Happy New Year

Hi Friends
As the old year passes I feel compelled to write up some sort of year end message for this blog.
The Aboriginal communities have had some wins and some losses in this year that are noteworthy.

The Ontario First Nations communities stood strongly united, against the Ontario's government's attempt to impose the HST on their citizens and won a partial victory. The off reserve membership was overlooked for complete tax exemption, yet we did have some of our treaty rights protected.

Elections were held in many reserve communities, and in one notable community the INAC officials sought to impose an INAC sanctioned election, but the citizens of Barrier Lake refused their interference. To what end is still undecided. Here I have to say that I personally do not support the Barrier Lake F.N. in their fight. The main reason I do not and can not support the Barrier Lake First Nation in this stand off is because of their wanting to follow a hereditary chief system. This type of system effectively bans any of their off reserve members from participating or even being represented. As I have mentioned countless times, and the numbers bear it out, that a full 70 percent of any reserve's population lives off their territory. This is a pretty big number of your citizens to ignore, don't you think?

In this same vein there are about to be more off reserve citizens added to the band lists. The McIvor decision, is to be addressed this coming January 31st, after two extensions were asked for ( and granted) by the Canadian government, whereby the descendants of the out married women will be having their children (the second generation) named as Indigenous citizens...a redressing of the gender discrimination in the Indian Act...not a complete fix, but at least a step in the right direction. The males have historically been able to pass status down to their grandchildren, but not the women.
This legislation will meet some of these inequities , but as mentioned not all. I guess that will be another fight for another day, and perhaps another government.

Electoral reform was the mantra of the day in the Aboriginal communities, once the main stream press got hold of and began publishing the, in some cases, bloated salaries of the various chief's and councilors. Some members from extremely impoverished reserves, felt so ignored that they were left with no choice but to contact the Taxpayers Federation. The revelations brought to light even prompted one conservative member of parliament ( I wonder who exactly) to introduce a private members bill. Bill C575 is just one of Shelly Glovers "babies" for this year as relates to First Nations.
Electoral reform is badly needed, but we don't have to reinvent the wheel here, nor do we have to time travel back to the signing of the original treaties to do this.
We must however realize that to call all the reserves within Canada "Nations within the Nation of Canada" is not working in our best interest.
We, First Nations, I think must be willing to look at ourselves as Nations according to our language, culture and history. Refining our groups from many small reserve First Nations down to a more manageable historic groups such as Anishinabek, Cree and so on, with a registry for people of those Nations, to vote and other wise employ the democratic process, no matter where you live.
This would solve one of the major problems with the on reserve voting system currently in place.
I have heard, and have no reason to doubt, nepotism rules these tiny communities. On many reserves the largest family controls the vote, leaving many from smaller family groups to suffer the insult of having no representation, even after a democratic election.

A more workable system might be to have the funding administered from the regional offices. Taking the funding out of these little communities and relocating them into the regional offices, and having them administered from afar would go a long way, I think in sorting out the funding for these smaller communities, much the same way the provinces handle the funding issues for the municipalities.

Then the bad chiefs and councils need to be held to task for their unfair treatment of their communities. As it stands the Aboriginal communities have no recourse to deal with those that would exploit them. Many have implored the AFN for real aide, only to be told "not to elect these types"if your unhappy. Others have had to wait for INAC to act in their defense, which usually turns out to be the lamentable results of third party management, and thus no help at all.

The good news is the inclusion of Aboriginals and Aboriginal communities under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, coming in June of this year. At long last the exploitive chiefs and councils can and should be held criminally responsible for any proven embezzlement of funds. Perhaps finally, there will be real recourse for the people.

As we all struggle to reach our potential, INAC has committed funding to the education programs, along with a controversial Active Measures program designed to move able bodied men and women off social assistance on reserves. Handled intelligently this could be a good start, mishandled it could turn into work-fare as previously tried here in Ontario, with disastrous results.

The SIS initiative ( Sisters in Spirit)has been shut down through the governments refusal to fund the data base set up if the NWAC doesn't use a different moniker. The promised funding is to now go to the RCMP data base for missing persons, with no designation for the missing and murdered Aboriginal women.. This being called "apples and oranges" by Conservative M.P Shelly Glover.

The German language has a word for Ms. Glover's affliction...Schadenfreaude, defined as; pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. Thats how I see it any way.

Happy New Year Friend

regards Debra

A Christmas Story

Hi Friends
At this festive time of year I am usually reminded of Christmases past. Ones where my husband and I had little ones to bring Christmas to. These days are long gone now, as all our children have grown up.
For us as a young family with only one income at the time, ( the babysitting fees would most certainly have eaten up any money I would have made), Christmas was a time of careful planning and strict budgetary restraint.
After the back to school rush, with the new clothes, two pairs of running shoes one for indoor and one for outdoor (for little feet that seemed to grow bigger weekly), and the needed back-packs and nutritious lunches...you simply did your best.

My boys, like their little friends, excitedly awaited the Xmas commercials on T.V. to see just what they wanted Santa to bring them as rewards for having been so good. Having pointed out that greed was a sign of naughtiness I had asked that they keep their "must have" list to one or two gifts, and be happily surprised by what ever else Santa had decided to bring them.

The biggest movie out that year had been "Batman" (the only good one, starring Michael Keaton, & Kim Bassinger, and Jack Nickleson as the Joker!)and as the boys had seen it and being typical little boys loved it. So much so that my middle son, asked for the "Bat mobile" for his big gift.
Well it seemed that every kid in the city had asked for that very toy, and try as we might, we were always just a few minutes too late, to get the very last one that each store we checked in, (or so it seemed)had just sold out. So the word was put out to my large family to please keep an eye out, and should any one happen upon this much wished for toy, please pick it up and we'd reimburse any one who managed to find it for us.
It eventually turned up at a little out of the way convenience store, (not the exact one, but a Bat mobile, none the less) picked up by my nephew and brought to us.

Christmas morning came with the usual hub-bub and then the rushing around to make the meals and the big dinner and finally...bath and bed time for the boys.

My usual routine was to read to them, but having dishes waiting for me, and clean up after the big day, my time was shorter than usual. I told the boys we would get back to our latest book the next day, but tonight we would just have a little chat about the day.

My oldest son assured me that, he had gotten just what he had hoped for, and was looking forward to going to his friends house to play with all their new toys, the next day.
The baby was all sleepy eyed and more interested in his bottle than any chat, but our middle son, who even at the tender age of five was somewhat thoughtful and serious minded. He told me he had an important question for me. He is only in kindergarten, surely he didn't suspect any thing..but such a serious face...could he? Here it comes I thought...the Santa lie exposed. How do we handle this?
"What did you want to ask me, babe?"
"I'm older than James, right and Adam is older that Cortney right?"(Adam was his very best friend and also a big brother to a younger sibling)
"Right, what do you want to ask?"
"Well Adam gets to stay up a half hour longer than his sister, can I stay up a half hour longer than James?"
Whew! That was it...the big important question? I had worried over nothing!
"You're right, come to think of it, and in the New Year we will start that, okay?"
"So honey did you like the gifts Santa brought you?"
"Yeah, I got the Bat mobile...not the one I wanted but still one!"
"I'll bet that a lot of little kids asked for the Bat mobile, and Santa just had to do his best on that one, you're not disappointed are you?"
"No...not really. Hey Mom; my reading buddy told me that Santa is really you and Dad,...is that right?"
The kindergarten reading buddies were the grade 4&5 students who came into their class room to read with the kindergarten kids on rain days, and apparently as well as reading with them I guess they were also the bearers of all things grown up...thanks kid! I'll be having a chat with the teacher over you, and your big mouth in the New Year!

Being throughly caught off guard I was only able to manage a weak, "So what do you think?"
"Some how I think he's right!"
Think, think...
"Well is that okay with you? What do you think your other friends think about that?"
"Oh they don't know, (he had already checked that little thing out with them) but I'll bet Evan knows right?"
Evan is his big brother, and very worldly to him. He can go out with his friends alone, to the movies and a whole host of other things that he is still to little to partake in.

"Yes Evan does know, but he keeps it a secret from you and James, you know so as not to ruin Christmas for you! The same way you'd have to keep the secret from others who might still believe in Santa. Do you think you can do that?"
"Yeah, because I'm a big boy, right?"
Giggling at his new grown up knowledge, he admitted though he liked the Bat mobile he really wanted the other one, but all was not lost he could simply ask the Easter Bunny for it...and then with new enlightenment and a quizzical suspicion he said..."Hey,...wait a minute, hes not fake too...is he?"
I was nearly choking on my laughter but did manage to get the words out..."You know you are way to big a boy to be going to bed at this babyish time, so I want you to get back up, and go out to the other room and continue playing with your toys for at least another half hour!"

