'Idle No More'

Just to bring the most current media exchange to this thread, realizing a number of days has passes and each of these days discussed different things, including a messages from the Queen (a letter, although controversial), more solidarity amongst some chiefs, along with speculation on Atleo (he has been ill) and the usual political posturing.

Today the Liberals and NDP came together and signed chief Spence’s “declaration”. Harper and the Governor General still have not agreed to meet.

In short, here is a short preamble, along with the declaration part, and with a link to the fuller story.

_http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/01/23/attawapiskat-spence-hunger-strike.html

The Headline

Chief Theresa Spence to end hunger strike Thursday

Spence to wrap it up after NDPs, Liberals and chiefs sign her declaration

CBC (snip) said:
Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence has decided to end her six-week-long hunger strike after members of the Assembly of First Nations and the Liberal and New Democrat caucuses agreed to back a list of commitments supporting aboriginal issues.

Representatives from the AFN, the NDP caucus and the Liberal caucus have all signed a declaration of specific commitments asked for by Spence. Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae, who was in Sarnia Wednesday, will also be signing the 13-point declaration.

[…]

Declaration calls for many actions

Spence and a couple of her closest confidantes crafted a declaration of the chief's concerns.

A copy of the declaration, obtained by CBC News, lists 13 commitments:

• An immediate meeting between the Crown, the federal and provincial governments, and all First Nations to discuss treaty and non-treaty-related relationships.

• Clear work plans and timelines, and a demand that the housing crisis within First Nations communities be considered as a short-term immediate action.

• Frameworks and mandates for implementation and enforcement of treaties on a nation-to-nation basis.

• Reforming and modifying a land-claims policy

• A commitment towards resource revenue sharing, requiring the participation of provinces and territories.

• A commitment towards sustained environmental oversight over First Nations lands

• A review of Bill C-38 and C-45 to ensure consistency with constitutional requirements about consultation with aboriginal peoples.

• Ensure that all federal legislation has the consent of First Nations where inherent and Treaty rights are affected

• The removal of funding caps and the indexing of payments made to First Nations.

• An inquiry into violence against indigenous women.

• Equity in capital construction of First Nation schools and additional funding support for First Nation languages.

• A dedicated cabinet committee and secretariat within the Privy Council Office responsible for the First Nation-Crown relationship.

• Full implementation of the United Nations declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples.
 
As the hunger strike has ended awhile back, and the press have moved their lenses away for other attractions, almost missed this if not for a friend sending it my way. Did not realize the symbolism behind this until checking it out:

PS. Don’t recall this being on the MSN.

_http://kolonialq.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/kwakwakawakw-chief-performe-shaming-rite/

snip said:
First Nations Chief to Perform Rare Shaming Rite Against Harper Government
FEBRUARY 10, 2013

“To be shamed was one of the worst things that could happen to you,” Cranmer said, adding: “What Beau Dick is doing is more symbolic than anything.”

A traditional Kwakwaka’wakw ceremony that has not been performed for decades will take place Sunday on the legislature lawn as a symbolic shaming of the federal government.

A copper — a metal plaque traditionally used to measure the status, wealth and power of Kwakwaka’wakw chiefs — will be broken by hereditary Chief Beau Dick, who has walked from Quatsino, near Port Hardy, with family members and supporters. “The copper is a symbol of justice, truth and balance, and to break one is a threat, a challenge and can be an insult,” Dick said. “If you break copper on someone and shame them, there should be an apology.”
[…]
The Idle No More movement is helping people connect the dots about issues such as corrupt corporate values and disappearing salmon stocks, Dick said. “I want change. I want everyone to have equal rights and be able to live harmoniously,” she said. “Most of all, I want a future for our children. What we are leaving them is very minimal.”

Coppers play an important role in Kwakwaka’wakw ceremonies, but copper cutting stopped in the 1950s, said ‘Namgis Chief Bill Cranmer.
“Our people were using coppers to fight each other,” he said.

Cutting copper was done if someone had been insulted. If that person could not cut a bigger piece of copper with a similar value, they were shamed. “To be shamed was one of the worst things that could happen to you,” Cranmer said, adding: “What Beau Dick is doing is more symbolic than anything.”

