THE WOLVES- SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENT- 4 the future of our children and theirs....
The Gray Wolf (Canis lupus; also spelled Grey Wolf, see spelling differences; also known as Timber Wolf or Wolf) is a mammal in the order Carnivora. The Gray Wolf shares a common ancestry with the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), as evidenced by DNA sequencing and genetic drift studies. Gray wolves were once abundant and distributed over much of North America, Eurasia, and the Middle East. Today, for a variety of human-related reasons, including widespread habitat destruction and excessive hunting, wolves inhabit only a very limited portion of their former range. Though listed as a species of least concern for extinction worldwide, for some regions including the Continental United States, the species is listed as endangered or threatened.
IF U LOVE WOLVES PLZ ENJOY IT!! SAVE THEM!!
COMMENT:
THIS WAS ON MYSPACE PROFILE - NOVA0000SCOTIA- 4 over 7 years..... and it will never change...our environment matters- and all politicians need 2 get off their butts and work 2gether..... the FIRST NATIONS, METIS, INUIT, NON-STATUS... say all politicians just talk, talk, talk, year in and year out and basicly do NOTHING!!!!! - looking back over 50 years- ain't that the damm truth
--------------
IDLE NO MORE CANADA
NOVA SCOTIA- SALMON FISH FARMS BREED SEA LICE AND UNFIT TO EAT- BUT SOLD AS FOOD ANYWAY...
Biologist: Virus could kill aquaculture
Infectious salmon anemia ‘extremely ominous’ for industry
By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter
Salmon farming in the Maritimes could be sunk if a virus that kills the fish can’t be eradicated, says an independent British Columbia marine biologist.
"This spells the end of the salmon farming industry in the Maritimes unless they can persuade people to eat salmon infected with an influenza-type virus," Alexandra Morton said in an email Monday.
"They will not be able to raise fish without this virus finding them."
Morton was responding to a CBC report Monday that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has concluded it can’t eradicate infectious salmon anemia in Atlantic waters and has changed its focus to preventing the virus, which kills fish but is considered harmless to humans.
The conservationist, who gave the Ransom A. Myers Lecture in Science and Society at Dalhousie University last fall, said the last four outbreaks of infectious salmon anemia reported in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador describe a new strain of the virus.
"This is extremely ominous," Morton said. "This means the virus has mutated into a more deadly strain. This confirms that it is not from the wild fish."
Cooke Aquaculture of New Brunswick has had to kill hundreds of thousands of salmon infected with infectious salmon anemia at its Nova Scotia operations in the past year.
But it has been allowed to transport about 240,000 infected fish from a farm near Liverpool to a fish processing plant in New Brunswick under new inspection agency protocols.
Cooke spokesman Chuck Brown said aquaculture companies have managed infectious salmon anemia for years.
"It is a virus that occurs in the natural environment, and we have continued to be proactive in managing it, protecting our fish and preventing it from spreading," Brown said in an email.
"Early detection is critical, and I think we’re seeing how this is working. We were able to detect ISA at the Coffin Island farm near Liverpool, report it to CFIA and the province of Nova Scotia, follow CFIA protocols and, under quarantine, protect other fish while growing the ones on site to market size."
The province has lent Cooke $25 million to expand its operations in Nova Scotia, with $9 million forgiven through the Nova Scotia Jobs Fund.
Morton said infectious salmon anemia also poses a serious risk to wild salmon, which is a major issue for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.
"It’s very concerning," federation spokeswoman Sue Scott said Monday in an interview from Saint Andrews, N.B.
"The salmon populations are in danger of ISA infection."
Scott said she couldn’t understand why Cooke was allowed to keep infected farmed salmon in Nova Scotia waters for months before shipping them to New Brunswick for processing.
"What happened to the idea that they’re supposed to be removed to prevent the spread of infection?"
The federation, which works to revitalize wild Atlantic salmon stocks, wants government to stop the expansion of open-net pen aquaculture in favour of landbased systems. Inspection agency officials could not be reached for comment.
Provincial Fisheries and Aquaculture Department spokesman Brett Loney said the inspection agency, as Canada’s lead fish health organization, is responsible for handling infectious salmon anemia, but the province continues to monitor Nova Scotia farms for the virus.
"Fish health is a critical priority in our aquaculture strategy and our regulations will work to reduce the risk of ISA."
The Association for the Preservation of the Eastern Shore is putting its opposition to openpen salmon farms on the road.
The community group announced a two-month campaign Monday that will see Metro Transit buses carrying signs saying Save Our Coastal Waters and Economy. Tell Premier Dexter to Stop Open Pen Fish Farming. The signs will include directions to two associated websites, nsapes.ca and salmonwars.com.
(berskine@herald.ca)
-----------------------
FISH FARMS- NOVA SCOTIA- ROTTING OUR PLANET- KILLING OUR SALMON- SEA-LICE
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Time for a boycott
Thank you for Ralph Surette’s excellent Feb. 9 column on open-pen fish feedlots, entitled "Sick fish economics: Sea change needed."
We can expect the industry to push back now, with its usual package of self-serving half-truths, but Surette’s assessment stands up to scrutiny. This industry, already subsidized, makes profits using our ocean as a free dump.
Consumers should all boycott this product.
Graham Smith, Brookside
AND...
Responsible development
Re: Ralph Surette’s Feb. 9 column. Salmon farming is well-established in our province, starting in the 1970s. Today, there are 40 active finfish farming sites in Nova Scotia, both land- and marine- based.
The ISA virus is native to our waters and it can certainly present challenges to farmers, but the virus can be properly managed and responsible development can continue. We have leading veterinarians in Nova Scotia working with our farmers to ensure that our farm fish are as healthy as possible and they don’t increase the risks for wild fish populations.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency holds the aquaculture industry to the same standard as all types of food production; tainted or unwholesome fish are never allowed to be processed and sold. For the first time since they assumed the responsibility of controlling disease outbreaks on fish farms in late 2010, CFIA is allowing healthy fish from a quarantined site to be harvested, provided it is done under a strict protocol.
This is not a new practice and is consistent for the entire agriculture industry. If we stopped the harvest of all crops, animals and fish that have been exposed to natural viruses, our store shelves would be empty.
Bruce Hancock, Executive Director, Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia
AND...
Come to Eastern Shore
The schedule is now out for the public hearings by the committee to investigate rural economic development in Nova Scotia. The Commission on Building Our New Economy has conveniently left out all of the coastal communities that are contesting the imposition of open-pen salmon feedlots in their waters.
Mere coincidence? Or could it be that the commission does not want to risk town halls full of angry citizens condemning the NDP’s strategy of imposing a "pollution economy" against the democratic will of the citizens of coastal communities?
The citizens of the Eastern Shore would like to meet with this commission to ask for a moratorium on openpen salmon feedlots in their waters and for a best practices development of the Eastern Shore, such as closed containment fish farming on land.
Marike Finlay, President, Association for the Preser vation of the Eastern Shore
AND....
Mixed messages
What a tragedy that the NDP government seems to lack a comprehensive vision for rural Nova Scotia. As a bornand- raised Torontonian who was lured to the province by its beautiful rural communities, it is heartbreaking to watch the party I have supported through most of my voting life fail to stand up for their futures.
I am perplexed by the mixed messages from the government: jobs for rural Nova Scotia (even at the expense of our coastal environment) while offering no assistance to cash-strapped boards of education to maintain the schools at the heart of small communities.
The public often complains about the expense of local school boards. As a retired school administrator, it’s obvious to me that these boards carry out a valuable function — valuable to their provincial governments, that is. They carry out the never-ending dictates of the departments of education with the money allocated to them, make the required tough decisions, and absorb the public hostility that should be directed to the provinces.
The government needs to think creatively about how to save rural Nova Scotia. In the short term, it needs to find some way of preventing the closure of schools that will result in young children spending hours a day travelling on buses, hours that could be spent in learning and in healthy exercise.
Linda Loth, Lunenburg
-----------------
omg...... more fish farm bullshit and beans
Tens of thousands of comments come into U.S. FDA on Canadian GM salmon
Dene Moore, Wednesday, February 13, 2013 3:51 PM
UNDATED, - Almost 30,000 comments have poured into the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about Canadian genetically modified salmon since the agency announced preliminary assessments found the altered fish pose no significant environmental impact.
The response has been so strong in the past two months that the FDA was asked to extend the public comment period, and it issued a statement Wednesday to say comments will remain open an additional 60 days, until April 26.
Morgan Liscinsky, spokesperson for the FDA, said the agency will review the comments after that and decide how to proceed.
"FDA will complete the review of the AquAdvantage Salmon application and will reach a decision on approval," Liscinsky said in an email.
"At this point it is not possible to predict a timeline for when these decisions will be made."
Developed at Memorial University in Newfoundland and the University of Toronto, the eggs are produced at AquaBounty Farms in Prince Edward Island and the fish are reared in Panama.
The Atlantic salmon egg is modified with genes from chinook salmon and an eel-like fish called the ocean pout, which makes the fish grow twice as fast as conventional fish, cutting in half the time it takes to reach market size.
Calls to Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies, the company that wants to produce AquAdvantage commercially, were not immediately returned.
While genetically modified plant crops were approved for human consumption almost two decades ago, the altered salmon would be the first transgenic animal to make it onto a menu. The product has been making its way through the American regulatory process for 17 years.
Two reports issued by the FDA in December found the fish posed no significant impact on the environment south of the border, but the agency does not weigh ethics or policy around biotech foods as part of the regulatory process.
Alaska state lawmakers have vowed to fight approval of the so-called "frankenfish," alongside opponents like Lucy Sharratt, of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.
"The FDA has extended the comment period because this (genetically engineered) salmon is politically important and highly controversial inside the US. ... The extension signals heightened tensions," Sharratt said in an email.
She said the public concerns expressed in thousands of comments were not taken into account in the preliminary reports issued in December.
"Groups are hoping that the FDA will now take this chance to decide to publish a ... much more comprehensive review," Sharratt said.
Read it on Global News: Global News | Tens of thousands of comments come into U.S. FDA on Canadian GM salmon
----------------
IDLE NO MORE CANADA
NOVA SCOTIA MINK FARMS- RUINING LAND AND RIVERS.... ewww
Mink have more teeth than fur farm regulations
John Werring, senior science and policy advisor for the David Suzuki Foundation.
Carla Allen Published on February 1, 2013
The senior science and policy advisor for the David Suzuki Foundation says he doesn't think the people of Nova Scotia are any better served with the introduction of new fur farm regulations than they were by what was in place before.
Topics : Tusket River
"And that's a shame," said John Werring.
He refers to rules already in place that the government could have availed themselves of to abate the decade-long concern about pollution from these farms before the new regulation was even introduced (the Federal Fisheries Act, the NS Environment Act, the NS Agriculture and Marketing Act, the NS Health Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act).
"The evidence would suggest they have failed to implement and/or enforce even those rules. So, what is to say things will be any different moving forward?" he said.
The crux of the problem is the government’s apparent reluctance to get tough with the mink farming industry.
"The teeth on the mink are likely to be more of a deterrent to growing and handling these animals than the threat of any fines or actions that can be taken against an operator for failing to abide by these so-called rules," said Werring.
He’s concerned that there are no offense provisions under the new regulations, with no mention under the Fur Industry Act of it being an offense to do <anything>... " or an operator may not .... <do anything>, except operate or alter or authorize the alteration of an existing fur farm a farm without a permit.
He refers to the toughest penalty in the new regulations being that "the administrator may suspend for up to one year or revoke a licence if an inspection discloses an operator is not in compliance with the Act or regulations; any applicable provision of the Environment Act or its regulations; any applicable provision of the Occupational Health and Safety Act or its regulations; or any applicable provision of the Health Protection Act or its regulations."
Specified actions that can be taken against an operator that violates any section of the "environmental monitoring components" of the regulations (including the surface water, groundwater and soil pollution monitoring guidelines) are that: "the administrator may place any measures on the operator that the administrator considers necessary to reduce the level of the substance."
The most specific things in the new regulations refer to fulfilling basic requirements for obtaining/renewing/amending licenses (e.g. management plans) and prescribed fees.
Nothing in the regulation caps the size of mink farms or their number in any given area.
That the majority of the regulations are non-specific also concern Werring. They include environmental restrictions and requirements for monitoring the impact of the farms on the environment.
"Except the absurdly high permitted levels of phosphorous and fecal coliforms that can occur in surface waters and groundwater and soils, at the discretion of the minister and to be self-regulated by the industry," he said.
"I note that the environmental monitoring and protection components of this regulation are given only three pages of ink out of 16 in total and comprise only 11 short sections in total ... and they conveniently forgot to even mention "air quality monitoring" - which is supposed to be a part of any monitoring program (S. 34 (1) of the Fur Industry Act - Every operator shall establish a monitoring program that includes regular monitoring and testing of water, soil and air by a designated professional). Odor from these farms is a huge issue," he said.
In the regulations, surface water discharges and groundwater need only be tested twice a year, in May and November. Soils must be sampled once every three years.
"For an industry such as this, that is not sufficient in my view. Twice a year surface water discharge monitoring would do absolutely nothing to reduce the levels of pollution in the Tusket River system."
To summarize, Werring says one need only visit the Q &A sheet on the regulations published by the government.
In response to the very first question: "What is in the fur industry regulations?" it says, "The regulations clearly state that no discharge of contaminants is permitted from the farm property to a watercourse."
"What a load of brown bananas. These regulations say absolutely nothing of the sort," said Werring.
--------------
JULY 24 2013
IDLE NO MORE CANADA
Premiers back national inquiry on missing aboriginal women
Alberta, N.L., Nunavut premiers skip Aboriginal leaders meeting. Canada’s premiers are backing a call by aboriginal leaders to launch a national public inquiry into the case of missing or murdered aboriginal women, CBC News has learned.
PHOTO
CANADA'S HIGHWAY OF TEARS- IDLE NO MORE CANADA
----------------UNITED STATES - ABUSE OF ABORIGINAL WOMEN IS SYSTEMIC IN NORTH AMERICA....
Domestic Violence in American Indian Women
Crime victimization rates in the American Indian community are significantly higher than in the general U.S. population. As a result of these high rates of violence, American Indian women are at high risk of homicide, including domestic violence. Homicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for Native women. Of Native American women murdered, over 75% were killed by a family member, an acquaintance, or someone they knew.
The frequency of battering in Indian Country is believed to be much higher than the national norm. American Indians, in general, experience per capita rates of violence that are more than twice those of the resident population.
American Indian women experience the highest rate of violence of any group in the United States.
American Indian women stand a high risk of losing their children in instances of physical and sexual abuse.
Three-fourths of American Indian women have experienced some type of sexual assault in their lives.
Abusive relationships are based on the mistaken belief that one person has the right to control another.
When the non violent methods of control fail to work, the person in power moves on to actual physical and sexual violence. The relationship is based on the exercise of power to gain and maintain control.
47% of women will be raped in their lifetime.
50% of women will be battered by their spouse/partner.
40% of women in prison for felonies are there because they killed an abusive partner/spouse.
Women of color are 64% of the female prison population and serve longer sentences for the same crime as do white women or men of color.
In the 1970s, it is estimated that 30% of all Puerto Rican women, and 25-40% of American Indian women were sterilized without their informed consent.
Two-thirds of college men report they would consider raping a woman if they thought they would get away with it.
Around 50,000 women per year are illegally trafficked into the US, where they end up in sex industries, domestic work, and sweatshops.
The life expectancy of Native women in the US is 47 years.
The International Human Rights Association of American Minorities has documented that more than 50,000 Native children have been killed in Indian residential schools.
Domestic Violence is not:
genetically inherited
caused by illness
caused by alcohol or drugs
the result of stress or anger
due to "a bad temper"
due to the behavior of the victim, children or a problem in the relationship
Domestic Violence is:
a learned behavior
Batterers learn from observations of other people, including family and friends
Physical abuse: This includes acts in which physical force is used to coerce the victim. This might include pushing, shoving, or being held against her will; slapped, kicked, bit, choked or punched. He may throw objects, locked her out or the house, abandon her in a dangerous place or force her into a dangerous situation. There may be threats or use of weapons and rape.
Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse is most often thought of as rape or forced sexual actions. It can also include forced undressing or watching of sexual acts. Forced sex when in danger, sick or after a beating are also forms of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse might also include anti-woman or demeaning jokes or name-calling (frigid, whore) intended to degrade the victim. A woman might be treated as a sexual object and be made to dress in a sexual manner with which she is not comfortable. There may be jealous accusations regarding sex or the abuser may minimize his partner’s feelings about sex.
Emotional/ Mental Abuse: In emotional or mental abuse the victim’s feelings may be ignored and minimized while excessive attention is demanded to the abusers needs. He may ridicule the victim or women as a group with the intent to degrade her. He may also ridicule her beliefs, values, religion, class, heritage or race. As punishment there may be withholding of approval or name calling. He may isolate her by driving away friends and /or family. She may be kept from working or be forced to work. He may demand complete control of money and refuse to share the workload. He may threaten to take the children or abuse her pets. Manipulation with lies and contradictions is abusive behavior, as are threats of violence, suicide, and homicide.
Native American Resources
Following are some resources available to the Native American woman and her children who are victims of domestic violence:
Sacred Circle
or
Sacred Circle
605-455-2244
877-733-7623 (toll free)
Box 638 722 St. Joseph Street
Kyle, SD 57752 Rapid City, SD 57701
Sacred Circle is a project of Cangleska, Inc., a private, non-profit, tribally-chartered organization. Cangleska, Inc. is a nationally recognized organization providing domestic violence and sexual assault prevention/intervention services.
Mending the Sacred Circle
202 East Superior Street
Duluth, MN 55802
888-305-1650 (toll free)
Northern Plains Tribal Judicial Institute
701-777-6176
Legal Referrals
American Indian Law Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 4456, Station A
Albuquerque, NM 87196
505-277-5462
Legal Referrals
Source: ICADV Legal Information, Violence Against Native Women and The Color of Violence Against Women
http://aihc1998.tripod.com/violence.html
-----------------------
CANADA- HIGHWAY OF TEARS..... BEAUTIFUL ABORIGINALS GIRLS AND WOMEN- ABUSED-MURDERED
Anonymous/Google Maps
Anonymous has compiled public information, to bring further attention to violence against aboriginal women with the creation of this map marking cases across Turtle Island.
Anonymous Creates Map of Turtle Island's Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women
ICTMN Staff
February 06, 2013
The online hacker group Anonymous has turned its attention to Canada’s missing and murdered women, compiling a map from police reports and online public input that designates each case across Turtle Island for the past 10 years with a glaring red circle.
Special attention is given to Thunder Bay, Ontario, CBC News said. There, police are investigating the kidnapping and assault of an indigenous woman as a possible hate crime. A 19-year-old Oji-Cree youth has come forward to bear witness to the grabbing of the woman in the December 27 attack, according to CBC News, and to the fact that the perpetrators hurled racial epithets and pelted him with various objects from their vehicle as he walked along the road.
The murder and disappearance of hundreds of aboriginal women over the past two decades has caused an international outcry and sparked demands from indigenous leaders for a national inquiry into why many of these crimes go unsolved. The map was released on February 5.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/02/06/anonymous-creates-map-turtle-islands-missing-and-murdered-aboriginal-women-147502
-----------------
AUSTRALIA
Aborigines want more than apology- they want redemption and renewal and healing
Australia Apologizes to Aborigines
By Bridget Johnson, About.com Guide
"Australia Apologizes to Aborigines" (Photo by Andrew Sheargold/Getty Images)
Ads
Free Australia Fact Sheetwww.InternationalLiving.comFor people considering Visiting, Real Estate or Living in Australia
International Moverinternationalmoversnetwork.comFull service of door to door Free quote for your move
What waste goes where?putwasteinitsplace.caNot sure where egg cartons go? Find out here. Put Waste In Its Place!
A historic moment happened in Australia on Feb. 12, 2008, when the government issued a formal apology -- broadcast across the nation -- for the treatment of the country's Aboriginal people.
There are about 450,000 Aborigines now in Australia, and they suffer from a poor standard of living, lower life expectancy, lower literacy rates, etc. Starting in 1910 and continuing for decades, the government had taken Aboriginal children from their families in a forced-integration program. Traumatized by the tearing apart of families and cultural damage, some had demanded an apology and reparations from the government. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opted for an apology and no compensation, but a vow to better the lives of Aborigines.
Here's part of the apology (full text here):
"The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation."
Indigenous leader Noel Pearson wrote in The Australian that an apology isn't enough:
"...Who will be able to move on after tomorrow's apology? Most white Australians will be able to move on (with the warm inner glow that will come from having said sorry), but I doubt indigenous Australians will. Those people stolen from their families who feel entitled to compensation will never be able to move on.
...There is a political angle to this week's apology. For the Rudd Government, the apology will work politically provided there is no issue of compensation.
If compensation had been part of the deal, electoral support for the gesture would have unravelled. For this reason there is no conceivable way Rudd will revisit the issue of compensation, no matter what the hopes of indigenous leaders."
--------------
AUSTRLIAN ABORIGINALS - AUSSIE ABORIGINAL YOUTH- HIGHEST SUICIDE RATES ON THE PLANET
WGAR News: Suicide prevention strategy targets ATSI communities: Australian Human Rights Commission
Fri 31 May 2013
By WGAR - Working ...
Newsletter date: 1 June 2013
Contents:
* AHRC: Suicide prevention strategy targets ATSI communities
* NITV News: National strategy targeting Indigenous suicide announced
* CAAMA interviews Professor Pat Dudgeon about the strategy to tackle suicide and self harm
* Pro Bono News: National Strategy on Indigenous Suicide
* SBS Radionews: National strategy to reduce Indigenous suicide
* SBS Radionews: Applause for Indigenous suicide prevention plan
* Australian: Kimberley indigenous suicide prevention plan set to expand
* Greens Senator Rachel Siewert: Greens welcome important announcements for suicide prevention & Healing Foundation
* PS News: Strategy to prevent Indigenous suicide
* SBS World News: Indigenous Australians 'facing psychological distress'
* ABC: Head First - The Lost Boys [Suicide attempts in Yirrkala, NT]
* Billi McCarthy-Price, On Line Opinion: Mind the gap on indigenous health [Indigenous youth suicide]
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Political reaction needed to end suicides
* The Wire: Aboriginal youth suicide spike prompts crisis meeting in WA
* SBS World News: WA crisis meeting on Aboriginal suicide
* SBS Radionews: Indigenous suicide summit in Perth
* ABC: More birthing support urged for remote Indigenous women
* SBS Radionews: Concern over Indigenous dementia rates
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Telethon study on mental health disorders
* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
* Greens Jamie Parker MP: NSW government refuses funding for live-saving Aboriginal legal advice line
* AHRC: SUICIDE PREVENTION STRATEGY TARGETS ATSI COMMUNITIES
- News
Australian Human Rights Commission: Suicide prevention strategy targets ATSI communities
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/stories/suicide-prevention-strategy-t...
23 May 13: ""Suicide is robbing young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of their lives," Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said today. Responding to the launch of the first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy, Commissioner Gooda said the unnecessary loss is taking a devastating toll on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities. "The national strategy announced today will help build strength and resilience within individuals and within our communities. ... " Commissioner Good said."
* NITV NEWS: NATIONAL STRATEGY TARGETING INDIGENOUS SUICIDE ANNOUNCED
- News
SBS World News: National strategy targeting Indigenous suicide announced
Source: Ryan Liddle, NITV News
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1770066/National-strategy-targeting-I...
23 May 13: "A new national strategy specifically addressing Indigenous suicide was launched today on both sides of Australia. The new strategy will focus on early intervention, coordinate approaches to prevention and aim to build stronger communities around the country. The federal government will provide nearly $18 million over the next four years to fund the approach. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin says the funding is going to target communities with high suicide numbers."