Merry Christmas Friends
and may you all have a very happy holiday time with your own.
Regards
Debra

Where have all the Warriors Gone?

Hi Friends,
How long has the Canadian government been trying to eradicate the First Nations in this country? Well...from the beginning to present day! This is about legislated genocide.

I had met many people growing up who claimed to be "part" Indian (thats what we were back then) due to their having a great granddad being full blood Indian. The odd thing was, they very seldom knew much more than that little factoid. It inevitably turned out that great-granddad had been enfranchised, once he had obtained a university degree, and since then, he had little or no contact with his relatives, or the reserve living Indians from his past.

Was this his idea? Not likely. The policy of the day was: once you had attained a university degree you could no longer be called savage, and hence the enfranchisement! This policy was not only a brain drain from the reserves, but also served the second purpose of removing much needed role models from the communities. Visiting home was discouraged I would imagine, and not in their best interest either. I can attest to this myself, from an incident in my own childhood.

These policies were strictly enforced, by the Indian agents of the day. So much so, that as late as the 1950s my own mother had to carry a pass book,( a-la the apartheid South African laws ), to take us children to the reserve to visit our grandparents.

In the pass book it was noted what time you were to arrive and when you'd be departing, and by god there was to be no straying from those times. You were escorted off reserve property no matter what the weather, or what the reason, for not being able to vacate at exactly your given time. It was not unusual to find mothers with two or three little ones waiting on the outskirts of the reserve for their late rides, back home, as happened to us one time.

I remember even as a child wondering why the men of the reserve didn't rise up to this tyranny, and demand better treatment of their women? I have five brothers whom my father would've torn a strip off if they were to be anything less then gentlemanly to the ( fairer sex) as he referred to all women. Later on, as I became educated in the government policies I came to understand that maybe most men didn't worry so much over the treatment of their women because, they themselves were not punished for marrying out in the same way. As a matter of fact, they actually were coming out on top of these women because, again the government policies allowed them to not only marry out, but to give status to their wives and children.
It took a woman warrior to mount the fight for gender equality.

Here is how all that played out, and not with the aid of the men, but despite opposition from many men.

As we all know a complete fix was not to be had at this time. It now became another warrior woman's fight. Sharon McIvor entered into the status fray in 1985 and continued on for the past 25 years. This has now culminated in the passing of Bill C-3.

Sharon got the court battle to the point where the Canadian government is forced to amend the Indian Act once more to; once again, address the gender discrimination in it. Is it a complete fix? Not yet, though it could be. But that would take an honest effort on the part of the Canadian government, and support for Sharon, from the National Aboriginal Organizations.

Sad to say that neither has happened. After Sharon took on this fight without support from the National Aboriginal Organizations, financially or other wise, the newest partial fix offered by the Canadian government is "good enough" for these National Aboriginal groups to sign off on her struggle.

I guess bribery has its own rewards.
The most outrageous thing about all of this is of course,
the Canadian government had made the charge that this fight was about money, and not equality. Then Canada proceeded to make it just that, by threatening to cut off funding if the National Aboriginal Organizations didn't sign off on the flawed bill C-3, and these organizations played right into the government's hand by doing just as they were told to do...sign or lose funding.

Do these organizations speak for the Indigenous people in this country; really? The Grand Chief is elected by the regional chiefs, not the people of various Nations. Most of the regional chiefs are coincidentally men, and possibly the same ones who opposed Lovelace in the 1980s.

I have heard heroic accounts of our men warriors daring do, yet it is mostly the warrior women who are consistently fighting the modern battles. Sure, the issue is gender biased in the Indian Act, but these are your mothers, sisters, daughters, and in some cases grand daughters. When are more men going to step up and do as you should have been doing all along and assist your sisters in this struggle?

regards Debra

Depravity and Shame

Hi Friends,
Today I will write about the suffering of the First Nations people in the northern regions of my province: Ontario. This sorry state is well known, yet the government stays silent. This aching cruelty has been well documented, yet they don't feel compelled to speak to it or of it.
Why would such a benevolent entity such as the Canadian government not be moved by the plight of these citizens? It was this government's concern for the women and children in the third, that they made the G-20 and G-8's mandate, "Children's and Maternal health around the world," and then spent lavishly on the summit for this worthy cause.
Now it has been said that Canadians are a caring lot and when there is aide needed for the third world, our altruism knows no bounds. We have been sold the notion that we are fighting a war in Afghanistan so young girls can go to school and make the most of their lives. A noble cause to be sure. Why doesn't that same hold true for our Indigenous children's education? Why would the First Nation children suffer contaminated schools, and underfunding? These conditions were brought to the world's attention by a young girl (Shannen Koostachin) from the northern reserve community of Attawapiskat:First Nation in northern Ontario.

As a first world nation and judged to be one of the best places in the world to live, why then are the living conditions on these Northern reserves so horrific? With our Canadian government's recent obscene show of over spending at the G-20 and G-8 meetings held in Toronto Ontario this past summer, shouldn't they be doing something to address the abysmal conditions on these reserves? Further, the Canadian government's commitment to spend billions of dollars on more jails for unreported crime is unconscionable.
This unintentionally pointed out by Stockwell Day

"Right to Play" is a charitable organization, founded in the 1992 to bring some semblance of childhood to third world nations and in war zones to give the children of these depressed areas a chance to for a short time at least, simply be a child.

A worthy organization with heart for sure. The only question really is "why in Canada". Are we at war here with the First Nations?

Why would a child advocate and a graduate of her communitie's school, have to die without seeing her dream fulfilled? A child who had won an International Children's Peace Prize, for bringing this story to the world nine years after her school had been closed due to contamination from a leaking diesel fuel dump under the school.

Shannen's dream has been now taken up by the AFN along with others to see it through to completion

Today in the Toronto Star was the story of yet another worthy endeavor; a film by Andree Cazabon, showing the third world living conditions on yet another northern reserve.

Where is the outrage at the Canadian government for the vicious treatment of these citizens?

When a government seeks to make wards of the state, of certain segments of a society,(via legislation...the infamous Indian Act), then they must be held accountable...I defend my outrage at this governments treatment of the First Nations people, as ghoulish and criminal, and yes demand better for them, from them and ultimately us, as Canadians.

Regards Debra

Education...Revisited

Hi Friends,
As you know I am an advocate of education, and have blogged about it in the past. From what I've been reading in the press of late it remains relevant and bears repeating so
here is the link.

The only thing I feel compelled to add to my previous entry is, in an increasingly technological society we absolutely need our youth to be computer savvy as well capable and literate adults. These goals of proficiency on all levels are attainable and, I would argue, necessary.

regards Debra

Now Thats What I'm Talking About...

Hi Friends

At long last I have a story from the papers that I am overjoyed to bring to your attention. There is a First Nations Chief, (Chief Jack Mussell in Skwash B.C) who personifies what we all should be getting from our reserve leaders. Elected Chiefs and councils acting in the best interest of their communities. There are plenty, even the national daily papers had to concede that.

Their stories were all but ignored, save honorable mention, in their otherwise scathing reports of our dishonorable leaders. Who can blame the editors of these papers though; after all, scandal is what sells, especially anything to do with the Aboriginal communities.

Kudos to the Edmonton Journal for going against the tide in bringing us this story.

I share the good Chief's opinion - that we must now ride to our own rescue. Thank you chief Jack Mussell, for leading by example and setting a standard for others to strive for and, more than that, emulate.

Regards Debra

INAC's Optimism...

Hi Friends
After a full week of investigative reports about the abysmal conditions found on the various reservations here in Canada, the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development weighs in with his ...unique take on things.
His position is "I actually think there has been much progress, and I am not a pessimist. I think things are moving in a very good direction. I'm quite optimistic."
optimistic about what exactly, I'd like to know? The "final solution" to the Indian problem as set out on by the first minister of Indian Affairs, Duncan Campbell Scott, so many decades ago?" To me at lest this seems to be the reason for his, and this governments optimism.

This piece of drivel, from the minister responsible, after the investigative report on third world living conditions. This after the government has effectively shafted the Native Womens Association of Canada doling out more money and power to the police and banning the "Sisters in Spirit" moniker from getting any funding if they use that name???Whatever could be the reason for that?Was it because the NWAC has done such a good job of branding for this very worthy cause, and that maybe the Canadian as well as the international press have noticed and reported on it? Femicide=Genocide.

