Kingspan sues City of Brantford for $10m due to Six Nations land claim Aha! Brantford's day of reckoning ... at least one of them! Another is going on in court right now, tomorrow, FRIDAY, 10 am, Brantford Superior Court, as the City is still trying to get a permanent injunction on the Kingspan site, and others that developers have already pulled out of. hahaha! Company sues city for $10 milllion Brantford Expositor - Brantford,Canada ... which started to build its North American headquarters in Brantford, ... problem of Six Nations protesters contesting the property as aboriginal land. ...

---

And then ... (boy, Brantford is having a baaaad day!) Residential development on Conklin Road targeted

Posted 5 hours ago

Tempers flared as 15 to 20 native protesters halted work at the Empire Homes residential project on Conklin Road Thursday morning.

Construction workers yelled at the protesters as police tried to form a line between the two groups. About 50 to 60 Empire workers left the site, said one protester. “They’re not supposed to be digging here,” said Gene Johns. “This is the third time we’ve been here and they won’t listen.” Johns said he represents the Confederacy, the Six Nations community.

Duty to Consult, pipeline:

Enbridge meeting with First Nations Canada.com - Don Mills,Ontario,Canada Band members and leaders from Treaty 4 and Treaty 6 territories feel Enbridge and the government have fallen short of their duty to consult and accommodate ... See all stories on this topic

Protest Meeting Arranged 650 CKOM News Talk Radio - Saskatoon,Saskatchewan,Canada A series of meetings have been ongoing that Draude will and has attended to further discuss the duty to consult that company's and Government must now meet ... See all stories on this topic

First Nations protesters get meeting over pipeline Calgary Herald - AB, Canada The First Nations contend that the "duty to consult" and accommodate First Nations on such developments, established in a Supreme Court ruling, ... See all stories on this topic

Dispute shuts Alberta Clipper pipeline Two separate native groups block construction over contracts http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081001.PIPELINE01/TPStory/TPNational/?page=rss&id=GAM.20081001.PIPELINE01 JOE FRIESEN From Wednesday's Globe and Mail October 1, 2008 at 3:55 AM EDT Native groups shut down construction of the $3-billion Alberta Clipper oil pipeline yesterday in an escalating dispute over contracts and the duty to consult and accommodate aboriginal groups. Two separate groups, one outside Regina and the other in Saskatchewan's northwest, blocked machinery from moving yesterday morning, prompting the contractor to send his employees home. "It was done very peacefully with many helloes and how are yous, but we basically dictated that no machinery would be leaving and they need to take our concerns a bit more seriously," said Chief Sheldon Wuttunee of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation, who is part of a group that is staying in teepees erected in the pipeline's path near Kerrobert, Sask. He also led a demonstration through town on horseback Monday. Mr. Wuttunee said his band signed a contract with Enbridge last year that promised jobs and contracts for members of his community, whose traditional territory is traversed by the pipeline plan. They expected to be able to bid on multimillion dollar contracts to build large sections of the pipeline, which will run 1,600 kilometres from Hardisty, Alta., to Superior, Wisconsin. "We were told when we met with [the contractor] that 95 per cent of the contracts were already awarded and we didn't get offered more than port-a-potties and some fencing," Mr. Wuttunee said. "The first nations have had enough of being left out of the process. This is a billion-dollar development that's going to run through our land and we need to be partners in that." Glenn Herchak, a spokesman for Enbridge, said his company is doing its best to find a solution. Senior company officials will attend talks with native leaders and representatives of the federal and provincial government tomorrow in Saskatoon. He said the pipeline, scheduled to be completed in 2010, is still in its early stages and 140 aboriginal people have already been employed; the company plans to continue to engage the 40 Indian and Métis communities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba whose territories are touched by the project. The demonstration near Kerrobert was launched by bands that signed Treaty 6 with the Crown, while the demonstration outside Regina was led by signatories to Treaty 4. The pipeline is also the subject of a legal challenge in Manitoba led by signatories to Treaty 1, including Roseau River Chief Terrance Nelson, who was in Kerrobert to lend his support this week. Mr. Wuttunee said work on the pipeline will be stopped for as long as it takes to get firm, good faith commitments on native rights from the president of Enbridge. "They've made a lot of promises," he said. "We'll be there until things get rectified."

Duty to Consult: Cree remove roadblock after drivers “blast through” June 23, 2008 http://intercontinentalcry.org/cree-remove-roadblock-after-drivers-blast-through/ Members of the Kelly Lake Cree Nation (KLCN) took down a roadblock on Saturday because “angry and dangerous drivers” began blasting through, almost running over four people in separate incidents. One of the People that almost got hit was KLCN spokesman Clayton Anderson. According to the CBC, Anderson said he was walking toward a vehicle at the blockade on Highway 52, about 180 kilometres southeast of Chetwynd, in northeastern B.C., when “this guy just steps on the gas and practically runs me over.” He was nicked, Anderson said, and then “these two big rigs and a pickup sped through here and literally just about running over my people.” [SEE COMMENTS ON CBC ARTICLE. PEOPLE ARE APPLAUDING IT] The KLCN had set up the roadblock a day earlier, hoping to raise awareness about a number of health and safety concerns brought on by oil and gas exploration on their traditional lands. The roadblock was set up in conjunction with a three-day “emergency disaster preparedness drill” they organized for themselves. Anderson explained earlier this month that the KLCN have been holding land claim negotiations with the federal government since 1994 - during which they’ve repeatedly talked about their concerns: “about the effect drilling is having on water quality in the area, as well as the heavy volume of industrial traffic roaring through the community every day.” “Vehicles are transporting dangerous and toxic materials used in oil and gas exploration, but no one seems to have an evacuation or disaster preparedness plan in place for the community in the event of an explosion or toxic leak,” Anderson said. “It is incredibly disturbing,” comments Green Party leader Elizabeth May, “that thus far, their concerns over water quality, industrial traffic and the transport of dangerous substances through their community have been ignored.” “The Kelly Lake Cree should not bear the burden of negative environmental impacts or health and safety risks due to exploration,” adds Lorraine Rekmans, the Green Party Critic on Aboriginal Affairs. “Kelly Lake still relies on subsistence hunting and fishing and infringing on this activity is unconstitutional. Putting the community in harm’s way is irresponsible.” One could even say criminally negligent. *********************************** In other news ....