* CAAMA INTERVIEWS PROFESSOR PAT DUDGEON ABOUT THE STRATEGY TO TACKLE SUICIDE AND SELF HARM
- Audio Interview
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association: Experts want local mob involved in mental health
http://caama.com.au/experts-want-local-mob-involved-in-mental-health
31 May 13: "The Federal Government has launched a national strategy to tackle suicide and self harm in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy has a strong focus on building hope, resilience and awareness by promoting positive social and well being in communities. Professor Pat Dudgeon spoke to Paul Wiles about the strategy."
- Related Audio
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association:
http://caama.com.au/radio#tabs-6
http://caama.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/AM-27-05.mp3
Player
27 May 13: "The country’s peak Aboriginal and Islander Psychology representative body says it played a strong role in the development of the Federal governments National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy and that it will also have a strong and ongoing role in its delivery."
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association:
http://caama.com.au/radio#tabs-6
http://caama.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/am-24-05.mp3
Player
24 May 13: "* A global educator and campaigner for non violence against women says he believes that mainstream media continues to portray Aboriginal men in a negative way despite the problem occurring in all cultures.
* The Federal Government’s decision to launch a national strategy to tackle Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide has been welcomed by beyondblue."
* PRO BONO NEWS: NATIONAL STRATEGY ON INDIGENOUS SUICIDE
- News
Pro Bono News: National Strategy on Indigenous Suicide
http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2013/05/national-strategy-indige...
23 May 13: "The Strategy identifies six broad action areas, which are:
* Building strengths and capacity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
* Building strengths and resilience in individuals and families;
* Targeted suicide prevention services;
* Coordinating approaches to prevention;
* Building the evidence base and disseminating information; and
* Standards and quality in suicide prevention."
* SBS RADIONEWS: NATIONAL STRATEGY TO REDUCE INDIGENOUS SUICIDE
- Audio
SBS Radionews: National strategy to reduce Indigenous suicide
By Laurie Lawira
http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/268662/Nationa...
23 May 13: "A new national strategy to reduce Indigenous suicide highlights the role of local communities in addressing the issue. Over the next four years, almost 18-million dollars will be spent in identifying early intervention strategies, strengthening community prevention services and supporting grieving families. A particular focus of the strategy will be young Indigenous people. Laurie Lawira reports."
* SBS RADIONEWS: APPLAUSE FOR INDIGENOUS SUICIDE PREVENTION PLAN
- Audio Interview
SBS Radionews: Applause for Indigenous suicide prevention plan
By Laurie Lawira
http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/268810/Applaus...
24 May 13: "The Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council has welcomed a new national strategy to reduce Indigenous suicide. The federal government has announced almost $18-million over four years for the strategy. An Indigenous member of the Advisory Council, Adele Cox, was on a working group that consulted with communities on how it should be devised and conducted. She spoke with Laurie Lawira."
* AUSTRALIAN: KIMBERLEY INDIGENOUS SUICIDE PREVENTION PLAN SET TO EXPAND
- News
Australian: Kimberley indigneous suicide prevention plan set to expand
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/kimberley-in...
24 May 13: "CULTURAL immersion programs, like the Yiriman project in the Kimberley could be rolled out in other communities as part of the Gillard government's national indigenous suicide prevention strategy. The strategy, which is the first to specifically target Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people, would gather examples of best practice from around the country to determine how and where else they could be applied. With $17.8m in new money, there would be a focus on early intervention and strengthening communities to reduce the rate of indigenous suicide, ... " Nicolas Perpitch
* GREENS SENATOR RACHEL SIEWERT: GREENS WELCOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION & HEALING FOUNDATION
- Media Release
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert: Greens welcome important announcements for suicide prevention & Healing Foundation
http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/greens-wel...
23 May 13: "The Australian Greens have welcomed the announcement of two key funding investments- the suicide prevention strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Healing Foundation.
"Suicide rates amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain alarmingly high and specific strategies to address this are essential," Senator Rachel Siewert, Australian Greens spokesperson on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Issues said today.
"I am pleased the Minister has announced a national whole-of-government strategy approach. Sustained, long term investment across the country is fundamental for ensuring programs and strategies can be effective.
"The huge suicide rate in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities devastates those regions and must be addressed as a matter of priority.
"I am also relieved to see the Government announce renewed funding for the Healing Foundation, who are undertaking incredibly important work with members of the Stolen Generation. ... [Senator Siewert said]"
* PS NEWS: STRATEGY TO PREVENT INDIGENOUS SUICIDE
- News
PS News: Strategy to prevent Indigenous suicide
http://www.psnews.com.au/Page_psn3638.html
28 May 13: "Funding of $17.8 million over four years has been announced to support the first national whole-of-government strategy specifically addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide. The development of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention strategy was recommended by a Senate inquiry into suicide in Australia in 2011. The new National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy focuses on early intervention and building stronger communities with the aim of reducing the prevalence of suicide and the impact on individuals, their families and communities."
* SBS WORLD NEWS: INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS 'FACING PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS'
- News
SBS World News: Indigenous Australians 'facing psychological distress'
Source: Naomi Selvaratnam, SBS
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1770442/Indigenous-Australians-facing...
24 May 13: "A new report by the Council of Australian Governments Reform Council has found over nearly one-third of Indigenous Australians are experiencing high psychological distress. ... Comparatively, 12% of non-Indigenous Australians have the same levels of psychological distress. Psychological distress refers to how a person feels about their well-being. The report also shows that people living in low socio-economic areas are twice as likely to experience high levels of psychological distress."
* ABC: HEAD FIRST - THE LOST BOYS
- TV
ABC: Head First - The Lost Boys
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc2/201305/programs/DO1133V005D2013-05-2...
29 May 13: "Sabour heads to Arnhem Land to spend two weeks in a small town called Yirrkala living completely under the rules of the Intervention. On his first night a suicide attempt by a young future leader shocks him to his core. ... What's amazing for Sabour though is that it's the young men who start coming to him wanting to tell their story. It starts to make sense when one of the women from the community tells him, "The boys harm themselves because they want someone to notice them so that for once they're not invisible.""
* BILLI MCCARTHY-PRICE, ON LINE OPINION: MIND THE GAP ON INDIGENOUS HEALTH
- Analysis / Opinion
On Line Opinion: Mind the gap on indigenous health
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15065&page=0
30 May 13: "There remains a 10-year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia. Around 12 per cent of this difference has been attributed to mental health conditions, with four per cent to suicide and six per cent to alcohol and substance abuse. Australians must start paying attention. What's more, they must be made more aware of the phenomenally high rates of Indigenous youth suicide that contribute to this gap. Male Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth aged 15-19 are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than non-Indigenous males." By Billi McCarthy-Price, a Global Voices delegate to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues underway in New York
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: POLITICAL REACTION NEEDED TO END SUICIDES
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: Political reaction needed to end suicides
http://thestringer.com.au/political-reaction-needed-to-end-suicides/
24 May 13: "Led by the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation which works with many grieving families of suicide victims a Suicide Crisis Summit was held on May 21. More than 300 attended in what was both a highly emotive experience and a direct call to Governments to reduce the Aboriginal youth suicide rates in Australia. Australia’s Aboriginal youth suicide rate is the highest in the world. - Australia’s Aboriginal children - The world’s highest suicide rate. Dumbartung CEO Robert Eggington and his grief counsellor wife Selina Eggington called for the Summit and ensured that it was well attended by Government officials." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
- Past Event
Event: Tue 21 May 2013: Waterford, Perth, WA
Stop the Suicides in Our Community Now!
"The Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation calls for
all members of the Nyoongah community and organisations
to stand up strong against the ongoing epidemic
and spates of suicide in our Nyoongah community."
Event details: http://allianceaustrale.org/Dumbartung/CommunityNote.html
Event details: http://allianceaustrale.org/Dumbartung/SuicideMediaRelease.html
News: Dumbartung convenes Suicide Crisis Summit: http://thestringer.com.au/dumbartung-convenes-suicide-crisis-summit/
News: Alarm over Indigenous suicide in WA: http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/264404/Alarm-o...
News: Dumbartung calls suicide prevention summit: http://www.nirs.org.au/blog/NEWS/article/29153/Dumbartung-calls-suicide-...
* THE WIRE: ABORIGINAL YOUTH SUICIDE SPIKE PROMPTS CRISIS MEETING IN WA
- Audio Interview
The Wire: Aboriginal youth suicide spike prompts crisis meeting in WA
Produced by Lisa Burns
http://www.thewire.org.au/storyDetail.aspx?ID=10388
22 May 13: "An emergency meeting has been held in Perth, to discuss the alarming spike in Aboriginal youth suicides in Western Australia. More than 100 people, including Indigenous leaders, Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda and Western Australian Mental Health Commissioner, Eddie Bartnik, were in attendance. Beverley Port-Louis, a Noongar Elder from the small regional town of Moora in Western Australia, was at the meeting yesterday and had her own very personal story to tell.
Featured in story: Beverley Port-Louis, Noogar Elder from Moora, in Western Australia"
- Related Audio
National Indigenous Radio Service: Suicide crisis summit held in Perth
http://www.nirs.org.au/blog/NEWS/article/29300/Suicide-crisis-summit-hel...
22 May 13: "Indigenous groups who have attended a crisis meeting in Perth say they hope to raise awareness of a spate of youth suicides. More than 100 people, including government representatives, discussed at the summit what’s been described as a 'suicide epidemic'."
* SBS WORLD NEWS: WA CRISIS MEETING ON ABORIGINAL SUICIDE
- Video
SBS World News: WA crisis meeting on Aboriginal suicide
Source: AAP
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1769052/WA-crisis-meeting-on-Aborigin...
21 May 13: ""It's an absolute epidemic," Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation executive officer Robert Eggington told ABC radio earlier today. "It's obviously really worrying in the last three to four months with the spate of suicides that have ravaged our community and families." He said other concerns included high rates of incarceration among Aboriginal men and indigenous impoverishment in an otherwise affluent nation. "Nyoongah men per head per population are the highest imprisoned men on the planet," Mr Eggington said."
* SBS RADIONEWS: INDIGENOUS SUICIDE SUMMIT IN PERTH
- Audio
SBS Radionews: Indigenous suicide summit in Perth
By Ryan Emery & Kristina Kukolja
http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/268280/Indigen...
21 May 13: "A summit on Indigenous suicide in Western Australia has been held in Perth. The summit was organised by the Dumbartung Aboriginal corporation, which says the Noongar community is deeply concerned about what they say is a spike in suicide rates -- particularly among young people. Kristina Kukolja asked West Australian correspondent Ryan Emery who attended."
* ABC: MORE BIRTHING SUPPORT URGED FOR REMOTES INDIGENOUS WOMEN
- News
ABC: More birthing support urged for remote Indigenous women
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-30/more-birthing-support-urged-for-re...
30 May 13: "An Indigenous health organisation says more funding is needed to address birthing issues for women in remote Aboriginal communities. Health specialists from the Apunipima Cape York Health Council will attend an Indigenous birthing roundtable at Parliament House in Canberra today. The organisation's Rachel Sargeant says more support is needed for women travelling alone from Cape York to Cairns to give birth. "I think it's incredibly stressful on not just them but their children, their families, especially if English isn't your first language," she said." By Ashleigh Stevenson
* SBS RADIONEWS: CONCERN OVER INDIGENOUS DEMENTIA RATES
- Audio Interview
SBS Radionews: Concern over Indigenous dementia rates
By Peggy Giakoumelos
http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/269458/Concern...
28 May 13: "A study has found that Indigenous Australians are three times more likely to suffer from dementia than non-Indigenous Australians. Neuroscience Research Australia says dementia also affects Indigenous Australians at an earlier age than in the general population. Neuroscience Australia's Professor Tony Broe says risk factors range from disadvantage in early childhood to environmental factors such as smoking, substance and brain injury. Professor Broe told Peggy Giakoumelos the effects of early institutionalisation that occurred with many members of the Stolen Generations is also a factor."
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: TELETHON STUDY ON MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS
- News
The Stringer: Telethon study on mental health disorders
http://thestringer.com.au/telethon-study-on-mental-health-disorders/
20 May 13: "Mental health disorders are on the rise among Aboriginal peoples according to a study by the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. The study found that the incidence of mental disorders has an impact on children’s health and for Aboriginal parents this is at least twice the rate than for non-Aboriginal parents. ... The main outcome measure of the study was the prevalence of prior mental health disorders in parents by birth year and by parent and child characteristics, including Aboriginality, maternal age, socioeconomic status and diagnostic groups." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
* ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER HEALTH
- Audio
National Indigenous Radio Service: Health funding must reach ground level: NACCHO
http://www.nirs.org.au/blog/NEWS/article/29303/Health-funding-must-reach...
22 May 13: "Community groups are calling for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health funding to more efficiently reach the ground. ... The Chief Executive of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation is Justin Mohamed."
SBS Radionews: Torres TB death highlights "worst of both worlds"
By Stefan Armbruster
http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/268328/Torres-...
22 May 13: "Queensland's government says federal efforts to deal with tuberculosis in the Torres Strait "are not meeting the needs" after the first death of an Australian citizen from the region. ... Last week state Health Minister Lawrence Springborg confirmed a Torres Strait islander woman died of multi-drug resistant TB in April. ... Mr Springborg told Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster the PNG Prime Minister's call to reopen TB clinics in the Torres Strait to treat PNG citizens is not an option."
- News
newsTracker: Torres Strait Islander woman dies of tuberculosis
http://tracker.org.au/2013/05/torres-strait-islander-woman-dies-of-tuber...
20 May 13: "QUEENSLAND: A Torres Strait Islander woman has died from an apparent drug resistant strain of tuberculosis (TB), becoming the first Australian in several years to succumb to the disease. Queensland’s chief health officer Jeanette Young on Friday confirmed the 20-year-old’s death on April 25. Dr Young says it is yet to be determined how she contracted the illness, but she frequently visited Papua New Guinea, which has one of the world’s highest incident rates."
Australian Human Rights Commission: Support for Indigenous people with disability
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/stories/support-indigenous-people-dis...
16 May 13: "The First People’s Disability Network Australia will receive $900,000 over three years to assist Indigenous Australians to understand and access support from the newly-created DisabilityCare Australia. Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda said the funding would help close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage by ensuring the benefits of DisabilityCare Australia are realised for Indigenous people. He said the prevalence of severe or profound disability among Indigenous people is around twice the rate for non-Indigenous Australians."
* GREENS JAMIE PARKER MP: NSW GOVERNMENT REFUSES FUNDING FOR LIVE-SAVING ABORIGINAL LEGAL ADVICE LINE
- Media Release
Greens Jamie Parker MP: NSW government refuses funding for live-saving Aboriginal legal advice line
http://www.jamieparker.org.au/nsw-government-refuses-funding-for-live-sa...
29 May 13: "Greens MP Jamie Parker has slammed the NSW Liberal government for failing to fund a live-saving legal advice line for Aboriginal people who have been taken into police custody.
"The Federal government has cut funding and now the NSW government is refusing to accept responsibility, despite the fact that the requirement for the service is legislated under state law," Mr Parker said.
"Vulnerable people are being put at risk because governments in this country cannot be shaken into action.
"The Custody Notification Service was created as a crucial reform following the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to ensure that the rights and welfare of Aboriginal people in custody are maintained.
"Two decades after the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, most of the 339 recommendations for reform still have not been implemented. This service is a rare example of a positive and effective reform that resulted from the Royal Commission and we must ensure it continues. ... " Mr Parker said."
See:
WGAR News: "Stop Aboriginal deaths in police custody by saving the Custody Notification Service" (15 May 13)
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/05/14/wgar-news-stop-aboriginal-deaths-in-p...
About WGAR News:
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/30/about-wgar-news-working-group-for-abo...
Subscription to 'WGAR News' is free.
'WGAR News' monitors the media, including alternative media, focusing on:
* the Australian Federal government intervention into Northern Territory (NT) Aboriginal communities;
* the Aboriginal sovereignty movement and the Aboriginal tent embassies;
* Justice Reinvestment, Aboriginal imprisonment and Deaths in Custody;
* Aboriginal land rights and mining;
* other Aboriginal rights issues; and
* upcoming Aboriginal rights events around Australia.
'WGAR News' publishes information and opinions from a wide range of sources.
These opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of WGAR.
The e-newsletters include media releases, opinion pieces, news items, audio, videos and events.
Subscribers can expect to receive about 5 e-newsletters each week.
To subscribe, email wgar.news@gmail.com and include the words "subscribe WGAR News" in the message header.
To unsubscribe, email wgar.news@gmail.com and include the words "unsubscribe WGAR News" in the message header.
Sample WGAR News e-newsletters:
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/01/03/about-wgar-news-sample-wgar-news-e-ne...
WGAR events postings:
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/01/03/about-wgar-news-wgar-events-postings
WGAR background info web-pages:
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/01/03/about-wgar-news-wgar-background-info-...
You can also subscribe to our second list 'Contact WGAR' which provides a point of contact and includes occasional activities and events.
To subscribe, email contactwgar@gmail.com and include the words "subscribe WGAR Contact" in the message header.
WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
WGAR Website: http://wgar.wordpress.com/
----------------
IDLE NO MORE- NOVA SCOTIA
Change comes slowly, Mi’kmaq elder says
Knockwood recalls ‘torture’ of residential school life
By SELENA ROSS Staff Reporter
Doug Knockwood said a prayer for people eating lunch at the Indian Brook community centre Sunday, many of whom had just walked for two hours from the old site of the Shubenacadie residential school. Knockwood, 83, is a Mi’kmaq elder, originally from Cumberland County. He went to the Shubenacadie school for two years, eventually spent 30 years working as a drug and alcohol counsellor, and now lives in Indian Brook.
Knockwood explained how things have changed in his lifetime and what he wants from the future.
Q:Can you tell me a bit about the prayer you said today and why you were chosen to say it?
A: First of all, when I went to the residential school. I lost my language. I was forced to speak English, and I didn’t have very good English skills. The prayer, it was asking for help for myself and in order for me to carry out the duties of an elder. I learned to say that prayer in the last, probably, 20 years. When I’m in a situation where they call for an elder to do an opening prayer and grace before meals, they pick an elder, whoever’s around.
Q:What was Mi’kmaq Nova Scotia life like when you were a child?
A: See, I never lived on a reservation. We owned our own property, only a little ways from the reserve. My grandfather had the presence of mind to buy this property. But my uncle lived on the reserve all his life. He never spoke English. So we sort of had that connection.
(It was) totally different. Because we lived off the land, and everything that was made was brought from the woods or from the land, planting. My uncle lived in the bush; he never came out. You know, he came out for his food. And, someday, when he went to buy clothes, he went to Parrsboro. He never travelled very much.
We had a cabin. His was a log cabin, and, of course, ours was a house. We built a house. And I went to school after I came out of the residential school. I was taught in the English language, and I had to go to the curriculum that they used. In those days, we were only just a little ways from a grocery store, so we ate the same thing as everybody else — candy, when we had money! My parents used to hunt, my uncle. There was always wild meat. A big lake was down just across the road — go fishing, and in the wintertime, go trapping.
In the wintertime, we coasted, and we used to make what we called ‘tabagan,’ and we’d see who could make the fastest one, and we’d race. Sometimes it was dangerous, but we used to go across the road, and traffic would come by.
Q:This movement seems to be led mostly by women. Why do you think that is?
A: I don’t know if I can answer that!
Q:Why did you come today?
A: Because I was a resident of a residential school. All the things that you hear are true. All the torture and the harsh concentration-camp behaviour — it’s true. You know, the white people were very severe in their punishment to us, and as a result, we wound up following the same type of behaviour. To the point, sometimes, where it became very serious. You know, you’re going to get beaten up, you try to defend yourself. But then, after you get of age where you can handle yourself, you came from being a delinquent child to a crook. There was no happy medium in there. It was always, constantly, (indigenous people were) looked at as troublemakers and that whole thing. If anything happened, it was always the Indian, the aboriginal people, that was blamed for those things.
The behaviour today is just the same as it was, but it’s in bigger proportions. You’ve got the judges, and the lawyers, and the doctors and all of those people getting into all kinds of trouble — you know, taking all kinds of money. They don’t go to jail, right? But if I stole a package of gum, they’d (have) put me in reform school.
Q:If you could change a concrete thing and have it happen tomorrow, what would it be?
A: Myself (laughs). Because it’s important. I would hope that my people would get a stronger education so that we’re able to compete in the government that’s looking after our system. Because the system, there’s two systems, right? One for the white, one for the black. One for the Indian, one for the white. And it’s always been that way. It’s unfortunate, but slowly . . . we’re getting little bits and pieces here. There’s a lot of our people that are going into law, and my daughter’s a lawyer.
(sross@herald.ca)
photo
Doug Knockwood, 83, is a Mi’kmaq elder in Indian Brook. He spent two years at the nearby Shubenacadie residential school. (CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / Staff)
AND
IDLE NO MORE NOVA SCOTIA
Protester: Uprising not about the chiefs
‘Poor people’ driving force of Idle No More
By SELENA ROSS Staff Reporter
Chief Theresa Spence’s nowended hunger strike was never at the heart of the Idle No More movement, and the bigger campaign continues at full speed, said Mi’kmaqs who gathered Sunday near Shubenacadie.
"We supported her, but this Idle No More . . . it’s not about Chief Spence," said a young mother warming up with her toddler in a car before walking several kilometres with him to Indian Brook.
"It’s not about the band councils, not about the chiefs, not about Chief Spence," said her driver, Corinna Smiley, who lives in Millbrook.
"This, I believe, is an uprising of poor people and those that support them."
Spence, chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, ended her hunger strike Thursday after 42 days, but Idle No More began even earlier, said the two. Spence "jumped" on the movement and added to its momentum, they said.
About 35 people walked nearly 10 kilometres Sunday morning on the quiet road leading away from the old Shubenacadie residential school site, taking up a lane with the help of RCMP officers.
The walk was meant partly to remember those who attended the notorious school, said organizer Shelley Young, but it had other meanings, depending on who you asked.
Young also wanted to show support for a two-month, 1,100-kilometre trek that six young people and a guide from the Whapmagoostui First Nation are making from northern Quebec to Ottawa as another part of Idle No More.
On Mill Village Road, as walkers hunched their shoulders into hoods and balaclavas, Young walked through the crowd, talking to people about the Quebec walk and likening it to Terry Fox’s dogged trek across Canada.
She said temperatures in that part of Quebec have been bitterly cold.
"You feel for those kids. We’re trying to take some of the pain from them because they’re walking for us." The Shubenacadie school, which operated from 1923 to 1967, holds memories for nearly all local Mi’kmaq families. But a more recent experience at the site added symbolism to Sunday’s route, said Isabelle Knockwood.
The procession first made its way to the rail station in Shubenacadie to commemorate the many children who were delivered to the school by train. Most people then turned right and walked about two more hours to Indian Brook.
A small group lingered at the train station to talk about the last time they were there, said Knockwood.
In 2008, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the first formal apology by a prime minister to former students of residential schools, the local Mi’kmaq community brought Shubenacadie survivors back to the school and train station, she said.
The group sang, danced and prayed in a "letting go" ceremony to rid themselves of bad memories — but perhaps that was premature, Knockwood said.
"Five years later, they turn around and we’re doing these marches."
The march ended with a bigger event at the community centre, where dozens of people ate lunch and watched and listened to singers, drummers, spoken prayers and speeches. Children showed off songs they had learned, including a Mi’kmaq version of O Canada.
On the way there, an Indian Brook woman named Virginia walked behind her 11-year-old daughter and the daughter’s best friend, periodically asking if they were warm enough.
