“It wasn’t long before Ron Evans (Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba First Nations)…
… … reverted to form. Aboriginal kids need to connect with their culture. Blah blah. Poverty is the root cause of crime. Blah blah. Tougher anti-gun, anti-gang, anti-crime laws aren’t needed.
“How is a tough crime bill going to help people to change?” said Evans. “Many of our people are caught in the cycle. They’re stuck.”
And to prove how stuck he is in his own go-nowhere cycle…
Thats the problem with the Aboriginal thought process. They blame every one but themselves. They don’t like the little criminals they spawn going to jail for crimes they commit. Why take responsibity, pass it on to others and pretend to be worried. With the amount of money the government dumps on the reserves they have the world by the short hair. When you do not have to work to live, there is no sense or respect for ones self. If the most important part of the day starts with the beer store opening and the worse part closing what can they expect.
Now THAT’S a 12 step program!
As a ex-Winnipegger, let me echo this…
“It’s not because of racism, it’s not because your daddy went to a residential school, and it’s not because you’re poor. It’s because you’re stupid.”
Amen.
OOh…. Thats gonna leave a mark
That’s one of the best pieces I’ve read in a long time.
Aboriginal kids need to connect with their culture.
What I know of their culture is that it didn’t include reading or writing, and, therefore, also did not include any knowledge or reasoning that would have required reading and writing, and that they had no notion of property rights. Seems to me that they’ve connected with their culture all too well.
I hate going back home to Winnipeg and seeing what it’s become.
So very, very sad and so very, very undeserving of pity.
Right on Black Rod
What the ‘First Nations Movement’ needs is their own version of Martin Luther King.
Somebody who will stand up and tell them to stop blaming the past, the white man, the federal government, the church etc etc.
Somebody who will tell them, as MLK told his people, “It’s not Burn baby Burn! It’s Learn baby Learn..so you can Earn, baby Earn!
I think that fundamental change in their psyche has to be made before they can turn the corner and start to become productive citizens.
I suspect this Ron Evans is the same chief who we heard from in the past. I am wondering if the Chief Ron Evans
that is the subject of this story is the same Chief Ron Evans who as AMC
Chief took a full two page ad out in the Winnipeg Free Press of Wed. March
31 2006 as an open letter to Stephen Harper.
I am wondering if it is Chief Ron Evans wish and desire that Prime Minister
Harper would listen and be a student of his so that Chief Ron Evans could
teach the basic principles of good and honest governance to Harper as Chief
Ron Evans practised when he was Chief at Nelson House.
I would at this time refrain from passing any judgment on Chief Ron Evans
stewardship as Grand Chief of the AMC but I would ask the question – Does a
leopard change it’s spots and I am inclined to wonder if history repeats
itself since it is only a few short while ago that another former Grand
Chief Margaret Swan was charged with fraud and theft and eventually pleaded
guilty although she “denied any wrong doing for months”.
I would caution our Prime Minister however to be very circumspect before
accepting any advice from Grand Chiefs because principles, honesty and good
governance are not an inherent trait of this position.
Harsh Federal Court ruling on breakdown of rule or law in Norway House Cree
Nation
22 February 2006
Mr Justice Pierre Blais of the Federal Court of Canada has issued a
harshly-worded ruling concerning the systematic breakdown of the rule of law
in Norway House Cree Nation (NHCN), in response to an application by
Councillor Marcel Balfour in the case of “Balfour vs. Chief Ron Evans et
al”.
In his ruling, Judge Blais finds that Chief Ron Evans (who is now Grand
Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, and who is a prominent federal
Liberal party member and former Churchill riding candidate) and certain
other Norway House elected officials:
– engaged in “deplorable influence peddling and blackmail”
– engaged in “usurpation of power”
– “failed to respect the notion of representative democracy regarding
their activities (putting) democracy at risk”
– acted “in bad faith”
– held numerous “secret meetings” of a “sub-group” of Councillors and
undertook many “unauthorized actions” including a court action in
Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench and tendering invalid evidence in court.
Former Grand Chief Charged With Theft
By Lloyd Dolha
Former aboriginal leader Margaret Swan avoided a jail sentence, but still
received a one-year suspended sentence on May 31, for stealing $35,000 from
her own band while she was chief of the Manitoba Lake First Nation of
southern Manitoba.
