CAPTION PHOTO: COURTESY TSAWWASSEN FIRST NATION

Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution Act 1982 recognizes and affirms existing aboriginal and treaty rights in this country. But what those rights mean in practice and which specific First Nations still have them remains unclear and the source of continuing law suits and aggravation. The Supreme Court of Canada has been adamant that negotiation of comprehensive and mutually satisfactory treaties is a better option than engaging in costly and time-consuming court cases over individual points of law in which no clear winner emerges.

• The Tsawwassen agreement will add 334 hectares to the First Nation's land base. The new 624-hectare community will cease to be an Indian reserve. Decisions on land use will no longer be subject to the veto of the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), and property owners will be able to seek mortgage financing for homes and businesses.
• All provincial government laws will apply on Tsawwassen land. And the Tsawwassen will assume a role in provincial land, cultural heritage and environmental-management issues.
• The Tsawwassen government will have jurisdiction over its lands, with the authority to make bylaws. It will become a member of Metro Vancouver and participate in regional municipal governance. It will also be able to make laws relating to cultural, health and educational matters, such as language preservation.
• The community will receive cash totaling $20.7 million. If invested (and combined with Tsawwassen's own income from various sources), the money could make the band financially self-sufficient within 12 years, potentially earning 10 times the annual revenue it currently receives from INAC.
• Tsawwassen will receive ongoing transfer payments from the federal government to fund programs and services (similar to the transfer funds other municipalities receive each year). The goal is for Tsawwassen's own revenues to eventually reduce or replace the transfers.
• In eight years, the Tsawwassen will begin paying sales tax. In 12 years, they will begin paying income tax. The Tsawwassen government will also be able to levy taxes on residents. "My exposure to the wonderful world of taxes," says band councillor Remo Williams, "is that the 'haves' always find loopholes that work for them. So hopefully, we'll start getting some 'haves' right here on the reserve."

The treaty was driven by the Gateway - the provincial plan to expand the port and connect it with new and wider highways. This ignores the collapse of the US dollar, the steep decline in cross Pacific container traffic, the availability of new routres such as the North West passage and the widened Panama Canal and the key role played by the railways in moving transcontinental freight. All these issues are dealt at length in my blog - stephenrees.wordpress.com and on the Livable Region web site
livableregion.ca.

This is typical of the short term thinking that bedevils our political system. We need to take a strategic view of how our world is changing - and how to cope with that. Unfortunately, the appeals to justice in the TFN process have been ignored by the grab for the quick buck. A sad day for Canada and the Tsawwassen, who both deserve much better leaders with real vision

The TFN treaty was done without proper consideration of the Semiahmoo First Nation treaty, the protection of our Agricultural Land Reserve, or the Environment. This is not about giving TFN its due... its about expanding DeltaPort at the expense of our farmland, the Fraser River estuary, and our air quality in a area that shouldn't have been considered for a port in the first place. Tsawwassen First Nations accepted individual cash payouts from the government for signing the treaty and now we will all have to live with the blight of container sprawl on some of the best farmland and most important wildlife habitat in the world.

Just a few miles to the North in Richmond we have another parcel of the prime agricultural land that is currently under the review of the Agriculture Land Commission to be probably released from the ALR and be developed into the mixed residential area - our beautiful 136 acres Garden City Lands. The First Nations people needs are used as a reason for the land to be developed again so they can get their money and we can loose another parcel of the land that could feed our children. Their children need to eat as well - all our children will suffer in the future because the land, once developed, will be lost for the agriculture forever. There is not enough appreciation for the value of the undeveloped land now.