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It looks very much like Ottawa has been shaken from its lassitude by the protests, which is poor reflection on this government and its immediate predecessors. It suggests that Indigenous Canadians only get noticed by their federal government when they take to the barricades.

Bennett said that the proposed arrangement is aimed at preventing “this kind of difficulty” happening again in the future.

Hammering the ball back into the Wet’suwet’en court, so that they are forced to deal with their internal governance issues is long overdue.

The hereditary chiefs are blocking the pipeline because they claim they were not consulted. The elected leadership of five of the six Indigenous bands in Wet’suwet’en support the project on economic development grounds. The deal reached on Sunday appears to grant the hereditary chiefs the authority to be at the table in future, while the ratification process gives the community the opportunity to decide who speaks on its behalf.

Providing a path to self-government is exactly what Ottawa should be doing.

The suspicion is that this is a lop-sided deal

Take a look at the annual report of any self-governing First Nation, such as B.C.’s Sechelt Nation, to see the bondage of dependency melt away. The Sechelt still receive federal funding for health and education but raise more than half their revenues from leases, fees, royalties, property taxes and contracts.

Yet the nagging worry is that Bennett has signed up to a deal, any deal, to end the blockades. You have to hand it to Frank J. Alec, aka Chief Woos, proprietor of Frank J. Alec Consulting, specialist in dispute resolution, and sometimes hereditary chief. He has toyed with federal and provincial ministers, letting them nibble the bait before reeling them in. They have now signed up for an “arrangement” on rights and title, while he has given away nothing on the pipeline.