A Brief Comment by Doug Draper
I made a New Years resolution that I would better control my temper this year in the face of government malfeasance. So much for that resolutions. I hope you can keep yours.
Canadian Native Chief Theresa Spence.
I blew that resolution around noon this December 4 when Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper – holding a media conference at a Ford Motors plant in Oakville, Ontario to announce $250 million in tax bribes to keep American auto makers operating in Canada – was asked about Attawakiskat Native Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike, by then up to its 25th day.
With those dead, shark-like eyes and that droning tone of voice that sounds like a message you would get if you called Rogers Communications or some other of Harper’s corporate friends to complain about the service you are receiving from them.
At any rate, Harper droned on about how he will finally meet later this January with Canada’s Native representatives – the reason Chief Spence began her hunger strike in the first place – to discuss Native grievances over third-world conditions in reservations they were granted by us white folk some hundred or more years ago, and how their people continue to be treated like human garbage by a country that pretends to be first-world, G7 and civilized.
Harper, the arrogant dictator that he is (sorry to offend, but this is the most uncompassionate, in-the-pockets-of-big-oil and whatever else has big money to grease him PM we’ve had – he makes Chretien and Martin look like church boys), and the least intelligently deep prime minister (meaning he really ain’t that smart) I can remember in my 62 years as a born Canadian. Harper’s unwillingness to even mention Chief Spence’s name as she continues a hunger strike that is now making news around the world speaks volumes for how little the government we have gives a shit about the people who were native to this continent before most of the rest of us were.
Harper’s response to questions at the Oakville event, where many Native Canadian and other protesters stood outside in the cold in support of Chief Spence, speaks volumes for what a small, putrid man this prime minister is going down to be in the history of Canada.
How can anyone in this country who cares about the common good – about the health and welfare of you and I, of our neighbours ,and of the diversity of people that make Canada rich – give Harper and his minions one more vote of support. This is a bunch that is sinking in the tar sands which are about the only thing they care about. They are a stain on this country’s history.
As a final note, when one looks at the deplorable conditions Canada’s native are living in, including the fact that many reservations do not have proper faciltities for treating water for home use, it is surprising that this country and its government have not been brought before the World Court.
(Niagara At Large invites only those who dare to share their first and last name to share their views on this post below.)
Niagara At Large 
Great news! The Harpercons are now ramping up the sale of assault-style weapons to Colombia.
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Couldn’t agree more with you, Doug, this despotic, egotistical maniac has done more harm to this country than I have ever seen in all of my seventy years. I cannot believe that so many voted for this wing nut and his gang, including John “Mad Dog” Baird,. Jim “What Deficit?” Flaherty, and Deputy Leader, Van “Looney” Loan. My fellow Canadians even voted back in, Bev “Odourous” Oda. So many back benchers petrified to say a word on our behalf for fear of this Dictator. We do not have representation, we have totalitarianism in its most advanced stage.
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Doug you probably would have given me shit for rendering your same thoughts on paper…Chuckle But Sir I admire the fact that you do see and have had enough from this sickening scum who have literally taken over this “Once” great and compassionate country.
That the corporate medias are now failing in their constant blitz to hid the reality of this sick son of a b….is Heart warming and I can’t wait for the next general election (if they can’t prevent another election that is) But we still have co workers, neighbors and would be friends along with Corporate Canada spewing out propaganda and money to protect their interests whether it be the bottom line on a profit and loss statement or the Ideology that there are better then we folk who love and honor this country.
THANK YOU DOUG for Truth and Honesty
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Doug, the young women and men leading Idle No More (those I have met in the local movement anyway) provide a fine example of making change in love and peace not anger. They are an inspiration!
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Holy page full of FAIL Batman.
Doug you’ve sunk to new lows with your ad hominum attacks on an elected representative. Sure he lies — name one politician other than Ron Paul who doesn’t (and Ron is no longer a politician, if he ever was).
Why don’t you investigate what dieter – NOT hunger striker — Teresa Spence has done with the $90 Million tax dollars her band has received since 2006? She drives an Escalade on a reserve with few roads, while many of her people live in squalor.
The Conartists are attempting to make Native “leaders” — I use that term grudgingly — accountable. They want Native Chiefs to open their books, which the Chiefs are terrified of doing, because then the truth of their corruption will be known world wide.
The Conartists are not demanding Native schools give up those cool hunting and fishing and courses. They want Native schools to have the same academic standards as those off reserves. That’s not racist, it’s inclusive.
The Conartists want to make ALL Canadians equal, instead of the race-based apartheid system we have now, in which those deemed Native by birth receive greater rights and share fewer responsibilities than non-Natives.
Those are noble goals, even if you disagree with many of their other positions.
The look of Harper’s eyes and the sound of his voice have no bearing on politics.
