With more photos from behind the barricades of the arsonists … thieves … extortionists … Proud And Peaceful Protestors[tm].
The bridge barricade shown was constructed “using Hydro 1 trestles of the new transmission line towers”.
With more photos from behind the barricades of the arsonists … thieves … extortionists … Proud And Peaceful Protestors[tm].
The bridge barricade shown was constructed “using Hydro 1 trestles of the new transmission line towers”.
Benefits attributed to Canadians.
*Holds mirror up for anonymous Canadian*
Natural resources irrelevant?
Absolutely amazing.
“Acts of insurrection”
Better bone up on what that means folks!
Very dangerous indeed.
What a shame that aboriginal people were not simply slaughtered completely out of existence, or that the attempts at cultural genocide have not succeeded in ‘killing the Indian in the child’. Then this issue of ‘benefits’ would not exist…
a shame in your mind…but a fact. What you call ‘benefits’ are in fact rights, guaranteed by contracts signed between sovereign nations. Don’t like it? Attempt to lobby for renegotiation.
Luckily your uninformed, anonymous opinion, holds very little weight when it comes to agreements between nations.
the usual banter…
as indicated in your last post notice the individual interpreting such harsh bias was yourself.
“What a shame that aboriginal people were not simply slaughtered completely out of existence, or that the attempts at cultural genocide have not succeeded in ‘killing the Indian in the child’. Then this issue of ‘benefits’ would not exist…
a shame in your mind…but a fact”
are you advocating that I support the above? because it’s not stated anywhere in my post. your wording would suggest a desparate attempt to create empathy, charged words the Canadian public tends to shy away from. Your training has become quite easy to deconstruct.
this is a quite usual card from a fanned deck with ever decreasing relevance.
“Nation to Nation” doesn’t speak to sovereignty, it never has, never will. The fact it’s repeated many times by special interest groups doesn’t make it fact. Convenient semantics for a self absorbed cause but any notions of this, in my opinion, will be legislated to nothingness in short time.
The preamble you rely on via a Section 25 argument is getting knocked down in courts over and over and over. How many Indian Act arguments relating to taxation have been kicked to the curb? Do you think the Ontario position over Sharia isn’t relevant and speaks to changing climate?
It seems more people support equality instead of special treatment. And with a Conservative government on the verge of tipping for a majority run at parliment I’d suggest equality is around the corner.
With a view to a lobby it’s coming. Don’t be surprised to see Caledonia and our current clime act as catalyst. Tossing a van off a bridge conveniently reminds people of sedition’s definition and the fact they have been deprived of their own rights and personal property.
Hot headed advance like Caledonia and Oka shoots the native rights movement squarely in the foot. Easy to polarize the non-native public on such grounds, no?
Best of luck with the game face.
*shrugs*
Keep hoping.
Keep hoping that Canada devolves into something like the many Latin American nations where native rights were unheard of…
Unheard of until native people began making people hear…
Unheard of until native people started taking the power back.
They’ve done so in the face of death squads, torture and mass killings.
Do you really think your petty stereotypes and political musings are more powerful adversaries than what aboriginal people all through the Americas have faced?
We are still here.
WE will determine our fate.
How absolutely absurd and banker british minded are you anonymous. You are racists, you are exclusionist and you believe that white makes right. You believe that this planet, its people and its resources are for the benefit of you superior eurocentrics. Your race is in fact a blight on this planet. You have raped her, you have slaughtered other cultures, you have destroyed civilizations and you have killed millions of this planets citizens in wars fought over property. You have nothing to teach me. You have nothing to be proud of and your opinions are inconsequential and biased by your eurobrain.
dummy
Sigh
The lack of education concerning the first nations is obvious and this blog started to trash them, once again. Coming from Quebec, I do know how the Canadian government deals in land. They gave a chunk of my province to Newfoundland to say them to become a canadian province in 1949, it worked. They just didn’t care what whe thought about it, even tho it was part of quebec landmass and defined by border, it didn’t stop them. Corporations and the Canadian government goes hand in hand, no need to look far to understand that *caugh, SPONSORSHIP SCANDALS, caugh*
For those who believes that the canadian government is applying 2 different sets of law, one for regular hard working, tax payer joe and the other one to “Linient” toward the first nations, they are right! there is indeed 2 sets of law but not in that sense of the way, there is a law for the rich, filthy ones who can scam all they want and only get away with it with a slap on the hand and a monatery conpensation toward the justice system and the other one that applies to us all. I bare in mind that fraud is the second most punishable offence after premedited murder but if you are a minister or one of his rich friends who makes more than 200 000$ a year, those laws don’t apply to them, they slide off just like oil in a hot teflon pan. If a regular joe was caught doing these frauds, he’d be jailed for more than 10 years.
Canadian constitution?, tell that to the resident of quebec, they still remember keenly how it was signed, t’was a real cloak and dagger night!
To the user Tomax
you know what, i’ve heard the same rant coming from someone that lived close to the seven island reserve on how they would hack their porche during winter time for firewood. I asked her, did you ever seen it with your own eyes? Oddly enough, she didn’t, she was only parroting what she was told as a youth. On the other hand, the reserve chief was very welcoming and let us camp (bunch of us from a youth center) on reserve land. I for one support the actions of the calodenia residents. Does the government has a signed paper stating that it’s infact canadian land? Even if the six Nations were to prove that they hold the deed to the land, it wouldn’t matter anyway. Just thinking what they did with Labrador who was part of Quebec Landmass and not theirs, they gave some away as they pleased to suit their purpuses.
The Government is corrupted, just looking back at the creation of the Central canadian government and what it became is a dead give away on how corrupted it has become. The way I see it, it’s only useful for mail services, the army and unemployment insurances, beyond that, we actually silver spoon feed them with the money we send to Ottawa and that they don’t send back. Personnally, i’d rather invest it in the province health care system and education and toward the first nations than send it to those fat cats with fiscal paradise in the Bahamas. They deserve better than being so belittle like this, we deserve better than to be laughed at by the central government. Got to admit, it was the canadian population spite toward quebec that maintained the liberal government in power so long and had quite a laugh when I saw how much they spent to promote canadian values and unity toward Quebec residents.
Another good example I can give about the government respect toward landmass but this one is coming from Quebec’s prime Charogne (rotten meat in french) Some corporation want to build some condos and stores on a chunk of Orford mountain and while the population took the streets to protest against this labeling it illegal, since it was, Charogne decide to pass a new law that would make the peice of land that the corporations want, accessable to them and ignoring what the local resident say or think about it.
STAND STRONG Caledonia, don’t give em an inch of that land!!!
too easy.
thank you for participating.
Too Lame
Thanks for caring Anonymous Coward :rolleyes:
Why were the treaties signed in the first place? Could it be that it brought an end to the”Indian wars”. If they were not signed we would not have a native population at all right now. All through time nations have been invading others,white black,asian and yes,even native.The fued between Cree and Blackfoot comes to mind.So for someone to say that the land was stolen is not accurate,in fact it is a lie.Claiming areas as your traditional land because your people once lived there does not hold water either.The plains indian roamed all through large parts of the U.S. also. I don’t see anyone going down there and blockading roads and asking for compensation. Why not? Possibly because your ass would be shot off and handed back to you.It is time to face reality,come and join the 21st century.