B28755 / Wed, 2 Jul 2008 08:46:31 / International

There were multiple offensives against indigenous people throughout the month of June. A Canadian court paved the way to reclassify 16 lakes as mine waste dumps; The US Supreme court issued at least three rulings against indigenous rights; Police in Australia barred a group of Indigenous People from visiting a scared site; and there was state-sanctioned violence against people in Guatemala, India, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.

In other news, the O’odham of Gila River became the first Indigenous Community in the US (perhaps in the world) to ratify the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; The Anishinabek launched a campaign to abolish the term “Aboriginal;” a call for an independent government was established in the CHT; and finally, in northeastern India, Indigenous communities gathered for the first ever convention on peace and unity.

You will find these stories and more in this month’s edition of Underreported struggles.

http://ahniwanika.gnn.tv/blogs/28755/Underreported_Struggles_15

Duty to Consult: Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, Brantford, Ardoch Algonquins, New Brunswick

We/Canada brags about its bargain basement selloff of resources - Best in return on investment to the shareholder - but all Canadian land 'assets' are overvalued, because they are not acknowledged to be encumbered by Indigenous Peoples' rights and titles. We haven't paid our debts and obligations to Indigenous Peoples for the right to share the land we call Canada, our right to be here. That's why our governments are selling off resources so cheap and so fast these days: Trying to outrun justice. Because soon they will be stopped enough times by direct or court action that they will be forced to implement Constitutional law through legislation:

Recent case law from the Supreme Court of Canada (Haida and Taku) has confirmed that the Crown has a duty to consult, and if necessary, accommodate Aboriginal interests when it has knowledge, real or constructive, of the potential existence of an Aboriginal right or title and contemplates conduct that might adversely affect it.

A say in development and a share in revenues on traditional Indigenous land. And then the price of doing business in Canada goes up.

EXAMPLE: Union of BC Chiefs

Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs say Province wilfully mislead or withheld information about BCRail

Re: Proposed merger of BC Rail with CN Rail

http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post.html

“Within the rail industry, CN has moved from worst to first. We're now the best railroad in North America. Best in service. Best in operating efficiency. Best in safety. Best in return on investment to the shareholder.” (E. Hunter Harrison, President and CEO) There has been no consultation with Indigenous Peoples. Instead, the province has acted in bad faith by keeping the details of this Agreement secret from Indigenous Peoples. ... The constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples must be addressed. In the absence of evidence of consultation this transaction cannot be approved. There has been no consultation; Instead, the province of B.C. willfully mislead and lied to Indigenous Peoples about this transaction. The Competition Bureau must be mindful of existing constitutional rights and consider the privatization deal from the perspective of the impact that it will have on Aboriginal Title and Rights. Absent proof of government’s fulfillment of its legal obligations to Indigenous Peoples, this merger (transfer) cannot be approved. ... Failure to act in a timely and fair manner to resolve matters satisfactory to Indigenous Nations may attract less patient responses than protracted litigation, including direct action. ... Yours truly, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Chief Stewart Phillip President

EXAMPLE: Brantford

Brant Liberal MP Lloyd St. Amand should be taking his anger over development protests in Brantford to his provincial Liberal cousins at Queen's Park. While our federal government takes responsibility for helping settle land claims, the province is clearly responsible for both policing and development issues, which includes the issue of licensing permits. That is why Ontario is at the negotiation table, because the province knows they have an integral responsibility in helping settle these long-standing development issues between Six Nations and neighbouring municipalities. In just 2 1 /2 years, our Conservative government has tabled two significant offers to Six Nations leadership, who are currently reviewing our $26 million offer to settle the Welland Canal portion of their claim. Our federal negotiators have been working extremely hard to settle this claim and have attended more than 100 meetings. We remain committed to resolving these issues in a manner that is not only fair for Six Nations members but is also fair for the non- Aboriginal community as well. Chuck Strahl Minister of Indian Affairs Ottawa Show respect to Six Nations I agree with Tuesday's editorial, "Not a step forward," that "respect is a two-way street. But you proceed to say that it's only Six Nations who are being disrespectful. You suggest that we should sit back and allow development to proceed while things progress in the courts and at the interminable negotiating table. The assumption underlying your editorial is, of course, that any native claims to the properties in question were rightfully extinguished years ago and that the properties in question are rightfully deeded to you and yours. If you assumed that the natives might be right, that they have a legitimate claim to the lands, that the Haldimand Deed is the last clear title to the lands in question, then natives have every right to stop all development within their territory to allow you an opportunity to demonstrate your claims to the land -- claims which cannot be substantiated, as there has not been a legitimate surrender by the Six Nations. Your deeds and titles were issued under false pretenses. And therefore you should be required to demonstrate a legitimate claim. All development should stop immediately until your claims have been settled and Six Nations approves of the individual development projects. If you were as respectful as you suggest, perhaps you might consult with us and negotiate in good faith. Or insist that your representatives do so. Marilyn Maracle Ohsweken

EXAMPLE: Ardoch Algonquins

Reid has argued that the Government of Ontario had a duty to consult the Ardoch Algonquins before accepting the Frontenac Ventures mining claims under the Ontario Mining Act because the land in question is part of a land claim.

Later Justice MacPherson asked the question, “What then are the unique systemic or background factors that played a part in bringing the AAFN and two of its leaders before the courts to be sentenced for contempt? The first background factor is that there is an existing land claim negotiation between the Algonquin Nation and Ontario.”

“ What Frontenac Ventures wants to do on Crown land - staking and exploration - is legal under the Mining Act. However, the appellants' response, although in contempt of two court orders, is grounded, at a minimum, in a respectable interpretation of s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and several recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada.”

