Walk a mile in your neighbours’ moccasins (or in this case hipwaders). Or you don’t know what you have until you lose it.
My, how things stay the same as they change. Canada has been declared pirates by the European Union. They were criticized by the Europeans for acts of piracy. They seized a fishing vessel outside of Canada’s 200-mile limit The Estai was fishing for turbot on the so-called nose and tail of the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland.
It was once a paradise for fish. The early explorers would reportedly throw a bucket overboard and scoop fish out First they killed the Indians. Now the fish are at risk. There were plenty of fish everywhere for everyone. Now things have been turned around.
The Native people were inundated with foreign powers intent on taking resources from the land. Every argument that the Natives put forward was either ignored or laughed off. Sometimes they were killed or thrown in jail fighting for or protecting what they believed in.
It is a matter of recognition. A recognition of basic human rights. If someone grows up on a land which has sustained his family for generations upon generations and someone has ideas about it which throws it off balance or destroys the system which has been enjoyed for centuries, and the original “owner” isn’t recognized, there will be problems. There will be problems for everyone.
The domino effect is, I believe, the term for it. Steal it from the original people and/or impose your laws to suit your way of thinking, knowing it isn’t right The land or the sea sustains the new system for a short while. (If you call a couple of centuries a short while— Ed.) Then it collapses. So you look at other places to plunder uh… fish I mean. Which is what Spain is doing.
Canada has destroyed its own fishery. And now they’re left sucking wind. Canada has learned (freely) a hard lesson which the original people have been learning (forcibly) for the past five centuries. What I keep hearing from the Fisheries Minister sounds awfully familiar. “We have the moral high ground.” There is a lot of support from the local fishermen and Canadians alike for the actions of the minister for finally taking a stand on what they believe in.
So next time a Native nation approaches the Canadian government on any issue relating to the environment, rights or whatever, while you’re listening to the Natives, listen to yourself also.
