We contend that:

The Treaties are nation to nation agreements between Canada and First Nations who are sovereign nations. The Treaties are agreements that cannot be altered or broken by one side of the two Nations. The spirit and intent of the Treaty agreements meant that First Nations peoples would share the land, but retain their inherent rights to lands and resources. Instead, First Nations have experienced a history of colonization which has resulted in outstanding land claims, lack of resources and unequal funding for services such as education and housing.

We contend that:

Canada has become one of the wealthiest countries in the world by using the land and resources. Canadian mining, logging, oil and fishing companies are the most powerful in the world due to land and resources. Some of the poorest First Nations communities (such as Attawapiskat) have mines or other developments on their land but do not get a share of the profit. The taking of resources has left many lands and waters poisoned -- the animals and plants are dying in many areas in Canada. We cannot live without the land and water. We have laws older than this colonial government about how to live with the land.

We contend that:

Currently, this government is trying to pass many laws so that reserve lands can also be bought and sold by big companies to get profit from resources. They are promising to share this time...Why would these promises be different from past promises? We will be left with nothing but poisoned water, land and air. This is an attempt to take away sovereignty and the inherent right to land and resources from First Nations peoples.

1. I work with Native American artists -- folks who are active members of Native communities.


2. These artists are exceptionally talented.


3. They are also very knowledgeable and smart about their cultures and cultural values and know which items (i.e. sacred items) are off-limits and shouldn't be sold.


4. They know how to translate the artistic traditions of their Native communities to be shared by people from ALL backgrounds.


5. They don't resort to stereotypes, and they present a new vision and a new version of "the Native" in fashion.


6. They are incredibly respectful of Native people.


7. Profits from the Beyond Buckskin Boutique go directly to these artists and support small businesses, many of which are in Native communities and represent economic development strategies. I could go on.

• No laws and regulations governing the provision of drinking water in First Nations communities, unlike other communities.


• The design, construction, operation, and maintenance of many water systems is still deficient.


• The technical help available to First Nations to support and develop their capacity to deliver safe drinking water is fragmented.

1. The bill does not respect constitutionally protected Aboriginal rights.


2. There is no long-term vision for First Nations water resource management.


3. First Nations governance structures are not being respected.

I half stumbled into it. For the long version of this you can visit my site. For the short version -- essentially, I was fresh out of Theatre School and ready to work. Once I started working as an actor I hated it. I was voiceless and not being represented. I didn't connect with any of the work. And yes. I feel a lot of mainstream comedians look at me as "the native comedian" and that I was given my comedy special and my other spots because of that. They got the land -- I got a festival spot 500 years later.

It's an incredible amount of work. It's tiring and disgusting. I am my own pimp, to be honest -- if I'm not promoting myself, who is? I don't have an agent or a management company looking after me. All of my online work (videos/podcasts/blogs) are extension of my brand -- almost like a funny business card if you will.

The podcast has really changed my comedy. It's also changed my fanbase. I don't have the most followers on Twitter or Facebook but I have the most loyal fans and followers I could ever ask for. I've found people that care -- I have to nurture that relationship, be grateful, remain humble and continue giving back to those that support me.

It was a huge honour and I actually didn't realize that until my CBC producers told me this. They believed in me. They saw what I was talking about. They saw what I was trying to say. They compared me to Chris Rock and George Carlin. They helped me see my place in the landscape.

It hit me. Something big was happening. Something really, really big. And again -- I don't feel like it's been celebrated at all by the mainstream and barely by Indian Country. Those that have celebrated the accomplishment have been my fans and followers. They get it. Also -- I want to be on record for thanking CBC TV/Radio and CBC Aboriginal and CBC Manitoba for their continued support. CBC produces amazing Indigenous content and are really pushing the conversation forward in this country.

I started planning it as a "Thank You," to everyone that supported me leading up to the comedy special and the Just for Laughs spot. I was going to book 8 or 10 shows and do new material as a way to say thanks. It was going to be more of a fuck-around thing.

I announced I was doing the tour and the internet exploded on my lap. I was getting show requests from everywhere. I was floored. I couldn't believe the reaction. But going back to how I feel about my fans and followers -- they're the best and they wanted to celebrate with me. So we are -- I started asking the internet where I should go, and I've made it happen. Barely. But I've made it happen.

I'm a little too old to be driving across the country, but I am. I want to do comedy for the people that want to see me. I'm working out deals with each venue in every city based on what they're willing to do. Some rentals are very expensive and some venues are doing door deals. I have thousands of dollars in damage deposits and rental fees on my credit card.

I'm counting on the people that are excited about my comedy and where I'm heading with it to bring their friends to the live show. I'm using social media to help spread the word and I'm begging for help through various media that are willing to run a story or put something on the radio for me. I can't afford a publicist -- so I'm putting in long days and long nights. It's the most intense thing I've ever worked on. It's so damn big.

I would produce my podcast into a live touring show, shoot it for television and record it for radio (Stuart McLean style mixed with Jian Ghomeshi Q type show) and feature guests, musicians, artists, community leaders, youth, and organizers that are working on their own vision of decolonization. That movement will only happen on the ground -- that's where I want my work to remain.

