Warrior Life Studios

Pam Palmater

Tag: Genocide

  • Genocide or Mass Murder – Canadian and Church Officials Must be Held to Account

    What happened in residential schools was not “cultural genocide”. It wasn’t “language genocide”. And it wasn’t “almost genocide”. What happened in residential schools was genocide. Canadian officials targeted Indians for assimilation and elimination purely for economic and political reasons. Scalping bounties on certain Indigenous Nations are indicative of such a lethal mentality.

    Canada wasn’t killing Indians because of our cultures; it was killing Indians to get rid of the “Indian problem” as Indian Affairs officials kept referring to it. Commentators often refer to Duncan Campbell Scott’s quote regarding Indian policy in Canada as proof that the intention was assimilation and not elimination.

    Scott was the deputy superintendent general for the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, who explained in 1920:

     “I want to get rid of the Indian problem. […] Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question and no Indian Department”.

    However, there is more to the story than this. In 1907, Dr. Peter Bryce, the Chief Medical Officer for the federal government, wrote a report on the conditions in residential schools that detailed the astounding number of deaths of Indian children in those schools.(1)

    The government’s own lawyer also warned Canadian officials in 1907:

    “Doing nothing to obviate the preventable causes of death, brings the Department within unpleasant nearness to the charge of manslaughter.”(2)

    Yet, there was no shock and alarm at the time nor did anyone from Indian Affairs come up with an emergency action plan to protect Indigenous children whom Scott referred to as “inmates”.

    Surprisingly, the deaths of Indigenous children appeared to be in line with the objective of the policy.

    In 1910, Scott explained in a letter he wrote to one of his Indian Agents:

    “Indian children… die at a much higher rate [in residential schools] than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is geared towards a final solution of our Indian problem”.

    Residential schools were never a well-intended policy “gone wrong” as claimed by former Minister of Indian Affairs, John Duncan. They were death camps for nearly half of all the “inmates” who entered some of those schools. The tiny hand-cuffs and the electric chairs speak of horrors completely unrelated to “education”.

    These children didn’t die from smallpox or some other series of unfortunate and unpreventable events in those schools. Many of these children were starved, tortured, beaten, raped, and murdered. Nutritional tests and medical experimentations were done on these children only to be denied to benefit of the very medicines created at the expense of their suffering. This sounds eerily familiar to horrors inflicted on other populations around the world.

    Survivor stories of frequent rapes, forced abortions, and unmarked graves stand in stark contradiction to any notion of a benign education policy – especially once government, church and law enforcement officials became aware of what was happening. Why else did these schools have graveyards instead of playgrounds?

    It is too easy for politicians to claim “cultural genocide” now, when they are well aware that cultural genocide was specifically left out of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.(3)

    Much of the debate has focused on whether or not Canada “intended” to kill Indians. According to international legal experts, leaders can be held accountable if they knew or should have known about the actions and failed to prevent them. Direct evidence of intent is not necessary but can be inferred from circumstantial evidence. The few excerpts above prove that Canadian officials knew not only of the poor conditions in residential schools, but the large number of deaths that were occurring, and that they could be held accountable for “manslaughter”.

    Genocide, by the UN definition, is said to include:

    –        “Killing members of the group;

    –        Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

    –        Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

    –        Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and

    –        Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”(4)

    Many have argued that the totality of Canada’s actions towards Indigenous peoples amounted to genocide. In other words, Canadian officials have been guilty of some or all of the above genocidal acts.

    What is particularly striking is the genocidal act of deliberately creating the conditions of life meant to bring about the destruction of the group in whole or in part. The following acts have been found to be genocidal:

    –        “subjecting the group to a subsistence diet;

    –        systematic expulsion from homes;

    –        denial of right to medical services;

    –        creation of circumstances that would lead to a slow death, such as lack of proper housing, clothing and hygiene or excessive work or physical exertion; and

    –        rape.”(5)

    Think of the historic and ongoing conditions of many First Nations who were prohibited from leaving the reserve by law and given only minimal rations; or the Inuit and First Nations who were forcibly relocated from their homelands. There is also a direct link between Canada’s purposeful chronic underfunding of essential human services for First Nations (housing, water, sanitation) and their pre-mature deaths. In residential schools, children were starved, denied medical care, and many suffered slow deaths.(6)

    Genocide is the material destruction of a group – even if not all members of the group are destroyed. There is no set number of people that must be killed for the crime of genocide to occur. It does not need to mimic the worst holocaust to ne genocide. It must be a substantial part of the group. There is also no need for a government plan or policy to exist in order to find genocide. Even without a finding of genocide, the officials could still be charged with crimes against humanity or related crimes.(7)

    Given the significant death tolls, it does not matter whether the courts have accepted the claim of genocide, whether lawyers agree with the claim, or whether communications specialists think it might be too harsh a term to present to the Canadian public. What happened in residential schools were criminal acts back then, just as they are now. All of the people who had the power to stop these deaths (RCMP, Indian Affairs and the churches), not only knew about the deaths –  but refused to act. At the very least, that is criminal negligence causing death.(8)

    We will never get to reconciliation unless we know the truth – all of it. So far, we have only scratched the surface.

    Residential schools can’t be looked at in isolation. Indian policy included the forced sterilizations of Indigenous women and little girls. Forced sterilizations were never about our cultures – it was about eliminating our populations.(9)

    We are not over-represented in prisons, in child and family services and as murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls because of our cultures.

    We are targeted because we are Indians. Indigenous Nations stand in the way of unfettered land and water use, resource extraction and industrial development – i.e. complete environmental destruction in the name of corporate profit.

    Justice Murray Sinclair and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) team have done the impossible – they succeeded in ensuring the voices of survivors were heard, that the atrocities committed in residential schools were documented, and that the truth be told. So far we have only seen the Executive Summary – the final report, which will be many thousands of pages long, will no doubt shed light on even more disturbing details.(10)

    In addition to the incredible emotional and psychological toll this must have taken on Justice Sinclair and his team, they stood strong in the face of the most aggressive anti-First Nation government Canada has been in years. They, together with the survivors, are true heroes.

    But we can’t expect the TRC to carry this burden alone. Nor is this story complete.

    The TRC went as far as it could to address the issue of genocide in the face of various legal considerations and consistent political denial that these schools were anything other than well-intended educational institutes.

    It’s on the rest of us to stand up for the truth and ensure Canadians know everything that happened in the schools covered in this report and the ones not yet exposed.

    Canada tried in various ways to eliminate our cultures – through residential schools and outlawing our ceremonies and practices in the Indian Act. This is all true.

    But Canada also created the conditions which led to our deaths by the thousands inside and outside residential schools. This is also true and this is genocide.

    Once we can put the truth in the table, then we can talk about reconciliation. We need to act on the TRC recommendations related to truth-seeking: a national inquiry on murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, an investigation into the over-representation of Indigenous peoples in prison, and immediate action and reporting on the over-representation of Indigenous children in foster care.

    The Indian day school class action has just been accepted by the courts and that will likely also reveal similar abuses suffered by Indian children in even more schools.(11)

    We must focus on getting all the facts so we can finally see justice for Indigenous peoples and true reconciliation. A determination that Canada did not commit genocide does not put an end to the story. It’s only just the beginning and it’s not going to be as easy as saying sorry. Canadian and Church officials who committed such horrific crimes upon Indigenous peoples need to be brought to justice.

    The mass murder or manslaughter of our people requires criminal prosecution – just like it would anywhere else in the world. Canada doesn’t receive a “Get out of Jail free” card simply because it hid its atrocities so well. Real reconciliation requires justice.

    Selected Sources: (1) Dr. Peter Bryce, “A Story of a National Crime: An Appeal for Justice to the Indians of Canada” https://ia802705.us.archive.org/20/items/storyofnationalc00brycuoft/storyofnationalc00brycuoft_bw.pdf (2) CBC News, “Truth and Reconciliation Commission: By the Numbers” http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-by-the-numbers-1.3096185 (3) The National Post,  “Canada was ready to abandon 1948 accord if UN didn’t remove ‘cultural genocide’ ban, records reveal” http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-threatened-to-abandon-1948-accord-if-un-didnt-remove-cultural-genocide-ban-records-reveal (4) UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2078/volume-78-I-1021-English.pdf

    (5) Module 6: Genocide (International Criminal Law Services, European Union) pg. 26 International Criminal Law & Practice Training Materials Genocide

    (6) P. Palmater, Stretched Beyond Human Limits: Death by Poverty in First Nations

    http://crsp.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/crsp/article/view/35220/32057

    (7) Module 6: Genocide (see above)

    (8) P. Palmater, Genocide, Indian Policy and Legislated Elimination of Indians in Canada

    http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/aps/article/view/22225

    (9) Karen Stote, An Act of Genocide: Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aboriginal Women

    https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/an-act-of-genocide

    (10) Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

    http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Exec_Summary_2015_05_31_web_o.pdf

    (11) CTV News, Federal appeal court gives OK on hearing First Nations Day-School Suit

    http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/federal-appeal-court-gives-ok-on-hearing-first-nations-day-school-suit-1.1713809

    PLEASE SEE: Related videos on my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfFeKGf51lo&t=202s

  • Genocide? Murder? Criminal Negligence? Or Passive Indifference? Canada is Killing Our People

    Racism doesn’t just hurt our feelings – racism kills. The two senseless deaths of First Nations children in a house fire in Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation in Saskatchewan from an unpaid bill of less than $4,000 has sparked outrage across Canada. In no other place in Canada would an ambulance, fire fighter or police officer ask a provincial resident if they had paid their taxes before answering an emergency call for help. Canada has a deep-seated racism problem which is killing our people. But to truly understand Indigenous outrage and sadness, one must understand both the context and true depth of this problem in Canada.