___

Thus, the sentences of the lower court were overturned. The implication of this for Indigenous rights throughout Ontario, like Six Nations, is that 'contempt' of injunctions imposed by the low courts will not stand up through the scrutiny of the high courts, because the actions of Indigenous Peoples in reclaiming their land or in claiming Aboriginal rights on the land, are grounded in the Constitution and those rights must be respected. In the case of the developments in Brantford, Minister Chuck Strahl has finally stepped up and pointed the finger in the correct direction: the province is clearly responsible for ... development issues, which includes the issue of licensing permits. Ontario is responsible for consulting with Six Nations

Recent case law from the Supreme Court of Canada (Haida and Taku) has confirmed that the Crown has a duty to consult, and if necessary, accommodate Aboriginal interests when it has knowledge, real or constructive, of the potential existence of an Aboriginal right or title and contemplates conduct that might adversely affect it.

"Conduct" like ... issuing development permits for land in Brantford where Six Nations clearly hold Aboriginal rights. The Haldimand Proclamation is deemed valid, and thus any land in the Haldimand Tract is subject to the Crown's "Duty to Consult".

Ontario is responsible. And British Columbia is responsible. And New Brunswick is responsible. http://grannyrantson.blogspot.com/2008/07/rights-of-indigenous-peoples-crowns.html All of the provinces are responsible for their "conduct that might adversely affect" Aboriginal rights and titles.

A Vision for Today, from Yesterday:

A poor man named Gerrard Winstanley wrote the following

words in

April, 1649 as he and a handful of other poor folks called

the Diggers tried to restore a

small part of England

to the common treasury with their own hands. Their struggle

to create a

spiritual communal society under the noses of the landlords

and their

Cromwellian army met with the same result that happens

whenever faith stands

unarmed before men with guns.

But Winstanley and the Diggers live on, and his few

words not only capture the essence of my life’s calling,

but remind me how the Thing we are fighting has rampaged

and done its genocide on our people on both sides of the

Atlantic.

I hope this reminder will unite us all more with a vision

of a world made equal, and one - and thereby stir us into

action - and check out the great Billy Bragg song based on

their tale! (below):

In the

beginning of time the great creator Reason made the Earth

to be a common

treasury, and not one word was spoken that one branch of

mankind should rule

over another; and the reason is this, that every single

man, male and female,

is a perfect creature of himself, and thus none is subject

to another …

Yet

selfish imagination did alienate man against himself, and

did set up one man to

teach and rule over another, and expel his fellow from his

natural right to the

whole earth and its fruits. And hereupon the earth was

hedged into enclosures

by the false rulers, who stole the earth for themselves and

made their fellows their

slaves and servants.

And that earth that is within creation, made a common

storehouse for all, is now bought and sold, and kept in the

hands of a few, and

thereby the great creator is dishonored, as if he were a

respecter of persons,

delighting in the comfortable livelihood of some, and

rejoicing in the

miserable poverty of others. For in the beginning it was

not so …

But when

the earth becomes a common treasury again, as it must,

owned by none and shared

by all, then this enmity of all against all shall cease,

and none shall war

against another or seek to dominate others, nor desire more

of the earth than

another.

St. George's Hill, Surrey, England, April 10, 1649

Billy Bragg singing "The Diggers":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK2ldle1kAk&feature=related

Lyrics:

In 1649

To St George's Hill

A ragged band they called the Diggers

Came to show the people' s will

They defied the landlords

They defied the laws

They were the dispossessed

Reclaiming what was theirs.

We come in peace, they said

To dig and sow

We come to work the land in common

And to make the waste land grow

This earth divided

We will make whole

So it can be

A common treasury for all.

The sin of property

We do disdain

No one has any right to buy and sell

The earth for private gain

By theft and murder

They took the land

Now everywhere the walls

Rise up at their command.

They make the laws

To chain us well

The clergy dazzle us with heaven

Or they damn us into hell

We will not worship

The God they serve

The God of greed who feeds the rich

While poor men starve.

We work, we eat together

We need no swords

We will not bow to masters

Or pay rent to the lords

We are free men

Though we are poor

You Diggers all stand up for glory

Stand up now.

From the men of property

The orders came

They sent the hired men and troopers

To wipe out the Diggers' claim

Tear down their cottages

Destroy their corn

They were dispersed -

But still the vision lingers on.

You poor take courage

You rich take care

The earth was made a common treasury

For everyone to share

All things in common

All people one

We come in peace

The order came to cut them down.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION FOR CANADA? So, like ... are we Canadians "Moving out of denial" yet ... eh?

Indigenous Peoples and all Canadians must walk the paths of truth to reconciliation together, exposing to ourselves and to the world the hidden history of Canada that is created to separate us. ... granny ...

Starting with quotes from ... http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/03/30/Stolo/

Moving out of denial... Do (Canadians) feel the need for reconciliation in their guts?

(... YET?)

"Before reconciliation can occur," she says, "people have to know who we are and they have to understand what happened here." Canada passed the anti-potlatch law and the drumming, singing and winter dances that had ordered (Indigenous) cultural and spiritual life became illegal. The first person in Canada to go to jail under the new law was a man from Chilliwack and fear spread throughout the valley. Until the 1960s, those who continued to practice their traditions did so in the utmost secrecy. "The idea was to colonize," Gwen Point says. "We weren't supposed to survive.

So ... all across the land ... all across our Canada ... Indigenous people were afraid of us, frightened of us for damned good reason, because if they were caught in ANY traditional spiritual ceremony, ANY traditional governance meeting, or ANY gathering deemed for ANY reason to be in ANY way 'suspicious', they were thrown in jail or worse, all over Canada, right up until the 1960's. 1960's man! Naahhh ... My dad was alive then ... It was all 'peace and love' in the 60's, dude. You musta meant the 1860's, man. Nope ... 'Potlatch' was against the law in Canada from early in the 1900's right up until the 1960's. The ... 1960's. You sure? Mhm. In Canada!? Mhm. They weren't supposed to survive, man? The Indians? Whadya mean they weren't supposed to survive, man, Indians are cool! Well, whadya think the Prime Minister was apologizing for?

