Clearwater River Dene First Nation and the neighboring community of La Loche are among the most economically challenged in the province, with all the accompanying social ills – crime, substance abuse, welfare dependence. But save your sympathies. Apparently, they like it that way;
Christopher Hopkins, the president and CEO of Oilsands Quest Inc., gets a steely look in his eyes when you ask him about the reason he’s moving the bunkhouses from one of the two camps his company had constructed at the Axe Lake oilsands project in the northwestern corner of Saskatchewan.
He’s moving the camp infrastructure, which can house up to 100 workers in hotel-level comfort, to the Alberta side of the border, where Oilsands Quest also has oilsand leases on land contiguous to its Saskatchewan property.
The move west to Alberta is more than symbolic to Hopkins, whose company was in the news this past June when road access to his camps was cut off on Saskatchewan provincial Highway 955 when members of the Clearwater River Dene First Nation, under the direction of Chief Roy Cheecham, refused access for vehicles or people headed to the Oilsands Quest camp.
The blockade left a lasting impression on Hopkins, who says he has no desire or plans in the future to meet with Cheecham again.
“I have told the chief. I have told anyone who will listen. We will never be caught in a blockade like that again,” Hopkins said. “And I mean it.”
That’s not the only barrier to development. Cheecham has allies in Regina.
Hopkins won’t say anything bad about the Government of Saskatchewan, but notes he had to submit 18 copies of his application to various government offices in Regina for the right to lay down more than 900 kilometres of new seismic lines, plus do additional drilling into the bitumen formation.
Many in the industry speculate that Saskatchewan’s oil sands deposits may rival those of Alberta.
Now you know why they speculate.
Related: Ending the desecration of Father Sky and Mother Earth through the miracle of outdoor plumbing….
[deleted – off topic. Find a joke blog, ED]
kate sets ’em up and the rednecks knock ’em down.
Good find Kate and a glaring example of why Sask will always suck hind teat in western prosperity….gifted with the same resources as Alberta (if not more) the development has stagnated or never will return until there is a government which understands that resource development is primary to prosperity for all…you can’t have “sustainable” social programs without “sustainable development” one follows the other…even a cynical liberal kleptocrat knows that if you are going to milk the cow you don’t starve it.
Your wheatfield commies must have taken political administration lessons in another dimension because it takes totally detached supernatural ineptitude to kill a golden goose as large and willing to produce as Sask.
I had heard that the blockade was done, but I (naturally) assumed that they had kept talking. I also (naturally) assumed that none of the locals would continue to work on the project while the blockade was on. It would be apparent that the good Chief doesn’t have the full backing of his tribe in this issue.
As for the red tape? The next provincial election can’t come fast enough.
…hands in my pocket, hands in my pocket…
Gives new meaning to work ethic.
Flat landers where the hardest working and moral people you’d meet, and while I’m sure they are, something is wrong with the optics.
Last time I checked, Saskatchewan is a democratic society, and their leadership got voted in by a majority who still live there.
Maybe it’s in the water?
…that’s an NDP party for ya….
…reading the StarPhoenix article, couldn’t help notice the line
“…the Calgary businessperson…”
What the heck is that? Next step they won’t say “he” “his” “him” but “it” when referring to umm, its quotes.
PCism is alive in Saskatoon!
Redneck should be taken as a compliment when compared to an eastern slimeneck, any day.
Jokes such as the one above keep feelings out in the open and not festering and building resentment. That is good, at least you know what the mood is around you. Only when something is out in the open and above ground can you deal with it in a sensible manner. Hiding something, pretending it isn’t there, and not facing it to look for a solution being most common trait of all liberals.
Jokes keep things in the open. The canary for social problems.
Anyone looking at a map of the Canadian oil sands development would think that by a quirk of fate the resource stops right at the Manitoba border. You can literally see the borderline on the map.
The PC world is populated by people who are moral exhibitionists…rather than see the humor they see an opportunity to mastrubate in public with their moral supriroty.
Jeff has personal demons to conquer before he condemns others.
Simply fairness dictates that Clearwater River Dene First Nation receive half the profits of the Axe Lake development. Chief Roy Cheecham is doing a great job defending the rights and property of his tribe. He has the makings of a Canadian Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.
Making 18 photocopies is a pretty low barrier to entry.
Does recieving half the profit go along with doing half the work and suppling half the investment? If not they would be sitting on worthless ground.
Frontenac Ventures Corporation filed a $100-million lawsuit yesterday against the local Algonquin nations and their leaders and are seeking an injunction to remove the protesters blockade from the entrance of a proposed uranium mining site north of Sharbot Lake.