"It’s very important to do this walk, because it’s only a fiveminute drive to Indian Brook, and how many (residential school students) wanted to take that walk, to walk home," she said, starting to cry.
"So it’s important for us to walk home for them. And also to let Canada know that this is everybody’s problem, what’s happening today. I am proud to be Mi’kmaq, and nobody is never, ever going to take that away from me."
The remembrance continues today at 10 a.m. with a procession from the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge to Citadel Hill and the Halifax Commons.
(sross@herald.ca)
photo
About 35 Mi’kmaq people walked 10 kilometres from the former residential school in Shubenacadie to Indian Brook on Sunday morning to remember those who attended the notorious school.
(CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / Staff)
----------
Band seeks $1-million claim after audit data
By MICHAEL GORMAN Truro Bureau
INDIAN BROOK — The Shubenacadie Band council has filed an insurance claim for $1 million following an update on the progress of an ongoing forensic audit.
The previous band council ordered the forensic audit last May after the regular consolidated statement revealed financial irregularities, including at least $525,000 missing from the band’s tobacco store.
At the time, the revelation raised concerns about improper record keeping, a lack of training for band staff and possible improprieties by some members of the band council of the day. An auditor’s report recommended that the operation no longer deal with cash, keep regular count of tobacco products as they come in and out, and called for the production of weekly statements.
On Thursday, the current band council met with the team conducting the forensic audit for an update.
Investigators have looked at certain financial transactions from 2009 to 2012, said Chief Rufus Copage. It was based on those transaction reviews that the band was able to submit its insurance claim.
"We are insured for thefts," said Copage.
Copage said band council signed an agreement not to discuss the contents of the forensic audit until it is completed sometime this spring. At that time, he said, band council would decide what the next move would be and deliver a full report to the community.
"We’ve told (investigators) to continue working on what they’ve got to do," said Copage. "We can’t talk about something that they’re still working on."
Any questions about charges or legal action would be handled by the appropriate authorities at the conclusion of the audit, said Copage. Until then, band council continues to operate as normal.
There are members of the present band council who were on band council during the years included in the forensic audit. Copage, who was elected in November, said he has no concerns about current band operations involving people from the years being investigated because of stronger day-today operations enacted by the sitting band council.
The band will hold a community meeting on Feb. 12 to discuss its most recent regular consolidated statement. Everyone will get a copy of the document as they arrive at the meeting.
"It’s all a part of accountability," said Copage. "Chief and council want to make sure that our members are quite aware of what is going on."
(mgorman@herald.ca)
---------------
Mi’kmaq elder Dan Paul discusses his history book
Renowned author and Mi’kmaq elder Dan Paul talks about his award-winning book Mi’kmaq History: We Were Not The Savages! on Monday at noon in the multipurpose room, Student, Culture and Heritage Building, Cape Breton University, Sydney.
Published in 1993, the book was the first prize co-winner for non-fiction at the City of Dartmouth Book and Writing Awards in 1994. The book has been reprinted twice, once in 2000 and again in 2006. It has been on the Nova Scotia bestseller list, inspired the play Strange Humours and is cited as a reference in many books and articles.
Paul has received the Order of Canada.
------------
WHERE IS THE REDEMPTION AND RENEWAL???
USA: Native American Genocide
The American Indian Holocaust, known as the "500 year war" and the "World’s Longest Holocaust In The History Of Mankind And Loss Of Human Lives."
http://espressostalinist.wordpress.com/genocide/native-american-genocide/
Genocide and Denying It: Why We Are Not Taught that the Natives of the United States and Canada were Exterminated
Death Toll: 95,000,000 to 114,000,000
American Holocaust: D. Stannard (Oxford Press, 1992) - "over 100 million killed" "[Christopher] Columbus personally murdered half a million Natives"
"Hitler’s concept of concentration camps as well as the practicality of genocide owed much, so he claimed, to his studies of English and United States history. He admired the camps for Boer prisoners in South Africa and for the Indians in the wild west; and often praised to his inner circle the efficiency of America’s extermination – by starvation and uneven combat – of the red savages who could not be tamed by captivity."
– P. 202, "Adolph Hitler" by John Toland
Native Americans have the highest mortality rate of any U.S. minority because of U.S. action and policy. The biggest killers though were smallpox, measles, influenza, whooping cough, diphtheria, typhus, bubonic plague, cholera, and scarlet fever. All imported by the Europeans colonists.
Smallpox was instrumental in killing the American Indians
GENOCIDE OF NATIVE AMERICANS: A SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW
The term Genocide derives from the Latin (genos=race, tribe; cide=killing) and means literally the killing or murder of an entire tribe or people. The Oxford English Dictionary defines genocide as "the deliberate and systematic extermination of an ethnic or national group" and cites the first usage of the term as R. Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, (1944) p.79. "By ‘genocide’ we mean the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group."
The U.N. General Assembly adopted this term and defended it in 1946 as "….a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups." Most people tend to associate genocide with wholesale slaughter of a specific people. However, "the 1994 U.N. Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, describes genocide beyond outright murder of people as the destruction and extermination of culture." Article II of the convention lists five categories of activity as genocidal when directed against a specific "national, ethnic, racial, or religious group."
These categories are:
¦Killing members of the group;
¦Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of group;
¦Deliberately infliction on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
¦Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
¦Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Genocide or the deliberate extermination of one ethnic group by another is not new, for example in 1937 the Pequot Indians were exterminated by the Colonists when they burned their villages in Mystic, Connecticut, and then shot all the other people — including women and children — who tried to escape. The United States Government has refused to ratify the U.N. convention on genocide. There are many facets of genocide which have been implemented upon indigenous peoples of North America. The list of American genocidal policies includes: Mass-execution, Biological warfare, Forced Removal from homelands, Incarceration, Indoctrination of non-indigenous values, forced surgical sterilization of native women, Prevention of religious practices, just to name a few.
By mass-execution prior to the arrival of Columbus the land defined as the 48 contiguous states of America numbered in excess of 12 million. Four centuries later, it had been reduced by 95% (237 thousand). How? When Columbus returned in 1493 he brought a force of 17 ships. He began to implement slavery and mass-extermination of the Taino population of the Caribbean. Within three years five million were dead. Fifty years later the Spanish census recorded only 200 living! Las Casas, the primary historian of the Columbian era, writes of numerous accounts of the horrendous acts that the Spanish colonists inflicted upon the indigenous people, which included hanging them en masse, roasting them on spits, hacking their children into pieces to be used as dog food, and the list continues.
This did not end with Columbus’ departure, the European colonies and the newly declared United States continued similar conquests. Massacres occurred across the land such as the Wounded Knee Massacre. Not only was the method of massacre used, other methods for "Indian Removal" and "clearing" included military slaughter of tribal villages, bounties on native scalps, and biological warfare. British agents intentionally gave Tribes blankets that were intentionally contaminated with smallpox. Over 100 thousand died among the Mingo, Delaware, Shawnee and other Ohio River nations. The U.S. army followed suit and used the same method on the Plains tribal populations with similar success.
FORCED REMOVAL FROM HOMELANDS
For a brief periods after the American Revolution, the United States adopted a policy toward American Indians known as the "conquest" theory. In the Treaty of Fort Stansix of 1784, the Iroquois had to cede lands in western New York and Pennsylvania. Those Iroquois living in the United States (many had gone to Canada where the English gave them refuge) rapidly degenerated as a nation during the last decades of the eighteenth century, losing most of their remaining lands and much of their ability to cope. The Shawnees, Miamis, Delawaresm, Ottawans, Wyandots, and Potawatomis watching the decline of the Iroquois formed their own confederacy and informed the United states that the Ohio river was the boundary between their lands and those of the settlers. It was just a matter of time before further hostilities ensued.
"Indian Boarding School" - Cultural Genocide
FORCED ASSIMILATION
The Europeans saw themselves as the superior culture bringing civilization to an inferior culture. The colonial world view split reality into popular parts: good and evil, body and spirit, man and nature, head and hear, European and primitive. American Indians spirituality lacks these dualism’s; language expresses the oneness of all things. God is not the transcendent Father but the Mother Earth, the Corn Mother, the Great Spirit who nourishes all It is polytheistic, believing in many gods and many levels of deity. "At the basis of most American Native beliefs is the supernatural was a profound conviction that an invisible force, a powerful spirit, permeated the entire universe and ordered the cycles of birth and death for all living things." Beyond this belief in a universal spirit, most American Indians attached supernatural qualities to animals, heavenly bodies, the seasons, dead ancestors, the elements, and geologic formations. Their world was infused with the divine – The Sacred Hoop. This was not at all a personal being presiding ominpotently over the salvation or damnation of individual people as the Europeans believed.
For the Europeans such beliefs were pagan. Thus, the conquest was rationalized as a necessary evil that would bestow upon the heathen "Indians" a moral consciousness that would redeem their amorality. The world view which converted bare economic self interest into noble, even moral, motives was a notion of Christianity as the one redemptive religion which demands fealty from all cultures. In this remaking of the American Indians the impetus which drove the conquistador’s invading wars not exploration, but the drive to expand an empire, not discovery of new land, but the drive to accumulate treasure, land and cheap labor.
CULTURE
Culture is the expression of a people’s creativity — everything they make which is distinctively theirs: language, music, art, religion, healing, agriculture, cooking style, the institutions governing social life. To suppress culture is to aim a cannonball at the people’s heart and spirit. Such a conquest is more accomplished than a massacre. "We have seen the colonization materially kills the colonized. It must be added that it kills him spiritually. Colonization distorts relationships, destroys and petrifies institutions, and corrupts….both colonizers and the colonized."
Strategies of targeting American Indian children for assimilation began with violence. Forts were erected by Jesuits, in which indigenous youths were incarcerated, indoctrinated with non-indigenous Christian values, and forced into manual labor. Schooling provided a crucial tool in changing not only the language but the culture of impressionable young people. In boarding schools students could be immersed in a 24 hours bath of assimilation. "The founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania , Capt. Richard H. Pratt, observed in 1892 that Carlisle has always planted treason to the tribe and loyalty to the nation at large. More crudely put, the Carlisle philosophy was, "Kill the Indian to save the man." At the boarding schools children were forbidden to speak their native languages, forced to shed familiar clothing for uniforms, cut their hair and subjected to harsh discipline. Children who had seldom heard an unkind word spoken to them were all too often verbally and physically abused by their white teachers. In short, "there was a full-scale attempt at deracination — the uprooting or destruction of a race and its culture." A few American Indian children were able to run away, others died of illness and some died of homesickness.
The children, forcibly separated from their parents by soldiers often never saw their families until later in their adulthood, after their value-system and knowledge had been supplanted with colonial thinking. When these children returned from boarding schools they no longer knew their native language, they were strangers in their own world, there was a loss, a void of not belonging in the native world, nor the white man’s world. In the movie "Lakota Women," these children are referred to as "Apple Children [red on the outside, white on the inside]" they do not know where they fit in, they were unable to assimilate into either culture. This confusion and loss of cultural identity, leads to suicide, drinking and violence. The most destructive aspect of alienation is the loss of power, of control over one’s destiny, over one’s memories, through relationships — past and future.
Jose Noriega’s well-documented historical account of the forced indoctrination of colonial thought into the minds of American Indian children as a means of disrupting the generational transmission of cultural values, clearly demonstrates the cultural genocide employed by the U.S. government as a means of separating the American Indians from their land.
FORCED REMOVAL
The "Indian Removal" policy was implemented to "clear" land for white settlers. Removal was more than another assault on American Indians’ land titles. Insatiable greed for land remained a primary consideration, but many people now believed that the removal was the only way of saving American Indians from extermination. As long as the American Indians lived in close proximity to non-Native American communities, they would be decimated by disease, alcohol, and poverty. The Indian Removal Act began in 1830. Forced marches at bayonet-point to relocation settlements resulted in high mortality rates. The infamous removal of the Five Civilized Tribes — the Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Seminoles — is a dismal page in United States history. By the 1820's the Cherokees, who had established a written constitution modeled after the United States Constitution, a newspaper, schools, and industries in their settlements, resisted removal. In 1938 the federal troops evicted the Cherokees. Approximately four thousand Cherokees died during the removal process because of poor planning by the United States Government. This exodus to Indian Territory is known as the Trail of Tears. More than one hundred thousand American Indians eventually crossed the Mississippi River under the authority of the Indian Removal Act.
STERILIZATION
Article II of United Nations General Assembly resolution, 1946: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such: (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. In the mid-1970s a Choctaw-Tsalagi Indian Health Services doctor was approached by a 26-year-old American Indian woman who desired a "wonb transplant." She had been sterilized when she was 20 at the Indian Health Service hospital in Claremont, Oklahoma. It was discoverd that 75 percent of the Claremont sterilizations were non-therapeutic, that women American Indians were being prompted to sign sterilization forms they didn’t understand, that they were being told the operations were reversible, and that some women were even being asked to sign sterilization papers while they had yet to come out of birthing sedation.
Common Sense magazine reported that the Indian Health Service "was sterilizing 3,000 Indian women per year, 4 to 6 percent of the child bearing population…Dr. R. T. Ravenholt, [then] director of the federal government’s Office of Population, later confirmed that ‘surgical sterilization has become increasingly important in recent years as one of the advanced methods of fertility management’." Ravenholt’s response to these inquires "told the population Association of America in St. Louis that the critics were ‘a really radical extremist group lashing out at a responsible program so that revolution would occur’."
From the beginning of European control there has been an unrelenting drive to commit genocide over another culture. The American Indians were a majority so the Europeans called them an enemy. One of the major facts the United States Government has failed to understand is that the spiritual aspect of life is inseparable from the economic and the political aspects. The loss of tradition and memory will be the loss of positive sense of self. Those reared in traditional American Native societies are inclined to relate events and experiences to one another, they do not organize perceptions or external events in terms of dualities or priorities. This egalitarianism is reflected in the structure of American Indian literature, which does not rely on conflict, crises, and resolution for organization.
INTELLECTUAL RICHES
American Indians felt comfortable with the environment, close to the moods and rhythms of nature, in time with the living planet. Europeans were quite different, viewing the earth itself as lifeless and inorganic, subject to any kind of manipulation or alteration. Europeans tended to be alienated from nature and came to the New World to use the wilderness, to conquer and exploit its natural wealth for private gain.
But for American Indians, the environment was sacred, possessing a cosmic significance equal to its material riches. The earth was sacred — a haven for all forms of life — and it had to be protected, nourished, and even worshipped. Chief Smoholla of the Wanapun tribe illustrated American Native reverence for the earth when he said in 1885:
"God said he was the father of and earth was the mankind; that nature was the law; that the animals, and fish and plants beyond nature, and that man only was sinful.
You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s bosom?
Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.
You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones?
Then When I die I cannot enter her body to be born again.
You ask me to cut grass And make hay and sell it, and be rich like white men!
But how dare I cut off my mother’s hair?
American Indians’ agricultural and medical wisdom had been ignored by the European invaders. In their rush to control the land and people much has passed them by and much has been destroyed. Sadly, what seems to have been almost totally ignored is the American Indians’ knowledge that the Earth is their mother. Because their mother continues to give us life we must care for and respect her. This was a ecological view of the earth.
"There are tens of millions of people around the world who, within only the last few centuries — and some cases only the last few years — have seen their successful societies brutally assaulted by ugly destructive forces. Some American Indian societies have been obliterated. Some peoples have suffered separation from the source of their survival, wisdom, power, and identity: their lands. Some have fallen from the pressure, compromised, moved to urban landscapes, and disappeared, but millions of American Indians, including tens of thousands here in the United States, have gained strength in the face of all their adversity. Their strength is rooted in the earth and deserves to succeed."
Books used for references and internet addresses:
1.Mander, Jerry, In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations," Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1992: 349.
2.Mankiller, Wilma and Wallis, M., A Chief and Her People, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1993: 8.
3.Memi, Albert, The Colonizer and the Colonized, Boston: Beacon Press, 1965: 151.
4.Olson, James and Wilson, R., Native American, In the Twentieth Century, University Press, 1988, 11.
5.The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., Through Indian Eyes, Pleasantville, New York/Montreal, 1995: 338.
6.Susan Brill, Bradley U. (brill@bradley.edu) Discussion group regarding the genocide of Native peoples.
7.http://www.igc.apc.org/toxic/
8.http://conbio.bio.uci.edu/nae/knudsen.html
9.Federal Indian Policy http://mercury.sfsu.edu.cypher.genocide.html.#children
10.Trail of Tears http://ngeorgia.com/history/nghisttt.html
[...] The National Council of Churches adopted a resolution branding this event [the landing of Columbus] "an invasion" that resulted in the "slavery and genocide of native people." In a widely read book, The Conquest of Paradise (1990), Kirkpatrick Sale charged the English and their American successors with pursuing a policy of extermination that had continued unabated for four centuries. Later works have followed suit. In the 1999 Encyclopedia of Genocide, edited by the scholar Israel Charny, an article by Ward Churchill argues that extermination was the "express objective" of the U.S. government. To the Cambodia expert Ben Kiernan, similarly, genocide is the "only appropriate way" to describe how white settlers treated the Indians. (Source)
The North American Indian Holocaust
By
Kahentinetha Horn
The "final solution" of the North American Indian problem was the model for the subsequent Jewish holocaust and South African apartheid
Why is the biggest holocaust in all humanity being hidden from history? Is it because it lasted so long that it has become a habit? It’s been well documented that the killing of Indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere since the beginning of colonization has been estimated at 120 million. Yet nobody wants to speak about it.
Today historians, anthropologists and archaeologists are revealing that information on this holocaust is being deliberately eliminated from the knowledge base and consciousness of North Americans and the world. A completely false picture is being painted of our people as suffering from social ills of our own making.
It could be argued that the loss of 120 million from 1500 to 1800 isn’t the same as the loss of 6 million people during World War II. Can 6 million in 1945 be compared to 1 million in 1500?
School children are still being taught that large areas of North America are uninhabited as if this land belongs to no one and never did. The role of our ancestors as caretakers is constantly and habitually overlooked by colonial society.
Before the arrival of Europeans, cities and towns here were flourishing. Mexico City had a larger population than any city in Europe. The people were healthy and well-fed. The first Europeans were amazed. The agricultural products developed by the Indigenous people transformed human nutrition internationally.
The North American Indian holocaust was studied by South Africa for their apartheid program and by Hitler for his genocide of the Jews during World War II. Hitler commented that he admired the great job Americans had done in taking care of the Indian problem. The policies used to kill us off was so successful that people today generally assume that our population was low. Hitler told a past US President when he remarked about their maltreatment of the Jewish people, he mind your own business. You’re the worst.
Where are the monuments? Where are the memorial ceremonies? Why is it being concealed? The survivors of the WWII holocaust have not yet died and already there is a movement afoot to forget what happened.
Unlike post-war Germany, North Americans refuse to acknowledge this genocide. Almost one and a quarter million Kanien’ke:haka (Mohawk) were killed off leaving us only a few thousand survivors.
North Americans do not want to reveal that there was and still is a systematic plan to destroy most of the native people by outright murder by bounty hunters and land grabbers, disease through distributing small pox infested blankets, relocation, theft of children who were placed in concentration camps called "residential schools" and assimilation.
As with the Jews, they could not have accomplished this without their collaborators who they trained to serve their genocidal system through their "re-education camps".
The policy changed from outright slaughter to killing the Indian inside. Governments, army, police, church, corporations, doctors, judges and common people were complicit in this killing machine. An elaborate campaign has covered up this genocide which was engineered at the highest levels of power in the United States and Canada. This cover up continues to this day. When they killed off all the Indians, they brought in Blacks to be their labourers.
In the residential schools many eye witnesses have recently come forward to describe the atrocities. They called these places "death camps" where, according to government records, nearly half of all these innocent Indigenous children died or disappeared as if they never existed. In the 1920's when Dr. Bryce was alarmed by the high death rate of children in residential schools, his report was suppressed.
"Indian boarding school" - cultural genocide
The term "Final Solution" was not coined by the Nazis. It was Indian Affairs Superintendent, Duncan Campbell Scott, Canada’s Adolph Eichmann, who in April 1910 plotted out the planned murder to take care of the "Indian problem".
"It is readily acknowledged that Indian children lose their natural resistance to illness by habitating so closely in these schools, and that they die at a much higher rate than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is geared towards the final solution of our Indian Problem". (DIA Archives, RG 10 series).
In the 1930's he brought German doctors over here to do medical experiments on our children. According to the study the majority of the lives of these children was extinguished. School children are taught his poetry with no mention of his role as the butcher of the Indian people.
Those who carried out this annihilation of our people were protected so they could declare full-scale war on us. North Americans as heirs of the fruits of this murderous system have blood on their hands. If people are sincere about preventing holocausts they must remember it. History must be told as it really happened in all its tragic details.
It’s not good enough to just remember the holocaust that took place during the lifetime of some of the survivors. We have to remember the larger holocaust. Isn’t it time to uncover the truth and make the perpetrators face up to this?
In the west there are a whole series of Eichmanns. General Amherst ordered the distribution of small pox infested blankets to kill of our people. But his name is shamelessly preserved in the names of towns and streets. George Washington is called the "village burner" in Mohawk because of all the villages he ordered burnt. Villages would be surrounded. As the people came running out, they would be shot, stabbed, women, children and elders alike. In one campaign alone "hundreds of thousand died, from New York across Pennsylvania, West Virgina and into Ohio". His name graces the capital of the United States.
The smell of death in their own backyard does not seem to bother North Americans. This is obscene.
By Kahentinetha Horn, MNN Mohawk Nation News, kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
First published in Akwesasne Phoenix, Jan. 30, 2005 issue
"Indian Boarding School"
Excerpted from Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly newsletter, #671, "Columbus Day, 1999," by Peter Montague (National Writers Union UAW Local 1981/AFL-CIO), with added section titles and notes where indicated.
The Beginnings of the Native Genocide
Columbus made four voyages to the New World. [1] The initial voyage reveals several important things about the man. First, he had genuine courage because few ship’s captains had ever pointed their prow toward the open ocean, the complete unknown. Secondly, from numerous of his letters and reports we learn that his overarching goal was to seize wealth that belonged to others, even his own men, by whatever means necessary.
Columbus’s Spanish royal sponsors (Ferdinand and Isabella) had promised a lifetime pension to the first man who sighted land. A few hours after midnight on October 12, 1492, Juan Rodriguez Bermeo, a lookout on the Pinta, cried out — in the bright moonlight, he had spied land ahead. Most likely Bermeo was seeing the white beaches of Watling Island in the Bahamas.
As they waited impatiently for dawn, Columbus let it be known that he had spotted land several hours before Bermeo. According to Columbus’s journal of that voyage, his ships were, at the time, traveling 10 miles per hour. To have spotted land several hours before Bermeo, Columbus would have had to see more than 30 miles over the horizon, a physical impossibility. Nevertheless Columbus took the lifetime pension for himself. [1,2]
Columbus installed himself as Governor of the Caribbean islands, with headquarters on Hispaniola (the large island now shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic). He described the people, the Arawaks (called by some the Tainos) this way:
"The people of this island and of all the other islands which I have found and seen, or have not seen, all go naked, men and women, as their mothers bore them, except that some women cover one place only with the leaf of a plant or with a net of cotton which they make for that purpose.
"They have no iron or steel or weapons, nor are they capable of using them, although they are well-built people of handsome stature, because they are wondrous timid…. [T]hey are so artless and free with all they possess, that no one would believe it without having seen it.
"Of anything they have, if you ask them for it, they never say no; rather they invite the person to share it, and show as much love as if they were giving their hearts; and whether the thing be of value or of small price, at once they are content with whatever little thing of whatever kind may be given to them." [3, pg.63; 1, pg.118]
Added note:
In an ominous foreshadowing of the horrors to come, Columbus also wrote in his journal:
"I could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased."
