Land Use Planning

First Nations on the east side of Lake Winnipeg will play a major role in ensuring better protection, management and development of traditional lands under the East Side Traditional Lands Planning and Special Protected Areas Act, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said today.

"Under this new legislation, east side communities now have the option of using this legal tool to plan their traditional lands and to protect lands that have significant cultural and environmental value," said Struthers.

Pity nobody asked First Nations about the biggest review of Manitoba land-use policies in the last 15 years.

This month, the Doer government announced the province will overhaul its policies on land use to better balance the competing interests of development with industry and conservation, heritage and environment. The last time this happened was 1994.

Decisions are probably a year away so the blueprint isn't set yet; but once it is, that plan will help to chart the course of Manitoba into the 21st century.

At a recent speech to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, national Chief Phil Fontaine made the strong case that indigenous peoples, as the current and historic stewards of vast tracts of lands, could be key players in a new green-collar economy based on the protection of Canada's boreal forests. Manitobans would do well to heed his advice.

A recent article, "Battle for the Beach" (August 30, 2003), and two subsequent editorials call for major commercial developments in Grand Beach Provincial Park and surrounding area.