Of course, the C's say a few things about copper, too.

Here is a video of the ceremony:

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1jVQRleqRAI

There is also note from what the Gov is playing at, and it is not new:

_http://elysebruce.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/idle-no-more-harper-launches-major-first-nations-termination-plan/

Idle No More: Harper Launches Major First Nations Termination Plan:

As Negotiating Tables Legitimize Canada’s Colonialism[/b]
On September 4th the Harper government clearly signaled its intention to:

1) Focus all its efforts to assimilate First Nations into the existing federal and provincial orders of government of Canada;

2) Terminate the constitutionally protected and internationally recognized Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty rights of First Nations.

Termination in this context means the ending of First Nations pre-existing sovereign status through federal coercion of First Nations into Land Claims and Self-Government Final Agreements that convert First Nations into municipalities, their reserves into fee simple lands and extinguishment of their Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty Rights.

To do this the Harper government announced three new policy measures:

• A “results based” approach to negotiating Modern Treaties and Self-Government Agreements. This is an assessment process of 93 negotiation tables across Canada to determine who will and who won’t agree to terminate Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty rights under the terms of Canada’s Comprehensive Claims and Self-Government policies. For those tables who won’t agree, negotiations will end as the federal government withdraws from the table and takes funding with them.
• First Nation regional and national political organizations will have their core funding cut and capped. For regional First Nation political organizations the core funding will be capped at $500,000 annually. For some regional organizations this will result in a funding cut of $1 million or more annually. This will restrict the ability of Chiefs and Executives of Provincial Territorial organization’s to organize and/or advocate for First Nations rights and interests.
• First Nation Band and Tribal Council funding for advisory services will be eliminated over the next two years further crippling the ability of Chiefs and Councils and Tribal Council executives to analyze and assess the impacts of federal and provincial policies and legislation on Inherent, Aboriginal and Treaty rights.

These three new policy measures are on top of the following unilateral federal legislation the Harper government is imposing over First Nations:

Bill C-27: First Nations Financial Transparency Act
• Bill C-45: Jobs and Growth Act, 2012 [Omnibus Bill includes Indian Act amendments regarding voting on-reserve lands surrenders/designations]
• Bill S-2: Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial Interests or Rights Act
• Bill S-6: First Nations Elections Act
• Bill S-8: Safe Drinking Water for First Nations
• Bill C-428: Indian Act Amendment and Replacement Act [Private Conservative MP’s Bill, but supported by Harper government]

Then there are the Senate Public Bills:

Bill S-207: An Act to amend the Interpretation Act (non derogation of aboriginal and treaty rights)
• Bill S-212: First Nations Self-Government Recognition Bill


The Harper government’s Bills listed above are designed to undermine the collective rights of First Nations by focusing on individual rights. This is the “modern legislative framework” the Conservatives promised in 2006. The 2006 Conservative Platform promised to:

Replace the Indian Act (and related legislation) with a modern legislative framework which provides for the devolution of full legal and democratic responsibility to aboriginal Canadians for their own affairs within the Constitution, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Of course “modern” in Conservative terms means assimilation of First Nations by termination of their collective rights and off-loading federal responsibilities onto the First Nations themselves and the provinces.

One Bill that hasn’t been introduced into Parliament yet, but is still expected, is the First Nations’ Private Ownership Act (FNPOA). This private property concept for Indian Reserves—which has been peddled by the likes of Tom Flanagan and tax proponent and former Kamloops Chief Manny Jules—is also a core plank of the Harper government’s 2006 electoral platform.

The 2006 Conservative Aboriginal Platform promised that if elected a Harper government would:

Support the development of individual property ownership on reserves, to encourage lending for private housing and businesses.

The long-term goals set out in the Harper government’s policy and legislative initiatives listed above are not new; they are at least as old as the Indian Act and were articulated in the federal 1969 White Paper on Indian Policy, which set out a plan to terminate Indian rights as the time.


This goes on to quote the other earlier attempts by other governments with a summery at the end.

