For a moment there, I was worried they were cutting off Fort MacMurray;
Ontario Provincial Police shut down Canada’s busiest highway early Friday morning west of Kingston due to native protesters in the area, who had earlier blockaded a section of secondary highway and a stretch of nearby railway track on the eve of the National Day of Action.
Friday morning, the Ontario Provincial Police closed Highway 401 both ways between Napanee and Belleville and were diverting traffic north onto Hwy 7 due to native protesters “being in the direct area, for safety reasons,” said Sergeant Kristine Rae of the Smith Falls detachment.
Mark my words – the moment is approaching when a bandana prowling these police protected barricades will end up in the crosshairs of someone’s high powered rifle.
And right after that, Dalton McGuinty will blame Americans.
h/t.
Update: At the BBC, forum comments that go horribly wrong.
Related: Speaking of stereotyping and double standards – note the photograph chosen to illustrate this post. Bigot, heal thyself.
Astonishingly, Dawg responds with this: “I’d say some folks do a pretty good job of stereotyping themselves.”
Stereotype? When I see a cowboy hat, I think “cattle industry”.
In Dawg’s “progressive” world, cowboy hat means “racist”. Because, as we all know, western rural culture is synonymous with intolerance.
Incidentally, isn’t civil disobedience rather central to a free society? There’s much talk here at SDA about resisting authoritarian government, oppressive state/police tactics, the silencing of dissent, etc. Yet, peaceful protest is the right of all, even Native groups.
You complain that they’re breaking the law. Well, yes, that would be the point of civil disobedience, especially if those laws (and the system of authority behind them) are perceived as unjust.
You complain that they’re disrupting our “economic security.” Well, yes, that would also be the point of civil disobedience, as people tend to pay more attention when their own lives are impacted.
You complain that they’re inconveniencing law-abiding citizens. Well, yes, that would also be the point of civil disobedience. If you’re not going to attract attention, then why bother?
This was a peaceful protest, by a single group of dissident Natives. The protest was announced weeks in advance. The protesters actually signalled to railway authorities to shut down the track prior to blockading it. The latest news report says the blockage is coming down in time for the weekend cottagers’ Friday afternoon exodus from the city. The protest leader has promised to turn himself into authorities, as he’s done in the past, after the protest has ended. Despite what Andrew and a few others here might think (or hope), no terrorism laws have been broken. Not a single shot has been fired, not a single drop of blood spilled.
And the protesters have the attention of everyone, including readers here at SDA. Their issues will dominate news headlines for the next few days at least.
Sounds like a fine example of civil disobedience to me. Of course, whether public opinions fall in their favour or against is a separate issue entirely. But insofar as the National Day of Action sought to draw attention to Native issues, then it’s been a rousing success so far.
*
“Hours later the OPP issued an arrest warrant for protest leader
Shawn Brant on a charge of mischief.”
It’s like these thugs went out and egged somebody’s house.
*
Double standards, A’dam and Sean S, that’s the main cause of the anger. Let’s see you get away with the same conduct.
The racism exhibited here is just as bad as what comes out of the mouths of the protesters, but you seem to have no problem stomaching those. Double standards.
A’dam,
I guess in your world no one can reference stereotypes? I guess that Italians don’t eat spaghetti, join the mafia and cheat at soccer? Do the French not eat cheese?
I suggest you take your idiot head out of your ass and take it to a reserve. You will see that comments like “Send in a beer truck” aren’t too far off the mark.
I believe that you posted after Kate responded to the advocation of violence, so maybe you should read to the bottom before preaching from your altar of ignorance.
Everyone Else,
Chill out… native protests are traditional for Canadian summers. You can’t blame a dog for being a dog.
While the media fawn all over this Shawn Brant character, allowing his goonish threats to get maximum publicity, has anyone else noticed that this chap seems to be, well, white? He’s got whitish skin, blondish hair, and a great big white mans nose. Maybe someone in the media should ask him: “Why should real Indians use you, obviously a quadroon or octoroon or whatever, as their spokesthug?”
A’dam – I just deleted half of those comments.
And you seem to be intelligent enough to understand something – they are as likely to be submitted by readers from the left intent on creating comments for the purpose of smearing SDA as they are by any other drive-by.
That said – when a group of people hide behind face coverings and their racial “identity” to justify arming themselves and seizing private property, the fact that they might be taunted with stereotypes in a blog’s comment section is a damned tame response by anyone’s measure.