Crown attorney Tony Kavanagh, told the court how Swan made out two cheques
to cash – one for $10,000 and the other for $25,000. Swan then deposited the
ill-gotten gains in her own account and used the stolen funds to pay off a
loan on her Jeep Cherokee and put a down payment on a new house.
“The victims are not faceless. They’re the ordinary people going about their
lives and having to do with less, ” said Kavanagh. “This is not a rich
community. Every penny is needed in that community and $35,000 is a lot of
money.”
Swan’s abuse of trust was compounded by the fact that she was an elected
official who stole from the very people who had chosen her to lead them,
Kavanagh said.
Swan, 42, was charged with fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000 last
August, but denied any wrong-doing for months. Late in March at trial, Swan
admitted that she had stolen the money from her band while chief.
At the time of the theft, Swan had told her colleagues that she had used the
money to pay off a loan on an elder’s house, when evidence of financial
irregularities surfaced.
The RCMP alleged that the former chief had drawn some $61,000 in
unauthorized cheques for her own personal use before leaving to become grand
chief of the Southern Chiefs Organization over two years ago.
The former grand chief begged the court for leniency, saying that her future
should be considered when the judge sentenced her.
“I weep for my people, because they need all the help they can get,” said
Swan. “I hope the justice system gives me a chance to carry on … to enhance
or better the lives of our people.”
Swan was fired from her $85,000 per year job as grand chief of the Manitoba
Southern Chiefs Organization in mid-May, when the chiefs passed a
non-confidence motion by a vote of 20-7. She had been suspended without pay
in March after pleading guilty to the theft.
Defense lawyer Greg Brodsky asked the court for a conditional discharge so
Swan would not have a criminal record and would be able to “get back to
work.” He noted that Swan was a perfect candidate” for such a discharge.
“She was on her way to making a huge difference in the lives of her people
and, as a result of her indiscretions, its all come tumbling down,” said
Brodsky.
Sentencing judge Robert Kaplan also took notice of the “magnificent
contributions to society” Swan had made during her tenure.
Swan was ordered to repay the money she stole and to perform 50 hours
community service.
An election for a new grand chief of the Southern Chiefs Organization will
be held June 24, at the Long Plain First Nation.
Our natives have their land, they soon will have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, women will have hereditary rights, and the only thing missing is a good settlement. $100,000.00 per Native should just about do it. Pay each and every one of them if they can show proof they are actually Native, and be done with the problem. They will have to look to their chiefs to keep things civil on their own lands. Any nonsense being commited on public lands will be met with the public system.
We have been paying and paying for tooooooo loooong. Time for them to get it right.
Neileen
On similar topic,I heard on cbc radio from Wpg.today,that all the ‘chiefs’on E.side of Lake Wpg.are demanding that new power line go on ‘their side of the lake’ Why,you ask?Because First Nations demand they get the jobs..they deserve the jobs!
I am acutely aware of how this works out,as a family member of mine,works at San Gold Mine in Bissett,and they have employed…and I use the term quite loosely..First Nations people from Pine falls,Manigotogan,Hollow Water etc.They have an UNBELIEVABLE absenteeism record,a history of horrible,and dangerous work practices,the turn-over is incredible,and these jobs will need to be contracted out to competent miners/equipment operators etc.I do not understand how these chiefs can demand their people be hired,if they have zero work-ethic,cannot think on their feet,and are really a hazard to co-workers.I could relate specific events,but it may identify my family member,so will refrain. All I know,is that there are times I felt his life was in danger due to stupidity,drugs/booze etc,and that is intolerable.
To be fair,there are a ‘few good men’ and they have been promoted,and well looked after…but maybe these chiefs should make sure they know of what they speak,before they make unreasonable demands.
Rule 1 Life is a series of lessons
Rule 2 Lessons will be repeated until learned.
Rule 3 victims need not apply
I read somewhere a few years ago the list of First Nations Chiefs who are multi millionaires.
Phil Fontaine is one; Their money is sort of hard to trace as: they do not pay taxes; the government does not have the authority to audit the 10 billion or so we taxpayers provide; the chiefs hide behind a myriad of “companies” and almost untracable “holdings”.
