“Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.”

Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (1993)

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Bruce McIvor, lawyer and historian, is principal of First Peoples Law Corporation. Download Bruce’s bio.

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conservation, Politics, solutions, Sustainability, Video

Ottawa moving on high-speed charging stations for electric cars

April 18, 2016 Gaianicity Leave a comment

Natural resources minister to ask for private sector bids this spring

By Margo McDiarmid, reposted from CBC News, Apr 12, 2016

The federal natural resources minister says there’s no time to lose in establishing a high-speed charging network for electric cars in Canada.

That’s why Jim Carr is planning to ask the private sector for proposals this spring to develop a series of fast charging stations across the country.

“This is not something that government can do alone, we have no intention of trying to do it alone,” said Carr in an interview with CBC News.

“We think that this investment in electrical vehicles is a prudent way to proceed, but prudent doesn’t mean that you take your time. So we also understand that there’s urgency.”

Carr’s department received $62.5 million in last month’s federal budget to “support the deployment of infrastructure for alternative transportation fuels” over the next two years. That includes projects to develop better electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr says now is the time to take advantage of the growing interest in electric cars. (CBC)

He said now is the time to take advantage of the growing interest in electric vehicles across the country.

“To make it more affordable, to make sure people can go greater distances so when they get in their car they can get to the lake or get where it is they want to be and that there will be a place to charge the vehicle that’ll take half an hour or less.”

Supply and demand

According to the national electric vehicle advocacy group Plug ‘N Drive, there are 18,451 electric cars on the road, mostly in Quebec, Ontario and B.C.

There are 3,513 charging stations, including 102 that are for Tesla owners only.

Only 51 of the total public charging stations are the high-speed type that take less than half an hour to charge a car. The vast majority are medium speed, which require four to six hours to charge a vehicle.

Cara Clairman, President of Plug 'N Drive — Cara Clairman, president of Plug ‘N Drive, says a national network of charging stations would help neutralize fears of potential electric car owners that they might run out of juice before a journey is over. (CBC)

“The stats will tell you that 80 per cent of Canadians drive 50 kilometres or less a day … so the issue of range is not relevant for a lot of folks,” said Cara Clairman, president of Plug ‘N Drive in an interview with CBC.

“Most of us tend to drive and come home and charge at night.”

But she thinks the gap in the charging network is discouraging many consumers from buying an electric car because they have “range anxiety,” fear their car will run out of power on a long-distance drive.

“We are all accustomed to gas, and we know the stations are out there, we don’t have a fear of running out of gas. With a new source of fuel people imagine they are going to be out there driving, and they think, where am I going to plug in?”

National network proposed

Clairman is urging the federal government to establish a network of fast charging stations in places where people will see them and use them.

“You want those stations at a place where you can stop and run errands and get something to eat, and by the time you get back, your car will be charged. That makes it very convenient … and I think that will really change things,” said Clairman.

Electric Car Charging Stations — The number of electric car charging stations across the country by province/territory according to Plug ‘N Drive (Francois Leclerc/CBC)

The province of Quebec has been a leader in building electric car infrastructure, followed by B.C. and more recently by Ontario, which announced last year it would spend $20 million on high-speed charging stations.

CAA charging station locator tool

But the natural resources minister thinks there’s a definite role for his federal department to help green the country’s transportation sector through a high-speed charging network.

“That certainly will be a focus,” Carr said. “You have to be practical. You want to create a situation and an environment within which Canadians will see there is an opportunity for them not only to help make the planet a cleaner place but also to help them in the way they get around and in ways that are sustainable.” SOURCE

Activism, democracy, Politics, Video

New CETA video aims to spark debate as crucial vote approaches

April 18, 2016 Gaianicity Leave a comment

MEDIA RELEASE, reposted from the Council of Canadians, Apr 14, 2016

Ottawa, Canada and Berlin, Germany – A new video is set to spark debate on CETA (the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) with the deal on the verge of a vote this year in the European Parliament, where opponents hope it will be defeated.

Today, the Council of Canadians, in partnership with the European Initiative Stop TTIP, is launching CETA: Lessons from Canada, a five-minute animation. Using a technique known as “handimation,” the short video gives a comprehensive background on the controversial deal, known to many as TTIP 1.0.

The video is narrated by Maude Barlow, alternative Nobel Prize recipient and anti-globalization leader. Barlow is also an acclaimed author and chairperson of the Council of Canadians. It is based on her report: Fighting TTIP, CETA and ISDS: Lessons from Canada, which has been revised and reissued. The video and report can be found here in English,German, French, Spanish, and Polish (report only).

“For many Europeans, this is their first experience with this kind of “new” trade deal that gives extraordinary powers to foreign corporations. Unfortunately, we in Canada have had over 20 years of experience of NAFTA, so this is not new to us,” says Barlow. “We want to share our experience with Europeans. Like NAFTA, CETA other deals like it are destructive to public services, the environment, food safety, the local economy, and labour regulations on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Barlow is currently in Europe for an 11-day speaking tour to help strengthen opposition to the ratification of CETA among both elected officials and the general public.

