LETTERS Red smoke
From Mr Jonathan Manthorpe Sir: Ross Clark's quip (Banned wagon, 29 January) that perhaps the only hope for white Anglo-Saxon smokers is the discovery that ethnic minorities have higher tobacco addiction rates sent my entrepreneurial spirit racing.
Here in Canada, tobacco is used in reli- gious ceremonies by many of North Ameri- can Indian origin. When the British crown signed treaties with these peoples in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries the spiritual aspects of tobacco were explicitly recog- nised. In addition, these treaties entrench the right of the native peoples to grow, trade and use tobacco without hindrance or taxes.
I was fortunate to be in the High Court in London in 1981 when the Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning, delivered a memo- rable judgment on the status of these treaties. He ruled that while administration of them had devolved to the Queen in her right of Canada, the documents are an eter- nal commitment. With evident relish he quoted from one of the treaties that it should be valid 'as long as the sun rises, the rivers flow and grass grows'.
In the two decades since that ruling, North American Indian people here have shown an admirable determination to fully use that reaffirmation of their treaty and political rights in many significant and posi- tive ways. One or two other results have been delightfully mischievous. A few years ago several Mohawk communities forced former prime minister Brian Mulroney to abandon a monumental increase in tobacco tax aimed at putting cigarette smoking beyond the pockets of Canadians. Corner- stores across Canada went into liaison with the Mohawks who cleverly employed their right to buy and sell tobacco tax-free.
It should not be beyond the wit of legal minds to devise for smokers associate mem- bership of such tribes. Indian nations could then sell indulgences to be waved in the faces of anti-tobacco authorities.
The only problem that I can see with this scheme for British smokers is that the brunt of Lord Denning's ruling was that responsi- bility to adhere to the treaties has devolved to the government of the Queen in her right of Canada rather than remaining with her government in London. The validity of such smokers' indulgences would therefore probably be confined to Canada.
Jonathan Manthorpe.
jmanthorpe@pacpress.southam.ca
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