Okay, so why the grim faces when anyone mentions the White Paper?

...the white paper proposed to:

• Eliminate Indian status

• Dissolve the Department of Indian Affairs within five years

• Abolish the Indian Act

• Convert reserve land to private property that can be sold by the band or its members, etc.

Wait a minute, that doesn't sound like you at all...

To be a First Nations person is to be a human, with all a human's needs and abilities. To be a First Nations person is also to be different. It is to speak different languages...rely on a set of values developed in a different world...

...But to be a First Nations person today is to be someone different in another way. It is to be someone apart -- apart in law, apart in the provision of government services...

To be a First Nations person is to lack power -- the power to act as owner of your lands, the power to spend your own money and, too often, the power to change your own condition.

Not always, but too often, to be a First Nations person is to be without -- without a job, a good house, or running water; without knowledge, training or technical skill and, above all, without those feelings of dignity and self-confidence that a man must have if he is to walk with his head held high...

Now wait a damn minute, I actually clicked on the link to the 1969 White Paper, and that quote is from the introduction to it!

• indigenous peoples are just prior immigrants with no real rights (to the land or otherwise);

• European colonisation was inevitable and justifiable because of the "tremendous gap in civilization" between aboriginal peoples and Europeans;

• aboriginal government in practice "produces wasteful, destructive, familistic factions";

• aboriginal title as currently defined is impossible to use in a modern economy;

• aboriginal people can only find prosperity by integrating into the economy "which means, among other things, a willingness to move."

...The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations stated that "[S]helter in the form of housing, renovations, and related infrastructure is a treaty right, and forms part of the federal trust and fiduciary responsibility. [This position derives] from the special Indian-Crown relationship dating back to the Royal Proclamation of 1763, enhanced by section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 and sections 25 and 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982."

To date, the federal government has not recognized a universal entitlement to government-financed housing as either a treaty right or an Aboriginal right. It has taken the position that assistance for housing is provided as a matter of social policy, and its Aboriginal housing policy has been based on this premise. Thus, assistance has been based on 'need'.

• market-based housing


• non-profit social housing

s.3 "The purpose of this Act, in relation to financing for housing, is to promote housing affordability and choice, to facilitate access to, and competition and efficiency in the provision of, housing finance, to protect the availability of adequate funding for housing at low cost, and generally to contribute to the well-being of the housing sector in the national economy."

The members do not own equity in their housing. If they move, their home is returned to the co‑op [the Band], to be offered to another individual or family who needs an affordable home.

Some co‑op households pay a reduced monthly rent (housing charge) geared to their income. Government funds cover the difference between this payment and the co‑op's full charge. Other households pay the full monthly charge based on cost.

AANDC [alone or via the CMHC] does not cover the full cost of housing. In addition to government funding, First Nations and their residents are expected to secure funding from other sources for their housing needs, including shelter charges and private sector loans.

"The reasonableness of the choice of remedies [i.e. appointing a Third Party Manager] is conditioned by a reasonable and accurate appreciation of the facts and a consideration of the the reasonable alternatives available."

p. 78 "...the [Assistant Deputy Minister] misunderstood the nature of the problem...what was really an operational problem. While the [Attawapiskat First Nation] were having trouble addressing the housing crisis, what they lacked was not the ability to manage their finances...but the material means to do so."

p.24,"Despite the [Prime Minister's] comments about management, the Respondent has not produced evidence of incorrect spending or mismanagement. In fact, the reference by the Prime Minister as to the $90 million could not have related exclusively to the funds made available for housing repair or reconstruction."

p.21, "At no point prior to the appointment of the [Third Party Manager] did department officials indicate there was any problem with Band management. The Band was already under a co-management regime and no issue of Band management or financial administration was raised."

p.2,"This judicial review confirms, if such confirmation were needed, that decisions made in the glare of publicity and amidst politically charged debate do not always lead to a reasonable resolution of the relevant issue."

p.26,"It would be inaccurate to suggest that officials were insensitive or uncaring about the situation at Attawapiskat...[t]he problem seems to have been a lack of understanding of the [Attawapiskat First Nation's] needs and an intention on the part of officials to be seen to be doing something."

Child welfare workers removed Aboriginal children from their families and communities because they felt the best homes for the children were not Aboriginal homes. The ideal home would instill the values and lifestyles with which the child welfare workers themselves were familiar: white, middle-class homes in white, middle-class neighbourhoods. Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal parents and families were deemed to be "unfit."

It would be reassuring if blame could be laid to any single part of the system. The appalling reality is that everyone involved believed they were doing their best and stood firm in their belief that the system was working well. Some administrators took the ostrich approach to child welfare problems -- they just did not exist. The miracle is that there were not more children lost in this system run by so many well-intentioned people. The road to hell was paved with good intentions, and the child welfare system was the paving contractor.

...[this] over representation...is not rooted in their indigenous race, culture and ethnicity. Rather, any family with children who has experienced the same colonial history and the resultant poverty, social and community disorganization...may find themselves in a similar situation.

