Angry in the Great White North

Natives chase off developers on a piece of land not recognized to be theirs, then assault reporters, police, and ordinary citizens, and Premier Dalton McGuinty sits back and hopes everything will work out.

On the other hand, Natives put up a billboard that has the word "smoke shop", and the rhetoric being thrown about reaches a level of bombast that would make Kim Jong Il proud.

From the Hamilton Spectator:

Just as one storm cloud cleared over Caledonia, another settled in over cigarette billboards along Highway 6 that advertise Six Nations tobacco products and stores.

Some of the signs are on the reserve, some of them are off the reserve and some are within provincial highway right-of-ways.

A Health Canada official said they have notified their inspectors in the region and an investigation has been launched.

The billboard is cheap and tawdry, as shown in this photograph by Cathie Coward of the Spectator:

The law does not require that tobacco advertising be sophisticated to be illegal. What's amazing is that with all the apparent lack of interest in deaing strongly with the land occupation, all the players in this drama over a crappy billboard seem ready to die on this hill.

A representative of Health Canada:

A spokesperson for the federal health minister said any contravention of the ban on tobacco advertising would be "unforgivable."

Unforgivable?

Then there are the aboriginals:

Six Nations spokespeople were enraged by the controversy, saying it was just a ploy to divert attention from the main issue: land claims.

"We are not Canadians and we are not subjected to Canadian laws," said spokesperson Hazel Hill. "We adhere to the Great Law and Canada had better just back off. They're trying to force their taxes on us. They have no say on what happens on Six Nations."

Even if signs are off the traditional reserve land, Hill said they are within 10 kilometres of the Grand River and therefore part of their territory.

"I could put a sign in the middle of Caledonia and it'd be our territory. This is about land claims. (Canada) stole the land and now they have to deal with it."

From the provincial government comes the astounding statement that the law must be applied:

Ontario's Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay said the tobacco signs won't scuttle talks at the main table -- set to resume Friday -- because they do not have anything to do with the land claims.

"There has to be an even application of the law, and that's all that's happening," he said, adding day-to-day issues come up in every community.

I bet a fiew people in Caledonia would have some choice words to tell David Ramsay about the "even application of the law".

The Ontario government continues to display some stiffness of spine:

Jim Watson, the province's minister of health promotion, pointed to one billboard which has a cartoon bull on it as an old "trick" used by tobacco companies to attract young people.

"This is a health issue: no one should be advertising tobacco products."

I'm not convinced that young people are going to be attracted to smoking by that silly sign. Young people who are old enough to be able to drive the highways are have probably already taken up smoking because their parents smoke. Those younger teens on the verge of smoking can't drive, so I'm not sure how they would get to the reserve. Maybe there's a bus.

In any case, I haven't heard anyone directly accusing the native smoke shops of either selling to underage consumers or of skirting the rules that dramatically limit their ability to sell cigarettes to non-natives. Of course, Watson might be talking about the general affect on young people seeing the billboard on their way to wherever they are going. Still, his wording suggests that the Natives are deliberately targeting young people with the billboard.

In any case, there are plenty of raspberries to go around on this issue:

• To the federal government for the "unforgivable" comment. Really, this is quite forgivable. Maybe it's not tolerable. Maybe it's serious. But unforgivable? Please.
• To the David Ramsay of the Ontario government, don't start talking about the "even application of the law". That example of bald-faced hypocrisy will pour gas on the fire that has been dampened down to a low smolder among the non-Natives in Caledonia.
• To Jim Watson of the Ontario government, are you accusing the Natives of targeting young people, or selling to young people?
• To the various spokespeople for the Six Nations, please relax. Suggesting that you can put up a billboard in the middle of Caledonia sounds like a dare, and unless you want to look like empty windbags, you had better get some hammer and nails and start putting up that sign, or better yet, stop making statements like that. Tying this land claims is a dumb move, because you might have found an issue that a lot of your do-gooder friends on the left are going to have problems supporting you on. Remember that the anti-smoking campaigns that have resulted in the laws you think don't apply to you were organized by socialist meddlers who insist they know what is best for everyone and who hate corporate Canada, especially tobacco companies. While you play the part of the oppressed, they're on your side. But start acting and sounding like the worst of Big Tobacco, and you'll find yourself with few friends off the reserve. And don't kid yourself -- your success so far is in no small part due to their efforts and their connections with the Liberal Party. If they turn on you, you might find the Ontario government a lot less pliable than before. In fact, you've already seen that with just how quickly the Ontario government is willing to fight you over the billboards.

Maybe the people on the Six Nations reserve need to think about whether the people behind their land protests, people like cigarette manufacturer Grand River Enterprise owner Ken Hill, are using them and their political activism for their own financial benefit. Ken Hill might have convinced Hazel Hill and others that a ban on Native cigarette advertising is an affront to their sovereignty and the thin end of the wedge for more incursions and a tax issue and whatever else, but at the end of the day, it is about enriching Ken Hill. They ought to consider whether helping Ken Hill is really the same as helping themselves.