I was too. Well at least from the Muslim and now Native perspective. Think back on when Levant got his first notable attention.
Yep. He was a nobody before that. Then because he was such a nutcase and fanatical right wing the Sun said "that's our boy"!
"Then because he was such a nutcase and fanatical right wing the Sun said "that's our boy"!"
It is too easy to attack the messenger.
I do not like the Sun. I do not like Levant. Few do.
However, it does not mean everything he says is wrong. Even an idiot gets it right from time to time just like a broken clock gives the right time twice a day.
Prior - you should listen to the message other Canadians offer. Time to take the blinkers (*) off and see the problems that really exist. Both sides of them.
(*) Americans refer to them as blinders.
The crux of the problem was just stated above: "Canada is Native land". Yes, it is native land but it is not Native's land. I am a native Canadian. I was born on this native Canadian land.I paid for this land that I live on. I did not steal it nor did any of my relatives.
Good point but one question. If your land was stolen from you and then other people were told they could live on your land and you were told you had to live on a ‘Reservation’…..would you think that was fair? Then would you think it was fair if the country and the government took your children from you and put them into schools where they were abused? Then if you left your land where you had rights the government said you no longer had rights…would that upset you? Then would you think it was fair if while you were living where you were told to live the government decided to make new rules, for their own benefit and that of their friends, that took even more land and rights away from you?
When would you start to get really ticked off?
You see you were born in Canada. It was all dropped in your lap free of charge. You have lost nothing and gained all.
Is that not considered treason?
The USA was built on ‘treason’. Wherever colonialism tread it’s boot heel those in power have called any call for justice....... treason.
The world, as transformed by this creative deed, is better than it would have been had all else remained the same, but had that deed of treason not been done at all.
- Josiah Royce
John Brown was tried for treason, murder, and inciting slaves to insurrection.
- John Sergeant Wise
It is too easy to attack the messenger.
Yeah I know all too well.
Time to take the blinkers (*) off...
Yeah I know what they are....my horses have used them a couple of times for parades.... but I don't like them because I think both horses and people should see everything that is around them.
In keeping with that....I have read what others have said ....many others....even the most viscious such as Levant. And I have read what the Natives have said. And I have read what the bills say and what is hidden in them. And I have read the Indian Act and asked the Native people how it affects them. And after reading it all and actually talking to human beings, I concluded that I am on the side of the Native people.
Have you read Bill C-45? Have you sat down with Native people and leaders to ask their opinion (that would be one better than what Harper did)? When you do, let me know. Until then...I have a couple of sets of blinders my horses do not use, if you need a spare pair.
Darn I guess nobody told that to the natives that just bought the house down the street!!!
You'll be moving then?
Or wait maybe I am living on a reserve and did not know it!
That would be a dream come true.
I was just thinking. I wonder.......if you were born Native....lived on a Rez...maybe even were at some point taken by the government from your family and put in a school where you were abused....or if not that, you just happily lived on a Rez and then suddenly the government came up with new rules that could take away more of your land and your water....I wonder....how you would feel?
I suppose we'd never know, until you had to actually experience it in real life.
"I concluded that I am on the side of the Native people."
That is one of the great advantages of Canadians: the ability to make up their mind freely and take political sides - if they wish.
And I am sure you realize you are in minority among Canadians. It does not make your opinion right nor wrong. It is yours and you have the right to it - just like other Canadians - who also have taken the time to understand the issues - came to different conclusions. It is their right.
And I am sure you realize you are in minority among Canadians. It does not make your opinion right nor wrong. It is yours and you have the right to it - just like other Canadians - who also have taken the time to understand the issues - came to different conclusions. It is their right.
Well to begin I realize all too well that I am in the minority….at the moment. But through the history of the world that is nothing new.
As for other Canadians taking the time to understand the issues….I would question that. I would also question if their decision was to go with the ‘majority’ then I would ask why? I think at that point if people were to be honest it would be because of greed and selfishness. And that’s not just focusing on the Native people….it has happened around the world through history since time began probably…..one group of people who want what the other group of people has and they will get it by any means possible…be it by guns, or treachery, or invented laws.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”….but the problem is….most in the majority have never faced or lived what others have gone through….not just Natives but around the world.
And certainly it is their ‘right’ to come to the conclusion to be on the side of greed….I honestly have no problem with that. But when they do…there are repercussions.
In the world we live in we have laws and if people break them then there are repercussions for their ‘decisions’. The case regarding Natives however is unique because the laws are not created by them, they are created by those who oppress them and have from the start. When Hitler marched into Poland and France and made laws ….did you expect the people to adhere to them? If there had been no war and the people in the countries that he ruled over had fought back….would you have said they shouldn’t and they must follow Hitler’s laws? When the Chinese students stood up to the government would you have told them to stop and be good kids and do as the government said? All of the uprisings in the Middle East…should all those people pack up and go home and be good citizens and follow the ‘law’? When the Black people in the US stood up and said they were not taking it anymore….did you say at the time that they should go home and not stir up trouble? Would you have told Rosa Parks to go sit at the back of the bus because it was the ….law?
As Martin Luther King said ..
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
"As for other Canadians taking the time to understand the issues….I would question that."
Yes, you have expressed that view in your writings over the years.
You seem to think that because someone has a different view from yours, they do not have knowledge, did not research the facts, are biased or bigots. Maybe not. Maybe some just came to a different conclusion based on the same information or more information or different information.
Having an opinion different from yours should be acceptable in a free society without undermining the credibility of those who think differently.
Are you saying you are part Native? What tribe and from where? Mother or father?
(then I would be in a SMALL minority as only approx 150,000 did this happen to of which over HALF are dead!)
Hummm….just a SMALL minority, only.... 150 Thousand. (I’ll get back to that figure in a moment)
Just curious….how many would have been needed so it became an important factor? Half a mil? Maybe a Mil? And the HALF that are dead now…don’t worry about them…is that what you are saying? Then when are we digging up the graves of war veterans who we never want to forget and we honour their sacrifices and deaths on a regular basis? Do you know how many Canadian soldiers died in WW2 …'only' 45,200. My point being ….you don’t seem to believe that what the 150,000 innocent children went though is all that important, nor honouring their memories.
But back to that 150 thousand figure. It is the accepted number brought out by the government. In talking about Native children’s deaths in residential schools the Ontario Coroners office worked with Truth and Reconciliation Committee and they started with 250,000 files of residential students who never made it back home in order to identify them. They eventually narrowed it down to 5000 files that were individually examined to find out who they were. In one group lead by former United Church minister Kevin Annett their records show as many as 50,000 children died in the residential schools.)
Here maybe this will help........ http://www.preventgenocide.org/genocide/officialtext.htm
Strange isn't it how some people never forget and their friends say they should never forget http://www.science.co.il/holocaust-museums.asp but when it comes to other people they are told...'forget about it and move on'.
(not going to happen--but you can go with it and the natives are more compaining because they want the rigths to SELL the land and this only lets them LEASE it)
The first part is incorrect. Bill C-45 leaves the door open for the government to do as it wishes. Read up more about it and try and find information from the Native sites and not just people like Levant (I’ve already read his).
The second part is true about selling ….some Natives do….but they are a very small contingent and most other Natives totally disagree with them.
(since I live in the PRESENT and not past-I move on like I have and get on with my LIFE!)
Really? Hadn’t noticed. Yeah I know….heard it before….”move on”. Strangely always said by those who have not lost a thing and aren’t going to lose more.
It’s easy for a cat to not care about the canary who is being starved. But take away the cats food and suddenly.... he cares.
