"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake, you are the same decaying matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile" - Fight Club
I've been #IdleTooLong about this whole topic, and I feel like I need to express my point of view without disrupting innocent travelers on highways, and cargo carrying freight trains.
First, allow me to clarify that I am a Cree man with full status. I have family in positions of political power in this very province, and should declare that my opinions are my own. While everyone needles over the finite details of the current situation, I'd like to paint my thoughts for you with much broader strokes.
I'm so very proud of my culture. The way the plains Indians lived on this land was a fantastic example of community, art, respect for our environment, ingenuity, and spirituality. I'm proud of the native inspired tattoos that I sport permanently on my body. As a father, I'm teaching my son that same respect and understanding of where his blood derives from, in the hopes that his pride will outshine the prejudice he will inevitably experience growing up, or at some point in his life.
I'm also very proud to be Canadian. Our vast mosaic of cultures, languages, and beliefs make up this welcoming land of opportunity for all. Whether you like it or not, we all have the same citizenship, but some have a different view on the value of it.
I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs of the government bills, documentation, or policy that is driving the current protests, but I've intently watched news stories, read columns, and have regularly monitored the comments being made on facebook. Based on all of this, I feel the need to break my silence on this issue.
1 - It's embarrassing how the #IdleNoMore protest is being handled.
Blocking major traffic thoroughfares does nothing good to bring support and awareness to your cause, it creates immediate animosity towards you. Protesting freely in parks or in front of government buildings seems like a much more productive way to attract the attention of those you seek. The politicians. Not the regular welder-Joe who's just trying to get to work. Hold him up and cost him money? See how much support you'll get out of that guy...
Clarify what you are protesting for, or against. I've never seen such a passionate group of people go forward in protest in such disarray, and without clearly stating what it's all about. If it's generally about your need to be consulted, respected, justified for being mistreated, or the preservation of your culture, then let's be out with it and start a constructive discussion.
Understand that you do not need to be consulted for anything any more than the Canadian citizen next to you does. Your opinion on things doesn't count "more" than anyone else's.
Respect is earned, not given.
There's no question that the native people of yesterday were brutalized, hunted, tortured, and humiliated for decades. It's awful, and no one should ever have to suffer like that. The elders of the time signed those treaties to bring peace, and offer what they hoped would be a leg-up in a new world that they realized couldn't be held at bay. But those days are long over. It defies logic to have the current population pay for the tragedies committed by people that came so long before them.
The preservation of your culture is YOUR job, not anyone else's. For example, Polish, Irish, and Ukrainian societies thrive all over the country with very little or no support from government coffers. They celebrate traditional dance, language, and food all by simply passing it down from generation to generation. Native communities can do the very same thing (and generally do), but without financial support.
2 - "This movement is about the whole environment, its not just about the treaties....The bill that passed now un protects the rivers, lakes, forests, land, etc, etc, so we need this bill to further protect ur childrens futures.....thanks to Harper Govt....rigs n developemtn will pollute the air, waters, etc, etc.."
It's no secret that our Canadian economy is driven by the oil and gas industry. Yes, there have been some awful environmental blunders due to a plethora of different reasons. I heartily agree that we need to protect our natural areas that support wildlife, but I also know that there is aggressive legislation, and powerful government offices in place that already have that very same sentiment at heart. Millions of Canadians support green technology and research, as well as lobby for stronger federal policy. So if that's what this is all about, there's no need to blockade anything, as a majority of people would already agree with you.
3 - "It is about the 480 page Bill that the government has passed without you knowing about it. It went through the house of commons and the senate in 2 wks. 480 pgs long...do you think that many people had time to read it? It says that under age criminals can be punished as adults. It makes more budget cuts. The librarians at schools are being budget cut. It is about ALOT more than Aboriginals, it's about everyone in Canada. The Aboriginals are the ones who started to realize the Bill was gonna to do irreversable damage!"
