Xcellent read on Native Issues....

[Winch101]

Rex is not usually one of my favourites , but this makes a lot of
Sense.....if your a Canadian voter / taxpayer......

Read the blog comments after the editorial.


http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/...as-generosity/

[silverdoctor]

Oh yeah, good old Rex. Lemme tell you, Rex isn't always correct. One of the comments contains:

I watched a snippet on the Idle No More Movement that Pam Palmeter took over hoping to turn it into another Marxist struggle.

That my friend is the truth. Explain why the natives in Attawapiskat live in sqalour while that fat pig of a cheif "porkahontas" lives the high life. Explain that one scenario, and you're onto something.

Idle no more started off as a grassroots movement about rights, freedoms, liberties, and protection of environment. The cheifs and lawyers took over and turned it into a comedy show. The MSM followed the chiefs and the movement fell to the wayside - pretty much snuffed out what the natives were trying to show.

[Vingiu]

Really good read, very well-written. Obviously written from one perspective, but it appears the writer put a pretty good effort into encompassing other viewpoints.

I like his last few statements. I believe that a great mockery has been made of our (white man's) efforts to reconcile with aboriginal groups because of their constant bickering, protesting and such. They complain to the white man's government, when they really should be protesting at the door of their tribe council. They bite the hand that feeds them, and hopefully it'll turn around and smack them soon.

Further. They have essentially become a self-governed people, but seem to still rely on funding from white man society, which they don't seem to like too much... They complain when they don't receive their "fair" portion. What is it exactly they want? More apologies, more summits? Sounds like Quebec to me, they want exclusive rights without exclusive responsibilities.

[CaberTosser]

I was recently enlightened a little bit about band politics, I guess its every two years that they have their elections, and while I don't know if it was the original intent, it sure seems to stifle progress in many ways. Those elected generally have little time to accomplish certain tasks, such as larger infrastructure projects, as by the time things get through engineering stages and all the Federal red tape its election time again. New boss drops a project midstream and all the money into so far is out the window.

I was thinking the other day about the construction project by the Grey Eagle Casino, and how administration and financing of that plays out. I rationalized that it is probably "paid forward" as the project advances, because there'd be no legal recourse I'm aware of that would allow the contractors to lien the place in the event of default, being that its on reservation land. I could stand to be corrected, but the thought crossed my mind as something different about working on a reserve. I imagine the additional administrative tasks and possible risks would add a few percentage points to anything large they build.

[silverdoctor]

Does it ever occur to the rest of Canada that they know nothing else other that squalor? Campbell river is successful, so is Oosoyoos, why are they different?? OMG, could it be leadership? Wow, what a concept. Cheif Louie doesn't seem to be fully self serving - unlike our federal and provincial politicians.

Downtown Toronto, 1992, a black man threaten to pummel me cause I was white and enslaved the African American. Wow, talk about uneducated, I had nothing to do with slavery, nor have I ever entertained the ideals of slavery but he didn't care - I was white and part of his problem. He was probably force fed that garbage from the diaper. Get my point?

The rest of Canada sees the base issues with the natives, we all know what some of the base issues are. We have our fair share of members here on AO that can't stand natives and it shows. That is reality.

How can it be fixed if we don't listen? Canada as a whole hasn't got a clue of it's own history - and that's plain to see. We watch the mainstream news, and that's what we know. That's called ignorance.

Do I agree with everything that's going on? Do I agree with everything the natives are doing? No, course not but i'm listening to the message, not listening to MSM, trying to understand it all.

[Vingiu]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

How can it be fixed if we don't listen? Canada as a whole hasn't got a clue of it's own history - and that's plain to see. We watch the mainstream news, and that's what we know. That's called ignorance.

Personally I think that we reference history a bit too much in regards to aboriginal issues. History in general has been awful in that regard, and if we keep looking back, we aren't going to let ourselves get over it. The white man made some mistakes, big ones. But the apologies have been made, and reconciliation can't be had without integration and some honest soul-searching on the part of the aboriginal people -- forgiveness if you will. What are your thoughts on bringing the aboriginal issues to closure? What is it that you think we're not hearing from them?

[marxman]

Originally Posted by Winch101

Rex is not usually one of my favourites , but this makes a lot of
Sense.....if your a Canadian voter / taxpayer......

]

a puff piece no solutions advanced no real problem recognition a touchy feely handwringer about unfortunate symptoms a faux brave editorial he has more to say but he wont say it

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by marxman

a puff piece no solutions advanced no real problem recognition a touchy feely handwringer about unfortunate symptoms a faux brave editorial he has more to say but he wont say it

no punctuation, no different

[Vingiu]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

no punctuation, no different

x2!!!

[connexion123]

Originally Posted by silverdoctor

Oh yeah, good old Rex. Lemme tell you, Rex isn't always correct. One of the comments contains:

I watched a snippet on the Idle No More Movement that Pam Palmeter took over hoping to turn it into another Marxist struggle.

That my friend is the truth. Explain why the natives in Attawapiskat live in sqalour while that fat pig of a cheif "porkahontas" lives the high life. Explain that one scenario, and you're onto something.

