Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 21, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Comment editor Gerald flood 697-7269 a11 Winnipeg free press and beyond monday August 21, 2006 Sovereign first nations immune from smoking Law t he great smoking debate continues. Will smoking on reserves go up in smoke Ever since the provinces non smokers health Protection act banned smoking in Public places in 2004, a couple of Rural bar owners have cried foul. Fingers pointed to ? you guessed it ? reserves and their exemption from the smoking ban. One bar owner was Robert Jenkinson from Treherne. Last year he was fined $2,550 after letting customers smoke in his bar. Last monday Justice Albert Clearwater agreed with Jenkinson a argument and cleared him of those charges. Clearwater ruled the act discriminated against Jenkinson As a non native since reserves Are exempt from this legislation. Clearwater said the act was unconstitutional and violated the charter of rights and freedoms namely the Section that All people receive equal treatment under the Law. Although i am satisfied that the Legisla Ture did not intend to subject the accused and similarly situated claimants to differential treatment based on race or an analogous ground i am equally satisfied that that is in substance the effect of the act As it currently stands with the exemption in place said Clearwater. He also said the province should begin enforcing the act on reserves. But that a where Clearwater is wrong. The act cannot easily be applied to reserves because they have different status than Canadian land. What some people fail to understand is first nations Are distinct nations which is Why their land has different status than Reg ular Canadian land. The province is Correct in saying publicly that it does to have Juris diction Over reserves. International Law ? the Laws and Princi Ples that govern relations and dealings Between nations with each other ? is the real answer to this debate. Remember treaties Are contracts Between two distinct nations. Canada negotiated treaties with other countries in the past As Well As the aboriginal nations that lived Here prior to Canadas own birth. Canada made treaties with several Indian nations ? the Cree nation the Mohawk nation the Blackfoot nation and so on. All of them Are separate nations ? or coun tries. Treaties were signed but aboriginal self determination was never Given up. So Clearwaters judgment saying the non smokers health Protection act should apply on reserves is like saying we can freely impose our legislation on other for eign countries ? like Japan or Mexico. The ongoing land dispute in Caledonia ont., has people wondering Why the ramp Don to just swoop in and arrest aboriginal protesters off the land in question. Its because the Federal government still has to respect International Law. International Law is Why this smoking debate ? after several years and countless court costs ? will Likely end up in Canadas highest court. Now nobody would argue smoking in to horribly bad for you whether you re on a Reserve or not. I actually like the non smoking act. When it came into effect a few years ago it made it easier to quit smoking and evenings out Are More enjoy Able. But this is about who has the right to make the rules about smoking on Reserve. The Correct Way to Deal with this is for the province and the courts to respect the sovereignty of first nations and commit to working in partnership with them to create their own similar non smoking Laws on reserves. Now that a really be a breath of fresh air. moral decline America needs to regain the High ground As a world Leader by Julia e. Sweig a Mericas moral standing in the world has precipitously declined since 2001. For starters blame the Bush administration a go it alone Tough talk after sept. 11, contempt for the Kyoto Accord War and then chaos in Iraq secret prisons in Europe and alleged use of torture at Guantanamo Bay Cuba. Democrats would have you believe that a new team ? theirs ? in Washington would change All this. Not so fast. Around the world anti americanism is not simply the result of anger about president Bush a foreign policies. Rather it is deeply entrenched antipathy accumulated Over decades. It May take generations to undo. Consider the causes. Cold War legacy . Intervention in Vietnam and Covert attempts to overthrow governments in Iran Guatemala and Cuba among others created profound distrust of . Motives throughout the developing world. Euro peans also disdain these policies and bemoan the cultural coarseness of americanization sweeping their continent. Americans by contrast tend to dismiss this Side of the cold War. Gore Vidal famously referred to this country As the United states of amnesia. We re All about moving Forward get Ting Over it a nation of immigrants for whom leaving the past behind was a geographic psychological and often political act. As the last Guy standing when the cold War ended in 1989, we expected the world to embrace free markets and Liberal democracy. Power and powerlessness Power generates resentment. But the United states has lost the ability to see its Power from the perspective of those with less of it. In latin Ameri Ca for example . Policies ? whether on Trade Aid democracy drugs or immigration ? presumed that latin americans would automatically see . Interests As their own. And when denied deference we sometimes lash out As did defense Secretary Donald h. Rumsfeld when he lumped Germany a close . Ally with Cuba and Libya because Berlin opposed the Iraq War. Globalization in the 1990s, our govern ment private sector and opinion makers sold globalization As virtually synonymous with americanization. President Clinton promised that open markets open societies and smaller government would be the Bridge to the 21st Cen Tury. So where globalization has to delivered the . Is blamed. What America stands for Bush is wrong to say that foreigners hate us because of our values and freedoms. Quite the contrary. . Credibility abroad used to be reinforced by the perception that our Laws and government programs gave most americans a fair Chance to participate in a Middle class meritocracy. But the Appeal of the . Model overseas is eroding As the Gap Between Rich and poor widens Public education deteriorates health care costs soar and pensions disappear. Most recently the . Governments seeming indifference to its most vulnerable citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane katrina further undercut belief in the american social contract. The immigration debates also have fostered the perception that the . Is vulnerable hos tile and fearful. Nevertheless the Ideal of the United states As a Beacon of Justice democracy Freedom and human rights still garners grudging respect