Adam – what authoritarian gov’t are the natives protesting against? What oppressive state/police tatics? What silencing of dissent? Could you explain?
And how does disrupting our economic work, such as transportation, deal with any of their ‘issues’?
What they are doing has nothing to do with civil disobedience – which has to refer only to actions carried out directly with reference to THEM, not to others. That is, civil disobedience would refer to their refusing to pay income taxes (but they don’t pay any on the Reserves); or, refusing to pay OFF the reserve. But attacking the ‘other economy’ – the off-reserve economy doesn’t fall into this definition of civil disobedience. It falls under criminal actions against civilians.
And, their ‘issues’ are not being discussed – by the natives. They haven’t said a word about them. Their claims of land have to be proven in court. Not by holding others as hostages. The corruption of reserves has to be dealt with- by them.
End the reserves system and get rid of the dept of indian affairs.
“Chill out… native protests are traditional for Canadian summers.”
Yeah, let’s just all shrug our shoulders and say: “Ah, well!”
It is so typically Canadian…
I want our troops pulled out of Afghanistan immediately…Those poor souls are fighting for a country who does not deserve such sacrifice.
Until we stand up for our rights we get exactly what we deserve. Bitch all you want but that’s the bottom line.
Canada IS a racist society, “our” Supreme Court has made that official. When one group receives benefits over another because of religion, race etc. that is racism. Make all the excuses you want, dress the pig up as a ballerina, but it’s still a pig.
I can just imagine an attempt to shut down the road to Fort Mac for 24 hours on a Friday.
It would not be pretty with all the workers trying to drive back to Edmonton and Calgary for the weekend. And there is no detour that I know of. One road, that’s it.
And the highway North of Fort Mac is so scary during shift change that I don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to try to blockade it. Nobody slows down or yields for anything smaller than a moose.
To a few of the comments: If you think closing highways, burnings at crossing is not terrorism, you are really living with your heads in the sand! The majority of the comments here are just saying what the rest of Canada is feeling. This could just backfire on the natives. Let ANY one else OTHER than a Indian pull this $hit theirs butts would be hauled away to jail. Oh, What about the guns???? The police forces in this situation look so pathetic, not to mention the elected representatives of provincial and federal governments. Two tier justice and reverse racism at its finest!
We get the government we vote for. We live with the consequences we voted for. We want change, we have to demand it and that includes hurting the media where it counts: advertizers.
Natives have the right to protest – whether they’re right or wront. What they don’t have the right to do is violate the rights of everyone else while they do it. You can’t claim a right for yourself to violate the rights of others. The blockades should be removed and those responsible charged and brought before a judge. Period.
Yes, there would be a risk that the natives would use the guns they claim to have but that is an even greater reason to act. The Canadian people can’t be allowed to be taken hostage, can’t back down to the threat of violence.
Civil society breaks down when you lose the respect for law. Anarchy is bad for tolerance and civil rights. The law must be upheld and it doesn’t matter a damn what race the violators of the law are nor their cause.
We don’t suggest letting murderers and bank robbers off because they may resist the law violently. In fact, that they may be violent urges a swifter response and the stability of democracy demands it.
mecheng
won’t happen in alberta, coz everyone is too busy WORKING!
What is wrong with this picture ????
A McGuinty “adviser/lawyer” takes friday “off” in order to get to the cabin early so as to avoid the blockades — early start to beer party.
He then tells everybody else who may be stuck in “traffic” to stay cool.
Is it just me ??
Now here is a toughie: Would it be a brilliant move or political suicide for the PM to announce during the next election, a plan to dismantle Indian Affairs and fully intigrate First Nations into Canada? I really don’t know but I fear that the Canadian voter’s love for the status quo would sink any meaningful initiatives (as in Senate reform).
Shawn Brant has a warrant for his arrest!! Yet he is by his bus where the OPP know where he is??? How stupid of the OPP: pussies!!! Yet Shawn Brant is still FREE: please drawn the OPP a map: could be their problem???
Now for Native supporters: cars and trucks are now running 3 to 5 hr’s longer: does pollution mean any thing to you people!!!
Sorry NO a fence to any Cats: just our OPP pussies!!
Ashamed of our OPP,
Jim Smith
dce_ak47@mountaincable.net
Well A’dam (with the aimless apostrophe), while you’re chastising others would you care to adress the comments made by Chief Lawrence Joseph on the Gormley show this morning? While claiming not to endorse the use of violence by FN members, he predictably added the caveat “having said that, FN members will use *all means* available to further their message”. Of course Murray Wood did not challenge him on this.
