Little Chief Refuses to Attend meeting

[nuvistors]

Will she continue the Oprah diet for a few more weeks ?

Chief Theresa Spence pulls out of meeting with Harper, spokesperson says

That's it. Call off the hunger strike, Chief Theresa Spence is refusing to meet with Stephen Harper.

The Attawapiskat First Nations chief, who launched a hunger strike 29 days ago to force the prime minister into a meeting with First Nation leaders, is now refusing to attend that very meeting.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/chief-theresa-spence-pulls-meeting-harper-spokesperson-says...

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

I’ve never heard that song. Good tune.

And one for you………

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbBBsu-4kOc&feature=pyv

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Governments past and present have continually broken promises to the First Nations people. In N. America, all but one promise has been broken by the white man. It is with a tribe somewhere in Quebec but I forget the name at the moment.

Today I was reading news on the Internet and came across this link. I had not heard about it and probably many others have not either. Just one more broken promise….one more theft.

 http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/01/john-a-macdonalds-promise-to-natives-not-binding-court-rules...

Oh......there is one promise the white man did make and did keep. To steal the land.

[hereiam87]

'prior'

I cannot get you the card, but I can get you membership.

I know a few Chief's in my area.

As for the card, I was thinking of having my first tattoo done, put the numbers on my forearm, as a sign of respect too those that came before.

Little (His)story.

  When I was growing up, my mother(who is in her 70's now), used to read more books than I'd like to count on the subject of the 'Holocost', so as a kid I would ask,'Mom, why?' She would answer 'Never forget, how lucky you are to live in Canada, so many have given so much so that we may live as we are.', now we didn't have much, but we were happy.

Fast Forward.

  I went on a shopping trip with my mother the other day, and I asked her about 'Those books she used to read?' I asked her again,' Why?', she again replied 'We should never forget.'

so I plied her a little more...I asked if there were things written in those books, that she 'related' with. No (her bravery apparant), she said, 'It just showed me that, in life, it could have been worse.'

My Mother is a residential school SURVIVOR.

She is an 'Everyday Hero'.

There is not much that can be done,

that has not been done to us before.

]:)

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

I cannot get you the card, but I can get you membership.

I know a few Chief's in my area.

LOL…I appreciate the thought.

My great grandmother on my father’s side was full blood Míkmaq. Sadly I don’t know much about her because the family has no records and because of two fires in St John’s Nfld that destroyed government buildings and records a lot was lost. I’m not even sure of her maiden name or where she came from because she wasn’t originally from Nfld.

All I know is she was a midwife (untrained except for experience). Seemingly she brought in over a 1000 babies (probably all white) into the world and never lost one. My father when he was a boy remembered her and he said she was so respected, when people met her they would kiss her hand.

I had a strange occurance a few years back though. I have spent many years researching my family history. My mother's Irish side was fairly easy....my father's side a lot harder. It is very difficult doing Nfld research for two reasons. First of all there was those fires. Secondly if you are Catholic the church does not release records, or they say they no longer have them. There is a third problem as well….distance.

Anyhow, when I got my first computer it really helped and continues to do so. I did some online research and found a lady on a heritage site and some of the names she mentioned rang a bell. I emailed her and we started corresponding. She lives in Rhode Island and is a 4th cousin to me. In the midst of one conversation she casually mentioned my great grandmother and a photo. Huh?!! It turned out she had a photo of both my great grandfather and mother. I immediety asked her to please take the photo the best photoshop in her area, professionals only, and have a copy made for me and send it to me. Spare no expense. And…………she did. No one in the family up here knew a photo even existed. I often sit and look at it and wonder what she could tell.

As a side note….she’s rather pretty,…… but my great grandfather….he's a real grumpy looking old cogger.

I could ‘identify’ as Native, many Natives have told me that. I prefer to identify myself not of a race, but just as a human being and I will stand up for anyone who is not being treated as a human being.   

[puckstopshere]

he's a real grumpy looking old cogger.

Now we know who you take after ]:)

[puckstopshere]

Defining who is Indian: A confusing question of identity and belonging

On the one hand it looks like a mere change in definition: the expansion of a category – Indian – that most Canadians, including Indians themselves, dislike.

But a federal court ruling this week that Métis and non-status Indians should be treated as Indians under the law is much more than a semantic shift.

It’s already causing some identity confusion in aboriginal communities and observers suggest it could have far-reaching financial, social and political implications.

It all centres around Indianness. The word itself fell out of use years ago but still holds tremendous legal significance because of its presence in the Constitution of 1867 and in the Indian Act, which governs relations with those who hold Indian status.

Under Canadian law there are Indians and there are non-Indians, citizens and citizens plus, each governed by different arrangements. After this court decision, a handful of diverse groups that once defined themselves in contrast to one another now find themselves re-categorized under a single umbrella. Their differences still exist, but they are in one way united, at least for now.

