74th NBBC Convention

This week I was at the 74th Annual Native Brotherhood of BC Convention in Wei Wai Kum territory (Campbell River). It's hard to describe the proceedings without sounding terribly disparaging, but I think it is indicative not only of the state of Indigenous fishing but our politics overall. This picture is actually from a NBBC meeting my father was at 25 years ago. He was an organizer and later Executive Director for the Brotherhood.

My mom used to call that jacket, my Dad's "Les Nessman jacket" although I think she meant Herb Tarlek, both of WKRP fame. A lot has changed in the last 25 years. The Nuu-chah-nulth fishing fleet had more than 200 active boats and today I think there are about 15. Our neighbouring nations have experienced the same devastation. Once a strong seafaring people among the richest in the world, Indigenous nations on the coast have been relegated to the trash heap of social and economic poverty.

At this point I could go off in a multiple number of directions analyzing colonial relations but I want to focus the manner in which Indigenous people resist and organize. My father speaks fondly of those years when the Brotherhood was a powerful organization, even after it handed over the land question issues to the Union of BC Indian Chiefs in 1969, and focussed on fishing issues. One of the things that made it effective as a representative of Indigenous fishermen was the fact that it was completely member-funded and free of the shackles of government funding.

The fact that we ignore the co-optive effect of government funding today is more than disturbing. I have a simple formula: If your Indigenous movement is effective or shows hope, the goverment will not fund it. If your intiative is ineffective, the government will more than gladly fund it. This should make sense. It need not be more complicated than that.

Back to today. Less fishermen = less dues. Too many non-Indigenous consultants and advisors and talk of increased government funding = an impotent and co-opted organization no longer capable of truly representing the interests of Indigenous people. In true W-fashion, I have not lost hope, however. Not yet.