    In the mid-1700’s, colonial governments in what is now Nova Scotia considered the Mi’kmaw Nation to be “rebels” because we refused to give up our land. As a result, Governor Cornwallis issued a scalping proclamation that decimated the Mi’kmaw Nation by as much as 80%. In 1971, Donald Marshall Jr., was sentenced to life in prison for murder and spent 11 years in jail before his wrongful prosecution was exposed. A subsequent Royal Commission found the reason for his imprisonment was racism against Mi’kmaw people by all levels of the justice system.

    In 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi’kmaw right to fish and trade it commercially was protected in our constitutionally-protected treaties. The result? Canada sent in law enforcement to beat, pepper spray and run over our fishing boats – in addition to legal charges. In 2013, Elsipogtog First Nation and other members of the Mi’kmaw Nation who supported their anti-fracking stance in Mi’kmaw territory were labeled “terrorists”, “militants” and “bad Indians”. The scalping law was not used but our people were beaten and imprisoned.

    From small pox blankets and scalping bounties to imprisonment and neglect – Canada is killing our people and Canadians will be next if nothing is done to change the value (or lack thereof) that we collectively put on human life – all human life. This dictatorial, police state is not what newcomers to Canada had in mind when they came to Canada. A territory shared with Indigenous Nations based on formal agreements (treaties) and information agreement (alliances) were founded on three principles: (1) mutual respect, (2) mutual prosperity and (3) mutual protection. Indigenous peoples, their families, communities and Nations protected and cared for newcomers. Our people fought in Canada’s world wars to protect our shared territory and people. Now it’s time for Canadians to stand up for Indigenous peoples.

    In 1971, Helen Betty Osborne was kidnapped and murdered in The Pas, Manitoba. Her grieving friends and family were treated like criminals while the accused men were given the royal treatment by law enforcement and left to walk free for years. This wasn’t the first time our Indigenous women and little girls have been victims of a racist Canada, but no action was taken. Today, Canadians are well aware of the thousands of Indigenous women and little girls have gone murdered and/or missing in Canada. Yet, there is no sense of alarm in Parliament, nor has the Canadian state taken any steps to work with First Nations to embark on an inquiry or implement an emergency action plan.  

    By 1996, the last residential school had closed which was supposed to mark an end to the theft of Indigenous children from our Indigenous families, communities and Nations. Literally thousands of Indigenous children were victims of murders, rapes, tortures and medical experiments – and upwards of 40% never made it out of some of those schools alive. The legacy of thousands of our children who died as a matter of state law and policy should at least have included a promise to stop stealing our children. Today, we have more than 30,000 Indigenous children in care and growing. The problems have not stopped – they are getting worse.

    The use of small pox blankets on our people to try to kill us off faster has been described by medical doctors as the first example of “biological warfare” during non-war times. Indigenous women and little girls were forcibly sterilized without their knowledge and consent for decades in an effort to stop us from reproducing. The Canadian state does not need to use such blatant policies to reduce our populations anymore – willful neglect has the same lethal effect. Federal, provincial and municipal governments are standing by while our people die. This is not an “Indian problem” – this is a Canadian problem that impacts every single Canadian and our collective future.

    In 2005,  Jordan River Anderson, a little boy from Norway House Cree Nation with many medical issues, died in hospital at 5 years old never having seen his home because the federal and provincial governments couldn’t stop arguing over who would pay. In 2008, Brian Sinclair, a double amputee, whose family had roots in Berens River and Fort Alexander First Nations, died after waiting 34 hours in a hospital waiting room waiting for treatment for a bladder infection – while nearly 200 people passed him by – including staff who wrongly assumed he was “sleeping it off”.

    The former Auditor General for Canada raised the alarms about discriminatory funding and the failure by Indian Affairs to take action on programs that would significantly impact the lives of First Nations. The Office of the Correctional Investigator has called the increasing over-representation of Indigenous peoples a crisis that needs to be addressed. The United Nations Special Rapporteur has made numerous recommendations on how Canada can address this multi-faceted crisis in First Nations. But Canada fails to take action.

    Despite Canada’s failure to act, First Nations continue to try to raise the alarm bells on this lethal situation. A failure to address the chronic underfunding has led to First Nations being 10 times more likely to die in a house fire than Canadians. Indian affairs own report done in 2011 indicated that a minimum of $28 million dollars was needed to prevent deadly fires in Manitoba alone – yet all 633 First Nations in Canada only get $26 million.

    Canada sits back and watches our people die needless deaths while we struggle to heal our families and communities, to rebuild after the theft of our lands and resources and to resist ongoing attempts to assimilate and eliminate us. The herculean effort at the grassroots level to protect our people is made more difficult by state propaganda that would blame us for our own misery, or deflect media attention by vilifying our leaders. Now Bill C-51 will make those of us who speak out against such inhumanity all “terrorists”. Then who will defend this territory?

    The Chief Coroner for Ontario released an especially rare and powerful report in 2011 on the child suicide epidemic in Pikangikum First Nation which had declared a state of emergency – a desperate call for help that went unanswered by Canada. Within a two year period between 2006 and 2008, 16 children between the ages of 10-19 committed suicide. 16 children died – not from accidental car crashes or unpreventable diseases but because the “basic necessities of life are absent” in Pikangikum who struggles to heal and survive amidst the “backdrop of colonialism, racism and social exclusion” and government neglect.

    16 little First Nation children committed suicide because the Canadian state creates and maintains the conditions of life that will either kill them or make them so hopeless they will kill themselves. That’s the UN definition of genocide.

    In the words of the coroner, this “was not a story of capitulation to death, but rather, a story of stamina, endurance, tolerance, and resiliency stretched beyond human limits until finally, they simply could take no more.”

    In what vision of Canada are the ongoing deaths of our people ok? We need Canadians to stand beside First Nations and support us as we defend the health of our lands and waters as well as the rights and freedoms of Canadians. This should not be our burden to bear alone anymore. Help us turn this ship around before we lose any more precious children.

    #StopBillC51 #RacismKills #Genocide #FirstNationsLivesMatter #foodfor7gens #mmiw P. Palmater, Genocide, Indian Policy and legislated Elimination of Indians In Canada (2014) vol.3, no.3, Aboriginal Policy Studies 27-54. http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/aps/article/view/22225/pdf_22 P. Palmater, Stretched Beyond Human Limits: Death by Poverty in First Nations (2011) No.65/66, Can. Rev. of Social Policy 112-127. http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/crsp/article/viewFile/35220/32057

  • Lynn Gehl v. Canada: Unstated Paternity and Indian Status

    Lynn Gehl v. Canada: Unstated Paternity and Indian Status

    Dr. Lynn Gehl is a First Nations woman who is grounded in the traditional Indigenous knowledge of her Algonquin Anishinaabe culture and tradition. Gehl’s family originates from the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan (formerly Golden Lake Band) in Ontario. Yet, despite her connection to her culture, her Algonquin upbringing, and her ancestral ties to her First Nation, Gehl is denied legal recognition as an “Indian” by the federal government.

    But just like Mary Two-Axe Early, Jeanette Corbiere-Lavell, Yvonne Bédard, Sandra Lovelace and Sharon McIvor before her, Gehl is not taking no for an answer. After more than twenty years of applications, protests and appeals, Gehl is headed to court.

    Mary, Jeannette, Yvonne, Sandra, Sharon

    (lynngehl.com and Google Images)

    Mary Two-Axe was a well-known advocate who challenged Canada’s discriminatory Indian Act which took Indian status away from Indian women if they married a non-Indian. Jeanette-Corbiere Lavell and Yvonne Bédard took Canada all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge these marrying-out provisions and lost. This gave Sandra Lovelace the opportunity to go straight to the United Nations and argue her case and win. The United Nations decided that Canada cannot enact legislation that denies Indian women and their children the right to enjoy their culture together with their communities. However, the Bill C-31 amendments, while reinstating some Indian women, still discriminated against many others. Sharon McIvor dedicated 25 years to the court system to challenge this residual discrimination. She also won, but the court left it up to Canada to amend the Act. This resulted in Bill C-3, which remedied some of the discrimination for Indian women, but added more discriminatory provisions to the Act, which forced McIvor to take her case to the United Nations as well. While we wait for the decision in that case, Lynn Gehl has put in over 20 years trying to seek justice for Indian women and their children in terms of unstated paternity.