Back in the days of copying notes off a blackboard or projector in school, I'm certain I've WRITTEN 480 pages in two weeks, let alone read that many. In a political world where literacy at a high level is demanded, I'm willing to bet that most could plow through that many pages in a very short period of time. I suppose the content would be laden with bureaucratic jargon and would need time to fully interpret...but that's why you have a legal team.
Quite frankly, I agree with underage criminals being tried as adults, and I'm willing to bet that a landslide majority of Canadians will agree with me.
Budget cuts are a reality of our democratic world. I'm not sure if this means that librarians from schools are being removed, or the library itself, but the fact of the matter is, our schools rely on a healthy economy for funding. When money gets tight, things get sacrificed. I truly hope that the readily available knowledge in a library would be the last to go.
4 - "It's not about the Aboriginals! That is what they are doing to distract you from what it really is about! It only affects the aboriginals- just like it will effect ALL of us!"
This is very confusing, but seems to sum up the general knowledge about what is going on. Who is "they"? Are we going into conspiracy theory depths here? Do people not realize that we have an official opposition in place as a natural government watchdog to debate everything that in-power government is trying to enact? If there were truly earth shattering implications in the bill in question, the opposition would be whistle blowing and bleating into any available microphone available so fast it would make your head spin.
First and foremost, I'm a human being just like you. I believe in equality. Across the board equality. Our country is so multicultural, that to give any specific group levity over everyone else is completely ridiculous. I'm not familiar with the particulars of old treaties signed, but I get the gist because I have used some of the special privileges provided to me. I do not pay for health care. I did for awhile in my young working life, but then the government discovered my native status and sent me a HUGE apology letter, and a cheque for every dime I had put into the system. Odd. I lived just up the street from my fellow truck driving friends, did the same job, paid the same taxes...yet there I was with this benefit because of my racial background and some papers that were signed all those years ago. I've used it for eye wear. This was particularly handy when I was "up against it" financially, but had broken my glasses welding. Here's the thing though, why should I have an advantage on a co-worker who might be in the same situation? It's not fair, and it needs to stop.
I move that Canadians start their own march towards coast to coast equality, or at least the serious discussion of it. Our country should offer no free rides to anyone. No help for those who refuse to help themselves. No quarter for those who would inhibit the lives and success of others. No limit to what anyone can accomplish with a steely resolve, and a great idea. It doesn't matter who built the first camp fires and communities on this land, it's those that work hard to continue to stoke the flames of collective well being that matter.
As a man that stands by his word, I pledge to never again use my native status to further myself in a way that isn't available to every other Canadian. I will leave my son unregistered, and will teach him the importance of keeping it that way. I am a proud native man, and a hard working, forward thinking Canadian that believes the opportunities and advantages this country has to offer should be available to everyone equally.
This blog post first appeared on Zed 98.9 Red Deer's Facebook Page. A day after the original post went up, this was added:
UPDATE: After watching a day of comments...
For those of you that feel that I need to meticulously read treaty documentation, and Native history, I offer you this: There is no argument you can offer that justifies inequality of any kind in this country.
I said I didn't know every detail, but I also didn't say I'm completely uneducated on the subject. I also encourage people to think for themselves based on their own research.
No matter how you cut it, the monetary compensation and general advantages need to stop. Horrific things happened to people/races throughout history, and although I'm not condoning or supporting it, I do not feel that they should be given anything more than anyone else. The atrocities committed, in this instance, happened a long time ago to/by people that no longer exist. I agree that it should never be forgotten, but it makes no sense to have the innocent Canadian citizens of the present pay for crimes committed by someone else in a different time.
Really, the people that are abusing you the worst, are the people you have placed in leadership positions. Not ALL of them are corrupt, but there are some very serious issues with monetary responsibility. I honestly don't know how some band leaders haven't been arrested for fraud, embezzlement, and more.