The fat lady’s diet — NOT hunger strike — is blackmail, pure and simple. If Harper meets her then he’ll have to meet every scheming wanna-be criminal who does the same demand — and yes if she squandered $90 Million that makes her a criminal.
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Dave, tks. I thought your comments were a bit harsh, but the more I looked into this you’re actually quite accurate.
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I’m afraid that I, too, have to disagree with you on this one Doug. Far too many of Canada’s native leaders are just like their white polticial counterparts — out to fatten their own bank account at the expense of their own people.
I have to agree with most of what Mr Chappelle has to say in his comments above.
I have a huge amount of respect for Canada’s First Nations people – their dignity (for the most part), their love of mother earth etc.
But as long as we continue the “welfare” mindset that has been in effect for the past 100 or more years, many First Nations people will continue to live in squalor, while others amass great wealth.
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That is one of the many myths about our indigenous people. The average salary of a chief is $36,000. Please view Idle No More Alberta – Dr. Pamela Palmater” (Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4) on Youtube. Click on the link below to reply to the myth about “free housing” relevant to your “‘welfare’ mindset” comment.
http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/08/07/the-free-housing-for-natives-myth/. The level of misunderstanding about our indigenous peoples has to be changed in our schools, mainstream media and we have to take responsibility for it ourselves.
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Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Chappelle, this is a great nation that we have all helped make together. Part of it’s greatness is that you are free to say what you want about what you want, but frankly, our local Native youth leaders in Niagara are doing a great job sacrificing their time and putting out the effort and goodwill to make this country better. I am sure that if you loved what Canada truly is you could see a future where strong First Nations are a part of a strong future. Your criticisms may have some merit, but the point is that I have spent my holiday out trying to make the world a better place through action and engagement, and I invite you to bring goodwill to any idle no more Niagara event and help us shape our future with Canada’s future in a good way. In return I will recripocate that goodwill and attend an event that you see as being a demonstration of your hopeful vision for Canada for Canada’s future. This is a sincere offer, let me know what positive event you want me to come to, and I will let you know when our next social is.
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In case anyone is interested in the who/what/where of this story. Chief Theresa Spense is the chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation located on the west coast of of James Bay.
To draw attention to the deplorable living conditions on her reserve, Chief Theresa Spense has made several “state of emergency” declarations.over the last several years.
In response the Harper Government has spent $131-million in Chief Spence’s small northern community since the Conservatives took office in 2006.
After the much-publicized housing crisis in her community last year, the federal government provided 60 new and freshly renovated homes and has began construction on a new school.
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A few points:
*Chief Spence makes about $35,000.00 per year
*reserves are heavily audited
* Indian Affairs bureaucracy uses about one third of allocated money, and what the aboriginals do get is much less than a similar sized non-indigenous population (Less by about a billion)
* Feds have NO RIGHT to legislate changes to Indian Act without prior and informed consent from aboriginals
* Aboriginals are open to change process of Indian Act but they MUST be part of negotiations, as per Constitutional law.
*First Nations schools are chronically underfunded: they receive much less than non-indigenous counterparts.
* Currently over 100 boil water advisories in First Nations areas
* Kelowna Accord should not have been trashed … it offered better alternatives
* Debeers Victor mine on First Nations territory harvests about 600,000 carats of diamonds per year: Attawapiskat gets housing emergency (to which the cons failed miserably in addressing, as per Federal judge)
* international humanitarian agencies are correctly condemning Canada for human rights abuses etc.
* current budgetary deficit is about $50 billion (much higher than Harper’s predecessors, and Martin had a surplus), thanks to Harper’s sound economic mismanagement.
*unfortunately, racism in Canada is alive and well, thanks in no small part to concentrated corporate-controlled media (think Ezra L)
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By the numbers …
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2013/01/first-nations-long-shadow-assimilation#.UOX_zuN3idQ.facebook
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What a tough nut Doug! You certainly stirred things up with this one.
While I don’t want to see any people live in squalor in this country, I am first hand aware that aboriginal people are provided with many benefits that we non-aboriginals are not. Now that is not to say I do not believe that aboriginals were not historic victims of what one could consider atrocities, but frankly I am getting tired of the blame game.
True Story – I had an employee who was remotely aboriginal. Because of his status he had access to a free post-secondary education which he squandered and a monthly tax-free stipend that totalled close to $15k per year. While I don’t know all the details of how or why, I have to wonder why, with these benefits, aboriginals feel so slighted and have not progressed further than they have.
Drive around the reserves you will find new trucks, snowmobiles, quad runners, battered and beaten, in a manner that obviously illustrates that they were government presents not something that was worked for. You will also notice homes in state of such disrepair and often abandoned long before their useful life has expired.
