Native protesters

[3rd Herd]

Anyone remember the Rena Virk case ? I was just getting into teaching when that occurred and was in a school adjacent to the school involved. I throw this out as the case has made it's way through the system and through the media. The immediate impact in the school system was a lot of soul searching and then a mad scramble to get what ever psych demi god in to give lectures/presentations to staff or students. And yes all for a fee.

As to the issue at hand my last teaching assignment or second to last was in three schools fed by five different reserves. In one reserve the adolescent suicide rate was/is 60%(Ahousit). Our guidance counsellor who was a wonderful lady retired early after years of battling this problem. The problem, no hope. I also wound up covering for another teacher for a couple of weeks on a remote island were they bring the entire family for six weeks. The adults are put through detox and a spectrum of counselling, job skills, quality of life skills. The children brought six weeks of work, assignments etc and had a normal school day in a two room school. Try teaching k-12 all at the same time, multi tasking at its finest. Then after the school day had either individual counselling, or group counselling much of the same content as the adults. After dinner there was counselling with the families as a whole. If my memory serves me right I think they had a 93% success rate. There were students/families from across Canada. Noticeably there were several aboriginal groups absent, again referring to memory I think Six Nations. When I asked how come, the elder "Grandfather" relpied they have it together and rhymed off a dozen or so other groups that were the same. Their Band councils saw the writting on the wall and changed things. But the problem with some Band councils is the "traditional aspect" particularly on the West Coast and the "Divine Right of Kings" attitude. Potlach is an example of that. So if you cannot change things because since time began this is our heritage the resulting effect is No Hope. On the positive side of things should I get back into teaching the first place I will seek employment is going to be at a reserve school. It just got kind of hard not knowing if that homework assignment was going to be turned in on Monday morning, despite all the intervention skills we used. Just as an after thought for those in the social work field I have the contact information for the island program and references to another very successful program in the Williams Lake area.

 

[geo]

Hopelessness
This is what happens when you marginalize a segment of society.

The gov't toke a number of Innu children out of Hopedale (?) a couple of years ago.  They were gas sniffing & lost to the world.  They went thru a native detox centre in Manitoba (?) came thru with flying colours.... and then they went home.  Although the entire population was moved to a shiny new village, everything went back to what had been.... pert much all of the kids were back on Gas fumes, parents on the booze.... Hopelessness!!!

 

[Edward Campbell]

... The problem, no hope ...

Bingo!

And hopelessness breeds despair and despair breeds outrage and outrage breeds violence, and, and, and ... which is why I think disaffected, disadvantaged, dis-everything else Aboriginal kids pose a HUGE threat to our internal peace and security.

 

[3rd Herd]

geo,
that is why I tossed the reference of Williams Lake into this. The whole reserve went dry and got their act together. Again memory I think it was a three year task. Having said that nobody is perfect especially with addictions but they tackled the issues as a whole and insured the necessary resources were in place to deal with relapse. Somewhere in the orange kisks(s) boxes I use as my filing cabinets I have a CD they produced which is priceless.

 

[geo]

Short of dismantling the $$$ handouts AND the Reservation system, I have serious doubts we will see ourselves clear of this problem anytime soon.

 

[Roy Harding]

Short of dismantling the $$$ handouts AND the Reservation system, I have serious doubts we will see ourselves clear of this problem anytime soon.

EXACTLY.

 

[geo]

3rd
Towns going "dry" is nothing new.  When I was travelling the Great White North (77 to 85), there were many Inuit communities in the Baffin and Northern Quebec that ran their plebescites, gave direction to the RCMP to inspect incoming goods for "contraband".

As stated above, the Makivik corporation has given the oportunity to able bodied people to work & earn a salary.  Augmented by what he hunts & the handicrafts he might carve, there is hope, there is a reason for living.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Short of dismantling the $$$ handouts AND the Reservation system, I have serious doubts we will see ourselves clear of this problem anytime soon.