The first step of "healing" is to put the past in it's place. Only then can you work on your own personal lives, which will then naturally stem into becoming whole as a community. The healing you want and need can come from no government program, and no external source. #CanadianEquality
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A native dancer looks on during an 'Idle No More' gathering on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Native dancers rally during an 'Idle No More' gathering on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Idle No More Mall Protest
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/LJ_Henshell"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/630755180/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/LJ_Henshell">LJ Henshell</a>:<br />A First Nations Drummer plays during a protest at Intercity Shopping Center in Thunder Bay, Ontario
It's about the future
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/LJ_Henshell"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/630755180/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/LJ_Henshell">LJ Henshell</a>:<br />A child protests in Thunder Bay, Ontario
United we stand
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Doug_Cleverley"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/805699678/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Doug_Cleverley">Doug Cleverley</a>:<br />At the #IdleNoMore rally in Owen Sound (Saugeen Ojibway Nation territory), during a spontaneous round dance at the main downtown intersection.
Killer Whale Dance
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Courtney_Harrop"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/twitter_profile_img/4441016.png" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Courtney_Harrop">Courtney Harrop</a>:<br />Idle No More actions, Coast Salish Territories, Powell River, BC
Idle No More #J11
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Courtney_Harrop"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/twitter_profile_img/4441016.png" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Courtney_Harrop">Courtney Harrop</a>:<br />Coast Salish Territories, Powell River, BC
Idle No More #J11 March
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Courtney_Harrop"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/twitter_profile_img/4441016.png" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Courtney_Harrop">Courtney Harrop</a>:<br />Coast Salish Territories, Powell River, BC
Tla'Amin Prayer Song #J11 Idle No More
Tla'Amin Prayer song on #J11 2013 Idle No More, Coast Salish Territories, Powell River BC
Tla'Amin Killer Whale Dance, #J11 #IdleNoMore
Tla'Amin Killer Whale Dance, #J11 #IdleNoMore, Coast Salish Territories, Powell River, BC
C45 affects all Canadians! Join the fight.
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Eleanor_Kure"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/840875359/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Eleanor_Kure">Eleanor Kure</a>:<br />At the Idle No More protest in Halifax Nova Scotia. with an eco-justice article in pocket, spreading the word that Bill C45 affects every Canadian, not only First Nations. Thank you FN, for beginning this movement.
Piyesiw Awasis
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/mizzren"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/twitter_profile_img/3183681.png" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/mizzren">mizzren</a>:<br />Thunderchild First Nation @ Lloydminster Flash Mob. January 16, 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/16/idle-no-more-queen-elizabeth-2-highway-blockade-alberta_n_2490009.html">Idle No More supporters jump onto a truck</a> as they are pushed by a driver trying to pass, as the protesters block Highway 2 as part of a planned national day of action, in Edmonton, Alberta on Wedneday January 16, 2013.
Aboriginal protesters march down Huron Church Road towards the Ambassador bridge in Windsor Ontario, Wednesday, January 16, 2013. About 1000 demonstrators disrupted traffic to the country's busiest border crossing for several hours.
Aboriginal protestors pray at the end of their blockade of a CN railroad track just west of Portage La Prairie, Man., on Wednesday, January 16, 2016. They ended their protest without incident.
Aboriginal protesters demonstrate at the base of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor Ontario, Wednesday, January 16, 2013. About 1000 demonstrators disrupted traffic to the country's busiest border crossing for several hours.
Idle No More demonstrators block a CN east-west track just west of Portage La Prairie, Manitoba Wednesday, January 16, 2016.
Mississaugas of the New Credit support INM
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Vicki_King_Jamieson"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/750500023/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Vicki_King_Jamieson">Vicki King Jamieson</a>:<br />New Credit Youth supporting INM
Montreal Idle No More
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Caillum"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Caillum">Caillum</a>:<br />Thousands of people, both Native and Canadian, show their support at an Idle No More protest in Montreal on January 11th, 2013.