Yes, welcome to the 21 century, where the sun still shine, grass still grows and waters still flow!
In my treaty, Treaty Six, we agreed to “lend” the land. One plows length, which is about 12 inches. That’s all. No mention of water, oil, mineral, animals or air. So…
Land claims are based on your Canadian law. Your governments do not follow their own laws in regards to land claims. That’s why they are at fault, that’s why tax dollars go to land claim settlements.
Don’t people have to detour a whole 6 minutes around the blockade? Any all this whining for 6 minutes…. Geez, and you call us the whiners….
watch it wallyj. you’re posting the what some might consider the truth and contrary opinion.
as your statment exist in such broad polarity the script will play out as:
– you’re a racist
– you’re uneducated (even though many posting here clearly are not, from both sides of the fence)
– you’re neocolonial attitudes wouldn’t understand
– we are a sovereign nation
– you have raped Mother Earth, I own your resources contrary to your foreign laws and fee simple deeds
face it, your “rights” are being more and more sparsely interpreted by the judiciary. Support from the Canadian public for the proposed settlements you wish for is practically non-existant (i.e. B.C.’s summary poll for TLE negotiation) If you’re sovereign why do you petition Canadian courts for relief and rely on them for continued funding?
And it’s kind of funny with quoting Treaties. If I recall correctly, the Treaty’s refer to Indians as being “subjects” of his Majesty. Funny how this quote is rarely posted in contrast to “Rivers, Sunshine, etc”. I guess it’s kind of hard to retain objectivity with tunnel vision.
Any supposed “rights” are simply sparse interpretations which exist in a political vacuum. But you’re right, the Kelowna accord was a classic “Nation to Nation” agreement.
Oh, sorry that’s right, the Kelowna accord is an “agreement in principle” piece of historic papyrus.
it’s just laughable already.
“Why were the treaties signed in the first place? Could it be that it brought an end to the”Indian wars”. If they were not signed we would not have a native population at all right now. All through time nations have been invading others,white black,asian and yes,even native.The fued between Cree and Blackfoot comes to mind.So for someone to say that the land was stolen is not accurate,in fact it is a lie.Claiming areas as your traditional land because your people once lived there does not hold water either.The plains indian roamed all through large parts of the U.S. also. I don’t see anyone going down there and blockading roads and asking for compensation. Why not? Possibly because your ass would be shot off and handed back to you.It is time to face reality,come and join the 21st century.”
As if,
The Canadian Government really did that out of the goodness of it’s heart?
“Claiming areas as your traditional land because your people once lived there does not hold water either”
Hmmmmmm, try telling that to the B’nai B’rith and the state of Israel and see how welcome your comments are. You’d be label anti-semite on the spot.
mamateacher is right, the canadian gov don’t even respect their own laws and when it suits them, they make new ones to accomodate their corporate friends.
Well,mamateacher,you must be reading a differnt treaty.I just went and read said treaty and did not find the word lend anywhere in it. if I missed it,please advise me where it says that and accept my apologies. Also,I thought the disputed land was leased.I don’t suppose you would know how long the lease is in effect?
Reckon Caledonia just gave their evection notice.
See anonymous..thats the weird thing with racists like you. You go onto sites like this, pump up your pompous chest then blow crap out your ass.
Instead of calling us down for simply defending our rights( and by extension your rights) why not regale us with all of your race’s superb human accomplishments. Six million dead jews, 11 million dead soldiers in ww1 & ww2, 30 million civilian casulties. All that in the space of 30yrs.
You have no morality to offer your opinion on anything. Your politicians are crooked and steal money from your pockets. They allow pollution to poison your air, water and food. Your judges can be bought, your police and civic personnel can be bought. They feed you propaganda that your ridiculous education system has taught you to buy into. Your press is not free. Your filthy habits brought you the Black Plague that wiped out half of your population. You and your forbearers have decimated the animals and fauna of the land and the ocean.
As I said before, your intellectual sophistication is mind bogglingly low. Your attemps to “turn the tables” with your silly replies shows just how bankrupt of grey matter your brain is.
It is unlikely that you will ever come to understand that educational level attainment has absolutely no bearing on intelligence. Some of us are born with it, others, like you can’t even comprehend the meaning.
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dummy
pointless.
Indeed anonymous
It’s much more fun to bash the first nations when they are not on the board to post their point of view, no? Just hope something like the resident of Mirabel when the airport was built doesn’t happen to you, then you might begin to understand why the Caledonians feels so strongly about it.
The Hamilton Spectator(May 12, 2006)
CLYDE POWLESS
Clyde Powless sits down, takes off his black lacrosse ball cap and rubs the back of his hand across the grey patch at the front his otherwise thick black hair.
The hand is calloused and strong.
He drops into a lawn chair at the main barricade as if he’s thankful to be taking a load off the brown workboots that have been his uniform for weeks.
As the smell of the sacred fire wafts past, Powless talks about where he thought he’d be this spring — in New Jersey working. He was only supposed to be home at Six Nations a few days, between an ironworking job in the Northwest Territories and one south of the border. But the hereditary chiefs asked him to control things at the barricades.
Why him? Why not him? He’s calm, he’s grounded. Salt of the earth. But he’s determined. Forceful. And people listen. He’s in charge of keeping things orderly.
His demeanour is understated. But his role behind the barricades is crucial — he controls things, like a sergeant, without any stereotypical bellowing.
There’s no doubt being without the money from New Jersey takes a toll on his family. But you can’t think of the short-term, he says.
“I’m looking at the long run. Maybe my grandchildren won’t have to do this,” he says, in his matter-of-fact style.
It’s not so bad, he says. His wife is still working. They’re making do.
“When you’re an ironworker, you are used to the ups and downs,” he says. “We’re all giving up a lot.”
Like hundreds of other First Nations people in this province, Powless is an ironworker. It was the thing to do when he was young, and 70 per cent of the men took up the trade.
Good pay. A respectable job. Not bad for a father of three.
He says you aren’t an ironworker if you haven’t almost fallen. “You get good at it. I’ve been at it a long time.”
His eldest boy, now 19, is getting ready to come to work.
Powless has seen most of North America. He helped build the new Detroit airport and the football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Although he’s one of the spokespeople — one of the public faces of the native occupation of the Douglas Creek Estates — he’s not a man of many words.
He jokes about technology. He’s given in and now carries a cellphone.
“I don’t know about these things,” he says, holding the cellphone up. “I’ve never seen it climb a column.”
But when he’s pushed, an anger as steely as his nerve emerges.
Minutes after the OPP retreated from the building site last month, Powless had men cart barricades across the highway. As a dump truck was moved into place, he bellowed at the pack of media that it was for safety.
When someone asked the Mohawk chief Allen MacNaughton how long the road would be closed, Powless barked that the people would decide.
The anger of that day has abated, his customary calmness returned. Now Powless spends a lot of time talking with the OPP.
“We have young fellas, so they let us know when they’re moving their men. They’ve got young fellas, so we let them know when we’re moving our men.”
While there’s an air of politeness, it’s clear he’s irritated. He’d rather be building the guts of a building than sitting on a highway, making sure all the gates are staffed.