So why not go for it?  Set a dead line and stick to it.  I seem to recall someone forwarding an idea with regards to a sliding scale system for getting natives to end up buying and owning their own land on the existing reservations.  Set up whatever counselling/detox/safety nets you need and then give them a goal; get your crap together, because the boom is going to drop.  Give it ten years?  Then that's it.  The Indian Act gets struck from the books. 
Doubtless, there would be people who would "slip through the cracks" and would turn out poorly.  And the land grabs disputes would still have to be resolved (albeit this solution would take scads of cash, so I'm sure the Fed could come up with some brilliant plan, ala Dolton Estates)  But I can't see this turning out with any expectation of success without some sort of "tough love" solution.  If they could do it on their own, would that not have happened some time in the last forty-odd years?  Might seem harsh, but it would be better than the sad, lingering death they are experiencing now. 

 

[Kirkhill]

The tribal chiefs' only "power" is in representing a body of people.  If they have no clients then they have no reason to exist.  Much like a lawyer from Regina I could name that has made a practice of sucking up government funded class action lawsuits..... nuther story.

The chiefs are the problem.  Louis XIV solved his version of the same problem by turning them into Gentlemen of the Bathchamber and putting them on a pension.  The Hanoverians allowed the Lairds to keep the land and ship their tenants to far away places (Canada and Manchester) so that the Lairds could make money raising sheep and running shooting parties.

Get rid of the chiefs in the equation.  Co-opt those women that claim that the Chiefs are a Whiteman's Mistake in any case.

With the best will in the world an individual "leading" a band of 80 or so, half of whom live in town in any event, is NOT a leader of a nation.

 

[krustyrl]

Much like a lawyer from Regina I could name that has made a practice of sucking up government funded class action lawsuits..... nuther story

  =  T.M..?

 

[Kirkhill]

No Pack Drill.

 

[Yrys]

Mohawk protesters set up blockade in eastern Ont. town

Dozens of aboriginal protesters blocked off a main street through Deseronto, Ont., after a Kingston, Ont., developer announced plans to develop a property that is part
of an ongoing land dispute.

An old RV continued blocking the intersection of two gravel roads Monday afternoon, and protesters plan to maintain the blockade until the developer changes his plans, said
spokesman Dan Doreen. "They want to make sure that any other development does not return to this land," he added. "This is Mohawk land and developers, you better stay
the hell away."

Demonstrators barricaded County Road 2 in both directions around 6 a.m. Monday, said Ontario Provincial Police Const. Jackie Perry.

The protesters, members of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte from the nearby Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, were responding to a public announcement that Nibourg Developments would begin clearing brush Monday on property it owns in the community southwest of Napanee. The property is part of the Culbertson Tract, about 400 hectares
of land on Lake Ontario's Bay of Quinte, east of Belleville and west of Kingston, that the Mohawks said they never properly surrendered.

Acting police chief Don Maracle said a response to the company's announcement should have been anticipated. "I think you can always expect some reaction from the
community when something like that is put out into the papers, saying he's going to show up with 30 or 40 men to deal with that."

Emile Nibourg of Nibourg Developments told the Canadian Press that a work crew went to the site on Monday to finish clearing brush, but Mohawks arrived to claim the land
as their own. Nibourg said the work crew left the property with police after the arrival of what he said were "40 to 50 native warriors." In a letter Nibourg then wrote to area
politicians to express his frustrations, he promised a crew of "25 to 30 guys" would return to the site this week. Theo Nibourg, head of the company, has since issued a
statement saying he changed his mind for fear of "public safety" and he's asking governments to resolve the issue.

The Mohawks have been actively protesting activity on private property in the Culbertson Tract for more than a year. Land in the tract was originally slated for a housing
development but construction was suspended after members of the Tyendinaga band protested and the federal government agreed to meet with band officials in November 2006.