In practical terms, the court decision is likely to cost the federal government billions. Ottawa will have to assume responsibility for health and education funding for as many as a million more people. Health-care funding is an argument that will be fought over by federal and provincial governments. But on education, Métis and non-status Indians may now qualify for postsecondary tuition grants and may be exempt from certain forms of taxation.

Those changes will create an additional incentive to discover and explore Métis or native roots, which is likely to further increase the size and strength of Canada’s aboriginal population. David McNab, a Métis historian, said he thinks the aboriginal population could approach three million people in a few years, up from a little more than a million today (1.7 million claim aboriginal ethnic origin), given how many people could legitimately claim aboriginal ancestry. It will also pave the way for the creation of new and more powerful political bodies for Métis and non-status Indians, according to Queen’s professor and retired Ardoch Algonquin chief Bob Lovelace.

How all of this unfolds will in many cases boil down to the thorny question of identity and belonging. Defining who is Métis, for example, is something that has proved of great interest to the federal government and to the Métis themselves. Between 1996 and 2006, the number of Métis in Canada almost doubled, to 400,000, a figure that defies any normal path of demographic growth but was likely fuelled by a growing acceptance and pride in aboriginal identity.

For the last year, the Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples has held hearings across the country on the legal and political recognition of Métis identity. And in 2011 a storm of controversy erupted when the federal government hired the Canadian Standards Association, better known for assessing product safety, to evaluate Métis organizations’ rules for determining Métis identity. David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation and vice-president of the Métis National Council, raised loud objections that forced the government to back off.

“We didn’t want the CSA coming forward to stamp us and decide who we were,” Mr. Chartrand said.

But there is a sharp divide about who should be called Métis. Mr. Chartrand and the Métis National Council believe the term applies only to those with a historical connection to the Métis homeland, a geographic area that stretches from the northern Great Lakes to the Rockies. Others, including the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, believe it’s a much broader term that can apply to other people of mixed native and European background across Canada.

The court judgment itself defines the Métis and non-status Indians as “a group of native people who maintained a strong affinity for their Indian heritage without possessing Indian status. Their “Indianness” was based on self identification and group recognition.”

Jean Teillet, a prominent Métis lawyer, calls that part of the judgment “brutal and wrong in every way.”

“[The judge] virtually erased the Métis nation,” Ms. Teillet said. “He’s just said ‘You don’t mean anything. All you are is people who care about your Indian heritage.’ ”

The decision was puzzling to many other Métis, too. They have fought for years to be recognized in their own right, including in the constitutional amendment of 1982, and did not see their identity in terms of their “Indianness.” Now dozens are calling their leadership, Mr. Chartrand said, wondering whether they have become Indians overnight, and whether they will now be governed by the Indian Act. Mr. Chartrand vowed that will never happen.

Manitoba businessman Raymond Garand was both happy and confused when he heard the news of the court judgment, he said. Mr. Garand, who traces his family background to the marriage of a French fur trader and a native woman of the Northwest, said being classified an Indian left a somewhat sour taste in his mouth. It’s just a word, he said, but it doesn’t feel right.

“We’re not really Indians. We’re Métis,” he said. “It’s very strange.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/defining-who-is-indian-a-confusing-question-of-identity...

[puckstopshere]

Thomas King: ‘The Conservatives have completely stonewalled native people’

Although he is best known for his fiction – Medicine River and Green Grass, Running Water, among many others – Thomas King is also a scholar of native history in Canada (where he has been based for decades) and the United States (where he was born). In his latest work, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, the Cherokee writer presents an alternative account of the relations between native people and new arrivals. “Whites,” he argues, have steadily ignored, marginalized and wreaked havoc on aboriginal people. We talked to Mr. King by phone from his home in Guelph, Ont., about his book and his take on a week of major aboriginal news.

Your latest book is about the long struggle between natives and non-natives. Where does the Idle No More movement fit into that?

It’s part of a continuum of protests that have been around since the 19th century. Each generation comes up with its own method for dealing with the problems that they see in the cities, on the reserves. Given the attitude of any number of governments – Liberal and Conservative – I am always surprised that there aren’t more of these.

The current protests – not just Idle No More but also Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike – seem to speak to what you write in your book: “The primary way that Ottawa and Washington deal with native people is to ignore us.”