During all the attawapiskat news coverage, the question that kept coming to me was; “with all the time these people have on their hands why are there holes in the walls, cupboards in disrepair…..?” If I lived there I would be using my time to fix and improve with whatever resources I had available.
And yes the elephant in the room “corruption, corruption, corruption!” While I don’t know the numbers exactly the per capita tax resource consumption of first nations exceeds that of non-aboriginals by a material margin. Where the heck is it going if not to the people. Come on!!!!
True Story – As a company, my company competes with one owned by a remotely aboriginal business person. I can’t compete against him because of the subsidies he enjoys and the competitive advantage he has acquired particularly when bidding on government projects. You call that fair.
So I guess my point is that as a non-aboriginal, it would be refreshing if native Canadians could start taking more responsibility for their situation and lack of personal progress. They have a lot to offer and they certainly receive huge financial resources. Some have succeeded, unfortunately most have not. The community needs to examine that and be honest with itself when decomposing the findings.
With respect to your comments re: Harper et al; while I am a disillusioned conservative and feel strongly this country needs new and “fresh ” (not establishment) government, I can’t blame Harper for not cow-tailing to this blackmail effort.
Curious, does anyone honestly believe Chief Spence is not eating? Seems the gentleman who is on this strike with her is showing significantly more signs of hunger than she methinks!
It seems I am always SADLY Just sayin……….
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I’m afraid that there is waste galore on behalf of both Harper’s crooked cronies and the native chiefs. I have friends who have been in the far north as teachers and medical personnel who have told me awful stories. That being said they also tell me things aboriginals do “because they can”. They pull out dozens of fish and let them rot on the shore “because they can”. They dump old cars and garbage into pristine lakes “because they can”. They steal cars and strip them on the reserves and threaten the RCMP if they try to investigate “because they can”. A friend lost a new Cadillac Escalade that way. Thre police knew where it was but told the people it’s gone, just claim the insurance. Kids torch their schools “because they can”. They abuse drugs and booze “because they can”. The chiefs are like any other people given power over others….they abuse it and take the cream off the top. In the far north you cannot expect all of the amenities of the south. Just impossible, but the necessities have been provided and squandered. When provided with housing try to maintain it, not let it turn into a pig stye. When provided with schools, use them to advantage. I wish my education had been so heavily subsidized! If I decided to block highways and bridges do you think I could pull it off? FAT CHANCE! Caledonia has been under siege for years. I would be in the slammer in no time. Politically correct and just causes only apply to a few. I wonder how the scenario would have played out if the G20 protests in Toronto were done by aboriginals?
So we all realize that we honkies treated the aboriginals like garbage but that was 200 years ago. Some of us still do unfortunately. We decimated their culture and spirituality. True. We cheated them on treaties and sent their young to cruel institutuional schools. We did bad things to them BUT it’s time to get over that mentality of being victims. If the aboriginals want to keep their culture OK. No snowmobiles, no cars, no TV. Keep your culture but you can’t pick and chose keeping the good stuff and bitching about the bad. If you want to be haves instead of have-nots, play the white man’s game and play it better than he does. Take advantage of your educational opportunities. Parents lay off the booze and provide a family atmosphere for your children. In other words, as others have said here, take responsibility. I have many fine native friends but they have taken responsibility for their lives and succeeded. It doesn’t mean giving up your culture and heritage at all but rather keeping it and adapting it to modern life. It’s sad when some of such a noble race use the victim mentality and get stuck in a rut of despair but nobody can change a mindset except the person him/herself. I am very curious to see the audit that has been done re some northern communities. No doubt as corrupt as our dear friends in Ottawa. Perhaps the aboriginal people need to check up on their own leaders as much as we need to check up onour national ones.
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A Canadian Press item posted a short time ago on the Hamilton Spectator website …
Update: Attawapiskat audit reveals shoddy band oversight, neglect by federal overseers
OTTAWA – An audit of millions of dollars in spending at the troubled Attawapiskat reserve in northern Ontario reveals an absence of basic accounting by the band council and ongoing indifference by federal government departments.
The Deloitte and Touche audit — released publicly by Indian and Northern Affairs today after being leaked to select media outlets — catalogues more than $109 million in spending over almost seven years, much of it poorly documented, undocumented, or questionable.
The audit comes as Theresa Spence, the elected chief of Attawapiskat, continues a hunger strike in Ottawa in an effort to focus the attention of the Harper government on First Nations concerns.
Among the 505 transactions examined from April 2005 through November 2011, fewer than 20 per cent could be fully tracked and documented — and 61 per cent had no documentation at all explaining the reason for payment.
The auditors report they found “no evidence of due diligence in the use of public funds” by the band, and conclude they were unable to determine if the funds were spent for their intended purpose.
