Do special Indigenous legal privileges conflict with the rule of law？
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Summary
A Canadian law professor is advocating for an end to heritage-based legal rights for Indigenous people in Canada, saying it conflicts with a free society and the rule of law. A Vancouver bylaw will fine homeowners for not registering their wood-burning fireplaces and stoves with the city. Air Canada flight attendants have ended their three-day strike, which had grounded flights last week.
Transcript
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A Canadian law professor is advocating for an end to heritage-based legal rights for
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Indigenous people in Canada, saying it conflicts with a free society and the rule of law.
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A Vancouver bylaw will fine homeowners for not registering their
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wood-burning fireplaces and stoves with the city.
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Air Canada flight attendants, represented by Coop National, have ended their three-day strike,
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Hello Canada, it's Wednesday, August 20th, and this is the True North Daily Brief.
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We've got you covered with all the news you need to know.
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Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.
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A Canadian law professor is advocating for an end to special legal rights for Indigenous people in
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Canada, citing that lineage-based privileges conflict with a free society and the rule of law.
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In a commentary published August 15th in the National Post, Bruce Pardee, a professor at
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Queen's University, said Indigenous rights enshrined in the Constitution represent a return to outdated
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The piece comes amid recent court decisions highlighting tensions over Indigenous land claims
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British Columbia Supreme Court judge ruled last month that the Cowichan First Nation holds
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Aboriginal title over 800 acres of government land in Richmond, B.C.
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The decision stated Aboriginal title is a, quote, prior and senior right to fee simple title,
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potentially overriding public or private ownership.
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If upheld on appeal, the ruling could threaten property security in areas with Aboriginal title
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claims, including B.C. and New Brunswick, parties said.
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In a separate November decision, a New Brunswick King's bench judge suggested that successful
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Indigenous land claims might lead to government expropriation of private property to transfer it
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Pardee described these outcomes as logical extensions of Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence
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on Indigenous law, which he said aligns with deeply held Canadian views on special status
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for Indigenous people under Section 35 of the Constitution.
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Alex, could you elaborate a little bit on Pardee's points about how Indigenous ancestry-based rights
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or lineage-based privileges, as he calls them, conflict with operating as a democratic society governed
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So I think that party makes several very convincing and compelling arguments in his article,
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And amongst them, what he says is that the granting of Aboriginal title to folks based off of their
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lineage or their heritage is in contravention of equality under the law, which is a principle
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of the West, that we're all treated equally under the law.
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Interestingly enough, in Canada, under Section 35, we're not treated equally.
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And I suppose that's something that he's decrying and that this decision from a B.C. Supreme
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Court judge after what is being described as the longest trial in Canadian history, it echoes
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the fact that we are not treated equally under the law.
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He also makes another interesting point, which is that land disputes are not unique to Canada.
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For instance, you know, if you look in Europe, you can see there's a war between Ukraine and
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Transcarpathia is an area in Eastern Europe that is traditionally occupied by Hungarians,
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but it was transferred to Ukrainians, you know, more than a century ago now.
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So you could apply this logic to virtually anywhere on Earth and you could have these land disputes.
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And again, to party's point, I think that they are contradictory towards the basic principles
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of private property inequality of people under the law.
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Vancouver homeowners with wood-burning fireplaces and stoves must register them with the local
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The Metro Vancouver bylaw is being pushed by environmental regulators and takes effect on
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The regional district says smoke from residential wood-burning is the largest source of fine
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Julie Saxon, Metro Vancouver's air quality manager, said the policy is not designed to
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eliminate fireplaces or stoves outright, but to bring standards in line with modern emission levels.
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We're trying to introduce lower emissions to reduce the effects on people's health.
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Metro Vancouver estimates there are tens of thousands of fireplaces and stoves still in
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operation across the region, potentially as many as $100,000.
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The district says residential burning accounts for about a quarter of the area's particulate
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emissions, even as stricter regulations have reduced pollution from other sources such as
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industry, marine shipping, and heavy-duty vehicles.