Since June 29, members of the Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan Algonquin Nations have been camped out at the entrance of Frontenac Ventures’ site, preventing the company from entering the land on which they have staked claims. Neal Smitheman, the company’s lawyer, said the Algonquins’ occupation of the land is illegal and “could result in serious economic harm for the company.”
http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=626131&catname=Local+News
“Does recieving half the profit go along with doing half the work and suppling half the investment?”
Absolutely not. This is simply another installment in the process of making reparations. We all agree that the First Nations are a distinct society which are worthy of our support, so giving them half the profits is a first step which is well overdue.
Indians can afford the luxury of job- and capital-killing roadblocks because of their $8,000,000,000 in annual unearned income.
Mr. Hopkins, on the other hand, has to go out and work for his.
The problem with this fiasco and many others is the recognition of “traditional” lands. Once that ogre was let out of the bottle,it is getting harder and very expensive to put it back in. We will be facing claims on every square inch of Canada. It is time that the native land claims are settled regarding thier treaty rights and “traditional” claims be ignored.
Kevin,that would be the Saskatchewan border.Way back when,the prescient dinosaurs must have decided that they wanted to die on free land.
“Making 18 photocopies is a pretty low barrier to entry.”
So you think making 18 photocopies automatically means 18 approvals in Saskatchewan? If so, wouldn’t you agree that’s 17 bureaucrats that don’t have to get involved?
Ever heard of something called a focal point? It’s obvious that the gov’t of Saskatchewan hasn’t.
only 18 copies ??
How do we expect CUPE to justify thousands of additional useless Civil Servants, lips carefully locked on the public teat, when they demand only 18 copies ?
Think of all the lost Union dues, the ones that automatically just roll into CUPE headquarters and thence NDP election campaigns, without even the need for union organizing costs. Sweet deal . . . 100% pure windfall profits for our self-serving CUPE brothers & sisters.
Funding to keep up the great lie about free collective bargaining in a state granted monopoly environment.
“Making 18 photocopies is a pretty low barrier to entry.”
Posted by: xerox the stoic at July 29, 2007 12:10 PM
Not if you have to send them to up to 18 different government offices and wait for 18 different responses.
I worked on the Mackenzie valley pipeline 30 plus years ago. We were further along at that time then they are now. The feds are worse than the Saskscratcherbum gubmint.
by the way the 18 copies may have been with 18 fees.
The resources definetly dont stop at the Sask/Alberta border but years of nonbusiness friendly government combined with a government run gas marketing agency and the line becomes very real.
The real issue has very little to do with native culture, and much more to do with the socialist culture of Saskachewan.
The oil industry where I work is staffed by majority natives. The LACK of land claims in nothern Alberta is very beneficial, as treaty indians can work tax-free doing anything for most local companies.
Unless the entire population of Saskachewan suddenly stops voting like the leftist tools that they are(they won’t), they should not ever EVER expect to compete with Alberta economically…
Please, folks …. let’s be smart. Mystery Meat = Hungry Troll.
Don’t feed.
And Calvert goes whining to Harper for more money. Hopefully you send him packing this fall. We would welcome Sask to the family of people who know how to do more with their hands than hold them out palms up. Mysery Meat-my Dad taught me a long time ago the first step to getting up on your feet is get up off your a$$. Some Natives are starting to figure that out; apparently it hasn’t got up to northern Sask yet.
Quote:Your wheatfield commies must have taken political administration lessons in another dimension because it takes totally detached supernatural ineptitude to kill a golden goose as large and willing to produce as Sask. End Quote
Shouldn’t use the word wheatfield with the word commies. The NDP has hardly won a rural seat in Saskatchewan for many years now.
The chief, like any other tinpot dictator is preserving his power over his ‘subjects’. As long as all the people on ‘his’ reserve rely on the chief for funds to live; the chief retains his power over them. If the young men and women of that reserve get good paying jobs they will be independant. Poof! Chief’s power is up in smoke! It is time to end the racist reserve system. My family has lived in Canada for more than 200 years – every member pays taxes and we do not have a ‘chief’ doling out an allowance. No North American Indian person is ‘more Canadian’ than my family – and many other families that live on the land (excluding Hutterites who have the same system as the reserves). It is time for the whole country to free the people who are not citizens but subjects of a power hungry “Chief’ or ‘elder’. This country is supposed to be democratic; like Abe Lincoln once stated – a freeman is not free if he owns slaves. Same goes for a country, IMO.
