Tuesday, February 11, 2020

MLA Rice finds a fence to straddle

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice released her first comments on the Wet'suwet'en dispute on Monday, the notes a bit of a mumble jumble of contradictory themes and positioning statements that really don't suggest any kind of opinion, other than the impression that she probably wishes the whole situation would just go away.

In the short Facebook post, Ms. Rice notes that politicians have no control over police operational moves.

Though politicians can of course formulate policy and approvals for projects that in this instance, have put in motion the need for such operational moves following the issuance of a court injunction.

That is the case when it comes to the ongoing issues on the Morice West Forest Service Road over the last month and the opposition that has been found for the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

A project which has been endorsed by the British Columbia government of which Ms. Rice is a member of.

The MLA observes how she agrees with both the elected Haisla Chief Crystal Smith on job creation which in this case will come through LNG development; while also standing with the hereditary chief Na'moks in the Wetsuweten territory in opposition to development that does not fit with his community's values.

A foot in both camps, a position of substance for neither.

In her notes, the MLA invokes the vision of removals of residents off land by gunpoint, and calls to themes of the of past of residential schools and other traumatizing events for Indigenous people, mixing past and present situations together.

All of that was listed off, while she also tied her tapestry together with a call for further work towards decolonization of the laws in British Columbia.

Though in a video from Global TV of the final arrests of Monday, there do not appear to be any weapons drawn as the arrests were effected, leaving the reader to wonder if Ms. Rice has anything further to share on that theme.

The MLA's statement of Monday did not indicate if she agreed with her boss, Premier John Horgan who last month outlined how rule of law was prominent in the court order enforcement plans that were issued at the start of January, declaring at the time that the pipeline will be built.

For that matter her commentary makes no actual mention of any her own leader's statements, or the moves put in motion by her own party.

Nor does she take note of the string of agreements from other Indigenous peoples in support of the pipeline in question, particularly those that live and work in the area currently at the centre of the dispute.

Thus we guess, she doesn't need to provide any actual defence of, or opposition to, the path that the government has followed.

Most of all, she has had little to say during the period of time that led up to the enforcement order of Friday, which continued through the weekend.

Her range of information portals on vacation for the most part, other than a hopeful thought for the work of former MP Nathan Cullen who was part of the Wiggus table, an effort that in the end did not find any success.

As the events continued to evolve over the last six weeks, her information streams were mostly silent while the tensions were building and residents were seeking some guidance from their elected official.



Her lack of commentary on the issue of a pipeline in 2020, is  quite the change from her strong stance as an Opposition MLA of 2016, that when she was signing the Lelu Island Delcaration with MP  Cullen and MLA Doug Donaldson, the latter  now the current forests minister in BC.

That document clearly outlined her opposition to the concept of the then Pacific Northwest LNG terminal in Port Edward and firmly placed her at the forefront of the discussion in the Northwest.

The past efforts from the two Northern MLA's is one that Vancouver Sun journalist Vaughn Palmer picked up on in his column of Monday, which in effect calls out the NDP for contributing to  the current political crisis which it now seems to unable to resolve.

The Legislature is set to resume its work today with protesters having set up camp on the Legislature grounds and blocking its doors.

As they look to return to their duties, the MLA's will either attempt to walk in those front doors and wade through a growing congregation of Wet'suwet'en supporters on the front steps, or they'll find some other way into the building.

At some point there may even be some discussion on the topic in the Legislature, if and when that time comes, the MLA's that live in the ridings of the Northwest and represent the residents in each of them will have a chance to join in on the debate.

Those living on the North Coast and beyond for that matter, will be listening with interest to see if perhaps a little more clarity to the jumbled message of Monday from their MLA will be delivered in the public forum of the Legislature chamber.

Or if a lack of any meaningful contribution to the discussion will instead serve as the MLA's official view.

You can review the last six weeks of the events of the Wet'suwet'en through the archive page we have created that tracks many of the Northwest notes.

As well you can explore the issues further through our political portal D'Arcy McGee and our Victoria Viewpoints archive.

For notes on the North Coast Riding and Ms Rice's representation in Victoria see our archive page here.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

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