There’s a hint of cunning when he admits protesters did “borrow” an archeological report from Henco Industries.
Being at the front line is also a way for Powless, who lost his father when he was young, to show — not teach — his kids the right path.
“It’s in them. If I was to die tomorrow, I know they are on their way,” he says.
His boys understand it. They understand the barricades and the history behind it.
Land claims are just Canada’s way of not dealing with an issue, he says.
“I’m waiting for Canada to put a land claim in on my land,” he says, grinning.
Then he asks when “your government” plans to go for summer break. “They should call it off until they deal with this,” he says.
Powless is clearly not planning to go anywhere this summer. It doesn’t matter how many rallies there are, how many obscenities are hurled. They’ve got a goal, he says. That’s why the people at the barricades don’t respond to the racial slurs they hear.
“It’s not for me,” he says, wafting his hand as if he’s swatting away a fly. “If I wanted to do that, I’ll turn into a kid and go back to the playground. We’ve got a main goal here and the other stuff is just like a dust storm
MICHAEL LAUGHING
He has the charm and charisma of a politician.
His thick black hair hangs to the middle of his back. He’s handsome and knows it.
Michael Laughing always finds the camera.
His is the image that in just a few moments on April 20 — the day of the botched OPP raid — encapsulated the struggle.
As if on cue, the 40-year-old jumped onto a dump truck blocking Argyle Street, just minutes after the OPP were pushed back off Douglas Creek Estates. He stood atop the truck, holding a Two Wampum flag, arms out-stretched as if ready to be martyred, with a cloud of black smoke billowing behind him.
Just a week earlier, he single-handedly ratcheted up tension when he proclaimed on TV and in newspapers that he was ready to die behind the barricades.
So who is Michael Laughing? Is the persona of public rabble- rouser for real? The answer isn’t clear. Is he a warrior or an artist? A rebel willing to die for a building site in Caledonia or a father who misses his kids? A leader or a broken man?
Born in Lansing, Michigan, Laughing is in fact from Akwasasne — a reserve that straddles the U.S.-Canada and Ontario-Quebec borders. The recovering alcoholic has three sisters and six brothers and followed in his father’s footsteps to become an ironworker.
He had heard about land claims all his life. This one sounded different. It was a “repossession,” not a land claim and Laughing found it too alluring to ignore.
Laughing says he came to Caledonia because his clan mothers told him to. He talks about birth rights, about a cultural genocide. There are rumours he’s a warrior — rumours he isn’t quick to correct. He eventually says he isn’t and was never at the Oka standoff, but only after persistent questions.
He unsuccessfully fought a land claim in 2004 for the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe, a deal worth $100 million. Laughing fought the deal, which got the nod from the tribe, because he feared it would simply mean more land falling under the state’s control.
Laughing believes if they can make this one stick, it will have widespread influence.
That it will help all First Nations on Turtle Island or North America.
You know he’s serious, although it’s hard to ignore the sunglasses — reflective lenses made to look like a reptile’s eyes.
Laughing says he came to Caledonia to fight for his land, even though it’s not his neighbourhood.
“When I got here, I would wake up with six inches of snow on my face,” he says, standing in the bright May sunshine.
“I didn’t come for nothing else, just to help with the repossession. I’m the repo man of the Confederacy.”
He slips from rhetoric to personal at the flip of a switch. Ask him if he’s a warrior and he says everyone is a warrior.
“As long as the grasses grow and rivers flow, we have our birthrights,” Laughing says, as he paces at the front barricade facing Caledonia.
Minutes later, he talks about missing home and the sons he hasn’t seen in nearly two months.
“I’d like to touch my boys,” he says.
Laughing spent nine days at Ground Zero sifting through the debris in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, as many other ironworkers did. Those nine days changed his life.
When he talks about Ground Zero, Laughing’s tall, angular frame slumps. His broad shoulders fall inward, softening the otherwise warrior-like stature he likes to portray.
“My life was wiped out by that trade centre,” he says, still wearing the snake glasses. “I haven’t been able to pick up my tools since. I see things I shouldn’t be seeing,” he says, walking away.
Laughing worked the graveyard shift — literally. He spent two nights on a “rescue” mission, the next seven nights on “recovery.”
People were told the bodies had been incinerated. They weren’t.
“It was hell,” Laughing says.
“I have a strong heart to help people and look at what those people are doing to my people now.”
That quickly, he’s back to rhetoric.
He’s turned his ironworker’s hands to artwork, carving antlers and bone. His last piece sold for nearly $6,000.
Regardless of whether he’s an artist or a warrior, a traditionalist or a provocateur, the young men behind the barricade respect him and listen to him.
The day the OPP raided the camp, Laughing shepherded teens who were zipping around residential streets on all-terrain vehicles back onto the building site.
Laughing says he’s learned a lot, too.
“I’ve learned I can lead people.”
HAZEL HILL
Hazel Hill was sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck, surrounded by reporters.
Cameras were clicking, videotape rolling.
She held up a pair of spent Taser electrodes for all to see — proof the OPP had used some force during a botched raid on the Caledonia building site.
She talked about being tackled by OPP officers. She told reporters about the raid. She told them about land rights. She told them about tradition. She told them about the history she’s been living for most of her 44 years.
In that brief moment on the tailgate, Hill became one of the central, public figures of this fight — not by design, but by chance.
To outsiders, Caledonia may seem as if it came out of the blue. It’s decades in the making to Hill.
She lit a sacred fire outside her house during the Oka crisis because she couldn’t get past the army to lend a hand.
Her husband was at Ipperwash.
She worked behind the scenes to fight a pipeline upstream from the Six Nations reserve she still calls home.
Now she’s front and centre, helping organize the barricades and giving regular updates to reporters and websites.
She evolved into the role, one she’s ready for now, after more than 20 years of political involvement behind the scenes.
The thread of history runs through Hill. She can recount details from hundreds of years ago as if she is reading from a book — except it’s all neatly lined up in her mind.
“It’s too important to let it go,” she says of the current struggle. “This is our opportunity to make a change.”
With hints of grey peppering her hair, Hill speaks in generalities that can sound like evasions or wisdom. But under her outer serenity is a deep sense of indignation. The latest fight is just another step on a path that’s well worn in her life.
To Hill, it isn’t just Caledonia — it’s all the years of struggle.
“For me it’s a spiritual thing. It comes from within me,” she says.
It’s not that she wants to be fighting, for she has many other duties to which she’d rather be tending.
Her 82-year-old mother broke her leg, followed by a surgery. When the blockade first went up, Hill had spent a lot of time tending to her mother. Now, her relatives have had to make sacrifices to fill in for Hill.
Her gift-basket and flower arrangement business has been kept afloat by a niece.
Hill has four children of her own and three step-children and 12 grandchildren.
But she’s not spending much time at home now.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve been involved in something like this,” she says. “My kids know my heart.”
What keeps everyone going is the belief that what they are doing is right, she said.
She is fighting not just this claim but what she sees as the pattern of history.
“We could hand out fliers every day and we’d never get any response,” she said. “Canada has a history of only responding when action is taken — peaceful action … Canada always resorts with guns.”
“It’s not always something we choose.”
First Nations people file a land claim, wait decades, get nowhere.