#Denendeh #J11 #IdleNoMore #YZF #NWT Yellowknife "Northwest Territories"
Video of the Global Day of Action rally in downtown Somba K’e (Yellowknife)on the Akaitcho territory of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in Denendeh (Northwest Territories).
#IdleNoMore March and Round Dance in Yellowknife Denendeh NWT
"Today (Friday, December 21, 2012) in Denendeh and across the globe, we made an impact, a statement for true justice to be brought forward and acknowledged. But it will not stop, for the 8th fire has been lit and will only grow. Mahsi for all who showed up and united, we felt the support....we felt the fire!! And there's more to come in the new year."
On Facebook By Lawrence Nayally, Melaw Nakehk'o and Eugene Boulanger
https://www.facebook.com/events/112403725595655/
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, wearing a headdress, takes part in a drum ceremony before departing a Ottawa hotel to attend a ceremonial meeting at Rideau Hall with Gov. Gen. David Johnston in Ottawa, Friday January 11, 2013.
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, centre, departs a Ottawa hotel to attend a ceremonial meeting at Rideau Hall with Gov. Gen. David Johnston in Ottawa, Friday January 11, 2013.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with First Nations leaders in Ottawa on January 11, 2013.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with First Nations leaders in Ottawa on January 11, 2013.
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence makes a brief statement on Victoria Island near Parliament Hill Friday January 11, 2013 in Ottawa. Spence is speaking out for the first time about how her reserve spends government money, saying most of what flows to her isolated James Bay reserve actually gets spent outside the community.
Aboriginal Chiefs stand at the main gate to Parliament Hill during a protest Friday January 11, 2013 in Ottawa.
Idle No More protesters listen to speakers during a rally on Parliament Hill Friday January 11, 2013 in Ottawa.
Gordie Odjig of Wikwemikong stands at the west gate to the Langevin Block during the aboriginal meeting in Ottawa on Friday, January 11, 2013.
Idle No More at UBC Vancouver
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Randall_Gray"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/100001602753648/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Randall_Gray">Randall Gray</a>:<br />
Idle No More at UBC Vancouver
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Randall_Gray"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/100001602753648/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Randall_Gray">Randall Gray</a>:<br />
Los Angeles Rally In Solidarity with First nations
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/hp_blogger_Melinda Gopher"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/contributors/melinda-gopher/headshot.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/hp_blogger_Melinda Gopher">HuffPost Blogger Melinda Gopher</a>:<br />Brock Conway, Blackfeet activist,
with Saulteaux Actor Adam Beach and companion. Photo: Morning Star Gopher
Native protesters march up Wellington Street in Ottawa on Friday, January 11, 2013.
Four-year-old Phoenix Sky Cottrelle,from Aamjiwnaang First Nation, holds a sign as aboriginal protestors gather on Victoria Island before they march to Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, January 11, 2013.
Aboriginal protestors hold signs as they march from Victoria Island to Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, January 11, 2013.
Gordie Odjig, an aboriginal protestor from Wikwemikong, shouts as he marches from Victoria Island to Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, January 11, 2013.
Woman's Voices
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Courtney_Harrop"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/twitter_profile_img/4441016.png" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Courtney_Harrop">Courtney Harrop</a>:<br />Idle No More event Dec 30th,2012. Tla'Amin Nation Coast Salish Territories Powell River, British Columbia.
Idle No More Edmonton
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/AUPELOCAL6CHAIR"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/twitter_profile_img/4411530.png" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/AUPELOCAL6CHAIR">AUPELOCAL6CHAIR</a>:<br />Planned overnight and what a turn out!