Repeated studies have shown funding for child welfare on reserves is far below that available to children off-reserve and results in far lower levels of service. In particular, the lack of funds available for programs that can help families before they are broken up results in far higher rates of children being taken into foster care on reserves than off reserves.

• the closure of the elementary school in 2000 due to contaminated soil and toxic fumes;



• the 2004 withdrawal of power by Ontario Power Generation, and the $300,000 per annum expenses to create and maintain electrical supply in the community;



• the 2005 deBeers dump of sewage in Attawapiskat's lift station;



• the 2006 ice storm and the subsequent evacuation of the hospital;



• the 2008 flood which resulted in evacuation of over a thousand people;



• the 2009 sewage backup resulting in three dead and 90 homeless.

How old were you when you first heard about residential schools?

I think I was about six years old.

How did this topic come up?

When I was in Grade 1, my teacher said that I was only allowed to speak English at school. I didn't know why people didn't want us to speak our First Nations language. I talked to my mom and dad about it. Then my dad told me about residential schools. He also told me about his hair getting cut off at school, even though he didn't go to a Residential School. Then my Dad showed me the video of an apology from Prime Minister Harper. When we talked to my Grade 1 teacher about it, she said she was sorry about it and I forgave her.

What do you think residential schools have to do with First Nations languages?

They took away our language by taking kids from their moms and dads. At school, the sisters and brothers were split up and couldn't even talk to each other either. The teachers at residential school thought their ways and their language were better. And now we speak English and do not know much of our language. Our family is taking a language class together now so that we can all learn.


What did you want other students in your class to learn?

I chose the topic of residential schools because people need to know about the past. I wanted to tell my classmates why I couldn't speak very much of my language. The past is our history and everybody should know. Our class learns some history like Remembrance Day and wars, so we should also talk about residential schools so that it won't happen again.


How did your teacher's actions make you feel?

I felt mixed between sad and hurt when my teacher didn't want me to tell the class about residential schools. Then when she did let me share, she stopped me before I could tell about the Prime Minister's apology or pray for healing for people who went to residential school. My teacher didn't tell me anything good about my presentation, she just said that I should choose a shorter topic next time. But I still think this was an important topic.

How did the other students react to what you shared with them and how did that make you feel?

One student was fooling around but the rest looked serious and listened. Some of the students looked sad when they heard about residential schools. Lots of kids had questions during question time, more than any other presentation. It made me feel good that they were interested and wanted to know the truth. They thought that the residential schools were totally not fair or right.

Why is teaching people about residential schools important to you?

No one is First Nations like me in my classroom. So there are quite a few people who don't know about my culture or about the past. I think that all kids in Canadian schools should know about residential schools because this happened here and justice and truth are very important. I don't want something like this to ever happen again in our land.

Do you believe that you are too young to learn about or teach about residential schools?


No, I am not too young because I started learning in Grade 1. I talked with my family about it. I read Shi-Shi-Etko and Shin-Chi's Canoe in grade one. Then later in grade two, I read more books for kids about residential schools. I know enough to teach others about it and I am still learning more about residential schools.

Is there anything you would like to say to other young First Nations, Inuit, or Métis youth after this experience?

Be brave. It takes courage to stand up for what's right. You may face some troubles, but it is worth it. Because you can do it with God's help. The Creator gives us our culture and gives us courage. When I prayed about it, I felt better because I knew that God was with me.

"Like many other fashion brands, we interpret trends and will continue to do so for years to come. The Native American-inspired trend and specifically the term 'Navajo' have been cycling thru fashion, fine art, and design for the last few years."

Without OxyContin available, individuals will experience withdrawal. Symptoms may range in severity from stomach upset, muscle and bone pain, anxiety, restlessness, increased heart rate and blood pressure to depression and suicidal ideation.

In the absence of any regular treatment, a public health catastrophe is imminent, as there are thousands of addicted individuals with rapidly shrinking supplies -- likely leading to massive increases in black market prices, use of other drugs, needle use/sharing, and crime," said Dr. Benedikt Fischer, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health.

• In some cultures, some items are off-limits. Examples from Canada and the United States would be: military medals, Bachelor degrees (the actual diploma), and certain awards representing achievement in literature, music, or other fields.

• These items cannot be legitimately possessed or reproduced by just anyone, as they represent achievements earned according to a specific criteria.

• Yes, some people will mock these symbols. However in order to do this, they have to understand what the symbols represent, and then purposefully desecrate or alter them in order to make a statement. They cannot then claim to be honouring the symbol.

• Some people will pretend to have earned these symbols, but there can be serious sanctions within a culture for doing this. For example, someone claiming to have earned a medical degree (using a fake diploma) can face criminal charges, because that 'symbol' gives them access to a specialised and restricted profession.

• Other items are non-restricted. Flags, most clothing, food etc. Accessing these things does not mean that you have reached some special achievement, and you are generally free to use these.

• If you do not use these items to mock, denigrate or perpetuate cultural stereotypes, then you can legitimately claim to be honouring those items.