After Columbus had surveyed the Caribbean region, he returned to Spain to prepare his invasion of the Americas. From accounts of his second voyage, we can begin to understand what the New World represented to Columbus and his men — it offered them life without limits, unbridled freedom.
Columbus took the title "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" and proceeded to unleash a reign of terror unlike anything seen before or since. When he was finished, eight million Arawaks — virtually the entire native population of Hispaniola — had been exterminated by torture, murder, forced labor, starvation, disease and despair. [3, pg.x]
A Spanish missionary, Bartolome de las Casas, described first-hand how the Spaniards terrorized the natives. [4] Las Casas gives numerous eye-witness accounts of repeated mass murder and routine sadistic torture.
As Barry Lopez has accurately summarized it,
"One day, in front of Las Casas, the Spanish dismembered, beheaded, or raped 3000 people.
‘Such inhumanities and barbarisms were committed in my sight,’ he says, ‘as no age can parallel….’
"The Spanish cut off the legs of children who ran from them. They poured people full of boiling soap. They made bets as to who, with one sweep of his sword, could cut a person in half. They loosed dogs that ‘devoured an Indian like a hog, at first sight, in less than a moment.’ They used nursing infants for dog food." [2, pg.4]
This was not occasional violence — it was a systematic, prolonged campaign of brutality and sadism, a policy of torture, mass murder, slavery and forced labor that continued for CENTURIES.
"The destruction of the Indians of the Americas was, far and away, the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world," writes historian David E. Stannard. [3, pg.x]
Eventually more than 100 million natives fell under European rule. Their extermination would follow. As the natives died out, they were replaced by slaves brought from Africa.
To make a long story short, Columbus established a pattern that held for five centuries — a "ruthless, angry search for wealth," as Barry Lopez describes it.
"It set a tone in the Americas. The quest for personal possessions was to be, from the outset, a series of raids, irresponsible and criminal, a spree, in which an end to it — the slaves, the timber, the pearls, the fur, the precious ores, and, later, arable land, coal, oil, and iron ore — was never visible, in which an end to it had no meaning."
Indeed, there WAS no end to it, no limit.
As Hans Koning has observed,
"There was no real ending to the conquest of Latin America. It continued in remote forests and on far mountainsides. It is still going on in our day when miners and ranchers invade land belonging to the Amazon Indians and armed thugs occupy Indian villages in the backwoods of Central America." [6, pg.46]
In the 1980s, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the U.S. government knowingly gave direct aid to genocidal campaigns that murdered tens of thousands Mayan Indian people in Guatemala, El Salvador and elsewhere. [7]
The pattern holds.
Added note:
And still, in 2003, the genocide continues in Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Continuing the gruesome tradition of the 1980s, which also terrorized the people of Nicaragua, U.S. government-funded fascist paramilitaries mass-murder Indians in Central and South America to this day. The bestial carnage committed by Uncle Sham’s proxy armies includes countless disappearances, epidemic rape and torture. The Colombian paramilitaries have even made their own gruesome addition to the list of horrors: public beheadings.
This latest stage of the American Indian holocaust is enthusiastically supported by the cocaine-smuggling CIA, the Pentagon and all the rest of the United States Corporate Mafia Government.
The English/American Genocide
Unfortunately, Columbus and the Spaniards were not unique. They conquered Mexico and what is now the Southwestern U.S., with forays into Florida, the Carolinas, even into Virginia. From Virginia northward, the land had been taken by the English who, if anything, had even less tolerance for the indigenous people.
As Hans Koning says,
"From the beginning, the Spaniards saw the native Americans as natural slaves, beasts of burden, part of the loot. When working them to death was more economical than treating them somewhat humanely, they worked them to death.
"The English, on the other hand, had no use for the native peoples. They saw them as devil worshippers, savages who were beyond salvation by the church, and exterminating them increasingly became accepted policy." [6, pg.14]
The British arrived in Jamestown in 1607. By 1610 the intentional extermination of the native population was well along. As David E. Stannard has written,
"Hundreds of Indians were killed in skirmish after skirmish. Other hundreds were killed in successful plots of mass poisoning. They were hunted down by dogs, ‘blood-Hounds to draw after them, and Mastives [mastiffs] to seize them.’
"Their canoes and fishing weirs were smashed, their villages and agricultural fields burned to the ground. Indian peace offers were accepted by the English only until their prisoners were returned; then, having lulled the natives into false security, the colonists returned to the attack.
"It was the colonists’ expressed desire that the Indians be exterminated, rooted ‘out from being longer a people upon the face of the Earth.’ In a single raid the settlers destroyed corn sufficient to feed four thousand people for a year.
"Starvation and the massacre of non-combatants was becoming the preferred British approach to dealing with the natives." [3, pg.106]
In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey extermination was officially promoted by a "scalp bounty" on dead Indians.
"Indeed, in many areas it [murdering Indians] became an outright business," writes historian Ward Churchill. [5, pg.182]
Indians were defined as subhumans, lower than animals. George Washington compared them to wolves, "beasts of prey" and called for their total destruction. [3, pgs.119-120]
Andrew Jackson — whose [innocent-looking] portrait appears on the U.S. $20 bill today — in 1814:
"supervised the mutilation of 800 or more Creek Indian corpses — the bodies of men, women and children that [his troops] had massacred — cutting off their noses to count and preserve a record of the dead, slicing long strips of flesh from their bodies to tan and turn into bridle reins." [5, pg.186]
The English policy of extermination — another name for genocide — grew more insistent as settlers pushed westward:
In 1851 the Governor of California officially called for the extermination of the Indians in his state. [3, pg.144]
On March 24, 1863, the Rocky Mountain News in Denver ran an editorial titled, "Exterminate Them."
On April 2, 1863, the Santa Fe New Mexican advocated "extermination of the Indians." [5, pg.228]
In 1867, General William Tecumseh Sherman said:
"We must act with vindictive earnestness against the [Lakotas, known to whites as the Sioux] even to their extermination, men, women and children." [5, pg.240]
In 1891, Frank L. Baum (gentle author of "The Wizard Of Oz") wrote in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer (Kansas) that the army should "finish the job" by the "total annihilation" of the few remaining Indians.
The U.S. did not follow through on Baum’s macabre demand, for there really was no need. By then the native population had been reduced to 2.5% of its original numbers and 97.5% of the aboriginal land base had been expropriated and renamed "The land of the free and the home of the brave."
Hundreds upon hundreds of native tribes with unique languages, learning, customs, and cultures had simply been erased from the face of the earth, most often without even the pretense of justice or law.
Today we can see the remnant cultural arrogance of Christopher Columbus and Captain John Smith shadowed in the cult of the "global free market" which aims to eradicate indigenous cultures and traditions world-wide, to force all peoples to adopt the ways of the U.S.
Today’s globalist "Free Trade" is merely yesterday’s "Manifest Destiny" writ large.
But as Barry Lopez says,
"This violent corruption needn’t define us…. We can say, yes, this happened, and we are ashamed. We repudiate the greed. We recognize and condemn the evil. And we see how the harm has been perpetuated. But, five hundred years later, we intend to mean something else in the world."
If we chose, we could set limits on ourselves for once. We could declare enough is enough.
Notes
1. J.M. Cohen, editor, The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus
London: Penguin Books, 1969; ISBN 0-14-044217-0
2. Barry Lopez, The Rediscovery of North America
Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1990; ISBN 0-8131-1742-9
3. David E. Stannard, American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World
New York: Oxford University Press, 1992; ISBN 0-19-507581-1
4. Bartolome de las Casas, The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account
translated by Herma Briffault
Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992; ISBN 0-8018-4430-4
5. Ward Churchill, A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas, 1492 to the Present
San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1997; ISBN 0-87286-323-9
6. Hans Koning, The Conquest of America: How The Indian Nations Lost Their Continent
New York: Monthly Review Press, 1993, pg. 46.; ISBN 0-85345-876-6
7. For example, see Mireya Navarro, "Guatemalan Army Waged ‘Genocide,’ New Report Finds,"
NEW YORK TIMES, February 26, 1999, pg. unknown.
The NY Times described "torture, kidnapping and execution of thousands of civilians" — most of them Mayan Indians — a campaign to which the U.S. government contributed "money and training."
SOURCE OF THIS ARTICLE
The following narrative is by Arthur Barlowe (1584, p.108), describing American Indians.
‘We found the people most gentle loving and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such as lived after the manner of the Golden Age,…, a more kind and loving people there can not be found in the world.’
His description well fits our categories of Eastern cognitive styles: affiliative, personal, understanding, non-discursive. With predominance of the affective-cognitive belief system making one to marry for love, as contrasted with the cognitive-affective system typical of mental calculations prior to bestowing affection on the ‘loved one.’ Closeness associated with the tactile contact mode. Suspended critical appraisal and present time orientation, acting as limiting factors in carrying hatred ‘beyond the grave.’
General Philip H. Sheridan was the commander of the United States forces [...] he had plans of exterminating the buffalo. He thought this would kill the Plains Indians. "Kill the buffalo and you kill the Indians" he said.
David Stannard in his scholarly American Holocaust (1992, p. 232) writes:
From the earliest days of settlement, British men in the colonies from the Carolinas to New England rarely engaged in sexual relations with the Indians, even during those times when there were few if any English women available. Such encounters were viewed as a "horrid crime" and legislation was passed that "banished forever" such mixed race couples, referring to their offspring in animalistic terms.
The estimates of the number of victims of the American Holocaust differ. However, these differences show remarkable similarity with the controversy surrounding the Holocaust deniers who do not deny that Holocaust occurred, but try to diminish its extent. Thus, for instance, R. J. Rummel in his 1994 book Death by Government estimates the number of victims of the centuries of European colonization as low as 2 million.
Among the contemporary Holocaust deniers is also Gary North, who in his Political Polytheism (1989, pp. 257-258) asserts:
Liberals have adopted the phrase "native Americans" in recent years. They never, ever say "American natives," since this is only one step away from "American savages," which is precisely what most of those demon-worshipping, land-polluting people were. This was one of the great sins in American life, they say: "the stealing of Indian lands". That a million savages had a legitimate legal claim on the whole of North America north of Mexico is the unstated assumption of such critics. They never ask the most pertinent question:
Was the advent of the Europeans in North America a righteous historical judgment of God against the Indians?
The European colonization of the Americas forever changed the lives and cultures of the Native Americans. In the 15th to 19th centuries, their populations were ravaged, by the privations of displacement, by disease, and in many cases by warfare with European groups and enslavement by them. The first Native American group encountered by Columbus, the 250,000 Arawaks of Haiti, were enslaved. Only 500 survived by the year 1550, and the group was extinct before 1650.
Europeans also brought diseases against which the Native Americans had no immunity. Chicken pox and measles, though common and rarely fatal among Europeans, often proved fatal to Native Americans, and more dangerous diseases such as smallpox were especially deadly to Native American populations. It is difficult to estimate the total percentage of the Native American population killed by these diseases.
Epidemics often immediately followed European exploration, sometimes destroying entire villages. Some historians estimate that up to 80% of some Native populations may have died due to European diseases.
Wounded Knee Massacre
Sacheen Littlefeather
On March 27, 1973, a young woman took the stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, to decline Marlon Brando’s Best Actor Oscar. She said that Marlon Brando cannot accept this award because of the treatment of American Indians by the film industry and the recent happenings at Wounded Knee.
Brando had written a fifteen-page speech to be given at the awards by Cruz, but when the producer met her backstage, he threatened to physically remove her or have her arrested if she spoke on stage for more than 45 seconds. The speech she read contained the lines:
Hello. My name is Sasheen Littlefeather. I’m Apache and I am president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee.
I’m representing Marlon Brando this evening, and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech which I cannot share with you presently, because of time, but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards, that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award.
[...]
What kind of moral schizophrenia is it that allows us to shout at the top of our national voice for all the world to hear that we live up to our commitment when every page of history and when all the thirsty, starving, humiliating days and nights of the last 100 years in the lives of the American Indian contradict that voice?
In his autobiography Songs my Mother Told Me (1994, pp. 380-402) Marlon Brando, devotes several pages to the genocide of the American Indians, excerpted as follows:
After their lands were stolen from them, the ragged survivors were herded onto reservations and the government sent out missionaries who tried to force the Indians to become Christians. After I became interested in American Indians, I discovered that many people don’t even regard them as human beings. It has been that way since the beginning.
Cotton Mather compared them to Satan and called it God’s work – and God’s will – to slaughter the heathen savages who stood in the way of Christianity.
As he aimed his howitzers on an encampment of unarmed Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado, in 1864, an army colonel named John Chivington, who had once said that thelives of Indian children should not be spared because "nits make lice," told his officers: "I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians." Hundreds of Indian women, children, and old men were slaughtered in the Sand Creek massacre. One officer who was present said later, "Women and children were killed and scalped, children shot at their mother’s breasts, and all the bodies mutilated in the most horrible manner. The dead bodies of females were profaned in such a manner that the recital is sickening.
The troopers cut off the vulvas of Indian women, stretched them over their saddle horns, then decorated their hatbands with them; some used the skin of brave’s scrotums and the breasts of Indian women as tobacco pouches, then showed off these trophies, together with the noses and ears of some of the Indians they had massacred, at the Denver Opera House.
Alcohol-Attributable Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost Among American Indians and Alaska Natives — United States, 2001–2005
Excessive alcohol consumption is a leading preventable cause of death in the United States (1) and has substantial public health impact on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations (2). To estimate the average annual number of alcohol-attributable deaths (AADs) and years of potential life lost (YPLLs) among AI/ANs in the United States, CDC analyzed 2001–2005 data (the most recent data available), using death certificate data and CDC Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) software.* This report summarizes the results of that analysis, which indicated that AADs accounted for 11.7% of all AI/AN deaths, that the age-adjusted AAD rate for AI/ANs was approximately twice that of the U.S. general population, and that AI/ANs lose 6.4 more years of potential life per AAD compared with persons in the U.S. general population (36.3 versus 29.9 years). These findings underscore the importance of implementing effective population-based interventions to prevent excessive alcohol consumption and to reduce alcohol-attributable morbidity and mortality among AI/ANs.
ARDI estimates AADs and YPLLs resulting from excessive alcohol consumption by using multiple data sources and methods.† AADs are generated by multiplying the number of sex- and cause-specific deaths (e.g., liver cancer) by the sex- and cause-specific alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF) (i.e., the proportion of deaths attributable to excessive alcohol consumption). For deaths that are, by definition, 100% attributable to excessive alcohol consumption (e.g., alcoholic liver disease), the total number of AADs equals the total number of deaths. For deaths that are <100% attributable to alcohol, ARDI uses either direct or indirect AAF estimates to generate the total number of AADs. Direct AAF estimates typically come from studies that have assessed the proportion of persons dying from a particular condition (e.g., injuries) at or above a specified blood alcohol concentration (e.g., 0.10 g/dL) or from follow-up studies that have assessed alcohol use of the decedents, based on medical record review and interviews with next-of-kin. Indirect AAF estimates are calculated from pooled risk estimates obtained from meta-analyses of mostly chronic conditions, examining the relationship between various alcohol-related health outcomes (e.g., liver cancer) and the population-based prevalence of alcohol use at consumption levels (i.e., low, medium, or high).
For this analysis, death certificate data for 2001–2005 were used to determine the average annual number of deaths from alcohol-related causes for all AI/ANs in the United States and for the U.S. population as a whole. Population-specific, direct AAF estimates for motor vehicle traffic crashes were obtained from the Fatality Analysis and Reporting System§ by averaging 2001–2005 data for AI/ANs and the U.S. population. Population-based prevalence estimates of alcohol consumption were obtained by averaging 2001–2005 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System¶ and were used to calculate all indirect AAFs. AADs were analyzed by cause and stratified by sex and by age, using standard 5-year age groupings. YPLLs were generated by multiplying the age- and sex-specific AADs by the corresponding life expectancies. Death and life expectancy data were obtained from the National Vital Statistics System.** Death records missing data on decedent age or sex were excluded from this analysis. Bridged-race population estimates from the U.S. Census were used to calculate death rates. Death rates were directly age adjusted to the standard 2000 U.S. population using the age groups 0–19, 20–34, 35–49, 50–64, and >65 years.
During 2001–2005, an average of 1,514 AADs occurred annually among AI/ANs, accounting for 11.7% of all deaths in this population (Table). Overall, 771 (50.9%) of average annual AADs resulted from acute causes, and 743 (49.1%) from chronic causes. The leading acute cause of death was motor-vehicle traffic crashes (417 AADs), and the leading chronic cause was alcoholic liver disease (381). The crude AAD rate among AI/ANs was 49.1 per 100,000 population (25.0 for acute causes and 24.1 for chronic causes). Of all YPLLs, 60.3% resulted from acute conditions, and 39.7% resulted from chronic conditions. The leading acute cause of YPLLs was motor-vehicle traffic crashes (34.4% of YPLLs), and the leading chronic cause was alcoholic liver disease (21.2%).
Overall, 68.3% of AAD decedents among AI/ANs were men, and more AADs occurred among men than women in all age groups (Figure 1); 65.9% of AADs were among persons aged <50 years, and 6.9% were among persons aged <20 years. Of the YPLLs, 68.3% were among those aged 20–49 years.
By Indian Health Service statistical region, the greatest number of AADs occurred in the Northern Plains (497 AADs), South West (315), and Pacific Coast (230) regions, and the fewest AADs occurred in Alaska (86) (Figure 2). Age-adjusted AAD rates were highest in the Northern Plains (95.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 86.5–103.9), Alaska (92.6; CI = 72.4–112.8), and the South West (80.2; CI = 70.8–89.6), and were approximately four to five times higher than the rate in the East (19.2; CI = 15.8–22.6).
Age-adjusted AAD rates and the relative contributions of AADs to total deaths and total YPLLs were substantially higher for AI/ANs compared with the U.S. general population. The age-adjusted AAD rate per 100,000 for AI/ANs was 55.0 (CI = 52.1–57.9) versus 26.9 (CI = 26.7–27.1) for the U.S. general population. Furthermore, AADs accounted for 11.7% of total deaths among AI/AN versus 3.3% for the U.S. general population, and alcohol-attributable YPLLs accounted for 17.3% of total YPLLs for AI/ANs and 6.3% of total YPLLs for the U.S. general population. The average number of YPLLs per AAD also was higher for AI/ANs compared with the U.S. general population (36.3 years versus 29.9 years, respectively).
Reported by: TS Naimi, MD, Zuni Public Health Svc Hospital; N Cobb, MD, Div of Epidemiology; D Boyd, MDCM, National Trauma Systems, Indian Health Svc. DW Jarman, DVM, Preventive Medicine Residency and Fellowship Program; R Brewer, MD, DE Nelson, MD, J Holt, PhD, Div of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; D Espey, MD, Div of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; P Snesrud, Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities; P Chavez, PhD, EIS Officer, CDC.
Editorial Note:
This is the first national report of AADs and YPLLs among AI/ANs; the results demonstrate that excessive alcohol consumption is a leading cause of preventable death and years of lost life in this population. During 2001–2005, AI/ANs were more than twice as likely to die from alcohol-related causes, compared with the U.S. general population; 11.7% of AI/AN deaths were attributed to alcohol. These findings are consistent with those of previous studies (4,5) and might help account for the high rates of injury-related death (e.g., motor-vehicle traffic crashes) that have been observed in this population. The finding that AAD rates vary by region demonstrates that alcohol does not impact all AI/AN communities to the same extent. AI/ANs in specific regions (e.g., Northern Plains) have lower life expectancies; this is likely attributable, in part, to deaths from alcohol-attributable conditions (6).
To further address alcohol-attributable mortality among AI/ANs will require concerted action by multiple organizations and groups, including AI/AN communities, towns on nonreservation lands within and surrounding AI/AN communities, and national, state, and local health agencies. Bans on the sale and possession of alcoholic beverages on certain Indian reservations have been shown to reduce consumption and related harms (5), although the efficacy of such policies is influenced by access to alcohol in surrounding communities (7). Culturally appropriate clinical interventions for reducing excessive drinking (e.g., screening and counseling for excessive alcohol consumption and treatment for alcohol dependence) should be widely implemented among AI/ANs (7). In addition, tribal court systems, which deal with large numbers of alcohol-related crimes, should be better integrated with the health-care system and substance-abuse treatment programs.
The findings in this report are subject to at least four limitations. First, some AI/ANs might have been misclassified by race on death certificates, which would underestimate the total number of AI/AN deaths (8). In a 1996 Indian Health Service study, racial misclassification on death certificates of American Indians ranged from 1.2% in Arizona to 28.0% in Oklahoma and 30.4% in California (8). Second, this study did not use race-specific AAFs for most conditions, which might result in AAD underestimates for certain conditions (e.g., homicide and suicide) for which the AAFs are thought to be higher among AI/ANs (4). Third, ARDI does not estimate AADs for several conditions (e.g., tuberculosis, pneumonia, hepatitis C, and colon cancer) for which alcohol is believed to be an important risk factor but for which suitable pooled risk estimates are not available. Finally, bridged-race census estimates used in this report are based on multiple race categories; use of denominators based on other race categorization methods (e.g., 2000 U.S. Census data or tribal census data) would result in higher rates than reported.
Indian Health Service has initiated an alcohol screening and brief counseling intervention program to help reduce excessive alcohol consumption and related harms among AI/ANs in trauma settings. In addition, effective population-based interventions should be implemented to reduce excessive alcohol consumption in AI/AN populations. These include reducing alcohol availability by limiting outlet density, enforcing 21 years as the minimum legal drinking age (9), increasing alcohol excise taxes, and enforcing laws prohibiting sales to underage or already intoxicated persons, particularly in communities bordering reservations (10). Future efforts should explore regional differences in AADs and evaluate other intervention strategies for reducing alcohol-attributable mortality among AI/AN populations.
Acknowledgments
This report is based, in part, on data contributed by T Lindsey, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, National Highway Traffic Safety Admin, US Dept of Transportation; M Zack, Div of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease and Public Health Promotion; and C Rothwell and D Hoyert, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC.
References
1) Mokdad AH, Marks JS, Stroup DF, Gerberding JL. Actual causes of death in the United States, 2000. JAMA 2004;291:1238–45.
2) May AP. The epidemiology of alcohol abuse among American Indians: the mythical and real properties. The IHS Primary Care Provider 1995;20:37–56.
3) Smith GS, Branas CC, Miller TR. Fatal nontraffic injuries involving alcohol: a metaanalysis. Ann Emerg Med 1999;33:659–68.
4) May PA, Van Winkle NW, Williams MB, McFeeley PJ, DeBruyn LM, Serna P. Alcohol and suicide death among American Indians of New Mexico: 1980–1998. Suicide Life Threat Behav 2002;32:240–55.
5) Landen MG, Beller M, Funk E, Propst M, Middaugh J, Moolenaar RL. Alcohol-related injury death and alcohol availability in remote Alaska. JAMA 1997;278:1755–8.
6) Murray CJ, Kulkarni SC, Michaud C, et al. Eight Americas: investigating mortality disparities across races, counties, and race-counties in the United States. PLoS Med 2006;3:e260.
7) Guthrie P. Gallup, New Mexico: on the road to recovery. In: Streicker J, ed. Case histories in alcohol policy. San Francisco, CA: Trauma Foundation; 2000.
8) Indian Health Service. Adjusting for miscoding of Indian race on state death certificates. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Indian Health Service; 1996.
9) Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Excessive alcohol consumption. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC. Available at http://www.thecommunityguide.org/alcohol/default.htm.
10) Babor T, Caetano R, Casswell S, et al. Alcohol: no ordinary commodity. A summary of the book. Addiction 2003;98:1343–50.
* Available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/ardi.
† Available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/ardi/aboutardimethods.htm#aafs.
§ Available at http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/main/index.aspx.