Idle no more started off as a grassroots movement about rights, freedoms, liberties, and protection of environment. The cheifs and lawyers took over and turned it into a comedy show. The MSM followed the chiefs and the movement fell to the wayside - pretty much snuffed out what the natives were trying to show.

Also the ndp hopped on the wagon.

[silverdoctor]

Originally Posted by Vingiu

Personally I think that we reference history a bit too much in regards to aboriginal issues. History in general has been awful in that regard, and if we keep looking back, we aren't going to let ourselves get over it. The white man made some mistakes, big ones. But the apologies have been made, and reconciliation can't be had without integration and some honest soul-searching on the part of the aboriginal people -- forgiveness if you will. What are your thoughts on bringing the aboriginal issues to closure? What is it that you think we're not hearing from them?

I'm torn on these issues, like I say, I'm part Mi'kmaq and have beothuk genetics flowing through my veins. Does that make me native, no - I look in the mirror and I see pale face. I understand the history, but I have a hard time figuring out what's happening today. Growing up, I was surrounded by Mi'kmaq - call someone an indian 30 years ago and it was scrap on. But all of a sudden, all these Mi'kmaq are now embracing the culture. Ours is not to question why... I believe much of it is due to the freebies that come with treaty status - and much of my family turned against me cause I wouldn't sign the application based on freebies.

That said - the message the natives are putting forward is there - but the rest of Canada see's just another Indian uprising, squish it quick before it interferes with the rest of our lives. Heaven forbid, the natives interfere with the rest of the world. But when the Harper government passed the last omnibus, they stripped protection from many of Canada's lakes and streams - that should have ****ed off alot of Canadians but all we heard was silence. hence the "Idle no more" protests. Idle no more started off with a message of rights, freedoms, protection of environment etc but it always takes a wrong turn when the chiefs and lawyers get involved. They try to turn it into something it isn't and the rest of Canada rolls it's eyes collectively. The message has been lost.


I don't know the in's and out's of drilling in Alberta, but it's a way of life for many. I'm sure if you drill a hole in this province, someone knows exactly what they are drilling into - where water tables are, how deep you should be going etc. This drilling aspect is foriegn in the eastern provinces, fracking especially. That's what Canadians need to understand through all this. Like I say, it was discovered that 2 holes were fracked in Flat Bay, no environmental assessments were found, nobody knows what happened to the frac fluid. If that happened here in Alberta, there would be fines, heads would roll etc - but in small town Newfoundland?

Oil companies lie. Back in 2011, I worked for Chimo Equipment in Nisku. When drilling was happening on the port au port penninsula, they were using our drilling recorder software and sensors. I knew at that time they were hitting water when they were claiming the largest deposit of oil on the west coast of Newfoundland. Stephenville, a small town of 10,000 boomed on the prospect of these oil lies - new hotel, walmart, fast food chains - but nothing ever surfaced. And it was all based on a lie - I told my mother in years to come she will see hardware for directional drilling come through, and to call me when it happens. Well, low and behold, that phone call came last year. And they still want to frac the damn holes after all those lies.

People are angry, scared and really? They have a right to be. They are uneducated about the drilling and fracking process. They learn that the coctail used to frac is a secret, and they really don't know if a frac to a hole is going to interfere with the water supply - it's safer not to let it happen.

But yet, it's just another bunch of idians trying to get more money.

[marxman]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

no punctuation, no different

all right, so what do you think of the article? is he saying anything that needs to be said or is he gravely dancing around with importance? i must admit he can only do so much with the cbc

[brownbomber]

Forgiveness would be good and it should happen. Forget not so much, I don't mean dwell on it and use it as a crutch but to understand people today it helps to admit the past.
My perspective is this. Native people are their own worst enemy, the stereotype that blames whitey for all of life's misfortunes these are the people that won't or can't forgive the past. The "system" natives... These are often but not always the guys who are smart enough to "get it", but they have self interest in mind so they blame whitey too, they know how to move on but don't because as soon as you do the electorate is behind the next guy who says the government owes us something and they buy it... Meaning bye bye forward thinking councillor. The system needs this because if the people empower themselves and move on with they don't want their favourite govt uncle looking over their shoulder telling them "what a bunch of good little indians"
Then there are people like me who go to work, pay taxes, take the kids to school, don't mind whitey ( esp the chicks lol jk) and just exist like everybody else.... We are get this... The biggest part of the problem... Because we simply don't give a rhymes with mitt about native politics and apologies, the people who should be taking care of things are more concerned about getting into a bop course before the ticket expires, making the truck payment and loosing that last 10 pounds than fixing things.
So how do we fix it then? It's a lot more complicated than most think.

Now let's address the negative stuff. Somebody is gonna come on here and say that's not true, your people don't work you must be .0003 % or whatever bs that donkeys like that come up with. Not true. You simply don't see it, people are so fixated in what you believe about people that so many hide in plain sight because nobody wants to scream "hey I'm a Indian" because they are thinking about what's on PPV tonight.

I know lots of people have their minds made up already but this is just a little food for thought.