The other group becoming extremely wealth on the “native issues” are LAWYERS. Those same well paid lawyers who help the multi millionaire chiefs hide all that yummy “free” unaccountable money from the Feds which the chiefs then dole out for favours in their middle ages like fiefdoms.
Does anybody know where that list of mega wealthy indian chiefs is?
Hell. Yeah.
Two thumbs way up.
The quote given by Tenebris should be a quote of the month or year.
The whole thing should be published in the G&M, Star and NP.
“Thats the problem with the Aboriginal thought process. They blame every one but themselves.”
=================
That’s not it at all. The real reason you hear Indian politicians talk like this is that there are big financial payoffs for Band Councils if they can convince funders that their people are still in a big mess. It is in the politicians own vested interests, therefore, to keep them that way.
Here is the guy they should be looking for for guidance.
http://www.thepolitic.com/archives/2006/09/22/straight-talk-from-osoyoos-chief-clarence-louie/
Black Rod says it all and in Sask we are like the battery bunny batteries////we just keep on giving and giving and giving for what??? what a waste of money
Absolutely the best 12 step for Indians that one could possibly come up with. Kudos.
That post should be read by every Indian and every politician in Canada.
I might add that using a machine gun to hunt whales is not part of your culture. This was done near Vancouver by a tribe from WA this year.
Unbelievable, but true. I have yet to hear what happened in that case. Any guesses?
John, that was a misrepresentation by the AP reporter, who confused a rifle that fires the .50 Browning Machine Gun cartridge with a .50 calibre machine gun; there are machine guns that fire the .30-06 Springfield cartridge too, but that doesn’t make every rifle chambered for .30-06 a “machine gun”. In the case you speak of, several members of the Makah tribe went on an un-approved whale hunt (several previous hunts were conducted in the same way, but with prior approval), and they managed to hurt a whale badly enough that it escaped and died several days later. The way it WAS done (legally and successfully, several times beforehand) was that the whale was harpooned, then it would be shot in a vital area with a large-calibre rifle to kill it as humanely and quickly as possible, all from a human-powered canoe. I don’t have a problem with that, any more than I have a problem with someone who wants to hunt moose with a rifle instead of a sharp stick. But, since the individuals involved weren’t whaling on behalf of the Makah, the Makah shouldn’t be held responsible for this any more than all whites should be held responsible for what a white poacher does.
As to the main issue (Black Rod’s excellent post), I agree 100%.
It’s tough to read, but I am glad he wrote it. Every single word the unabashed truth. So rare! It’s saddening to know he will be hated by most for just writing it.
My wife looks after 3 native girls before and after school. Three of the most polite, intelligent kids you will ever meet. Mum works and is a very elegant lady all the while being very native. Her husband is also very cultured in both the western and native ways.
They both put a tremendous amount of time and effort in thier children. They do not live on reserve and make their own way in the world. They don’t use their native background as their defining point. It’s incidental to who they are. That’s the way I’d like ALL cultures to behave. They are setting a stellar example to their kids as to how to behave in the modern world. And while they do take small advantage of their native status, it’s not abused.
There is hope that our native people will get on board on join the 21st century.
Look at it this way. Indians may blame everyone else for their problems, but it’s not their fault.
“My wife looks after 3 native girls before and after school. Three of the most polite, intelligent kids you will ever meet. Mum works and is a very elegant lady all the while being very native. Her husband is also very cultured in both the western and native ways.”
Well, every culture has it’s oddities.
Tenebis said:
“It’s not because of racism, it’s not because your daddy went to a residential school, and it’s not because you’re poor. It’s because you’re stupid.”
Yeah, I read a piece in the Globe recently (no, no, a complimentary copy in a office reception area!) about the residential school settlementss. I swear the world “survivor” occurred 10 times in the first 3 paragraphs. Whadda racket.
That’s a damn good post. It’s a good blog. Blackrod has lots of other good posts there.
Thanks Information @ 9:10 for the link to Chief Clarence Louie. Why we don’t hear much about him is mindboggling. I loved it when he lectured those two Chiefs who showed up late for some meeting…..Rule 1–There is no such thing as Indian Time. Rule 2–Remember Rule 1.
Yessss. I wish more Chiefs like him had the guts to tell it like it is. I’ve had some business dealings with Bands and they’re always late for meetings. Time is money (that should’ve been Chief Clarence Louie’s Rule 3).