The new video also enters into the debate on the proposed changes to the controversial Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. On the rebranding of ISDS, the video says, “But didn’t we hear that the EU Commission changed ISDS? Well, they changed the name. Now, they are calling the three arbitrators judges. And they will be selected differently. But a fresh coat of paint… doesn’t change the basic problem. Foreign corporations would still have rights that no one else has. “

The European Initiative Stop TTIP has been a major critic of the agreement, garnering almost 3.5 million signatures on their petition asking the European Parliament to reject CETA and TTIP. The petition can be found in several different languages at stop-ttip.org.

“This video shows people exactly what we in Europe have feared about CETA. Our Canadian friends remind us that what they say is true: Canadians and Europeans have similar values. What the commission doesn’t realize is that these values are being attacked by this type of so called ‘free trade’ agreement,” concludes Michael Efler, Campaign Coordinator of the European Initiative Stop TTIP.

The video was made possible through the generous support of the JMG Foundation. It was made by Hand on a Whiteboard.

SOURCE

democracy, Politics, reconciliation

SCC recognizes constitutional rights of Métis, non-status Indians

April 18, 2016 Gaianicity Leave a comment

by David Dias, reposted from CanadianLawyerMag, Apr 15, 2016

History today was made as the Supreme Court of Canada declared all non-status and Métis Indians to be, without exception, “Indians” under the Constitution — and afforded all rights therein.

The ruling, Daniels v. Canada, is the fruit of a legal battle initiated more than a decade ago by the late Métis leader Harry Daniels, who sought on behalf of Métis and non-status Indians a three-part declaration:

1. that Métis and non-status Indians are “Indians” as the term is used in s 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867,

2. that the Queen owes a fiduciary duty to them as such,

3. and that they have the right to be consulted by the federal government on a collective basis, respecting their rights, interests and needs as Aboriginal people.

At trial, the court dismissed the second and third declarations, but ruled that Métis and non-status aboriginals were indeed Indians under the Constitution.

The Federal Court of Appeal, however, narrowed that definition last year, excluding non-status Indians outright and ruling that only Métis who met certain criteria under the SCC’s 2003 decision in R. v. Powley could be deemed “Indian.”

Today, a unanimous panel of nine judges set aside the appeal court’s narrow definition and granted constitutional rights to all Métis and non-status Indians. And while the decision, written by Justice Rosalie Abella, similarly dismisses the second and third declarations, it does so only because fiduciary and consultative duties are presumptive under the first declaration.

“There is no need to delineate which mixed ancestry communities are Métis and which are non status Indians. They are all ‘Indians’ under s. 91(24) by virtue of the fact that they are all Aboriginal peoples,” the decision states.

“The historical, philosophical, and linguistic contexts establish that ‘Indians’ in s. 91(24) includes all Aboriginal peoples, including non status Indians and Métis. The first declaration should accordingly be granted.”

Jason Madden, who represented the Métis National Council, says he was pleasantly surprised by the emphatic language used by Justice Abella, and how far the court was willing to go to bring Métis and non-status Indians into the fold.

“We got the trifecta today, and we weren’t expecting it,” he says. “We were clearly expecting number one, which was inclusion, but they went even further to say, ‘On fiduciary relationships, we will reaffirm what we’ve already said, and on the duty to negotiate . . . we’ve already recognized it.”

Madden calls the decision “elegant” in the way it “walks around” the issue of whether non-status and Métis aboriginals should be forced to meet criteria before being deemed Indian enough to demand consultation and negotiation.

As the decision explains, s. 91(24) and s. 35 in the Constitution play different roles: the former sets out jurisdictional obligations owed to aboriginals; the second creates a framework for land claims and treaty negotiations.

So, while Métis and non-status aboriginals are all collectively “Indians” under s. 91(24) of the Constitution, individual native bands, along with Métis and non-status Indians, must be assessed on a case-by-case basis — employing the framework set out under s. 35 and the criteria under Powley — when pressing cases around land claims and treaties.

That may not sound like a substantial victory, but until now Métis and non-status Indians have been denied jurisdictional responsibility or even a seat at the table.

“Because of the lack of accountability and the lack of certainty, these people have fallen through the cracks,” says Madden. “And the court is saying, ‘No longer . . . You cannot sit on your hands when you know there are rights and claims there and there is a positive obligation to negotiate.’”

Perhaps more importantly, Madden says the decision opens the door to wider reconciliation with Métis and non-status Indians, who’ve historically been disenfranchised and disregarded by both government and aboriginal groups.

“I actually like the way Abella starts it. She says that the curtains are opening wider on the stage, because previously Métis have been shuffled off the stage, and what she is saying is that reconciliation is about all aboriginal people, and that they need to be included on the stage.”

SOURCE

Activism, Cultural Genocide, democracy, Politics

Government justified in limiting aboriginal hunting rights at night: N.S. Supreme Court

April 18, 2016 Gaianicity Leave a comment

Reposted from the ChronicleHerald, Apr 17, 2016

A 10-year battle over a decoy moose shot in the Cape Breton Highlands ended last Wednesday, as far as the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia is concerned.