    Today (Monday, October 20th) Gehl and her legal counsel, Christa Big Canoe from Aboriginal Legal Services Toronto, will appear before the Ontario Superior Court to argue that the Indian Act rules around who is an “Indian” are discriminatory on the basis of race, marital status and/or gender. The Indian Act, and the means by which the federal government applies the act to Indian children whose fathers are unknown, results in them receiving a lesser form of Indian status, or no status at all.  Gehl’s case focuses on what is known as unknown or unstated paternity – Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada’s (AANDC) policy to automatically presume that an unknown or unstated father is a non-Indian – even if the father is, in fact, an Indian. Unstated or unknown paternity manifests in a variety of ways. For example, AANDC will unilaterally determine that the father is non-Indian if:

    –          an Indian mother does not know the name of the father;

    –          the father refuses to acknowledge paternity of the child;

    –          the father refuses to sign the birth certificate and/or  Indian registration form;

    –      the mother does not have the money to complete and file all vital statistics forms; there may be difficulty meeting time-lines for remote First Nations women who must fly into hospitals to have children;

    –          the underage mothers may have privacy concerns related to paternity in smaller communities; and/or

    –          an Indian mother refuses to name the father (due to incest, rape, domestic violence).

    AANDC is not legally required to process applications with the presumption that an unstated father is a non-Indian. This is a clear policy choice made by AANDC to reduce the number of Indians over time. Prior to 1985, there was a legal presumption of Indian paternity for unwed mothers – there was no mad dash to try to scam the system and register non-entitled children. Thus, there is no reason why AANDC cannot presume Indian paternity in the absence of documentation. At the end of the day, the child is born to, will live with and be raised by his/her Indian mother, family and community. However, such a policy does not correspond to Canada’s ultimate objective regarding Indians. AANDC’s policy objective has always been “the final solution of the Indian problem” i.e., to ensure “there is not a single Indian in Canada”. In fact, Canada is the last remaining country to determine who is an Indigenous person based on racial characteristics (descent through male blood). It is a racist formulation based on outdated views about biological characteristics of “races” and debunk sciences like eugenics and phrenology which sought to eliminate “undesirable” human populations.AANDC is the federal government department which created the rules to determine who can be registered as an Indian (status). Indian status confers not only program benefits like education and health care, but also determines who can be a band member; live on the reserve; vote or run for office in a First Nation; and often who is and is not a treaty beneficiary. Just like Canadian citizenship determines whether or not a Canadian can access education and health services from their province, Indian status determines eligibility on the federal side. So, its not that Indians get anything “more” from status in terms of programs, its just the source of the benefits.AANDC has done an incredible job of misinforming Canadians about the impacts of registering Indians. They often make comments about “floodgates” (i.e. everyone will become an Indian) and “costs” (this will be burden on taxpayers). The truth is, in terms of registrations, it would not have a significant impact.. While the Bill C-31 population projections (Indian women being reinstated to Indian status) ranged from 20-40% increase, the projected increases for unstated paternity are relatively small – approximately 2%. This does not substantiate the fear-mongering around population increases. Similarly, if the only concern here is money – there is no increased burden on taxpayers. For every person that is registered as an Indian they will get less money for education, health care, housing, food, water, and less child and family services. Status Indians are the most impoverished people in Canada. Plus, its the wealth from Indigenous lands and resources that pay for our programs and services and also subsidizes the programs and services of Canadians – not the other way around. Therefore, there is no financial argument to made against affording equality to Indian women and their children.This federal policy purposefully, systematically and disproportionately impacts Indigenous women who are most often the primary caregivers of their children and statistically more likely to live in poverty. This is especially true of young, teenage Indigenous mothers – 80% of whom were found to live in households making less than $15,000 a year. These mothers, often lone parents, depend on the federal programs and services associated with Indian status to care for their children.

    Gehl is relying on section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees equal benefit of the law without discrimination based. While section 6 of Act may on its face, appear to apply equally to Indian men and women, in reality, AANDC interprets and implements it in a gender-biased manner, which has a substantial and disproportionate impact on Indian women and their children whose paternity is unknown. The fact that AANDC interprets the Act so as to prejudice the descendants of unwed Indian women discriminates against them on the basis of marital status as well.

    Section 6 is a modern manifestation of historical discriminatory views of Indian women based on race, gender and marital status that should have been repealed decades ago.

    Gehl, who has five continuous generations of Indian lineage on her paternal side, will argue that she should be registered as an Indian. She will also seek a declaration from the court that Section 6 of the Indian Act:

    (1)   Discriminates against applicants born out of wedlock;

    (2)   Discriminates against applicants who do not know their paternity; and

    (3)   Be applied so as not to disadvantage the descendants of individuals whose paternity is unknown.

    Other recommendations for change from Indigenous women have included:

    –           Amend the Act to permit registration based on one parent’s registration;

    –           AANDC should discontinue its discriminatory interpretation and implementation of the registration provisions;

    –           AANDC should specifically eliminate the unstated paternity policy;

    –           Remove administrative and financial barriers to timely and accurate birth registrations;

    –           Provide legal and social protections to young mothers to protect their rights to privacy, personal safety and registration of their children.

    Gehl, like Sandra Lovelace and Sharon McIvor have spent decades in the courts fighting for their right to belong. It’s time Canada afforded equality to all people – including Indigenous women. Selection of sources on Unstated Paternity:

    Lynn Gehl personal website

    http://www.lynngehl.com/

    P. Palmater, Beyond Blood: Rethinking Indigenous Identity (Saskatoon: Purich Publishing, 2011).

    http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/beyond-blood-rethinking-indigenous-identity/9781895830606-item.html?ikwid=beyond+blood&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0

    M. Mann, Indian Registration: Unrecognized and Unstated Paternity (2013)

    http://apr.thompsonbooks.com/vols/APR_Vol_5Ch6.pdf

    M. Mann, Disproportionate and Unjustifiable: Teen First Nations Mothers and Unstated Paternity Policy (2013)

    http://apr.thompsonbooks.com/vols/APR_Vol_9Ch12.pdf

    L. Gehl, Indian Rights for Indian Babies: Canada’s “Unstated Paternity Policy” (2013)

    http://journals.sfu.ca/fpcfr/index.php/FPCFR/article/view/187

    National Aboriginal Women’s Association, Aboriginal Women and Unstated Paternity (2007)

    http://www.laa.gov.nl.ca/laa/naws/pdf/nwac-paternity.pdf

    S. Clatworthy, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Factors Contributing to Unstated Paternity (2003)

    http://www.canadiancrc.com/PDFs/Unstated_Paternity_First_Nations-Canada_Birth_Registrations_en.pdf

  • Harper Solicits Research to Blame First Nations for Murdered, Missing and Traded Indigenous Women

    Canada’s shameful colonial history as it relates to Indigenous peoples and women specifically is not well known by the public at large. The most horrific of Canada’s abuses against Indigenous peoples are not taught in schools. Even public discussion around issues like genocide have been censored by successive federal governments, and most notably by Harper’s Conservatives. Recently, the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights refused to use the term “genocide” to describe Canada’s laws, policies and actions towards Indigenous peoples which led to millions of deaths. The reason?: because that term was not acceptable to the federal government and the museum is after all, a Crown corporation. http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca/2013/07/human-rights-museum-or-harper.html Aside from the fact that this museum will be used as a propaganda tool for Canada vis-à-vis the international community, Harper’s Conservatives are also paying for targeted research to back up their propaganda as it relates to murdered, missing and traded Indigenous women. This is not the first time that Harper has paid for counter information and propaganda material as it relates to Indigenous peoples, and it likely won’t be the last. However, this instance of soliciting targeted research to help the government blame Indigenous peoples for their own victimization and oppression is particularly reprehensible given the massive loss of life involved over time. http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca/2011/06/secret-agent-harper-conservative-spy.html The issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women was made very public by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) several years ago through their dedicated research, community engagement and advocacy efforts. Even the United Nations took notice and starting commenting on Canada’s obligation to address this serious issue. Yet, in typical Harper-Conservative style, once the issue became a hot topic in the media, they cut critical funding to NWAC’s Sisters in Spirit program which was the heart of their research and advocacy into murdered and missing Indigenous women. http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca/2010/11/neanderthal-politics-shame-on.html To further complicate the matter, any attempts for a national inquiry into the issue has been thwarted by the federal government, despite support for such an inquiry by the provinces and territories. One need only look at the fiasco of the Pickton Inquiry in British Columbia to understand how little governments in Canada value the lives of Indigenous women, their families and communities. The inquiry was headed by Wally Oppal, the same man who previously denied the claims of Indigenous women who were forcibly sterilized against their knowledge and consent. The inquiry seemed more interested in insulating the RCMP from investigation and prosecution than it was about hearing the stories of Indigenous women. http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/pamela-palmater/2011/10/murdered-missing-and-still-excluded-indigenous-women-fight-eq Now, the Canadian public has to deal with a new chapter to this story – the sale of Indigenous women into the sex trades. The CBC recently reported that current research shows that Indigenous women, girls and babies in Canada were taken onto US ships to be sold into the sex trade. While this is not new information for Indigenous peoples, it is something that Canada has refused to recognize in the past. The research also shows that Indigenous women are brought onto these boats never to be seen from again. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/story/2013/08/21/tby-first-nations-women-human-trafficking-ships-united-states.html The issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women has now expanded to murdered, missing and traded women. One might have expected a reaction from both the Canadian government and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). Yet, the day after the story hit the news, the AFN was tweeting about local competitions and the federal government was essentially silent. I say essentially, because while all of this was taking place, the federal government put together a Request for Proposals on MERX (#275751) to solicit research to blame the families and communities of Indigenous women for being sold into the sex trade. https://www.merx.com/English/SUPPLIER_Menu.asp?WCE=Show&TAB=1&PORTAL=MERX&State=7&id=275751&src=osr&FED_ONLY=0&ACTION=&rowcount=&lastpage=&MoreResults=&PUBSORT=2&CLOSESORT=0&IS_SME=Y&hcode=%2f6A6jdkNJoHoufgILSp4Xg%3d%3d Instead of making a call for true academic research into the actual causes and conditions around Indigenous women, girls and babies being sold into the sex trade, the federal government solicited research to prove: (1) the involvement of family members in their victimization; (2) the level to which domestic violence is linked to the sale of Indigenous women into the sex trade; and (3) even where they are investigating gang involvement, it is within the context of family involvement of the trade of Indigenous women. The parameters of the research excludes looking into federal and/or provincial laws and policies towards Indigenous peoples; funding mechanisms which prejudice them and maintain them in the very poverty the research identifies; and negative societal attitudes formed due to government positions vis-à-vis Indigenous women like: – rapes and abuse in residential schools; – forced sterilizations; – the theft of thousands of Indigenous children into foster care; – the over-representation of Indigenous women in jails; – and the many generations of Indigenous women losing their Indian status and membership and being kicked off reserves by federal law. The research also leaves out a critical aspect of this research which is federal and provincial enforcement laws, policies and actions or lack thereof in regards to the reports of murdered, missing and traded Indigenous women, girls and babies. The epic failure of police to follow up on reports and do proper investigations related to these issues have led some experts to conclude that this could have prevented and addressed murdered, missing and traded Indigenous women. Of even greater concern are the allegations that have surfaced in the media in relation to RCMP members sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/02/12/bc-human-rights-watch-abuse-report.html This MERX Request for Proposals is offensive and should be retracted and re-issued in a more academically-sound manner which looks to get at the full truth, versus a federally-approved pre-determined outcome. It’s time Canada opened up the books, and shed light on the real atrocities in this country so that we can all move forward and address them.