Tacitly endorsing violence is now a “Canadian value”?
The Globe&Mail has its comments area for this story “closed”. A bunch of gutless wonders at Old Grey.
Posted by: da prince
Geez, that’s funny, you meam like this blog? :
relapsed catholic, and Michelle Malkins blog, and…
(B) endangers a person’s life,
Posted by: Andrew at June 29, 2007 6:11 AM
You mean like incitement to violence like this?:
Mark my words – the moment is approaching when a bandana prowling these police protected barricades will end up in the crosshairs of someone’s high powered rifle
As far as that goes, da prince this post at this blog fits this act entirely:
Section 83.01(1)(b) defines terrorist activity as:
A. Cooper, I suspect that the apostrophe is just a short form for “A damn” fool.
He’s just playing a part in order to provoke us, so ignore the troll. He feigns shock and outrage for effect…any fool would be able to read the comments in context and understand the (relatively innocent) intent of most commenters(although, having said that, there was at least a couple that were WAY too inappropriate).
Yes, the dept of indian affairs has to be ended. And shutting it down would create the same kind of rejectionism that we see about the Senate.
First- the civil service, who’ve worked there for umpteen years with their perks, benefits, pensions etc – would go beserk.
Then, the other ‘status quo’ idealists who can’t handle change will start to scream. Funny how these people, who are all Liberals, call themselves ‘progressives’. Heh.
But the Liberals in the House and Senate will shriek against progress and change. For no reason other than it’s change and they promote regression not progression.
And the natives, the corrupt leaders of each band, they’ll be against it. After all – they get tons of money from the gov’t for doing NOTHING but say they are leaders in their band. So, they won’t want to move out of the federal trough.
But -it will have to come. The way to do it is, as Harper does things – by ‘bricolage’ or step by step, where he gets people accustomed to change by first, talking about it. Trying to do it one step at a time.
Canadians, brainwashed for a generation into Liberal centralism and Big Nanny gov’t, and brainwashed against thinking, can’t handle change. After all, change requires the ability to ‘imagine’ what it would be like. And Canadians have been forbidden from doing that; we are ‘tolerant’; we accept all; we don’t imagine what it would be like to do things differently.
So, broach the idea gradually. Start to talk about it. And then – continue to talk while the Old Guard stands up and shrieks.
Compare what is happening with the Senate – and the Senate is digging its own grave. It is fighting not to change – and its fight actually means that it is intruding on the gov’t; the Senate is starting to make legislative decisions – which it has no right to do – because it is trying to prevent change in the Senate.
So- the reserve system has to end; and the Dept of indian affairs has to end.
Start talking about it – and the acceptance of these ideas will spread.
Thanks to Trudeau, the indian act is part of the constitution so it will be going nowhere fast.
Thanks to Trudeau, indians now have soveriegn rights but the rest of Canadians have to live with deals signed by foreign lords a couple hundred years ago. Scratch that last. What we have to live with is indians’ re-interpretation of what they think should have been in the deals. The deals themselves have little to do with today’s reality.
Don’t be too hard on the useless OPP. They’re simply doing what they’ve been told (unofficially of course) by their political masters. The same breed of slimy politicians suck up to Sikh criminals in B.C. (No names, but one of the sucker-uppers is an M.P., about 6’3″ and bald.)
If violent native “protests” occurred anywhere else in Canada, the response would be no different. This once-respectable country is finished, done, kaput,fu##ed. Get used to it.
Right on Zog. I have a friend who is an OPP auxilary. Ironically, he also lives in Caledonia. He claims that the cops are just as frustrated as we are at the way the situation is being handled but they are being muzzled by their political masters.
As an aside, I was on Six Nations Rez today. More Caddie Escalades driving around than you can shake a stick at. Some poverty.
Kate: A’dam – I just deleted half of those comments.
Indeed you have, and should be respected for doing so.
And you seem to be intelligent enough to understand something – they are as likely to be submitted by readers from the left intent on creating comments for the purpose of smearing SDA as they are by any other drive-by.
I considered this. I even thought the first Jim’s remarks were rather over-the-top, even by SDA standards. Still, I suspect that not all of these readers (on this thread and others) are shills from the left, and I think that you know this as well. I’m not saying you purposefully cater to these extremists on the right. You certainly are capable of censoring them on occasion. But have you ever asked yourself why SDA attracts such individuals when other self-described political blogs do not?