¶ Available at http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.htm.
** Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss.htm.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Table
Native Resistance Chronology
Top left to bottom right: Crazy Horse, Emiliano Zapata, Geronimo, Chief Pontiac, Tecumseh, Túpac Amaru, Enriquillo, Chief Joseph, Túpac Amaru II, Quanah Parker, Cuauhtémoc, Sitting Bull
"One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk." – Tashunka Witko (Crazy Horse)
Indigenous Resistance, 1960s-Present
Since the invasion of our territories began in 1492 our people have had to mobilize to defend our sovereignty. Indigenous Resistance has taken on many forms, and has revealed itself through the Pontiac Rebellion, Battle of Little Bighorn,The Ghost Dance, Riel Rebellion, American Indian Movement, Oka Crisis, the Zapitista Movement, Native Youth Movement etc.
However, when most settlers think back to the conquest of the territory that now makes the United States and Canada, most of them think that the end of the so-called "Indian Wars" as the cap of it, officially happening sometime around 1890. In that year some 300 unarmed Lakota men, women & children were massacred at Wounded Knee, South Dakota by the armed forces of the United States.
From this period until the 1950s, Native peoples were largely pacified & controlled by the colonial settler states. Native children were stolen from their families and thrown in schools in an act of genocide. Their cultures, languages and spiritual practices were annihilated by the white supremacist schooling in an effort to, by any and all means, assimilate Natives into white settler society.
Resistance by our people, and militant police action by the colonial state to suppress our resistance, did continue though. In 1924 Canada violently suppressed the traditional government of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, one of the few remaining traditional Native governments in the wake of the Indian Act.
For the most part however the protests of Natives consisted of lobbying the government for better treatment. In the 1950s things began to change. Largely inspired by the Black Civil Rights struggle in the U.S., Natives in both Canada and the U.S. also began organizing. In the south west, Native students began organizing, while in the Northwest, coastal Natives began asserting their treaty rights to fish. The Prairies and the Kanien’kehaka, or Mohawks, of Québec, Ontario and the U.S. lead the charge in this new militancy.
This movement was the first to occur outside the official sactioned band & tribal council system set up by both U.S. & Canadian governments (Native compradors). This early movement established a the basis for a grassroots network of conscious Natives opposed to colonization, and who were committed to maintaining their traditional culture & values, much of which had been lost in the forced schooling of Native children. This informal network formed the basis for the next phase of resistance which took off in the 1960s.
Its no historical mystery that the 1960s was a period marked by rebellion and a revolution on a global scale. Taking inspiration from the fierce resistance of the Vietnamese people against U.S. invasion & occupation, the Cultural Revolution in People’s China and the widespread revolt of students and workers in Europe, new social movements emerged, including the Black Panthers, and the women’s, students, queer liberation and anti-war movement.
It is from this period that the current Native resistance movement more or less emerged. In the 1980s things began to quiet down, but then Oka in 1990 exploded, reviving the movement for the last 20 years. This last 35-year period therefore forms an important part of our history as a movement.
A Timeline of Brown and Red Native Unity
I am of the firm belief that Chicanos/Mexicanos, who are a people representing both full blooded Natives as well as people of mixed Native and European, as well as African, descent should be rightly seen as Native people to North America alongside Indians, Metis and Inuit. They have had their cultures, their languages and their histories twice assaulted: first by the Spanish invaders of Mexico and the American south west, and second by the U.S. gringos following the seizure of northern Mexico. Many have lost their once organic relationship to their indigenous past, but their have always been pockets of resistance, and remembrance. During the height of the Red Power and Chicano Power movements there were many examples of powerful working relationships between brown and red Natives, and today that relationship continues on.
It is not the various names, logo’s, flags, patches, initiation ceremonies or individual groups we organize under that defines us. These things are not important. It is the institution of Indigenous Resistance that unifies us, brown and red, all into one Movement. In recognition of this I have included on this time line not just those actions and events by people called Native by the colonial state, but also those of our brown brothers and sisters.
Mexica Tiahui! Hoka Key!
1954
The U.S. Congress passed the Menominee Termination Act, ending the special relationship between the Menominee tribe of Wisconsin and the federal government. Following the termination of the Menominee the Klamath tribe in Oregon was terminated under the Klamath Termination Act. Finally The Western Oregon Indian Termination Act was enacted west of the cascade mountains. This termination was unique because of the number of tribes it affected. In all, 61 tribes in western Oregon were terminated. This total of tribes numbered more than the total of those terminated under all other individual acts.
1958
The U.S. Congress passed the California Rancheria Termination Act. Rancherias are unique Californian institutions referring to Indian settlements established by the U.S. government. The act terminates 41 of these settlements.
1964
An amendment to the California Rancheria Termination Act was enacted, terminating additional rancheria lands.
1967
The first Brown Beret unit is organized in December in East Los Angeles, California.
1968
At Kahnawake (ga-na-WAH-gay), a traditional Kanien’kehaka Singing Society is formed, which would later become the Mohawk Warrior Society. They begin to take part in protests & re-occupations of land. As well, a protest & blockade of the Seaway International Bridge (demanding recognition of Jay Treaty), at Akwesasne, ends with police attack & arrests of scores of Mohawks.
The American Indian Movement, a Warrior Society of urban Indians, is formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Inspired by the traditional Warrior Societies of nations like the Mohawk, and taking cues from the serve the people programmes of the Black Panthers, AIM establishes a community centre, and provides help to Indians in finding work, housing and legal aid. It also helps to organize early protests, and establishes a copwatch patrol. Although the most well known, AIM was just one part of a broad Native resistance movement that emerged at this time (sometimes referred to as Red Power). Other important groups to emerge out of this period are United Native Americans and United American Indians of New England.
The Brown Berets organized chapters throughout the states of California, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and as far away as Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, and Indiana, becoming a national organization.
1969
The event that really kicked things off for the Red Power Movement, the occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. The occupation was largely in response to the U.S. Federal Government’s policy of Termination, which eliminated tribal status. The two guinea pigs for the policy, the Menominee of Wisconsin and the Klamath of Oregon, suffered terrible social and economic consequences. The action would last 19 months and be the first Indian protest to receive national & international media coverage. Thousands of Indians participated in the action, most coming from urban areas and searching for their identity.
In March, in Denver, Colorado the Crusade for Justice, a Chicano organization, organized the first National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference that drafted the basic premises for the Chicana/Chicano Movement in El Plan de Aztlán. The following month over 100 Chicanas/Chicanos came together at University of California, Santa Barbara to formulate a plan for higher education: El Plan de Santa Barbara. With this document they were successful in the development of two very important contributions to the Chicano Movement: Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and Chicano Studies.
1970
AIM protests disrupt the re-enactment of Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, gains national attention & helps AIM to expand. United American Indians of New England declared US Thanksgiving Day a National Day of Mourning. It becomes an annual protest.
The San Diego Brown Berets occupy the land that was to be a California Highway Patrol station in LoganHeights under the Coronado Bridge, forming Chicano Park.
1971
In Pennsylvania, unknown persons break into FBI office and take many classified documents. These revealed the existence of the Bureau’s Counter-Intelligence Program. COINTELPRO, as it was known, set up surveillance and organized repression against progressive social movements in U.S. The program initially targeted the African Liberation Movement, especially the Black Panthers, but would later also turn its eyes on the Red Power and Chicano Movements. It used imprisonment, assaults and lethal force to enforce the established order.
The Brown Berets marched one thousand miles from Calexico to Sacramento in "La Marcha de laReconquista" to protest statewide against racial and institutionalized discrimination, police brutality, andthe high number of Chicano casualties in Vietnam. The Brown Berets then embarc on a yearlong nationwide expedition in "La Caravana de la Reconquista" toorganize La Raza on a national scale to secure rights and self-determination for La Raza.
After much struggle by both the Chicano and the Indian communities (though not without some disagreement), D–Q University is founded. The two year college is path breaking in the way it openly treats Chicanos as tribal Native people. The school becomes home to members of the American Indian Movement, as well as a meeting place for MEChA.
1972
AIM and many other native groups organize the Trail of Broken Treaties. The TBT is a caravan that travelled from the west coast to Washington, D.C. When the caravan of several thousand activists arrived in Washington, government officials refused to meet with them. In response The Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters is occupied for 6 days. Extensive damage is done to the property and thousands of files taken.
In February of that year Raymond Yellow Thunder is killed by settlers in Gordon, Nebraska. His murderers are only charged with manslaughter, and were then released without bail. AIM organized several days of protests and boycotts, and succeeded in having actual murder charges laid against the settlers. The police chief fired. Yellow Thunder is from Pine Ridge, and this incident helps build a stronger relationship between AIM and traditional Lakotas on the reserve.
The Brown Berets reclaimed Isla de Santa Catalina in order to bring attention of the illegal occupation of theislands by the U.S. and to claim it on behalf of the Chicano people and to bring attention to the shortage ofhousing for the Chicano community. The U.S. has illegally occupied this and the other Archipelago Islandsknown as the Channel Islands since 1848 when they signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Brown Berets were infiltrated by sellouts and subversives working for outside organizations including butnot limited to the FBI, LAPD, CWP, ATF, and other "law enforcement" agencies and organizations workingto co-opt the Movimiento Chicano to serve their own agendas. The Brown Berets were disbanded by thethen Prime Minister David Sanchez in order to circumvent any violence the members of the organizationwhich was being promoted by those infiltrators mentioned above.
1973
Another Indian, Wesley Bad Heart Bull, is killed by another racist settler, this time in South Dakota. Again the perpetrator is only charged with manslaughter. On February 6, an AIM again protests against this kind of injustice. In Custer, SD, the protests cause the courthouse erupts into riot. Police cars and buildings are set on fire. 30 people arrested.
On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, large numbers of police and US Marshals are deployed to counter the activities of AIM and traditionalist Lakotas opposed to the corrupt tribal president Dick Wilson. With the aid of U.S. government funing Wilson established a paramilitary force known as the Guardians of the Oglala Nation, called GOONs by AIM and its allies.
In a period beginning in this year and ending in 1976, some 69 members or associates of AIM were killed by the GOONs, BIA police and FBI agents in and around Pine Ridge.
Angered by the ongoing repression and violence, some 200 AIM memebers, supporters and traditionalist Lakota warriors begin an occupation of Wounded Knee on February 27. The government responds with a 71-day siege during which two Natives were shot and killed (Buddy Lamont & Frank Clearwater). The siege ends on May 9.
At Kahnawake in September, the Mohawk Warrior Society evicts non-Natives from the over-crowded reserve. This leads to armed confrontation with Québec police in October. Warriors begin to search for land to re-possess.
1974
A group of traditionalist Mohawks, along with veterans of the Wounded Knee occupation, begin an occupation of Ganienkeh in New York state. The warriors retake land and engage in an armed standoff with state police. Eventually, negotiations result in Mohawks taking a parcel of land in upstate NY (in 1977). Ganienkeh, a community run in accordance with ancient Six Nations tradition, continues to exist today.
In Canada, the Native People’s Caravan, modelled after Trail of Broken Treaties takes place form September 14 to 30, and heads from Vancouver, British Colombia to Ottawa. It ends with riot police attacking 1,000 Indian activists at Parliament Building.
Armed roadblocks and occupations occur at Cache Creek, British Colombia, and Kenora, Ontario.
1975
Perhaps the most famous incident of the period: the shootout at Oglala. At Oglala, on the Pine Ridge reservation, the FBI botched a raid on an AIM camp. The failed operation ends with 2 agents killed along with 1 Native defender (Joe Stuntz-Killsright). The FBI launched one of the largest man hunts in US history for AIM suspects afterwords.
Elsewhere, in Wisconsin, the Menominee Warrior Society occupied the abandoned Alexian Brothers novitiate building in Gresham, Wisconsin. The occupation lasted thirty four days and, when it ended, many leaders of the occupation faced criminal indictments and trials.
1976
In February, the body of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash, a Mik’maq from Nova Scotia, Canada, and member of AIM, is found on the Pine Ridge reservation. Aquash was one of the most well known female members of AIM, a veteran of the BIA occupation and Wounded Knee. Despite an initial cover-up by the FBI, an independent autopsy finds that Aquash had been executed with a bullet in the back of the head. The FBI or GOONs are primary suspects. To this day no one knows for sure who killed Anna Mae, and her death has been used to tear the movement apart, with some fingering others within AIM, and others the government.
Two suspects in the FBI deaths at Oglala (Dino Butler & Bob Robideau) are found not guilty on grounds of self-defense. A third suspect, Leonard Peltier, is captured in Canada. Using false evidence, the FBI have Peltier illegally extradited to South Dakota.
1977
The trial of Leonard Peltier ends with his conviction of murder and imprisonment for 2 life terms. His conviction is based on FBI fabrication and withholding of evidence. Peltier remains in prison to this day, one of the longest held Prisoners of War in the U.S.
1981
On June 11, some 550 Québec Provincial Police raid Restigouche, a Mik’maq reserve of 1,700. Riot police carry out assaults and search homes for evidence of ‘illegal’ fishing. This is in response to complaints by white fishermen that the Mi’kmaq take more than their fair share of fish. This is despite the fact that the white fishermen take order of magnitude more fish than the Indians.
Unión del Barrio is formed. UdB is a Marxist-Leninist and revolutionary nationalist organization Raza organization. UdB expands the usual definition of La Raza to include the indigenous people of North America, making Brown and Red native unity part of its program.
1988
Over 200 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), including riot & Emergency Response Teams, raided the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake. They claimed they are searching for illegal cigarettes. In response Warriors seized the Mercier Bridge, a vital commuter link into Montreal, part of which runs through the Kahnawake reserve.
In northern Alberta, the Lubicon Cree began road-blocks against logging and oil companies devastating their territory & way of life. A logging camp and vehicles are damaged by Molotov attacks. The struggle of the Lubicon continues to this day, now with the added threat of even greater ecological destruction and health effects at the hands of the Canadian Oil Sands.
In Labrador, Innu activists began protesting NATO fighter-bomber training at a Canadian military base. Many Innu were arrested during the blockade of runways.
1990
The Oka Crisis. Over 100 heavily-armed Québec provincial police raided a Mohawk blockade at Kanesatake/Oka on June 11. In an initial fire-fight, one cop is shot & killed. Following a 77-day armed standoff began. Eventually it came to involve 2,000 police and 4,500 Canadian soldiers, deployed against both Kanesatake & Kahnawake. The Oka Crisis inspired solidarity actions across country, including road and rail blockades and sabotage of bridges and electrical pylons.
1992
During protests against the 500-year anniversary of Columbus’ invasion of the Americas in October, dozens were arrested in Denver, Colorado. In San Francisco, riot cops fought running battles with protesters, who set 1 police car on fire and disrupted an official Columbus Day parade and re-enactment of his landing.
1993
Brown Berets are re-activated under the old Charter and Provisions as laid out by the previous BrownBeret National Organization.
1994
The Zapatista Rebellion begins. In Chiapas, Mexico, armed rebels of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation launched their New Year’s Day offensive, capturing 6 towns and cities. Comprised of Indigenous peoples, the EZLN declare war on the Mexican state and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In response, the government deployed 15,000 soldiers and killed several hundred civilians in attacks. Since 1994, the Zapatistas have continued to gain widespread support and sympathy throughout Mexico and the world. Along with Oka, the Zapatista uprising helps to inspire and drive 20 years of resurgence in the Indian movement in North America.
1995
Two major events took place this year in Canada. The first is in Ipperwash, Ontario, were an unarmed protest and re-occupation ended with Ontario police opening fire on the protesters. They kill one Indian, Dudley George, on September 6. The re-occupation had begun in 1993. The land, originally the Stoney Point reserve, was taken by the government during the second world war for use as a temporary army base. After the killing of Dudley George, the government admitted the peoples claims were justified. The second incident is the month-long siege that occured at Gustafsen Lake in the south-central Interior of British Colombia. It began after a settler attempted to evict Secwepemc sundancers from their traditional ceremonial grounds. Some 450 heavily-armed RCMP ERT, with armoured personnel carriers from the Canadian military, surround the rebel camp.
1997
The Native Youth Movement, a militant grouping of largely urban Indians inspired by the original AIM, founded a chapter in Vancouver, British Colombia. It was inspired by the year-long trial of Gustafsen Lake defenders, held near Vancouver. NYM soon began attending conferences, organizing protests, distributing information, etc. In April, NYM carried out 2-day occupation of BC Treaty Commission offices.
1998
The NYM branch in Vancouver carried out 5-day occupation of BCTC offices in April, and a 2-day occupation of Westbank band offices in Okanagan territory. Both of these are actions against treaty process.
1999
The NYM branch in Vancouver helped members of Cheam band, located near Chilliwack British Colombia, assert their right to fish on the Fraser River. NYM Warriors wear masks and camouflage uniforms. They also carry batons to deter Fisheries officers, who routinely harassed Cheam fishers. As a result of this the NYM forms security force. This later took on a life of its on and became the Westcoast Warrior Society.
2000
In May, members of the St’at’imc nation established Sutikalh camp near Mt. Currie, British Colombia, to stop a massive ski resort from being built on an untouched alpine mountain area.
At Burnt Church, New Brunswick, Mi’kmaq fishermen again attempted to assert their treaty rights to fish lobster in September & October. They were again met with repression from hundreds of police and fisheries officers. Members of Westcoast Warrior Society participated in defensive operations.
In October, Secwepemc established the first Skwelkwekwelt Protection Center to stop expansion of Sun Peaks ski resort, near Kamloops, British Colombia. Over the years, some 70 people are arrested and charged as a result of protests, roadblocks & re-occupation camps.
After decades of the struggle by the Indian community and its allies, the San Francisco Peaks are designated a Traditional Cultural Property, which allows it to be eligible for consideration as an official National Historic Register site.
2001
In May, a Secwepemc NYM chapter was established. A 2-day occupation of government office in Kamloops occured to protest selling of Native land.
In July, over 60 RCMP with ERT raided Sutikalh after a 10-day blockade of all commercial trucking on Highway 97. Seven persons are arrested.
2002
In December, Annishinabe in the northern Ontario community of Grassy Narrows began to blockade logging companies from destroying their traditional territory. The blockade becomes one of the longest in recent history, continuing through to the present, and directed primarily against Weyerhaeuser and Abitibi corporations.
In September, RCMP, including Emergency Response Teams and Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), raided the homes of West Coast Warrior Society members on Vancouver Island. They were allegedly searching for weapons.
2003
In April, homes of NYM members were again raided, this time in Bella Coola and Neskonlith, by RCMP including ERT. This time the cops took computers, address books & propaganda.
2004
In January, Mohawk warriors surrounded the Kanesatake police station after band chief brings in outside police forces to crackdown on political opposition. Over 60 police were barricaded inside station. Chief’s house and car are burned.
In June, RCMP INSET, along with Vancouver police ERT, arrested members of West Coast Warriors Society, for making legal purchase of firearms. Rifles and ammunition were seized in the bust. Shortly after, the West Coast Warrior Society was disbanded by its members. They cited the ongoing repression of them by the police.
2005
In January, members of the Tahltan in northern ‘British Columbia’ occupied the band office in Telegraph Creek in opposition to band’s involvement with mining and oil & gas corporations. In July they began blockading roads being used by construction machinery, and in September fifteen Tahltans including elders were arrested by the RCMP. The Tahltan continued their campaign, including blockades, through 2006 and 2007.
2006
On April 20, over 150 Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) attempted to forcibly remove a blockade at the Six Nations reserve territory near Caledonia, in southern Ontario. They violently arrest 16 Indians, using physical assaults, pepper spray & tasers. The Ontario Provincial Police are forced to withdraw however, as hundreds of Six Nations members converge on the site. More blockades were erected in the area, including on Highway 6, which consisted of burning tires, vehicles and dismantled electrical pylons, and mounds of gravel. A train bridge was also burned down. The next day on the Tyendinaga reserve, a Canadian National Railway line was blocked, cutting off a major freight and passenger line. The Six Nations members originally began their blockade to stop a housing development on land they claimed belongs to them. The blockades and land reclamation continue for over a year, with numerous conflicts with settlers and police occurring, as well as sabotage.
In July, Grassy Narrows Annishinabe protesters, along with members of the Rainforest action Network, blockaded the Trans-Canada Highway. Several persons were arrested.
This year also saw the founding the Wasasé Movement. Wasáse said about itself that it was "an intellectual and political movement whose ideology is rooted in sacred wisdom. It is motivated and guided by indigenous spiritual and ethical teachings, and dedicated to the transformation of indigenous people in the midst of the severe decline of our nations and the crises threatening our existence. It exists to enable indigenous people to live authentic, free and healthy lives in our homelands." It is largely based on the thought and strategies for change laid in the book of the same name by University of Victoria professor Taiaiake Alfred, a Mohawk from Kahnawake. They are quite Gandhian in their outlook and approach, and due to its academic orientation, many warriors & grassroots organizers remained unexposed to the movement’s philosophy. The movement only last a few years before self-dissolving.
2007
On March 6, a massive Olympic flag that was being flown at the Vancouver City Hall was stolen just as a delegation from the International Olympic Committee arrived to inspect the city’s preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics. A few days later, as the IOC tour ended, the Native Warrior Society released a communiqué claiming responsibility for taking the flag, including a photograph of three masked members standing in front of the Olympic flag and holding a Warrior flag. The group claimed the action in honour of Harriet Nahanee, a Native elder who passed away after being sentenced to two weeks imprisonment for taking part in a 2006 blockade of construction on the Sea-to-Sky highway in preparation for 2010.
This year also saw the attempt by a group of Lakota leaders to move for the unilateral withdrawal of the Lakota from the Treaties of 1851 and 1868 as permitted under the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, of which, the United States is a signatory. Their proposed independent nation is called the Republic of Lakotah.
On the June 29 a Day of Action was called by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), the the national organization of the Indian Act band council chiefs across Canada. The AFN claimed the event as a huge success , with over 100,000 people participating, however most of the people participating in the actions, protests, and rallies were non-native, which speaks to the AFN’s inability to mobilize their people despite all the resources they have. In fact, many militant Native organizations, such as the Native Youth Movement, called a boycott of the Day of Action. These organizations, rightly, stated that the AFN does not represent our people and that, when they talk about solutions, their long-term goal is actually assimilation.
In December members of the Chaco Rio Indian community in New Mexico established a blockade to prevent preliminary work for proposed development of a massive coal-fired power plant.
2008
Across Canada the so-called Olympic "Spirit Train" was met with disruptions and protests at its stops by Native warriors and their non-Native allies. Across Canada other preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics, set to take place on unceded Indian land, were disrupted by protesters.
The Mohawk Nation branch of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy at Kahnawake filed a formal complaint about the construction of Super Highway 30.
2009
The land reclamation effort at Caledonia by the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy entered its third year with the warriors showing no signs of backing down. It continues to be ongoing to this day.
Warriors of the Mohawk Nation branch of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy at Akwesasne – which straddles Ontario, Québec and New York State – expelled Canadian border guards at a crossing with the United States which passes through their territory, seizing control of the border station.
Native warrior, American Indian Movement leader and political prisoner Leonard Peltier is again denied parole by the colonial government in the United States. His next parol hearing will not be until the year 2024.
2010
In February Native warriors gathered with anti-capitalists/anti-imperialists, feminists, environmentalists and other social justice advocates to fight back against the Vancouver Winter Olympics which took place on unceded Coast Salish territory.
In July people in Oka and the nearby Mohawk community gathered to remember the resistance at Oka and to protest the ongoing attempts to marginalize the Mohawk people and take their land.
The Canadian Federal Government used an obscure part of the 1900 Indian Act to forcibly strip the Barrie Lake Algonquin of their traditional government, and replace it with a Band Council subservient to Ottawa. The Barrie Lake people met this imperialist-colonialist move with stiff resistance.