Finally, and of possible interest, osit, is this pdf by the Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe called the:


Ally Bill of Responsibilities

_http://www.lynngehl.com/uploads/5/0/0/4/5004954/ally_bill_of_responsibilities_poster.pdf

This 16 point Bill of Responsibilities are from the Allies of the Idle No More and as a example, here is number 8:

Strive to remain critical thinkers and seek out the knowledge and wisdom of the critical thinkers in the group. Allies cannot assume that all people are critical thinkers and have a good understanding of the larger power structures of oppression;
 
During the early days of this campaign, when the MSN were lining up schooled authorities to speak to the masses, CBC featured this man, Tom Flanagan, of the UoC ,who i think was a one time campaign manager for Harper's rule; here he is being shunned by his comments. Back then, read a few things he was discussing early on and though then he was being rolled out to help gather and promote a distorted worldview on the Idle No More issues; he kept popping up and had a bad feeling about him and the roll he was playing.

Here he is interviewed on CBC _http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/TV+Shows/The+National/ID/2323881230/ and is coming in from a remote location. During the beginning, he was often featured, so there are many articles or newscasts with him speaking.

Today however, his life just changed, it is now that this same man is being drummed out of the limelight due to comments he made in 2009 about Pedophiles; once again, it was people from the Idle no More group at the UoL who questioned him on video, which has now rocked networks.

Ottawa Citizen said:
On Wednesday evening, Levi Little Mustache and other Idle No More supporters trooped to the University of Lethbridge to challenge Tom Flanagan — a towering figure in Canada’s conservative movement — over his controversial views on First Nations.

Instead, it was Flanagan’s comments questioning the harm of child pornography — made in response to questions from Little Mustache and captured on a cellphone video — that left his political and media career in tatters, and will mean he heads into his planned retirement at the University of Calgary under a cloud of controversy....

_http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Embattled+conservative+strategist+Flanagan+apoligizes/8029677/story.html#sthash.v1odiCgs.dpuf

Unrelated, yet posted today by a Romona Big Head, a Ph.D student speaking to Flanagan (assume at the UoC), discusses some of his slants against native peoples as he sits at the head of the class and listens.

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRnEyoQ6oqg

Interesting times.
 
Idle No More has certainly faded from the news, however, just this past week, from an individual idea of youth, and then more gathering together, completed their trek from Hudson Bay to Ottawa. They started out on snowshoes, and then completeted this journey of > 1,600 km, often in -40c conditions, upon the steps of Parliament.

Cree walkers meet minister at end of Idle No More trek
'Journey of the People' ends with crowds cheering aboriginal youth on Parliament Hill

CBC News
Posted: Mar 25, 2013 6:44 AM ET

{video attached} _http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/03/25/ottawa-walk-nishiyuu-journey-ends-ottawa-parliament-victoria.html

snip said:
A group of young people from the James Bay Cree community of Whapmagoostui, Que., has arrived at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, ending a 1,600-kilometre trek meant to bring attention to aboriginal issues.

Six youths and a guide left Whapmagoostui in January to snowshoe and walk to Ottawa in support of the Idle No More movement. They called the trek "The Journey of Nishiyuu," which means "The Journey of the People" in Cree.

The group numbered nearly 400 in the trek's final hours, according to volunteers and Gatineau police, after other children and youth from Cree and Algonquin communities joined them along the way. Thousands more people joined them on Monday afternoon at Parliament Hill as their journey came to an end.

The group's wish to meet with the prime minister was not met, as Stephen Harper was in Toronto Monday for a special ceremony to greet two Chinese pandas en route to the Toronto Zoo....

Yes, he was just too busy to meet them (timing is everything), and was handled into an economic quid pro quo with the Chinese delegates who were bringing Panda's to the zoo as a show of good faith and trade.
 
Was not sure were to put this documentary, and this seemed a fitting place. It is about particular tribes in America this time, yet people have no boundaries except as imposed.

The file is from 1985 that many here may have seen and likely many also have not. It was not listed in a search here, so hopefully i've not reproduced from another thread.

