Latest news with #NorthernTerritories
National Post
8 hours ago
- Politics
- National Post
Preston Manning: How to remake Canada after a secession vote
Article content Exploring the potential parallels between the original confederation conferences and any Re-Confederation Conference a little further: who would be the present day equivalents of Charles Tupper and Leonard Tilley, vigorously championing the interests of Atlantic Canada? Who would be the equivalents of George-Étienne Cartier and George Brown, vigorously representing the divergent interests of Quebec and Ontario? Who would be the present day champions of those regions and interests conspicuously absent from the original confederation discussions — the champions of the interests of Canada West, the northern territories, and Canada's indigenous peoples? And would the re-founders include the equivalent of a John A. Macdonald — someone with the stature, skills, lubricating capacity, and luck required to even keep any Re-Confederation Conference from blowing apart, let alone giving birth to Canada Next? Article content Finally, what might be the major demands and concessions that the principal participants in such a conference would bring to the re-confederation table? Article content Article content Quebec would of course be expected to press its sovereignty association demand in one form or another. And this time there is unlikely to be strong and charismatic champions, within or outside Quebec, for 'Please Stay, Don't Leave.' Certainly the current prime minister — an anglophone banker who speaks French poorly and despises nationalism — is ill-equipped to play that role. And under current circumstances, several of the western provinces might be inclined to support Quebec's ultimate assertion of sovereignty, provided one of the terms of its future 'association' with Canada was an ironclad agreement to provide an open energy/transportation corridor across its territory to the Atlantic. Article content Conceding sovereignty association to Quebec, however reluctantly, might also cause Canada West to rethink its own position within any re-confederated Canada. What if Canada West were to simply take Quebec's vacated place within the federation — its 3 seats on the Supreme Court, its 24 seats in the Senate, and the majority of its seats in the Commons? Might Quebec conditionally 'out' and Canada West more effectively 'in,' largely alleviate the strains that both Quebec nationalism and western alienation currently place on the federation? Article content Article content Besides Quebec arriving at any future Re-Confederation Conference with its well thought out sovereignty-association proposition, it would behoove the other major components of the Canadian federation to think through how they would rewrite the constitution of Canada if they had the opportunity to do so. Article content Canada West, in particular, should be prepared to come to any such conference with its own clearly thought out redraft of the current constitution — a redrafted constitution in which any future Senate is made democratically accountable and genuinely representative of regional interests; a redrafted constitution in which the currently inequitable equalization formula is made largely unnecessary because Quebec is now on its own and each of the remaining provinces is sufficiently equipped and responsible to carry its own weight; and a redrafted constitution now completely devoid of those current clauses which give the federal government the means of overriding the constitutionally defined division of powers between the central and provincial governments.
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Ex-residents of Russian-controlled islands off Hokkaido want grave-site visits resumed
Former residents of four islands off the east coast of Hokkaido who were driven off by an invasion by the Soviet Union during the last days of World War II are stepping up pressure on the government to convince Russia to allow them to visit their ancestral grave sites on the islands. Such visits, which were allowed previously, were halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. With an increasing sense of urgency due to their advanced years, the former residents, whose average age is 89, have taken their case directly to the prime minister. As of June 30, only 4,907 of the original 17,291 residents of the islands of Kunashiri, Etorofu, Shikotan and Habomai — known as the Northern Territories in Japan — are still alive. In the absence of signs indicating that such visits would resume anytime soon, the former islanders and their descendants are conducting shipboard ceremonies to honor their ancestors for a fourth year in a row. Seven trips will be made from the port of Nemuro in Hokkaido to the waters near the islands for such ceremonies over the next month. The dispute over the Northern Territories dates back to the final days of World War II in August 1945 when the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, breaking the Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact. Following Japan's surrender in World War II, the Soviet Union began occupying the islands on Aug. 28, incorporating them into its territory. In 1951, Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty, in which it renounced its claims to the Kuril Islands. But, pointing to prewar legal precedents, Japan insists the Northern Territories are an inherent territory, and that they are not part of the Kuril Islands. Furthermore, the Soviet Union refused to sign the treaty. A 1956 joint declaration between Japan and the Soviet Union ended hostilities between both countries. The declaration included a promise by the Soviet Union to return the Shikotan and Habomai islands to Japan after the signing of a formal peace treaty between them. However, none was ever concluded, and also no agreement was reached regarding the status of Kunashiri and Etorofu. Subsequent agreements, including the 1993 Tokyo Declaration, acknowledged the territorial dispute and pledged continued negotiations. While no progress has been made on a peace treaty, from 1964 until 2019, former residents were allowed limited access to the islands for them to visit their ancestral grave sites. A total of 4,851 people have participated in the grave-site visits, with the last one having taken place in 2019. There are a total of 52 grave sites on the four islands. As the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches next month, a diplomatic solution to the Northern Territories issue remains out of sight. Yuzo Matsumoto, a former resident of Etorofu and director of the League of Residents of Chishima and Habomai Islands, the main group representing former residents of the islands, told the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on July 7 that the group is appealing to the government to reopen peace treaty negotiations with Russia as soon as possible, to set a path forward for the return of the islands while their former residents are still alive. 