In the short term, what does Brad Wall and the Sask. Party say to this? If Sask. is to emerge from it’s lifetime of ‘many living off the work of few’ (CCF and Dipper governments) things have to change in the bureaucracy. Is Brad Wall to have a legion of silly servants loyal to the Dippers, as Stephen Harper has at the Federal level? Silly servants can undermine a ethical government in most egregious ways. Only Dipper types can tolerate working in the ‘hothouse’ atmosphere of government that is run by Union “Chiefs’. I hope that Mr. Wall has some plan in place to put the Union ‘Chiefs’ who collaborate with all other ‘Chief’s’ out of the ruling business. Job intimidation (economic ruin and character assassination are tools of the government ‘dictator type ‘Chiefs’).
Has anyone asked Mr. Wall this question?
Once the tinpot dictators are neutralized, good times can evolve for all Canadians. Corruption is top down too!
If the drillers can’t get to their site ,how does the money get to the chief.blockades work both ways,put up a blockade ,money stops,seems simple to me.
Funny how these lands claims go
First nations claim traditional land .traditional to who.The Iroquois drove out the huron,the Huron drove out the Neutral band(in southwestern ontario.)+tribes into the past.
Using my simple logic ,the huron have a claim agaist the Iroquois and the Neutral have a claim against the Huron.
Hard to prove ….surely DNA could sort all this out.
Surely as first nations claim we owe them ,they owe each other in turn.
Just thinkin
I moved to SK 18 years ago after a couple of years in AB and many years in BC. One thing I noticed right away is that when some issue came up the first things locals said was “the government should do something about that.” Hardly the first thing that ever came to my mind. Of course that is because I seldom see government as part of the solution.
A few years ago I was cleaning out some boxes and came across a little fact book that came with the world globe that was a reward for buying a World Book encyclopedia in the 50’s. (I am bright mentally, but inept physically and had been unable to learn to ride a bike. My mother told the encyclopedia salesman ((that was the 50’s never heard of ‘salesperson’)) “teach the kid to ride a bike and you’ve got a sale” Less than an hour of him running up and down the street hanging onto the back of my bike and I was on my way to a shaky solo and he had chalked up another sale. The booklet listed facts about provinces and countries. It came as a shock to me re-reading this dusty booklet that at the time the facts were compiled SK had significantly more population than AB. Upon reflection about the experience of living in both I am not surprised that that is no longer the case.
Until retirement I worked for a number of years in a joint venture with the SK govt. The structure of the deal in the beginning doomed it. It was structured win-lose. If the operating partner did really well they would pay a premium to buy out the operation – a clear disincentive to achieve any more than than a minimally acceptable level of performance. There was no overt government interference, but there was always an awareness of optics and agendas that tended to add a political bias to decisions that might have been different if made for purely business reasons. Nothing I saw suggested there is a value to having an ongoing government involvement in business.
The building of the operation was more an economic decision than a business one and would not have happened without government involvement, but IMHO that should have been limited to a one-off grant and no ongoing involvement. If the business was not considered viable to private enterprise under those terms it should not have gone forward. If one argued for a continued relationship the structure of that relationship should have been one which was win-win.
We endured one blockade from our northern brethren over environmental concerns. Those concerns evaporated with the addition of more jobs for them. A lot of extra operating cost was incurred to “keep peace in the valley”.
Wealthy well to do enviromenatlists dont want those poeple to have safe drinking water and airconditioning becuase these eco-radicals want to wipeout these poor africans becuase their so out of their minds listening to PAUL EHRLICH and his POPULATION BOMB poppycock bull kaka
It is hard to be optimistic about SK’s future. Rotten roads, sub standard health care and high taxes. Then there is the demographics. The quickest growing populations are young natives and seniors. It’s difficult to picture any improvement given current and future liabilities. It sure shows that it does not matter how rich in natural resources you have with poor management at the government level. Barring a turnaround, I will be advising my kids move and work elsewhere.
I used to invest in this company when it was called CanWest. I just could not shake this nagging suspicion that the NDP would let them spend a lot of money on exploration but never let them produce a drop of oil. I never factored in Native issues since I thought they would want economic development.
May I suggest a new Saskatchewan business motto: We produce economic stagnation thru regulation and confrontation.
Lloydminster! I say again that Lloyd. is the prime example of the contrast between Alberta and Sask. On the one side (Sask.) there a bare minimum of development. On the Alberta side it is unbelievable. Every time I pass thru Lloyd. (and that is fairly often, I might add) there is more construction. And more help wanted ads, undoubtedly. This city is a microcosom of the two provinces.