3. Go to school.
Not you personally, Ron. You’ve got a job as a professional Indian.
that just cracked me up
and could sum one please send a copy of the 12 steps to the Jamaicans in TO!!!
SDC, you are no doubt aware that any/all rifles chambered in Browning .50 caliber are illegal in Canada. Funny that a bunch of BC Indians should have one for whale hunting (!) and not be in jail today, like I would be if I had one.
Funny how some kid got himself shot with an “AK47” in Caledonia some months ago too. Any/all variants of the AK47 are also illegal in Canada. (Thank you Kim Campbell and the never dead enough Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.)
No word on how this dreaded assault weapon magically appeared on the 6 Nations Reserve in the hands of a drunk teenager on the Douglas Creek Estates, no word on how many dozen more are handy in case the OPP decide to finally enforce the laws against theft, assault, tax evasion, burning tires…
At any rate, Black Rod’s comments, while well said, are perhaps twenty years late. Twenty years ago these band councils and whatnot were merely incompetent, with probably a fair amount of small time graft, favor granting and the usual penny ante corruption one finds in small towns.
We are waaaay beyond that now. Some guys have discovered they can make a buck with casino gambling, cigarette smuggling and a few other things, and THEY run the show to suit themselves these days. This is organized crime kids, big time.
Nobody in the Indian “leadership” gives a rat’s whatsit about the drunks, drug addicts and fetal alcohol syndrome mothers. They are fully focused on playing Liberal politicians for every dirty dime they possibly can. Say what you want about the Mafia, they didn’t leave their own people to die in the streets.
Blood has been shed already over this multi-culti camouflaged “Indian Nation” crap. I foresee a lot more in the near future if the feds and the provinces don’t bite down on these creeps. Currently there is no hope of that in Ontario due the re-election of Dalton You-Don’t-Have-No-Property-Rights McGuinty. Maybe Manitoba can do better. We shall see.
Incidentally I should add that I personally have no intention of doing -anything at all- in regard to the 6 nations, their leadership, or any other Indian or band, nor do I know anyone with such intentions. Not so much as a bumper sticker shall I contribute to the mess.
It’s a prophesy, not a plan. Just so we are all clear on that, eh?
I’m going to stay the hell home and watch it all unfold on TV, my tax dollars at work. Wah-freepin’-hoo.
Liberals belive that if guns are banned everyone will be freinds and and the crinimals will stop robbing little old ladies and raping young women and they still think the world is flat or that the earth is balanced in the backs of four elephants that stand on a big turtle which walks slowy around the sun and that the stars are little lights lite by the sky people at night and blew out at day time and they think that BILL CLINTON was americas best president in its history
You can’t be taken seriously when all you can say about someone else’s statements is “blah blah”. It shows that you don’t want to actually discuss issues but only desire to make yourself look good.
That’s the problem with so-called discourse these days. If you say “blah blah” and other dismissive words like that, you think somehow that validates your position. It doesn’t.
No, Phantom, there are plenty of legally-owned .50-calibre rifles in Canada, it’s just that when the “Department of Justice” sat down with the Coalition for Gun Control to decide what Canadians could and couldn’t be trusted with, they saw a number of then-new 50-calibre rifles in the Gun Digests they were looking through to decide what looked “too mean”. Most of the 50-calibre rifles that were in production THEN were arbitrarily prohibited, but that prohibition doesn’t extend to anything that’s either not specifically named, or that’s not a “variant” of something that’s specifically named. The main problems for the owner of a 50-calibre rifle in Canada CURRENTLY is in finding 1) components for reloading, or ammunition that they can use; and 2) finding a range or outdoor spot that has a deep enough safety area that they can safely fire and enjoy these rifles the way they’re meant to be used. For what it’s worth, the Makah Indians are in Washington State, not in Canada, so our silly laws don’t apply to them.
Apparently David, you didn’t follow the link and read the post. If you had, you would know and understand that the dismissive “blah blah” that you assume is taking the place of rational discourse, is actually truncating the talking points which we have heard ad nauseum and didn’t need to hear again in this post. This freed him to make his point – that those constantly proposed solutions aren’t working, and to offer up a 12-step solution of his own.