John Graham, a Native of the Yukon, and a former member of the American Indian Movement, is convicted of the murder of his former AIM comrade Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. As noted earlier, much of the evidence in the case points to Anna Mae’s death having been at the hands of the FBI.
2011
In June 500 agents of the colonial state invade sovereign Mohawk communities in Quebec. On paper they are looking for marijuana, but it much more likely that this is state terror tactics against some of the most firmly sovereigntist Native communities on the continent.
COMMENTS
Amber | July 7, 2011 at 6:33 am | Reply
This is sooo sad there is no words to explain it. I am part cherokee, my great great grandmother was full, and i wish i could say that. Native Indians are beautiful, smart and strong people, the world needs more of them and there culture. It really makes me sick to hear that America was "free for the takeing" when they sailed here. This place belongs to Gods people, the ones that knew how to save the land and live off it. The only thing I can do is play the cards Ive been delt, have pride in the only roots I care about and try to give the world more peace!
Kiki | March 20, 2012 at 7:35 pm | Reply
I’m sorry to know that your family has suffered. It is quite similar for us Slavs in many regions around the world. But never to the extent in number as Native Americans. I think the best thing we can do is honor our ancestors, preserve our culture and traditions, learn everything possible and write it down. Save it and spread the knowledge. Group with others and combine this knowledge and make sure it never dies. This is how we honor those before us. This is how we pay respect for their suffering. Embrace your heritage and wear it proudly. Never let anyone take it from you. And fight them if they try. Never back down. Never surrender.
Laryssa Louise Mourish | November 28, 2012 at 9:07 pm | Reply
Hi I’ve just finished reading your open letter that is featured on the "Native American" genocide page. It is so wonderful that you are a proud native american woman who is not afraid to tell the world about your awesome race. I myself am a Indigenous Aboriginal woman from Perth WA who is really interested in your race and your culture. I also find that both our races have been wronged by the white man and it’s still happening to this day in my country. We have a saying in my family about the white man that they "befriend, deceive, and disposess".
Fumi | October 11, 2011 at 2:20 am | Reply
hello, i checked out the website and found the picture that has many of the native american faces (above the title "The English/American Genocide"). I like this picture alot, but i found the vertical line in the middle of the picture, probably from the folding the original paper… so I photoshopped it and took out the line from the picture. I hope you could reuse it. I uploaded it here, so you can download. cus I wanted to help.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PDZVZYZQ
admin | October 14, 2011 at 2:53 pm | Reply
Thank you very much for your continued readership and support, comrade! I much appreciate your efforts to help me. I’ll replace the old picture right away.
Hugues Obiang Poitevin | November 25, 2011 at 1:23 pm | Reply
THANK YOU FOR PUBLISHING, AT LAST, THIS HORRIBLE TRUTH !
THAT IS WHY WESTERN WORLD IS CURSED !
VOILà POURQUOI L’OCCIDENT EST MAUDIT
+ BLACK SLAVERY and JEWS HOLOCAUST !
PITIFUL mAN !
Toni | November 26, 2011 at 9:13 pm | Reply
that’s right. Everything that has been said on this website, really took place. It is a great pity that most non-native people today don’t even know a fraction of what happened to American Indians. It is time to awaken the collective consciousness to what was done, if we want any real change in the lives of American Indians. Only that acknowledgment will heal the wound.
Toni (Bismarck, ND)
Hunwi | November 29, 2011 at 1:14 pm | Reply
Yes much Gratitude for the Sad but True Story,
Its OUR COLLECTIVE story and it is still continuing today. It is the Same here for the AUSTRALIAN Aboriginals.
4 Years ago these People and their lands were placed under military intervention and this Australian government under a British Constitution along with AMERICA have organized to mine; from 120 mines the uranium that their land rests upon. Please help these people acknowledge this pain and this crazy disconnection and connect with the Thrive organisation as well as the Arnhem land aboriginals / yolongu peoples http://www.ourgeneration.org.au peace and blessings to all with a conscious heart
fred coulis | December 9, 2011 at 11:23 pm | Reply
Why hasn’t anyone looked into who orchestrated the conspiracy to kill off the natives all over the world? Why are records sealed in canada, and probably the other country’s to. Why hasn’t a list of the 50,000/60,000 children who died as a result of being infected with tuburculosis, or simply vanished. Why isn’t anyone attem,pting to check out the mass graves they are finding at some of the "schools" they are tearing down. Why don’t all the Chiefs have a summit meeting and discuss ALL OF THEIR PROBLEMS on their reserves. You must know, that there is not a single gov’t official at any level, is going to help any native to improve themselves. (Except for natives who have been appleized.) I have looked at ‘Hidden from History’ and have told people about about this genocide, but no one cares. They must have seen the propaganda movies about the atrocities committed by these savage "Injuns".. Maybe the people who made these movies are part of the conspiracy??
jimmy | December 11, 2011 at 1:23 am | Reply
It is very interesting to learn the history of how the indian civilization was destroyed.. as a living proof i have very little knowlegde of how and why we are considered to be uncivilized… I must thank the authors of this publications for a very thorough and informative piece.
Pingback: More on The Response: Did Hitler mimic the Indian reservations? « Gilroy News
pamela miller | January 11, 2012 at 4:02 am | Reply
i was doing research on how the native indians in michigan lived and live today i just stubbled on this site and well guess i got me a bit of history that i will not be able to share in school thank you for this bit of insight i will remember this through my life and look at american indians in a diffrent way seems sad to know the truth and not be able to share i would probley get a bad grade if i made a report on this
Jon | January 14, 2012 at 1:19 am | Reply
I really love this blog, first time on it. I hope more people read this and understand, this blog really shares the details into who are the real suffers here in this land and also that all these people that are here are complaining about immigration and there the ones who don’t belong here. WAKE UP!!!! I’d hate to be the bearer of bad news but most of us including me, we are all immigrants, the people who should leave are the ones complaining. All native people who live in there own land are living in a damn 3rd world community, stop complaining. Also Mexicans use to own and live in the western United States, so technically they were forcibly removed from there own land and we are arrogant enough to deny what we did, even though it was a long time ago. Think about it………Sorry for the rant but i needed to get that off my chest. I dont even know if i have Native ancestry here, i hope i do, i love this land and there people. I’m only 19, but one thing i want to do in my life is become a leader or influential figure for a tribes of America, that’s my dream. Thanks again to the publisher of this blog and site.
Courtney | January 22, 2012 at 4:39 pm | Reply
When I stumbled upon this site I was looking for more information regarding the slaughter of native Americans. What I found angered me, empowered me and simultaniously disgusted me. I wish I could go back in time and tell the natives to never trust them! I am sad and forlorn. I feel as if the spirits of those taken in such a violent manner are reaching out– demanding justice for their lives, their culture and the way of life that my ancestors stripped from them. I am full of shame to be white. How could a civil human do those things? We were truly the savages. You cannot take something that doesn’t have a price. This Land belongs to the natives. There is no way we could ever make it up to them. In the last 500 years we have undone thousands of years of their prosperity and life. We are such hypocrites, full of greed and lust for what anyone else has.
I apologize to those of you who are of native descent, nothing will ever make it right. You own this land. You deserve the right to live how you were meant to. I am disgusted that we worship politics and "heroes" who murdered other humans, a crime punishable by death here in Texas for only one life; much less hundreds, thousands or millions.
I wish you all peace and prosperity.
Angel | January 31, 2012 at 11:35 am | Reply
Please, publish this information in a video or create more blogs with similar information. It would be quite worth it. I think if the mainstream public are aware of this information, it can be incredibly influence how history in presented in the United State with the American Indians perspective finally present!
Levi Wyaco | March 7, 2012 at 12:20 am | Reply
As a proud Full Blooded Navajo, i am thankful that some of the madness is uncovered and brought to attention for all to learn. I am sad that my ancestors endured such hatred and also very mad for all the blood that stains this land that i walk to this day………..
Kiki | March 20, 2012 at 7:28 pm | Reply
None of my ancestors were in the US really at the times most of these atrocities were committed. However, I’d still like to say I’m deeply sorry for what your ancestors endured but applaud you on still keeping your head high and proud of your heritage. There is nothing worse than losing who you were and are and becoming a puppet to the world. May life continue to bless you!
Kiki | March 20, 2012 at 7:25 pm | Reply
Very long but still so short compared to what happened. I grew up with Native Americans in both Lumberton, North Carolina and a dear Cherokee that lived in Memphis, TN. He was like a dad to me since mine didn’t live with me. He even gave me a Cherokee name. I have always loved Native Americans, their traditions, their culture and it always saddens me to think of their story. And to think this kind of behavior is STILL going on to this day.
THANK YOU for posting this. I’ve shared this on FB among my friends. I would love to quote parts of this, in a post on one of blogs, also. No worries, I’d link back to you giving full create. I don’t steal. I wanted to ask permission first, though.
Thanks again.
With love from Serbia,
Kiki
Reneta Yuliy | March 26, 2012 at 4:27 pm | Reply
I remain without words in front of such horrible cruelty towards the Native Americans.. I always think about this like the worst crime ever committed in the world!!!!!
Pingback: Holocausts: Theirs and the Many Ours « The Ugly Truth
Pingback: Holocausts: Theirs and the Many Ours | Beyond The Yew : Saying NO to Globalism!
Pingback: Holocausts: Theirs and the Many Ours « Middle East atemporal
Pingback: Holocausts: Theirs and the Many Ours | SHOAH
austin kennedy | May 17, 2012 at 11:26 pm | Reply
I dont understand how anyone could be so cruel to such a peaceful people. I have told some of my friends about this website people need to know the story of us the true first americans
Joe | June 7, 2012 at 12:19 am | Reply
My people have suffered much in the last 520 years. Besides the intial attacks the white man has done to us they also tried to erase us from history. " Save the man kill the Indian" was they way they tried. We were not a perfect people, are ways and beliefs were strange to them and so that apparently mean that we all were ungodly heathens. Sometimes we would do horrible things to ourselves, but we didn’t deserve this much brutality. I am just learning my native tongue, something I should have known all of my life. I however am glad that we put up a fight till we finally had to stop. I am proud to call my self an Indian and that’s something you will never take from me.
Kim | June 9, 2012 at 1:22 am | Reply
God bless the Native American Indians! I am proud that my grandpa was a full blooded Native American Indian!
Colton | June 25, 2012 at 7:48 am | Reply
Keep the fight alive brothers and sisters. I’m only a quarter Creek but I still feel the pain and suffering for the natives then and now. Fight for your rights and we can all pull together to gain what was rightfully yours. Overthrow the corrupt U.S. government and restore peace to the land, no more war or pointless restrictions on our basic rights as human beings. Peace and love from Georgia.
Claudia Araujo | July 4, 2012 at 7:15 am | Reply
I am a school Principal in Rosarito Beach Mexico and personally a Hawaiian-Mexican descendent. Have lots of cousins and other relatives of different American Tribes, so my interest in the matter is genuine. I am organizing an Summer Camp; this year theme will be Native Americans, including background information of Red as well as Brown tribes, part of our curriculum will cover the truth of the Nations that is easilly hidden to our children in schools. Thanks for sharing such wonderful information. It is our keen interest to tell the truth.
Manuel | July 13, 2012 at 10:00 pm | Reply
Well done for your job. I get angry when I see these people making memorial for the Jews every year when in fact who deserve it should the whole American Indian. I would like to make people aware of this sad story, because we do not learn it in school.Thats why I volunteer myself to help you in any other future project you have about the American Indian. God bless you.
dar | August 6, 2012 at 12:25 pm | Reply
Disgusted! But Karma doesn’t expire. They are or will pay in this life or their next lives, That is if such people are allowed to be rebirthed into mother earth. And still today there exists Idiots uncivilized and full of self centeredness that are racial and discriminate again people that are not White American/European. I can only wish that one day all of the world’s race would be simply a mixed of all….Together…..No just one, but that all humans were a melting pot of all the races put together. Do they no know or understand that it is proven that within our own DNA we will always be Native and African descendants… at least 1% of their DNA will be Native/African decendant blood lines.
Gulag | August 7, 2012 at 5:10 am | Reply
I wish First Peoples (U.S. and Canada) would stop identifying themselves by degree. It’s not necessary and it’s NOT TRADITIONAL. If you’re a descendant, you’re Indian. The ‘measuring cup’ is a perpetuation of First Peoples genocide. We’re doing it to ourselves now, without even realizing it.
It’s a construction of Bureaus of Indian Affairs. Stop doing it.
Trent Burhenn | August 9, 2012 at 12:32 pm | Reply
A sad truth to read, this piece of history has been so easily overlooked thanks to the intelligent handling of the world from powerful governments. It is good to see it being brought forth somewhere so we all can realize what this "nation" has been founded on. If there is ever any assistance in need, feel free to contact the provided email. I am tired of feeling the need to take back time and wish to realistically adjust the future towards better times.
Earth’s blessings
Desirée | August 20, 2012 at 10:44 pm | Reply
Thank you for making the public aware. I always knew the bullshit they fed us in school was just that: bullshit. Colombus and Washington being "great men". Let us give our children the TRUTH (as they already know it in their hearts) so that they will never make the mistakes our ancestors did to fellow humans. I am ashamed my family was part of the extermination and removal of the Native people of Turtle Island. It breaks my heart. The only thing I can do is teach my son the Red Path because I KNOW, the wisdom of the Red Road will heal humanity of its insanity. Peace, Blessings, Love.
victoria | September 3, 2012 at 10:57 am | Reply
I remeber being in school and learning about this new land. The only thing I would look at was the indain. I would feel it and was sadden but didnt know way. My spirit knew. Being native indian/ mexican/ spain myself I could feel there was more to the story then they where saying only hidden in the spirits of my ancestors I would feel like the spirits where really trying to tell me something. The lies the gov. can say what can and can not go in text books is bullshit. I want my sons to know how and what happen. My husband is Irish and he agrees that if anyone should call themself american is us. We where here 1st not them. I will keep this sit to saw my three sons.
Thank you
Doglol | September 7, 2012 at 4:11 pm | Reply
Just a small point. I think the line :
"for example in 1937 the Pequot Indians were exterminated by the Colonists when they burned their villages in Mystic,.."
Should have the date 1637 in place of 1937.
A simple error but should be fixed.
Lori | September 7, 2012 at 8:19 pm | Reply
I stumbled on this site through Pinterest. I first found out about how many people and tribes were in north america before the genocide through time/life books that my father bought around 37 years ago. It’s amazing how this information has been hidden in plain sight. The information is there, maybe the internet will be the great equalizer for the native americans as it has been for middle eastern people whose plight has recently been brought to light. Bad things are still happening, but we have to continue to hope and share the information to raise the consciousness of everyone.
R | September 12, 2012 at 10:56 am | Reply
I am suprised Chief Oseola of the Seminole nation is not shown? The Seminoles launched three wars in Florida against the white man(the three Seminole wars) hence names like Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers.
Other important Indian uprises in the Americas: The war of the castes in Yucatan,the massacre of 1932 in El Salvador,the conquest of th desert in Patagonia,Argentina.
If interested in genocides like what happened to the Caribbean and North American natives,read how the Selk’nam of Tierra Del Fuego were virtually exterminated,their way of life changed ,the bounty hunts similar to North American Indians,the loss of their language.
Also read about the fate of the Aleutian Islanders in Alaska how they commited mass sucides throwing themselves off cliffs rather than in to the "white man"
Also of interest how President Profirio Diaz of Mexico wanted to "whiten" Northern Mexico relocating the Northen Mexican Indians to work on plantations in the Yucatan and encouraging "white" European migration to settled in Northern Mexico,on the same boat President Maximiliano Hernadez of El Salvador 1932 "retribution" on the Pipil people of Western El Salvador and how after that they were ashamed of their language,did not want to wear traditional clothing,etc. and his encouragement of "white" European migration.
R | September 12, 2012 at 11:00 am | Reply
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/el-salvador-archives-74/2338-indigenous-peoples-in-el-salvador-commemorate-1932-massacre-
R | September 12, 2012 at 11:32 am | Reply
many natives were taken to Europe and paraded around in a circus like manner in so called expocisions:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28123904@N02/2650320820
R | September 12, 2012 at 11:39 am | Reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selknam_Genocide
R | September 12, 2012 at 11:40 am | Reply
http://intercontinentalcry.org/genocide-in-chile-a-monument-is-not-enough/
R | September 12, 2012 at 11:51 am | Reply
Similar to the Christian boarding schools,many Indians,specially nomadic Native Americans from the Californias(both Alta and Baja including the Indians from the Channel Islands of California who were transported to the mainland missions) to Florida ,from Hispanola throughout Mexico and Central America to Missiones in Northern Argentina ,Amerindians were settled into these missions to work for the missionaries,many died of diseases such as smallpox in the missions.From the first Spanish contact when Spaniards were given large tracts of land called encomiendas; which included the Indians on those lands,the Indians were being used as labor sometimes in very harsh conditions such as in the case of mining. Later came the missions; many places still bear the name of this past such as the Domincan Republic on Hispanola or Missiones a province in Northern Argentina where the ruins of old missions still stand hence the name.
R | September 12, 2012 at 12:20 pm | Reply
The Spaniards not only depleated the native Taino and Arawak populations of the major Antilles Islands:first Hispanola ,but later the same was done on Cuba,Puerto Rico and Jamaica;but after the population was dwingling before bringing African slaves;they did slave raids in the Bahamas depleating the Bahama native Lucayo population and later taking the last of the native Tequestas and Calusas of southern Florida to Cuba.It has been documented that on Hispanola there were workers and household servants from Indian tribes as far north as the Carolinas.
In the Guanacaste peninsula of Cosat Rica as cattle ranchers expanded ,the last of the native Chorotega indians were taken to Peru to be given as hosuehold servants.
My point is yes,natuves have been stripped of their native heritage and forcefully relocated not only the natives of the Americas,but other indigenous people as well,for example Spaniards would bring Filipinos and Guamanians to Mexico;Filipinos and Mexicans to Guam(interbreeded with the local populations to produce today’s Chammorros) and Mexicans to the Philliipines.So the native Mexicans ended up in such far away lands such as the Phillipines.
The Spanish were not the only Europeans guilty of relocating native people,for example the Black Caribs(natives that had largely mixed with Maroons,runaway African slaves.) of St Vincent were finally captured by the British after several Carib wars;they were relocated to the island of Roatan in the Bay Islands now part of present day Honduras ;later from there moved to the mainland Honduran coast and Belize and today they are known as Garifuna.For example Belize is not just home to their native Mayans,but the also home to the Garifunas ;Mayans who escaped the Caste Wars of the Yucatan and later on in the 1980's Mayans who escaped the armed conflicts in Guatemala.So as you can see we natives have been going up and down everywhere and even today you find large numbers of Mexican and Guatemalan natives in the USA: from California to Texas to Mississippi to Florida.For example I did not know there is a town in Louisiana where they speak Mexican Nahuatl.
Xavier | September 13, 2012 at 5:37 pm | Reply
When you say, "500 year war", what are the dates exactly that this would represent. My thanks in advance.
Chris | September 14, 2012 at 3:07 pm | Reply
I was doing a project and I saw all this… Is this still happening??? I think the UN need to be waken up a little. Have the Native’s tried that yet? If there’s enough support, I’m sure something will happen. Surly the US should fund these ‘reservations’ (if I’m right in saying some still live in those). Or have yanks just given up… I’m surprised there’s been no up-rise yet. What a bloody shame.
Onowakohton | January 13, 2013 at 3:49 am | Reply
Idle No More movement has begun … look it up on youtube. :)
Joan Robinson | September 16, 2012 at 2:31 am | Reply
The world should remember…we are constantly reminded of the terrors inflicted upon some while others are quietly swept under the rug….
ianjames@gmail.com | September 19, 2012 at 1:24 pm | Reply
because it is still happening. now they call it "child protection" when they steal and abuse our children. "Assimilation".
This is called terrorism…using violence and intimidation for political purposes…
Pingback: Native American Genocide | Mr. Hladis
Langundo Kajika | September 25, 2012 at 3:21 pm | Reply
There are no words to describe what white people have been doing to the Native Americans. Reading this article, tears just flow on their own. I also read quite a few books regarding the Native Americans and all of this is true but I fear that the number of people killed is much greater than presented here. For me as a caucasian it is an unspeakable shame what others have been doing in the name of ill-religion, so called "equality" and other pseudo-reasons. Although I’m from Poland I can really feel like being with You my Native American Friends. I know that the loss of many generations of great and peaceful people is a catastrophe, mankind has never seen in its existence. Personally, I would love to have Native American Friends to talk to here in Poland but it’s rather impossible as there are very few. I’m greatly interested in Your wisdom, way of life revering nature and the teachings about the Great Spirit.
Onowakohton | January 13, 2013 at 3:48 am | Reply
I am native american and I would love to talk with you. We have come a long way and one thing that cannot be beaten out of us ….is our love for life and mother earth.
Duston | October 7, 2012 at 4:37 pm | Reply
I cried the whole time I read this.
Pingback: Anonymous
Jesse | November 1, 2012 at 10:34 am | Reply
Thank you for putting this website together. It’s disheartening how many people today don’t even know the real history of our people. I’ll be sharing this website with alot of people. Hopefully some will start to wake up.
cari1212 | November 4, 2012 at 5:50 am | Reply
Wow wow wow wow, I am a white american whose ancestors are probably among the evil ones who devised to exterminate the Natives & I CAN NOT STAND for a country that was built on lies & deaths of countless natives. I am ashamed of my country & my ancestors & I would willingly give my life for the loss of those who did not deserve the selfish injustices that were bestowed upon them & in the name of GOD no less. This is awful, I was aware of the truth but I had no idea just how terrible the truth really is. I could not continue to read all the horrible things that took place as they are too painful. The children is what pains me the most. Innocent beautiful children. FUCK this shit. We know who the real savages beasts were. Last year I denounced & renounced christianity, NOT GOD as well as thanksgiving. I can no longer celebrate a day that is based on false information or misinformation. To me I would be celebrating death of natives & that I just can not do. NO I CAN NOT & WILL NOT> I AM PISSSSED & THIS HAS SPARKED A FIRE WITHIN & IT IS MY GOAL TO HELP SPREAD AWARENESS. it is the least I can do for the men, women & CHILDREN that have suffered & continue to suffer among the tribes of this nation. GOD help me in my quest to spread awareness to this naive planet. God give me the tools & the direction needed to open the eyes of the people. Thank you for writing this & posting this amazing research on the web, whoever you are. May you & your family be blessed ten times over & over & over.
with deepest respect and sorrow | November 19, 2012 at 6:00 am | Reply
I have never really been into history, but have just taken my first course in college. The course does not cover directly most of this information, but rather a search on revolutionary war information led me here. I am speechless, and ashamed to be "white". I am married to a Mexican woman who I love dearly– and see beyond color other than I find it attractive. Words cannot express how this webpage has made me feel. I would be happy to help in whatever manner I may, in humble service and respect. Feel free to contact me. I believe men are made, and not born. My life has made me a decent person, and I have made difficult choices. Thank you for sharing this information. I hope to hear from the writers and supporters.
Tian D Andrianirina-Rose | November 23, 2012 at 2:32 am | Reply
The white man projected himself saying others are the savage. When the rest of the world regarded Europeans as barbarians and had lttle to no dealings with them. The white man got sicker and unwittingly developed illness which they shared I know we shouldn’t use the term "white man" I mean the idealology. I’m half white and grew up with a sense of shame strangely I’m proud to feel the shame as it makes me a better person but we should all feel shame collectively as one people of this plannet not segregate ourselves because that leads to conflicts let’s share love like what the native Americans knew taught in the beginning peace among men
Pingback: No Thanks for Thanksgiving - US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum
StrongWolf | December 4, 2012 at 2:50 pm | Reply
They killed to many of us as is now they try to kill our culture & I have my real name on here since I can’t use it in school
Victoria Holden | December 20, 2012 at 7:16 am | Reply
My son is 9 and they had to learn about a native Indian an write a report. I did not check out books from the Library because a lot of them don’t tell the truth about anything. So I told him and now he knows. Being native myself i wanted my son understands what really happen and he shared it with his whole class. Playing native flute in the background. Love it!!!
