Claims

Yet again, another curious line from the Premier, from today's fascinating CBC account of the latest tortured twists in the so-called "Lower Churchill" so-called "project":

"We have issues with the Quebec Innu who basically are trying to establish claims in Labrador, [and] we will have obviously issues with the federal government," he said.

And why wouldn't "the Quebec Innu" try to establish claims in Labrador? The ancestral lands of the Innu — all Innu, "Quebec Innu" and Labrador Innu — straddle the Labrador-Quebec boundary, which was only laid down, in its current incarnation, in 1927.

Aboriginal rights and land claims rarely coincide with modern Canadian internal boundaries, as Danny Williams' own government seems to recognize, with its tacit approval of the Nunavik — that's Quebec Inuit, Danny — Land Claims Agreement which recognizes the rights of Nunaviummiut in northern Labrador, and which provides for the future resolution of the outstanding claims of Labradorimiut in northern Quebec or Nunavik.

You'd think a Great Lawyer™ would understand that. You'd be wrong.