The court ruled that notwithstanding aboriginal rights to hunt for food and ceremonial purposes, the government is justified in limiting aboriginal hunting at night because it isn’t safe.

The case involved Eskasoni residents Aaron Paul and Charles Francis, Mi’kmaq members who were hunting moose at night on Sept. 5, 2006 near Cheticamp Lake in Victoria County

“Mr. Francis got out of the truck and about three or four seconds later took a shot at what he thought was a moose,” said the decision issued by Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Patrick Duncan.

In fact, it was a decoy mechanical “moose” set up by officers of the Department of Natural Resources, who were hidden behind gravel piles.

“Those officers immediately proceeded to converge on the two young men with lights flashing, sirens blaring and with guns drawn,” the decision recounted.

The officers found the men had two 300 Winchester Magnum rifles with tripods.

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court upheld that the dangers of hunting at night would justify any “infringement” of aboriginal rights, if there were any infringement.

“Night hunting with a light is a preferred method of Mi’kmaq food hunting,” the appellant case argued, saying the two were acting in accordance with their aboriginal right to hunt for food and ceremonial purposes, rights protected under section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982.

The trial court rejected the appellants’ comparison to the Tsartslip Indian Band of the Saanich Nation in British Columbia, which had secured specific treaty rights “as formerly” (prior to first contact with Europeans) to nocturnal hunting.

In the oft-cited Morris case, a B.C. trial judge found the Tsartslip had formerly hunted at night using illuminating devices, so to deny them that would infringe on their treaty rights.

At the Francis and Paul trial, historian testimony was not definitive on nocturnal hunting traditions for the Mi’kmaq at the time of first contact with European settlers, the court found.

“There was no evidence that the Mi’kmaq hunted at night with flambeaus at the time of first contact,” said Crown prosecutor Jim Clarke.

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled trial Judge Ryan hadn’t erred in his conclusions, citing Ryan’s quote of Chief Justice Antonio Lamer that “aboriginal rights are not general and universal; their scope and content must be determined on a case-by-case basis. The fact that one group of aboriginal people has an aboriginal right to do a particular thing will not be, without something more, sufficient to demonstrate that another aboriginal community has the same aboriginal right. The existence of the right will be specific to each aboriginal community.”

In a second decision issued by Duncan, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court rejected the appellants request for an additional ground for appeal, “which was that not only the Crown but the (trial) judge were biased and it would be a gross miscarriage of justice to proceed,” said Clarke.

“The defence also accused the Department of Natural Resources of conjuring or manufacturing — basically tailoring or falsifying — evidence,” he said.

In the appeal, the appellants said “prosecution of the applicants in the circumstances is inconsistent with the honour of the Crown vis-à-vis Aboriginal peoples and aboriginal rights.”

“(Justice Duncan) didn’t find any evidence of it,” Clarke said.

An appeal to Nova Scotia Court of Appeal is possible.

Both appellants and respondents cited the case of R. v. Bernard in their arguments. In that case, a defendant was convicted for hunting at night with a light. In 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada denied the appellants leave to appeal at the federal level in that case, refusing to hear it.

In Wednesday’s decision, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court agreed with Bernard.

“That makes the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal good law in Nova Scotia from the perspective of the Crown,” said Clarke. SOURCE

Politics, solutions, Sustainability

Clean energy produces green power, sustainable jobs: B.C report

April 18, 2016 Gaianicity Leave a comment

The Canadian Press, reposted from CTVNews, Apr 14 2016

VANCOUVER — Clean energy power producers in British Columbia say their projects have energized the province’s economy through jobs and investment opportunities.

A report from Clean Energy BC finds the association’s 160 members produce 14 per cent of BC Hydro’s energy supply using wind, thermal or solar power, as well as small hydro facilities called run-of-river operations.

Clean Energy BC executive director Paul Kariya says the operations are responsible for more than $8.6 billion in investment across the province.

He says that has helped many First Nations communities suffering from the collapse in oil and other commodity markets.

In addition to creating sustainable and renewable power, the clean energy report finds projects linked to the sector are responsible for about 16,000 construction jobs across B.C.

Future green energy projects are expected to create another 4,500 construction jobs while the report says renewable power accounts for more than 800 current and future operational positions.

One dozen First Nations are members of the private-sector industry association, and the study detailed their participation in sustainable power projects through revenue sharing, employment and training.

“Over the course of a decade, clean power producers have forged deep relationships with indigenous leaders,” Kariya said.

(Clean Energy BC has) “innovated made-in-B.C. solutions to protect ecosystems and breathed new life into struggling communities all over the province,” he said.

“If the provincial government heeds the advice of its own Climate Leadership Team, then we’re going to need plenty of clean electricity. We’re ready to deliver the goods.”

SOURCE

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Ecocide Alert

Daily Archives: April 18, 2016

First Peoples Law: Aboriginal Law Report, Apr 17, 2016

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