You must not get out much.
I’ll add as well – there aren’t many blogs in Canada that average 16,000 visits a day. Until you find a comparable one that allows comments at all, attempts to compare this site with others are kind of pointless. Before you can get comments, you have to have readers.
Yukon Gold: The racism exhibited here is just as bad as what comes out of the mouths of the protesters, but you seem to have no problem stomaching those.
A. Cooper: Well A’dam (with the aimless apostrophe), while you’re chastising others would you care to adress [sic] the comments made by Chief Lawrence Joseph on the Gormley show this morning?
Don’t worry, the next time I have audience with either Chief Joseph or Mr. Brant, I’ll be sure to chastise them too.
In the meantime, what exactly is your argument here? That “If they’re racist, then we get to be racist too”? Is this some sort of race to the bottom of the gutter?
Well, apparently the ABoriginals’ rights to break the laws without suffering any consequences have now been well established, especially in Ontario. Now how about the rest of us UNboriginals?? Do we get to adopt the same sort of tactics when we have an axe to grind with the government? Will we be met with the same sort of hands-off, kid-gloves treatment? Only in your wildest dreams, I would guess.
What a frickn’ joke our system has become.
Jon: I guess in your world no one can reference stereotypes? I guess that Italians don’t eat spaghetti, join the mafia and cheat at soccer? Do the French not eat cheese?
Um, that would depend entirely on the context in which one’s words are spoken. Factually pointing out that Bernardo Provenzano is Italian is one thing, angrily calling the entire Italian-Canadian community a bunch of mobsters just because the Little Italy Food Festival has caused inconvenient traffic diversions is another. Seriously, did you really need this difference explained to you?
Incidentally, the tenor of this thread has changed noticeably since Kate intervened at 10:07am. Interesting, don’t you think?
So A’dam how is threatening to blockade Casino Rama ‘violent’ or ‘perpetuating stereotypes’? It is the exact same type of action that the indians perpetrated on 401 today. Tit for Tat I say. See what happens to the protests when the financial spout is turned off. And who made you the arbitrator of good thought? What are you some type of bureaucrat?
adam- the little Italy food festival, carried out legitimately and with full approval of the traffic and neighbourhood boards, is no comparison to an illegal blockade of traffic and threats of violence. Kindly do not make invalid comparisons.
You are diverting the issue to pretentious moralizing and chastizing name-calling. Why are you doing this? Why aren’t you focusing on the illegitimate use of force and hostage-taking by natives to – get what?
Do you approve of the illegitimate use of force and hostage-taking by a group? If yes – please explain.
A’dam, at the risk of feeding a troll, what’s peaceful about armed men blocking highways and rail lines? Or is it ok so long as they are from a visible minority?
You cherry pick your quotes, too. You sure enough caught the one where I called the Mohawk Warriors a bunch of drunks. I’ve called them worse. You missed the part in the same comment where I said most Indians have as much use for the Mohawk Warriors as I do. They are a gang criminals, nothing more.
Your morally superior tone is ironic given your intellectual dishonesty. I am not a racist sir, and shame upon you for saying otherwise.
Louise: Section 83.01(1)(b) of what act?
Bill C-36 “An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Official Secrets Act, the Canada Evidence Act, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act and other Acts, and to enact measures respecting the registration of charities in order to combat terrorism”, commonly referred to as the Anti-Terrorism Act.
You can read the quoted passage in context here:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Parl=37&Ses=1&Mode=1&Pub=Bill&Doc=C-36_4&File=42#6
“Don’t worry, the next time I have audience with either Chief Joseph or Mr. Brant, I’ll be sure to chastise them too.”
That’s an interesting comment.
I wonder what’s stopping you? There are lots of Indian blogs and forums where you could be doing just that – engaging and chastising native participants for their anti-white bigotry and support of those who use violence and intimidation to achieve political goals.
Instead you settle in here, and tell us what you would do, if you know … just had the opportunity.
Of course, you do have the opportunity. It’s just a click or two away. The truth is that if you truly believed all forms of racism to be equally repulsive, you’d already be engaging them. But you’re not.
For all your criticism and moral superiority over the knuckledragging rednecks that supposedly frequent this site, you still recognize that this is the safer traffic to play in.
Sounds like a fine example of civil disobedience to me.
