ground work for united action on several fronts. Elaine Briere photo.
At the same time, he said, there is little criticism about alienation of resources by B.C. Hydro, Alcan, foreign fish farming interests or forest companies consolidating their tree farm licences.
The common ground for all three groups, suggested Stanyer, is the conviction "that we are not getting enough jobs out of the forest industry." Corporations are making vast investments to improve efficiency and put people out of work.
In the same workshop, however, Lucas challenged unions to ask whether they had done enough to save jobs or to find employment for aboriginal peoples in existing industries.
With only five native people employed in the Port Alberni mill, he said, some native villages have 90 percent unemployment. "Eleven percent unemployment would be a gift."
"You say the resources belong to all the people," Lucas said. "It's not so. You can't control where the profits go. Who do you want to own this country?"
It was environmentalist Joanne Fleming, of Port Alberni, who pulled many of these strands together in a later workshop. The common ground of all three groups, she suggested, fell into four areas:
nomic development in this province. Such coalitions are essential, she said, regardless what party is in power.
Located on a spectacular beach just outside Tofino, Tin-Wis is the site of an old residential school now used as a conference centre by the tribal council. The presence of oil on the beach and the sight of Meares Island nearby were strong reminders of the challenges facing conference participants.
Nuu-Chah-Nulth hereditary chiefs used the opportunity to expose non-Indians to their history and philosophy, hosting a huge feast on Saturday night to honour geneticist and environmentalist David Suzuki with -dancing and gifts.
Lucas challenged participants to "leave your agendas at the door," open their minds to new ideas and to speak honestly.
"We must mutually respect our different systems of government, resource use and resource
management," he said.-"We need to learn co-operation and respect to fairly share in the bounty of life. We cannot continue to have an open line of credit on our resources."
Delegates took Lucas at his word and workshops featured sharp exchanges on logging, the wilderness preservation movement and many other issues.
In one workshop, IWA representatives voiced a concern shared by many fishermen about the outcome of claims. "We have a concern about employment," said union vice-president Roger Stanyer. "We need a commitment that whoever will receive stump-age will spend it in an appropriate manner."
Several labour speakers underlined their support for negotiated claims, but warned that it was possible labour could not
support specific agreements if they failed to protect workers' interests.
As one union representative said, "there's concern about 'lock, stock and barrel' kinds of dialogue." Another reported widespread racism in his union about Indian rights.
As a result, the need for continuing education among all three constituencies was a constant theme.
Indian representatives bitterly compared the hysteria about economic impacts of land claims with the absolute calm in the media about foreign ownership of B.C. resources.
"Native people have not called for extinguishment of non-native title," noted CPC representative Fred Wilson, "but non-natives look for extinguishment of native title."
• settlement of land claims;
• a need for a caring, compassionate society;
• to live in harmony with nature; and
• to move to local control, small-scale democratic planning of resource development.
These later were reduced still further to three issues: job creation and security, environmental protection and aboriginal rights.
A steering committee will pursue the work of the conference.
The workshops were arduous and the struggle for agreement was prolonged, but the outcome was never in doubt. All three groups had first encountered each other on the same side in a much bigger battle against the corporate economic agenda for this province.
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THE FISHERMAN / FEBRUARY 17,1989 • 9