Image Credit: The Canadian Press

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Time to take the wraps off the secret Wet’suwet’en deal

Mar 18, 2020 | 4:47 AM

HOME — IF YOU GOOGLE WET’SUWET’EN these days, most of what pops up is two weeks old.

The country has, at least temporarily, forgotten about the national economic crisis threatened by road, port and rail blockades across the country over the building of a gas pipeline in northern B.C. by Coastal GasLink.

After federal and provincial politicians and some Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs reached some sort of a deal on — well, we don’t know exactly what, the blockades tapered off and so did the public’s interest.

The conflict has been supplanted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes the economic impact of a few blockades look insignificant. Even CN Rail, the target for several blockades, has changed from regular updates on the pro-Wet’suwet’en interruptions of service to updates on the effects of the pandemic.

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Somewhere in the background, though, the Wet’suwet’en issue still simmers. The protests continue in some places but nobody’s paying attention. More than two weeks after the deal was made with the hereditary chiefs, we still don’t know what’s in it.

The only thing we do know is that it’s about some sort of framework for dealing with future claims and grievances, not including the pipeline. It is being kept confidential until it makes its way through the complicated Wet’suwet’en governance system.

Surely, by now, those within the Wet’suwet’en First Nation have had an opportunity to review the document, which is said to be only two pages long. Surely it’s time to let the rest of us in on the secret.

It’s hard to imagine it not including money, probably a lot of it. Our money.

The people of British Columbia and Canada are every bit as much stakeholders as anyone else, and we have a right to know what’s going on.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor. Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He writes five commentaries a week for CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.