Governance

This article takes the neat little meme Jasen Benwah shared — Indian Act control on one side, “inherent law” on the other — and lays it over the real power structures on the Port au Port peninsula. It tracks how Benoit First Nation’s bylaws were bent and then rewritten after a rule-breaking hire, how the band’s rulebook quietly moved from a public website into a paid “fundraiser” book, and how Catherine and Michael Fenwick sit at the intersection of ARCO’s francophone network, local heritage projects, and Benwah’s Mi’kmaq claims. With Ottawa pushing Bill S-2 to expand federal status entitlements after the Nicholas case, the piece asks whether any of that actually puts power back in the hands of ordinary people — or simply reinforces an overlapping circle that already speaks for everyone else. Read More...

This piece shows how Brenda’s “capitalism vs fascism vs democratic socialism” post quietly rewrites Protect NL’s story. This article acknowledges the real rural harm—service cuts, depopulation, and green megaprojects on Crown land—but argues NL already lives in a strong state–corporate system, not pure capitalism. “Democratic socialism,” Norway/Iceland myths, and SDG talk become its soft front, selling more state power while leaving the underlying structure untouched. In the end, the article argues the real question isn’t which label we choose, but whether communities gain actual tools—local veto power, transparency, and independent citizen institutions—to push back against that fused system. Read More...

Companion to the “Nothing To Do With Land” series (especially Part 5: The Next Comfort Line – From Programs to Property). This piece uses a joint press release from Three Rivers Mi’kmaq Band and Benoit First Nation as Exhibit A that the “nothing to do with land” story is over. It shows how language about programs, reconciliation, and representation is now being cashed in as a claim to governing authority, unceded territory, and control over consultation through UNDRIP and FPIC. The article argues that once this shift is out in the open, locals need to see how every “programs not property” road quietly ends at the map. Read More...

Part 5 — the final part of this series — traces how comfort language—“healing,” “food security,” and “water protection”—systematically converts participation into jurisdiction. Benevolent programs build dependency through funding and metrics, normalize “stewardship,” and quietly shift land from public/private ownership into managed territory aligned with UNDRIP/SDG/30×30 objectives. The activist-to-manager pipeline turns protest into administration; the rhetorical arc from “nothing to do with land” to “we already have a land base” completes as the boundaries discussed in Part 4 evolve into rules, protocols, and conditional access. Funding and reporting then lock the regime in place, making the final pivot from programs to property feel like moral common sense. Read More...

Part 4 of the "Nothing to do with Land" series. Even without treaties or legal recognition, maps are quietly reshaping Newfoundland’s land politics. This essay exposes how symbolic “traditional territory” maps act as soft land claims—used in signage, education, consultation protocols, and even conservation overlays like 30×30. In Port au Port, the groundwork is already laid: self-government rhetoric has begun implying jurisdiction, and the next phase is likely visual—rendering those claims cartographically. Once printed or shared, even unofficial maps influence local perception, policy behavior, and emotional response. This piece explains how soft sovereignty advances not through courts or legislatures, but through PDFs, posters, and the normalization of invented borders. Read More...