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Bringing in some clout

 

In response to Ms. Raits’ article “Who has control over our lands?” its seems to me that those who have control haven’t changed in 150 years.  Those with the most money and influential administrative team have control — government and the logging corporations.

I agree the past is the past, but I do not agree that past mistakes have been used as lessons of how to do things better in dealing with land issues. The way our  Liberal government and Western Forest Products quickly and quietly released TFL lands into the “free” market without any consultation, compensation, or basic regard to the local communities three years ago seems very similar to me to the way these lands were “acquired” from First Nations.  Perhaps the deals were “legal” but the perception of abuse of power and steamrolling still exist.

The reason these kinds of dealings keep occurring is because there is no organization with the clout or money it takes to question and oppose these dealings. Sure, a few of us can get together and wave our placards but there is no equal representation or balance of power.

When the government fails to represent its citizens then the only way to gain a voice is to organize and create an entity with power and clout of its own.

When such an organization, (lobby group), offers its wealth and legal know-how to local citizens with no representation or say then I welcome them with open arms and thank them for their support.

The game they play is the same one they have learned; that in order not to get pushed around and ignored is to show your teeth just like corporate big boys do.  So now that a huge population of people finally have their own fighter in the corporate ring we hear the calls of “foul” and we quickly see that if the media can’t attack the values and representation these groups bring they attack the people behind them.

I think what should really be asked is not “Who has control over our lands” but “who has control over our media?” which is a very small yet extremely powerful few. Who really has the ulterior motives here?

Tom Eberhardt

Otter Point