Assembly. I think it was a very interesting
idea to bring together citizens to look at
our electoral process. I think that’s been a
very exciting initiative, and I’ve been very
supportive of it.

OP: Following up on that note, one chal-
lenge of any NDP leader in this current
political climate is to convince British
Columbians that the party has changed
since the days of the Clark administration.
That requires an admission that the party
was wrong in the first place, however. Do
you, personally, believe that Glen Clark
was a bad premier?

JAMES: No. I think—and people have
heard me = say this
Democrats made mistakes when they were

before—New

in government. We received a very clear
message from the voters in the last elec-
tion. We have learned from that message,
and when I was elected leader I made a
commitment to people that I would trav-
el around British Columbia. I think our
previous NDP governments didn’t listen
as well as they should have, and my com-
mitment to rebuild that trust was to spend

April 6/2005

 

the leadership convention traveling
around British Columbia and listening to
British Columbians. And that’s what I
did. I spent most of my time on the road
for the past year, going to small communi-
with groups and
organizations. Meeting with business,

ties, meeting

meeting with community leaders, meeting
with activists, and showing them that
New Democrats are going to be the gov-
ernment that is going to work with them
and listen to them, because that’s what’s
been missing under this [current] govern-
ment.

OP: The NDP has always been a party
that has been passionately dedicated to
resolving First Nations-related issues such
as land claims and the expansion of self-
government and so forth. However, when I
talk to many younger British Columbians
I find many are often frustrated that the
government places so much emphasis on
granting sweeping special rights to a
minority who are defined solely by race. In
the 21st Century, how do you justify these
sorts of programs?

JAMES: I think it’s a good example of
where we need to do a better job of talk-
ing about our history as a province. In
high schools I think we need to do a bet-
ter job of talking about our aboriginal
history. This is a legal issue; it isn’t about
giving special rights to a group of people
because of race. It’s about actually setting
right a legal wrong, namely that we didn’t
settle treaties in this province. Other
provinces went through the treaty process,
though whether it was a fair process or not
is questionable. They did, however, go
through a process where they took land
away from First Nations but still signed a
treaty with them. That didn’t occur in
British Columbia, and so it isn’t a matter
of giving special rights, it’s actually a mat-
ter of a legal requirement to ensure that
we do what we need to do legally. We took
land away and we need to settle those
treaties and get on with it. That’s good for
all British Columbians, it’s the right thing
to do legally, it’s the right thing to do
morally, but it’s also the right thing to do
economically. Even the BC Business
Council has come out with a report that

says we need to settle our treaties because
we wont see good economic growth in
British Columbia until [we do]. So I’m
saying, get those settled.

OP: Lastly, Leader James, what do you
view as your single biggest challenge to
overcome before the election in May?
JAMES: Time, probably. [...] I think time
is always short, but I’ve been incredibly
pleased with how far we've been able to
come in a year. I don’t think anyone could
have imagined New Democrats would be
getting our message out to British
Columbians and that people would be
looking at us as a positive alternative in
this upcoming election. So, I think our
biggest challenge now is continuing to
take that message out [...], working hard
right up until May 17 when voters make
their decision.

Due to space restraints, some of J.J.
McCullough’s questions have been omit-
ted. To see what you've missed, check out
the entire interview at www.otherpress.ca

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