The Real Threat Isn’t Indigenous Rights — It’s Fear-Mongering

 🧿 The Real Threat Isn’t Indigenous Rights — It’s Fear-Mongering

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

Caroline Elliott’s recent National Post article, titled “The end of Canada is coming and B.C.’s NDP is leading the charge,” is not journalism — it’s ideological propaganda wrapped in alarmist rhetoric. It’s exactly the kind of divisive narrative that stalls reconciliation and misleads the public about the true meaning of Indigenous rights.

Let’s be clear: the so-called “veto” she claims First Nations are getting over Crown land isn’t some hostile takeover. It’s part of a long-overdue effort to recognize Indigenous Peoples as equal partners in decisions that affect their ancestral territories — lands that were taken without consent in the first place.

🪶 What Elliott Gets Wrong

She claims B.C.'s commitment to Indigenous consent undermines democracy. But how can any democracy be whole when it’s built on stolen land? The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) is about repairing historical harm and moving toward shared governance, not erasing non-Indigenous voices. It's about justice, not domination.

She argues this will lead to the "end of Canada." In reality, what terrifies people like Elliott is not the end of Canada — but the end of unquestioned colonial control.

⚖️ Who Gets to Decide?

What’s truly dangerous is not Indigenous communities having a say in their own lands — it’s white-settler commentators trying to stir public fear that working together means losing something. It’s those with power framing equity as “chaos.” Elliott’s words echo a long history of resistance to Indigenous autonomy — and it needs to stop.

Public land isn’t just for recreation or profit. It is the homeland of Indigenous peoples. They were stewards of this land for thousands of years before a single European ship arrived.

📢 What We Should Be Asking

Instead of fear-mongering, why aren’t we talking about:

• How Indigenous-led conservation has protected more land and biodiversity than many government programs?
• How true reconciliation means sharing power, not just symbolic land acknowledgements?
• Why so many Canadians still feel entitled to land they didn’t inherit or buy — but occupy because of colonial legacy?

✨ A New Vision

Reconciliation is not comfortable. It demands humility, listening, and a shift in who holds power. But it doesn’t mean the end of Canada. It means the beginning of a better one — one built on truth, respect, and shared responsibility.

So no, Caroline. Indigenous consent isn’t a threat — it’s a promise kept.