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
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
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
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
Friday, April 23, 2010
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
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
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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
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
Thursday, March 25, 2010
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
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
Friday, March 12, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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
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
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