As the Globe's Jeffrey Simpson noted in a recent column, one of the sadder symptoms of the pervasive ignorance plaguing much of this country's aboriginal leadership is a bizarre belief that Canada still operates under some manner of robustly royalist government. A system where our monarchs and viceroys are not simply -- to paraphrase my old poli-sci teacher -- folks who "cut the ribbon at the new Wal-Mart," but rather functional co-rulers of the state, à la, say, Saudi Arabia.
I mention this because yesterday's revelation that hunger-striking Attawapiskat chief Theresa Spence will be boycotting the Prime Minister's Friday summit so long as Governor General Johnston remains a no-show only makes sense once you've unlearned eighth grade civics in this peculiar fashion. Like many of her contemporaries, Spence evidently clings to the childishly literal notion that "the Crown," to quote Simpson, is "somehow an independent agency" within Canada's government, as opposed to merely a synonym for it. (Chief Spence has also written a number of bossy letters to Queen Elizabeth demanding Her Maj's "intervention." Will and Kate no doubt eagerly await their instructions.)
What makes this sideshow all the more embarrassing is that amid all the proper care and feeding Spence's been giving her peoples' non-existent partnership with Buckingham Palace, there's been a complete breakdown in the Chief's relationship with the one independent agency whose power actually does matter -- the press.
Despite some gripes from the usual places about a "Media Party" conspiracy to whitewash the antics of Starvin' Spence, it's fast becoming clear that whatever journalistic goodwill the woman initially possessed is vanishing faster than her latest serving of fish broth. The indifferent contempt in which she has so consistently held the press is beginning to return in kind. You can almost hear her 15 minutes ticking away.
Monday's big reveal that the Attawapiskat political class have apparently been running their reservation with all the fiduciary responsibility of a five-year-old Monopoly banker wasn't really news unto itself. The reserve, after all, has been in various states of federally-mandated receivership for well over a decade, with the much contested appointment of a third-party mediator back in 2011 representing an attempted increase in severity, but not overall status.
This reality became muddled last August following a strange court-ordered veto of the receivership upgrade, though in the wake of the CBC's recently-obtained six-year federal audit, it's now clear the summer ruling was simply a bad decision by a bad judge (he should really go "back to school for remedial training" quipped business prof Ian Lee) rather than indisputable evidence of Spence's purity, as her apologists still insist.
No, the real story was that Chief Theresa somehow never felt the need to spend any of her post-trial months crafting a PR strategy to eventually explain the fiscal negligence she very obviously knew she was getting away with -- and just as obviously knew would someday be revealed. Asked for comment after the audit leak, her only response was a rambling, badly formatted, and typo-laden press release blasting this "distraction of the true issue," (sic) followed by hiding from reporters.
Still, the silent treatment is at least better than outright arrest and exile -- the fate a Global TV crew faced on Tuesday, apparently on Spence's orders, following an attempt to see what's going on in Attawapiskat itself these days. We didn't get our story, writes reporter Jennifer Tryon in her post-mortem, but "boy, there's a much bigger message here being heard loud and clear."
To put it bluntly, you can't just do this.
The press can be ignorant, naive, and clueless, but it's rarely passive, especially when their subjects aggressively, purposely, and unapologetically impair journalists' abilities to do their jobs. Browse any Canadian newspaper these days and you'll be hard-pressed to find anything beyond tired and jaded skepticism of Ms. Spence. Her supporters have increasingly dwindled to the most dogmatic members of the Aboriginal Studies set and a few mushy progressive-types who, like Spence herself, fret without irony that the larger cause of Native rights is in danger of being "overshadowed" by the incidental incompetence of those trusted to defend it.
And why not? If you've been a reporter attempting to cover Spencemania over the last couple of weeks, the exercise has mostly been an agonizing slog through a mire of hostility, paranoia, and stonewalling (if not, in the case of our Global pals, outright harassment and intimidation); if you're an editorial writer, you've faced an equally unsatisfying wrestle with the vapid grandiosities and empty threats that the Chief and her various hangers-on have attempted to pass as a coherent philosophy of protest. Even for those otherwise inclined to be sympathetic, there's really not much to work with here.
PR isn't everything, of course, but in a democratic culture, accessibility and openness are the currency through which public legitimacy is bought. Thus, however keen she may be to frame herself a populist cipher of "the people," Chief Spence's tone-deaf approach to media relations can't help but rank her far closer to some haughty monarch ruling by divine right. A leader whose justness of purpose is taken as so supremely self-evident that any attempt to explain one's actions merely serves to cheapen one's aura.
Unfortunately for Spence, alas, even the real monarchs of this world don't believe that anymore.
Perhaps the Queen can bring that up the next time the two meet for tea.
Follow J.J. McCullough on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JJ_McCullough
Marni Soupcoff: The Week in Review: What to Make of Theresa Spence's No-Show?
According to the author:"...the real story was that Chief Theresa somehow never felt the need to spend any of her post-trial months crafting a PR strategy to eventually explain the fiscal negligence she very obviously knew she was getting away with -- and just as obviously knew would someday be revealed."
JJ's right - Spence's failure to spin is the real story, and we've all missed it.
J.J.'s implication (which is totally in line with your assessment) is that normal, every-day people are meant to consider the perceptions of the press in their daily lives. Until 2011's state of emergency, Chief Spence was definitely just a 'normal person' doing the best she could for those she was responsible for ... I think she still is.
One might argue that the title 'Chief' would make Spence more politically savvy than she apparently is but I reject that. My sense is that aboriginal leaders are culturally more like familial guardians and less like the legal advocates non-natives have in mayors, MPPs and MPs ... perhaps that's why they're called elders. Suggesting that she needed a media plan in place before starting her protest ultimately implies that the media is still the final arbiter of true justice; if a person can't appease the media then their cause is for naught.
Finally, if J.J. had wanted Chief Spence's lack of spin to be the focus of his article, why bury it amidst all of the vitriol?
The press should remember that they too are Canadian citizens and that they and their familites will feel the effects when we have no clean water and useless barren land. SHAME that you would call yourselves journalists when you can't be bothered to tell the whole truth.
This claims a) the press is independent and b) its power actually matters. Both are increasingly false. The press is largely owned by a handful of profit-driven giant corporations (excluding the CBC in Canada - though it is a Crown corporation) and shows its spinelessness every day... and as for mattering, more and more people distrust anything that's on the news as propaganda.
I'm no fan of Spence but I'm even less of a fan of the institutional media. http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/dru/15493 makes far better points than I've heard on anything "mainstream".
It took me awhile to find something we agreed upon. The media loves sensationalism more so than providing insightful analysis' to complex issues. Rather than acknowledging the problems within First Nations communities, which governance is certainly one of the problems, many media outlets prefer to polarize the issues.
By the way, I have little sympathy when the media who plays the victim card.
Bravo Zulu to all those in the press who have worked to get the real story out.
The press should shine a VERY bright light in every corner of this woman's business life as Chief..........I think there is a tonne of dirt yet to be uncovered.
Must be nice to be at the top of the human food chain.