Then they start to take action and get noticed.
This fight has been years in the making. Hazel Hill is determined to make it count.
“It’s a fire within. You carry that fire inside you,” she says. “I don’t need a weapon — our sword is the truth.”
“You don’t forget Oka or Ipperwash, for it’s ingrained in your spirit,” she says.
“Everything is the same. Things happening here are the same as at Oka — you can almost tell the story before it happened,” she says.
“I don’t know if it will end the same way.”
JANIE JAMIESON
Janie Jamieson knows suffering. She’s looked it in the nose since she was a toddler.
When she talks about the small parcel of land in Caledonia, her battle is clearly about so much more.
She says the sale of the land was illegal, the appropriation of First Nations land across the country, criminal.
It’s not just this piece of land, she says, and Canada knows it.
That’s why Canada is so reluctant to talk.
One thing is clear — Jamieson comes with a legacy of grievances against a system she believes sowed the seeds of a life of suffering.
Perhaps it explains her indignation at Henco Industries’ complaint that the native occupiers haven’t handed over company files stored in an office at the building site.
“This is the biggest white-collar crime in Canada’s history and who is held to account? Office files? Get with the program,” she sputters.
She talks about the hundreds of native women who have disappeared or been killed.
There are so many issues — serious issues — facing her community that files don’t seem important.
What does Henco know of hardship? Do the developers know about her mother? About her grandmother? About her cousin? About her aunt?
“I’ve been worse off than this. This is nothing,” Jamieson says, pacing in front of the main barricade on Argyle Street, where she’s spent most days. Her usual steady demeanour has an edge.
Her cousin was found dead behind a casino.
Her mother committed suicide when Jamieson was three years old.
She recently lost her grandmother — the only living connection she had to her dead mother.
Just last month, her 17-year-old stepson, who she helped raise, was killed in a tragic car crash.
Jamieson’s aunt died after being brutally raped.
She had gone home with a man and died in a makeshift bed after she was torn apart by the rape.
She bled to death and her killer didn’t call for help for 12 hours.
“I’m not saying, ‘Poor me.’ I am saying we are real people with real issues trying to maintain our lives.
“He,” she says, referring to a news release from Henco Industries, “is after the almighty dollar.”
It’s the type of personal story which tempers the Caledonia fight.
It’s about this piece of land.
But to Jamieson, it’s also about the broader issues — of oppression and of self-determination that she believes will end the tragedies for her community.
Jamieson believes the people she loved might have found a better final chapter if her nation had been running itself without Canada’s interference.
“Our whole system, the Great Law, was created for us,” she says.
It’s the system she wants to live in.
The land in Caledonia is linked to prosperity — look how much it’s already brought Caledonia, she says.
“Once (Canada) loses that title, and it’s returned to us, then who will prosper?”
She says reports about bricks being thrown off a bridge are just red herrings.
“It’s really easy to be misguided. When you’ve seen as much as I have and been through as much, you learn to see it for what it is,” says the 34-year-old mother of two.
Police talk about public safety, but then don’t investigate death threats against her, she charges.
“It’s just a farce,” she says.
She says police helicopters fly over her house but it will take more than that to scare her off.”They don’t know what I’ve endured. They’ll have to come up with more than that.”
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid =1147384212835
what a surprise,no answers after almost 24 hours. I also asked the lease question on the six nation site and no one there could answer either.Facts -1 bullshit rants-0. I think it is time common sense took over. The barricades should be removed. The natives should do some soul-searching and try to repair the damage done to the relationship with thier neighbours.This type of extortion could easily cause distrust and hatred for generations.On the other hand,the government will probably cave in to the demands.Money will exchange hands.The six nations people will split about half amongst the band members and it will be time to party like there’s no tomorrow.Which will be most likely true.
Hi wally j, How are you?
I really can’t answer the question about the Six Nations Lease. Despite what most Canadians think, we are not all the same. Even though, we have a similar experience in dealing with the federal government, provincial government and churches…
As to the sun shining, that is what was promised verbally, and recorded verbally as to when the treaty will expire. Remember that English was not the FN people’s first language and that was the language the treaty is written in. Your courts have recognized the importance and validity of elder testimony.
Great to ask questions. Well done!!!
Hello,once again. What I meant by the lease expiration is that it has been reported that the disputed land was not sold in the 1840’s but was leased. I realize the treaty is forever,which is a real long time.Interesting reading,In the treaty the natives are granted that they will always have a full medicine chest on each reserve.Times are a’changing.It is unfortunate that are courts will accept verbal evidence from people who were not there. Only in liberal Canada!
Yes, it is an interesting read. We have our oral history and then there is the text of the treaty…
Treaty six actually is the only treaty with the mention of the medicine chest. Treaty seven is the only one with mention of teachers and school. Even though, in every treaty there was a verbal promise of both, and more for that fact.
Despite the conditioning of our people, we have a very strong verbal history and there is now written documents of the elder’s testimonies. So regardless of who sits in the Prime Minister’s chair, Canada has their own legal commitments they must live up to! When they don’t, it’s a messy court battle. Either way, the truth will prevail.
Take good care, wallyj.
BACKGROUNDER ON THE CLAIMS OF THE
SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER BAND OF INDIANS
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In March 1995, the Six Nations of the Grand River Band of Indians filed a lawsuit against the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario. The lawsuit involves allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty in the administration of Six Nations lands and assets, most of which are based on events that took place before Confederation. In other words, the Six Nations claims focus on how land and money were managed, rather than questioning ownership and/or a return of lands.
Specifically, the Six Nations give fourteen examples of claims, or allegations, which they are attempting to prove against Canada and/or Ontario, including:
the Crown did not give the Six Nations all the land promised in the Haldimand Proclamation;
the Crown patented land in the tract known as “Block 5” (part of Moulton Township) without having received a valid surrender;
the Crown patented land in the tract known as “Block 6” (part of Canborough Township) without having received a valid surrender;
William Claus, a Crown agent, misappropriated monies belonging to the Six Nations and the Crown did not properly secure reimbursement;
the Crown did not compensate the Six Nations for land flooded during the construction of the Welland Canal;
the Crown speculatively invested the Six Nations’ trust monies in the Grand River Navigation Company;
the Six Nations did not receive appropriate compensation for 368 7/10 acres patented to the Grand River Navigation Company;
the Six Nations did not receive adequate compensation for the lands surrendered for sale in the Town (now City) of Brantford;
the Crown patented Six Nations land adjoining the Talbot Road in lot sizes not approved by the Six Nations;
the Crown improperly patented Six Nations land adjoining the Hamilton Port Dover Plank Road that the Six Nations wanted leased;
the Crown did not properly compensate the Six Nations for land taken at Port Maitland;
the Crown did not secure a valid surrender of the Six Nations’ interest in the lands on the Grand River in 1841 and that the current reserve does not contain all the land set aside in the Order-in-Council of October 4, 1843;
Samuel Jarvis, an agent of the Crown, could not account for all the Six Nations’ money with which he had been entrusted;
the Six Nations did not receive proper compensation for the exploitation of oil and gas under their reserve.