I Particularly like Black Rod’s 12th step…I believe this is the most important step those enraptured in native entitlement/victimhood politics can take…at least to save thrit souls if not their freedom from welfare slavery.
“”12. Stop Living in Fantasyland””
>> Good point here…stop wallowing in the delusion of Marxist class struggle politics and this revisionist fanaticized historical victimhood/entitelment myth…..this, more than anything (alcohol, drugs, broken families) is destroying Native reserve culture…it’s making you bitter, bigoted, twisted xenophobic sociopaths….and twisted sociopaths have a short, pointless life…don’t drink the Jones-town punch Reserve fanatics feed you.
SDC, I stand corrected on the .50 cal thing. However you must admit that Americans illegally hunting whales in Canadian waters with a prohibited weapon certainly got a Special Deal(TM) when the Dept. of Fisheries, RCMP, Coast Guard or whoever didn’t chuck them in the can and throw away the key.
That’s pretty much the core of the problem Indians generally are having these days IMO. If they got treated exactly like everyone else they wouldn’t be having so much trouble in life.
I’m waiting for some leftbot to claim that asking natives to stop acting like natives …. Is “Racist”…
More people in prison does not stop crime. Look at what a failure the prison system to the South is. It’s a failure. Never did and never will work.
ok4ua
*****More people in prison does not stop crime. Look at what a failure the prison system to the South is. It’s a failure. Never did and never will work.*****
certainly you cab back that statemnet up with sum facts!!!!!!NOT….. I presume
maybe you should think deaply and try to realize how flawed that position of your’s is
if amerians opened the “gates” maybe their crime rates would double, triple, or even worst. You have no comparative data to make suck an assertion
I have plenty of crap to spew about some of the natives I have come into contact with over the years, but I can’t help but say that we – meaning government – have had a hand in creating this monster entity. Natives believe they are entitled to our hard-earned tax dollars free of charge and free of work. Now if they had to go get a job to eat and have a place to live, they would feel good about themselves; right now, I’d say the majority of natives have low self-esteem and vent with violence, criminal activities, and drugs. I must agree with another poster – pay them all off, and then they are on their own, just like the rest of us.
I know a lot of good natives too, and they are the ones who are not segregating themselves from the white man, but are assimilating into society and keeping their traditions just like every other immigrant.
I’ve seen numerous programs and read numerous reports. Putting people in jail is just that it is not stopping or putting a dint in crime. Get your heads out of your areses and face rality America is not the land of the free. We used to be but that’s fading fast.
them injins mi’ slick bo’s,, nyouz bess fetch yoarn swiftist steeed stay ahid that thar mcguile fella. i knowed.
OMMAG, you forgot the obligatory Nazi reference…
Trouble with Blackrod and the likes of Chief Clarence Louie are that by telling it like it is they are considered “Uncle Toms” and not real natives. Sigh…
I’ve seen numerous programs and read numerous reports. Putting people in jail is just that it is not stopping or putting a dint in crime. Get your heads out of your areses and face rality America is not the land of the free. We used to be but that’s fading fast.
Posted by: ok4ua at October 23, 2007 5:56 PM
and there used to be this myth that 75=80% of pedophiles had themselves been abused, I heard this many times from various sources including TV programs. I even said this myself, as I thought it true, turns out to have been BS promoted by defence liars, social social workers, and other missinformed and missguided socialists
so ok4ua, until you can support such a statement with “FACTS”, it’s just nonsense
90% of all prisoners in jail male or female have been abused. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’ve worked with poor children native and non-native. Most of you can’t imagine how they live or what they have to do to survive. Most of you on this blog are white middle class I assume. Most poor children can only dream about the things you have. I’ve been pissed on by the white idiots I’ve known than natives. You on this blog talk like money’s no object.For 90% of Canadians it is an object. Thank your god most people have a heart or you may not have been born in a free country. We take a lot for granted. I shoot you, you bleed,I bleed. How we treat our poor is a reflection of what we are. You people talk about god and you don’t believe it any more than I do. You take a socialist book and pick and choose what to believe. You are phoney and spoiled brats who need a good spanking. You are dangerous and borderline insane. You racist bastards are lucky you live in Canada.
You are so stupid you believe your own bullshit.