  • Human Rights Museum or Harper Propaganda Show?: Genocide in Canada Denied

    Canada has a dark history – one which begins long before Confederation in 1867. The state of Canada, which was previously a British colony, was only made possible by the theft of Indigenous lands and resources, and the genocide of Indigenous peoples. While some government officials will admit that some of their laws and policies may have resulted in assimilation, you will never hear any of them speak of their elimination policies which resulted in genocide. What is the difference between assimilation and elimination? Assimilation is when one group (usually the colonizing settler government) tries to force another group (Indigenous peoples) to abandon their culture, language, values, traditions, practices and beliefs for those of the colonizer. Policies like residential schools, resulted in the disruption and loss of Indigenous language and culture. This can and has resulted in inter-generational trauma in many Indigenous families, communities and Nations. Elimination policies are much more direct. The scalping bounties issued in the Atlantic region for the scalps of Mi’kmaw men, women and children were meant to physically eliminate Mi’kmaw peoples. The distribution of smallpox blankets to Indigenous peoples were meant to physically eliminate Indigenous peoples through the ourposeful spread of a deadly disease. Similarly, the forced sterilization of Indigenous women in Canada without their knowledge and consent was also meant to eliminate any future population of Indigenous peoples. These are what have been called elimination policies. Some will debate whether the residential school policy was a policy of assimilation or elimination, but I argue that it was both. The physical abuse for practicing one’s culture is a form of forced assimilation; whereas the starvation, torture and medical experiments conducted on the children which resulted in upwards of 40% of the children dying, is elimination. Whether it is assimilation or elimination, all of the acts fit under the definition of genocide as noted in the UN Convention Against Genocide.

    Article 2

    In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

    http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html

    If you look at any of the criteria, Canada has committed acts under each which can be defined as genocide. The colonizing governments have: (a) purposely killed Indigenous peoples (smallpox blankets, residential schools, scalping bounties, starlight tours); http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/02/18/residential-schools-student-deaths.html (b) have caused serious bodily harm (residential school torture, deaths and beatings in police custody, medical experiments in residential schools and in First Nation communities); http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hungry-aboriginal-kids-adults-were-subject-of-nutritional-experiments-paper/article13246564/ (c) deliberately inflicted conditions meant to bring about death and illness (chronic under-funding of essential human needs like water, sanitation, housing, and food); http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/crsp/article/viewFile/35220/32057 (d) prevented births (forced sterilization of Indigenous women); http://www.naho.ca/documents/naho/english/publications/DP_womens_health.pdf (e) transferred children our of Indigenous communities (residential schools, massive 60’s scoop where kids taken and adopted into non-Indigenous families,  current policy of child apprehensions); http://www.originscanada.org/the-stolen-generation/ Thus, if the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights will not use the term genocide to describe what Canada has done to Indigenous peoples in Canada, then its own credibility will be called into question. A few staff members at the museum do not have the right decide how history will be presented. The grisly facts about Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples is something that must be recognized and accepted if there is any hope of moving forward in a good way or at least in a way which does not repeat the atrocities of the past. One does not have to look too far to find the real reason why the museum will not use the word genocide – it is Crown corporation, i.e., an arm of the government. The museum staff are quoted as saying: “as a Crown corporation, it’s important the museum’s terminology align with that of the federal government”.This Harper government’s modus operandi is to control information, silence opposition and present propaganda instead of open, accountable fact-based reports. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/cmhr-rejects-genocide-for-native-policies-217061321.html While the museum appears to be relying on the fact that Canada has refused to acknowledge that its policies against Indigenous peoples were genocide, they should also note that those governments and politicians who have committed genocide in other parts of the world never admitted their illegal activity either. Canada will never admit wrong-doing unless and until it is brought to justice. Even Canada’s watered-down residential schools apology was quickly followed by a denial that any cultural genocide took place. http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/10/27/residential-schools-saganashduncan-apologize/ There is little point in even opening this museum if its only purpose is to act as a propaganda machine for the federal government. We can expect little more than government-approved pictures, displays, and histories if even the terminology are going to be censored. Why waste all that money, when one could simply log on to the Harper government website and read the propaganda directly? The continued denial of genocide in Canada, against the weight of much academic research and evidence, shows that Canada (the government) has no real interest in moving forward in a respectful relationship with Indigenous peoples. In fact, all of Harper’s actions to date indicate a desire to go back in time and resurrect old assimilation policies. Perhaps this is the real reason why Harper does not want the museum to educate Canadians about the truth? http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/pamela-palmater/2012/09/harpers-manifesto-erasing-canadas-indigenous-communities

  • Harper’s Indigenous Manifesto: Erasing Indigenous Peoples from Canada

    Early Indian policy was designed to accomplish two main policy objectives: (1) acquire Indigenous lands and resources, and (2) reduce financial responsibility to Indigenous peoples. The primary way in which these two objectives were to be achieved was through the physical, legal, social and spiritual elimination of Indigenous peoples. I say “elimination” because that is the word which best describes government intentions. Most people today use the term “assimilation” but to my mind, this word is much too soft to describe the design and impact of government policies on Indigenous peoples in Canada. To some readers, the term “elimination” may seem a little harsh, somewhat of an exaggeration, or perhaps rhetoric blown out of proportion which forgets the good intentions governments, churches and traders had for Indigenous peoples. I beg to differ – not because I fall into any externally imposed category of left-wing, liberal, radical or “nutbar”. I beg to differ because the facts – the brutal, uncomfortable facts tell us a much different story. My biggest concern is not that the colonization project devastated Indigenous peoples, because the historical record clearly shows it did; it is that the colonization and devastation of Indigenous peoples continues, albeit couched in softer terminology. Today, the few history books that have been amended to include mention of Indigenous peoples speak of the tragic loss of Indigenous cultures over time. They speak of this “loss” as a romantic part of our history where the strong, noble Indian chief on his horse looks across the horizon and realizes that the ways of his people are fading away with the coming of European trains, traders and technologies. This sort of representation may even invoke feelings of melancholy in Canadians who long for the simplicity of the old days. But it belies the truth about Canada and its direct and intentional “obliteration” of Indigenous peoples, cultures and territories. If the term “elimination” does not make some readers uncomfortable, surely the term “obliteration” will. The purposeful destruction of a people implies the kind of ill-intent, even malice upon which a country like Canada could surely never have been built? Terms like those imply that perhaps what happened to Indigenous peoples was not simply “progress”, “civilization” or a “good policy gone wrong” – no, this falls in the realm of a word that usually upsets the majority of readers: genocide. Many people do not understand the legal definition of genocide, nor are they aware of how genocide is considered internationally. Many are of the misunderstanding that genocide is the mass murder of millions of people all in one shot – something akin to the holocaust. In fact, genocide is defined in the United Nations Convention on Genocide as follows: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