While The Star was reporting on reserves here in Ontario, the Winnipeg Free Press was also running stories about conditions on their reserves.Is this any way for any one to live?
I am sure even our most hardened among us would agree that this is an unconscionable treatment for a government to indulge in towards any segment of their society. Who indeed would wish these living conditions on any one? Can Minster Duncan's optimism be correctly guessed as the ability of a segment of Canadian society's ability to not survive these abysmal conditions much longer, and that he will have indeed finally solved the "Indian Problem?"

We the Indigenous people are in an undeclared war with this country's colonizer governments to this very day. To live cheek to jowl in these horrific conditions with the colonizers who to this day reap obscene profits from the theft of your country is nothing less than criminal. I assert that Canada's government is engaging in war crimes against the Native people here, and they should be charged with these crimes against humanity, and held accountable.
I sincerely hope this is not just my opinion!

regards Debra

Crab-Pot Mentality

Hi Friends
The investigative reporting via the Toronto Star goes on. Today the reporter has chosen to highlight the successful Nations with their casinos and casino royalties, which they have shared amongst themselves. Oh wait a minute thats not really the story is it?

This is the story of how after months of bidding on the site for a casino, that would be bringing a much need economy to the communities, it was awarded to NOT the highest bidder, but to the community who would give away the highest share of the profits to other First Nations communities. Rama offered a high 20% share of the profits and was awarded the casino.

Now for a little back story to all of this. The nineteen nineties were heady times for Indigenous peoples here in Canada. The Oka Crisis had just happened and the government of the day had just set up the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples...it seemed at last that the Nations were united, and not just that, but the government of Canada recognized it and would be looking into ways to bring the Native populations into the fold.
The AFN asked the various Aboriginal communities, to solidify these good feelings of solidarity, by choosing a word in each of their own languages that best described their communities and incorporate these monikers into their community identities. Rama became Mnjikaning (in honour of the fish fence that defines the community). It was during these feel good times that the casino deal was made.

Then as the saying goes, money changes everything. The various ins and outs of this deal, and ultimately what has been perceived as to what went wrong can all be found on the internet, and, the comments sections of any Aboriginal blog sites, and so on. To say that things soured would be an understatement. Rama was sued, by their 133 other First Nations partners, and in retaliation pulled out of the Union of Ontario Indians (of which they were members) and opted to drop the AFN directive of the community name, in favor of Chippewas of Rama.

I'll ask here, are we incapable of alliances? The answer, hell no! We are the members of one of the oldest confederacies on this continent. We are known as the Council of the Three Fires. The union of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi confederacy. What could have, should have and would have been done with intelligent experienced leadership, can only be speculated on now.

There is a story in First Nation communities that goes like this. There is a pot full of crabs. Singly the crabs could easily escape the pot, but instead they grab at each other to keep them from escaping, which ensures their collective demise.
So now I'll leave it to you to decide...was this INAC meddling, or Indian Act interference or was it crab pot thinking that brought about this shameful state of affairs?

regards Debra

Smoke and Mirrors

Hi Friends
The papers are full to bursting with Indigenous news today, and though I had hopes of there being good news, this was sadly not to be.
Once again the greed of the First Nations chiefs and councils were highlighted,as if they were the only government waste going on, and are a primary reason for poverty among indigenous people. Are we the only ones with untrustworthy politicians?
Is greed and abuse of the public purse only to be found in Aboriginal communities? Would a few overpaid councilors in a handful of Canadian towns be blamed for Canada's entire budget deficit?

Having just come through the municipal elections here in Ontario, I can answer that with a resounding no. Yet do the main stream media ask that the less then stellar mayors or their councils hang their heads in shame over their "selling out" to the land developers, or answer for their conflicts of interest around the same issues? What of the incumbents who have their best friends heading up their "charities" with little or no thought to the openness and accountability, mantra trumpeted daily at the Chiefs and councilors of the reserves.
What of INAC's openness and accountability. They too are on the public purse, heading up a massive bureaucracy of some 5,137 workers, up from the 3300 in 1996, and then add in the cost of the ever growing Indian industry a small army of consultants, lawyers, and other assorted ghouls feeding on the most impoverished citizens of this country.

I'll bet INAC's funding hasn't been capped at the mean two percent, as the reserves have had to struggle under since 1996, with increasing populations and crumbling infrastructure, eroded health, and educational services, along with the growing populations? The 1985 amendment brought up the populations of status Indians from 300 thousand to 600 thousand status Indians in Canada. With yet another amendment due this coming January, which will once again increase the status population by an estimated 45 thousand, and possibly more.

These amendments were achieved through court challenges, first launched by Jeanette Corbiere-Laval, and later taken up by Sharon McIvor, to address the sexual discrimination in the Indian Act, and finally as a constitutional challenge, won in the Supreme Court of Canada in November of 2009.

Now I have to say right here, I am not very enamored of this current sitting Canadian Gov. and have watched them take this nation from internationally respected, to our current state of collective decline. This I am sorry for and do not expect much in the way of solutions from this "band of thieves,and miscreants" as to solving the current state of affairs on the reserves. Not that there isn't a blue print, if you will, in the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (an investigative commission set up in 1996 to study these issues within the Native communities, and the many recommendations that came out of this investigation) should they actually WANT to solve the problems. I personally don't expect much from a government who has trampled on it's own constitution, as has been done in the Omar Khadr, child solider case currently being tried in Guantanamo...or the abuse of enemy combatants in Afghanistan, or the suspending of civil liberties here in Toronto during the G-20-G-8 weekend this past summer.

No doubt there are some greedy Chiefs but they are being outed by their own. Can we expect the same from INAC?

regards Debra

Starlight Tours Revival

Hi Friends
Today I feel compelled to comment on a story that I had hoped was put to rest with the conviction of the police officers responsible for the death of young Neil Stonechild in Saskatoon in the nineteen nineties. The Saskatoon police were picking up young Indigenous men and women and driving them to the outskirts of the town, in the dead of night and in the dead of winter leaving them to find their way back home, or not. Several were found frozen to death, and ultimately judged to be authors of their own misfortunes. While on the way to their "starlight tour" these men and women were abused by these officers by way of sudden starts and stops, leaving the handcuffed prisoner to slam face first into the mesh partition between the front and back seat of the cruiser. This little game was dubbed "screen testing" by the officers.
What could possibly be the crimes that these men and women were accused of that would elicit such a response from the men and women of law enforcement? Mostly public intoxication, but in all cases just being Aboriginal was enough. This was an open secret in the city of Saskatoon, among the police officers, as well as the Aboriginal community.

The officers who, targeted this boy, (Neil Stonechild was after all only 17 yrs. old when he was taken on his "starlight tour" that ended his life) brutalized him, and ultimately murdered him were given eight months in jail for this premeditated murder...Am I alone in seeing this as not much of a deterrent for police to engage in this type of behavior? Are we really surprised that it is happening all over again? Is it wrong to expect to be treated like any other citizen when we are being dealt with by the police?

What are we the people to do if the very institutions set up to deal with crime and the criminal element are them selves criminal in their treatment of our kind? Maybe it is time for us to ride to our own rescue. We are the object of pity from many well meaning groups, and pseudo governmental bodies, but that seems all that is forth coming. Pity is not what I want.
Solutions and dignity should be our ultimate goal. To that end we must all ask ourselves how do we achieve this. What can we as individuals and as communities do to get there?

regards Debra

Electoral Reform

Hi Friends
There has been a lot of talk in Indian country around electoral reform. Do I think reform is needed? Yes. Do I think it will please all the Nations that it will impact? No. Just as all the Nations are not exactly happy over the INAC election rules.
If you're unhappy with your elected officials, you need only look in the mirror, as it is you who have elected them. If you do not demand more of your elected representatives than they be a relative, then this is what you get! It is said that you only get the government you deserve. This may sound harsh, but believe me this is what the Canadian people are thinking as well.

With out constitutions' written and membership worked out, then we will always be at the mercy of Ottawa and the INAC ministers making these decisions for us. There is not a one size fits all solution to electoral reform, yet this is exactly what I expect from INAC on this issue. In as much as the Nations themselves are not united on what way we should be headed, then maybe the best course of action, is to stay the course. Accept the reforms and lobby for better down the road.

Some have advocated bringing back(or bringing in) a hereditary chief system. In researching this system of governance, I found out that these were mainly patriarchal systems, and as a grown woman used to making my own decisions I could not in good conscience recommend this system. This system was in place for some reserves, in days gone by where all members were living on the territory. Here I must point out, once again that 70% of any reserve lives off. What of these members? This system is not just exclusionary to the off rez membership, but could also be protectionist in keeping cliques in power. They are also not always traditional, and traditional or not are unfair and undemocratic. If you are unhappy with your democratically elected governments what would make you think this would be any better? If it is a hereditary system you want then by all means nominate these men, and vote them. It has been said democracy is not the best system of government, but it will have to do till something better comes along...I will always opt for democracy.

