George was responding to a July 3 announcement by the government of British Columbia that its anti-Natives referendum had been overwhelmingly approved. The eight proposals put to a vote included limiting the authority of Aboriginal governments to that of municipal governments, rejecting land claims by barring the expropriation of private property and provincial parklands, and ending tax exemptions for Native people.

Premier Gordon Campbell’s claim to have won a mandate "to forge a new era of reconciliation with First Nations" is being widely challenged. Voter participation in the mail-in referendum was 35 percent of the province’s 2.1 million eligible voters. Of those up to 60,000 were spoiled. One indication of the thoroughly anti-Natives stance of those who did cast valid ballots is that between 84.5 percent and 94.5 percent voted "yes" to all eight questions.

Native organizations led a campaign to boycott the referendum, saying it violated the right of Native people to self-determination because it allowed "all British Columbians" to have a say on what Native peoples can negotiate during the treaty-making process. Many trade unions, churches, and other organizations supported the boycott.

"B.C. and natives square off," read the headline of an article in the July 4 Globe and Mail. An editorial the next day called the referendum "pointless and divisive." The paper is one of Canada’s major dailies and speaks for an important sector of Canada’s ruling class.

Neither the provincial nor federal governments in Canada negotiated treaties with Natives. In British Columbia, Natives now have land claims covering the entire province. Talks have begun with 50 groups in the First Nations, which represent 111 Indian bands and two-thirds of all Aboriginal people in the province. Almost a decade of talks between First Nations and the governments in Ottawa and Victoria have yet to produce a single treaty, aside from the 1998 Nisga’a Treaty negotiated separately from the rest.

Before his party captured a majority in the B.C. parliament, Liberal leader Gordon Campbell carried out a racist campaign against the Nisga’a Treaty and vowed to organize a province-wide referendum on treaty negotiations with Natives.

Native leaders are now urging Campbell to abandon his position that the referendum results are binding, saying the stance will rule out the possibility of reaching a settlement. "If the inherent right to self-government is not on the table for negotiations, then we are not at the table," George said of the referendum proposal limiting the powers of Native governments.

Chief Stewart Philip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, whose members don’t participate in treaty negotiations, said the referendum results will lead to "more litigation and conflict on the land." In March, the Haida launched a claim in court to the Queen Charlotte Islands--a claim that has been supported by nonnative loggers on the islands. Chief Philip added that if the B.C. government sticks to the positions set out in the referendum, "it could very well bring about the collapse of the treaty process."

The First Nations Summit, which speaks on behalf of Natives involved in the treaty process, issued a press release July 3 calling on both the provincial and federal governments to return to substantive negotiations immediately. The talks are not to be based on the results of the referendum but on the inherent right of Native people to self-government, the statement said.  
 
 
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