Wary of a cultural understanding that sees reconciliation in terms of contrition and forgiveness, Sutherland prefers to use a broader definition that views reconciliation as a process by which systems of domination are transformed into relations of mutuality. She explains that reconciliation must come from political leaders and from ordinary people. Even those who have suffered or benefited little from the past absorb the beliefs and attitudes that underpin conflict, so while systemic restructuring is essential, the hearts and minds of the people must change too.

Or in other words ... Apologizing and immediately asking for and expecting to quickly get forgiveness and then bing-bam-boom it's all over? Un-unh. That isn't what's in the cookie crumbs for Canada. Un-unh. We have a process to go through. We all have to learn the truth, and we have to reconcile that with our current rose-coloured vision of ourselves ... as Canadians ... and of Canada. We have to restructure our whole vision and reality of Canada.

"This history is so recent -- it happened yesterday. And it's so embarrassing." "How do we, as non-Aboriginal people, support others in moving out of denial about what happened here?" To sit through the film festival was to feel the need for reconciliation in your guts. And it wasn't comfortable.

Not comfortable perhaps - human progress seldom is - but it is absolutely necessary IF: ... IF we Canadians aspire to someday truly be what we already claim we are - a decent country full of decent human beings. ... IF we Canadians truly believe in human rights, we must respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples to live free of oppression by Canada: We have to stop our governments from taking what doesn't belong to us ... Indigenous land and resources. ...IF we Canadians truly respect the laws of the land ... our land ... we must respect the legal rights of Indigenous Peoples, whom we live among, to retain their historical land and cultural and human rights. "ButButButBut ... ! We are all EQUAL as Canadians. Why should they be treated differently?" Canada exists ... and we live here as Canadians ... by agreement ... by treaty ... peace treaties with the Indigenous Nations who hold the 'original titles' to the land ... this land that we call Canada. And some of Canada's big media spin on "equality" is about denigrating the rights of Indigenous Peoples:

International Assimilation And Genocide

The "One America" campaign, hatched during the US's Clinton administration, is very similar to other assimilationist movements worldwide, such as Australia's infamous "One Nation" Party (-ed- and Canada's 'multiculturalism'). Note the similarity of discourse revealed in the titles of these movements. This kind of "we are one" propaganda is very sneaky, as it hides genocidal aspirations behind protestations of love and brotherhood.

http://aboriginalrights.suite101.com/article.cfm/aboriginal_holocaust

The government, media, business/commerce/industry/banker powerbroker folks in Canada like to pretend that Indigenous Peoples somehow 'lost' their land rights somewhere, but they didn't. "We are all equal" is just a way of setting Canadians against Indigenous Peoples who are promoted and perceived as having different/more rights. They have their own rights, it is true, the rights of Indigenous Peoples, rights that evolved to try to stop the worldwide genocides against Indigenous Peoples, in the all-consuming greed for resources. We never conquered, for example, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) in Canada. Never had any reason to. They were always our allies and we depended on them - especially the Mohawks - to defend our borders. If it wasn't for them, Ontario would be in the US, and possibly the rest of Canada too. And the Haudenosaunee sure as hell never surrendered any of their rights to Canada. Sovereignty cannot be taken away from any Nation, even in defeat. It can only be surrendered by them alone. No Indigenous Nations were ever conquered in Canada, and Indigenous Nations of Kanata never surrendered, not to Britain, not to France and not to Canada ... never. They didn't have to. We didn't fight against them and they were never defeated. They were always our friends. So ... we have no claim to their land on the basis that they 'surrendered' it in defeat. But then it was us ... it was Canada ... that finally brought Indigenous Nations to their knees in the 20th century, by passing the law of compulsory attendance at the 'Indian' Residential Schools. You could call it kidnapping, torturing and brainwashing all of their children, generation after generation for over a hundred years, leaving their villages empty of joy, empty of life, and filled with despair, for six generations of families. Why?

As a province, B.C. doesn't actually own the land and resources. That's what the courts say. That's what the constitution says.

And it is true throughout Canada, and it is causing some consternation across the land, it's true. Hmm ... maybe the powers that be should have thought of that possibility way back when, and lived by our agreements or negotiated new ones. Right now in Canada, most Indigenous communities have the law on their side to blockade traditional land and prevent any development or use by Canada/Canadians/corporations. Hmm ... maybe the powers that be in Canada should get down to business and negotiate in good faith, for a change, for our continuing existence here. Maybe they should have done that a long long time ago! For some unknown reasons (um ... genocide maybe?), traditional Indigenous Peoples never chose to be 'Canadians'. We forced ourselves upon them by violating our solemn promises, our legal treaties with them, by taking away their land, their children, their communities, their cultures and their spiritual lives. We are the "takers" whose standard of living rests entirely in profits on natural resources from Indigenous lands, for which they receive nothing. We are the latecomers, the intruders, many of us arriving (then and now) after being driven out of our own ancestral lands, by the same forces that organized the genocide of Indigenous Peoples here in Canada. We are the tools of the genocide agents, the 'hungry hoards' who descended on their land. They are the "caretakers" of the land we call Canada. Indigenous Peoples welcomed us and our technologies, and made peace treaties to allow us to live on their land in mutual respect for each other, and for the land itself. And we repaid their generosity, and betrayed their trust, with GENOCIDE. To this day, business, government, media, church, corporations and Canadians collude to rid Canada of its Indigenous Peoples and (especially) to rid us of their annoyingly legal rights to the land ... still. But first ... traders gave infected blankets to every Indigenous community they came in contact with. It is estimated that well over 80% of Indigenous People died in this first genocidal onslaught.