    That is the definition. In Canada and the United States, settler governments have committed genocide against Indigenous peoples, not under just one category, but under every single category noted above. We all know it, but the reality stands in such stark contrast to the mythology created by government about what Canada stands for, that many people resort to denial. Indigenous peoples who have raised the subject have been referred to as “nutbars”, “whackos”, “conspiracy theorists”, “radicals” and “terrorists”. The issue of genocide is radical – not because it is not true, but because it stands so far outside the realm of humanity and human rights that the tendency is to save the term for only the most obvious, horrific, well-known instances of genocide committed in places far away from Canada. http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/pamela-palmater/2011/11/unbelievable-undeniable-genocide-canada The term genocide is usually saved for instances where the victims are considered to be humans – and Indigenous peoples have long been characterized as non-humans for centuries. Aside from the historical depictions of Indigenous peoples as “savages”, “heathens” or “pagans”, they have also been treated by governments as “dangerous and sub-human”. The myth of Indigenous peoples being sub-human allowed governments to steal Indigenous lands under the legal fiction of “terra nullius” (lands belonging to no one). They knew better of course, but it allowed them to justify not only the theft of lands from Indigenous peoples, but the brutal acts of genocide which were committed upon them. The fact that early governments sent small-pox infested blankets to Indigenous communities knowing it would nearly wipe them all out, is a historical fact. These were not the actions of a few bad apples, or something that happened in the stone age. This has been acknowledged as modern “biological warfare” by publications in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The scalping laws in Nova Scotia were deliberate acts of murder which decimated the Mi’kmaw Nation population by almost 80%. The forced surgical sterilization of Indigenous women against their will, and often without their knowledge or consent, destroyed Indigenous peoples in a very physical way. The government and church-run residential schools knowingly created conditions that led to the mass deaths of the Indigenous children who attended – upwards of 40% never made it out alive. Incredibly, not only did government officials know that Indigenous children were dying and even “acknowledged” the high rates of deaths and their causes, but this was part of the overall objective: “But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is geared towards the final solution of our Indian problem.” (SI Indian Affairs, Duncan Campbell Scott) Why do I bring all this uncomfortableness up in my blog? Why am I asking readers to face the brutal reality that is Canada? It is because genocidal acts against Indigenous peoples continue to this day, hidden in government policies which purport to be in the best interests of Indigenous peoples. It is because every government (Libs and Cons) has had a hand in continuing the situation, but mostly because this Harper government has ramped up efforts to eliminate Indigenous peoples. In my opinion, the Harper Indigenous Manifesto is about erasing Indigenous peoples from Canada socially, culturally, legally and physically. What used to be forced sterilizations to prevent child births and control Indigenous populations is now pre-mature deaths from the extreme poverty directly linked to chronic, purposeful under-funding, over-prescription of addictive drugs, and lack of housing, water and sanitation. What used to be residential schools became the 60’s scoop and is now child and family services removing our children from our communities at alarming rates. What used to be European/western education forced on our children through residential schools, is now the provincial school systems, which for the most part, teach the same western ideologies, histories, sciences and politics to our children and specifically exclude our traditional Indigenous knowledges, languages and cultures. What used to be scalping laws, are now starlight tours, murdered and missing Indigenous women by the hundreds, and quelling land claims with brute military and police force. What used to be laws against Indigenous peoples leaving their reserves are now laws which take away rights when one leaves the reserve (taxes, governance, jurisdiction, trade, identity). What used to be laws against Indigenous peoples gathering in one place is now CSIS, RCMP, DND and INAC putting us on terrorist watch lists, monitoring our movements, and over-incarcerating our men, women and youth at increasing rates. What used to be laws against Indigenous peoples hiring lawyers to advocate on their behalf, are now devasting funding cuts to local, regional and provincial First Nation political organizations. All coming at a time when Harper wants chaos, confusion, and lack of political capacity to ensure there is little resistance to his comprehensive Indian Act-based legislative agenda. He hopes to strike fear and confusion in chiefs so that they don’t know whether to stay quiet and hope it doesn’t get worse, or take action. Either way, funding cuts will be imposed on local First Nations as well. This is not about whether regional political organizations are doing a good job or not – this is about Harper fulfilling the original intentions of Indian policy (1) accessing Indigenous lands and resources and (2) reducing financial obligations to Indigenous peoples. He just happens to see striking at political organizations as the best way to isolate individual First Nations, already overwhelmed with issues, so they are easier to bully into submission. The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) either does not have the capacity or inclination to take these issues on. Regardless of the reasons, it is clear that local community members are going to be looking to their local First Nation governments to take action. In the same vein, First Nation leaders will be looking for assistance from their treaty, regional and provincial organizations. The days of waiting for the AFN to do something are over. If these funding cuts are ok, so will be the ones that come to individual First Nations, then will come the eventual constitutional changes, the accelerated extinguishment of Aboriginal and treaty rights, and the division and sale of the rest of our lands. If Canadians think that this does not concern them – they should think again. As your “Canada” slowly becomes a dictatorship led by a rogue Prime Minister who is obsessed with power, Canadian laws, rules, and regulations are breached with impunity. Everything from elections, ethics, budgets, and legislation are manipulated without regard for the rule of law. The damage done by these renegade Conservatives is already so severe that analysts feel it will take years to undo the harm. In standing beside Indigenous peoples to oppose these destructive policies, Canadians would be living up to the spirit and intent of the treaties and, in so doing, protecting their own futures. Economic reports have already shown that the costs of maintaining Indigenous peoples in poverty is higher than the solutions. Those same studies show that the costs of delaying the resolution of land claims and treaty implemention for example, are higher than if those claims were resolved equitably. Even the most basic math shows that it costs more to keep an Indigenous person in a federal prison for one year ($100,000) than it does to pay for a 4-year university degree ($60,000). If you think for a minute that once Harper is done erasing Indigenous peoples, that he won’t come after women, children, the impoverished, the remaining pristine environmental areas, water basins and sanctuaries all in the name of wealth and power, think again. There is no room for justice, diversity or freedom in a dictator’s view of the world. We are all compelled to act. Our reasons do not have to be the same. I can be a Mi’kmaw citizen and someone else can be a Canadian citizen, but still have a mutual interest in protecting the environment. Whether someone votes in federal and provincial elections, or like me, does not vote in elections – we all still share the desire to protect our waterways. One can be Maliseet and someone else French, but still feel it important protect our cultures for future generations. I have no intention of letting Harper erase me, my family, my home community or Mi’kmaw Nation. Let’s put our heads together about a plan of action. Extra sources: http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/crsp/article/viewFile/35220/32057 http://www.oba.org/en/pdf/sec_news_sept11_c3_palm.pdf http://lawandstyle.ca/opinion_first_nations_fiasco/ http://fusemagazine.org/2012/07/35-3_palmate

  • Federal Budget 2012 – The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn

    The Conservative budget was released today with most mainstream political commentators wiping their brows, saying “Phewf, we thought it would be much worse!” People like Kevin O’Leary were asking why the Conservative government didn’t go further to open up Canada for international investment. Others were relieved that only 19,200 federal public service jobs would be lost as opposed to the 60,000 that were predicted. Still others were wondering what the streamlined environmental review processes might mean. http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/plan/toc-tdm-eng.html The area with which I am most concerned relates to what was and was not in the budget for Indigenous Peoples. I am not surprised by this budget, in fact, it is just about exactly what I predicted it would be. What I am surprised about is how the Assembly of First Nations’ National Chief Shawn Atleo could possibly think this was a good budget. http://www.afn.ca/index.php/en/news-media/latest-news/afn-national-chief-responds-to-federal-budget-calls-for-continued-work Atleo says: “The investments in education in today’s budget indicate that the voices of our youth are perhaps beginning to be heard…”. Well, let’s look what was and was not provided for First Nation education: For elementary and secondary education (k-12), approximately $1.5B in extra funding is needed this year to have an education system almost on par with the provinces. This budget only provided $100M for this year, most of which will go to early literacy (and not in our languages). For post-secondary education (PSE), we have an estimated need of half a billion dollars for this year as we have no less than 10,000 First Nation students on a waiting list to go to university. This budget appears to provide $0 for PSE. Atleo says that “First Nations will seize this momentum to move forward to real reform and reconciliation”. What momentum? According to the documents the AFN provided, over $6.7B is required this year to properly fund k-12 education and address the cumulative shortfall. The Cons provided only 4% of what is actually needed. I fail to see how this is momentum. The current cap on funding is at 2% – this is but a fraction more. Let’s put these numbers into proper perspective. INAC estimates that it will add approximately 45,000 people as status Indians as a result of the Bill C-3 amendment to the Indian Act. It has also estimated that upwards of 50,000 new status Indians will be added because of the new Qalipu band. This is a total of 95,000 new status Indians to be added to the 704,851 INAC’s website claims are currently registered. This is an increase in the registered population of approximately 14% through registration alone. Offering an additional 4% of what is actually needed for the current population for education is an insult, but considering the new population, it is no increase at all. Given that education is a treaty right, this amounts to an overt violation of First Nations treaties and very clear signal that there will be no future of increased, flexible, permanent funding set aside for First Nations education. The fact that no money was set aside for an increase in PSE is a further sign of things to come. The Cons have drawn their line in the sand and NC Atleo continues as if oblivious to the impending battle. I don’t see any “real reform and reconciliation” in a budget that offers $330M for water infrastructure over 2 years when the actual need is $6.578B. This amounts to approximately 5% of what is actually needed. If it cost your family $20,000 to install plumbing in your house to run water and have proper sanitation, what good would $1,000 do if you didn’t have the other $19,000? What kind of reform is that? Again, the Conservatives are laughing in the face of the current crisis of poverty in First Nations while NC Atleo praises them for “real reconciliation”. This year the whole world saw first hand what the crisis in First Nation housing looks like. The pictures from Attawapiskat First Nation showed people living in unheated sheds with no running water. The media frenzy which followed shamed Harper into having a Crown-First Nation Gathering that had been promised several times over his years in office, but which never came to fruition. It was Attawapiskat that brought about that “historic” meeting and not NC Atleo, despite claims otherwise. Yet, not a single cent was dedicated to address the crisis in First Nation housing. What about this lack of funding for housing speaks of reconciliation? The assimilation scheme of starving the Indians off the reserve is well entrenched in Conservative policy, yet Atleo sees this budget as making “important investments”. I can assure you that I am not seeing monsters where non exist. This assimilation plan for Indians is well-documented in government records and has always been considered by INAC as “the final solution”. The Cons are just more aggressive in speeding assimilation along. The budget document focuses on “integration” of Aboriginal peoples into Canadian society – as a labour source, as tax payers and as individual property owners. Even the constitutionally protected right of Indigenous peoples to be specifically consulted and accommodated on their Aboriginal and treaty rights is translated as consultation (no accommodation) that will be “integrated” into current regulatory processes. But let’s look at what is really happening. The Indian Act is staying in place, as confirmed at the CFNG and the current level of federal control over First Nations will not only be maintained, but will be dramatically increased with the suite of legislation it intends to impose on First Nations. This budget confirmed what we already heard in the CFNG: (1) Non-Indians will gain interests in reserve lands in the matrimonial real property legislation; (2) Cons will transfer all liability for water and sewer on reserve to First Nations without funding to address the increased standards; (3) First Nation education legislation will impose increased standards and force provincial partnerships while not providing additional funds; (4) Reserves will be opened up to privatization (ownership by individuals) to allow mass sales of reserve lands and facilitate extractive industry activities on our lands; and (5) Accountability legislation to impose standards on First Nations leaders not imposed on Members of Parliament. Again, I am really confused how any of this screams “reconciliation”. In fact, this entire suite of legislation violates our inherent rights to be self-determining and violates our constitutionally protected  Aboriginal and treaty rights to govern our own affairs. It also threatens our communally-held traditional lands and current reserve land holdings. It will result in a dumping of liability and no funding to cope with a whole slew of additional regulations and standards that Canada itself can’t meet in First Nations now. In fairness, Atleo did say “First Nations must be at the table on any discussions that could affects our lands, our lives and our rights”. Or what? What is Atleo going to do? He certainly has represented ANY kind of threat to the Cons yet, nor has he publicly offered any real resistance to this run-away assimilation train. He also states that he will get clarity of what all this legislation means and ensure First Nations voices are “respected”. Really? Our voices have not been during his whole tenure – what makes now any different, except maybe that his election is coming up in July? The fact is, the AFN knows full well what these proposed pieces of legislation mean as they have already testified before the House and Senate on some of them. The focus should not be in ensuring our voice is “respected”, it should be in ensuring that our inherent right to be self-determining is respected, implemented and enforced. Our jurisdiction over our own communities is what needs to be recognized. We don’t need 5 more Indian Acts to prescribe how we will live our lives. I don’t want my voice to be accommodated in federal legislation – I don’t want the federal legislation. I honestly wish I could find some positive in what NC Atleo is doing on all our behalves, but I just can’t. It is not a personal thing, as I don’t know him as a person – most of us don’t and never will. I don’t get to vote in AFN elections, so this is not about voting. I have given the issue a great deal of thought and have spoken to a great many people that I trust about my dilemma in criticizing an organization that is set up to advocate on our behalf. It hurts me to do it, but after much contemplation and soul-searching, I feel like I have no choice. All we, as grassroots people, have to go by is what Atleo does or does not accomplish for us. The proof is in the outcome and this is not the outcome that will move our Nations forward in decolonizing, healing, rebuilding our languages and cultures and protecting our traditional territories for future generations. While Atleo cannot be blamed for the aggressive assimilation plan of the Cons (and I admit, he has a tough political landscape right now), he is to blame if he does not stand up and actively resist it. Our people are the ones who live in shacks – now is not the time to tell them their voices are “being heard”. Our people are dying pre-mature deaths – now is not the time to promote “reconciliation”. Our people see the impending battle – now is not the time to “seek clarity”. Our people need a leader – now is not the time to be a politician.

  • UNIMAGINABLE, BUT UNDENIABLE: GENOCIDE IN CANADA

    I am moved to write this blog because of Minister Duncan’s outrageous remarks that residential schools were NOT cultural genocide. This has led to discussions about whether or not the murder, torture and abuse of Indigenous peoples in this country “qualifies” as genocide, given the more recent, and much more distant atrocities committed in countries like Rwanda. Rwanda gained international attention because upwards of 800,000 people died in less than a year by brutal means. The Srebenica genocide resulted in the murder of approximately 8,000 Bosnian men and women in 1995. The holocaust of millions of Jewish people is likely the most famous of all. These events all took place far away from our shores in North America and allowed Canadians and Americans to point across the sea and shake their heads in horror and disgust. North Americans have been able to rewrite their own histories so that they don’t have to face the atrocities committed here at home. They have the benefit of majority power which means that their teachers speak of peace and friendship with the Indians, their priests speak of saving Indians, and their politicians speak of things like reconciliation. Meanwhile, the horrors committed against our peoples, which resulted in the largest genocide in the planet’s history is a story that never gets told. As a lawyer, a professor and someone who does alot of public speaking about issues impacting our peoples, I am often faced with the question of whether genocide really happened here in North America (a place we call Turtle Island and includes Canada and the United States). When I answer unequivocally yes, the first reaction is usually – “You can’t seriously compare colonization with the vicious murders in Rwanda”? I agree – there is is no comparison. It was a different place, at a different time, with different methods and results. What I am saying is that what happened to our people on Turtle Island fits EVERY criteria of the international definition of genocide. In 1948, after the atrocities committed against the Jewish people in WWII, the United Nations passed the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. http://www.un.org/millennium/law/iv-1.htm The Convention declared that genocide was a crime in international law regardless of whether it was committed during a time of peace or war. Any punishment is NOT limited by time or place and there is no immunity for public bodies, government officials or individuals. They defined genocide as follows: “The Convention defines genocide as any of a number of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group: – killing the members of the group; – causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of the group; – deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; – imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and – forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” That is not my definition – that is the definition by international law standards for which ALL nations are bound and Canada and the United States are no exceptions. Canada signed this Convention on November 28, 1949. The United States signed on December 11, 1948. Thus, in order for an act to be considered genocide, it does not require that all components be present, nor does it require that the entire group be eliminated. However, in both Canada’s case and that of the United States, ALL components of genocide are present. Specifically here in Canada: (1) killing members of the group – the deliberate infecting of blankets with small pox and sending them to reserves; – the enacting of scalping laws which encouraged settlers to kill and scalp Indians for a monetary reward; – the deliberate infecting of Indigenous children with infectious diseases in residential schools which led to their deaths; – the deliberate abuse, torture, starvation, and denial of medical care to Indigenous children forced to live at residential schools which resulted in as many as 40% dying in those schools; – the killing of our people by police and military through starlight tours, tazering, severe beatings, and by unjustified shootings; – the killing of our people resulted in severely reduced populations, and some Nations completely wiped out; – in the US, some groups were exterminated by up to 98%; (2) causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to the members of the group; – think of the torture and abuse inflicted on Indigenous children in residential schools like sexual abuse, rape, sodomy, solitary confinement, denial of food and medical care, and severe beatings for speaking one’s language, etc; – imagine the mental harm to Indigenous families and communities when their children were forcibly removed from them and left to die in residential schools; – even when residential schools were starting to close, social workers in the 1960’s onward stole children and placed them out for adoption in non-Indigenous families; – the torture and abuse of Indigenous peoples in order to force them to sign treaties and agreements; – the loss of language, culture, traditions, practices, way of life, beliefs, world views, customs; – the imposed divisions in families, communities and Nations through the Indian Act (3) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; – think of the deliberate and chronic underfunding of essential social services on reserve like housing, water, food, sewer and other programs fundamental to the well-being of a people like education and health; – the theft of all the lands and resources of Indigenous peoples and their subsequent confinement to small reserves where the law prevented them from leaving and providing for their families and so were left to starve on the rations provided by Canada; – or the relocations of Indigenous communities from resource rich areas to swamp lands where they could not provide for themselves; – Indian Affairs who divided large nations into small communities, located them physically away from one another, – the Indian Act led to the physical separation of Indigenous women and children from their communities through the Act’s assimilatory registration provisions; (4) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; – the forced sterilizations of Indigenous women and men, most notably in Alberta and British Columbia; – the Indian Act’s discriminatory registration provisions which prevent the descendants of Indigenous women who married non-Indian men to be recognized as members of their community thus keeping their births from being recognized as part of the group; – the discriminatory INAC policy which prevents the children of unwed mothers from registering their children as Indians and part of their communities (unstated and unknown paternity); (5) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group – the long history of residential schools which had an express stated purpose – “to KILL the Indian in the child” and to ensure that there were no more Indians in Canada; – the 60’s scoop which saw the mass removal of Indigenous children from their homes and adopted permanently into non-Indigenous homes; – the prevention of children from being members in their communities due to the discriminatory Indian Act registration provisions; – the current high rate of children removed from their families which out numbers residential schools and 60’s scoop combined. Unfortunately, I could provide many more examples, but there is no need to do so when what is listed above more than meets the definition of genocide. So, when the Minister of Indian Affairs says that residential schools were NOT a form of cultural genocide, he is not only undoing what good the public residential schools apology did, but he is denying all of the horrors committed by Canada on our peoples – in essence, he is denying our lived realities. Watch the clips of Minister Duncan on APTN’s InFocus show that we just did on Nov.4, 2011 on the issue of assimilation and genocide in Canada: Part 1 of APTN InFocus: http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/11/04/november-4th-part-1/ Part 2: http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/11/04/november-4th-%e2%80%93-part-2/ I find it hard to believe that while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is going around Canada, that the Minister of Indian Affairs would be so disrespectful. Not only were residential schools “lethal” for some languages, cultures and family relations, it was literally “lethal” for almost half the children that attended. How much more lethal would he want it to be? 60%, 70%, 80%? The Prime Minister should immediately remove Minister Duncan from his position. That won’t happen of course, because the Conservative government STILL has a policy objective of assimilating Indians. The Indian Act’s registration provisions are modern day evidence of that. I invite you all to watch the documentary entitled: The Canary Effect. It is only one hour long, but is very difficult to watch. It hurts the spirit in so many ways and I imagine will be difficult for uninformed non-Indigenous people to accept. While it relates primarily to genocide against our Indigenous peoples in the United States, much of what is said applies equally in Canada. http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/canary-effect/ We are in the fight of our lives and we need to turn the tide of this war around. We have to stop blaming ourselves and believing the lies that we were told. We are not inferior, we are not genetically pre-disposed to dysfunction, our men are not better than our women, and we certainly did not EVER consent to genocide against our people. All the dysfunction, addictions, ill health, suicides, male domination and violence is all the result of what Canada did to us. We are not each others’ enemies. We have to forgive ourselves for being colonized – none of that is who we really are as Indigenous peoples. Our people are beautiful, proud, strong, and resilient. We honour our ancestors by surviving. Now we have to honour our future generations by thriving. Our children carry our ancestors in their hearts and minds. They carry the strength, honour and passion of our ancestors in their blood. Our generation must find a way, despite all the barriers in our way, to love, support and nurture our children so that we can rise up and take back our sovereignty, our honour, and our future. Our children will still go through the pain of knowing what has been done and is currently done to our people by Canada, and all the dysfunction that it has created, but maybe they will finally know where to direct the anger and stop turning it inward and hurting themselves. That anger can be focused into passion which can then be channelled into action for our people.  Our future depends on our children loving themselves and having hope. We can’t ever let them lose that. Canada may want us to disappear, but we don’t have to let it happen. All my relations… P.S. In case you want to express your concern to Minister Duncan, his e-mail is john.duncan@parl.gc.ca