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Residents will be required to register appliances located within the urban containment boundary,
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and officials say enforcement will begin with education and outreach.
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Exemptions will be allowed for low-income households or those facing emergencies.
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So, Cosman, have there been any other instances of what critics might call government overreach
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But this is all just part of the creep, the bureaucratic creep and expansion of power under the guise
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Here we have the government essentially saying you have to register a piece of your property.
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But they want to tally up how many wood-burning stoves or fireplaces there are.
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They start by saying, oh, we're just trying to inform the public and educate people.
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And when you have legislation like this set up, the government can essentially gather all
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that data and use that information for other purposes or if they want to go further.
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And past experiences have shown that they do go further.
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Or potentially even fining people just for owning these things.
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But we have seen moves to even eliminate things like natural gas heating in Vancouver.
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So last year, Vancouver City Council actually upheld the ban on natural gas heating for new
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Even though Mayor Ken Sim and other councillors were opposed to the idea, the ban was upheld.
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And the government, especially when they're driven by climate activists, they ignore the
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public pushback because it wasn't only the public in Vancouver that was pushing back against
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It makes things more expensive, first of all, to develop property.
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Natural gas heating is actually a pretty cheap way to heat your home.
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And arguably, it's a better and more environmentally friendly way to heat your home than other
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So Vancouver, they've been pushing to ban natural gas since, I think, back to 2016.
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There's also been pushes in Montreal where they've pushed to ban natural gas in new homes,
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The strike by Air Canada flight attendants, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees
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National, has ended after three days of grounded flights.
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The National Public Workers Union announced Tuesday that flight attendants at Air Canada
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and Air Canada Rouge have reached a tentative agreement.
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This comes just days after Prime Minister Mark Carney's government, through Jobs Minister
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Paddy Hajdu, declared the flight attendants strike unlawful and directed the Canada Industrial
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On Monday, Hajdu said ideally the two parties would reach an agreement without forced arbitration.
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COOP leadership vowed to stay on the picket line, even if it meant facing arrest, charges,
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Details of the agreement are not yet available to members, but unions are advising their membership
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According to COOP Ontario, the union worked from 7 p.m. Monday to 4.23 a.m. to reach the
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deal with the help of the union's chief mediator, William Kaplan, whom both parties agreed to
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Air Canada similarly released a statement Tuesday morning confirming that the strike has ended
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The airline announced flights are scheduled for Tuesday evening, but warned customers that
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it could take 7 to 10 days to return to full regular service as aircraft and crew are out
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Some flights might be cancelled during that 10-day window.
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So Alex, just from observing the media and public conversation around this issue, do you
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suppose that there's public backing behind the government's decision to send airline workers
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So I would say that the vast majority of the public is probably in favour of them going
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back to work under any circumstances because they were actually deemed not essential workers,
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but flight attendants are essential workers effectively because planes can't operate without them.
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And especially in a country as big as Canada, people rely very heavily on the airlines.
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That being said, I think that people were also very much in favour of what the workers were
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bargaining for, which is the right to be paid for all of their work and to be compensated
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I think that there's a few reasons why there was so much sympathy, if you will, for the Air
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One is that largely people really don't like the institution.
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Air Canada is not a particularly popular corporation in Canada, and they have what many people would
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consider, I think quite rightly, to be an unfair market share.
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With regards to Canadian aviation, they are also not really well-renowned for their customer service
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So you saw folks like Pierre Polyev and also Michelle Rempel-Garner, both advocating on behalf
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of the workers, as well as Don Davies and the regular NDP crowd, who are typically in favour
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I don't think that people are happy with the fact that the government interfered in the bargaining,
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Patty Hashtu has a terrible reputation from her previous portfolios, and I think that she's
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And so there's very little faith in her, specifically as the Minister of Jobs, and there's very little
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goodwill amongst Canadians, as pertains to her specifically.
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But I think that ultimately Canadians are happy that they will be happy if planes are operating
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in the regular dysfunctional fashion that they typically do.
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That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday
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