The film is called Broken Arrow filmed in 1985 that recounts the history of the Navajo and Hopi tribes in the U.S. near the four corners. The film speaks to many issues and highlights the pathological natures of those manipulating and essentially killing these people. The descriptions of deeds done reek from those engage in the pathocratic leadership.

(>1 hr in length) _http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W5z8OgMfXXc

A couple of things (Americans readers will know some of the terms and Federal and State mandates) noticed. The Navajo and Hopi lived adjacent to one another and then were mixed together by dictates. Thereafter the lands were annexed and people relocated as if it was Palestine. Peoples were forced off their lands, trees bulldozed, their live stock killed, their children infected by toxins in the ground brought to the surface and steel barbwire fences erected to keep them off their lands.

Along came modern demands for coal and uranium and it lay beneath the Hopi and Navajo. Enters Lawyer John Boyden who convinced Washington and the state, utilizing every underhanded trick known (including the top lobby groups with their lies), to create internal Navajo or Hopi manufactured tentions (there were none) and committees to negotiate leases, and you guessed it, he was the lawyer representing the tribes. And as in any corrupt system, he was also the lawyer for Peabody Coal Co. who was owned by Bechtel, Flour Corp., Boieng, Newmont Mining, Equitable {now that is a sick name reference} Life Insurance and Williams Co., the buyers of the leases. He collected lease or state funds, raked his 1/3 off the top and collected fees from his clients, too - what a guy. Back in Washington, just like today, some voted in new bills and acts and then signed on with the beneficiaries who profited. This film further goes on to look at many of the conditions, the scarfing of the soils, the toxins unleashed upon these peoples, both physically and psychologically.

@ around the 39:00 minute mark, a Hopi elder talks about, in essence, The Signs of The Times you will know, which equated to wind, rain, snow - weather and mass change brought on to people.

Just to add one other short film, this one is called Red Crow says goodbye. Red Crow is speaking to his friends in Ireland who have suffered under the British. Red Crow spent time with them and is addressing them in this film.

Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman bids farewell to this world and sends a special greeting to his Irish friends. American Indian Movement "Minister of Culture" passes into the spirit world.

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa5xwjE4T9kUploaded on Dec 13, 2007

It was noticed also that he says, in essence also, that We were told that we will see America come and go - it will be in the signs, he says.
 
voyageur said:
Was not sure were to put this documentary, and this seemed a fitting place. It is about particular tribes in America this time, yet people have no boundaries except as imposed.

The file is from 1985 that many here may have seen and likely many also have not. It was not listed in a search here, so hopefully i've not reproduced from another thread.

The film is called Broken Arrow filmed in 1985 that recounts the history of the Navajo and Hopi tribes in the U.S. near the four corners. The film speaks to many issues and highlights the pathological natures of those manipulating and essentially killing these people. The descriptions of deeds done reek from those engage in the pathocratic leadership.

(>1 hr in length) _http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W5z8OgMfXXc

A couple of things (Americans readers will know some of the terms and Federal and State mandates) noticed. The Navajo and Hopi lived adjacent to one another and then were mixed together by dictates. Thereafter the lands were annexed and people relocated as if it was Palestine. Peoples were forced off their lands, trees bulldozed, their live stock killed, their children infected by toxins in the ground brought to the surface and steel barbwire fences erected to keep them off their lands.

Along came modern demands for coal and uranium and it lay beneath the Hopi and Navajo. Enters Lawyer John Boyden who convinced Washington and the state, utilizing every underhanded trick known (including the top lobby groups with their lies), to create internal Navajo or Hopi manufactured tentions (there were none) and committees to negotiate leases, and you guessed it, he was the lawyer representing the tribes. And as in any corrupt system, he was also the lawyer for Peabody Coal Co. who was owned by Bechtel, Flour Corp., Boieng, Newmont Mining, Equitable {now that is a sick name reference} Life Insurance and Williams Co., the buyers of the leases. He collected lease or state funds, raked his 1/3 off the top and collected fees from his clients, too - what a guy. Back in Washington, just like today, some voted in new bills and acts and then signed on with the beneficiaries who profited. This film further goes on to look at many of the conditions, the scarfing of the soils, the toxins unleashed upon these peoples, both physically and psychologically.

