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