The Harper Government recently passed Bill C-45, which among other things, has basically shit on Aboriginal rights and used the treaties as toilet paper. Naturally, a large number of Native Americans in Canada are a little upset. Fuck Harper. In addition to getting fucked over on treaty rights, one of the articles of the Canadian Constitution says that Aboriginal leaders must be consulted on any decisions involving Canada's resources. One of the items in C-45 is more-or-less summed up in the following picture that's been floating around my Facebook feed for a while: Which is somewhat misleading, as the ACTUAL number of protected waterways in Canada has gone from 2.5 million to 159. But the point still stands: Fuck Harper. Chief Theresa Spence is protesting this new legislation by going on a hunger strike. Because seriously, Fuck Harper.
Fuck Canadians. We had a chance to vote them out on their asses and we didn't. I'm genuinely saddened by what Canada has become since the Conservatives came to power. Fortunately I've been in Japan for pretty much all of that time but ill be coming home eventually. Hopefully Canadians have wised up by then.
I've spent a little time in northern reserves. They're pretty fucking dire. Also, very often the people are their own worst enemy, both figuratively and literally (see: Kashechewan and Fort Albany). However, you would not go far wrong if you simply assume that Harper is incapable of good faith efforts.
For the benefit of Canadian readers it's helpful to append "Warning: Christie Blatchford" to links like that.
In an odd coincidence, a federal trial court found that Metis count as "indians" for the purposes of the Constitution Act 1867. This effectively doubles the number of people who will qualify as "Indians" and to whom the federal government has particular obligations. That ruling will definitely be appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court of Canada, but interesting nonetheless.
In regards to Spence: going to remind people here that tying the success of a movement to a single champion can lead to disappointments once the other side starts digging for dirt. There is a lot of room for petty corruption and abuse of power even in the least insular of reserves, and once you get away from prying eyes internal reserve politics can be rather unsavoury. Think of what Rob Ford gets away with, then consider what he could do if a quarter of the people in his constituency were personal friends or relatives. And, as always, assume everything the government says is disingenuous if not an outright fabrication.
Chief Spence has now turned down a meeting with PM Harper this Friday because the Governor-General isn't attending. Seriously?
I can understand why she would want the Governor-General at the meeting, if only because of the special relationship between the crown and First Nations. That said the Governor-General has done exactly what he should have since as the Queen's representative he absolutely needs to be above politics. That said she's ruined whatever credibility she had with me (which wasn't much). From what I know the entire point of the hunger strike was to get a meeting with Harper and now she backs out at almost the last second?
Not surprising Deloitte had an unfavorable audit of the bands finances. While their situation is fairly shitty, it'd be nice to know where the federal money being sent to them is going. The GG/Crown haven't had any kind of power in Canada in decades, so I'm not sure why she'd want a Royal rep at the proceedings. I guess she would rather stay in the media spotlight and make ridiculous demands than try and get anything done with (fuck)Harper. And while (fuck)Harper has shown about as much respect for the First Nations as he has the environment, he's at least made a token effort to listen. As an aside, there was an #IdleNoMore protest at the Waterfront Skytrain station the other day. Well, "protest". It was mostly a bunch of people dressed up in cool costumes dancing and playing music. Much like Occupy, the FN groups are going to have to come up with a clear message about what they want done, or else this posturing will be about as useful as Facebook slacktivism.
AFAIK the report covers a five year span and Spence has been in charge for two, so you'd have to dig through it to get a correct impression of matters. Even then, sometimes the new guy covers for the old guy who was coasting to retirement because of familial connections or what have you. Then again, sometimes they pillage the reserve finances, set themselves up nice and cozy, give choice positions to friends, and drive their enemies out of town.
I don't know, but I suspect that it has to do with the constitutional relationship between First Nations and the government, which is a relationship between the first nation and the Crown in right of Canada. In other words, Canada's obligations to First Nations don't emanate from Parliament or the Prime Minister's office, but from the authority of the Crown. Since the GG is the representative of the Crown, it makes sense to include the governor general, although it remains symbolic.
That makes sense. I suppose one of the issues is the First Nations feel the PM isn't honouring the agreement made between the Monarchy and themselves, but it seems to me that Spence is damaging her credibility by refusing to even consider a meeting with the PM.
From what I've seen though that meeting will only be ceremonial - undoubtedly to keep the Governor-General's role at a minimum and thus preserve David Johnson's impartiality. In the end I think Idle No More would be better served by trying to get into parliamentary politics. Sure we already have more than enough division there, and it would likely fragment the left even more, but a party founded solely for Aboriginal rights might gain the kind of traction the Bloc had in its heyday. If First Nations could do that and find their own Charles Stewart Parnell they'd be infinitely better served than in our current situation. Likely though that simply can't happen due to the more diffuse nature of First Nations since the Bloc could rather easily focus its efforts in a single province. Besides that they didn't have to deal with the kind of endemic racism that still pollutes most of our interactions on a day-to-day basis - something which I think goes both ways as well.
Attawapiskat is now holding their annual shitflood. Not to be outdone, Kashechewan is also participating in this most sacred of northern reserve traditions. Turns out that if you as the federal government are planning a community that needs a ~15 ft tall earthen berm to protect your community from house sized chunks of ice and the flooding caused when they block the river, you should probably do something to isolate your sewage system from the movements of the water table. I hope you'll all forgive me if I quote myself: One last point is that Fort Albany, right across the river from Kashechewan, is doing fine right now. But, you see, it's Catholic; and Kashechewan is traditional.
More people from Attawapiskat are being evacuated. Word on the street seems to be that the Federal government still isn't going to part with land any time soon so that they can relocate these reserves inland of the floodplain they're currently located on. This isn't surprising, the chief of Kashechewan has been agitating for it since I was there in 2006. You would think they could part with some of the vast tract of peat bog and tortured and stunted woodland that is James Bay, given that it's almost completely devoid of human life or economically viable resources, and just link the new reserve to a barge accessible waterway with narrow gauge rail for the various supply needs. But then you wouldn't be the government of Canada. So, same time next year?