As outlined in its Statement of Defence, the Government of Canada’s position is that the Six Nations validly surrendered all the lands that are not now part of the reserve; that the Six Nations received full and fair compensation for the lands they surrendered; and, that if there is any liability, the liability related to breaches that pre-date Confederation rests with the Province of Ontario.
In 1999, 2000 and 2001, all three Parties – the Six Nations, the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada – turned from active litigation and towards talks to find common ground upon which to proceed with some form of out-of-court resolution. Since 2004, the Government of Canada has been in exploratory discussions with the Six Nations’ elected Chief and Council and the Province of Ontario to address the claims.
This timeline reflects the tremendous complexity of the factual issues that must be addressed. There are already more than 70,000 pages of material dating from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. A full response to the Six Nations’ allegations requires a comprehensive social, political, legal and economic history of southwestern Ontario from 1784 to the present.
April 2006
Mayor of Brantford Speaks out to Support Six Nations
August 28th, 2000
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: The following is an unedited Q. and A. done by back and forth E-Mail messages between Tehaliwaskenhas – Bob Kennedy, publisher and editor of Turtle Island Native Network on Vancouver Island and Mayor Chris Friel of Brantford, Ontario, regarding his concerns about the lack of progress in dealing with the rights of Six Nations people. The Q. and A. is an example of the new “Cyber” Journalism utilized by Turtle Island Native Network to bring you exclusive First Nations information.
Tehaliwaskenhas – Bob Kennedy’s Question:Do you support the Six Nations land claim and if so, why?
Mayor Friel’s Answer: Yes I do. My support comes from the review of the documents from
over 200 years worth of injustice. The issue is as plain as the nose on
your face. I could write a book on Joseph Brant and his life, and I don’t
know how anyone could disagree with the claim.
Question: Did you commission a legal opinion from your city lawyer to
arrive at your conclusions?
Answer: Nope, I am bright enough to reach the conclusions on my own.
Question: If the Six Nations settlement includes cash to purchase land in
the area, do you agree that it be given full reserve status, no matter the
amount of land?
Answer: I think that agreements can be worked out between neighbours to
provide services and increase the value of the land. For the Northwest
Industrial area in the City of Brantford, we agreed that Six Nations land
would not be taxed but would provide cash-in-lieu for the provision of
services. This is a fair working agreement between neighbours. It allows
us all to grow and prosper.
Question: How would you describe your city’s relationship with Six Nations?
Answer: Improving. I see it everywhere. My Grandfather, Alan Rae, who
passed away this year always said, “When it comes down to it, whether you
live in Brantford or Six Nations, it is all about putting food on the
table.” Grandpa was a smart man.
Our communities have one history and our future is stronger if we accept
one tradition. The two row wampum symbolises two canoes travelling down
the river parallel, never crossing or interfering. This is an achievable
relationship — one that makes us all stronger and better.
I also believe that until Six Nations gets its own house in order — no
more confrontation between groups, no more us and them, no more enemies in
the same house — the resources and the ability to achieve greatness will
be stymied. I think that the recent move to reclaim history, tradition and
language is the step in the right direction. I pray for your unity.
Question: Do you have a protocol agreement between the Nation and the city?
(is a copy available?) If not, what formal process is there to maintain
good relations and work on partnerships and mutual interests and projects?
Answer: We have a protocol agreement for land development with communities
from Paris to Lake Erie. Copies are available through the Band Council
offices.
Question: Other local governments in parts of Canada seem to oppose First
Nations expansion of reserves, treaties, etc. What sets your community
apart?
Answer: I can’t speak for everyone, but the reality is that we all have to
live beside and between each other. If this is the case why would you want
to create unnecessary confrontation or strife in your own home. Again, in
the end, all anyone really cares about in any community is putting food on
the table. This is a big bright beautiful world and everyone can eat.
The Corporation of the City of Brantford passed a resolution this Spring
asking the Federal government to complete an audit of the missing Six
Nations trust fund (from over 150 years ago). It was supported because it
is the right thing to do. Injustice is injustice no matter what the
circumstances.
Question: What feedback have you had from Canada and what role is the
province playing in all of this?
Answer:Let me start by saying that I miss Jane Stewart as the Minister of
Indian and Northern Affairs. More good honest work got done during her
time than the hundred years before. Jane is a good and honourable person.
The Federal government unilaterally cancelled the Indian Commission of
Ontario mandate and structure, making vague promises about a new process
for negotiation. The Indian Commission of Ontario is responsible for our
Protocol agreement and has proven itself to be very very very effective.
My understanding is that the Federal government cancelled the program as
part of a school yard spat with the province — “If you won’t play by my
rules than I am taking my ball and going home.” Well great, thanks alot.
These politicians and bureaucrats seem only concerned with their own
positions, and have no understanding of what is necessary to resolve the
dispute. It is my position that they are actively involved in not
resolving the issue. They seem prepared to commit time and resources to
make the process as impossible to unravel as a golf ball — which is
probably where they are spending most of their time anyway, FORE.
In fact, if I had to choose people to negotiate a resolution to these
issues, none of these people would even make the first cut — I wouldn’t
even let them warm the bench.
This issue and many other land claim and treaty issues could be solved
whithin days, but I don’t think that the negotiators (on both sides) are
all that interested in a resolution. What would they do for a living?
A valuable heart-to-heart
By Jonathan Costello, Caledonia
The Hamilton Spectator
(May 13, 2006)
Re: ‘It’s your move, Canada!’ (letter, May 5)
I write regarding the very compelling letter by the young Mohawk woman.
She commented in her letter that if Caledonia residents were scared of what is behind the barricades, they should come see for themselves what lingered behind them.
So one night, I took the letter writer’s advice and entered the camp in peace.
I was welcomed warmly, and given a chance to not only learn about the protest, but about the native culture in general.
I stayed about 30 minutes and had a wonderful discussion with a man named Stan. He gave me an introduction into native culture and answered several questions I had about various Six Nations topics.
It was an incredibly informative conversation, and it left me wanting to learn more about the history of the native peoples. I appreciated the chance to meet the individuals who are so passionate about their cause, and it gave me a greater respect for our Six Nations neighbours.
As I left, Stan invited me to drop by and talk again sometime. I think I might take him up on his offer
mama et al.
Uh, well, my bad, I did see cedar homes being built on the Bonneville Reserve, and I did see the black tar paper being exposed after a year of abuse, so my bad – new homes in Cold Lake where traditional 3 Level pine wood homes. But I did see PowWows, and I did talk to an RCMP buddy who had seen Joeseph Bighead Reserve budgets misdirected to his office.
So, no I don’t think I’m being ignorant.
Yes, treaty money is $5 and I probably knew it wasn’t $1 but wanted to put a figure down. Hence I didn’t think it would be worth a point of correction, but narrowminded folks thrive on those kind of oversights.
As for Cold Lake not having PowWow days, visit:
http://www.westcanoon.com/powwow.html – check July before Calgary Stampede.
Whoops. Gee, it says PowWow days…
Having lived up at Cold Lake, there are three FN reserves and a handful of Metis settlements within a 50km radius. Some of the larger ones in Alberta and Saskatchewan too.
And also having worked at a MacLeods Hardware store and a GM Dealership in Grand Centre it was a standing joke we knew when the ‘payday’ dole was being handed out by the amount of traffic and drunk natives on the streets. The local lumber yards appreciated the government contracts being handed out to build new homes and “culture centres” on the reserves and settlements.