Still others have been advocating for a referendum on all new reform policies. This would be costly, and time consuming and not likely to be endorsed by INAC. As a realist, I know not all will be pleased with the reforms offered. My question then is "Should we fight against or refuse them, in the hopes that INAC will revisit the issue in any sort of effort to appease the First Nations? Or just get on with them and call it what it truly could be! A good first step!"

regards Debra

How to Grow a Man

Hi Friends
I've been thinking of our ancestors on this day, and on this the occasion of the Thanks-Giving Day weekend. It was at this time of the year that our people gathered to enjoy each others company, and to celebrate the harvest. This was also the time to do our trading of goods, as well as other preparations for the winter to come.

I also know that things hadn't changed much for my grandparents even when I was a child. I didn't grow up on reserve but did visit with my mother, as my grandmother and grandfather harvested their garden and chopped and stacked wood for the coming winter. It was an all hands on deck time, with even the youngest child expected to help with all manner of chores.
After we'd finish the pickling, and jamming of their gardens yield, it was back to our home where we did the same preparations. I have been a gardener for all my married life, and have passed this past-time on to my own (now) married son.
While we waited for the turkey to cook, I asked him just what it was about this past time that he and his wife enjoyed so much. They are both professionals with demanding jobs, and more than an adequate income. He told me, " I guess it's the feeling of self sufficiency that it gives me! I know that I can always buy pickles, or jam but it's knowing that I possess the knowledge of how to make them, as well as having grown them that inspires me."
I couldn't have said it better myself!

We are the descendants of a very self sufficient people. Our Nations had been up-rooted from their home regions and dropped off in entirely foreign surroundings, and adapted to these new circumstances and eventually thrived. So now lets talk about the old ways honestly. I am heart sick when I listen to the tales of old when our people were shut out of the Canadian way of life; when we were held back from real growth and a chance to participate in all that this country had to offer. We are making our ways slowly back to that time long ago when we were our own men and women. Is it fast enough? I don't know.

The old days I remember were of my grandparents self sufficiency. Their growing a garden, smoking fish, and game. Hauling wood out to be chopped up for fire wood, and of quills being dyed to be used by my mother and grandmother throughout the winter in the decorating of the willow and birch bark baskets they made to sell in the spring.

There exist today entire university study programs devoted to the study of fairy tales. I myself remember well the tale of Jack and the Bean Stalk. The story of an impoverished mother and son with one old cow, traded in for the handful of magical beans. What on the surface looked like a bad trade, turned out to be the salvation of them. This is how I view gardening.
There is something magical about the planting of a seed and watching it's growth to eventual fruition, and there further exists the feeling of self sufficiency that comes with the gardening experience that can make a man! I have seen this magic myself with my own son.

Happy Holiday All.
Debra

Eco-warrior James Cameron

Hi Friends
James Cameron noted director of such blockbuster films as Avatar, and Titanic has made his promised visit to the Alberta oil sands. Mr. Cameron is not just a very wealthy Hollywood director, but is also a green activist. He is well known as the guy who will bump up against convention, and speak openly about environmental issues, and this has not won him many friends. Yet I get the feeling he doesn't care what may be said about him personally, or more correctly, he has enough money that it affords him the luxury to not care.

I was surprised at the news coverage of the entire event. Though Fort Chipewyan is a small community of about one thousand people, Mr. Cameron's visit brought out the national media.
It was pointed out on nearly every news station that the community of Fort Chip enjoyed plenty of amenities, provided by the oil money earned in the Alberta oil sands. My question is, what does that have to do with their very real concerns for their community and their communities health? Why were the media wanting to point out the relative wealth of the community? I'd be willing to bet the others who have prospered from this blight on the planet are not themselves suffering the consequences of their oil recovery from the tar sands, and certainly not the same way as the community of Fort Chipewyan.

You can read more of James Cameron's interview here

Rich people with a conscience are not altogether a rarity. Rich people with a conscience as well as ability to articulate the issue in an intelligent manner is quite another thing. The people of Fort Chip seem to have happened upon just such an individual in Mr. Cameron.
Mr. Cameron for his part seems committed to this issue and is passionate enough about the planet to take it on. I"m hopeful for a better out come than what we were seeing before James Cameron's involvement.
regards Debra

Getting tough on Crime /Canada style

Hi Friends

It was famously stated by Duncan Campbell Scott, at the inception of the Indian Act,..."I want to get rid of the Indian problem"(Head of Indian Affairs Canada 1913-1932)this could be characterized as a declaration of war on the Indigenous peoples here. It sure felt like that, too. Apartheid policies, and genocidal legislation were the order of the day.
We the Indigenous people of this country have had our hands full fighting for our very survival from that date to the present as this article clearly shows, it is an on going battle.

Given all the inequity that we currently face, this government has brought us even more adversity.

Under the guise of fighting crime, the Harper Conservatives have introduced a Truth in Sentencing Act or bill C-25 which targets the Aboriginal communities...
seems to me, to be by design, given the well known statistics as regards our over representation in prisons, and in the ranks of the impoverished.

Seems like our fiscally responsible Harper-Cons feel the need for such punitive actions given our ever increasing crime rates. Especially our burgeoning "unreported crime" as attested to by Stockwell Day in this nonsensical piece of drivel.

It would seem the Harper government is willing to bankrupt the country in this never ending quest to finish the job and eradicate the Indigenous people. A more honest approach or "final solution", might be just to enact legislation that would make it a crime to be Indigenous, and get it over with?

regards Debra

We all fell into this "Ring of Fire..."

Hi Friends,

I watch news stories and try to predict the eventual out come. The news I'm about to relate began late last year or early this year, depending on your particular time frames.

The Marten Falls community was under great suffering and crying out for help: E Coli in the drinking water, teen suicides, extreme poverty, third-world living conditions - the usual northern reserve issues. But this insignificant (to the Ontario government) little community became quite significant, and a cause celeb. to that government very quickly when chromite was discovered on their territory.

In short order the community found themselves hosting surprise visits from the Northern Development minister bearing gifts of fruit baskets for this poor, impoverished lot. Kinda like the trade beads of days gone by!

Where unpotable water and extortionately high suicide rates before didn't stir the government's altruistic nature, the ring of fire (as was dubbed the chromite deposit) could and did.

Untold wealth was to be had by McGuinty's Liberal government of Ontario, if only they could get those pesky Aboriginals on side. Billions of dollars for the mining stakes for the largest chromite deposit ever found - to bad it is on Indigenous lands.

This, of course, would only be a minor set back for the McGuinty Liberals. The solution, for McGuinty, was to push Bill 191, a law that would abrogate treaty rights and allow the government to go about developing the north as they see fit. This would be in direct conflict with section 35 of the Constitution, which is there to protect Aboriginal and treaty rights for the Indigenous people of Canada.

I'll bet the strategy meeting went something like this:

"You know what would be fun? We could make our announcement on the anniversary of the declaration of Indigenous Peoples Act. I'll call Harper and maybe he can send that hang-around-the-fort-Indian, Burnoose out with the... "we the conservative party are still pondering the U.N. Indigenous peoples declaration and may (or may not) sign it at a later date"...announcement, and we can just slip our little announcement in there then too.

"Then while the Indians or Aboriginals (or whatever the hell they are calling themselves these days) are all up in arms over Harper's refusal to sign on to the U.N. declaration, they'll completely miss the connection between Bill 191 and the Chromite. It's a perfect plan!"
Maybe even played a few bars of that old Johnny Cash tune...Ring of Fire...

So it now looks like, to me, that it is once again time to defend our treaty rights. This time lets decide to define them as well. I get angry at the stop-gap measures and half-assed defenses usually settled for by our First Nations leadership, as happened with the taxation protests earlier this year. That our leaders left a large portion of their citizens, namely the off-reserve portion, only partially tax exempt (like partial citizens), left me and other off-reserve protesters righteously indignant. It is, after all, estimated that about 70% of most reserve populations live off reserve.

That kind of revolt resolution allows Canada to turn its smirking face to the world and look down its nose in scorn at the civil conflicts raging around the world because they have found a better way: pay just enough lip service and just enough in transfer payments to give the smallest glimmer of hope to the Indigenous people to quash any unrest.

We Indigenous peoples live on hope it would seem. The Transfer payments to the reserves have been capped since 1993. Soon, I predict, we will all be worth the five dollars per-head as set out in the original treaties. Yet, I'll bet the INAC Minister's salary isn't capped, nor their pension fund.

The fatal flaw in the plans of other colonizers is that giving nothing can only lead to unrest, civil war and extreme religious fanaticism. Evidently the message from our government to others is: Look to Canada and learn!