It is political, but it is also attitudes. In Alberta the government is there to help, but for the most part not to ‘do’, whereas is Sask. the government is the key player. Witness all of the corporations.
As far as the attitude thing, look at the wheat board. I find myself agreeing with Turdeau (just this one time – Please God, forgive me), farmers should sell thier produce, or a farmer based operation should – not the government or a government based board! It seems tho that the farmers are secure if they are all making the same for their product. “life is good”. To hell with the possibility that they may all facing starvation.
Weird!!!
CRB
Kate,
I have been looking for a copy of the map in your post.
Would you kindly provide a link?
Thanks.
Murray
The map is here:
http://www.prairiecentre.com/pdf/cp_map.pdf
Note the.pdf
Apparently, the chief hasn’t read the treaty he was so anxious to protect. The treaty says
“… and that they will not molest the person or property of any inhabitant of such ceded tracts, or the property of Her Majesty the Queen, or interfere with or trouble any person passing or travelling through the said tracts, or any part thereof…”
By putting up a blockade the chief & his friends were breaking their own sacred treaty. Of course, the treaty says the Indians will obey the law and we all know how that one worked out.
Apparently, the chief hasn’t read the treaty he was so anxious to protect. The treaty says
“… and that they will not molest the person or property of any inhabitant of such ceded tracts, or the property of Her Majesty the Queen, or interfere with or trouble any person passing or travelling through the said tracts, or any part thereof…”
By putting up a blockade the chief & his friends were breaking their own sacred treaty. Of course, the treaty says the Indians will obey the law and we all know how that one worked out.
i notice JP’s contribution has been deleted. what happened kate? learning the hard way?
Could someone help Jeff sound out his words? I’m busy.
Jeff needs more than help sounding out his words, the poor small minded lad is obviously suffering from Extreme Leftist Mental Disorder.
Work with me Jeff…
“p-r-o-p-e-r-t-y r-i-g-h-t-s”
Jeff,learning WHAT the hard way? The comments on this blog and many others are not screened for political correctness before being posted. Some may offend and stay, while others are over the line and are deleted. So,what is your point? Maybe you would be more comfortable at Kinsella’s place where you can offend and be morally superior at the same time.
And also,warren’s baking cookies comment was not that bad. Instead of defending himself,he chose to grovel like a neutered puppy who just peed on the carpet. Then had the audacity to pretend that grovelling was the manly thing to do,he took his lumps,let us all move on,yeah right,he may have been a punk musician,but now behaves like a jailhouse punk.
The NDP leader of Sask. has his riding in Saskatoon (Riversdale). Now, you’d think that after years of “progressive” government, with the head honcho’s riding being Riversdale, that the place would be a model community.
Think about it, the premier is a hardcore “help the poor” progressive, so his riding should be … what?
Riversdale is a shithole. It is a drug infested, murder filled sewer which is bordered by Canada’s most violent place (Pleasant Hill). The entire part of the city is hardcore NDP, yet hardcore crime filled.
This is the legacy of the NDP … of socialism. The great leader’s own riding is an absolute human sewer which keeps voting NDP year after year yet gets poorer by the day.
Progressia … gotta love it.
Maybe Chief Roy Cheecham has learned that there are always options. Forcing someone to explore their options, unless you want to get rid of them, is usually a bad idea.
I guess dealing with governments some how gave him the impression extortion was OK.
wallyj: “The comments on this blog and many others are not screened for political correctness…”
Ah, they don’t have to be. You know the PC leftoid types who try to post here usually don’t last.
Reality thing you know.
RADICAL ECO-FREAKS WANT TO TURN AFRICA INTO SOME REDICLOUS ECO-TOURISM TOURISTS TRAPS AND DRIVE THOSE AFRICANS OFF THEIR LAND AND TURN IT INTO SOME SILLY PHOTO SAFARI WACK PLACE.STAMP OUT DEEP ECOLOGY,SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK
…hey spurwing
…do you pay GST on that stuff you smoke?
Uh…spurwing. How did Africa get involved here? And why are you always shouting?
Tomax7….I hope he doesn’t pay GST. Getting ripped if he is. Now please excuse me while I go tend my tomato plants…hehehehe
Don’t take on spurwing–HE’S ON OUR SIDE
http://patterico.com/2006/10/11/krazy-kagu-outed-he-is-spurwing-plover/
If you like the economic prowess of the Saskatchewan Govt. vote NDP in the next Federal election! What better way to speed Canada’s decline and ultimate destination as another third world S***hole. At least we’ll all be in it together right?