@ around the 39:00 minute mark, a Hopi elder talks about, in essence, The Signs of The Times you will know, which equated to wind, rain, snow - weather and mass change brought on to people.

I have just watched Broken Rainbow. It left me thinking that the police state has always been here for several groups, hasn't it? The aftermath of the Boston Bombings has heralded another turning point, OSIT, for white people, but if we look at the Hopis and Navajos it has always been that way, ever since the Europeans set foot on American shore. They were also forced into agriculture.
I do so understand why you compare them to the Palestinians. Especially, when you see the government erecting a dreadful fence with barbed wire. The amount of people that have died from heartache is staggering. I was trying to wrap my head around it, but couldn't. This is psychopathic behaviour at its worst. Not only did they destroy the people, but also the culture of self-reliance, of the land, mother earth. These people did not have to pay taxes, earned their keep their way. After the relocation they had to pay for water, electricity, taxes. Cut off from their people, the land and the sheep. No wonder they fell into despair.

I loved the last scene where you see the people that stayed digging out the poles of the fence. The smile of the older lady is priceless. They have become warriors, OSIT.

Unfortunately, it is not clear to me what has happened to them. There was no epilogue or anything like that.
 
Mariama said:
… Especially, when you see the government erecting a dreadful fence with barbed wire.

[…]

Unfortunately, it is not clear to me what has happened to them. There was no epilogue or anything like that.

Yes, and there was the scene where they talked about pre WWII relocation to the camps saying that the Nazi’s modeld their camps the same (it was a brief comment).

This unknown epilogue got me curious to look at this original 1974 Bill P.L.93-531, signed in by Pres Ford – and what has happened since.

From Colorado Education site _http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/tsc/deep.html the following is mentioned:

Current Events
Peabody Western Coal's Kayenta Mine permit expired in the spring of 1995, but has been renewed by the Office of Surface Mining (OSM). The OSM's go-ahead was granted in spite of overwhelming testimony by local residents concerning serious and severe effects on their health, livelihoods and well being caused by mining activities. These activities include blasting, surface vegetation stripping, inadequate reclamation, and air and ground water contamination by particulates and chemicals in amounts known to have injurious effects on the health of humans, plants, and animals.

The OSM has disregarded its charge to enforce the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), as well as its Trust Responsibility to Native American Nations, and has refused to remedy the causes of virtually every complaint made by, or on behalf of, Black Mesa residents.

Attempts by relocation resistors to gain justice from U.S. and Tribal governments have been altogether unsuccesful. As a result of the Federal Court mediation attempting to resolve the dispute, an "Agreement In Principal" (AIP) has been proposed which states, in effect, that the Hopi Tribal Council will be the landlords of the traditional Dineh. Stipulations include prohibitions on business ownership and gravesites. The Dineh resistors rejected the AIP by a vote of 206 to 1. This rejection was met with an intensified livestock impoundment campaign as well as a tenfold increase in release rate fines for the livestock. Otherwise, the mediation process has reached a standstill.

At the behest of the Dineh Alliance and other Environmental Justice advocacy groups, two investigations were undertaken regarding the legality of Peabody's mining operations. The first investigation, by the General Accounting Office (GAO) was terminated upon Republican takeover of Congress. The second investigation was conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Characterized by its disregard for the input of affected residents, the final report irresponsibly exonerated Peabody Coal and the OSM of any wrongdoing, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

The one current that has shown itself effective is grassroots action by resistors and outside supporters. Permaculture and other material support projects continue and are maturing, proving the validity of operating under the direct guidance of and with fully open and transparent accountability to the elders of the traditional resistance communities.

So the same powers are still ruining their lives.

While looking, came up with this also as it concerns their water rights, and as always, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) lurks.

This Bill as stated in the New York Times, was introduced as Bill 2109 and was put in motion in 2012 by Kyl and McCain and its status, as I can find, is this: _https://politics.nytimes.com/congress/bills/112/s2109

Feb. 14, 2012 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR S621-636)

So this is new to me and it appears the “Bill” died, yet based on the following, it will be back for these people, and it appears tPtB are working on the manipulation further still.