"The first disruption of our people," says Bob Campbell, "came from disease. The early smallpox epidemics may have been accidental, but then Hudson Bay traders brought diseased blankets and our people died from typhoid and tuberculosis. Pure and simple, it was genocide. The trading companies paid a bounty for indigenous people's scalps and genitals." http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/06/30/BackFromExtinction/

Note: In some communities the Indigenous oral history records that wagonloads or boatloads of blankets were also delivered by soldiers or missionaries, all across Canada. None of this was 'an accident'. Neither were the horrors of Canada's 'Indian' residential schools. Our government forced Indigenous children into 'mind control' schools run by 'Christians', where, frankly, the children either submitted or died (early 1800's to late 1900's). All were traumatized, most were abused and some were forced into becoming abusers ('the enforcers') to save themselves from the worst punishments. Some of the 'enforcer' families are still powerful in some of Canada's 'Indian' Band Councils today. They were all just children, abused by adults for the benefit of the greed for their land. Many victims of the residential schools continue to live half-lives of pain and punishment in Canada's city streets and alleys and on 'reserves' to this day. Those with families pass the pain on and intergenerational trauma is rampant in their communities today. Ya, but this was all a long long time ago! What does it matter now? Well, your perspective of a "long long time" depends on your age. The report below is from 2003, from a man younger than me:

Another warrior, Charlie, 48, has a soft and slow voice that can be difficult to follow, but his stories are worth the effort. He was put in residential school at the age of seven and escaped several times, each time getting sent to a school further from home. Four years and six escapes later, he was in a school near Sault Ste-Marie, where the nuns beat him unconscious with hockey sticks. He still has the scars. "I knew that if I stayed, they'd kill me, so I escaped again. I made it to Winnipeg [1,450 kilometres away] on foot through the bush, living off the land, fooling the police dogs in the woods. They didn't catch me that time until I was 21," he says. The other men his age have similar residential school stories. Nothing can happen to them in jail or in a gunfight that's worse than what already has.

http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2003/032703/news3.html

If Charlie had gone back to his home in Grassy, he would have been captured by the RCMP, who enforced attendance at the schools, and taken back to the residential school. When he escaped, a child of 11 outwitting police and their search dogs in the bush, he travelled hundreds of miles, to the city streets (of Winnipeg), as so many victims of the residential schools did. For 10 years, he evaded the police on the streets, until 1976. At some point Charlie finally made his way back home to Grassy Narrows, a community devastated by the schools, and by industrial contamination and clearcutting of their traditional fishing-hunting-gathering lands. Grassy Narrows is reviving its spirit after a century of onslaught, by taking back their land from the corporations. However, other residential school victims are there on the city streets still, permanently wounded. Have you seen them? In 1962, when Charlie was taken from his family in northern Ontario, I was 11 years old and skipping to public school in small-town central Ontario, likely worried only whether someone would beat me at high-jump. In 1966, when Charlie was being beaten nearly to death with hockey sticks by Catholic nuns in northern Ontario, I was 15, bopping to the Beatles, and sassily telling my minister I just didn't connect with his male "God". (He told me 'Satan' would fill the void in my heart, and I checked my temptation to laugh aloud at this archaic idea, and never went to church much at all after that. Hell, it WAS the 1960's, man!) Nobody ever beat me with hockey sticks and forced me to fend for myself on the streets at 11 years of age, without ever telling my Mom what happened to me. Nobody would dare. Nobody could get away with doing that to any kid in Canada in the 1960's ... could they? Yes, apparently somebody could ... somebody did ... the government and the churches that ran the schools could do just about anything they wanted to the children, whose parents were forced to sign them over into the 'care/guardianship' of the church or school principal. The parents were never even informed if their child died or disappeared. To this day, no one knows who all the children are who are buried in the unmarked graves at former residential schools. As a result of pressure from Kevin Annett and survivors and supporters, the TRC now includes a Task Force 'looking into the deaths of children in the residential schools', headed by John Milloy. At last report, Milloy has not been allocated any budget, other than perhaps his own fees, for manning the telephone and speaking slick and soothing words. (ie, Another pretense ... another coverup ... another person/agency/government department complicit in genocide in Canada.) WHY did we allow this to happen in Canada, in our lifetime, to Charlie and to countless other Indigenous children, many of whom did not escape, but died there? Why?

"There is a need to raise the Indian to the level of the whiteman, and to take the land out of Indian hands."

Egerton Ryerson, 1847, on why the government was considering establishing compulsory government-run residential schools to deprogram Indigenous children from their traditional ways.

Now ... which one do you think was more important to the economy of the emerging country of Canada? "raise the 'Indian'" ... or "take the land"? Which one of these two purposes was the REAL reason for the residential schools? (Pretty obvious, isn't it?) The last government run 'Indian Residential School in Canada closed in 1996. In 2000 Canada finally passed a watered down domestic law against genocide. However, when Indigenous people tried to use the new law, their case was thrown out of court because ... 'Canada didn't have a law against genocide at the time the offenses occurred.' Deja vu ... And oddly enough, an Indigenous person recently (2008) laid charges against a perpetrator of abuse in a residential school, and his case was thrown out of court because ... "That's a matter for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Canada's five year, $60m hidetheTRUTH and pretendRECONCILIATION COMMISSION, then, appears to me to be a continuation of the campaign by the churches, corporations and the Government of Canada (OH! and did I forget to mention the collusion of the Canadian courts and the RCMP?) to keep Canada's hidden history hidden. Canada's 'good little 'Indians' (enforcers) will step up and tell their stories (again), get patted on the head, and bing-bam-boom and-Bob's-your-uncle, and rise my child for you are all healed!! Except, of course, for the thousands of children who died, and thousands more who 'disappeared', whose families were never told of their fate. Except for the ones who are still the walking wounded and the ones they are wounding now. What good will it do for them to tell their story to a tape recorder (but no names please! No names of perpetrators are even allowed! No no no!) to be filed in some musty archives, hunh? This is not justice, not even truth, and it is certainly no 'reconciliation' for them. Again WHY? whywhywhy all these terrible, terrible things ... Because Canada is still lying, and still trying to gain 'title' to Indigenous land, unimpeded (read unblockaded) free access to the wealth of resources, without sharing ANYTHING with the Indigenous title holders. No method was too cruel, and no child was too innocent. Canada did not wage war in the 'normal' open manner, but instead Canada waged a heinous, illegal 'war' against defenseless children. Canada took the lives and broke the spirits of thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children for over a hundred years, right up until the 21st century. And then the lawsuits began. Do you really think the corporate powers-that-be in Canada designed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission out of the 'goodness of their own hearts'? Do you really think they would have changed their tune that fast? Not likely, and the fact is, the powers that be in Canada have not changed at all. The T&R Commission is just another crime of genocide, in this case "complicity in genocide" ... a cover-up. (See UN Convention on Genocide.) Because of its ongoing genocide of Indigenous Peoples, of which the residential schools were but a part, Canada was forced by the courts to submit to the Truth and Reconciliation process under the supervision of the UN International Centre for Transitional Justice.

