Dear Sir:
I was very interested in reading about the Premier of British Columbia just recently announcing with the Coast Tsimshian Nations the skilled trades training initiative which is to cost $9 million over the next three years.
This announcement was with the group called the Tsimshian Alliance but this would also be the Tsimshian Nations’ on reserve leadership who was involved in the agreement for the six nations belonging to the alliance.
By all means, no one is denying skills training for the any Firsts Nations people on reserve.
But people should know that band council resolutions through federal Indian Affairs are needed for any new funding for on-reserve education and skills training.
Chiefs and councillors are elected by the band members on reserve and the band members have to vote on these issues.
What coffer is this new funding coming from that is being dolled out by the province?
As for Premier Christy Clark, who at the announcement of this program with the Tsimshian Alliance was donning a cloak of aboriginal crests, there is this question.
Whose crests is she wearing?
Certainly not any from any of the First Nations from the Gitxsan territory.
The Premier of British Columbia has publicly stated in her speeches that any aboriginal people opposed to liquefied natural gas are rag tags and the environmentalists are small minded.
The ancient aboriginal hereditary chiefs who had feasts to hold on and keep their territories intact and to protect the lands for future uses, were not rag tags. Nor were they small minded.
These comments as made by a premier of a province need to be addressed.
This is my opinion.
Mary Dalen,
Cedarvale, B.C.