Heck, near Bonnyville, I believe 12-15 brand new cedar homes were built for the reserve there. Within a year’s time half of them were being torn apart for, get this, firewood. What a shame.
It was also, uh, amusing for my friends working at the Esso Gas Plant on payday. One group got a nice fat cheque, the other group got about 64% of their cheque. Do I need to digress who’s who?
So yes, a lot of business, from Hardware stores, to IGA, to GM dealerships depend on dole day for the natives. Fact of life for small towns to survive, Lord knows it’s not farmers income.
Vicious circle. Many bureaucrats livelihoods also depend on government positions to “oversee” the billions (1.6/month comes to mind) of dollars handed out.
What I’m upset is the waste and wasted futures because of this welfare state the government has created and brought them up in. Where is this retort of “being a proud nation” in refusing to get off the dole?
Oh, I’m told because of whiteman’s poison (read: alcohol). Yes blame everyone, blame what happened many years ago, blame this, blame that, get a government program going, send money. Round round we go.
I had in 1998 a RCMP buddie who confided in me he “accidentally” got a federal budget (complete with payrolls) of Joesph Bighead reserve in his interdepartmental mail, instead of the budget for his local detachment in Pierceland. (Don’t ya love screwups like this?)
Back then band chiefs were getting $60,000 tax free, and band council members $45,000 tax free. Note, this isn’t for every one living on the reserves, but those who sit 4 times a year in a meeting to dole out where the band money goes.
Well I know where some of it went. $400,000 combine sitting in the field rusting because something broke. So they went and bought another one.
Forget about what happened in the past and who stole what, geeze, I mean what’s done is done, let’s move on.
First step is to give up your entitlements, like I listed, hunting and fishing out of season (then selling it to the white men), next give up your bingo halls and make a community that has evolved and advanced. Worshops, schools, hospitals, you know like, towns. Teepee’s don’t cut it in this day and age.
As I said before, fur trapping and blanket weaving just doesn’t pay.
You’re not special, you’re Canadian now. (Then again tell that to Quebecers…and other vocal special interest groups).
*sigh*
Why bother…here’s your cheque, go away please…
we’re also to blame for the political correct society we live in. No one fails school anymore, NHL hockey, no one really looses, on and on.
Maybe I should go back and live in the bush. Oh wait, how’d I get onto the Internet and daily does of Kate’s ramblings?
Gosh, maybe we don’t have it so bad after all.
tomax7
i,m not going to argue what you have seen. as i was never there and cannot comment.
however not ever native gets checks.
i have worked my hole life. i paid to go to university 3 times out of my own pocket..
I make very good money and have never lived off welfare.. i do work for public health in T.O
and know very well the hands outs we give to yes white people..if you do a little research there is more non natives living on welfare then natives..yuo can say well the population is much higher in non natives then natives in canada.. and yes you would be right.. but my point is poverty and hands dont stop at natives. the abuse of the system is from many many cultures in canada,(visit jane and finch in toronto)
and with in them there is coruption
yes we have issues with in our own comunity. and we are trying to deal with those issues. there was a law pasted in 1912 that would not let us pick our chefs in our traditional was. which was the start of some of the coruption.. we are working towards our traditional ways which would put the people (more so the women) back in charge or a higher roll in our comunities.
like i said before i have never collected a welfare check.. either has anyone in my family.
as in brothers (3) sister (1) my dad, my mom, my gandparents and as the best as i can say either has my aunts and uncles. my kids will have there education paid for by me.. not you and not the tax payers…
people need to relize treaty money is not welfare money.. there is a differance.
you might not think so but it is..
oo ya and buy the way..
my family pays taxes also.. just like you
i paid for my house and everything that is in it by working hard.
and for the record i would like to get rid of welfare also….it is only good for short term solution not long term.
Phreakgeek
Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne
Tomax
“You’re not special, you’re Canadian now. (Then again tell that to Quebecers…and other vocal special interest groups).”
Latest i’ve checked, it only says so in my passport. The problem with most canadians is that they just don’t want to accept that some of us just don’t consider ourselves as canadians. Sorry dude but when i’m asked, where are you from, I say Quebec, first thing that comes to mind and if they don’t know what Quebec is, I specify that i’s a canadian province. I’m sorry if it angers you that I feel this way but it also angers me that you cannot recognise that we are different. Contrary to the US mentality of that great big melting pot under the same flag, some just don’t feel the same way. American indians are from this land, french canadians are from Latin decendent as for the rest of the english population, they are decendents of Anglo-Saxons, 3 different type of ppl. Maybe it’s why it’s easier to learn spanigh for us, a lot of word are almost the same, only pronounced differently. Wonder why this stubberness toward acknowledging the first nations and the residents of quebec as different socials groups and accept that they do not consider themselves as canadians? And please don’t bring up that crap that if we are not happy to be here, please leave.
My dear friend, you are a WASP impersonnated. Just the fact that you say we are all canadians and get use to it is a dead give away. After all, it took us till the early 90’s to get rid of those pesky bilingual stop sign, what do you read when you have to look at a stop sign? Stop or STOP/Ârret?
I have no problem recognising anyone, either those who acknowledge themselves as canadians, first nations (who were there before you and me) or the inuits or the metis population. If they want to differenciate themselves whay not let it be? WOu know what, either the race that composes quebec, i’m so glad to hear those 2 pakistany kids now speak in french unlike last year when they moved just beside where I live, they are really getting the accent 😀 I don’t consider quebec resident by it’s skin color or race, as long as they can say a wholehearted ment TABARNAC, then they are 100% carrying the values that makes this province.
I do know I was refused treatment at a vancouver clinic when I was really sick and visiting a friend, wonder why… Aren’t we all according to you canadians afterall? You know what they told me?, we are afraid that your province will not repay this clinic!?! Talk about a WASP hyppocratic oath! Only in good ole Canada
Did that make you feel Good tomass7, pointing out everything that disgusts you and that you don’t like about native people?
Here’s a view of your society through my eyes
It’s an area of town known as the main. Its flop house alley and its full of down and out white Canadians. The area is poor and run down, litter is everywhere and the smell of urine and rot permeates the air. Nobody takes care of this place, no one cleans or sweeps up, no one repairs broken windows and doors, no one paints, its grimy and its filthy.
The people who call this home are people who have had every opportunity to succeed in life. Free education up to high school, free medical care, and access to libraries, social services, and bursaries…the whole nine yards. They’ve squandered that opportunity and now they are here. Filthy women hanging on street corners, sunken eyes, rotting teeth, pallid skin looking to find some hapless jerk willing to give them five bucks for a blowjob so they can snort some more crack or buy a couple of shots of cheap wine. They stink of years of unwashed BO. Layers of filthy clothes cover them, full of vermin. The men here are the same. Filthy, unkempt, unwashed, they shuffle along the street or lay in alleys or under loading docks on pieces of cardboard. Most of them show the tell tale signs of alcoholism and drug abuse. Their clothing is filthier than the women and carry the distinct marks of having been urinated and crapped in.
Filthy rotten creatures the whole lot of them. Bloody disgusting that people should choose to live like that.
