Land Wars 2: Attack of the Fringe

The right-wing fringe are in full-swing these days. From He-who-shall-not-be-named’s racist, hateful tirades about First Nations on TV to the fringe right’s fav policy institutes’ lowly insults and name-calling of First Nation academics and activists on Twitter – they are working hard to spread their venom to a vulnerable public. I say vulnerable, because a large segment of the Canadian public is uneducated about Indigenous issues. This means they are open to be persuaded by the well-funded, flashy right-wing propaganda that has infected much of the mainstream print and TV media. What has got all the fringe right-wingers all a-buzz recently? It is the Harper government’s plans to divide up reserve lands into individual parcels of land (fee simple). The idea comes from Tom Flanagan’s book: Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights. http://reviewcanada.ca/reviews/2010/04/01/opportunity-or-temptation/ As I wrote in my last blog, the act is to be called the First Nation Property Ownership Act (FNPOA) and has the potential to destroy First Nation communities, but is being promoted as the answer to our woes. http://www.indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca/2012/08/flanagan-national-petroleum-ownership.html The person behind the idea, Tom Flanagan, who was also an advisor to PM Stephen Harper, now uses Manny Jules (head of First Nation Tax Commission) to do most of the public promotion of FNPOA. Why? Because Manny Jules is a First Nations man, who is the former chief of Kamloops First Nation and the idea is that it will be easier to sell assimilation to First Nations if a First Nations person does it. http://fntc.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=7 The idea itself is not new. It’s the same idea Flanagan promoted in his book First Nations? Second Thoughts, except in his first book, his overt racist depiction of First Nations didn’t gain his ideas the support he had hoped. He has not given up on his idea to assimilate First Nations, he is just less overt about it now. In his mind, resistance to assimilation is futile. http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/the-man-behind-stephen-harper-tom-flanagan/ His idea is copied from Hernando de Soto who has travelled the world trying to convince Indigenous peoples that endless riches can be found in giving up their communal lands in exchange for individual fee simple holdings. It appears from all the research to date that these communities are far worse off after they have divided up their communal lands. So, naturally, this sounds like a great plan for Harper. In fact, some reports have shown that increasing the level of westernized legal concepts of property rights in communities with extreme poverty, “can actually lead to greater exploitation”. Other reports note that the impact of De Soto’s idea ranges from ineffectual to very “harmful”. But, we have to get real about what this idea is all about. The plan is not to create super wealthy, powerful Indigenous communities – it is for the maximized economic benefit of the political and corporate power-brokers all over the world. The very objective of this plan is to open up Indigenous communal lands for mortgaging, credit, loans, liens, seizures, taxation and for economic development in the form of mining and pipelines. This “unlocking” benefits banks, investment companies, the extractive industry and government – not Indigenous peoples. A few low-end labour jobs and a couple of education scholarships are the new beads and trinkets of today, especially when you consider that the corporate industry takes home trillions all over the world. This proposed bill (FNPOA), like the many others being drafted, introduced and debated without First Nations’ review or approval, is the core part of this assimilation plan. It will disperse First Nation communities faster than a police riot squad hose can disperse environmental protesters. Similar legislation has devastated Indigenous land holdings in the United States, some of them irrevocably. Canada’s magic key (also known as the land claims negotiating policy) is that once Indigenous lands transfer to “third parties” for any reason, they are gone forever. You will hear a great deal of media on this subject. The right-wing fringe literally drools at the thought of finally assimilating Indigenous peoples once and for all – more money, land and control for those who already have more than they need. They can’t wait to impose their pipelines across any territories they wish. Instead of informed, educated, fact-based discussions, they have and will likely continue to engage in their usual name-calling, smearing, belittling and taunting of Indigenous academics, community members, leaders and activists. We must keep in mind those Conservative right-wing fringe groups are the 1% mega-rich of settler societies who can buy and control just about anything – newspapers, TV stations, research, conferences, policy institutes, think tanks, economic institutions and politicians. They have large think tanks and private strategy meetings to discuss and implement their own plans. The closer we get to the truth about their activities, the more frantic and desperate will be their attacks. They will cowardly threaten, defame, ridicule and misinform – and it will be relentless. On our side, we have our communities – who, for all the hardships, difficulties, tragedies and poverty, still have our identities, cultures, languages, beliefs, spiritualities, practices, traditions, laws, economies and governments. We are so much stronger than those who wish to assimilate us. Even in our suffering we find the strength to hold on to who we are, we defend our sovereignty, treaties, lands, waters and skies and we refuse to give up. Our Indigenous Nations have thrived here since time immemorial and we will thrive again. Our ancestors left us everything we need to guide us and protect our future generations. We can do this. Don’t get distracted by the noise and drama of the right-wing fringe groups who seek to profit on our suffering. Many of them only do so because their media ratings (i.e. salaries) and “online hit count makes it worthwhile”. We have to focus on the issues before us, work together, help build each others’ knowledge and capacity and empower one another. We all have skills we can use to help better our families, communities and Nations. Make no mistake, this bill is a modern form of land war that will be waged on our Nations. I for one, will do everything in my power to stop this legislation. I will keep researching, publishing, speaking about it, answering questions and dispelling myths. I am often criticized for the volunteer work I do for First Nations. One prominent BC chief once said publicly that that “you get what you pay for with volunteers – they are worthless”. I hold the opposite view. I have a strong Mi’kmaw identity and attachment to my culture and Mi’kmaw Nation. I am blessed with a supportive extended family and strong, healthy children. I worked hard as a single mom to earn an education (four university degrees) and was lucky enough to find a good paying job. I am grateful to the Creator for my warm house (on traditional Indigenous territories) and access to healthy food and clean water. Coming from a situation where I lived on welfare with my two babies in a flooded, mouldy Aboriginal house which made my babies very sick – I appreciate what we have now. None of this makes me any more or less Mi’kmaw, but it does highlight my responsibility to do the most that I can do for our peoples. I have certain blessings that put me in a position where I am obligated, according to Mi’kmaw ways of being, to give back and help build up the Mi’kmaw Nation and other Indigenous Nations and peoples in Canada. So I will continue my volunteer work – regardless of the threats, slander or attacks from the fringe who just can’t comprehend our Indigenous collective loyalties to one another and our lands, waters and skies.

