Hi Friends
Well the new parliament is about to resume, and the re-elected Prime Minister has re-Christened Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Canada..
Many in the Indigenous communities are wondering just what this may mean. The government's official response is: the new name makes the department more inclusive of the Innu and Metis as well as the Indians.( One major problem with this thinking is, the other two groups of Indigenous people do not have treaties with the crown, and thus do not have the same relationship that the Indians have.)
I too have my own misgivings over this latest turn by the Harper Conservative government.
Mr. Harper is a former reform party member, who had as it's stated agenda; "One Canada for all." The Reform were always anti-Indian, and the special relationship the First Nations have with the crown. They had actively campaigned on assimilation of all Indians, and an end to the treaties.
We are to become all equal, under his leadership, as to him the Indigenous people having a recognized and unique status here has never sat well. First Nations have been called everything from a drain on the public purse, to communists by the Reform. His right hand man, Tom Flanagan and the Calgary school, were and still are a great influences on him, and his policies.
Prime Minister Harper has never had the luxury of a majority rule before, and this has been a good thing. This is not the case now.
This election has been a game changer in a very frightening way. We here in Canada have lost our three party system, and have been reduced to a two party governance model. The media/corporate Canada has handed a majority to the Harpercons and as the dust settles we are all left to see just how this will change Canada. (Nor am I the only one in my community seeing dark days ahead for the First Nations people.)
I am not a conservative supporter, nor am I a fan of Mr. Harper, and his ideologies. Even with the steading hand of the opposition he was very much one to push his own agenda, and I see no chance of him ever becoming a moderate in his leadership style. That the press would not present an unbiased accounting, has made the entire process of an election laughable at best and has cast them as co-conspirators at worst. I condemn them for the huge dis-service they have done to the voters, and the country as a whole. This is what happens when the robber barons take charge of the press and they lose their freedoms.
As a well known German once said. Ein volk. Ein reich. Ein fuhrer!
At least that is how some of us in the Indigenous community are seeing things. Lets hope we are wrong!
Regards Debra
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
To Be Or Not To Be..Theoretically....
Hi Friends
We here in Canada have just come through an election that is proving to be a game changer in many ways, and yet the same old in so many other ways.
Once again voter apathy has handed the hated Conservatives a mandate to govern this country. This time though , Harper got his coveted majority. Given his past fiscal record, and his huge deficit, his trampling of our constitution and criminal behavior along with his historic contempt of parliament charges, you must be asking "how did this happen?" Two words, voter apathy!
Some didn't vote for all the same old reasons, and will continue to tout these excuses from now till dooms day. I think it was Albert Einstein who said: to do the same thing over and over again, and to expect a different result is the very definition of insanity.
What happened here on election night has scary overtones for all of us, yet will ultimately be so much worse for others. To not vote, was to hand the election to an ideologue with no checks or balances in place. This conservative government is unpopular with most of the people and some even say a majority conservative government could even be characterized as dangerous. I am in the second category.
I used social media, to track the polls and to post platforms of the various parties as well as try to get the message out that this is an important and very needed vote from all who will be impacted most by this party. Voting strategies were set up and posted, and debates were entered into, and past policies looked at and discussed. There were plenty of issues past and present from this Conservative government that showed the complete disregard for the First Nations people. Here was going to be a chance to say, as Elijah Harper had for us during the days of the Meech Lake Accord, NO, you must include us, too! The AFN Grand chief Atleo as well as several regional chiefs took to the airwaves and social media to encourage their citizens get out and vote.
Only one segment of the Indigenous population were saying not to vote. These are the "sovereignists" among us. Their message to me, is not unlike the rich who declare the war, and benefit from it, on the backs of the more impoverished members of their society! None of these blood lusters risk their own skin or progeny. Let the lessor among them do the dirty work! In short these sovergeinists, are not going to be the ones effected by their passive aggressive attitude against those who would vote to try to change their circumstances. The ivory tower sovereignists calling the voters "assimilated" and stating that you are now a Canadian and not a First Nation citizen, is just about as insightful as calling your self sovereign.
Sovereignty is defined as , autonomous, independent, self governing.
I have not seen this, nor have any of these people, NO Indian in Canada has since, at least 1876 when the Indian Act was enacted, and still rules over us to this day! What I have seen is specific legislation, governing us to our ultimate demise as a people.
We were not given the vote until the nineteen sixties, did this mean we were sovereign before that? No. We were and are still thought of as wards of the state. We at one time were not even allowed to chose our own chiefs. That was the job of the Indian Agents, who ruled our communities for the government in Ottawa. At that time if you wanted to vote you had to surrender your status in order to participate. This is not the case today.
We fought in their wars, not as allies, but as subjects, the same as the French were conscripted to. The difference being, the "recognized" second founding nation the government of the day brought in conscription. "Conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription" was the catch phrase used, as it was recognized that as Canada was NOT under attack, this was not an ally in that situation. The French made that very clear. If our home land was under attack, then we will defend our home soil. This war is in defense of Britain and NOT our war!
We pay their taxes, we fight their wars, we fill their jails, we lose our children to their system, we live under their laws, yet we are sovereign. What are we protecting by not voting in their system? They have the upper hand and always will, because they even tell us who our citizens are, and have plans to legislate us out of existence. Solved the *Indian Problem* in Canada!