Half of the children died in the residential schools. Half of the children died in the residential schools. Half of the children died in the residential schools! Shh! This is not spoken of in Canada! It is part of our 'hidden' history! Hidden from Canadians ... still! Shh! The children are buried in unmarked graves all across Canada! The children are buried in unmarked graves all across Canada. The children are buried in unmarked graves all across Canada! Shh! Shh! Shh!!

Globe and Mail 2007: Natives died in droves while Ottawa ignored warnings.

http://tinyurl.com/66kpjm CBC: Stolen Children, Hidden Graves

http://www.cbc.ca/video/popup.html?http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/features/hunt-1st-graveyard080609.wmv Hidden from History: Locations of mass graves revealed http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/RecentUpdatesampArticles/Apr102008LocationofMassGravesRevealed/tabid/71/Default.aspx

Canada outlawed and punished Indigenous cultural, spiritual and governance traditions and their land rights. (See historical evolution of the 'Indian' Act.) Canada paid doctors to sterilize their leaders so they could not reproduce, could not pass the culture on. Many thousands of Indigenous children and adults were sterilized. Some of them died in the process. (See Unrepentant: Canada's Genocide at google videos.) When Indigenous people wanted to educate themselves in our institutions, gain a profession, or even just have a beer at the Legion with their army buddies, Canada demanded that they first renounce all of their Indigenous rights, including even the right to live in their own community. Few were willing to do that. Throughout Canada's history, and still, we violate treaty promises for education, health care and community support, providing only less-than-minimal support that affords them only "conditions of life that lead to their destruction as peoples". (See UN Convention on Genocide)

"It was basically saying we're a tax burden, that everything First Nations get is a handout and all we do is take, we don't pay taxes, all those old arguments. Well, our national chief had done some work and concluded that First Nations governments receive approximately half the funding that other local governments get."

Note: This means half of the government-supplied funds. Canadian municipalities, in addition to what they are given, tax their people to raise a similar amount. Indigenous communities, today, are run on only one-quarter of the funds that our communities use. To this day, when Indigenous Peoples protest the violations of their land rights and human rights, the Government of Canada threatens or cuts their community funding, people are brutally attacked out of sight (and without report) of media and Canadians, and leaders are thrown in jail on very questionable charges that 'don't stick', until after the 'crisis' passes and people are again intimidated into silence. For the most recent examples of Canada's aggressive oppression of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, see Google news: Jim Prentice/Harper's threat of "audit" prior to the first Aboriginal Day of Action, 2007; Six Nations/OPP April 20, 2006 and September, 2007; Shawn Brant, Tyendinaga 2006-2008; KI & Ardoch Algonquin 2007-08 To this day, the Canadian 'Indian' Act defines Indigenous people as something less than Canadians, something less than adult human beings, in fact, little more than 'wards of the state' with 'human rights' that can be, and are manipulated at will, to serve Canada's corporate culture of greed. Their continuing legal status as sovereign Indigenous Peoples is denied, suppressed, hidden from Canadians by our governments. To this day, Canada's economy is entirely dependent on resource wealth taken from Indigenous lands with no share of revenues to them.

"How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong look like right." Black Hawk, Sauk

But Canada cannot fool the rest of the world as easily as we Canadians allow our governments to fool us. The UN is onto us. http://www.ictj.org/en/where/overview/ An example of Canada's 'respect' for the rights of Indigenous Peoples: Driven out at gunpoint by the RCMP in 1924, in 1959 the traditional Haudenosaunee Six Nations Confederacy (Iroquois) people took back control of their historic Council House from Canada's imposed 'Band Council'. Our schoolchildren are taught:

March 1959 : The government sends the RCMP to evict traditional Iroquois chiefs and clan mothers from their meeting place on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario. Many people are hurt in this attempt to force the people from their traditional ways. http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ks/4020_e.html

(But in 2006, they did it again, with tasers, batons, fists, feet and elbows and five cops to every Six Nations person, whether Elder, man, woman, or youth.) The following year, in 1960, Canada 'enfranchised' Indigenous people - simply declared them all to be "Canadian" (sort of ... within the limitations of the 'Indian' Act which declared them 'wards under trusteeship of the Crown).

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POOF! You're a Canadian now! ... well ... sort of ... only when we want you to be ... and ... whether you want to be or not. ... and btw ... we've got your land now too! hehehe Canada to Indigenous Peoples, 1960

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This was just another of Canada's ways of trying to get rid of the inherent Aboriginal rights of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. However, no 'People' can legally be taken over by another jurisdiction, not even by 'wonderful' Canada. No jurisdiction can legally impose its citizenship on others, not even us. This is precisely the distinction between most Canadians and the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. Whether our families came here in the 1500's, 1600's, 17, 18, or 19oo's or since 2000, we came here by choice, to be Canadians. Indigenous Peoples were here on their own land in the 1500's, minding their own business (and quite well, indeed), and we 'befriended' them, and then we deviously, brutally and illegally forced them to submit to Canada's jurisdiction over them and over their land. Canada continues to this day to try to assimilate and destroy Indigenous Peoples, because of their land rights. It is no big secret that Stephen Harper (the friggin guru of assimilationist policy in Canada, though no more than, say, Paul Martin), probably damn near choked on the words of truth, reconciliation and apology that were written for him and that he was forced to try to say ... sincerely. However, it is also no big secret that the Prime Minister was forced to make a public apology by the publicly and privately and strongly expressed opinions of Canadians, so perhaps there is some hope for us. Where to now? ... Truth and reconciliation how?