3 Comments

  1. "On our side, we have our communities …"

    You also have allies in the settler culture who are aware of these issues and this history of genocide and cultural assimilation. Some may only be able to offer moral support, rather than practical support (such as joining environmental protests and blockades), but the First Peoples are not entirely alone in their human and environmental rights fights.

    Also, in case you didn't see this recent article on this issue in the U.S. here's the link and an excerpt:

    "Exclusive Truthout Interview: Sioux Spiritual Leader Speaks Out on Land Sale at Sacred Site"

    http://truth-out.org/news/item/11035-exclusive-truthout-interview-sioux-spiritual-leader-speaks-out-on-land-sale-at-sacred-site

    "The sacred lands of the Lakota are up for sale – again. …

    "Chief Arvol Looking Horse … "Our tribes are here to protect our people," he said. "We need to stand up. We have always stood strong for our sovereignty, for our territory. We are the First Nations of Turtle Island. We are the original people of this continent based on our spiritual connections with the Black Hills, Pe' Sla, and all the sacred sites on Turtle Island."

    Chief Looking Horse continued: "If we truly believe in our survival, if we believe in humanity's future, then we should be given that land back. It doesn't belong to the United States. That land should be in our hands so we can protect it, because it's not just our lives that depend on it, but the rest of humankind."

    Familiar with the challenges facing indigenous peoples and nations across the globe, Iron Eyes told Truthout: "I don't think it's an accident that other indigenous peoples' sacred sites are coming under attack, such as the San Francisco Peaks, or the Four Mountains of the Dine or Navajo Nation, all throughout Turtle Island – or North America – and South America. The way I see it is, this corporatocracy, or the Corporate West, is never satisfied. It just keeps consuming and destroying. This system needs to be put in check."

    Iron Eyes is teaming up with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in order to focus the fundraising efforts to buy back as much of Pe' Sla as possible. "We are going to find out real soon if we are able to raise enough money to buy back our own land," he said. The irony of buying land that was stolen from you is not lost on Iron Eyes: "The United States holds illegitimate and illegal title to our land. They are trying to absorb not only the Lakota people, but everybody, into the corporate West."

    Iron Eyes views the protection of sacred sites as the final frontier where indigenous ways cannot waiver.
    United Nation Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People James Anaya, after completing a fact-finding mission where he met with Sioux Nation leaders, released a statement saying, "securing the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands is of central importance to indigenous peoples' socio-economic development, self-determination, and cultural integrity. Continued efforts to resolve, clarify, and strengthen the protection of indigenous lands, resources, and sacred sites should be made."
    According to Iron Eyes, "All the colonizers' early efforts to cut our ties to the land, language, ceremonies" – such as Native children being taken from their families and forced into Christian boarding schools – "have been done to prepare us for maintenance of the corporate West, which leads to the ultimate destruction of our entire planet. If we believe and value as they in the system do, we will not be willing to defend our spiritual dignity, and by extension, our sacred sites." …

  2. Great point! Yes, you are aboslutely right, there are many really great Canadians who do not subscribe to this kind of racism. I agree that working together would be beneficial for all involved. Thank you for comment. Pam

  3. Here's an article on rabble.ca that illustrates this point of working together.

    "Save the Salish Sea: Respecting Indigenous rights means stopping tar sands tankers"

    http://rabble.ca/news/2012/08/historic-weekend-west-coast-effort-stop-pipelines-and-tankers

    excerpt: "As a non-Indigenous person who was born in Coast Salish territory,[me too] I feel we have so much to learn from the local First Nations people. Working closely with the Tsleil-Waututh and the Squamish Nation on this campaign has enriched my life in many ways. We have organized the Save the Salish Sea Festival on Sunday, September 2, the day after this historic canoe journey, as a way for non-Indigenous folks to show their appreciation and support for the Coast Salish people protecting their land and water from the risks associated with the export of tar sands oil. …"

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