Supreme Court Decision

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that a private developer should be granted permission to develop a year round ski and recreational complex in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. The Ktunaxa First Nation had opposed the development on the grounds that their religious freedoms were being infringed upon. According to the CBC " The Ktunaxa believe the project will drive Grizzly Bear Spirit from Qat'muk, the traditional name for the spiritual territory, and permanently impair their religious beliefs and spiritual practices" (CBC).

I could never be a supporter of anyone or any company who believed that what we really need  is another tourist destination. Once developers start redefining the landscape - the landscape, the people the scenery all change. One only needs to look at what happened to Whistler, Golden, Canmore or Banff to see how the natural beauty of a place has been fundamentally altered in the pursuit of money. Mountain vistas that were once within the public's right to see and enjoy become private property marred by ski trails. mountain bike trails, chair lifts and expensive chalets.  I will always argue that the gain in seasonal jobs is a poor trade off for outside investors' personal gain.

Having said all of the above, I agree with the justices of the Supreme Court. While such a development maybe tasteless and not needed, the faith of one group should not have the right to prevent what most people would assume is the right of the world to grow and evolve - even if we do not agree with the direction it is growing.

Some First Nations advocates will argue that this is just one more bit of proof that the white hierarchy is continuing on in its agenda of intentionally destroy First Nation cultures. That if the state had any real commitment to reconciliation, that it would not allow such development. There is of course one fundamental flaw in this argument. In the past - the Supreme Court has fairly constantly ruled in favour of First Nation issues. They did so long before governments or Canadians in general became empathetic or even aware of what those issues were. In fact, it was the decisions of the Supreme Court that exposed both governments and citizens to the injustices of government policies. First Nations need to be careful that in one breath they use previous Supreme Court decisions to their advantage and at the next breath condemn the institution. It leaves First Nations vulnerable to accusations of just "playing the political game"

Similarly First Nations need to be careful of waving the reconciliation flag every time something happens that they do not agree with. The overwhelming obligation of Canadians to accept the implications and consequences of colonialism does not mean that every decision needs to be designed to rectify our nation's past wrongdoings. To suggest overly frequently that reconciliation should be the primary concern of everything from Supreme Court decisions to how we name elementary schools - will exhaust the public, detract power from the word and allow people to forget why it is both an important process and obligation.

Our public institutions will continue to make decisions that irritate people. Specifically the Supreme Court is part of an adversarial process. There are, therefore winners and losers in every decision. We might not like the answers - but we should not cast aspersions upon the institution and its values.

Good-bye to Train Travel?

I like travelling by train. I think I always have. My father worked for CNR and therefore train travel for my family was free. Until I was eleven and we got a car, the train was our only way of travelling long distances. I can remember when I was about six, being on a train, going from Montreal to a lake in the Laurentians and as we went around a curve - looking out seeing the engine pulling the train, belching smoke. I remember my family getting on the train to go to Old Orchard in Maine  for our week's holiday. I can remember the numerous trips I took as a university student from Montreal to New Brunswick. I think they put on a few older cars just for all of the students who went from Montreal to one of the Maritime universities. It always felt as if they put us in the cars, closed the doors and ignored us for the next day or so. It was wonderful! My affection for trains started early and in spite of the countless hours I have spent sitting on a stopped train waiting for a freight train to pass, the uncomfortable, sometimes all-too-well worn seats, the lack of decent food for non-meat eaters and the train being consistently late,  I still like trains. But I am not taking the train this year.

For the past few years it has been my practice to, just after Christmas, take the train from Sudbury to Vancouver . It is never an exciting journey. Quite frankly much of the Northern landscape covered as it is by ice and snow is not that inspiring. At the few places that the train stops at for any length of time, it is frequently too cold or too boring to get out. But travelling by train is a wonderful chance to relax, to listen to music, to read, to sleep and to chat to one's fellow travellers. There is a special feeling one gets travelling across the country with a handful of people, a sense that we are all in this together and that we are glad of it. Yes, we all groan about how often the train is forced into a siding while we wait, sometimes for up to an hour, while a freight train passes us by; we all quietly moan when some bored child and frustrated parent publically exhibit their respective manipulating  and parenting skills and we all expel a collective sigh of thankfulness as the train pulls into the Vancouver train station but I look forward to the experience every year. It is my private time where there are no phones, where there are no expectations of me, when I do not have to do anything.

This year however, I am not travelling from Sudbury to Vancouver by train because it is too expensive. I went on-line yesterday to buy my ticket - two months in advance - and found out  that a ticket to Vancouver, for a senior, in the economy class was  $934.00! I called an agent, he confirmed that that was the price. I called back, spoke to someone else who confirmed the price and suggested that the train was almost full and that is why the ticket was about over $400 more expensive than last year. I told both of the Via employees about my disappointment and outrage of such a high price (the cost of a ticket on the same train three days later was only $426). While the second agent acted more empathetic than the first, there was little they could do.

Train travel as always been slower than both air travel and Greyhound bus, it is now more expensive than either of those options. While there are some advantages to train travel, there are some real disadvantages including being confined to a box on wheels for up to 24 hours at a time and sitting on seats that while there is a lot more leg room than buses or planes, are just as hard and uncomfortable after a few hours.  To be asked to pay just under a $1,000 for this privilege seems more than outrageous. One would either have to be really afraid of flying or else getting off at some remote place that is not serviced by planes or buses. At best it is price gouging, at worst it is taking advantage of people who do not have a choice.

Via Rail is suppose to be a national train service. Every time I use it I have to wonder if it is a service managed by people whose real mandate is to destroy it.