B.C. First Nation challenging Canada-China free trade agreement

CTV ^ | 06/05/2013 | Dene Moore

[TexGrill]

VANCOUVER -- Members of a small British Columbia aboriginal band are in a federal court room in Vancouver this week, as their 300-member community tries to stop the federal government from passing a free trade deal with China.

The Hupacasath First Nation has launched a court challenge to the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, arguing that it infringes on aboriginal rights.

"It's something all Canadians should be paying attention to," said Brenda Sayers, the organizer of the band's campaign against the deal. "We're looking at this as not being just a First Nations concern, but for all people of Canada."

Critics of the Canada-China agreement fear the deal will give foreign corporations leverage over Canadian regulatory and resource decisions, allowing Chinese corporations to seek arbitration or even sue Canada for decisions that negatively affect their access to Canadian resources.

The Hupacasath are arguing in court that the federal government has failed to consult with First Nations on the deal that affects their rights and title.

[TexGrill]

This lawsuit may derail the China-Canada Free Trade Agreement

[Alberta's Child]

British Columbia is one fouled up place when it comes to these "aboriginal groups." A while back a Canadian friend of mine told me that the total land area subject to tribal claims in British Columbia exceeds the size of the entire province. In other words, competing tribes have made claims to a lot of the same lands.

I don't expect this lawsuit to get any traction. If history is any indication, this is nothing more than an attempt to extract some kind of concessions from the government in the form of a cash payment to the "tribe." This kind of nonsense is actually one of the major industries in Canada.

[TexGrill]

Good point.

[fish hawk]

you seem to be more into what the natives are doing , right or wrong , and missing the whole point. IS THIS THING WITH CHINA A BAD DEAL OR NOT. Doesn’t sound like a good deal for Canada to me.

[bigheadfred]

we got tribes of people here getting all kinds of concessions

[Alberta's Child]

I haven't missed the whole point at all. Do you have any evidence from that article, other than the information presented by the supporters of the tribal group that has filed the lawsuit, indicating that the trade deal is NOT a good idea?

I don't know enough about it either way, but I'm familiar with how these things work to question the motives of these people when I see a bunch of native tribes, the Canadian Auto Workers, and a group called "ForestEthics" on the same side in a legal dispute.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Haven’t Canadian Indians been a factor in blocking “independence” for Quebec ?

[SeminoleCounty]

That is good if the band can get it revoked

Most of these Free Trade deals allow some extra-governmental body to rule over current law and courts....we see that with NAFTA and the WTO.

Sounds like this band had a similar agreement with their national government like he indigenous in Chiapas...who lost their land rights due to NAFTA

The biggest problem with Free Trade is that you need a lot of government to implement, and, subsidize it. Free Traders are just statists on steroids

Even more troubling is that this band may be subject to the whims of the Communist Chinese...against their will.

[Alberta's Child]

There's always been a looming threat of native tribes in Quebec seceding from Quebec if Quebec ever secedes from Canada.

But that is all a moot point because Quebec has no intention of ever seceding from Canada. In fact, if they held a referendum tomorrow and the separatists won, they'd hastily demand recount after recount until they came out on the losing end.

Quebec is no different than any other "tribe" in Canada. They use "independence" as leverage to extract concessions from the Federal government in Ottawa. But the whole movement lost all of its leverage around the mid-1990s when it became clear that most Canadians outside of Quebec would have been perfectly happy to see Quebec thrown out of Canada.

[Alberta's Child]

But in a bizarre twist of irony in the case of a treaty like NAFTA, the "extra-governmental body" actually helps protect the residents of Canada from the whims of their own government and their own fellow citizens.

One of the dirty little secrets about NAFTA is that is was aimed primarily at avoiding a repeat of the debacle that unfolded in Canada in the 1980s, when the energy sector in Canada collapsed after the Trudeau government nationalized the industry. Oil extraction ground to a halt due to the price controls imposed on western Canadian energy firms for the sole purpose of reducing fuel prices for voters in Ontario and Quebec.

It's no coincidence that Canada surpassed Saudi Arabia as the largest foreign supplier of oil after the massive flow of investment by energy firms back in Canada in the mid-1990s. These firms were now free to pursue major drilling and tar sands mining projects, since NAFTA precludes the Canadian government from the kind of excessive regulation -- and outright theft -- of the energy sector.

[Alberta's Child]

One clarification here from my last post ...

It's no coincidence that Canada surpassed Saudi Arabia as the largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States after the massive flow of investment by energy firms back in Canada in the mid-1990s.

[SeminoleCounty]

You do realize that NAFTA forces Canada to sell 2/3ds of its petroleum to the US? No matter how much Canada produces...2/3 of it stays off the world market

NAFTA also forces local and regional governments to abide by NAFTA-court rulings....even though the citizens in those areas do not get to vote for, or their representatives, get to choose who sits on the NAFTA courts?

NAFTA is statist, and it is anti-free market. Whenever there is Free Trade, there is always big government socialism nearby. Always

[Alberta's Child]

You do realize that NAFTA forces Canada to sell 2/3ds of its petroleum to the US? No matter how much Canada produces...2/3 of it stays off the world market

That's why they call it the North American Free Trade Agreement, not the World Market Free Trade Agreement, right?

My point isn't that "free trade" is a good idea -- or not. My point is that Canada's economic and political situation was hardly a walk in the park before NAFTA

"Free trade" may be statist, and it may be anti-free market. The former may be true in many cases, but I'm not sure about the latter. When you get to the root of it, the whole purpose of "free trade" is to serve a major consumer market that is no longer willing or able to produce things for itself. That's why the U.S. is a willing participant in so many of these agreements. We did away with slavery here in the 1860s, but beneath the surface we're perfectly comfortable with it when it is outside the public eye.