"I know it's been said a lot, but we need to educate the public. Unfortunately the loudest and most controversial people who speak about these initiatives are often the redneck component of our society, and the people who are probably in support of reconciliation stay quiet -- they don't want to run into their redneck neighbor and have to battle it out." http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/03/30/Stolo/

I know exactly what this person is referring to, and the 'rednecks' are not all uneducated 'louts' either. Many are leaders in communities, commerce, industries, governments and media, and they tend to silence those around them, their employees for example. Such people, who are ignorant, or 'in denial' or are intentionally lying about the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (like Prime Minister Stephen Harper and most of his Caucus-of-De-Nile), must be overcome by the efforts of the silent majority of Canadians. We can no longer sit by and be bullied into silence. It happens all the time ... in bars, family gatherings, educational settings, discussion boards, workplaces, or even just on the street or in someone's backyard ... Some idiot (my term) in the middle of some discussion, throws in a reference to " 'Indians' who suck up our tax money and give nothing back", or some equally disgusting version of same. TRY THIS when faced with someone who denigrates Indigenous Peoples. Look them straight in the eye and say firmly:

"Where on earth did you ever hear that, and please don't ever repeat it! That kind of talk is just ignorance and racism and there is no place in Canada for that. If someone ever needs a reminder of what Indigenous Peoples 'contribute' to Canada, tell them to just look down, because we are all standing on it."

Turn away from them immediately, change the subject, refuse to speak with them further and do not be drawn into discussion about it. Leave if you have to if they continue to speak that way, a statement in itself. (Some may even apologize.) Even in a business setting, perhaps delivered more mildly and humourously than in a full blown bar or online 'discussion', this approach can still work. It only takes one person per group to speak out ... one time. Word gets around, and taking a stand will encourage more of the 'silent majority' to speak up too. (Of course, you could just whip your half-full can of beer against the wall right beside their fucking ear, like I have. That works too as an appropriate parting statement in some circumstances - i.e., It's his wall, you don't want him anyway, and you do without that half a can of beer, and you can get yourself out of there quickly. ;) ... but I digress ...) The main thing is to publicly identify the behaviour as unacceptable and refuse to listen: Refuse to be drawn into argument, and refuse to be present while such offensive and 'unCanadian' behaviour continues.

With thanks to Mr. Harper's speech writers for "There is no place in Canada for those things." because I believe most Canadians really mean that, and the rest have to learn.

Truth and reconciliation will be whatever Canadians make it. There is no reconciliation without the truth ... the WHOLE truth. An apology means nothing without the truth.

Please join me in making our government tell us the WHOLE truth ... about the children who suffered and died ... so we can continue to benefit from the profits from their land. Please join me in making our federal government legislate A say in development and a share in revenues for Indigenous communities, in return for Canadian uses of their traditional lands. Our treaties with them say so. The Supreme Court of Canada - the law - says so. But all three levels of government in Canada ignore the Supreme Court!

Provinces and municipalities, in particular, continue to approve development, mining, logging or other uses of Indigenous lands, with no say, no share of revenues to Indigenous Peoples. This is why we have protests and blockades: Indigenous Peoples only want what even Canadian law now says they are entitled to. Indigenous Peoples protest and blockade their land from our invasive industries ... because it is theirs to protect. In their own laws, they are the protectors of the land. It is theirs to protect, to preserve, to honour the seven generations of ancestors who preserved it for them, and to look after it for the seven generations to come.

Indigenous Peoples say: "The land doesn't belong to us. We belong to the land. The earth is our Mother. We take care of the land for the seven generations to come, so Mother Earth will sustain them too."

Canadians really have an awful lot to learn from Indigenous Peoples, just as soon as we can raise our heads from our shame. Because we are destroying the land, just like we destroyed their children.

SUPPORT: A say in development and a share in revenues. Send email to: grannysaga@gmail.com

When all the trees are gone and all the animals too and the water is spoiled, only then will the white man realize that you cannot eat money.

Thoughts for Canada Day 2008

Time to settle claims

OPINION

Posted June 30 2008

http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1094534

Friction between aboriginals and the mining industry is bad for North Bay and Canada. The apology for the residential schools tragedy made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper should be a new beginning. The First Nations are equal and proud Canadians.

But hundreds of outstanding land claims must be settled.

Of late, there have been very serious confrontations between mineral exploration crews and natives opposed to their presence.

The right to prospect, or search for minerals on Crown land is embedded in tradition and law. Anyone in Ontario can purchase a prospector's license. The lonely prospector who takes great risks, and the people who grub-staked" him, or put up the money for essential supplies, are part of Canadian mythology.

Grub-staked by New Liskeard businessmen, Ed Horne paddled from Lake Temiskaming to Lake Osisko in Northwestern Quebec and found what was to be the Noranda mine and the start of a huge mining empire.

Recently prospectors looking for diamonds discovered the nickel deposits at Voisey's Bay in Newfoundland.

Mining pumps billions into federal and provincial coffers every year and creates thousands of well-paid jobs. That Canada is in better economic shape than the recession- hit United States is largely due to its diverse mineral riches.

Yet native groups are often resisting exploration crews and have had some leaders jailed for blocking them. They have garnered considerable public sympathy. In response, the McGuinty government is expected to change the Ontario Mining Act.

North Bay has no mines, but it has a large mining supply segment which employs close to 2,000 people. Recent news from Sturgeon Falls indicates this community will also get many jobs thanks to a new mining-related enterprise.

It must be stated that North Bay is fortunate in having many First Nation communities close by. Hardly a week passes without The Nugget reporting positive news from an aboriginal group. Saturday's paper told of happy customers at the new Old Chief Fish Market. This is the first time the native community has sold fish through a co-operative business model regulated by its own laws and conservation plan and endorsed by the MNR.