Hope, it would seem, has become these colonizers weapon of choice for keeping the civil peace.

Or at least that is the way it seems to me.
regards debra

I am Canadian (Red and White) History

Hi Friends
I have in the past blogged about my mother, and today I feel compelled to blog about my father.
My father's, father was one of England's "home children."
These were poor or orphaned children sent out of U.K to their colonies as indentured labourers. A child migration scheme endorsed by evangelical philanthropist Thomas Barnardo and Scottish evangelical Christian Annie McPherson.
Initially the home children were homeless children, but before long many children were admitted reluctantly by widows, or widowers, and in some cases relatives too poor to keep them. My grandfather was one of the latter.
His mother had been hospitalized and his father was too poor and thus, unable to keep his three children.
In Canada at the time, immigration fell under the umbrella of Agriculture, and that agency willingly promoted the child migration scheme by offering two pounds sterling for every child exported to this country.
My grandfather landed on Canadian soil at the tender age of nine with his younger brother James aged six at the time. Their only sister aged twelve, was sent to another country, never to be united with her brothers again.
William and James were sold to a homesteading family in northern Ontario. Here it was expected for them to work themselves out of servitude, which my grandfather eventually did, but James died tragically in a boating accident at the age of seventeen.
They had been abused and beaten mercilessly by their first guardian who eventually gave them over to another farmer, for a price. They fared much better in their second arrangement, they both slept in the barn with the livestock, and though young were expected to pull their weight around the farm.
After James' death, William paid his guardian out for his freedom, and moved into his new wife's family farm, where my father was born: they named him James. My father, and I in turn have a son named James.
To find out more about the home children and child migration here is a site.
http://www.cic.gc.ca./english/multiculturalism/homechild/index.asp
You can also read about this on wikipedia
Knowing of the home child phenomenon, add in the residential school fiasco,...and can it be surmised that the true savages are the people who would do this to children.

regards Debra

The Run Home

Hi Friends
This being the last week for campaigning I find myself drained but hopeful of getting my message out to the electorate.
It is a simple one. Though we are not your neighbours, we are still your community. We are the foot soldiers on the outside of the borders of our reserves engaging the dominate culture in dialouge around our issues. We are the ones out on the protest lines, marching for the recognition of our treaty rights, or protesting the removal of our children out of the communities, and in some cases handing out coffee and sandwiches to our less fortunate, First Nations people.
Some are from communities with aide programs for the community members, but not for them. Why leave your outside citizens vulnerable and unsupported?

During this election I was assured over and over again, that there is no divide. "Your address doesn't make any difference and you are a community member". Nice words, but what actions have been taken to show this?

In many other reserve communities the Chiefs have already welcomed the second generation cut off onto their band lists. It is a recognized done deal since Sharon McIvor won her case, and rather than await an edict from INAC to begin, they have taken the initiative and gone ahead with doing just that, and welcoming their own back into the fold. There are no transfer payments for these new members that these communities will be getting right away. The money will have to be sorted out later...It's just the right thing to do! "These are our citizens/members and they have waited long enough", seems to be the sentiment in these communities.My own sons are waiting to be welcomed to my community, along with about 200 others.

McIvor won her case in 2009, and the Canadian Government was given till April 2010 to amend the Indian Act. Canada then asked for an extension till July 6th 2010 and then till January 31st 2011, both extensions given.
The point is the Canadian Government has to do this, it is a Supreme Court ruling, and all reserves and their leadership know this, and some have acted...while still others wait.
Why?

I find the leadership is quite practiced at hiding their lack of action behind the Indian Act. This is not the case here, the Indian Act will be amended, and as I've said other Nations have taken it upon themselves to get on with the job of amending their own band lists.
My only other question then is this, "Is it fear of Indian Act retribution or is it Indian Agent thinking that has hampered my Nation and its leaders from acting?"

regards Debra

Indian Act Rules, tales from Campaign Trail...

Hi Friends

Well as you know I have offered myself for public service to my community, after being nominated, and then seconded...I talked over this amazing turn of events with my husband and sons. Having a budget of zero dollars to mount a run for office, and a distance between my home and the reserve...it was unanimously decided "If you want to,...".
This being decided, I was now ready to take up the challenge.
That first hurdle having been gotten over, it was time for me to introduce myself to the broader community for their scrutiny. I, being a stranger in their midst, claiming kinship with them was in for a hard sell.
I have in the past volunteered in my community, and of course I have run this blog, plus was active both on line and in person, protesting the HST here in Ontario, so I wasn't a complete stranger after all.
The first most astonishing thing I found out about was that the "Indian Act" rules of politics is that an individual can (and some do) run for the position of chief and councilor at the same time!
To me this is like being the back-catcher and the pitcher for the same baseball team, at the same time.
All well and good, I guess, but what happens if you get elected for both?
They (INAC) have thought of that. Should the candidate prove to be popular enough to be elected to both positions, they are not expected to forfeit one for the other, but can (and do) hold these positions, simultaneously. The only proviso is they must declare which one they are holding before the start of any meeting.
This was all explained to me by the Electoral Officer.
I was/am astounded. Democracy as practiced on this Continent was ours...The American constitution was inspired by the Six Nations Confederacy. We all know it, Government of the people, by the people , for the people,
an end to tyrannical monarch rule...
So my question is this! Can things change for the First Nations communities when they are forced to live under such tyranny as is imposed on us by the draconian Indian Act? Have we lost the Utopian ideals of our glorious past? Is it any wonder to you that so many of our Indian Act elected chiefs have no caring or feel for the people they are supposedly leading?
I don't know the answers to these questions. But a good start would be for our Nations to began in earnest to craft their own constitutions, and citizenships codes, and take the power into their own hands and out of Ottawa's once and for all. True Nations with in the Nation of Canada.Then we can get back to our old ways, the noble ways of our ancestors, starting with true democratic governments as was enjoyed in our glorious past.

regards debra

Elections In Indian Country

Hi Friends
I have in the past blogged about the lack of representation for us the off reserve community. I am also of the philosophy that you can only effect change from with-in...and now as the Rama reserve is finally allowing off reserve candidates I have been nominated, and have excepted the challenge.
This is proving to be a some what monumental task that I have set myself, as the campaigning time is very short: six weeks to be exact, and the off reserve residents list incomplete.
Six short weeks to get my name out in the community as well as to find many of our off reserve members and ask them for their support. I find our people are like the fluff of the dandelion...scattered by the wind.
My hope in running is of course to first win a mandate, and then to voice the concerns of the reserve members who too long have been ignored by those elected to serve them. I can look with fresh eyes at our problems and work with the others on council to try to address these common issues.
I won't insult any ones intelligence by offering immediate remedies to our many problems. I can however and do promise to work for you...as public servants are supposed to. Any one from my home reserve of Rama or a friend of Rama resident living off I'd be grateful if you'd pass along my message and lets start to build a new relationship together.
Regards Debra
Debra Stawnyczy
Uniting the community

Majority, mniority rights

Hi Friends
I have always known I was a member of a minority group, but had no idea just what a minority.
That may not be an actual true statement, as the minority group I belong to, is actually, a majority, minority.
I am an off-reserve First Nations person. Now in the past I have stated ( rightly ) that most Indigenous people do in fact live off reserve. About 70% of any reserve's population live and work off reserve. Aboriginal and Canadian governments both know this very well. In actual fact it can be argued we are a very well known group. We are the token Indians at work, we are the token Indians at school, and we are the token Indians in our neighborhoods. More than a few Indigenous families gathered in any town house or high rise complex and it could be correctly guessed your living in " moccasin flats. "(Indian ghetto)
When our Nations called on their people to stand up, we in the off reservation population, answered the call.
When our people are denigrated in the main stream press, it is us, the off reserve, who write letters to the editors of these papers demanding fair and unbiased coverage of our struggles.
Many off reserve persons (like myself) have blog sites to help us connect with our communities, and have access to our leadership, to inform and pass on news, and to help get the word out to others like ourselves, away from their communities, and keep the information flowing.
There are many identities, used to keep track of us. To some we are C-31s and others know us as 6(-2)s. Both of these codes come from INAC, and have to do with our lineage, meaning we are Indigenous through our mothers and therefore less Indian than those who have lineage through their fathers. This is exactly what these numbered codes mean. Don't let any one try to tell you any differently.
Most C-31s/6(2)s live off reserve, because for the most part we are all the products of enfranchised mothers, and having been born to these women have very little or even no experience of reserve living.
This is proving to be a very divisive problem within our communities. Most on reserve have the mistaken impression that we the (C-31s/6(2)s ) are less indigenous then they are.This thinking exists even in the leadership band administration offices.
The leaders want our bodies on the lines for the protests, yet want us to disappear once it is over. They demand their citizens be recognized, as the first inhabitants of this land, and their rights as such protected. Great! Not so fast...not all their citizens, but the on reserve ones for sure...and throw a few crumbs to those off reserve. They then tell us we should be grateful as I myself was recently told. You see, when I was protesting for tax immunity for the Nations I was protesting for ALL the members not just the on reserve citizens. Imagine my surprise when told that I would NOT be receiving the same protection of my rights as my on reserve counterparts. I was chastised by a band office worker for having the gall to expect that my rights as a First Nation citizen should be fully advocated along with those of the on reserve members. I have a vote, yet no representation. Our band membership is used to determine the transfer payments to the reserve, yet there are no programs for us. We are told to access the friendship centers for our needs.
Whats going on here? Assimilated, colonized thinking directed at your own? This from the very people we are engaged in fighting the colonizers over recognition of our rights to be enjoyed...by all of us... I feel the need to add: It can be argued that you are every bit as evil toward us as the colonizing governments, with your willingness to disrespect your own, just because we don't live in your neighborhood!
Debra

Choices, Political and otherwise...