Pingback: Huckabee: Schools "Become A Place Of Carnage" When "We Systematically Remove God" - Page 15 - US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum
Student | December 16, 2012 at 12:19 pm | Reply
This is horrifying. As a middle school student in Canada, I haven’t heard a breath of this in our history classes. If it weren’t for my own curiosity about cultures, I would never have found that such a terrible event even existed. What is going on with our education systems? Maybe it’s just me, but when I find that our government, our entire education, has been lying to us, falsified, fudged and played around with… It’s frustrating, enraging. How is this still happening? How can our country claim to be "multi-cultural" when we are committing genocide, and unable to admit it. After some digging around on other sites, there is evidence that this is still happening today. Why aren’t we taught this in schools? I just don’t know anymore.The worst part is, people aren’t even willing to admit this crime. Not to offend any religions, but are these claims to be working for the will of god even worth listening to? Perhaps some will argue that this is an event in the past. But are we willing to admit it happened. I think I shall be sharing this with my class. No one even knows about this, how, how, how! What is wrong with this world?!?
Liz W | December 18, 2012 at 10:31 pm | Reply
The enormity of the Holocaust that was perpetrated by Euro-Americans never fails to break my heart, but the more we learn and the more people who spread the knowledge the better. As a Native woman I am astonished time and time again by the lies in history books and the myths that still flourish in the USA. Facts are, USA was built on genocide, lies, and theft. Hypocrisy and racism are at the very heart of America. All indigenous peoples can come together and share our tragic histories and form a united front against tyranny and corruption.
Ethan | January 3, 2013 at 10:13 am | Reply
I have always feltbad about what went on there has been much hate in this world i am of mixed ancestry, i am english,scottish,irish,german,swedish,finnish,norman french,choctaw,african and jewish…i am not ashamed of who i am…most people seem to forget everybody was once tribal we werent meant to live like we do now but hopefully one day everyone wakes up an we can all live in peace…i am not racist i believe people of all colors an nationalities can be evil wether your black white red brown yellow blue purple green…but i am against the way soscieity is now ..it is not what it should be…it is sickening and i hope that it stops eventually…i dont care for labeling myself but my maternal grandfather was half choctaw my maternal 4th great grandmother was african an my paternal great grandmother was a jew…i have encounteredlots of racism in my life mainly cause im mixed but i myself am not ashamed i am the way the great spirit intended me to be i just hope i can do all that i can to show that i am a true human being….we all at one time came from the same place so actually we are all brothers and sisters which is why we should think before saying or doin mean things to one another…just reading this hurts me
http://espressostalinist.wordpress.com/genocide/native-american-genocide/
----------
idle no more canada
C is for child poverty
By DIANNE SWINEMAR In the academic world, it’s a passing grade, but when our country is given a C for child poverty (as was the case in the recent Conference Board of Canada report), it’s a clear failure.
Most know the House of Commons passed a unanimous vote in 1989 to end child poverty by the year 2000. Not so long ago, we acknowledged the 20-year anniversary of that failed promise. Now, four years later, our country still doesn’t seem to care about our children. And more than one in every seven are growing up in poverty.
In the mid-1980s, the child poverty rate was 15.8 per cent. Thousands and thousands of families were struggling to the detriment of their kids, despite parents’ best effort to shield them from the devastating impacts of poverty.
In 1989, there was a glimmer of hope for the six-year-old girl growing up with this huge disadvantage. But time passed, little headway was made with child poverty rates, and that six-yearold girl is now 30 — and you have to wonder how her life has turned out. She might be an anomaly. She might have beaten the insurmountable odds poverty undoubtedly stacked against her, but the statistics certainly weren’t in her favour.
She probably grew up in an unsafe neighbourhood with higher than average crime rates.
Her parents likely struggled to provide adequate nutritious meals, in turn making it difficult for her to focus at school. This likely caused her academic performance to suffer. Maybe she managed to scrape by and graduate from high school, but college or university was out of the question. Maybe she was fortunate enough to find work, but two minimum-wage jobs probably didn’t cover the bills and she likely ended up at the doors of a local food bank looking for help (and thank goodness she at least had that option). There is a good chance she now has children of her own. And if that’s the case, she is probably devastated that, like her own parents, she can’t give them everything they need. And the cycle continues.
It’s definitely not what she envisioned for her life, or what her parents wished for her when she was just six years old.
But odds are this is how things turned out for her, and for thousands of other children. Because the words of their government in 1989 — the government that was supposed to look out for children and protect them — were nothing more than words. For almost three decades, empty rhetoric did nothing more than perpetuate a vicious, damaging cycle.
Food banks and other nonprofit organizations have stepped up over the years and stitched a makeshift safety net for our citizens living in poverty with the generous support of the community, but the net is weak and can only handle so many people falling into it. Organizations like ours see the hardships of those struggling with poverty every day. We keep track of those relying on our services and we report anecdotal and statistical data to the public. Time and time again, we have offered our experiences and opinions to help create solutions.
But we can’t solve the problem. We simply don’t have the resources. We’re stretched to the limit trying to keep that safety net a viable option for people who are struggling.
Reports come out periodically and repaint the same bleak picture of child poverty. As a society, we see the grim numbers and percentages, and scold ourselves for failing to live up to our reputation as a strong country with opportunities aplenty. But still our children get left behind.
One child left behind is too many, and since that grandiose promise in 1989, governments have let thousands of children fall through the safety net with little chance of ever getting back on their feet.
We feel fortunate to do what we can to help and we are incredibly grateful for the support that allows us to exist, but it’s time for government to leave lip service behind, get down in the dirt, and do what’s required to lift the burden of poverty — because we simply aren’t strong enough.
Dianne Swinemar is executive director, Feed Nova Scotia.
-------------
The Story of Two Wolves.....that live in all of us.... WAR AND PEACE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8CHjX8HauA
-----------
ONE BILLION RISING- breaking the chains- IDLE NO MORE CANADA
SEXUAL HARRASSMENT OF GIRLS- TIMES MUST CHANGE
Social media joins in war on harassment
Rebecca Chiao stepped out of her office into Cairo’s rush hour. She expected to meet a friend, but instead, the young Pennsylvania-born woman was accosted by a man who unzipped his pants and exposed his genitals.
Frozen in shock, Chiao desperately hoped for a passerby to intervene, but no one moved to stop the pervert. A few even glared at her as though she were somehow responsible for the sexual assault. Chiao’s friend arrived and she fled by car.
In the days that followed she related her story to female friends and co-workers. All shared stories of public sexual harassment.
This past week, Chiao travelled across Canada telling her story and the innovative solution she has developed to fight back. With the help of a grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre, she is using online tools to help change Egyptian attitudes to sexual harassment and make the streets safer for women and men. It’s called HarassMap.
A 2008 survey by the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights found that 83 per cent of Egyptian women and had experienced sexual assault — anything from indecent exposure to groping to mob attacks, co-ordinated and politically-motivated attacks where 50 to 100 men will single out one woman, usually during a protest demonstration, and assault her.
Chiao says although Egypt has laws against sexual harassment they are poorly enforced by police. So through technology, Chiao empowers women to tackle harassment wherever it happens.
Sexual assault of women is climbing to the forefront of global issues. In India, a tidal wave of rage has risen over gang rapes. Last year’s election in the U.S. was punctuated by frighteningly ill-informed comments by high-profile political figures about rape.
Everywhere around the world, people need more information and awareness to combat sexual violence. That’s where social media can play a role.
Launched in 2010, HarassMap allows women in Egypt to report incidents of sexual harassment using Twitter, Facebook, SMS texting, email, mobile phone app, or the Harassmap.org website. Each incident report shows up as a red dot on the website’s map of Egypt pin pointing where the incident occurred. By clicking on the dot, you can read exactly what was written by the person reporting the assault.
When a woman reports an attack, she receives immediate help, including information on how and where she can get support, such as counselling or legal assistance. The idea and technology behind HarassMap originated in Kenya, which was wracked by violence during the 2007 election. Kenyan activists created an online tool to report and map outbreaks of violence. Ushahidi, as it was called, was open sourced so anyone could easily create their own "crowdsourced" reporting system, gathering their own information to take on their own local issues. HarassMap goes further: information gathered online supports offline activism in the streets of Cairo. It trains volunteers to talk to residents and businesses in their own neighbourhoods, teaching people about harassment and pushing them to step in when they see a woman under assault.
The information gleaned from HarassMap becomes invaluable ammunition to combat common myths about harassment. People who argue harassment doesn’t happen in their neighbourhood, or that the problem is exaggerated, are shocked when volunteers pull out the map and show them the dots, spread like measles across Cairo. Those who say women bring attacks on themselves by wearing revealing clothing are stunned to read reports from victims in conservative Muslim robes and veils. Chiao says she and her colleagues check each report, and false ones are remarkably easy to spot. A bigger problem, she says, is misrepresentation of data. According to Chiao, 8.5 per cent of the reports to HarassMap identify a youth as the aggressor. Does that mean 8.5 per cent of all sexual harassment in Egypt is committed by youth? Not necessarily. Likewise, just because there are many reports from one particular neighbourhood, is that neighbourhood unsafe? Again no — people in that neighbourhood may simply be more aware of the HarassMap, and therefore more likely to report. Chiao says people must be very careful how they use and interpret crowdsourced data.
Chiao estimates that more than 11,000 initiatives like HarassMap have now borrowed the Ushahidi template to crowdsource solutions to a wide range of problems. The Ushahidi system was used to locate survivors after the Haiti earthquake. In the southern U.S., an environmental group called the Louisiana Bucket Brigade tracks petrochemical pollution. India Citizen Reports is an Ushahidibased initiative tackling crime and corruption in India.
From Cairo to Mumbai to Port-au-Prince, social media is increasing the power of ordinary people to take on the big problems of our world and create positive change.
Craig and Marc Kielburger are founders of international charity and educational partner, Free The Children. Its youth empowerment event, We Day, is in eight cities across Canada this year, inspiring more than 100,000 attendees. For more information, visit www.weday.com or follow Craig on Twitter at@craigkielburger
----------------------
Reconciliation report shines light on 'dark chapter' in Canadian past
By Teresa Smith, Postmedia News February 23, 2012
StoryPhotos ( 1 )
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right, and National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine are shown in June 2008 before Harper delivered an apology on behalf of the federal government to former students of residential schools.Photograph by: Getty Images File , The Windsor StarThe Indian Residential School system was "not simply a dark chapter from our past," says a report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. "It was integral to the making of Canada."
That a young Canada benefited from an education system designed to assimilate Aboriginal Peoples - by taking away their children and re-educating them - is difficult to swallow.
But, as the report released late Thursday says, the fact that this idea is news to many Canadians is part of the problem.
It goes further, saying the Residential School system was only part of a system designed to gain control of aboriginal land. "The Canadian government signed treaties it did not respect, took over land without making treaties, and unilaterally passed laws that controlled nearly every aspect of aboriginal life."
Many Canadians will "see their country differently" after hearing the truth about the residential school system, said commission chair, Justice Murray Sinclair.
Speaking at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., Sinclair said: "These are hard truths that we need to acknowledge in order to lay the foundation for reconciliation."
Three commissioners - Sinclair, Chief Wilton Littlechild and Marie Wilson - began touring the country in June 2009 in an effort to hear the stories of as many residential school survivors as possible.
The commission was created as part of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, in which the federal government gave former students in the system $5.1 billion to partially compensate them for their suffering. It came ahead of the federal government's historic 2008 apology to First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples in which Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized, on behalf of all Canadians, for trying to "kill the Indian" in their children.
Similarly structured Truth and Reconciliation Commissions were set up following the genocide in Rwanda and apartheid in South Africa to learn about the events and to map a path forward.
For more than a century between the 1840s and 1996 when the last school was closed, aboriginal parents were forced to send their children away to government-funded, church-run boarding schools. The commissioners have heard that many were malnourished, some died from tuberculosis and other preventable diseases, some were abused and all were changed by their experience. The commissioners say the reconciliation process also will have to span generations. "It will take time to re-establish respect," it says.
The report recommends the government develop a program to establish health and wellness centres specializing in trauma and grief counselling and treatment appropriate to the cultures and experiences of multi-generational residential school survivors.
It also says the provinces and territories need to ensure students learn about the historic relationship between settlers who became Canadians and Aboriginal Peoples - particularly relating to the history and lasting impact of residential schools. The report suggests students should learn about the residential schools in their region and that every secondary school in Canada should prominently display a framed copy of the Statement of Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools.
The report says reconciliation also will require changes to the way Aboriginal Peoples relate to the government because, historically, federal and provincial governments have seen Aboriginal Peoples as "wards of the state" and failed to "recognize the unique legal status of Aboriginal Peoples as the original peoples of this country."
"Without that recognition, we run the risk of continuing the assimilationist policies and the social harms that were integral to the residential schools," it concludes.
The report says the lasting impact of a century of those policies is seen in the social, economic and political challenges that aboriginal communities struggle with every day, as evidenced by conditions in communities such as Attawapiskat, Ont.
But, it says the impact is also obvious "in the attitudes that too often shape the relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Peoples in Canada."
"For much of our history, all Canadian children - aboriginal and non-aboriginal alike - were taught that aboriginal people were inferior, savage, and uncivilized, and that aboriginal languages, spiritual beliefs, and ways of life were irrelevant. Aboriginal People(s) were depicted as having been a dying race, saved from destruction by the intervention of humanitarian Europeans."
It says because Canadians haven't learned enough about the nature of aboriginal societies or the history of the relationship between our ancestors - "and the way that relationship has been shaped over time by colonialism and racism" - the misinformation has led to misunderstanding and, in some cases, hostility.
It ends with an invitation to all Canadians to get involved in the reconciliation process now and to "create new truths about our country."
Quoting then Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine who accepted Canada's apology in June 2008, the report concludes: "Together we can achieve the greatness our country deserves." Our challenge and opportunity, says the report "will be to work together to achieve that greatness."
The commission is halfway through its five-year mandate, which will end in 2014 with the release of a full report.
Copies of the interim report and a historical overview of residential schools called They Came for the Children will be available on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission website on Friday afternoon at www.trc.ca.
tesmith@postmedia.com
-------------------
IDLE NO MORE CANADA
Canada beats U.S. to women in combat
Canada ahead of U.S. in allowing women in combat
Feb 9, 2013 |
Air Craft Woman Recruit Stacey Lesbirel in the field training area at the Royal Australian Air Force base in Wagga Wagga, Australia. Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Israel, France and Norway opened their combat ranks to women before the United States. / Aaron Curran/AP
Written by Associated Press
But the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms made it inevitable, and the armed forces began a series of trials. Initial results were not encouraging. The trials indicated that almost half the male rank and file viewed their female counterparts as "women first, tradespersons second, and soldiers never."
In 1989, Canada’s Human Rights Commission issued a ruling ordering women to be admitted to all combat roles except aboard submarines. The submarine ban fell three years later.
Period of adjustment
Chief Warrant Officer A.P. Stapleford, who had enlisted in the Canadian infantry in 1975, said some initially questioned whether women were up to the task physically and whether the men would feel obliged to protect them.
"It was a shock at first, and we overreacted at first, but we learned to adapt and work with them. They were going to be there anyway so we just got over it, and it wasn’t an issue to integrate them into units." Nowadays, he said, soldiers take the presence of female combatants in stride.
The military says 2.4 percent of personnel in combat units are women — 145 officers and 209 enlisted soldiers . Overall, 9,348 women serve in the Canadian Armed Forces, 14 percent of all personnel.
Officers today speak of having adapted swiftly to women in combat, and officers and enlisted soldiers, male and female, whom The Associated Press sought for interviews, insist they have no problem with the change.
While supportive of women serving in the military, columnist Margaret Wente of The Globe and Mail, a Toronto daily, wrote after the U.S. decision of Jan. 24: "The sheer physical demands of war (to say nothing of group cohesion, and all the rest) mean that fighting capability and performance are simply not compatible with gender equality."
------------
-------------
Change comes slowly, Mi’kmaq elder says
Knockwood recalls ‘torture’ of residential school life
By SELENA ROSS Staff Reporter
Doug Knockwood said a prayer for people eating lunch at the Indian Brook community centre Sunday, many of whom had just walked for two hours from the old site of the Shubenacadie residential school. Knockwood, 83, is a Mi’kmaq elder, originally from Cumberland County. He went to the Shubenacadie school for two years, eventually spent 30 years working as a drug and alcohol counsellor, and now lives in Indian Brook.
Knockwood explained how things have changed in his lifetime and what he wants from the future.
Q:Can you tell me a bit about the prayer you said today and why you were chosen to say it?
A: First of all, when I went to the residential school. I lost my language. I was forced to speak English, and I didn’t have very good English skills. The prayer, it was asking for help for myself and in order for me to carry out the duties of an elder. I learned to say that prayer in the last, probably, 20 years. When I’m in a situation where they call for an elder to do an opening prayer and grace before meals, they pick an elder, whoever’s around.
Q:What was Mi’kmaq Nova Scotia life like when you were a child?
A: See, I never lived on a reservation. We owned our own property, only a little ways from the reserve. My grandfather had the presence of mind to buy this property. But my uncle lived on the reserve all his life. He never spoke English. So we sort of had that connection.
(It was) totally different. Because we lived off the land, and everything that was made was brought from the woods or from the land, planting. My uncle lived in the bush; he never came out. You know, he came out for his food. And, someday, when he went to buy clothes, he went to Parrsboro. He never travelled very much.
We had a cabin. His was a log cabin, and, of course, ours was a house. We built a house. And I went to school after I came out of the residential school. I was taught in the English language, and I had to go to the curriculum that they used. In those days, we were only just a little ways from a grocery store, so we ate the same thing as everybody else — candy, when we had money! My parents used to hunt, my uncle. There was always wild meat. A big lake was down just across the road — go fishing, and in the wintertime, go trapping.
In the wintertime, we coasted, and we used to make what we called ‘tabagan,’ and we’d see who could make the fastest one, and we’d race. Sometimes it was dangerous, but we used to go across the road, and traffic would come by.
Q:This movement seems to be led mostly by women. Why do you think that is?
A: I don’t know if I can answer that!
Q:Why did you come today?
A: Because I was a resident of a residential school. All the things that you hear are true. All the torture and the harsh concentration-camp behaviour — it’s true. You know, the white people were very severe in their punishment to us, and as a result, we wound up following the same type of behaviour. To the point, sometimes, where it became very serious. You know, you’re going to get beaten up, you try to defend yourself. But then, after you get of age where you can handle yourself, you came from being a delinquent child to a crook. There was no happy medium in there. It was always, constantly, (indigenous people were) looked at as troublemakers and that whole thing. If anything happened, it was always the Indian, the aboriginal people, that was blamed for those things.
The behaviour today is just the same as it was, but it’s in bigger proportions. You’ve got the judges, and the lawyers, and the doctors and all of those people getting into all kinds of trouble — you know, taking all kinds of money. They don’t go to jail, right? But if I stole a package of gum, they’d (have) put me in reform school.
Q:If you could change a concrete thing and have it happen tomorrow, what would it be?
A: Myself (laughs). Because it’s important. I would hope that my people would get a stronger education so that we’re able to compete in the government that’s looking after our system. Because the system, there’s two systems, right? One for the white, one for the black. One for the Indian, one for the white. And it’s always been that way. It’s unfortunate, but slowly . . . we’re getting little bits and pieces here. There’s a lot of our people that are going into law, and my daughter’s a lawyer.
(sross@herald.ca)
photo
Doug Knockwood, 83, is a Mi’kmaq elder in Indian Brook. He spent two years at the nearby Shubenacadie residential school. (CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / Staff)
AND
IDLE NO MORE NOVA SCOTIA
Protester: Uprising not about the chiefs
‘Poor people’ driving force of Idle No More
By SELENA ROSS Staff Reporter
Chief Theresa Spence’s nowended hunger strike was never at the heart of the Idle No More movement, and the bigger campaign continues at full speed, said Mi’kmaqs who gathered Sunday near Shubenacadie.
"We supported her, but this Idle No More . . . it’s not about Chief Spence," said a young mother warming up with her toddler in a car before walking several kilometres with him to Indian Brook.
"It’s not about the band councils, not about the chiefs, not about Chief Spence," said her driver, Corinna Smiley, who lives in Millbrook.
"This, I believe, is an uprising of poor people and those that support them."
Spence, chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, ended her hunger strike Thursday after 42 days, but Idle No More began even earlier, said the two. Spence "jumped" on the movement and added to its momentum, they said.
About 35 people walked nearly 10 kilometres Sunday morning on the quiet road leading away from the old Shubenacadie residential school site, taking up a lane with the help of RCMP officers.
The walk was meant partly to remember those who attended the notorious school, said organizer Shelley Young, but it had other meanings, depending on who you asked.
Young also wanted to show support for a two-month, 1,100-kilometre trek that six young people and a guide from the Whapmagoostui First Nation are making from northern Quebec to Ottawa as another part of Idle No More.
On Mill Village Road, as walkers hunched their shoulders into hoods and balaclavas, Young walked through the crowd, talking to people about the Quebec walk and likening it to Terry Fox’s dogged trek across Canada.
She said temperatures in that part of Quebec have been bitterly cold.
"You feel for those kids. We’re trying to take some of the pain from them because they’re walking for us." The Shubenacadie school, which operated from 1923 to 1967, holds memories for nearly all local Mi’kmaq families. But a more recent experience at the site added symbolism to Sunday’s route, said Isabelle Knockwood.
The procession first made its way to the rail station in Shubenacadie to commemorate the many children who were delivered to the school by train. Most people then turned right and walked about two more hours to Indian Brook.
A small group lingered at the train station to talk about the last time they were there, said Knockwood.
In 2008, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the first formal apology by a prime minister to former students of residential schools, the local Mi’kmaq community brought Shubenacadie survivors back to the school and train station, she said.
The group sang, danced and prayed in a "letting go" ceremony to rid themselves of bad memories — but perhaps that was premature, Knockwood said.
"Five years later, they turn around and we’re doing these marches."
The march ended with a bigger event at the community centre, where dozens of people ate lunch and watched and listened to singers, drummers, spoken prayers and speeches. Children showed off songs they had learned, including a Mi’kmaq version of O Canada.
On the way there, an Indian Brook woman named Virginia walked behind her 11-year-old daughter and the daughter’s best friend, periodically asking if they were warm enough.
"It’s very important to do this walk, because it’s only a fiveminute drive to Indian Brook, and how many (residential school students) wanted to take that walk, to walk home," she said, starting to cry.
"So it’s important for us to walk home for them. And also to let Canada know that this is everybody’s problem, what’s happening today. I am proud to be Mi’kmaq, and nobody is never, ever going to take that away from me."
The remembrance continues today at 10 a.m. with a procession from the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge to Citadel Hill and the Halifax Commons.
(sross@herald.ca)
photo
About 35 Mi’kmaq people walked 10 kilometres from the former residential school in Shubenacadie to Indian Brook on Sunday morning to remember those who attended the notorious school.
(CHRISTIAN LAFORCE / Staff)
----------
Band seeks $1-million claim after audit data
By MICHAEL GORMAN Truro Bureau
INDIAN BROOK — The Shubenacadie Band council has filed an insurance claim for $1 million following an update on the progress of an ongoing forensic audit.