If anything or anyone threatens Lake Nipissing's fish stocks the non-natives of North Bay will stand united with the First Nations to block them.

But without exploration, mining will die. The Mining Act must not be replaced with another bureaucratic nightmare. What is needed is a fast and effective dispute settlement mechanism. And the mining industry must move to improve its relations with First Nations, and make them part of the industry that can offer real economic opportunity and equality.

And the feds must move to settle land claims. Apologizing is not enough.

Article ID# 1094534 ----

Apologies aren't enough

Group calls for justice, land claim settlements

Posted By BY ANGELA SCAPPATURA, THE SUDBURY STAR

Posted 4 hours ago

http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1094934&auth=BY+ANGELA+SCAPPATURA%2C+THE+SUDBURY+STAR

Indigenous and non-indigenous people gathered at Victoria Park to assert their support for the struggles of aboriginals in Canada on Saturday.

Heavy rain did not prevent more than a dozen people from attending the day-long event, which included a drumming workshop, personal stories and musical performances.

The event was organized by Sudbury Against War and Occupation and was designed to raise awareness of aboriginal issues.

Gary Kinsman is a member of Sudbury Against War and Occupation and said the inaugural event displays solidarity between both indigenous and non-indigenous people.

"I think it's important

because what we're showing is that the government's apology around residential schools was not enough," he said while standing beneath a tarp protecting a barbeque and food from the rain.

"The government policies around indigenous people are, in general, pretty bad."

Many of the day's events highlighted the group's concern surrounding First Nations land claims. Kinsman, who is not an aboriginal, said there needs to be justice for the community.

"There has been attempts to criminalize, to throw in jail the various leaders of indigenous struggles," he said. "We're here to say that's not going to be tolerated, that people in Sudbury are going to join together and oppose those policies until there is justice for First Nations people."

The smell of burning tobacco wafted through the small room as traditional aboriginal drumming group, Sha Daa Kim opened the day's workshops.

Aboriginal elder Barb Riley addressed the gathering and said it is time for the Canadian government to settle land claims.

She said the day of solidarity signifies that settlers (Caucasians) are learning the value of land.

"I hold a mortgage to my residence here in Sudbury. If I didn't pay that mortgage, the bank would come after me and foreclose," she said. "I think that is what the First Nations should start doing. Foreclosing on the land. Not take the land back, but make them pay through royalties."

Riley said the government needs to reassess its "paternalistic" attitude toward First Nations.

"We are smart people, we don't need people making decisions for us," she said. "Maybe we did at one time when they put the residential schools in place, but many of our people now have law degrees and PhD's to run their own businesses and affairs."

Riley was a student at a residential school and said the recent apology made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper is meaningless if they don't settle land claims.

"It's just words," she said. In soft, even tones, she

described what she believes is a genocide being committed against First Nations people. She said the residential schools was part of it. Now, she said, the removal of children from aboriginal homes and placement with the Children's Aid Society is another version of it.

"It isn't helping our children," she said.

Article ID# 1094934 ___

Aboriginals await action after apology By BOB WEBER The Canadian Press Sun. Jun 29 - 4:31 AM " border="0"> Mi’kmaq Grand Chief Ben Sylliboy in 2007. (Eric Wynne / Staff) One apology, no matter how heartfelt, doesn’t erase a century of estrangement. Even if most aboriginal people believe the federal government is sincerely sorry about residential schools, that doesn’t mean they’ll be waving flags and singing O Canada on Tuesday with reborn patriotism. Many say it will take time and meaningful action before they see Canada Day fireworks as anything more than pretty lights that fade away almost as quickly as they burn. "Call me up in a year’s time," said Mi’kmaq Grand Chief Ben Sylliboy of Cape Breton, who was forced into a residential school at age six with his two sisters. "They make it sound good, but they don’t follow up on what they’re saying." Many aboriginals, including leaders such as Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Phil Fontaine, had warm praise for both the words and the emotion behind the June 11 apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In that apology, Harper said the government was sorry for taking native children from their families and sending them to church-run schools far from their parents and their culture. The words may have been a good start. But it’ll be a while before many aboriginals feel truly reconciled with their country. "(Canada Day) will be pretty much the same for me," said residential school survivor Harvey Tootoosis of Saskatoon. For him, the real work will begin with the five-year Truth and Reconciliation Commission. "With the apology, we can move forward with the reconciliation part and live together as equals." Patricia Nadeau of Winnipeg, who calls her year of residential school at the age of five "the most horrible, horrible time," says she still can’t trust the government that inflicted it on her. "The apology helped a little bit, but it can’t erase a lifetime of distrust. My experience at residential school always made me feel distrust of government and official authority." Proof of Canada’s sincerity will come when it supports the cultures it once tried to destroy, she suggested. "I’m very frustrated with the (amount of) money that’s given out to save (aboriginal) languages." Everyone shares the responsibility of turning words into action that will bring together aboriginal and non-aboriginal people, added Chief Ed John of North Vancouver. "(Moving) that apology to action doesn’t mean it’s just government or aboriginal peoples, it means broader Canadians as well." Too many people still don’t understand the damage that was done to roughly 150,000 students who attended the 132 schools for much of the last century, said Keni Jackson of Watson Lake, Yukon. He says he can’t even walk over the ground where the Carcross residential school once stood. "All my troubles are in that building. I just want people to understand. That’s the frustrating part of it for me — having people who don’t understand." Still, some say the apology has given Canada Day new meaning. "I feel good about the country again," said Charlie Gaudet of Yellowknife, who spent seven years in Inuvik’s notorious Grolier Hall. "I feel there are a lot of Canadians who are sympathetic to us. I would have liked to have seen this happen years ago, but I just feel a weight’s off my shoulders, and I think Canadians across the country have a better sense of just how damaging this residential school stuff was." And just like millions of his fellow Canadians, Tootoosis will crane his neck Tuesday night to ooh and aah. "I still celebrate Canada Day. I’m Canadian. We’re celebrating Canada together." Pretty lights are worth something after all.