However, here are some additional notes:
_http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/senate-bill-2109-seeks-to-extinguish-navajo-and-hopi-water-rights.html

Senate Bill 2109 45; the "Navajo-Hopi Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Act of 2012" was introduced by Kyl and McCain on February 14, 2012, and is on a fast track to give Arizona corporations and water interests a "100 th birthday present" that will close the door forever on Navajo and Hopi food and water sovereignty, security and self-reliance.

The full Bill 2109 45 can be found here _http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s2109/text if interested.

There is another article from the Navajo Times from March of the same year that speaks further on this McCain Bill.
_http://www.navajotimes.com/news/2012/0312/032912water.php

And then further to April of the same year in the site called “the Narcosphere”
_http://narcosphere.narconews.com/

Remembering how they described how the committees were set up back when Peabody’s Lawyer, John Boyden, fixed them to their needs, so this “Nation” committee, against the will of the people, have done the same by hiring a new PR firm to help sell or co-opt the ideas.

The Navajo Nation has hired an aggressive pro-mining firm to push through the theft of Navajo and Hopi water rights for the benefit of non-Indians and corporations in Arizona. The firm was hired over the protests of the Navajo people. The scheme would rob Navajos and Hopis of water rights to the Little Colorado River.

Klee Benally, Navajo, said that Navajo President Ben Shelly and the tribal government are using the peoples money to hire the firm, while disposing of their water rights to the Little Colorado River for future generations.

Of course Peabody is still, after all those years, the very same, with insatiable thirsts it seems:

From Censored News _http://bsnorrell.blogspot.ca/2012/04/hopi-and-navajo-former-leaders-respond.html April 12 of 2012:

snip said:
It requires the tribes to give Peabody Western Coal Company and the Salt River Project (SRP) and other owners of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) tens of thousands of acre-feet of tribal water annually, without compensation. In other words, it gives NGS, a corporate entity, a federal water right. It also requires the tribes to extend the Peabody and NGS leases to 2044 without regard for past and continuing harmful impacts to our health, water supplies, water quality and damage to our precious Navajo Aquifer, as a necessary pre-condition to receiving minimal domestic water pipelines.

Unfortunately, by degree, this is the reality today that knows no boundary's, borders or continents and bears-down on all.
 
This is not a new update, just something that was passed along that i thought i would share, and is applicable anywhere around the world to peoples of the land.

_http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/dru/15493

What if Natives Stop Subsidizing Canada?

There is a prevailing myth that Canada's more than 600 First Nations and native communities live off of money -- subsidies -- from the Canadian government. This myth, though it is loudly proclaimed and widely believed, is remarkable for its boldness; widely accessible, verifiable facts show that the opposite is true.

Indigenous people have been subsidizing Canada for a very long time.

Conservatives have leaked documents in an attempt to discredit chief Theresa Spence, currently on hunger strike in Ottawa. Reporters like Jeffrey Simpson and Christie Blatchford have ridiculed the demands of native leaders and the protest movement Idle No More. Their ridicule rests on this foundational untruth: that it is hard-earned tax dollars of Canadians that pays for housing, schools and health services in First Nations. The myth carries a host of racist assumptions on its back. It enables prominent voices like Simpson and Blatchford to liken protesters' demands to "living in a dream palace" or "horse manure," respectively.

It's true that Canada's federal government controls large portions of the cash flow First Nations depend on. Much of the money used by First Nations to provide services does come from the federal budget. But the accuracy of the myth ends there.

On the whole, the money that First Nations receive is a small fraction of the value of the resources, and the government revenue, that comes out of their territories. Let's look at a few examples.

Barriere Lake

The Algonquins of Barriere Lake have a traditional territory that spans 10,000 square kilometres. For thousands of years, they have made continuous use of the land. They have never signed a treaty giving up their rights to the land. An estimated $100 million per year in revenues are extracted every year from their territory in the form of logging, hydroelectric dams, and recreational hunting and fishing.