To those who refuse to participate, because all politicians are liars and cheats, okay! To those who don't vote to send your message that the politicians offer you nothing, okay! To those who don't vote to send your message that you are sovergein okay! So now do you think your message was received? With so many showing your dislike of the system in exactly the same way, are you confident that YOUR message was received? It is more likely that the message that the politicians got was that you are satisfied with the status quo or you would have made your displeasure known by exercising your constitutionally protected right, by voting! This post is aimed at the sovergeinists, with your message. Did the Canadian government recognize your message, and are they about to dismantle Indian and Northern Affairs Canada? Message recieved? Because I have not heard that reported in any of the major media outlets yet, or did I miss it?
To those who will try to view this post as me telling you to "get over it" this is not my message, But, more of a "get on with it" so we are still here to see this through to a conclusion that was truly envisioned by our ancestors, and then we have a chance to honor their memory and protect our treaties. To not vote is to spit in the eyes of those who have fought and some who have died in this effort to raise the Nations up.
Quebec got Nation status with in the country of Canada by being at the table. We can too.Those at the table eat the cake, those coming late get left-overs and those who willfully turn away, because the slice wasn't big enough can have the crumbs.
regards Debra
We here in Canada have just come through an election that is proving to be a game changer in many ways, and yet the same old in so many other ways.
Once again voter apathy has handed the hated Conservatives a mandate to govern this country. This time though , Harper got his coveted majority. Given his past fiscal record, and his huge deficit, his trampling of our constitution and criminal behavior along with his historic contempt of parliament charges, you must be asking "how did this happen?" Two words, voter apathy!
Some didn't vote for all the same old reasons, and will continue to tout these excuses from now till dooms day. I think it was Albert Einstein who said: to do the same thing over and over again, and to expect a different result is the very definition of insanity.
What happened here on election night has scary overtones for all of us, yet will ultimately be so much worse for others. To not vote, was to hand the election to an ideologue with no checks or balances in place. This conservative government is unpopular with most of the people and some even say a majority conservative government could even be characterized as dangerous. I am in the second category.
I used social media, to track the polls and to post platforms of the various parties as well as try to get the message out that this is an important and very needed vote from all who will be impacted most by this party. Voting strategies were set up and posted, and debates were entered into, and past policies looked at and discussed. There were plenty of issues past and present from this Conservative government that showed the complete disregard for the First Nations people. Here was going to be a chance to say, as Elijah Harper had for us during the days of the Meech Lake Accord, NO, you must include us, too! The AFN Grand chief Atleo as well as several regional chiefs took to the airwaves and social media to encourage their citizens get out and vote.
Only one segment of the Indigenous population were saying not to vote. These are the "sovereignists" among us. Their message to me, is not unlike the rich who declare the war, and benefit from it, on the backs of the more impoverished members of their society! None of these blood lusters risk their own skin or progeny. Let the lessor among them do the dirty work! In short these sovergeinists, are not going to be the ones effected by their passive aggressive attitude against those who would vote to try to change their circumstances. The ivory tower sovereignists calling the voters "assimilated" and stating that you are now a Canadian and not a First Nation citizen, is just about as insightful as calling your self sovereign.
Sovereignty is defined as , autonomous, independent, self governing.
I have not seen this, nor have any of these people, NO Indian in Canada has since, at least 1876 when the Indian Act was enacted, and still rules over us to this day! What I have seen is specific legislation, governing us to our ultimate demise as a people.
We were not given the vote until the nineteen sixties, did this mean we were sovereign before that? No. We were and are still thought of as wards of the state. We at one time were not even allowed to chose our own chiefs. That was the job of the Indian Agents, who ruled our communities for the government in Ottawa. At that time if you wanted to vote you had to surrender your status in order to participate. This is not the case today.
We fought in their wars, not as allies, but as subjects, the same as the French were conscripted to. The difference being, the "recognized" second founding nation the government of the day brought in conscription. "Conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription" was the catch phrase used, as it was recognized that as Canada was NOT under attack, this was not an ally in that situation. The French made that very clear. If our home land was under attack, then we will defend our home soil. This war is in defense of Britain and NOT our war!
We pay their taxes, we fight their wars, we fill their jails, we lose our children to their system, we live under their laws, yet we are sovereign. What are we protecting by not voting in their system? They have the upper hand and always will, because they even tell us who our citizens are, and have plans to legislate us out of existence. Solved the *Indian Problem* in Canada!
To those who refuse to participate, because all politicians are liars and cheats, okay! To those who don't vote to send your message that the politicians offer you nothing, okay! To those who don't vote to send your message that you are sovergein okay! So now do you think your message was received? With so many showing your dislike of the system in exactly the same way, are you confident that YOUR message was received? It is more likely that the message that the politicians got was that you are satisfied with the status quo or you would have made your displeasure known by exercising your constitutionally protected right, by voting! This post is aimed at the sovergeinists, with your message. Did the Canadian government recognize your message, and are they about to dismantle Indian and Northern Affairs Canada? Message recieved? Because I have not heard that reported in any of the major media outlets yet, or did I miss it?
To those who will try to view this post as me telling you to "get over it" this is not my message, But, more of a "get on with it" so we are still here to see this through to a conclusion that was truly envisioned by our ancestors, and then we have a chance to honor their memory and protect our treaties. To not vote is to spit in the eyes of those who have fought and some who have died in this effort to raise the Nations up.
Quebec got Nation status with in the country of Canada by being at the table. We can too.Those at the table eat the cake, those coming late get left-overs and those who willfully turn away, because the slice wasn't big enough can have the crumbs.
regards Debra
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)