Hi Friends
Here in Ontario we are now coming up to an election year for most First Nation communities.Like most everything else, these are Indian Act mandated governments. Our electoral process like so many other things in our lives have been crafted for us by the ever present Indian Act.
We have been told, by those in power, ( INAC ) just how we must go about electing the prescribed councilors and chief for our reserves.
We were not allowed to elect off reserve members for council, (until very recently...and it took a court challenge) yet the position for chief could be from off reserve, and did not necessarily have to be a member of the community. This meant any non Indigenous person who felt like they could get voted in was welcome to run for that office... Indian Act rules. It was thought by the Canadian Government that the First Nations citizens were too ill prepared or uneducated to lead their own communities.
Sadly they may have been right. What could make me possibly think this? The myriad of stories coming to light from various community members, in various communities, from all over Indian Country. Stories of greed, and nepotism, and those caught in the middle.
Chiefs and councilors getting wealthy on the backs of the impoverished members of their own electorate.
First Nations people are for ever being admonished to stop being victims and move on...this is the message from the Canadian Government the educational institutes and Joe Public, (mostly anonymously through the comments sections of the daily papers, either on line or in print) but still the same.
Naturally when I hear of abuses within the communities, abuses meted out to the already put upon and victimized members, by their own Indian Act approved (and this may very well be the problem) elected officials, well then I feel a burning rage.
Most reserves have the ever present (as in all communities, native and non-native alike)"haves and have nots" within their ranks, and these "have not" individuals are the victims of all sides. Over the years many have learned the easiest existence is to not make waves, and they may even one day build up enough good will that they too could crack the "buckskin" ceiling and run for council.
The other option is to leave the reserve and their extended family and try their luck outside the reserve, and possibly face even worse discrimination.
What's to be done about this sorry state of affairs? We who have already lost so much, through the residential school system, stand to lose so much more should this oppressive sort of band politics be allowed to continue. We are not able to reach back and retrieve our old, and from all accounts more "noble" ways, no matter the wishes of the romantics among us, these are gone, lost to time and prejudices of the dominate society, beaten out of the stolen children forever for the most part, and anything else put in place feels disingenuous, to say the least. You definitely get the feeling of ceremony being made up as we go along. Leaving newer members, with a feeling of having missed the secret meeting where all these supposedly time honored rituals were explained.
This serves to further divide the communities between the two factions of on and off reserve, and even down to the watered down (61)-(62) designations prescribed by the Indian Act, and the Canadian Government.
The news doesn't have to be all negative though. We can, and have, moved out of our collective doubt, and put away the inter-Nation prejudices and stood side by side and have had our voices heard, collectively. Uniting over the attempt at taxation, the various Nations became allies and overcame the Canadian Government's best efforts to keep us divided by Nation and address, and ultimately relegate our concerns to the back burner as usual. We saw exemplary leadership and real union of all the people. Not an easy thing to achieve, given past grievances, and the general disconnect of rural and urban populations.
Could this herald a new co-operation within the Nations? God I hope so! The only way forward as I see it is through our connectedness wether Haudenasaunee (Mohawk), Anishnabee (Chippewa), Cree,... all nations , and, on, as well as off reserve populations. Maybe after having seen what a united effort can do, maybe just maybe, our less than honorable leaders, will abandon the victimization of their people who have entrusted them with elected office, and put away the pseudo spiritualism, adopt an honest political strategy and get things on track to a brighter future for all. That is my hope and should be the hope for all Indigenous people. I have a feeling that our survival as First Nations may depend on it.

regards Debra

Red Mans Burden

Hi Friends
I appreciate the internet and use it frequently. I have investigated and learned causes and effects to our many political issues at my own pace. I have been able to go back and read the first reports of the missing and murdered Aboriginal women, the first hints of trouble within the First Nations University, the concerns of the First Nations fisheries on both coasts, the murders of our men and women while in police custody, the heart wrenching accounts of the children being scooped up and removed from their communities, our epidemic health issues, as well as the sad state of incarceration and over representation of our people in the criminal justice system.
In each instance the various First Nations came forward with reasonable requests and studies to support each of these and many other problems faced by our communities, usually with workable solutions presented as well.
Governments ( Provincial and Federal) answered either with their own reports and studies, or refused to comment at all, their final say being," suck it up or sue us ..but we have every intention of going forward with this or that, no matter what the consequences to you or your communities are, as we judge it to be in OUR best interest." And the news releases given are as usual, slanted, to make our concerns trivial, compared to the economic growth or the GDP and the betterment of the rest of the country as a whole.
"Suck it up...and quit your whining"
Without the court challenges program (taken away by the Harper Government) many of the poorer segments of society are left to do just that. "Suck it up!." And then when the predicted calamity comes about, a band-aid is stuck on, promises are made, and then the denials begin and then back to business as usual.
As disheartening as I find this method of governance, I have come to expect this of Harper and his ghouls. Truth be told, this is a practice I have noted in all the Conservative Governments here and in the U.S.
Sad as I find this, it is the comments attached to these news sites that I find the most disheartening.
Racists abound. The racism spewed through these sites show a genuine hatred of the Indigenous people of this country. Not a mistrust, not a misunderstanding nor a mere ignorance, but a vile black hatred of these people.
To what do I attribute the bigots wrath?
Lack of education? To some extent. Vilification by the governments in question? Most definitely!
America has in the past, and continues to make villains and savages of their Amerindians in movies, and sport club names, war machines and subversive combat plots, wholly ignoring the ways these names came into their consciousness altogether. When they use the very names of the brave Chief's (who led the resistance to colonization), to bring macho/bravado to the young men they send out to murder women and children in a foreign war zones, they show not only disrespect for us, but also serve to inspire hatred against our Indigenous hero's.
The Canadian Governments are much more insidious than that though. They make enemies of us here at home. They bracket all the expense of all social programs in and around First Nations plights. They seemingly favor our communities with special attention and government monies at the expense of the poor unfortunate tax-payers in this country. Or so they have led them to believe, fostered by the rhetoric of a very concerned, benevolent, paternalistic sounding government official's attention to the Aboriginal communities need of government help in meeting the social ills found on the reservations.
By the way, these ills are a direct result of colonization. Ills visited on the people by the very policies of the colonizers who apologize for them and now make like they are there to help the communities overcome these traits, "due to an inherited weakness bred of their very culture."
This leaves our poor maligned Indigenous communities and individuals targets of the misinformed and bigoted
Canadian populace. The ignorance spewed on the news sites, (that is whenever the national papers do deem a story of our communities worthy of print or as noted many times before, salacious enough) is mind boggling. From behind the faceless, nameless comments sections of any of these main stream daily's, you can read all sorts of fuming wrath. The fact is that this misinformed, uneducated, mindless drivel, would lead one to the conclusion that these were the rants of the under achievers in the society, rightly feeling that their government has let them down yet again. These anonymous drones are fretful that" the F#@%$## Indians are going to wind up better off then me. They should be buying their own homes, paying their own way to university and stop whining about the damn treaties and their rights!!!"
Ignorant, misinformed, uneducated,...but thats what they are being fed by their elected officials...who have said many of the same things, just in a more eloquent manner.
regards Debra

Food for Thought

Hi Friends
I attended a HST rally in Toronto yesterday, along with several other First Nations members and Chiefs and spokespersons from the various communities. The mood was, over all hopeful yet there was also an air of frustration.
Shawn Brant of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, spoke very forcefully about the frustrations we all feel over the ignoring of our issues. He reminded us about our missing and murdered aboriginal women and the needless loss of yet another young woman's life, when her three calls to 911 were ot responded to. The contaminated drinking water in several of our communities, and CAS removing the children from our communities in yet another sixties type sweep. He also spoke of this governments apology to the residential school survivors, and then the cancellation of the funding for the restorative healing programs needed by those very individuals.
His point and I agree, is we can go on ad nausium over the various ways that our rights have been trampled, and questioned why we think we will be treated any more differently this time. He asked when is it time for us to stop being polite?

