The way the waste issue has been raised by the MLTC tends to turn conventional notions of indigenous self-government upside down. But the Council has been doing quite well through its existing stake in local development, including clearcut logging. And there's some classic buck-passing in prospect. While the Chretien government pushes nuclear technology, it has yet to respond to a 40-year old claim directly involving the Canoe Lake Band and Alberta's Cold Lake Band, in the Primrose Lake bombing range. Such issues, combined with the impasses at Davis Inlet, James Bay, Oka, and other indigenous centres across Canada, show the depth and breadth of the First Nations self-determination issue as a whole, as we approach the quincentenary of Giovanni Caboto's 1497 arrival on the east coast.
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