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By christyk, on March 29, 2013, at 1:10 pm Wow. A letter to the editor in the Nanaimo Times reminds me why teaching history properly is so important. The letter has been removed but a screen shot of it is linked to above. The author of the letter lists of accomplishments he feels the natives failed to meet before starting onto his theories before arguing that they are irresponsible and should not receive “special treatment.” The letter misses several important things I want my children (and all Canadians) to learn.
There are two historical issues at play. One is the issue of what the author titles “special treatment.” If he knew his Canadian history better he would understand the role of the treaties, and how what native tribes receive is not special treatment but the promised return for sharing the land with us. The other historical issue is his claim that natives were “notable only for underachievement.” There are . . . → Read More: Another Step to Take: homeschooling history
By christyk, on March 29, 2013, at 1:10 pm Wow. A letter to the editor in the Nanaimo Times reminds me why teaching history properly is so important. The letter has been removed but a screen shot of it is linked to above. The author of the letter lists of accomplishments he feels the natives failed to meet before starting onto his theories before arguing that they are irresponsible and should not receive “special treatment.” The letter misses several important things I want my children (and all Canadians) to learn.
There are two historical issues at play. One is the issue of what the author titles “special treatment. (Read more…)
By John Klein, on March 27, 2013, at 12:42 am Buffy St. Marie tackled the subject of Aboriginal peoples’ self image. What has been the basis for it? In many cases in popular culture, it’s from philosophers in Europe who never met the First Peoples in their life!
#Buffy event at #FNUniv is almost full 10 min to start. http://t.co/TNO8jZ4K0a— John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) March 27, 2013
#Buffy lecture opened with an elder ceremony and #FNUniv president. http://t.co/JXQy3d3jYL— John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) March 27, 2013
The reality is that First Nations civilizations were much more complex, scientific, and peaceful than depicted by European and settler academics and politicians.
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: Forward Together #UofR: Buffy St. Marie – Live Blog
By christyk, on March 23, 2013, at 11:55 am A province wide campaign has been launched to raise Ontario’s minimum wage to $14 an hour. To initiate the campaign blocks of ice containing $10.25, the current minimum wage, were delivered to politicians across the province with the request that we melt the minimum wage freeze. I participated in this going with my local anti-poverty group to visit two MPPs – Rick Bartolucci and France Gelinas.
I was the contact person for the media and since we had sent out a media release beforehand I had hoped for phone calls from local reporters. I was not prepared for the
. . . → Read More: Another Step to Take: political protest and the police
By christyk, on March 23, 2013, at 11:55 am A province wide campaign has been launched to raise Ontario’s minimum wage to $14 an hour. To initiate the campaign blocks of ice containing $10.25, the current minimum wage, were delivered to politicians across the province with the request that we melt the minimum wage freeze. I participated in this going with my local anti-poverty group to visit two MPPs – Rick Bartolucci and France Gelinas.
I was the contact person for the media and since we had sent out a media release beforehand I had hoped for phone calls from local reporters. I was not prepared for the (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on March 4, 2013, at 3:15 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | March 4, 2013: Tom Flanagan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s former strategist, now claims he “walked into a trap” when he made the pornography comments that led to his spectacular downfall last week. In a guest column on the National Post, the University of Calgary professor (soon to retire) says the question READ MORE
By Christine, on February 21, 2013, at 10:37 am The mainstream media speculates that IdleNoMore, the movement for indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice that swept across Canada in recent months has petered out. The Harper Conservatives in Ottawa desperately hope that it has, but the truth is more complicated. Like waves breaking on a shore, the IdleNoMore movement has receded for the moment, gathering [...]
By John Klein, on February 18, 2013, at 9:52 am The Conservative government is out of control. The Guardian UK newspaper confirms what environmentalists have already suspected (since the Conservatives have openly accused them previously): This Conservative government regards environmentalists as a threat to national security. It’s offensive, absurd, and an extreme step into authoritarian police-state behaviour.
-(UofR image, to keep this blog post from appearing boring.)
“We’re aware of this” said Greenpeace Canada’s executive director Bruce Cox, who met the head of the RCMP last year. “We’re an outspoken voice for non-violence and this was made clear to the RCMP,” Cox said.
He said there was real anger
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: NOT a “threat to national security”
By Obert Madondo, on February 3, 2013, at 11:06 pm by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Feb.3, 2013: Seriously, you can actually get laid in Canada for introducing yourself as NOT Prime Minister Stephen Harper and certainly having nothing to do with the Conservatives? For saying that you got nothing to do with the Alberta tar sands and Canada’s oil-driven foreign policy? That you got nothing to do with Harper’s READ MORE
By christyk, on February 3, 2013, at 8:24 pm The following is my response to Anthony Sowan’s rant against the #idlenomore movement.
