It’s good to be King.

In 1215, the Magna Carta began the hereditary monarchy’s eventual loss of power in England, but it was not until 1688 that the Glorious Revolution finally ended the divine right of kings in the United Kingdom. These were significant events in the achievement of democracy, one of mankind’s great accomplishments. Yet last Sunday, 332 years later, the governments of Canada and British Columbia entered into an agreement with the Wet’suwet’en nation that explicitly recognizes its hereditary governance system. As a result, a central tenet of Canada’s system of government will not apply to the way some Indigenous peoples govern their affairs. […]
 
The hereditary chiefs are understandably delighted with the agreement and feel their historical claims were finally recognized. But how will entrenching hereditary leadership affect the lot of community members? What will be the chiefs’ authority and jurisdiction and what will fall to the democratically elected band councils? Will the people be able to overrule leaders they did not chose? How will differences between the hereditary chiefs, the band councils and community members be resolved?
 
Then there are broader questions about the development of Canada’s vast natural resources. To whom will the constitutional requirement for consultation apply? Hereditary chiefs, band councils or both? So far, the courts have decided that consultations do not imply a veto right. But the prime minister has promised to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples this year. How will the courts interpret its requirement for “free, prior and informed consent” and to whom would that apply?

Related: Your money. Their power.

So it was that the first train passed the two-week blockade of the nation’s rail network. I was on the road myself, my Via Rail train cancelled, as Via Rail gently put it, “following an advisory from the infrastructure owner that they are unable to support our operations across their network.” Was it an earthquake? A labour dispute? A sudden decision to get out of the infrastructure support business?
 
Hard to tell what the mysterious cause of the cancellation was, just as so much reporting on the blockades seemed eager to avoid describing just exactly what was going on. So driving back to Kingston from Toronto rather than taking the train, I thought I would stop off and have a look for myself.
 
On the railway overpass on 49, I arrived in time for the first CN freight train to pass in weeks. It cruised slowly through, locomotive number 2279, offering only a solitary sounding of the horn as it passed the police and protesters by. The police on the north side were standing in place, flashlights at the ready, to see what was going on. On the south side the scene was rather more active, with a few men scurrying about. As the train passed, one man lit a wooden pallet aflame just a few metres from the tracks. I doubt the officers on the other side could see it, but the officers on the overpass certainly got some low quality video of it, having deployed their phones.
 
After train 2279 went on its way, the Mohawks threw a flaming tire on the tracks itself. That brought about a dozen OPP vehicles streaming onto the site from the north side, and dozens of officers assembled to look earnestly at the fire set upon the tracks. After a few moments of strategizing with the newly arrived reinforcements, a lone officer stepped boldly forward, approaching the flaming southern rails, and took decisive action: “Anyone over there want to talk?”

Just pathetic.

Update: rail blockade setup in Toronto, Milton GO train service suspended

Port of Vancouver on the phone.