I get asked as I go around, “What is Theresa Spence doing?” I don’t answer that because she can speak for herself. What I do say is, “Do you really think that she wants to sit in a tepee on an island on a hunger strike?” She is doing this because everything else has been taken away. There aren’t any other alternatives. The Conservatives have completely stonewalled native people, and with the recent omnibus bill it’s very clear they’re going back to a 1950s mentality – when the idea was to abrogate treaties, divide up native land and make it vulnerable for private enterprise. It’s easy enough to do. What you do is, you starve reserves, you ignore them; it’s not by chance that water services on reserves, for example, are as bad as they are, or health care and education. It’s not the fault of native people.

What about those who feel that natives, such as those in Attawapiskat, should move somewhere less remote

The idea has been that if Indians are in the way – if they’re “inconvenient” – then we can move them. Now, it’s “Let’s just get rid of the reserves.” That’s because, in some cases, native people are sitting on some very valuable land. The other thing that’s driving the government nuts is native bands are one of the last impediments to all of the the pipelines that they’re trying to run through the country and a lot of the energy extraction work that they’d like to get on with.

You seem to have strong views of the Harper government.

I think Stephen Harper is offended by the fact there’s a group of people in Canada that can stand in the way of what he considers to be progress. But native people aren’t doing that, particularly. We’re simply saying that on land that is ours, we want to live our lives our way. We do not want some paternalistic government to try and tell us what we should do.

It doesn’t balance the scales by itself, but the Prime Minister did deliver the public apology for abuses at residential schools.

The apology is an easy thing to do. It’s a ceremonial thing. It’s like cutting a cake, it’s like kissing babies. It means nothing unless you put some kind of action behind it.

Isn’t there progress with this week’s court decision, turning Métis people into status Indians?

The ball is now with the federal government – and they’re going to dribble it into a corner and leave it there.

You think so?

They’re not going to touch it. And there’s nothing in the court decision that insists the government do anything. So it’s sort of like the apology.

One solution you discuss in your book is to focus on “practical sovereignty.” Can you explain?

Practical sovereignty is the sovereignty that any nation, no matter what size, has. Look at Canada: We think of ourselves as sovereign, and yet when it comes to border security, we have to work with the U.S. if we’re going to be friends with them. Is that an invasion of sovereignty? In pure terms, yes. But in practical terms, it’s not. Every nation develops their own sense of “practical sovereignty.” The Mohawk, for example, produce their own passports. Not many places accept them, but that’s not the point. The point is control of our own lives. I think that’s what native bands and tribes will be looking at as these discussions go on. For instance, completely controlling our own membership. Controlling our land base and controlling any profits that come from that land base or any use of that land base. Right now, the federal government can force leases on tribes. That can’t keep happening if we expect to succeed as nations.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/thomas-king-the-conservatives-have-completely-stonewall...

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Now we know who you take after

Me? Nawwwwwwwwwwwww  :^O

A few years ago there was a contractor I needed to do something specific. I had never met him but I was told he always had breakfast at a country restaurant in a small village. So I made a point of going there. I asked the waitress if she knew who he was and she pointed to a guy sitting alone in the back. I went back and introduced myself and we came to a deal.

A couple of years later him and I were talking and he said ..."remember when we first met in the restaurant? Well when you were heading down the isle towards me and looking straight at me, I had no idea who you were, but you looked like you were going to hit me".

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

The Métis thing is a bit confusing, even to me.

As I understand it as it was told to me.....if an 'aboriginal' person wants to claim status they can only go back one generation. If the person't grandmother was a status Native then that grandchild can claim status.

With this new ruling about the Métis, they would have to go back several generations.

It is going to be something to watch.

All I can say is Harper has really stirred up a hornet's nest. It's not that other governments of the past didn't have a hand in getting where we are today but that Bill C-45 that the CONS tried to sneak through really crossed the line. Nice job Stevie....really well done! 

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

I think Stephen Harper is offended by the fact there’s a group of people in Canada that can stand in the way of what he considers to be progress.

Little dictators have a tendency to be like that.

but the Prime Minister did deliver the public apology for abuses at residential schools.

That was all what came out of the south end of a bull. Done for pure public relations. Cost him zip…..but he hoped it would make him look good the same as when he played the piano or had photos of himself taken with Black children in Haiti. The Native people knew it then and they certainly know it…… now.

Anyone who shakes hands with Harper, should count their fingers after.  

[brandeentertainment]

You can go back 5 generations for Metis people from what I was told .. You should see the hunting right for Metis WAY better the Native Americans ...

They almost have it totally backwards it makes no sense

[puckstopshere]

Interesting program on CBC this morning called the 8th. Fire:

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire/2011/11/tv-series-8th-fire.html

[rosscd57]

You can go back 5 generations for Metis people from what I was told .. You should see the hunting right for Metis WAY better the Native Americans ...

They almost have it totally backwards it makes no sense

All you have to do is look at the blue eyed blond haired residents of Kahnawake and that will give you some idea.

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

Interesting video puck. So…….what is your synopsis of it?