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| Skeena MLA Ellis Ross was one of a number of Liberal MLA's who spoke as part of the first Question Period of the Spring Session |
The first official gathering of the Spring Session at the Legislature was a raucous affair, complete with heckling on both sides of the House, bursts of anger and frustration making for the current of the conversation as MLA's took to the debate over the ongoing protests in support of the Wet'suwet'en issues of the Northwest.
Skeena MLA Ellis Ross was in the forefront of the discussion during the opening Question Period of the new session, speaking towards his views on the events in the region and seeking to determine if the Provincial government is still making use of the services of former MP Nathan Cullen.
You talk about going to talk to Hereditary Chiefs, going to talk about the issues. On that same day, when you went to talk to Hereditary Chiefs, did you go visit the band councils too? Did you think about all the issues First Nations are facing — the suicide, the unemployment?
Did anybody talk about that? I hear these words — accountability, honest genuine dialogue. Nobody has any business going into these First Nations communities and furthering the divide in any of the communities. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You're talking about one of the most vulnerable people in Canada.
These are real issues, and for the first time in our history, we have the opportunity to fix these issues. But no. What do we see? We see 1 percent of a minority being addressed in this House. Nobody thought about the 99 percent of the people that are being put into jobs, education, training and fixing their own lives.
We heard a lot of talk about Aboriginal rights and title here. Which case law principle are you talking about? Haida, Delgamuukw, mixed Miki'siw — which one?
There's a whole rafter of case law principles that define the relationship between the Crown and First Nations. That's the rule book we should have been following, not the political road that we're taking now.
My question is to the Minister of Indigenous Relations. On January 27, you hired Nathan Cullen to talk to the Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs. Is he still working with you guys?
Minister Scott Fraser fielded the question for the government, with the Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister providing a review of some of his engagement over the last year with the Office of the Wet'suwet'en, as well as to recount some of the other initiatives that the government had put in place, including to make use of the services of Mr. Cullen to help coordinate during the recent discussions.
The answer served to provide the Skeena MLA with another observation on the nature of those discussions, with Mr. Ross, making note of the bias he believes that the former MP would have brought with him into that engagement.
Let's just look at what Nathan Cullen has said over the years. On January 8: "For the Wet'suwet'en, responsibility falls to the traditional Elders, the Hereditary Chiefs of each of the house clans."
On February 10: "If CGL proceeds before issues of rights and title of the Wet'suwet'en have been sorted, we'll be throwing their rights away."
You hired a guy that already has a bias against LNG and already has an opinion on what the rights and title should look like.
The only people that should determine that is the courts of B.C. and Canada, not some ex-politician who already has made some statements.
The question remains: is Nathan Cullen still working for you guys?
The Premier himself rose to answer that inquiry, highlighting for the member from Skeena of the government's main objective is to try to find a positive way forward through the current situation and towards that noted how Mr. Cullen's contribution served those goals.
I make no apologies for taking someone of the calibre of Nathan Cullen, well respected by Coastal GasLink, by LNG Canada, by the office of the Wet'suwet'en and by this government, and asking him to help us find a way forward, because that's what governing is about — finding a way forward.
The member's absolutes are the whole point. That's the whole reason why we're trying to unravel this — to bring the jobs that we all want in the community that he represents, to bring prosperity to all British Columbians, not just those who are lucky enough to buy in at the start.
We want to make sure that First Peoples and everyone is in a position to benefit from the splendour of this province. You can shake your head all you want, Member. You can shake your head all you want.
You don't care about harmony. You just want disruption.
The exchange was just one of many that the Premier took part in during the course of the testy Question Period, also taking on the inquiries of the Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson, as well as from MLA's Jas Johal, Mary Polak and Mike de Jong.
You can explore the full question period from the Legislature's Question Period video here, for those with just an interest in the exchange between the Premier and Mr. Ross, the Skeena MLA's inquiries begin at the 2:16 PM mark of the proceedings.
Further notes on the work of MLA's in the Legislature can be reviewed below:
North Coast
Skeena
A wider overview of the provincial political scene can be explored from our Victoria Viewpoints archive.
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