And yet the community lives in third-world conditions. A diesel generator provides power, few jobs are available, and families live in dilapidated bungalows. These are not the lifestyles of a community with a $100 million economy in its back yard. In some cases, governments are willing to spend lavishly. They spared no expense, for example, sending 50 fully-equipped riot police from Montreal to break up a peaceful road blockade with tear gas and physical coercion.

Barriere Lake is subsidizing the logging industry, Canada, and Quebec.

The community isn't asking for the subsidies to stop, just for some jobs and a say in how their traditional territories are used. They've been fighting for these demands for decades.

Attawapiskat

Attawapiskat has been in the news because their ongoing housing crisis came to the attention of the media in 2011. (MP Charlie Angus referred to the poverty-stricken community as "Haiti at 40 below.") More recently, Chief Theresa Spence has made headlines for her ongoing hunger strike. The community is near James Bay, in Ontario's far north.

Right now, DeBeers is constructing a $1 billion mine on the traditional territory of the Āhtawāpiskatowi ininiwak. Anticipated revenues will top $6.7 billion. Currently, the Conservative government is subjecting the budget of the Cree to extensive scrutiny. But the total amount transferred to the First Nation since 2006 -- $90 million -- is a little more than one per cent of the anticipated mine revenues. As a percentage, that's a little over half of Harper's cut to GST.

Royalties from the mine do not go to the First Nation, but straight to the provincial government. The community has received some temporary jobs in the mine, and future generations will have to deal with the consequences of a giant open pit mine in their back yard.

Attawapiskat is subsidizing DeBeers, Canada and Ontario.

Lubicon

The Lubicon Cree, who never signed a treaty ceding their land rights, have waged a decades-long campaign for land rights. During this time, over $14 billion in oil and gas has been removed from their traditional territory. During the same period, the community has gone without running water, endured divisive attacks from the government, and suffered the environmental consequences of unchecked extraction.

Sour gas flaring next to the community resulted in an epidemic of health problems and stillborn babies. Moose and other animals fled the area, rendering the community's previously self-sufficient lifestyle untenable overnight. In 2011, an oil pipeline burst, spilling 4.5 million litres of oil onto Lubicon territory. The Lubicon remain without a treaty, and the extraction continues.

The Lubicon Cree are subsidizing the oil and gas sector, Alberta and Canada.

What will Canada do without its subsidies?

From the days of beaver trapping to today's aspirations of becoming an energy superpower, Canada's economy has always been based on natural resources. With 90 per cent of its settler population amassed along the southern border, exploitation of the land's wealth almost always happens at the expense of the Indigenous population.

Canada's economy could not have been built without massive subsidies: of land, resource wealth, and the incalculable cost of generations of suffering.

Overall numbers are difficult to pin down, but consider the following: Canadian governments received $9 billion in taxes and royalties in 2011 from mining companies, which is a tiny portion of overall mining profits; $3.8 billion came from exports of hydroelectricity alone in 2008, and 60 per cent of Canada's electricity comes from hydroelectric dams; one estimate has tar sands extraction bringing in $1.2 trillion in royalties over 35 years; the forestry industry was worth $38.2 billion in 2006, and contributes billions in royalties and taxes.

By contrast, annual government spending on First Nations was $5.36 billion in 2005 (it's slightly higher now). By any reasonable measure, it's clear that First Nations are the ones subsidizing Canada.

These industries are mostly taking place on an Indigenous nation's traditional territory, laying waste to the land in the process, submerging, denuding, polluting and removing. The human costs are far greater; brutal tactics aimed at erasing native peoples' identity and connection with the land have created human tragedies several generations deep and a legacy of fierce and principled resistance that continues today.

Canada has developed myriad mechanisms to keep the pressure on and the resources flowing. But policies of large-scale land theft and subordination of peoples are not disposed to half measures. From the active violence of residential schools to the targetted neglect of underfunded reserve schools, from RCMP and armed forces rifles to provincial police tear gas canisters, the extraction of these subsidies has always been treated like a game of Risk, but with real consequences.

Break the treaty, press the advantage, and don't let a weaker player rebuild.

Idle? Know More.