abroad. Despite the perverse Appeal of anti americanism its proliferation hurts not Only the . But global Security. For All the resent ments that . Leadership generates in the absence of an appealing alternative it remains a much desired resource. That a Why the . Could still get its global Groove Back. But there is no Quick fix. Liberals tempted to out Bush Bush in the Bat the against terrorism risk sowing the seeds of a future backlash in the developing world. The . Will be no less powerful in the eyes of pow Erless nations if democrats win control of con Gress in november. Harsh global Competition in to going away either. As a result the Well Springs of anti americanism will not dry up anytime soon. But anti americanism will begin to ebb if the new watchwords of . Policy and conduct Are pragmatism generosity modesty discretion cooperation empathy fairness manners and lawfulness. This softer lexicon should not be construed As a refutation of the use of Force against hostile states or terrorist groups. Rather a foreign policy that deploys . Power with some consideration for How the . Is perceived will gradually make legitimate . Mili tary action More acceptable abroad. Personalities do matter. And not just the pres ident a. The global initiatives of private Ameri can citizens ? Bill Gates Warren Buffett Gor Don Moore Angelina Jolie Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg ? carry the kind of message that government sponsored Public diplomacy can to match. And symbols matter too. We should close Guantanamo. Recovering our global standing will come not Only from How we fight or prevent the next War or manage an increasingly chaotic world. Domestic policy must change As Well. Steering the body politic out of its insular mood reducing social and economic inequalities and decreasing our dependence on Fossil fuels will help improve our moral standing and our Secu Rity. Julia Sweig is a senior fellow at the Council on foreign relations. Her most recent Book is Friendly fire losing friends and making enemies in the anti american Century. ? special to the los Angeles times political leaders can learn from our troops o Ottawa ? for the first time in years foreign affairs is a Lively Issue in this town. During the regimes of Jean Chr Tien and Paul Martin it want Clear what the liberals were doing in foreign policy. They under funded the nations military and we dropped Down the ranks of those Supply ing in peace keepers. The liberals seemed Content to sit in the Shade of the . Defence umbrella and Dis cuss Domestic issues such As health care. Stephen Harper the conservative prime minister has changed All that. We now have a much More robust for eign policy and increased military spending. At the beginning of the Hezbollah Israel conflict Harper made it Clear he believed Israel had a this caught some of the opposition off guard including nip Leader Jack Layton who said Canada was giving up its policy of neutrality in the Middle East. Canada in fact has never been Neutral in the Middle East we have supported Israel since the nation was set up by the in in 1948. It follows then that we disagree with Iran Hamas Hezbollah and others who want to wipe Israel off the map. Some liberals and Napers began mumbling that Israel a attack on Lebanon was disproportionate. The kidnapping by Hezbollah of two israeli soldiers on july 12 did not warrant Israel a massive assault on Lebanon and its infrastructure. You can to however just take into account the kidnapping of the two sol Diers. That was the Straw that broke the camels Back. Israel a Sliver of a country surrounded by enemies has for years had to endure kidnappings suicide bombers rocket attacks taunts and threats. Finally the israeli Cabinet said enough is enough. Even Canadas prime minister was caught off guard by Israel a response. He said it was Israel a main defence usually is not measured responses but deterrence. If Hezbollah pushes Israel too far it can expect a massive response. Before criticizing this policy remember that nato used a policy of deterrence during the cold War. At that time nato had a lot of planes and nuclear weapons the Sovi ets had far More ground forces. Nato let it be known that if the soviets sent troops into natos Region it might be hit by a tactical nuclear weapon. The soviet troops did to move. Michael Ignatieff the supposed front runner in the Liberal leadership race got into trouble when he talked about the israeli bombing of the lebanese Village of Ana in which dozens of civilians were killed. Ana was frankly inevitable in a situation in which you have rocket launchers within 100 Yards of a civilian population he said. This is the nature of the War that is going on ? this is the kind of dirty War you re in when you have to do this and i a not losing sleep about he later said he goofed when he said he was not losing sleep Over civil Ian deaths in Lebanon. The Liberal defence critic Ujjala Dosanjh has been particularly Sleazy about Afghanistan. The liberals set out the role our troops Are playing in the country. Now however sensing a shift in Public opinion Dosanjh says there is too much emphasis on fighting and not enough on reconstruction. You can to build something up until terrorists Stop tearing things Down. Even so Canada spends $100 million a year on Aid to Afghanistan. Dosanjh Scalls for peacekeeping not peacemaking ignores the fact that there a not much Call for peacekeeping today. Polls show that Many canadians Are confused about the governments stand on the Middle East and what our troops Are doing in Afghanistan. That May be because foreign policies until now weren to discussed much. And it May be because Harper and his ministers Are not Good at explaining what we Are doing. When asked about casualties in Afghanistan conservative ministers like to say Well stay the that a a Favourite phrase of president George w. Bush who has ruined it through Over and inappropriate use. It used to have a touch of nobility now it simply Means people who stupidly continue to smash their Heads against Brick Walls. It amazes me that our men and women in uniform Are so much better than politicians at describing their missions. After every casualty in Afghanistan the coffin counting Media thrust recording devices into the face of any Soldier that Shandy. The soldiers often say they Are sorry their Comrade died but they think they Are making a difference and they Are proud to be helping the people of Afghanistan build a better country. No bluster about not cutting and run Ning fighting the War on terrorism or Light at the end of the our politicians should be taking notes. From the Way things Are going our leaders Are going to have to spend a lot More time discussing and explain ing foreign affairs. Tom Ford is managing editor of the issues network ;