One big mistake within that rant is the idea that this is about preservation of culture. It is about preservation of political rights. If a person marries outside the tribe their children will have a different claim to membership and then if they marry outside the tribe their children won’t membership? So even a native chief’s children and grandchildren can be considered non-native by the government. If a native women doesn’t get the father’s name on the birth certificate, the father is presumed to be non-native, so
. . . → Read More: Another Step to Take: A Response to Anthony Sowan’s Rant Against #IdleNoMore
By John Klein, on January 24, 2013, at 6:05 pm The comments sections on some newspapers and online news sites can be infamously bad. The Calgary Herald’s commenters, many of them frequent enough to be “top commenters”, put on a despicable display today. Chief Spence ended her hunger strike, and was hospitalized as a precaution because she’s been without proper nutrition for six weeks. Obviously such a drastic diet, with the purpose of forcing an emotional outpouring of support for political ends, is not healthy.
Mike Neumeier · Top Commenter Look at her, there’s no way she was on a liquid-only diet – stop lying already. I’m pretty sure I
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: Newspaper Comments Highlight Canadian Racism
By matttbastard, on January 22, 2013, at 3:21 pm
by Sara Mai Chitty
I wanted to let people know a couple things about my heritage as a First Nations woman, about what is being said about the Idle No More movement (and there is much more to be said), and what I feel is EXCEEDINGLY DISTRACTING from the other VERY potent issues at hand regarding First Nations politics.
First of all – my life, like yours, is not easy. It never has been and probably never will be. I got good grades in high school and applied to a grant offered (not entitled) to me through my reserve. I
. . . → Read More: bastard.logic: Idle No More: Baseless Stigmas Are An Unwelcome Distraction
By Obert Madondo, on January 21, 2013, at 10:56 am by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Jan 21, 2013: Norway’s experience with Big Oil offers lessons for Idle No More and other progressive movements determined to stop Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives from turning Canada into a petro-state. Earlier, I blogged about a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which compares the Canada and Alberta READ MORE
By christyk, on January 21, 2013, at 10:28 am I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a regular feature on my blog, a weekly post about the facebook memes (maybe Meme-y Monday) that I end up seeing, going through and trying to discuss the ideas behind them in more detail like I did the picture of babies who don’t believe in mom. There is something incredibly troubling about the modern online equivalent to bumperstickers. I used to post quite a few on my facebook page but I slowed down when I realized, for the most part, they can’t convince anyone anything that the person doesn’t already agree with and instead they end up hurting those who disagree. A good text-in-a-box-with-picture shared on facebook can be a slap in the face of someone who has an alternative position that isn’t summed up so easily in 140 characters. Even if one does agree with the main idea there can be . . . → Read More: Another Step to Take: Is there a way to "fight our own government"
By John Klein, on January 21, 2013, at 1:00 am Life is hard when political leaders are corrupt. Election cheats, pork politics, and pocket padding is not limited to some corrupt leaders on First Nations (Reserves). Corruption exists where ever citizen oversight has failed to keep the power, leaders of nations wield, in check.
Since #IdleNoMore made First Nations poverty, inequality, and (even) corruption an international hot topic, it’s understandable that some people focus on what they know of First Nation people. What Canada’s segregated culture, and corporate non-aboriginal media has told Canadians about First Nations, is generally nothing too positive. Some people I know feel victimized by under-parented First
. . . → Read More: Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff: #Ottawapiskat Mirrors Attawapiskat
By Guest Blog, on January 21, 2013, at 12:39 am by Adbusters | Jan 17, 2013 “The time has come for all of us to get involved.” He ditched the Kyoto Protocol, voted against Palestine, violated human rights, passed unconstitutional laws, changed the Indian Act illegally, passed several sneaky and sinister omnibus bills . . . he continues to destroy everything in the way of READ MORE
By AppalledBC, on January 17, 2013, at 9:52 pm
“The stakes couldn’t be higher, for Canada and for the world. Much of this uprising began when Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper rammed through Parliament an omnibus bill gutting environmental reviews and protections. He had no choice if he wanted to keep developing Canada’s tar sands, because there’s no possible way to mine and pipe that sludgy crude without fouling lakes and rivers. (Indeed, a study released a few days ago made clear that carcinogens had now found their way into myriad surrounding lakes). And so, among other things, the omnibus bill simply declared that almost every river, stream and lake in . . . → Read More: Politics and Entertainment: Bill McKibben on #IdleNoMore | The stakes couldn’t be higher, for Canada and for the world
By Andrew, on January 16, 2013, at 1:20 pm Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Idle No More raises questions about both the past and future of Canada itself. It goes to the reality that we are a nation with a colonial history, and that we have not yet come to grips with that history. And it raises the possibility of a future in which First Nations retake their rightful place in decision-making about their territories, and in which we collectively build a more sustainable future for our children.
