BC papers are running paid government advertisements welcoming "on behalf of all British Columbians" the approximately 1100 delegates to the 4th Annual World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention being held August 25 - 28 at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Center.
The ads invite the entrepreneurs "to explore, first hand the wealth of opportunities which British Columbia offers to international investors and trading partners." Increasingly the governments of BC and Canada are courting Asia-Pacific big business, multinational investment and globalization. BC's University of Victoria recently revealed plans to award an honourary degree to the President of China. [S.I.S.I.S. note: the award was declined by China's President Jiang Zemin.] Vancouver will also be the site of an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Summit November 25 - 28.
Vancouver's 'Afternoon Show' on CBC Radio, today interviewed Milton Wong, a conference organizer. "China has a lot of people, Canada has a lot of land, why don't we shake hands and do business together. There are 250,000 Chinese here...they want to use their connections to help build Canada," said Wong.
Exactly two years ago, BC watched as Shuswap traditionalists held off the largest paramilitary force in Canadian history, which illegally invaded their unceded sovereign territories at Gustafsen Lake. Two years ago Shuswap elder Wolverine, now being held as a political prisoner by the BC authorities, reaffirmed the resolve of indigenous resisters to defend their lands.
"The Canadian government has no jurisdiction over this land. These are just a bunch of politicians who respond to multi-national corporations. The international community is watching them."
International investors should draw the appropriate conclusions and know that indigenous sovereign rights must be respected. Resource exploitation and other economic ventures occurring in the absence of consent will increasingly result in vigorous indigenous and popular resistance.
On April 8, 1997 in a Vancouver Sun article "Land Claims make investors wary, BC told," AWCEC organizer and businessman Milton Wong seemed to appreciate this. He was responded to by Dr. Bruce Clark, one of the leading authorities on the constitutional and international law concerning Indigenous jurisdiction, sovereignty and the dubious BC Treaty Process.
S.I.S.I.S suggests that international business interests may wish to consider the advice contained as well as the possible consequences of ignoring it:
The Editor
Vancouver Sun
2250 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V6H 3G2April 9, 1997
Dear Sir:
In stating that Indian land claims settlements will improve the business climate in the province by ending political instability and economic uncertainty, Mr. Milton Wong not only gave the legislative committee good business advice but, in addition, rendered sound legal and moral advice. As a world leader in international finance the Hong Kong Bank, to which Mr. Wong recently relinquished control of M. K. Wong Associates, presumably appreciates well the intimate connection between fundamental human rights under the rule of law on the one hand, and economic stability on the other. Injustice makes for an unstable society, precisely because injustice is profoundly offensive to the human condition and will, inevitably, be opposed.
From this perspective the absence of Indian Treaties in British Columbia is no less a barometer of the potentially disruptive influence of injustice, as are Tibet and Tiananmen Square and potentially Hong Kong relative to China. When any great power derogates from human rights at home, all interests are prejudiced in our increasingly interdependent world.
Mr. Wong is quoted as having stated "For this reason and others, I believe a fairly and honourably negotiated Nisga'a treaty would send an important economic message to boardrooms around the world." Lamentably the fact is that under present circumstances there is no possibility of any treaty "fairly and honourably" being negotiated in British Columbia. The reason is that the legal establishment of this province treasonably, fraudulently and genocidally has not only already stolen the land in the absence of legally enabling treaties, but has jettisoned the rule of law itself in an endeavour to cover up the crime.
From the rule of law perspective the solution is third-party adjudication in the international arena - relative to impasses reached in the treaty negotiation process going on between natives and newcomers. Only by this device can the rule of law be rehabilitated in British Columbia. Until then, any treaty that may be signed inevitably will remain vulnerable to being set aside at a later date on the ground of the fraud, duress and undue influence which which has resulted from the newcomers' theft of land and their courts' corresponding usurpation of jurisdiction.
Third party adjudication was adopted as a matter of existing international and constitutional law in 1704, and the adoption was confirmed for legal purposes in 1773, 1867, and 1982. Still, the courts for British Columbia refuse to address this law, and in virtue of their stonewalling do negate the rule of law.
Foreign business interests that inform themselves on this issue perform a beneficial service for British Columbia and Canada, just as do British Columbia and Canada perform a service for China by monitoring injustice in China. The rule of law is our common heritage, and the measure of our legacy in moral no less than economic terms will be taken by the respect both countries pay to the rule of law in the human rights context.
Sincerely,
Bruce Clark
BC Premier Glen Clark
Phone: (250) 380-6506
Fax: (250) 387-0087
University of Victoria Public Relations
Email: ddanylch@uvic.ca
For more information:
Dr. Bruce Clark
Box 140, 39 Murray Road
Robinsonville, New Brunswick, Canada EOK 1EO
Fax: (506) 753-7315No to APEC!
Email: notoapec@vcn.bc.ca