Ok trophyhunter I too understand what you mean by wanting everyone to abide by one law, but that isn't the way it is, it isn't just a matter of law like a speed limit, it is a matter of constitutional rights and they just cannot be changed that easily. As for the property thing I don't quite understand your point, if you put a no tresspassing sign on your property trespassers of any race can be prosecuted, Indian reserves are their private property they have every right to put up no trespassing signs. All of the pipeline bar up here is on Indian reserve including the parking, and the natives are good enough to let hundreds of people fish it every day, whereas at the scales bar a small group of non native residents bitched and whined until the fisheries changed the law so the anglers wouldn't run into conflicts with the land owners. I agree with FishFreak that the actions of some bands are the ones that get the most negative publicity, and every one should not be judged the same. I also find that a lot of people on this forum have absolutely no knowledge of the FN people or the FN fishery whatsoever, automatically assuming that every net they see is an illegal activity going on.
Many recent court cases in Canada have been held to redress past wrongs to minority groups of people, take for example the payment made to Japanese Canadians held in interment camps during the second world war or the repayment of the head tax charged to Chinese immigrants at the beginning of the last century. Now it has been established that the natives of BC sold fish to the non natives from the time they arrived here but at sometime the commercial fishery became a powerfull political power and large employer of people with canneries up and down the west coast and the river systems right to Kamloops. At this time the natives were a downtrodden people decimated by white mans diseases without the right to vote, raise their own children, follow their own religious beliefs or even speak their own language. So laws were made that made it illegal for them to sell fish with them having no right to appeal at all.
Now in light of all this does anyone actually believe that there is a judge in Canada that will stand up and say in a court of law and state that these people have been treated fairly. With almost everyone on this forum screaming that there should be more charges laid against the FN people I believe that court cases do not always have the results that please the majority of the people.
P.S. just cuz I have an opinion doesn't mean I'm always right
Sorry to have ran totally off topic on this thread, I'll try to control myself in the future.
Author
Topic: Commercial Fishing on the Fraser River? (Read 6750 times)