Continued from page 18

Tae ing the Supreme

ally been their back- Courts decision to bone of support. uphold Native rights, I Finally, Bill Clinton's have talked about it

little speech on federal- ism and the impact on the world if every people were given their independence (the global map would be littered with over 600 countries) appears to be taking its toll. Parlia- mentary backbenchers (predominantly from Ontario) appear to have a weak appetite — for the Jean Chretien and Stephane Dion policy of making clear the rules for the next referendum. One must credit these people for having a better read than cabinet. Why?? This is not the first time separatism has waned. For the most part people want to get on with things. But when the federal government provokes Quebeckers they take a renewed interest in what is going on. Heck we might not be wal- lowing in this morass had Brian Mulroney never gone to Meech Lake with the Premiers and cut a deal that

managed to provoke everyone...

_ reme Court Tak

eee

By now every- One is aware of the

C °ntroversy surround-

here and certainly heard a lot about it on campus and in town. Certainly Fisheries Minister Herb Dilly Dali Dwahlial has

been my whipping boy .

in the past for his surreal (but certainly not cerebral) approach to the problem. But I am giving him a break today. While one component of the decision affects the Fishery another com- ponent talked about Native logging

rights. Well this is starting to bubble

over as well. Last week in New Bruns- wick the Natives put this part of the ruling to the test. They started logging on Crown land. The provincial government

was consider- ate enough to let the Natives bring the logs to the mill where they promptly seized it for

illegal logging.

is a provincial jurisdic- tion is certain to cause problems as well. Frankly, I don’t think there is much First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine can do to quell this potentially explosive issue. He has got his hands full with the Fishing problem as well as one eye on the Nishga Treaty (BC Natives who, like Nunavet, are about to get their own land in North West BC) that is currently being debated in Parliament and will have ramifications for

all Natives in Canada. I bring this up because I think that this area of the ruling is certain to cause longer term problems. Logging is a provincial jurisdiction. Fishing is Federal. The Supreme Court ruling has now put the ball in the court of the prov- inces. The challenge will be to see how long they take to put their own stamp on this legislation. My guess is that this component

will end up in court as well. I doubt the

provinces are prepared

This area which Native leader Phil Fontaine.

unlike Fishing

to let the court rule on their area of jurisdic-

tion. Should be inter-

esting...

New Years

Newfoundland :

I must take moment to congratu- late Brian Tobin and his Liberal government for their forward thinking. Why?? As we sit on the cusp of a new millennium many people and govern- ments are trying to decide how to celebrate it. Newfoundland has taken the progressive step of allowing New Years celebrations to go on all night. That is

right. Newfies won t be hearing the song

Closing Time on the morning of Jan.1. That is because they have decreed that bars can stay open all night long. What doés this mean?? Basically 42 hours of uninterrupted partying right up till Jan.2 3:00AM. I think all provinces should follow the lead our fellow progressive Newfies have taken. After all, it will be a long time before our future ancestors will be able to celebrate another new millen- nia!!

Good News for Islanders...

Recent num-

de

bers have come out on

_ the impact of the.

bridge on the Island s tourism economy. The numbers look good for the most part. What I want to bring to every- one s attention is the fact that since the bridge opened, the numbers of tourists have risen from ap- proximately 675,000 to 1.25 million. This has led to tourism related activity to rise to over $300 million. While all of this is good news the one alarming thing is that the average amount they are spend- ing while here has remained somewhat constant at about $240

per trip per head. This is still a good chunk of

change for every person visiting. The other interesting thing I wanted to note is the number of Japanese tourists that visit the island. Personally, I was struck by the amount when seen in relative terms. Around 10000 Japanese visit the Island a year. The relative part that strikes me is that this represents 1 for every 10 Islanders. There is no doubt that there is no other place on the face of the globe that has that great a proportion of overseas travelers to natives. Again I am humbled by the drawing power of Anne...

-GONZO OUT