Kudos to the Government of Canada for their winning of the public relations wars. You only have to read the comments section of any of the daily papers to see how well they have vilified our people and negated our issues. That is, whenever any of these mainstream papers deem any of our many efforts, to be heard as news worthy.
The only time these media outlets seem willing to print aboriginal stories, it would seem, is if they are either salacious, or wanton enough to further denigrate the aboriginal people.

The imposition of this HST or any other tax on the Indigenous people is pure tyranny, and nothing more than, more colonialist thinking on the parts of the Federal and Provincial governments of this country. Even the most biased among you must recognize that your very wealth has been made, through the exploitation of our resources, and on the backs of the Indigenous people that they continue to try to eradicate. They claim no colonialist policies, yet history says otherwise. They apologize for thier past treatment, yet they continue to mistreat us. They promise to partner with us in good governance yet they ignore us.
While the governments co-conspire against us with this latest attempt at taxation,(all the while assuring us they agree with the First Nations and are firmly on side) but, claim that it is really up to the other government to waive this tax in this case.
Akwesasne offers yet another way. There are after all always other options.
a viable plan, if adopted Maybe what the First Nations should be looking for is a persuasive and powerful public relations firm.
Or is it time, as has been suggested, for us to quit being so polite!

EDIT: The viable solution referred to in this link was the Akwesasne reserve has offered to partner with the government and implement a swipe card (pilot program) option (that, they will pay for, in an effort to keep the point of sales exemption in place for the First Nations ) if the Government of Canada is interested in pursuing this option.
Regards, Debra

A revisit of Minamata disease

Hi Friends
I've posted before about the effects of Minamata in the Grassy Narrows community.(Post Tilted: Then and Now) This is my up-date. It sickens me to have to say that not much has been done nor does it look like, will ever be done for this community. Even the compensation for these victims is heart breaking. Were you one of the few judged to be effected and thusly able to get compensation that is.
Like the the climate deniers of today and the tobacco companies of yester-year the Canadian government has found pseudo scientific evidence to refute the claims of the victims. My question is who are they consulting? Not Dr.Masazumi Harada for sure. He is THE expert on mercury poisoning who came from Minamata Japan 35 years ago to aid the residents of the two reserves, and is back today to stand up for them once again. Dr. Masazumi Harada has sited the cumulative effects of mercury poisoning, passed from mother to fetus as a possible culprit for the high mercury readings in the youngest victims. All of the first diagnosed sufferers have since passed away.
yet Primeare Mcguinty is asking for further studies Does this sound like perhaps more of the same.
This in the year of the G8 summit here in Canada, where our Prime Minister has put child/ maternal health on the agenda.
Now I don't have anything against the mothers and children of the third world, and anything that the richer nations can do to ease their plight I'm all for,..but, Canada...can we please,...pleease...pleeease clean up our own back yard first?
Our northern Nations and staggering under massive tuberculosis rates,not to mention that diabetes is three to five times higher in aboriginal communities and heart disease is one and a half times more prevalent, leading to shortened life expectancy and a poorer quality of life. These are the medical concerns of the Indigenous leaders and of course the mothers in these underserviced communities.
Then, of course, there are all the left over ills of the colonization legacy that Mr. Harper so eloquently apologized for in 2008.
My only other question is; when is enough,... enough?

regards Debra

Cautionary Tale of Tom-foolery

Hi Friends
I've been consumed with the taxing efforts of the Ontario government, of the Indigenous peoples here. This is not to say that there haven't been a myriad of other First Nations issues to opine about.
Just yesterday in the Toronto Star was an article of interest for me and all other First Nations people.

Yeah...I believe Tom Flanagan is concerned about the impoverished First Nations in this country.

Yes this is Mr. Harper's mentor and the author of the racist ramblings "First Nations, Second Thoughts"
What a turn around in thinking. I wonder why? He grew a heart?... at his age? He's been visited by three ghosts...ala Scrooge in a Christmas Carol? I hope I'm not being too wary here, but lets look at all the possible ramifications of his radical plan, shall we?

True Toronto doesn't lose the land base when he (Flanagan) buys a lot, but then, Toronto isn't considered a Nation with in this Nation Canada is it? The fact is, there are many poor people in the GTA who have this right to own property, yet do not, now, nor will they ever be able to own property. Has this made it easier on them to alleviate their impoverished circumstances? Of course not. How will this be so for First Nations citizens then?

Just the idea of one nation asking another one for "title" of it own land is patently ridicules. Did America ask Canada for its land base, or Mexico ask America...
What does Flanagan think the land claims process is all about? We own the lands, not them.
Property rights for some cultures are around the out right ownership. Here in Canada the property rights only extend to usage, but not exclusively to the title holder. We only have to look at Ipperwash Provincial Park, and the situation around that issue.
What happened was in 1942 under the war measures act the Government of Canada appropriated the land of the Stoney Point Reserve. This was to be returned to the band once the war was over and no military instillation was judged to be of use at the site. This is around the Canadian property laws where all land in Canada is judged to be owned by the crown.
Ownership of land can be held separately from ownership of rights over that land, as was the case in Ipperwash.

The reserves here in Canada do not have economies to engage the populations and this leaves a large number on social assistance. To qualify for welfare of any kind you can not own property. So the peoples only options would be to either have to either sell or rent or starve. Their properties could then be sold off to non-aboriginals and the land base of the Nations lost. In the cases of corp. take overs, the corporation need only lend money (given you have real property, you now have collateral) and they have an avenue of exploitation of reserve lands.

Could this be the reason for Mr. Flanagan's deep concern for the First Nations of this country? I could be wrong, but I think this is just another of his attempts in his quest at assimilation of the First Nations in this country.
Regards Debra

Newly minted Indians... coming soon...to a rez near you!

Hi Friends
The First Nations communities are facing an influx of about 45,000 new members added to the status lists within the next few months. Good news, bad news.

This is a redressing of the second generation cut off, and it will keep the numbers of our citizenry up, for the time being, but is it a true fix? It still remains a made in Canada Government fix. This is still a colonialist policy that ultimately goes toward the assimilation of the Indigenous peoples.

Within two generations the Indigenous First Nations will be effectively wiped out by this policy. The dominant society is still setting the rules as to who is a citizen of the First Nation.

It is imperative that the First Nations utilize the constitutional provision set out in section 35 of the Canadian Constitution Act and make their (and here I'll say citizenship) codes to protect their rights to name their own citizens, or face legislated extinction.

In the mean time lets congratulate the heroic women that we owe such deep gratitude to, Jeanette-Corbiere-Laval and Sharon McIvor. Teach your children these names and give our youth and especially our girls a sense of pride in these women and their great accomplishments, taken on at enormous expense personally and financially to the benefit of all the nations. These cases started out as personal trials, but quickly morphed into something much bigger and they stood their ground on behalf of all the women of the various First Nations. They quite simply personify the best in us.

regards debra

better late than never

Hi Friends
The First Nations in Ontario are about to embark on a protest in effort to halt the imposing of the HST on their citizens. Since I am an off reserve citizen, I do indeed pay taxes. Income tax as well as property taxes. In the immigration hand books the government states, that First Nations, of this country do not pay taxes.
Lying by omission is still lying.

The truth is many members of any First Nation pay taxes. If they live or work off their reserve, and ( I think the number is 70% of most reserve populations live and or work off their territory,) I would say then that we as Nations have been being taxed for quite some time.

Right about here I wonder aloud, where is our First Nations leadership? Where is our representation from the AFN? Who is ultimately responsible for protecting the rights of those members living off reserve? Our rights are diminished by our addresses. Does that sound right or fair?

As to my personal feelings about this tax, my position is that the Nations are a day late and a dollar short on this issue. The Canadian government can truthfully claim they have been taxing the First Nations of this country for the past twenty five years (at least) and no one sought to protest then. Some hard truths just don't lend themselves to sugar coating.