No doubt any civil disobedience to aid robbing Peter to pay Paul would fall within one of your “fine examples”.
Is your name Paul?
[ I’ll add as well – there aren’t many blogs in Canada that average 16,000 visits a day. Until you find a comparable one that allows comments at all, attempts to compare this site with others are kind of pointless. Before you can get comments, you have to have readers.] Kate, 2:42pm
Exactly !!
You will not find a comparable blog.
Considering the extremely high volume at sda, readers and commenters, it is a wonder that Kate is able to maintain her blog at such a high standard.
And our beloved media ??? Biased, slanted, guilty by omission and out right dishonest. And that is just the front page #$%!! After that there is rigged polls.
Joe B:
“Perhaps the protesters should dam up the Columbia river.”
This has been done at Mica Creek and Revelstoke and now provides power generation for the province of BC.
The Dept. of Indian and Northern affairs, as ET’s analysis bears out, has morphed over to a South African graft of apartheid. It would have to count as the most racist document in the federal bureaucracy.
Perhaps the protesters do have a legitimate point, though ineloquently expressed.
When you have 800 land claims sitting idle over some 40 odd years of more or less liberal government; one can understand some of the native impatience is legitimate. The native issues however aren’t all one sided.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has attempted to begin a new process to resolve some of these issues under Minister Prentice. I would say it is a little early in the process to be demonstrating in the streets when the ink is still drying.
The land claims ‘log jam’ hasn’t just appeared out of nowhere. It has arisen due to 40 years of neglect and the development of a ‘culture of entitlement’ both among the bureaucrats and the natives.
As ET correctly points out, the problem is structural in nature and structural in its solution.
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht BGS, PDP, CFP
Commander in Chief
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Frankenstein Battalion
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
Kate: There are lots of Indian blogs and forums where you could be doing just that – engaging and chastising native participants for their anti-white bigotry…The truth is that if you truly believed all forms of racism to be equally repulsive, you’d already be engaging them. But you’re not.
Fair point. The “left”–myself included–could indeed do better in condemning racism wherever it occurs.
Which makes yours an interesting comment too, Kate, tantamount to an actual admission that SDA does indeed host anti-Native bigotry.
After all, the failure to adequately censure the anti-white bigotry expressed in Native (and other) blogs in no way justifies or detracts from the myriad forms of bigotry (against Natives and others) expressed almost daily here.
The Phantom: I am not a racist sir, and shame upon you for saying otherwise.
I never called you a racist. I said your comment invoked racial stereotypes. Alluding to the old “Indians-as-drunks” image was a racist thing to do, and still is. That you apply that stereotype to a mere “gang of criminals” matters not at all, nor does it matter that you contrast the Mohawk protesters with other, supposedly more upstanding Indians.
Try this, Phantom: print out this page, show your comment to “other Indians,” and see whether they think it’s racist or not.
the sociopathic perpsectives proudly proclaimed above make me absolutely sick to my stomach. i just can’t imagine that anyone would dare to utter such profoundly racist, violent and evil thoughts. are there no christians who post here?
thankfully kate has admonished her posters for the obvious blood-lust they seem intent on exhibiting and has even censored some (with the lame canard that “leftists” are trying to give her site a bad name). unfortunately, in light of the comments that have made it past her moderation, i cannot even begin to imagine the depths of depravity contained within the censored posts.
a’dam: thank you for restoring some of my faith in humanity that was lost reading this thread. perhaps, some will ruminate on your views and will rein in their hatred, intolerance and murderous appeals.
“These natives have nothing to be upset about. There are no injustices save for those created by their own leadership.”
the last residential school in canada closed in 1996…11 years ago. this was a program that took first nations children out of their cultural group, to be raised by another group. this in and of itself is defined as genocide under the UN convention. these children suffered the most horrific abuse imaginable by the state and the religious denominations administering the system. none were spared this historic traumatization that has led to epidemic rates of compex PTSD and BPD with all the familiar consequences: suicide rates ranging from 1000% to 10000% the canadian average, sexual abuse affecting 60-80% of children, levels of domestic violence unheard of in canadian society, interpersonal violence of the most horrific kind in response to the most insignificant slight due to the smouldering rage many have felt since childhood but don’t understand b/c there traumatization has never been dealt with, rampant substance abuse of anykind to numb the pain and suffering and the inability to cope with this trauma, and the hopelessness of being raised in such a toxic environment where all of the aforementioned occurs in a setting where employment is unavailable to most, where housing is unsafe and cramped with families of 15 living in a 500 sq foot “house” (read: shack), where running water does not exist nor is the water gatherd by hand safe to consume. these are the conditions that have been imposed upon them through a system that has systematically brutalized individuals, families and communities leading to the all too predictable abovementioned results of this historic intergenerational traumatization. this is what today is about: AWARENESS! if canadians remain unaware of this national embarassment, it will continue unabated. it is important to note, that the head of an addictions treatment center has reported that 100% of aboriginals seeking treatment self-disclosed childhood sexual abuse as the primary cause of their alcoholism.