Now the chief people in Ottawa who are chosen to take care of the ordinary people neglect these ones. They don’t actively try to help them; they leave that to the charities. They don’t even send them their pension or welfare cheques because they consider that these people have no fixed addresses. These rulers in Ottawa are too busy looking after their friends. They hire family and friends into sweet high paying jobs and give out contracts worth millions to others. They get paid big big salaries, a lot of it tax-free and after only six years on the public teat they have a fully indexed pension for life. The rulers dip into the public purse and steal millions of dollars, the last chiefs.. Jean Chretien and Paul Martin did exactly that but most of their friends never went to jail. They never went to jail because those chiefs choose the judges and their judiciary is notorious for backing their bosses.
Lying and cheating thieves stealing from the people they are supposed to be helping
Now the morality of this white society is guided by their religions. Their god gave them ten simple rules to follow, all of them excellent guides to live an honorable life. The morality guidance was put into the hands of the priests of their religions to disseminate to the people at churches and schools but the rotten bastards attacked young children and forced them into sexual deviation. Hundreds of thousands of their little kids went unprotected by their parents and were preyed upon by these morality teachers.
Can you imagine anything more vile or disgusting in your life than this?
I know, I’ve seen it all, every city has its white ghetto full of its derelicts. Every city and every provincial capital has its ruling class dipping its hands in the public purse. Every religion that these white people worship has its sexually depraved priests who have cornholed little boys and girls.
These same Caucasian people believe they are better than other races. They believe that they can comment on other races shortcomings. These same intolerant Caucasians gassed six million Jews and several million more gypsies; gays and retarded people to death for no reason other than they did not fit in. These same Caucasians are now at war with Arabs simply because they need oil. These same Caucasians dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima killing and wounding millions of women and children for no sane reason.
The next time any Caucasian takes you or your race to task for anything that he does not like…tell him to flock off.
.
.
.
dummies
Wow, Tomax, you’re living about 20 years ago… MacLeods closed down about 15 years ago or more.
I find it interesting that you would laugh at Native people, yet you say yourself that business depended on them…
Farmers??? What about the Air base and Oil companies? Those are the major players around there..
Your website link clearly says, Cold Lake Treaty Days. It’s not a powwow. FYI they are not the same….
Still no cedar houses in Kehewin, the “Bonnyville” reserve you are referring to. Further more, why would they be chopped up for firewood when there is nothing but trees in the immediate vincity?
Take off your hate coloured glasses, they are distorting your vision. Please, in the future, be at least accurate….
Did that make you feel Good tomass7, pointing out everything that disgusts you and that you don’t like about native people?
Here’s a view of your society through my eyes
It’s an area of town known as the main. Its flop house alley and its full of down and out white Canadians. The area is poor and run down, litter is everywhere and the smell of urine and rot permeates the air. Nobody takes care of this place, no one cleans or sweeps up, no one repairs broken windows and doors, no one paints, its grimy and its filthy.
The people who call this home are people who have had every opportunity to succeed in life. Free education up to high school, free medical care, and access to libraries, social services, and bursaries…the whole nine yards. They’ve squandered that opportunity and now they are here. Filthy women hanging on street corners, sunken eyes, rotting teeth, pallid skin looking to find some hapless jerk willing to give them five bucks for a blowjob so they can snort some more crack or buy a couple of shots of cheap wine. They stink of years of unwashed BO. Layers of filthy clothes cover them, full of vermin. The men here are the same. Filthy, unkempt, unwashed, they shuffle along the street or lay in alleys or under loading docks on pieces of cardboard. Most of them show the tell tale signs of alcoholism and drug abuse. Their clothing is filthier than the women and carry the distinct marks of having been urinated and crapped in.
Filthy rotten creatures the whole lot of them. Bloody disgusting that people should choose to live like that.
Now the chief people in Ottawa who are chosen to take care of the ordinary people neglect these ones. They don’t actively try to help them; they leave that to the charities. They don’t even send them their pension or welfare cheques because they consider that these people have no fixed addresses. These rulers in Ottawa are too busy looking after their friends. They hire family and friends into sweet high paying jobs and give out contracts worth millions to others. They get paid big big salaries, a lot of it tax-free and after only six years on the public teat they have a fully indexed pension for life. The rulers dip into the public purse and steal millions of dollars, the last chiefs.. Jean Chretien and Paul Martin did exactly that but most of their friends never went to jail. They never went to jail because those chiefs choose the judges and their judiciary is notorious for backing their bosses.
Lying and cheating thieves stealing from the people they are supposed to be helping
Now the morality of this white society is guided by their religions. Their god gave them ten simple rules to follow, all of them excellent guides to live an honorable life. The morality guidance was put into the hands of the priests of their religions to disseminate to the people at churches and schools but the rotten bastards attacked young children and forced them into sexual deviation. Hundreds of thousands of their little kids went unprotected by their parents and were preyed upon by these morality teachers.
Can you imagine anything more vile or disgusting in your life than this?
I know, I’ve seen it all, every city has its white ghetto full of its derelicts. Every city and every provincial capital has its ruling class dipping its hands in the public purse. Every religion that these white people worship has its sexually depraved priests who have cornholed little boys and girls.
These same Caucasian people believe they are better than other races. They believe that they can comment on other races shortcomings. These same intolerant Caucasians gassed six million Jews and several million more gypsies; gays and retarded people to death for no reason other than they did not fit in. These same Caucasians are now at war with Arabs simply because they need oil. These same Caucasians dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima killing and wounding millions of women and children for no sane reason.
The next time any Caucasian takes you or your race to task for anything that he does not like…tell him to flock off.
.
.
.
dummies
Sivlerstorm: Arret on Stop signs. Yep, not only is it distracting, but a bit confusing that an international symbol and word on a sign in North America is different. Oh right, forgot, dem dere English signs have to be smaller than French versions, albeit they made an effort to it being the same with Stop/Arret.
Right.
Sorry, what was this asabout French kids by law have to go to French only schools? Oh never mind about Human rights.
Yep. Definately you are distinct, hence a play on words – stink – reveals more. Aren’t Ukranians in Alberta, Germans in Saskachewan, Icelanders in Manitoba distinct? Aren’t Chinese in Vancouver, who built this country distinct? Heck, aren’t Newfoundlanders distinct? Definately a different language 😉
So I seem to miss something here, who’s distinct?
————-
Mama, check your glasses. Cold Lake Treaty Days is a cute name for the festival, but the page I sent you to is about what…PowWows…oooohhh.
“Western Canada Powwow Schedule. One of the best ways to experience the culture of the aboriginal first nations people, is to take in a Powwow.”
But wait, there’s more! It goes on…
“The following is a schedule of aboriginal powwows and gatherings.”
Heck even the webpage (the .html file) is called…wait for it…”powwow.html”. Well gosh darn it anyway.
No cedar homes in Kehewin? What is the name of the reserve southwest of Bonnyville, on Highway 28 to St. Paul…that’s where those cedar homes were built. I knew I drove by them every weekend and saw them deteriorate.
To answer your silly comment about using the trees in the vicinity. Which is easier, rip off cedar side boards – or start up a chain saw, cut down the tree, drag it to the house, split and then pile them into cords to dry, all this especially if you’re in a drunken stupor.