IdleNoMore March, Dauphin, Mb
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Phyllis_Racette"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/1354341984/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Phyllis_Racette">Phyllis Racette</a>:<br />#IdleNoMOre Dauphin, Mb
Chicago Idle No More @ the Canadian Consulate
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Jolene_Aleck"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/644015258/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Jolene_Aleck">Jolene Aleck</a>:<br />Chicago's Idle No More 1.5.2012 rally @ the Canadian Consulate
VancouverC Jan 2 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates">gerrybates</a>:<br />Idle No More at Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC
A man waves a flags as aboriginal protesters and supporters in the Idle No More movement block the Blue Water Bridge border crossing to the United States in Sarnia, Ont. on Saturday, January 5, 2013.
VancouverA Jan 2 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates">gerrybates</a>:<br />Idle No More at Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC
VancouverB Jan 2 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates">gerrybates</a>:<br />Idle No More at Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC
VancouverD Jan 2 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates">gerrybates</a>:<br />Idle No More at Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC
VancouverH Jan 2 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates">gerrybates</a>:<br />Idle No More at Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC, January 2, 2013.
VancouverF Jan 2 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates">gerrybates</a>:<br />Idle No More at Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC
VancouverE Jan 2 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates">gerrybates</a>:<br />Idle No More at Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC
VancouverG Jan 2 2013
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/gerrybates">gerrybates</a>:<br />Idle No More at Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC
Flag Planting
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/seawaytoday"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://s.huffpost.com/images/profile/user_placeholder.gif" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/seawaytoday">seawaytoday</a>:<br />Akwesasne Idle No More att Cornwall, ON
Dec 21st 2012 Idle No More Ottawa: Berdine
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Gail_Chicky_Gallagher"><img style="float:left;padding-right:6px !important;" src="http://graph.facebook.com/535670179/picture?type=square" /></a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Gail_Chicky_Gallagher">Gail Chicky Gallagher</a>:<br />
Follow Anthony Sowan on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/sowanonair
Our country needs to do something to make everyone equal. We say we are, but we are not.
In my opinion the Idle No More movement is making more people mad and upset than it is gaining them to your support. And when does a peaceful demonstration allow it's demonstrators to carry baseball bats? There was one on the news where they were carrying bats. What happens when someone gets hurt because they decide to use that bat, who holds the blame? And another thing, stopping traffic and trains is not safe. There are better ways like clips on the t.v. or the internet to get your point across. And have a point.
What I would highly recommend to you Mr Sowan is to take a course in Indigenous Studies at your local college to gain an understanding of the underlying issues. If that is more than you are willing to do, then at least read the findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. They did an excellent exhaustive legal study from 1991-1995 of the history and current state of affairs between First Nations and the government of Canada. The Commission report provides recommendations for reconciliation and a road map for the future relationship between their national sovereignty and the national sovereignty of colonial Canada. The Harper government has ignored it but has gone on instead to pass legislation that abrogates the constitutionally protected rights of First nations, in effect taking relations backwards. Only after you do a little homework can you offer some informed and insightful commentary on what IdleNoMore is all about. Or not.
To say that you haven't got a clue what IdleNoMore is, and that the history of treaties and paternalistic colonial rule is all vague and irrelevant to you, and that you really have no interest in even learning about it tells me that you really ought not to be posting as an aboriginal man. You have, for all intents and purposes, "immigrated" to Canada from First Nations. It is appropriate that you should give up your status and all the rights and privileges that go with it. It is not a status you identify with and you are just as clueless as any other settler/immigrant to Canada who doesn't want to be bothered by knowledge. And that is what you are saying in your piece.
Until you get educated, I'm afraid you will continue to be a clueless immigrant scratching your head, left to opine about a major social movement being all about free glasses.
noam chomsky, a jewish professor of linguistics and one of the greatest minds of our time, protected the right to free speech of a holocaust denier named robert faurisson, even though he vehemently disagreed and fought against faurisson's ideas.
if a pacifist, liberal, anti-capitalist like chomsky can learn to respect the opinions of a hateful, inflammatory man like faurisson, why can't you?
if you are not an aboriginal, then you have no right to call mr. sowan a colonialist. that just makes you an even bigger hypocrite and your self-righteous indignation is nothing more than a mindless attempt to make yourself seem better than this man who is proud of his heritage and loves his culture and his people enough to criticize the more ungainly aspects of a movement which he doesn't agree with. it's his right to do so. he was born with that right. were you?