to lack empathy for this situation is to lack humanity. all that is required is awareness. awareness leads to empathy, which leads to understanding.
how this is to be addressed is up for debate. ET suggested a wholesale dismantling of the reserve system, as Pierre Trudeau argued. i disagree, but nevertheless am heartened that some here are seeking solutions, as opposed to merely chanting racial epithets and calling for first nations peoples to be murdered. such dehumanizing rhetoric and incitement of violence is sub-human. indeed, it is the language of tyrants!
CTV poll (gone horribly wrong???)
Do you support the Assembly of First Nations’ National Day of Action?
Yes 2252 votes (23 %)
No 7710 votes (77 %)
Total Votes: 9962
I wonder if A apostrophe dam, will he give up his racial stereotype of Indians as victims?
(A’dam, could I ask to you focus your arguments on the positions taken by other commenters here, per se, rather than on the mechanism of SDA that provides a vehicle that supports free speech within the bounds of the law. To the degree that you complain about the medium, rather than the messages of individual participants, you are, I think, in the current context, wasting our time and insulting those of us who are Friends of SDA and yet don’t behave in the fashion you are criticizing, or to put it in the vernacular, tarring with too broad a brush.)
In my opinion, any treaty or statute that is about Indians or any other so-called race, and any clause of any statute that mentions Indians or any other so-called race, is prima facie racist; ergo it should be abrogated and stricken from the statutes.
How can we possibly get rid of the last vestiges of racism in our society when pieces of racist history remain still encoded in our statutes?
ET: the little Italy food festival, carried out legitimately and with full approval of the traffic and neighbourhood boards, is no comparison to an illegal blockade of traffic and threats of violence. Kindly do not make invalid comparisons.
[Sigh] I wasn’t comparing the Little Italy festival to the Native protester blockade, ET. I was rebutting Jon’s comment by pointing out that resorting to hostile racial stereotypes (of either Italians or Native Canadians) is poor form under any circumstances.
Do you approve of the illegitimate use of force and hostage-taking by a group? If yes – please explain.
I believe that the Native protesters engaged in the blockade broke the law, and should face the consequences of that. I understand Shawn Brant is prepared to voluntarily turn himself into police custody.
I believe that sometimes it’s necessary to break the law for the purpose of drawing attention to one’s cause, if one perceives that s/he has exhausted all lawful avenues for recourse. I disapprove of the taking up of arms by protesters in this blockade, which is a statement of aggression, but I also understand and sympathize with the sentiment behind why they chose to do so.
I would disapprove of hostage-taking, had such a thing taken place. Diverting traffic for a few hours hardly counts. The Ontario public was not “taken hostage” by this protest. Surely you, who no doubt would be loathe to play the “victim card,” can agree on that.
it is important to note, that the head of an addictions treatment center has reported that 100% of aboriginals seeking treatment self-disclosed childhood sexual abuse as the primary cause of their alcoholism.
There’s always excuses for one’s behaviour. Leftards are enablers of those excuses.
i’m sick of this shit. 10 billion a year, no taxes free land. enough. you threaten us with guns and we wilol shoot back. just remember as an indian you are outnumbered 30 to 1, without the pc whiners and apologists.
I set up CanadaComments (dot com, dot ca, dot org and dot net) in 2003 in the anticipation that so-called “blog software” would evolve to the point where it would be easy to administer and also allow a self-governed system of post ranking/voting based on an algorithm – i.e., taking into account posters’ history, reactions to posters’ contribution, quantity of posts, replies to posts, etc.
Spend some time at slashdot.org to see how the current “state-of-the-art” user-moderated forums functions.
It’s a bit complicated to understand at first.
Paul
Oops. If you check WHOIS for my sites you’ll be told that I’m in Montreal. Gotta fix that, I’m now in Calgary.
