Editor:

I was watching the telecast of the Delta council proceedings, briefly, last Monday. The agenda appeared to be a discussion between federal and provincial negotiators to the Tsawwassen treaty process and council, buttressed by the presence of MP John Cummins and MLA Guy Gentner.

I write my share of rather pointed letters to the editors of various newspapers. Why is it, though, that watching Delta council proceedings on the local cable channel leaves me - and others, I hear - with such a feeling of unease?

I only watched a few minutes of the broadcast. It was enough, however, to catch performances for the camera by both Gentner and Cummins. Is it necessary to be rude to people when you are addressing them, particularly when they are in positions where it is difficult, if not impossible, for them to respond in equal measure?

Cummins' comment that we should all ask "God to help us" when he found himself not able to successfully refute whatever it was that he was trying to argue about with the federal representative, and his later comment that we should wonder about the competence of this person, were simply gratuitous and did nothing to assist the discussion. They were just plain rude and inappropriate.

Gentner complained about what he described as the lack of a response from the treaty process to a letter of enquiry issued by Delta council. Gentner's introduction of this matter, however, and his pursuit of this issue, was obvious in its effort to create discomfort and to belittle the federal and provincial employees he was, at least indirectly, addressing his remarks to.

Is any of this necessary? Isn't it part of Mayor Lois Jackson's job to ensure debate and discussion proceed respectfully? Aren't we more likely to achieve consensus, and to acquire useful information, when we don't confront and badger people in our efforts to this end, particularly when those same people are not in a position to easily defend themselves?

Gentner's and Cummins' questions were for their political confederates and equals. They were not for the bureaucrats who handled them graciously, and who shone in their responses, versus the rather ineffective efforts.

The Tsawwassen treaty touches on a lot of sensitive issues for a lot of people. We seem to demand in those discussions, however, a lot of the Tsawwassen band that we certainly do not accept for ourselves.

Perhaps if we were to try to go forward in a true spirit of collaboration, rather than via confrontation and by opting out of opportunities to participate in and witness discussions in the first instance, we might get somewhere.

It's hard to listen to someone when they are calling you names...

Firth Bateman
published on 06/02/2007

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