The government-appointed auditors also found that poor housing conditions were not flagged by federal authorities, despite inspections by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
They also concluded that large sums of core housing funds were improperly diverted to pay interest charges with the full knowledge of the department of Indian Affairs.
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Yes, conditions on many reserves are deplorable. The LEADERSHIP on those reserves is also deplorable.
Canada’s native people have my great respect and admiration, but it is time for an end to the welfare mentality that pervades!
They should and can stand on their own two feet.
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The lamestream is engaging in a smear campaign, which gives added importance to movements such as Idle No More. Here are some informed rebuttals to the racist rants:
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Linda, I see what you’re saying, and everyone knows there are problems, but we need to follow the law, i.e the Constitution, and involve the First Nations in matters that involve them. Prior and informed consent is required by law and Harper isn’t doing that. (The Kelowna Accord should be revisited.) Harper is breaking treaties illegally through omnibus, and it will affect everyone big time: just look at the Navigable Waters legislation. It’s disgusting and anti-democratic. Plus, we need our FN more than ever to keep unchecked corporate anarchy at bay, in part by protecting integrity of unceded territories and reserves. Lots of people don’t believe it, despite the evidence, but the Harper Business Model is literally destroying the planet for human habitation. His Business Model is also destroying the economy, but that’s another matter. Plus, many of the financial issues stem from the federal gov’t Indian Affairs bureaucracy, which is why Harper opened a can of worms with his media leak. And there’s evidence that Chief Spence was improving matters, and she has only been chief since about 2010 and the media leak info includes many years that pre-date that. Are FN social issues going to disappear if we cheat, starve, and disrespect them? The social issues will be mitigated if we treat them with respect and empower them, as with anyone. Underfunding their education, healthcare etc is not the answer, but currently that is happening. Changes need to be made with FN working as partners, rather than being treated as enemies.
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True Mark, the problem is very complex. There are so many factors, the environment, broken and antiquated treaties, cultural considerations, hostile environments, racism, endemic addictions, past wrongs and misappropriated funds Of course the people involved need to have a voice but since when has that ever stopped our elected officials, essentially our employees, from consulting us on anything? Many of the aboriginal leaders are extremely corrupt and as far as our own stellar politicians…’nuff said.
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lets consider who’s natural resources Harper is reaping,whose land are they on or in.hmmmmmmmm whose wealth is it reallyPERSONALY I WONDER ARE WE RIPPING THEM OFF FOR SOMETHING AS MANY MAY ? THATS MORE THEIRS THAN MINE AND MAYBE THEY ARE FAR UNDERPAYED.
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just like to respond to these comments from another point of view. I can’t immagine us white people not knowing the passed history our forefathers had with FN people. However that being said, Myself was totally taken back by the European attitude of the first immigrants comming to the new world. One couldn’t immagine the lack of respect for the people or what the land ment to the FN people. PM Stephen Harper no doubt hasen’t any idea what the founding fathers thought about FN peoples and what they done to get rid of them. Or much less what the Americans did to their FN peoples iam appalud to what we let those that we uphold as hero’s get away with by not doing good resurch. These are educated people or idots.
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Most of all above is political bent and warped to protect the ideological mindset of the writers..I recently noticed a news column where the founding fathers of Canada were portrayed, a picture of two Canadian Politicians??? With sober thought and admiration someone had superimposed a picture of Tecumseh as a TRUE Founding Father and yes I felt pride for without this gentleman we would undoubtedly be saluting the Stars and Stripes rather than the Beautiful flag of Canada.
Canadians and visitors who visit Queenston Heights are memorized by the grandiose of the monuments to Issac Brock, with plaques outlining his contribution to this country, his birth, his heroic (?) death and his deeds that literally saved Canada(?) YET……… Let Truth be Known totally…….
It was the Aboriginals who truly saved Canada and their leader and Tribal chief was Tecumseh a truly great general in his own right, born in Ohio 1n 1768 he died at the battle of Thames in Canada. The territory promised to
the aboriginal nation never happened and to this day it is deplorable.
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh’s War and became an ally of Britain in the War of 1812.
The bodily remains of this great chief is unknown and at this time there is no monument to commemorate his, and his aboriginal compatriots role in cementing Canada as a sovereign nation.
I understand there NOW is a group of people who are unselfishly devoting their time and energy to build a fitting memorial and monument to this great Canadian Aboriginal Tribal Chief. (See Welland Multicultural Center)
My son, a Union man from Ford has traveled into Northern Canada with a concerned group at least twice to install water purification units on wells compliments of the Union.and he has also traveled to Louisiana after Katrina to help in housing re construction once again compliments of the Union.
What have you writers done to make Canada a better place to live for “ALL” Canadians including our Aboriginal neighbors?????
Thanks to Doug, Mark, Keith, Elizabeth and Linda
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