Vitruvius: It would also be nice if the true Friends of SDA were to take Kate’s lead and be more vocal in the future in condemning bigotry of the type expressed earlier in this thread.
But I understand your point.
In my opinion, any treaty or statute that is about Indians or any other so-called race, and any clause of any statute that mentions Indians or any other so-called race, is prima facie racist; ergo it should be abrogated and stricken from the statutes.
Such treaties or statutes that mention Indians are prima facie racial, but not necessarily (nor is it in fact) racist. Moreover, this “racial” attribute is not necessarily (nor is it in fact) hostile. First Nations groups enjoy special status in our constitutional documents for a very legitimate reason. And until we move the entire discussion on the “Native question” from mere land claims, reserve conditions, and funding conflicts to genuine Native self-determination, we will not be addressing the root issue under contention.
ol hoss – exactly – will adam give up his racial stereotype of natives as ‘victims’? Apart from the fact that he even defines them as a separate ‘race’. Adam – there’s no such thing as ‘race’; we are all one species.
canuckistanian – stop using the ‘sociopathic’ and ‘depths of depravity’ adjectives – which don’t apply here. They may help define you as a Noble White Man but that’s about all.
I believe the last residential school was closed in 1986. Whatever the faults of residential schools, and they were completely wrong – they can’t be defined as ‘genocide’.
Furthermore, you can’t offload all the problems within native groups on residential schools. That’s naive and completely wrong.
I suggest that a basic problem is attempting to maintain the natives as a collective – via the reserve system. This sets them up as a ‘caste’ in Canadian society – a people whose economy and mode of life are completely outside of the mainstream economy and sociopolitical life. One group embedded within another group- but the native group is expected to live in a different mode (non-industrial) and paid to do so. The silly thing is that both sides think ‘this is what they want’.
This would be valid ONLY if they could maintain their original lifestyle (hunting and gathering). They can’t. It’s over; their populations are too large – and you can’t maintain a H&G economy on a reserve. You require a large land base – and a migratory lifestyle. Not settled.
Then – essentially defining the reserve AS IF it were a commune, with no individual property rights, no individual gain from work – and you’ve set up a society doomed to failure. The suicides, the abuse – are due to this – that the individuals in this collective have no economic or political function. They are a ‘kept people’.
Get rid of the notion of utopian H&G lifestyles in the modern era. You can’t have such an economy and lifestyle in the modern world. And, neither the natives nor the gov’t should expect it.
Get rid of the reserves and the band. Give each adult a one-time only settlement and education vouchers – and that’s it.
Get rid of that monstrosity, the dept of indian affairs.
Look – everyone in history has been overrun by other peoples at some time. Check out the history of England, France, Germany etc, etc. To try to set up a group – operating in an economic mode that was functional 5,000 years ago – but is no longer functional – and isolate them on a ‘reserve’ is like putting animals in a zoo. It’s over.
And the natives have to realize it first – and get cracking to be individuals, with a native past (just like others have a Scots past, a Czech past, a Finnish past..etc, etc)..
The time for empathy is also over. The time for pragmatic action is here.
adam – I disagree with your comments, which i see as condescending and patronizing.
Why should ‘First nations’ ‘enjoy special status’? Why is the reason ‘legitimate’? And I strongly reject your suggestion of ‘native self-determination’. You are keeping them as a ‘caste’, as a ‘race’ – who must ‘self-determine’ as that collective, their future. That’s terrible.
These are people – to be viewed, not as a Bunch, not as a Group, but as individuals. The whole problem that has arisen- is that they have been viewed as a collective – and you are continuing that perspective. That is racist – as vitrivius correctly point out – and you simply don’t understand this.
And blockading traffic most certainly does count as an act of hostage taking. You are slithering and changing the meaning to have it refer only to the WHOLE Ontario public. Does someone who takes the people of one plane hostage not count as a hostage-taker because he hasn’t taken the whole nation hostage? They were taking all travellers of those roads hostage. Don’t slither out of reality and try to excuse their illegal behaviour.
You are slithering out of answering questions by moving to the abstract (sometimes necessary to break the law). Can you show us what exactly the natives are protesting about – and what they want – and why they expect the gov’t to ‘do it all’?
Remember – the corruption of reserves is due to their own making; they want the reserve system to continue – yet it is what is causing the degeneration of their communities!
Native self-determination – what rubbish. What a racist statement. They are human beings – and your insistence on defining them as a ‘race’ or collective – doesn’t help.