In March 2007, Mohawk demonstrators began occupying a quarry in the tract as part of a protest that is continuing.

 

[geo]

Hmm... wonder if and when the OPP will (not?) make a gaffe
Will we have a "new" and improved Oka ???

Anyone wanna bet that the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver will be "interesting times" ???

 

[Yrys]

Some journalists are already writing aricle saying that as 2008 Olympics is a good time
to make people aware of Tibet, 2010 O will be a good one for the aboriginals ...

 

[George Wallace]

Ipperwash

Caledonia

Deseronto

They are moving your way Yrys    >

 

[Haggis]

Ipperwash

Caledonia

Deseronto

They are moving your way Yrys     >

Remember:

Akwesasne

Kahnesatake

Kahnawake

They're closer than you think, George.

 

[larry Strong]

Found in the Mountain View Gazette.

http://www.mountainviewgazette.ca/editor1.html

Editorial
Send army into Hobbema to reign in violence
Dan Singleton, Mountain View Gazette
The shooting of a two-year-old girl at Hobbema last week should be a wake up call for the federal Conservatives. In fact, it’s high time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to start showing some backbone instead of sitting on the fence.

Twenty-three-month old Asia Saddleback was shot and severely wounded during a drive-by shooting police say was related to ongoing gang warfare.

The young girl was hit in the liver and spine as she ate dinner with her family. She was flown to Edmonton hospital where was remains this week.

The girl’s shooting is the latest in a series of bloody incidents in the native community in Central Alberta, including a dozen firearm related incidents over the past month – all related to gang violence running rampant.

Reacting to the latest shooting, federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said the First Nation leadership at Hobbema must take the lead role in combating the violence.

"It’s usually best if the direction comes from the community," said Strahl. "We don’t want to be prescriptive from the top."

Here’s a new flash for you Mr. Strahl – brutal and unrelenting violence has been part of daily life for people living in Hobbema for years, despite millions and millions of dollars spent on police enforcement and despite the tireless efforts of law-abiding Hobbema community members.

How Mr. Strahl expects the besieged Hobbema leadership to take on armed gangs where even the RCMP has failed remains anyone’s guess.

The bottom line is everyone has had quite enough of watching Hobbema residents living under conditions more reminiscent of civil-war torn Somalia than central Alberta.

With that in mind, if the police are unable to bring the rampant violence at Hobbema under control within, say, the next 30 days, Canadian Forces troops should be deployed there.

Let’s see how well the native gangs thrive when they have to fight it out with soldiers armed with machine guns and helicopters, instead of shooting at two-year-old girls and their families.

"I believe that it’s time now we collectively do something about the problem that has plagued our community for so long," Chief Marvin Yellowbird said.

The residents of Hobbema deserve the same security and safety as people in every other Canadian community. And guess what Prime Minister Harper? That buck stops with you.

 

[Old Sweat]

Larry,

That's all very good, and I sympathize with the people on the reserve, but it ain't going to happen anytime soon. The Federal Government does not have the legal authority to intervene and certainly the Canadian Forces can not respond without a legitimate request or direction from the appropriate civilian government agency.

It sucks, but that's how it works.

Brian

 

[geo]

Same as with the Mohawks.....
It requires local police & government authorities to lose control of the situation AND turn around to ask the Feds to bring in the big guns.......

 

[Fishbone Jones]

So, let me see if I have this right.

First Nation Warriors (I use the term loosely), break the law, seize private property, defy court orders and intimidate the rest of the population, across Canada. They say we have no business in their affairs, or on their (so called) land.

Now, First Nations communities have a problem on their land, with their illegal gangs, and they want US, the society they are holding hostage, to come in and sort it out for them? Should not their OWN Warriors sort it out?

Oh wait. Maybe that's the problem.

Maybe it's time the town(s) took a pick handle to the local bullies.

At least the body starts to breath again after you pass out from holding your breath. :