Idle No More raises questions about both the past and future of Canada itself. It goes to the reality that we
. . . → Read More: Environmental Law Alert Blog: #IdleNoMore and the future of Canada
By politeching, on January 13, 2013, at 2:13 pm The last Federal Election have been an eye opening experience for me as I learned about the plight of the First Nations and the conditions of the reserves. While First Nations is legally under the jurisdiction of the federal government, health and education are left in limbo with provincial government being only partly involved. The aboriginals felt neglected and sense that both government are passing the bucks. The result of this half-hearted involvement on both levels of government is a neglected reserves that ends up with conditions similar to a third world country. Issues on the reserves is often treated
. . . → Read More: PoliTeching: Avoid Blame Game and Deal with Hard Questions of the First Nations Issue
By Obert Madondo, on January 13, 2013, at 2:01 am More than five thousand #IdleNoMore protesters gathered in Ottawa Friday as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations leaders held a closed-door meeting. Meanwhile, in Paris, street art in solidarity with Idle No More: RELATED: AFN call for “real change”, “remedies and actions” for First Nations In Ottawa, thousands of #IdleNoMore and allied protesters demand real change What Chief Spence’s Hunger READ MORE
By The Ranting Canadian, on January 12, 2013, at 6:58 pm
Ignorant scapegoating: a feel-good pastime for the thick-headed and big-mouthed
Anyone who doubts that racism and religious bigotry are alive and well in Canada in 2013 simply needs to read the online comments for articles about natives or Muslims, or listen to the callers (and sometimes the hosts and guests) on AM radio talk shows. The same applies to a certain Canadian opinion-based TV station that falsely calls itself a news network.
The popular scapegoats have varied in different times and locations, but in the past few years, Muslims – specifically Arab Muslims – have taken the brunt of the
. . . → Read More: The Ranting Canadian: Ignorant scapegoating: a feel-good pastime for the thick-headed…
By Obert Madondo, on January 11, 2013, at 7:00 pm by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | Jan 11, 2013 7.00 PM EST #IdleNoMore’s show of people-power forced Prime Minister Stephen Harper to stay for entire five hours of meeting with First Nations leaders. More than five thousand #IdleNoMore protesters gathered in Ottawa today as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations leaders held a closed-door meeting in the capital. The protesters READ MORE
By John Klein, on January 11, 2013, at 3:55 pm Cadmus Delorme started off the speaking without a mic (and was audible!). Here he is with some amplification. Let’s amplify his message over the Internet, also.
The noon hour finished up this way:
It’s my third Round Dance of Idle No More. Here’s the second, on Albert St. Regina kicked things off for the country on December 9th, 2012, with the organizing assistance of Marie Crowe who deserves to be considered as one of the Idle No More founders, in my opinion.
By AppalledBC, on January 11, 2013, at 10:50 am
It’s difficult not to think that the timing of the release of the Deloitte financial audit of Atawapiskat was calculated in its anticipation of a potential backlash against Spence and, by association, #idlenomore. The audit prompted Spence to shut down media relations, a closed door thus leading to the media’s usual the-people-deserve-to-know resentment and dog-with-a-bone mentality about being squashed. That in turn led to bad press, especially from the Coyne, Blatchford, and Wente types, and bad press led to an apparent shift in public opinion. The squabbling over today’s meeting doesn’t help. Mission accomplished for whoever it was who . . . → Read More: Politics and Entertainment: Mission Accomplished for the shrewd person who decided on the Deloitte Audit Release
By Obert Madondo, on January 7, 2013, at 2:21 pm From Kobe, Japan, an expression of support and solidarity for hunger striker Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence and the phenomenal #IdleNoMore grassroots movement for Aboriginal rights and sovereignty: This photo: Photo via Facebook And these words: Today , we gathered together to pray in Kobe Japan. We hope this prayer can reach to Chief Theresa Spence and also to our READ MORE
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