The last residential school was shut down in 1996. Canadians today would like to imagine themselves more humane than past generations, but few can name the Indigenous nations of this land or the treaties that allow Canada and Canadians to exist.

Understanding the subsidies native people give to Canada is just the beginning. Equally crucial is understanding the mechanisms by which the government forces native people to choose every day between living conditions out of a World Vision advertisement and hopelessness on one hand, and the pollution and social problems of short-term resource exploitation projects on the other.

Empathy and remorse are great reasons to act to dismantle this ugly system of expropriation. But an even better reason is that Indigenous nations present the best and only partners in taking care of our environment. Protecting our rivers, lakes, forests and oceans is best done by people with a multi-millenial relationship with the land.

As the people who live downstream and downwind, and who have an ongoing relationship to the land, Cree, Dene, Anishnabe, Inuit, Ojibway and other nations are among the best placed and most motivated to slow down and stop the industrial gigaprojects that are threatening all of our lives.

Movements like Idle No More give a population asleep at the wheel the chance to wake up and hear what native communities have been saying for hundreds of years: it's time to withdraw our consent from this dead-end regime, and chart a new course.
 
I've tried to keep notice of what here, in Canada, is called 'The Truth and Reconciliation Commission' that has been in the background, yet relates to this threads title. As the name denotes, this is mostly, not all, related to "Residential Schools" and the ugliness that was allowed to happen unchecked by government, who even participated knowingly.

Anyway, today this video was released concerning a Truth and Reconciliation venue in BC, whereby many elders came, along with many others from different walks of life. The goings on here were not completely accepted by some tribal communities, or at least spokespersons. Be that as it may, in probably almost all forms of governments or groups, there is always the risk of co-opting, either the message or the whole process - think people have seen many an example. However, here, something is going on that is unusual for western societies and people are noticing and "standing" to ensure these abuses never happen again. Unfortunately, abuses continue evermore by the PTB, they are just more subtle sometimes, like the school bully who has learned new ways to get away with their bulling, more often creating more victims in their wake.

Here in this film, people very quickly realize that there is a lot of old wounds hidden away and elders, some for the very first time, are able to shed some of their lifelong burdens - this is very hard. The film depicts a large coming together of different tribes along with their individual pains, and includes people from healthcare and others to help ease their souls by talking and comfort.

Finding Truth and Reconciliation

_http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/BC/ID/2411710135/

Duncan McCue gets a behind-the-scenes look at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's work, a massive effort to try to acknowledge and draw attention to the scars left by the country's residential school system.
 
Good find Voyageur. I've lived with that myth of native Canadians "living off taxpayer money" for a long time and have known they have been suffering the fate of a conquered people - however the facts shown in your posting speak for themselves. The amount of resources taken from their land is just staggering.

Thank you for keeping us apprised of the native Canadian issue :)
 
I've not come back to this thread in sometime, and of course much has happened that could have been put here.

The following concerns an address made in disgust from an Australian journalist (indigenous) working for The Guardian, Stan Grant. He is not part of the 'Idle No More' discourse in the North American continent, no, he is addressing the issue of Australia.

The article is from ABC, so was surprised they would have reported on it. However, here is the link and short quote. I've added the youtube video with the theme the words that Grant was accused of, accused of having a “nostalgia for injustice”.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-30/stan-grant-speaks-of-'boiling-anger'-over-detention-footage/7674778

snip said:
Four Corners: Stan Grant speaks of 'boiling anger', 'simmering resentment' over detention abuse videos

Indigenous broadcaster Stan Grant has delivered an impassioned speech, describing his "pulsating rage" and "simmering resentment" about the way Aboriginal youths have been treated.

Stan Grant UNSW Wallace Wurth Speech Excerpt

Published on Jul 29, 2016

Stan Grant, tonight awarded an honorary doctorate by UNSW, delivers the Wallace Wurth Lecture "From Reconciliation to Rights: Shaping a Bigger Australia." This is a 5-minute excerpt from his powerful speech. Full speech soon available on this channel.

 
Wow! So soft-spoken and, yet, powerful are his words in that video, voyageur. Thank you for posting it.
 
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