Yes, MacLeods shut down 20 years ago, I was not giving a time reference, but seeing your a narrowminded teacher, I guess you again pick up on these things.
Point being made was the vicious circle the natives are in. Get pogie/treaty/government handouts in band payments, then go use that free money to spend in surrounding white man markets, like grocery stores, car dealerships and so on.
I laugh because how come these items aren’t on a Reserve besides Casino’s and Cigarette stores?
As for Phreakgeek, good for you! I again apologize if I painted all natives with the same brush. I knew of a few who worked up at Esso who moved off the Reserve, loosing their status and benefits, but made a good life for them and their families. I also know talking to ‘one’, that he gets harrassed when he goes back to visit family on the CL reserve – bowing to white man’s gods…
So while we’re at it, let me reitterate…until the Reserve system is abolish, until the distinct society idealism is abolished, Canada will never get to the place where it should be, a world leader.
A house divided cannot stand.
MJ, Mary Jane is it?? Any group of people, without exception, will always have some who are weak, selfish and power hungary. Others unfortunately are also affected by their decisions. Every individual is responsible for their decisions and the consequences. I never claimed to “know it all” as only a fool would ever think they knew everything. I do know the facts of an event that did take place. So, if you are naïve enough to think it’d never happen to you, think again.
Like you, I believe in people standing up for their rights and beliefs just as First Nations are doing.
As for all the whiney butts perpetuating the lie that ALL natives are handed checks and that’s their preferred lifestyle?…what in tarnation have you been smoking? Think people, think, use that gray matter i your head.
First Nation people were living just fine before European arrival. Their big mistake was welcoming & trusting the Europeans. As you can see, the results to this day were never positive.
For some people to sit here and toss out accusations about the “Free” ride that supposedly every First Nation person, band or community receives is hypocritical. For one thing didn’t Canada have to deal with the sponsorship scandal? Didn’t Canada from 1996 to 2004 turn the other cheek when money was being stolen? Jean Chrétien was also sought for Fraud. Jean Pelletier was sought for fraud. So many within the Canadian political system were sought for fraud and some here have the nerve to point fingers? Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s had reported that well over 100 million dollars was used wrongly by liberal friendly advertising firms and Crown Corporations for none or little bit of work. Before you dish out accusation about what you believe or think is true concerning First Nation concerns you should look back at your own form of government and dish out some words of wisdom to them.
We don’t own anyone it is the government that pays for these funding programs us First Nations receives. Want to know why? For over 500 years our land had been stolen, our culture at a brink of extinction, our language, our children were abused at the residential school systems; we were tossed on reserves and were promised “good” things to come to us (which never happen). We fought our way through the thick mud and you try to toss it back into our faces? 50 years ago if you were Caucasian and Canadian to boot you were considered a-ok by the system. What is happening now is the fact our own people are finally becoming more self sufficient and less relied on the government hand outs. We’ve suffered for far too long to allow a few redneck politicians, redneck police officers, redneck government officials to try and “lay” down their dogmatic law and hypocritical ways to our people.
You want to know where you are originally from. Where every Canadian comes from? Europe! Yep! You might be born here in North America but that surely doesn’t make you the original owners of the land. First Nation is the original owners of the land not Canada, Canadians, and certainly not any other government that was just formed in the last 200 years. If you want repercussions for supposed unfair treatment you cause should be back in Europe not begging at our feet hoping your little voice will make a difference with us.
I’m half red and half white, just like the Canadian flag. I have lived off-reserve, and on-reserve. I have lived on the border between the US and CANADA. I’m disappointed that we are slandering and attacking each other, where instead we should be thinking with one mind to resolve situations. Sidetracked and attacking each other while borders, phones, computers etc. become patrolled more and our rights made less. We are going to be taken by surprise, let’s fix our home and Native land before it is taken away and is no longer ours.
They truth is stunning isn’t!
look up nostradomus 2006-2012 prediction
“Confrontations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people noted in the press tend to focus on specific complaints, overlook broader issues, and reflect an old definition of Aboriginal people and their role in Canadian society. Hence, in many cases where conflict emerges, Aboriginal persons are labeled as malcontents, troublemakers, and opportunists – labels that can only be defended through a distorted an abbreviated view of history.”
-James S. Frideres, René R. Gadacz, “Aboriginal Peoples in Canada”
When you dig no further, you understand only the surface…and quite often, not even that.
The native people on the Caledonia blockade make me very upset. Tonight someone may be fatally injured as a direct result from your blockade. They would not have been on that road if it was not for you! Now you want to be portrayed as heroes for temporarily opening up the road for which you have no claim to. Block the land in dispute not the land you pay no taxes for. Big heroes your are!!! Someone may die because of you. If they are white oh well… if they are native then it’s a tragedy because of the dispute. But the non natives are dispensable as we know by your actions on the by-pass bridge over River Road. You threw off bolts to oncoming traffic, dangled two-by-fours from ropes over top of vehicles..and you want us to go back to a normal relationship after this is all over…we are all being held hostages by terrorist!! You tell us who can travel on our roads that WE pay taxes for and the OPP support you! Once you cross the barricade you should be arrested but you are not. What message is the OPP trying to send to the residents of Caledonia. We now have two sets of laws? You saw the video, you saw their faces, so now arrest the natives that were throwing debris off the bridge. If you can’t, please explain why because I would certainly like to know.
Nothing will EVER be normal again in this community for many years. Please pray the people in the accident
survive and recuperate since this would never have occurred if it was not for the redirection of traffic to MacKenzie Road. So, your small gesture of guilt by temporarily opening the road even though reported incorrectly in the media for the time period of the road closure of MacKenzie Rd (claims Natives let traffic flow during road closure INCORRECT maybe emergency vehicles for a brief period of time out of guilt
since the accident would most likely not have occurred if the blockade was not present) does not satisfy the residences. If your are indeed sincere
open the roads and rail road. Block the land in dispute and negotiate with the government. You had my support before and many others but once you took over Argyle St., the By-pass, train line, burnt tires, bridges, terrorized children in the school play ground and said you were at war you lost my support. Once you lost community support don’t expect our children to go to school together, play together etc….It’s the children that will suffer in the long run. Not you and me. You need to make a huge gesture which in time may perhaps mend a seam but will take years to repair the total damage. My child goes to school and looks up to many children, native and non-native. She is only a child and hears what is going on in the media and is confused. I tell her
this has nothing to do with her friends. What will it be like once they grow older and can understand what really happened? Time will only tell. As for the people of Caledonia, any lawyer who is willing to take on a class action law suit on behalf of the businesses and residents of Caledonia please contact the Alliance. We have all suffered and need to be compensated. The value of our homes have diminished and our personal suffering needs to be
compensated. The government has no right to make a deal on our behalf. Hopefully, this is what the Alliance will represent. The Ontario government in the past has financially compensated for inconvenience during the teachers strike. This is past practice.
The citizens of Caledonia need to band together and file a Class Action Law Suit against
the government for not upholding the law and our Constitutional Rights, the inconvenience/suffering and
diminished property values due to the fact that they haven not dealt with this situation which has no end in sight.
Please pray for the people in the accident tonight.