Drivers charged $20 'toll' after deadly crash forces detour through First Nation

Is anyone surprised?

No idea why you people put up with this shit.

Nope.

Why people pay it, is beyond me.

Why the police let it happen, is even more beyond me.

Because nobody has the balls to tackle the issue due to fear of being called every name in the book.

Because nobody has the balls to tackle the issue due to fear of being called every name in the book.

You're right. And I have to say that the problem here is the Canadian government/media/people.

Why?

Because we have the same natives down here and my consistent experience with them over the years is that they're mostly good people who try their best and now that many tribes are prospering they're sharing with the poor tribes and they're also good members of their greater communities.

And despite their occasional bitching and complaining on an individual basis I find those same individuals can draw upon some awesome qualities as .

I wish I knew more about the differences in how our two countries have worked with our natives and maybe I'd have some advice but all I can relate to you is my personal experience. Which has been mostly positive.

Just in case anyone hadn't heard, the drivers that came off the highway were ripping up and down dirt roads shooting up huge clouds of dust. And there was no straight road through the reserve that connects to the highway further on, so these clowns were hauling ass up private driveways and back down again when they found that the roads terminated at someone's house. The highway repairs have been a botch all summer, but that's the feds fault for their poor planning. I don't see where the Morleys have to put up with a flood of vehicles ripping through their territory, especially when the short-cutting efforts all led to nowhere. White people on farms and acreages don't have to put up with this crap on the dirt roads around their properties, and kick up holy hell with the RCMP and municipalities when it happens, so I don't see why the Natives should have to put up with the same thing either. Consider the $20 toll a fee for being an asshole, not just for thinking that someone's private land is merely another through-way, but also for speeding, tailgating, kicking up dust, and all the other belligerent behaviour these drivers were deliberately doing.

And another thing too. I've driven it enough times to be able to say that I consider that stretch of the TransCan from Banff to Canmore to Calgary one of the most dangerous roads I've ever been on. And that's not because the road is badly designed. It's because Banff and Canmore are big-money towns, and are full of yuppies with their high-end vehicles who act like total maniacs when they hit the highway. I've sped through there doing 120 or 130 kmh myself and I've still gotten tailgated by the bastards that live around there. The whole area is a gold mine for the RCMP because of all the speeding tickets they hand out every day. But even with the extra cruisers and helicopters it still does nothing to slow the idiots down. These are the same clowns who decided to rip through Morley and I'm completely certain they showed the same lack of respect to the people on the reserve that they do all the time on the regular highway.

This isn't a race thing so don't play it out as one. It was bad and dangerous drivers being their typical lousy selves and some of them got stung for $20 when the Natives wouldn't put up with their crap. Find some other hill to fly the flag on because the bad drivers that set this mess off don't deserve defending from anyone.

Of course this is a race thing, who are you trying to kid?

Would farmers do this? Would the locals do this? No. Just the native people.

If people are driving like idiots, call the police. It's not your job to enforce the laws, $20 at a time.

It's their private land and the treaty says they have absolute control over it, including policing it to their own standards to keep outsiders from trespassing. This is no different than any other private property issue. The Natives are not obligated in the slightest to provide a through-way for anyone just because an accident on the highway or road repairs are causing a temporary inconvenience.

I thought you folks didn't have treaties with the natives?

Thanos this could set us up for a real mess. Imagine if all of the rest of us decided to set up toll booths at the exit of every reserve and charged the residents 20 bucks for using our taxpayer funded highways. It is a slippery slope and will only get worse if people justify this type of action.

It's private property, as the signs say at pretty much every entrance to every reserve in this country. They have the right to keep any outsiders off their land if they choose to do so. There is no legal dispute here at all because long-standing precedents have established the Native right to do this if they want to. They are not obligated under any circumstances, just like every other private property holder in this country, to provide open access to their land for the convenience of others if they don't want to. Case closed.

Pure bullshit. highways are public roads, those on the reserve are on private lands. If you have no problem letting everybody and anybody drive over your private property, go for it.

I thought you folks didn't have treaties with the natives?

Not in British Columbia. Most of the rest of the country has treaties. Well, except for the Metis, but that's a whole other ball of wax.