'The average age of the former residents is now 89. Our wish is to visit and pay our respects at the graves of our grandparents and to set foot on the land where they were born and raised,' Matsumoto said. On May 13, Matsumoto's group, along with Hokkaido Gov. Naomichi Suzuki and Hokkaido Legislative Assembly Speaker Akira Tomihara, met with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, during which they called upon him to continue diplomatic negotiations under the government's basic policy of resolving the Northern Territories issue and concluding a peace treaty with Russia to secure the early return of the Northern Territories. They also called on the prime minister to take concrete measures to establish bilateral consultations between Japan and Russia to move toward the prompt resumption of exchanges with the four islands, and the grave-site visits in particular. 'The government is acutely aware that time is running out. We will respond to the issue of grave visits with a clear understanding that it is a humanitarian issue, and it is important that the Russian side accurately and correctly understands this stance,' Ishiba said in reply. Until Aug. 21, seven excursions by ship are scheduled to be made to the waters off eastern Hokkaido for onboard memorial ceremonies by the former islanders and their relatives. The Chishima and Habomai group lists nearly 30,000 second-, third- and fourth-generation descendants of the former islanders. During a July 9 campaign stop in Nagasaki ahead of the July 20 Upper House election, Ishiba sparked concern among former islanders when he remarked that while Nagasaki Prefecture's coastline was the second-longest in Japan after Hokkaido's, the southwestern prefecture would have the longest coastline if the Northern Territories were excluded from the equation. The remarks led many to worry about whether the prime minister considered the four islands as being part of Japan. Matsumoto said his group's top priority for the foreseeable future is pressuring the government into negotiating direct grave-site visits for former island residents. Asked to envision a future in which Russia returned all four islands to Japan and what he would want for them, Matsumoto replied that he would like to see the Japanese government develop the entire area into a national park. 'Just as the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido is a World Heritage Site, the four islands of the Northern Territories should be turned into a national park. The ecology there, the ecosystem there, should not be lost,' he said.
NHK
3 days ago
- Politics
- NHK
Russian residents on Japan-claimed island clean Japanese graves
Residents on one of the four islands that Japan calls the Northern Territories have cleaned the graves of the ancestors of former Japanese residents. Programs to allow them to visit the site remain halted over the past years. Russia controls the four islands. Japan claims them. The Japanese government maintains that the islands are an inherent part of Japan's territory. It says the islands were illegally occupied after World War Two. The grave visits and a visa-free exchange program involving former islanders came to a halt due to factors including the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There is no prospect for a resumption at this time. A memorial service is due to start at sea on Sunday, in which former residents offer their prayers on board a ship near the island. In mid-June, Russian islanders conducted the grave cleaning for the sake of former residents at a graveyard on the western coast of Kunashiri Island. After mowing the grass, they restored fading Japanese letters on a sign pillar by referring to information provided from the Japanese side. One islander told NHK that he understands the situation of the neighboring Japanese who are unable to visit the graves. He said that so he has been doing what he can to help them. The Japanese government plans to work on the resumption of the exchange program while continuing to uphold its policy of resolving the territorial issue and signing a peace treaty with Russia. But Russia unilaterally suspended peace treaty negotiations after its invasion of Ukraine and says the lifting of sanctions should precede such talks.
NHK
3 days ago
- Politics
- NHK
Ex-residents of Japan's Northern Territories honor ancestors in ceremony at sea
Former residents of four islands that Japan calls the Northern Territories have offered prayers for their ancestors at a ceremony held at sea. Russia controls the islands. Japan claims them. The Japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of Japan's territory. It says the islands were illegally occupied after World War Two. About 70 people, including former residents and their families, set off from Nemuro Port in Hokkaido on Sunday. They traveled on a ship built specifically for former islanders to visit the islands. Before their departure, Matsumoto Yuzo, the head of a group of former island residents, said they have been unable to pay respects to their ancestors in the way they want to. He said he hopes the ceremony will boost momentum toward a resumption of visits to the graves of ancestors on the islands. Grave visits have been put on hold due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and other factors. There is no prospect for a resumption. The ocean memorial ceremony started in 2022. It is organized by the former islanders' group, the Hokkaido government and another organization. The organizers plan to hold six more ceremonies this year. Some will include trips off the coasts of the Habomai Islands and Kunashiri Island.
Japan Times
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Memorial services at sea to be held off disputed islands
The Hokkaido government has announced that memorial services at sea will be held between July 20 and Aug. 21 for former residents of the four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands claimed by Japan to mourn their ancestors. In Japan, the four islands, which were seized by the former Soviet Union from Japan in the closing days of World War II, are collectively called the Northern Territories. Held for the fourth consecutive year, the memorial services aboard a ship reflect the wishes of former residents and successors to offer condolences to their ancestors as close as possible to their homeland, at a time when exchange initiatives, including a visa-free visit program, have been halted amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Hokkaido government said Tuesday that it will run the memorial services jointly with a league of former residents and others. Five of the scheduled seven memorial service sessions will be one-day trips in which participants will mourn their ancestors as they face the Habomai group of islets and the southern part of Kunashiri Island, both in the group of claimed islands, aboard a ship named Etopirika that will depart from and return to the port of Nemuro in eastern Hokkaido. The other two will involve an overnight stay on board, with participants offering prayers toward the northern part of Kunashiri Island.