But, in conclusion, I'll say it is still better late than never.

regards Debra

Language is Everything

Hi Friends,

I've been thinking about the language used by various levels of government when dealing with First Nation issues. I have taken the time to look up the varied names used by the various groups to define us.(the indigenous - aboriginal people of this, the north American continent)

These definitions include aboriginal, native, and Indian, as well as the correct term indigenous.
Aboriginal is defined as earliest known inhabitants. The trouble with this term still leaves us as immigrants in our own country. (ab) Latin for: away from. Native: born or connected with a place of birth. Any new Canadian who has a child born here, hence is raising a native Canadian.Then the truest misnomer: Indian. This has come to be a definition of American indigenous peoples (except the Metis or Inuit) as well as any citizen of India or of the East Indies. First Nations is a term born here in Canada and as such can easily be piggy backed onto any other definition for what ever purpose.


The more correct term (one the Canadian Government is loath to use) is indigenous. Meaning to have originated in. The problem with the Canadian Government, or any other colonizing governments use of this word is around the term, terra nullius, which is a Latin term meaning "land belonging to no one"

This goes a long way in explaining Canada's reluctance and even out right opposition to the signing of the indigenous peoples bill of rights,... or is that just me?

I would caution all the Nations out there making your membership/citizenship codes to use proper terminology around this very important issue.
Here is an interesting site (follow the links) to check out. All other information and definitions can be gathered from Wikipedia.

The Canadian government has sought to do away with us in many ways...linguistic genocide can be yet another...beware.

def. for terra nullius

def. of indigenous plus just a great site to check out.

Regards;

Debra

Ethnic cleansing comes to Indian country

Hi Friends

the newspapers are all aflutter over those damn Mohawks kicking the non natives out of their territory.

Here

After reading some of the comments I believe that this is exactly what the Mohawks had in mind. Creating dialog around essentially what the Canadian Government has been doing to First Nation people across the country with the narrow ( and ever narrowing) stipulations around "who is an Indian" according to the Indian Act.

It never ceases to amaze me how when it's happening to your kind, it's racist, and an out-rage yet First Nations have been living an apartheid, race based, government sanctioned, existence for many many years. To the detractors read a history book, remember the apology offered June 11 2008, and, remember what it was all about.

Your thoughts?
regards Debra

urban Indian meets urban Elder

Hi friends

I have been an atheist for all of my adult life, and have had no problem with it. Nor have I ever been tempted to be anything but.
My biggest issue with religion, and those who claim religiosity is the lack of compassion around their beliefs.

As a First Nations person, and given the residential school fiasco, I'm enormously suspicious of religions
of all types. Religion in my opinion seems to be there as either a crutch, or even an excuse to prop up the outrage that some members of these institutes spew. Pat Robertson's assertion that the Haitian earthquake is in response to the Haitian peoples pact with the devil.???



That being said, I was not very enthusiastic
at the prospects of meeting an aboriginal urban elder.
A spiritual leader to the community.


In the exploration of my culture and my curiosity around the issues that impact my community I was to attend a talk by an elder, around the residential schools.
I didn't expect to get anything of a personal nature out of this, because as I've mentioned in previous blogs, my mother was thankfully spared this unholy experience.
My reason for being there, I convinced myself was to bear witness. A validation of what these survivors had endured in the name of god.


The meeting turned out to be more around issues I already knew quite well, plus I was expecting company for dinner, so I excused myself and explained to the gentleman teaching that I felt, though a valuable lesson, not exactly for me. I told him I was unaffected by the whole residential school experience as my mother had not attended one, and as I had just been recognized as a First Nation citizen since the 1985 amendment to the Indian Act, myself had not even been considered an Indian until then.


He didn't seem offended,and even asked me to come back to the center for other cultural sessions I might be interested in. He then laid his hand on my shoulder and asked, "so, then, do you speak the language?" I had to admit, "no, I do not." This is when I truly understood, as he had gently pointed out, that I had indeed been impacted by the residential schools, much like so many others. A defining part of my heritage was lost to me.


One week later I was back to hear another talk around healing and reconciliation. The elder who spoke this day had been a hard living younger man who had in his life, been to the brink and back. Through the stories he shared with us that day I felt a renewed hope for the Nations. With many such generous individuals willing to share their exceptional wisdom and kindness with, us, who need their guidance there is a real chance at healing, and eventually moving forward from this dark chapter we have just come through.


Am I walking the Red Road? I don't know but, I have definitely taken a few tentative steps. Old habits die hard, though, and I
understand that Native spirituality is based on turning your self over to a higher power, I'm not entirely sure that I can do this. I do however know that I can take comfort in it, without having to make any declaration around it, and that will be perfectly fine with the elders I've met, thus far, at least.

regards Debra

Third world Canada

Hi Friends

The former Aboriginal affairs Minister for Ontario, Brad Duguid has brought the third world charity group, "Right to Play" to the northern reserves.

http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/news/canada/article/754270--right-to-play-takes-hockey-north


Is this an admission, finally, by the Canadian Government that the First Nations are living in third world conditions? Has Canada decided to turn over their responsibility for the reserves' child welfare system to charitable organizations?

here

The effects of colonization still plague the Nations. The residential school system reigned supreme here for generations of abuse and mistreatment for these people. The apology in June of 2008 has not removed the generational damage done to them.

It has been said over and over in many ways by sage after sage;" A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."

regards debra

Save the Children, funding debacle

Hi Friends

The Canadian Government is to be taken to court over the inequitable funding of child welfare on reserves. Human rights activists, concerned citizens and child advocates, are distressed over the latest move by the Canadian Government's attempt to dodge their responsibility on this issue. The Canadian Government has chosen to mount a court challenge, over the issue, rather than just pony up the funding in an equitable way, to all it's citizenry.

click here

I suggest that the Canadian Government accept their responsibility, and quit complaining about it and realize that they can't have things both ways. It is the Canadian Government who has sought to make all the First Nation people, wards of the state, through the Indian Act.

These are genocidal policies the government is pushing much like the Khmer Rouge did when they took over Viet Nam in the seventies. Exactly as the Canadian Government did when they opened the residential schools, and again as they did in the sixties sweep.
As you can see these are not new ideas, and it can be argued that these policies have been implemented before, not just here, but around the world ,especially when one nation attempts to usurp another nation.

"There is no place in Canada for the attitudes that inspired the Indian residential school to ever prevail again..."

Excerpt from official apology offered by the current P.M.June 11th 2008


click here


Do You Believe?

regards debra

Tip O' My Hat...Flip O' the Bird

Hi Friends

Since there are all sorts of New year's lists coming out, I thought I'd add my own: Tip O' My Hat and Flip O' the Bird to the fray (inspired by Stephen Colbert).

My first Tip O' My Hat goes to : Sharon McIvor for her admirable efforts in taking on the Government of Canada (at great cost, both personally and financially), in hopes of ending the sex discrimination legislation in the Indian Act for First Nations women all across Canada. A twenty-five year fight,( taking time away from her own family) even as the Government canceled the court challenges program (fighting on, with funds raised at bake sales and speaking engagements around the country). Having the integrity to stay with it, for all the affected families, even after the Government offered to recognize her child. A true hero! Yeah!! Sharon.

Sean Atleo for his monthly web addresses in an effort to engage the off-reserve membership and keep us in the loop. Go Sean!

All the dedicated aboriginal men and women who are working tirelessly on the Sisters In Spirit campaign to find our lost sisters and bring them home and hopefully, end this sad chapter in our shared marginalization. Best of luck to us all.

Theoren Fleury, for his courageous accounting of his pro hockey career and the exposing of the vultures and their exploitation of the vulnerable youth entrusted to their care. Phoenix rising. Welcome home brother.

The whistle blowers on the Peguis reserve who shone a light on their own. You did the right thing. Way to go at keeping them honest.



Flip O' the Bird goes to the Canadian Government for their never ending attempts to grind us down. Not signing the Indigenous peoples act, but also, and in my opinion more nefariously, campaigning, in an effort to get other countries... not to sign as well...Shame on you!

Chuck Strahl for being... well, you! With all your lying, miserly ways, towards communities under your portfolio . Uninhabitable houses and molding schools as well as unsafe municipal buildings, caps on child welfare funding, unpotable water, massive suicide rates, unsettled land claims, continued theft and marginalization, these are your legacies. What other segment of Canadian society would be forced to live with such an impotent mean spirited minister handling their affairs? Shame shame on you!

The Federal and Provincial governments for playing ping-pong with the HST and the abrogation of our treaty rights. No Nation has the right to tax another Nation. Hence diplomat cards. If you bring out your army, against us, as was done in the conflict between the Canadian Government, and the First Nation of Kanesatake, you demonstrated your recognition of us as separate nations within the country of Canada. No taxation ever.

Last but by no means least, our own political leadership. The Chief's and council's out there willing to victimize their own. Shame-shame on you and, on us for electing your types. Power corrupts...( I think you all know the rest...)


Bring on 2010 and lets hope and, if you're of that mind set, pray for a better showing this time next year!

Happy New Year
debra