HANDOUTS dont support growth and well being. It creates victims
and those who feel they can not make it on their own.
Fact: there is a huge difference between the treatment of Polish/Irish/Ukrainian people versus Aboriginal people in Canada.
Fact: Aboriginal people were stripped of their identity, language, and heritage and made to feel shame for those cultural attributes. This was a directed effort by the Canadian government and has been admitted as a huge contributor to the issues facing Aboriginal people by the Prime Minister and anyone who has researched or examined the problems.
Fact: Canadian law mandates that Aboriginal people be dealt with in a different manner than any other group. This was the case when the Royal Proclamation was signed in 1763 and that bit of legislation has been upheld numerous times in the intervening 3 centuries.
Again, Sowan doesn't present an argument of "reason", he has appealed to an unhappy and uninformed segment of the population that is focusing on the lack of cohesion and the questionable tactics of a very new grassroots movement.
But the bottom line is, if you have a particular racial trait you get special treatment... which causes the rest of society to hate you. The current racist environment stems from the fact that a person living in a city with no income is left to live on almost nothing, but that same person living on a reserve with no income is taken care of. That's simply not fair, and it breeds hate for those that get the extra help.
And if you justify it by referencing things that happened generations before you were born, then you are blaming the son for the sins of the father. It's stupid: your dad killed my dad so I can kill you? Of course not! So if my grandfather mistreated your grandfather, why is it ok for you to demand restitution from me?
I get it that you don't get it...not all of us have politician fathers and had There is so much in your spew that paints a picture of someone who doesn't understand and is therefore indifferent to the cause and wht it means to the average "not relying on daddy", and grassroots level Person who must live within the confines mof the reserve...life as THEY understand it.
You should live and learn a little...you have great potential to change the world...once you understand it...
I will stay that I don't hate anyone. Our government continually perpetuates this problem, and I believe they're the ones to blame. If all Canadians were treated equally in all areas. Pay the same taxes, receive the same incentives and benefits, then I strongly believe that this NO-CAN-DO attitude that the native people have would no longer exists.
Fact: the FN's have had billions in resources stolen from them since the treaties were established. Fact: there would be no Canada without the alliances the Crown made with the FN's in those treaties. Fact: the feds with their corporate partners continue the theft by extracting resources from FN territories. Fact: the government refuses to turn over billions—money that belongs to FN's—instead holding it hostage in a trust which pays a pittance in interest. Some is transferred to bands and is used to pay for social programs (like those $80 glasses you rant about). But the lions share plus the real interest the money generates, remains in the coffers of the federal government for the use and benefit of well, "typical white scandinavians" such as yourself and your children while First Nations and their children live in third world conditions.
So I ask you, who's really getting the handout here? Where is the equality that you speak so highly of? Blame that nameless, faceless entity called "the government" all you want but just remember it's your government using your tax dollars to perpetuate this regime in your name for your benefit.
Due to Supreme Court decisions, specifically the Mikisew case out of Northern Alberta, the Crown has a duty to consult and, where there's an impact, accommodate First Nations. This is what the word "consult" is in reference to, for the proponent/corporation/government to consult the community about treaty lands.
As you spelled it out, sure it would make sense if it were simply just natives asking to be consulted on every little thing, moreso than Canadians, but the word "consultation" in this context is a lot more loaded and important than that. There's some (IMHO: unnecessary) anxiety amongst many First Nations people that a part of that omnibus bill sought to weasel their way out of that obligation.
tl;dr: "Consult" means something different legally and many First Nations people know it.