  • Canada’s Genocide?: Death by Poverty in First Nations

    I apologize to all my readers about not posting lately. There are so many issues that I want to deal with and that need more attention, like: the failure of BC to provide funding to Aboriginal women’s groups to be able to participate in the Pickton Inquiry; the Conservative government’s subversion of the specific lands claims process by offering take-it-or-leave-it offers; the expert First Nation panel which has been a fiasco from its troubled beginnings, or the Conservatives pattern of censoring information. All of these issues I have tweeted about, but are deserved of their own blogs. However, as one person I only have so much time to do more things than I could finish in a lifetime. Currently, I am working on a journal article that will be published this fall on the pre-mature deaths of First Nations caused by the crisis of poverty created and maintained by Canada. This article is taking me much longer to write than usual because of the subject matter. As I type the words on each page, my heart gets heavier and heavier until I cannot hold my feelings anymore and have to walk away from the paper. Sometimes, when I am referring to very specific examples, stories of specific communities and individuals, I can’t help but cry. I am not crying for me, but for our Indigenous brothers and sisters who are denied their very lives by all the discriminatory laws, policies, and barriers imposed on First Nations by Canada. Often times we hear these words so often from our leaders and various advocacy organizations that the public hears it only as rhetoric – an exaggeration of the actual situation in First Nations. Any publicity about a crisis in one of our communities is quickly downplayed by allegations of corruption or mis-spending in another. We are often blamed for the ill effects of colonization and systemic racism. Canada has perfected the ability to “defer, deflect and deny” the fact of First Nations dying by poverty. Creating these situations of life and death make “negotiations” about our Aboriginal and treaty rights and land claims much easier. We are so far from an equal bargaining position with Canada that any agreement arrived at today should be challenged as an imprudent bargain. This is what I am writing about in my article. This is the reason why I haven’t been able to post any blogs lately or update my website (which is in desperate need of an update). Here is an excerpt from my article that I am working on: However, it is not just the federal government’s own offices and agencies that have noted Canada’s lack of action on First Nation poverty and discrimination. The Ontario coroner’s report referred to earlier clearly linked the extreme poverty in Pikangikum First Nation to the high suicide rates among their children:

    Pikangikum is an impoverished, isolated First Nations community where basic necessities of life are absent. Running water and indoor plumbing do not exist for most residents. Poverty, crowded substandard housing, gainful employment, food and water security are daily challenges. A lack of an integrated health care system, poor education by provincial standards and a largely absent community infrastructure are uniquely positioned against a backdrop of colonialism, racism, lack of implementation of self-determination and social exclusion. They all contribute to the troubled youth…[1]

    What health care residents do receive is “fragmented, chaotic and uncoordinated” with “clear gaps in service”.[2] Their school burnt down in 2007 and has never been replaced despite empty promises by INAC to do so. The significant funding disparities that exist between First Nation and Canadian students means that the students who are the most disadvantaged and have the greatest needs, receive the least. A community of only 2400 people has 200 child welfare files open with 80 children in care. Due to the lack of housing and the high levels of overcrowding, these children are sent to foster homes far away from their communities. Should anyone be surprised by the fact that 16 children between the ages of 10-19 took their own lives between 2006 and 2008? Under the Criminal Code of Canada, section 318(2)(b) defines genocide as:

    (2) In this section, “genocide” means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part any identifiable group, namely,

     (b) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.[3]

     At what point does Canada’s denial of the problem equate with a de facto policy of genocide?

    [1] Coroner report, at 93-94

    [2] Ibid. at 95

    [3] CCC section 318(2)(b)

    As always, I welcome any comments or feedback you may have about any of my blogs. For the next little while however, there may be delays in my response so that I can finish this article.

  • From Savages to Terrorists: Justifying Genocide of First Nations

    I am moved to write this blog because a couple of my readers/listeners/followers have contacted me about comments I made a while back on Facebook where I was critical of the US using the codename “Geronimo” in the assassination of Bin Laden. I was critical about First Nations being publicly characterized as terrorists and some members of the public thought I was over-exaggerating the situation. In my view, this is a direct association between the world’s most notorious terrorist and an Indigenous hero. In their views, no one had really compared Indigenous peoples to terrorists and my alleged exaggeration would only cause more harm than good. I respect the fact that these individuals shared their viewpoints as it is only through this discussion and debate that these issues can be resolved. However, in this instance, the facts do not support their allegation. In fact, there is more than enough evidence which demonstrates a far-reaching pattern of racism and public vilifying of Indigenous peoples in Canada and even the United States. The terminology, description, and context used by government officials, politicians, academics, and others to describe Indigenous peoples is little more than propaganda used to justify the ongoing genocide in our Nations. Public outcries against Indigenous gangs, criminals, corrupt leaders and “terrorists” do not serve to improve relations between our peoples or undo the harms inflicted by the settler society, but instead act as a distraction from the crisis in First Nations poverty and the ongoing theft of our lands and resources and denial of our sovereignty. The characterization of our peoples as terrorists reinforces the notion of us vs. them and helps provide excuses for society to walk by our homeless, jail our youth, remove our children, murder our women, disempower and vilify our men, and support governments which provide funds for other countries while our communities lack drinking water, sewage, food, fire protection and schools – the basic necessities of life. Sadly, some of our own even partake in promoting the negative stereotypes against our people. As a lawyer, I fully realize that despite the fact that this is just a blog – which has no real rules, my readers will expect links to articles, documents, and reports which back up my argument. For those of you who doubt that First Nations have ever been called terrorists, I refer you to the following selected examples. Of course, these are only a few examples as there are far too many to include here and after a while it hurts my heart to read too much of this. (1) Tom Flanagan As you all likely know, Tom Flanagan is no fan of First Nations and in fact has strenuously advocated for their assimilation for years saying that “it has to happen”. His books, First Nations? Second Thoughts and Beyond the Indian Act: Restoring Aboriginal Property Rights have portrayed First Nations as “primitive”, “communists”, and “corrupt” and have also set their complex traditional property issues within the context of studies of “chimpanzees”. Here is the link to the book review I did of Beyond the Indian Act: http://reviewcanada.ca/reviews/2010/04/01/opportunity-or-temptation/ Flanagan, who is a political scientist who has focused on western political issues and First Nations, is now apparently a “security” expert and has authored a paper for the Canadian Defense and Foreign Affairs Institute in 2009  entitled “Resource Industries and Security Issues in Northern Alberta”. http://www.cdfai.org/PDF/Resource%20Industries%20and%20Security%20Issues%20in%20Northern%20Alberta.pdf In this paper, Flanagan argues that due to the “rapid expansion of natural-resource industries in northern Alberta, accompanied by growing environmentalist and aboriginal-rights movements” that “violent resistance to industrial development” is very possible from specific individuals like “saboteurs”, “eco-terrorists” and “First Nations”. While Flanagan explains that his paper could not deal with “Islamic terrorists” the focus of his paper was primarily on “security threats”. Some of the examples he used were the “Lubicon Cree”, the “Woodland Cree”, and “warrior societies” like the “Mohawks in Ontario and Quebec”. Flanagan creates fear in his argument that an “apocalyptic scenario” of “nightmare” proportions would arise if Indigenous warrior societies and eco-terrorists joined forces:

    “A nightmare scenario from the standpoint of resource industries in northern Alberta would be a linkage between warrior societies and eco-terrorists. Members of warrior societies would brandish firearms and take public possession of geographical sites, while eco-terrorists would operate clandestinely, firebombing targets over a wide range of territory. The two processes could energize each other, leading in the extreme case to loss of life and a shutdown of industry over a wide area. But this apocalyptic scenario is unlikely to happen because the members of warrior societies and environmental activists are different types of people with different objectives. It would be difficult for them to maintain coordinated action for very long.”

    But, then again, this is just his “expert” opinion. Does it really matter? I think most educated people would see Flanagan’s unsupported claims for what they are. However, one can’t ignore his political influence – having been Prime Minister Harper’s right hand man or his influence on an uneducated public. http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/the-man-behind-stephen-harper-tom-flanagan/ Sadly, his books, presentations and backroom influence will likely continue to promote the view of Indigenous peoples as terrorists for the sole purpose of justifying assimilatory state actions and laws. (2) Christy Blatchford Some of you may know Christie Blatchford, the “journalist” who wrote the book: Helpless in Caledonia: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy and How the Law Failed Us All about the situation in Caledonia. Her book portrays the Six Nations land claims as an unimportant issue as compared to what she calls the “lawlessness” in Caledonia. https://pampalmater.com/2011/01/update-tvo-agenda-botches-show-on.html She also appeared on TVO’s The Agenda to speak about her book and compared her coverage of the protests at Caledonia to the terrorist activities at “ground zero” in New York. http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=779932&ts=2011-01-14 Just the fact that she held her book signing in Caledonia and brought “protection” with her perpetuated the stereotypical view that Indigenous peoples are inherently dangerous thugs and terrorists ready to strike at a moment’s notice. She got even more publicity for herself by bringing police to her book signing at a local university. http://www.totalwomanshow.com/News/Local/article/827023 (3) Canadian Military Then there is the Canadian military who have listed Mohawks as a threat to national security alongside terrorists like “communists”, “anarchists”, “Hezbollah”, “Tamils”, “Mexican Indians”, and “Northern Ireland’s paramilitary groups”. They specifically noted that: “The rise of radical Native American organizations, such as the Mohawk Warrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies”. The manual defines an “insurgency” as “a manifestation of war and that “The military’s counter-insurgency actions “seeks not only to defeat the insurgents themselves, but the root causes of, and support for, the insurgency”. The manual itself can be accessed at this link: http://ceasefireinsider.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/counter-insurgency-operations-manual.pdf The military said in 2010 that they would apologize to the Mohawks, but no apology has been forthcoming: http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/military-apologizing-to-mohawks/16ahlo0dq http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Military+apologize+Mohawk+Warriors/4015748/story.html However, the Canadian military is not alone in its depiction of Indigenous peoples as terrorists. APTN was provided with copies of US State Department cables from Wikileaks where the US described “Indigenous terrorist groups” in Canada. APTN explains: “The cables, sent from the US embassy in Ottawa, and entitled Security Environmental Profile Response for Mission Canada, appear to be part of regular updates on the situation in the country.” http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/04/30/u-s-considers-native-canadian-groups-as-possible-terror-threats-embassy-cables/ (4) RCMP We also know that the anti-terrorism unit of the RCMP has been over-zealous in its monitoring of Indigenous peoples. If the RCMP did not consider Indigenous peoples to be terrorists, its anti-terrorism unit would not be actively monitoring Indigenous peoples. The unit has been known to use excessive force on Indigenous peoples alleged to be involved in “Native Issues”: http://www.turtleisland.org/news/wcw1.pdf In addition, in a confidential report written by the RCMP’s criminal intelligence unit, they argue that our Indigenous youth are a threat to to civil society alleging that “street gangs and violent activity” will continue to increase and that “organized crime” is especially a part of Mohawk communities. I received this information from an ATIP request in 2008. However, the RCMP did recognize that the Aboriginal populations are “marginalised”, have a “diminishing quality of life”, that the crimes committed by Aboriginal peoples are symptoms of “poverty” and “will only get worse” unless such poverty is addressed. They also highlight the Indian Act’s role in their destitution: “Many Aboriginal people find themselves limited in education and employment opportunities because of the social order created by the Indian Act”. So, if we know the causes of these situations, why doesn’t Canada go to war against poverty in our communities – instead of against us? Instead, the military, RCMP and sister enforcement agencies like DFO (Fisheries and Oceans) have intervened time and again to deny our rights at Kahnesatake, Burnt Church, Gustefsen Lake, Ipperwash,  and other Indigenous territories. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsvG4KpFHOA First Nations are not the Terrorists: Historically, First Nations were viewed as “primitive” and “savages”. Even today, academics like Flanagan continue to promote that view of us.  It is no longer acceptable to call us savages, so the new word is terrorist – a word used to justify a whole series of unjustified enforcement and military actions against our people. As far as the military is concerned, they are at “war” with us. Far worse, is the justification it gives Canadians to ignore the crisis of poverty in our communities and the ongoing discrimination faced by our people – men who are over-incarcerated, children who are removed from their families at epidemic proportions, or women who are murdered at alarming rates. It should be kept in mind that the Criminal Code of Canada prohibits acts of genocide which is defined not only as the direct killing of an identifiable group of people, but the creating of conditions that lead to their early deaths. In fact, if one were to tally the casualties of war, I think we would see that we are the ones who have suffered and continue to suffer. The fact that our struggles to survive and preserve our lands, resources, cultures, languages and histories for our future generations are considered as acts of “war”, “insurgency” or “terrorism” is more than mere discrimination – it is propaganda designed to justify the continued assimilation and genocide of our people. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/aaron_huey.html Here is an excerpt from a memorial posted on Daniel Paul’s website related Native Americans: “Today I remember: The thousands of Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole & Chickasaw People who suffered untold agony during the forced removal from their homelands in the 1830’s. Innocent men, women and little children perished in concentration camps or froze and starved to death on the Trail Where They Cried.   The 90 women and children who died in the Bear River Massacre in southeastern Idaho.  The 200 Cheyenne men, women and children who were slain at Sand Creek in eastern Colorado by the US Cavalry led by Col John Chivington, a Methodist minister who ordered his men to “Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice.”  The 200 murdered Blackfeet women and children who died at Maries River in northern Montana and the other 140 People who were left to freeze to death in the January cold. The 103 Cheyenne women and children who were butchered on the Washita River in western Oklahoma.  The 200 to 300 Sioux who were slaughtered under a flag of truce at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The 500 Sauk and Fox Indians led by Black Hawk who were massacred by militia forces while trying to negotiate a surrender.  The Yuki’s and other tribes of Indians in California whose populations declined from 11,000 to less than 1000 because white men wanted the land to search for gold. Organized Indian hunts were held on Sundays and our People were killed for sport. The little children who were kidnapped from their homes and forced to attend BIA schools. Many of them died alone and lie in unmarked graves. From the small pox, measles, typhoid, cholera, diphtheria, TB, and VD epidemics brought to us by the white invaders to the continued genocide still being waged against us, we know about terrorism.  And I remember.” We can never truly address the problem until Canada admits that it has one. Sadly, Prime Minister Harper’s statement that there was no colonisation in Canada does not give me much hope. http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/derrick/2009/09/harper-denial-g20-canada-has-no-history-colonialism Geronimo was a hero, not a terrorist. Many of our leaders who fought to protect our lands and our Nations and who signed treaties were also heros – not terrorists. How quickly the settlers forget that it was they who invaded our territories and killed our people. Many have asked about the solution. I don’t think there is one solutions. A complex mix of tactics are required. While we fight Canada on the political and legal front, we must also ensure we protect what we have left. It is therefore incumbent upon all of us to love and protect our people – regardless of how our actions are labelled. We are not the terrorists.