Invisible supernatural beings take over B.C.’s mining law

financialpost.com:

Last month, Australians were allowed their say on a constitutional amendment that proposed giving Indigenous groups a new lever of control over the country’s federal institutions. Called “The Voice,” it would have empowered a native assembly to make representations directly to parliament to promote Indigenous political objectives.

Although it was claimed The Voice did not entail a veto or effective control over government decisions, the referendum’s foundational document asserted that native sovereignty “co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.” In effect, The Voice was to be a parallel source of authority alongside traditional Western-style democracy and law-making.

This profoundly undemocratic concept was soundly defeated by Australians, with the country voting 60.7 per cent against. Canadians, unfortunately, have never been offered an opportunity to have their say on the same issue. Instead, a steady diminution of government authority and control in the name of native sovereignty has been imposed in piecemeal fashion through the courts. The latest evidence is a recent ruling by the B.C. Supreme Court declaring provincial mining law subordinate to the rights of invisible spiritual beings.

B.C.’s landmark Gold Fields Act of 1859 ensured the province’s mining industry was fair for small, independent prospectors. Whoever was first to pound stakes into the ground was given the right to search for minerals within that area. More recently, staking has been done online. But the concept of fairness has remained. Until now.

In 2021, the Gitxaala First Nation of northern B.C. went to court, arguing the claims-staking procedure is unconstitutional because it does not include a “duty to consult” with local Indigenous