The previous band council ordered the forensic audit last May after the regular consolidated statement revealed financial irregularities, including at least $525,000 missing from the band’s tobacco store.
At the time, the revelation raised concerns about improper record keeping, a lack of training for band staff and possible improprieties by some members of the band council of the day. An auditor’s report recommended that the operation no longer deal with cash, keep regular count of tobacco products as they come in and out, and called for the production of weekly statements.
On Thursday, the current band council met with the team conducting the forensic audit for an update.
Investigators have looked at certain financial transactions from 2009 to 2012, said Chief Rufus Copage. It was based on those transaction reviews that the band was able to submit its insurance claim.
"We are insured for thefts," said Copage.
Copage said band council signed an agreement not to discuss the contents of the forensic audit until it is completed sometime this spring. At that time, he said, band council would decide what the next move would be and deliver a full report to the community.
"We’ve told (investigators) to continue working on what they’ve got to do," said Copage. "We can’t talk about something that they’re still working on."
Any questions about charges or legal action would be handled by the appropriate authorities at the conclusion of the audit, said Copage. Until then, band council continues to operate as normal.
There are members of the present band council who were on band council during the years included in the forensic audit. Copage, who was elected in November, said he has no concerns about current band operations involving people from the years being investigated because of stronger day-today operations enacted by the sitting band council.
The band will hold a community meeting on Feb. 12 to discuss its most recent regular consolidated statement. Everyone will get a copy of the document as they arrive at the meeting.
"It’s all a part of accountability," said Copage. "Chief and council want to make sure that our members are quite aware of what is going on."
(mgorman@herald.ca)
---------------
Mi’kmaq elder Dan Paul discusses his history book
Renowned author and Mi’kmaq elder Dan Paul talks about his award-winning book Mi’kmaq History: We Were Not The Savages! on Monday at noon in the multipurpose room, Student, Culture and Heritage Building, Cape Breton University, Sydney.
Published in 1993, the book was the first prize co-winner for non-fiction at the City of Dartmouth Book and Writing Awards in 1994. The book has been reprinted twice, once in 2000 and again in 2006. It has been on the Nova Scotia bestseller list, inspired the play Strange Humours and is cited as a reference in many books and articles.
Paul has received the Order of Canada.
------------
------------
DO U REMEMBER
New Northern Adult Basic Education Program
February 23, 2012
Iqaluit, Nunavut
The Government of Canada is committed to helping build strong,
prosperous and healthy communities throughout Canada's North and
ensuring Northern Canadians have improved access to training and are
better positioned to participate in the labour market.
To this end, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on February 23,
2012 that the Government of Canada, through the Canadian Northern
Economic Development Agency (CanNor), is investing $27 million over five
years to expand adult basic education in the territories, fulfilling a
2011 Speech from the Throne commitment to increase education and
employment levels in the North. This targeted support seeks to expand
the immediate capacity in the territories to respond to the needs of
working Northerners, and leave a legacy of increased capacity for the
longer term.
The new Northern Adult Basic Education Program (NABEP) helps address the
unique challenges faced by Northerners, especially in remote
communities. A significant number of Northerners are unable to
participate in the expanding labour market or take part in job-specific
training due to a lack of basic education skills. Skills deficits are
most pronounced among Aboriginal Northerners and those living in small
or remote communities.
The NABEP will improve access to basic skills upgrades, including
improved literacy and numeracy, so working age adults are better
positioned to participate in the labour market. This program will ensure
that more Northerners can benefit from local employment opportunities by
helping prepare them to either enter the workforce directly, or take
vocational training.
Programming will be delivered through the territorial colleges: Aurora
College, Yukon College and Nunavut Arctic College. The colleges, which
already offer a spectrum of courses across many remote northern
communities, will use the federal investments to improve their adult
basic education (ABE) services and to leverage investments made under
other federal programs. Colleges can use the funding to build capacity
by hiring and training more instructors, improving educational
materials, improving student placement tests, and increasing the number,
frequency and locations of course offerings. Expanded services in adult
basic education are expected to begin over the coming year.
The Government of Canada support is being distributed based on each
territory's adult basic education needs, and calculated according to
each territory's share of working age Northerners lacking a grade 12
education. Initial funding to support projects and activities for each
territorial college is being distributed as follows:
Nunavut Arctic College
CanNor funding: $11,112,750 (2011-16)
Nunavut Arctic College will receive more than $11 million over five
years to carry out a number of program enhancement initiatives including
capacity building through additional adult educators and resources,
curriculum development, assessment tools for literacy, pan-territorial
planning and monitoring, and a career experience program linked to local
labour market and opportunities.
The College will continue to work in partnership with key stakeholders
in Nunavut and pan-territorial post-secondary partners, including the
Government of Nunavut Department of Education and the Nunavut Literacy
Council, to ensure project outcomes meet labour market needs for job or
training readiness.
Yukon College
CanNor funding: $308,000 (2011-12)
Yukon College will receive over $300,000 in 2011-12 to develop strategic
priorities and a four year work plan for adult basic education (ABE) in
the territory. Yukon College will work in partnership with Yukon First
Nation governments, relevant service providers and employers to
introduce programming to improve the literacy and employability
successes of Yukoners, with a strong emphasis on rural initiatives to
respond to unique regional social and economic realities.
Additionally, the ABE program will focus on training opportunities for
faculty and instructors, placing Yukon College's ABE teaching materials
for instructors on-line, and developing and piloting a series of ABE
programming initiatives to significantly improve literacy, numeracy and
computer skill levels. New programming initiatives through the ABE
program at Yukon College include a Skills for Employment Plumber's
Helper program in Pelly Crossing and a Skills for Employment Cooking
program at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.
Aurora College
CanNor funding: $621,780 (2011-12)
Aurora College funding: $59,000 (in kind)
Aurora College will receive support of more than $600,000 to improve the
delivery of ABE programming for residents of the Northwest Territories.
The College will use this first year of funding to focus on preparatory
work to facilitate program delivery over the subsequent four years.
Aurora College, in collaboration with NWT Aboriginal governments,
partners, stakeholders and other education delivery agents, will develop
a four year Community and Extensions Strategic Plan, to address gaps in
basic education, increase job and literacy skills, develop instructor
capacity, boost high school graduation rates, and improve community
access to educational resources. The College will work in partnership
with the Government of Northwest Territories and other stakeholders to
ensure project outcomes meet labour market needs for job or training
readiness.
The Government of Canada is committed to making tangible improvements to
the quality of life of Northerners, including Aboriginal people, in
support of its objectives under the Northern Strategy. CanNor will also
work with partners to share successful ABE approaches, so that they can
be applied in other regions.
---------------
DO U REMEMBER
The Spiritual Backstory of the Crown-First Nations Gathering
By ICTMN Staff February 20, 2012 RSS
Tommy AllenAnishnabe Elder Dave Courchene urged Crown-First Nations Gathering participants to have "the courage to do the right thing."
As aboriginals wait to see what actions or changes, if any, will come out of the Crown-First Nations Gathering that took place on January 24, their leaders have upped the pressure to let the federal government know that they are not going away.
The root of this sentiment is the unshakeable knowledge that underlies their insistence: The matter, for First Nations, is as much spiritual as political.
At the meeting itself the leaders of Canada's First Nations and the head of the Canadian government discussed face-to-face the issues dragging down the country's aboriginal peoples, and by extension, Canada. Politics aside, the underlying theme, at least for the First Nations, was the notion of maintaining their cultural integrity and making it part of the national landscape.
The gathering started out on a spiritual note that set the tone for the cooperation and communication to follow. An honor song and ceremony launched the proceedings and were later explained by Anishnabe Elder Dave Courchene, winner of the 2012 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for spirituality and the founder of Turtle Lodge, a center for learning that envisions all the races coming together in the lighting of the eighth fire foretold by the elders. The honor song and ceremony symbolized the establishment of a new relationship, he said, an attempt to find a new way forward for First Nations peoples and the Canadian government, as well as all Canadians. (Photos and other follow-up information about the Gathering is on the Turtle Lodge's Facebook page.)
"It is said by our elders-the wisdom keepers and the visionaries of our people-that we have entered a very special time. And it is a time of great opportunity. It is a time that we are witnessing changes happening around the world," Courchene said in his speech and prayer explaining the spiritual nature of the gathering and its relevance to the material world.
"Our people foresaw all of these things," he said. "We consider today very historical to be able to come together and to reflect on the original instructions that we were all given as human beings. And that was to bring peace and love into this world."
The sentiment was acknowledged privately, before the opening ceremony, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented the three elders-Courchene, Bertha Commanda and Barney Williams Jr.-with tobacco. Then on behalf of the three dlders, Courchene presented him with a scroll, while Barney presented one to Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo. The scroll highlights Ogitchi Tibakonigaywin-the Great Binding Law of the Kizhay Manito (the Creator) and the Seven Teachings.
Later, in his speech and opening prayer, Courchene emphasized the importance of putting children and mothers back into the center of our lives, calling on participants to remember the "original instructions" that all were given by the Higher Power to bring peace and love into the world. He emphasized everyone's connection to Mother Earth.
"As independent and free peoples, we come together," Courchene said, urging a spirit of cooperation for the meeting. "We gather reflecting the spirit of our hearts and belief as a people. We must find that courage to be able to do the right thing."
A traditional ceremony opened the event, after which Governor General David Johnston, Harper and Atleo ceremonially launched the sessions on how to improve the relationship between the Crown and First Nations people, as well as how to strengthen First Nations economies. A drumming circle accompanied the procession for the grand entry, led by a Canadian flag and the Assembly of First Nations flag. An elder smudged the leaders with sweet grass and a feather before the traditional gift exchange.
Atleo presented Johnston with a Covenant Chain belt to represent one of the earliest treaties between the Crown and First Nations peoples.
The belt shows that the Crown is linked by a chain to the First Nations peoples of this land, according to the AFN's description. The three links of the chain represent a covenant of friendship, good minds and peace. The silver it is made of symbolizes the occasional polishing the relationship will require to keep it from tarnishing.
Johnston gave Atleo a reproduction of a painting of the Battle of Queenstown Heights, depicting the cooperation of aboriginal and non-aboriginal soldiers in the War of 1812. Then the real work began.
"I call upon the drum to call us to order," Courchene said, explaining to the various cultures assembled that the drum represents the heartbeat.
"I call upon the drum to carry these words that the elders continue to speak about, that we will find that courage to be able to do the right thing," he said. "There are many many ways to do the wrong things. But there's only one way to do the right thing. And it's written in our hearts. All we need to do is find the courage to listen to the voice of the heart that speaks to all of us. Because we are all within the human family."
Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/20/the-spiritual-backstory-of-the-crown-first-nations-gathering-98971 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/20/the-spiritual-backstory-of-the-crown-first-nations-gathering-98971#ixzz1mwsJ6gRZ
--------------------
NOVA SCOTIA- Dexter wows kids, announces funding for First Nations
By MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE Cape Breton Bureau
MEMBERTOU — Premier Darrell Dexter might not have been a star on ice but he was certainly a hit with kids skating around an outdoor rink in this First Nation community Friday afternoon.
Skating around in his Montreal Canadiens sweater, the premier looked the picture of contentment in the bright sunshine.
"Good way to spend a day," he hollered to an observer.
Dexter joined the group of skaters prior to announcing that his government is contributing $125,000 each to five Mi’kmaq communities for physical activity leadership programs.
The $225,000 programs — each community will also contribute $100,000 — are designed to encourage healthier lifestyles.
"We want to have long, healthy and active lives, but today there are too many people who are not physically active and it’s leading to health issues such as Type 2 diabetes," said Terry Paul, chief of Membertou First Nation.
"I believe this agreement will help us reverse that trend and help make Membertou an even better place to live."
The programs in Annapolis Valley, Glooscap, Eskasoni, Millbrook and Paq’tnkek First Nations will allow the communities to hire full-time staff to develop and initiate five-year physical activity plans.
Earlier in the day, Dexter spoke to a lunch gathering of the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce.
"In 2009, Nova Scotia was stuck in a rut. ERs were closing, the province’s finances were in a mess, jobs were disappearing and families were struggling," he told the gathering.
"Nova Scotians felt the status quo was no longer working and they responded by electing a government that would listen to them."
Following his speech, during which he listed what he called the major accomplishments of his government, Dexter was asked if he was in election mode.
"We’re always in election mode, right from the first day you walk into office," he said.
As for the possibility of an election in the near future, Dexter wouldn’t say but hinted it wouldn’t be too soon.
"I’m respectful of the fact people of the province gave us a mandate and we should use it," he said.
On Friday, the government also announced a new home for the province’s maintenance enforcement unit has been found in New Waterford. Thirty-five workers will work from the former Signature Styles call centre building owned by Enterprise Cape Breton Corp.
The government agency tasked with enforcing child support payments was moved to New Waterford as part of Dexter’s government plan to decentralize government jobs from Halifax to rural communities.
(mmacintyre@herald.ca)
-------
Idle No More members want national chief to reject high-profile award
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 12:40 PM
Idle No More members ask National Chief Shawn Atleo to reject Indspire Award for Education.
Photo Credit: - , Global News
SASKATOON - Members of the Idle No More movement are calling on the chief of the Assembly of First Nations to refuse to accept a high-profile award.
AFN Chief Shawn Atleo is expected to receive an Indspire Award for Education on Friday in Saskatoon.
Indspire is the new name for what used to be known as the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation.
Dion Tootoosis is one of the people calling on Atleo to reject the honour.
Tootoosis says the government's failure to allow grassroots people into a recent meeting on education is one of the main reasons behind their call.
Tootoosis says the government is denying treaty rights to First Nations people by not allowing them to have a meaningful say in how their children are educated.
"They opened the door for us to be part of this process and now they've blocked us out," he says. "On top of that we weren't allowed to make any other suggestions. They allowed the chiefs into the actual room, we were actually kept out of the room by security."
The meeting dealt with a proposed First Nations Education Act and was put on by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Saskatoon.
The afternoon session of the meeting was closed to the public.
Atleo was not immediately available for comment.
Read it on Global News: Idle No More members want national chief to reject high-profile award
------------------------
IDLE NO MORE- did u know in time of war or any attack on North American Land- North American Indians r the first to sign up 4 their country- Canada/USA.... and always have and are great, great warriors... men and women...
--------------------
First Nations say they will fight oilsands, pipeline
Video Content
Play VideoFirst Nations leaders from both Canada and the U.S. held a press conference to show their solidarity against further oilsands development and pipeline construction. Amanda Pfeffer reports.First Nations condemn pipelines2:57
An alliance of First Nations leaders from the U.S. and Canada say they are gearing up to fight the Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines both in the courts and through unspecified direct action
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/03/20/ottawa-live-conference-first-nations-pipelines.html
------------
U GO GIRL- IDLE NO MORE
Mi’kmaq message is activist’s mission
By MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE Cape Breton Bureau
WAGMATCOOK — Shelley Young ended her 11-day hunger strike just over a week ago, but she still has a fire in her belly.
And it shows no sign of waning.
"I questioned all of the chiefs in detail (about Mi’kmaq-federalprovincial negotiations) and they really didn’t know anything about the process," Young told a small gathering in the First Nation community of Wagmatcook on Tuesday.
She said that with the exception of Membertou Chief Terry Paul, none of the chiefs were up to speed on the negotiations referred to as the Made in Nova Scotia Process.
"And none of the councillors have any idea what it’s about."
The 11-year-old negotiations are described as a "consultation process" that involves a group of negotiators working on behalf of Mi’kmaq communities and those from the provincial and federal governments. Ostensibly, the talks are aiming to figure out how Mi’kmaq people in Nova Scotia can gain fair access to resources without trampling rights enshrined in treaties.
Young, from Eskasoni First Nation, and Jean Sock of Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick staged hunger strikes earlier this month as part of the cross-country Idle No More campaign. They stopped when the 13 chiefs of Nova Scotia agreed to halt the Made in Nova Scotia Process so a communities-wide communication program could take place.
Negotiators for the Mi’kmaq were on hand Tuesday to speak to the gathering at the local cultural centre.
"We don’t need to prove we have rights — it’s done," said Viola Robinson, chief negotiator for the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs.
"This process is about how to implement our rights and to protect them."
Joe B. Marshall told the group that he is involved with the process because he believes it is important.
"The Nova Scotia chiefs signed an agreement with both levels of government on how to implement our treaties, not to throw them away or change them," he said.
One Mi’kmaq man who lives off-reserve told the negotiators he couldn’t understand why it took two people to go on hunger strikes in order to get information out.
"Why did it take Shelley and her fast for us to be here today?" asked Steve Pierro.
"We don’t know what’s going on. It took 11 days for us to be here, and it took you guys 11 years."
Robinson said negotiators had visited communities many times, but they drew small crowds and there didn’t seem to be much interest.
"One thing Shelley did do is poke us because we need to hear from Mi’kmaq communities," said Robinson.
For her part, Young wasn’t letting anyone off the hook.
"We elect our chiefs and councillors, and they can come to our doors to ask for our vote," she said. "So they can come to tell us about these important issues to make sure people are informed."
Young said negotiators are talking about issues like land claims and self-government, issues she described as big red flags.
"There are separate provincial negotiations, and that means there will be different rights in different provinces," she said. "Why is the Mi’kmaq nation being divided?"
The group will hold the next community information session tonight at 6 p.m. in Millbrook at the community hall.
(mmacintyre@herald.ca)
------------
I own 8 incredible old books on North American Indians from the 70s.... and they tell incredible stories of the brilliant American Native Indians of Canada USA- brilliant, beautiful and as structured as the ancient Romans- I adore our First Nations, Metis and Inuit and North American People...
THE FIRST PEOPLE OF NORTH AMERICA- always... used to have almost a hundred in my younger days...
THIS LAND AND THESE PEOPLE- An Illustated History of Canada-1977 W.L Morton & L.F. Hannon
Heather Robertson- 1970 (original) Reservations are 4 Indians
Mi'kmaq Fisheries - Netukulimk -Towards a Better Understanding
CHARLES DICKENS SON- Francis Dickins who served 1874- 1886s in Canada's
DICKINS OF THE MOUNTED... North West Mounted Police1989
THE NEW WORLD- The First Pictures of America-Stefan Lorant 1965 -First Revised Edition
DESIGNS OF THE ANCIENT MIMBRENOS- with a Hopi Interpretation -Fred Kabotie 1982 2nd Edition
AMERICAN INDIAN- Oliver LaFarge- 1956 First Edition- A pictorial history of the American Indian
CANADA- A Portrait of Faith-1998-2nd Edition
-------------
Harper names envoy to deal with First Nations concerns on pipelines and energy
Heather Scoffield, Tuesday, March 19, 2013 6:54 PM
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has named an envoy to defuse the tension between First Nations and the energy and pipeline industry that threatens his plan to quickly develop Canada's natural resources.
Vancouver-based lawyer Doug Eyford will focus on energy infrastructure in Western Canada and submit a preliminary report directly to Harper by the end of June and a final report by the end of November.
He is to examine First Nations concerns about the troubled Northern Gateway pipeline proposal, as well as the development of liquid natural gas plants, marine terminals and other energy infrastructure in British Columbia and Alberta.
He will discuss environmental protection, jobs and economic development, and First Nations rights to a share of the wealth from natural resources. But he said he won't argue in favour of development.
"It is essential that we work closely with First Nations communities, in order to incorporate their knowledge and experience," Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said Tuesday from Terrace, B.C., where he announced Eyford's appointment.
"This truth exists independently of the Crown's constitutional duty to consult on individual projects."
Eyford is also the federal government's chief negotiator on comprehensive land claims, but Oliver said his appointment was cleared by the federal ethics commissioner.
Government officials said Eyford's reports will not be made public.
The federal NDP welcomed Harper's attention to First Nations concerns in natural resource development.
But critic Jean Crowder said such a move would not have been necessary if Harper had listened to First Nations in the first place, well before opposition to the Northern Gateway pipeline and the government's resource agenda boiled over.
"First Nations have loudly and clearly said that resource development won't happen without them at the table," Crowder said in an interview. "I think this is an afterthought because they bungled the process and now they have to step up and do something."
Oliver stressed that the envoy won't get directly involved in regulatory hearings for the Northern Gateway pipeline or any other project.
"The representative's report will not replace negotiations between aboriginal communities and industry on specific projects and is not intended to," the minister said. "It is meant to encourage and stimulate those discussions.
"This will not be dialogue for dialogue's sake, but dialogue in search of solutions. We don't want another process. We want a product."
It's the first concrete step to come from a crisis meeting between Harper and leading chiefs in the midst of widespread protests in January.
The prime minister promised to empower top officials to deal with First Nations complaints about rights, treaties and the sharing of natural resource wealth and to continue a dialogue with the Assembly of First Nations.
But the AFN did not appear to be part of Tuesday's announcement and did not have any immediate comment.
The assembly has complained that a new process set out in January 2012 was going nowhere because the federal government was not consulting First Nations people nor had it given its bureaucrats a clear mandate.
Unrest boiled over in December, with a protesting Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence and demonstrators in the Idle No More movement demanding more government consultation and a larger role for First Nations and environmental protection in the government's resource development agenda.
Protesters rallied against the government's overhaul of environmental assessment and environmental protection legislation, arguing that Ottawa had failed to meet its responsibility to consult with First Nations before changing protective laws.
Meanwhile, some First Nations have abandoned federal hearings on the Northern Gateway pipeline that would link the Alberta oilsands and the West Coast, saying they can no longer afford to participate. British Columbia has not yet sanctioned the project.
While many in Ottawa believe the Gateway project is dead, Alberta Premier Alison Redford told The Canadian Press this week that she believes the pipeline will eventually be approved. However, she stressed that regulatory approval alone is not enough.
"I think there is a lot of work to be done with respect to First Nations, to ensuring that there's economic benefit for communities right through," she said in an interview Monday.
"I think it would be wrong to think (Northern Gateway) has gone off the books and shouldn't happen or won't happen.
"But I do think that everyone is realizing that as the date of that decision gets closer, that there's a great risk that it could not happen and they're now understanding what the consequences could be."
Read it on Global News: Global News | Harper names envoy to deal with First Nations concerns on pipelines and energy
--------------
Toronto's first Aboriginal Women and Youth Awards
TORONTO, March 12, 2013 /CNW/ - The Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto (NWRCT) is hosting the Minaake Awards. This is Toronto's first Aboriginal Women and Youth Community Achievement Awards, on April 10, 2013.
"Minaake" (pronounced min-nah-kay), in Ojibwe, means people who are on the good path.
NWRCT is an award winning charity that offers life-enhancing resources, cultural ceremonies and teachings, and skill development programs to Aboriginal women and their children in the GTA.
The awards will be presented to Aboriginal women and youth who have made positive changes in their lives, inspired others, and made significant contributions in their community. This event will feature the presentation of six awards: Leadership, Advocacy and Human Rights; The Good Path, LGBT/Two-Spirited, Challenger (Youth), and Culture Keeper.
The Minaake Awards will take place on
When: Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Time: 6 pm - 8:30 pm
TD Bank Tower 66 Wellington Street West, 54th Floor, Toronto
Master of Ceremony: Sandra Laronde, Founder of Red Sky (Canada's leading company in contemporary Indigenous performance in dance, theatre and music) and Director of Indigenous Arts at The Banff Centre.
Award presenters include Lee Maracle, one of Canada's most prolific First Nations' writers and Jessica Danforth, founder of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network. The evening will include traditional Aboriginal hors d'oeuvres including bannock rounds, wild rice cakes, and mini bison pot pies and Native arts and crafts in a silent auction. Musical performances will feature Inuit throat singing and women's hand drumming.
This event is sponsored by TD (Title sponsor), CIBC, Scotiabank, DASD Contracting, and OPSEU.
Tickets are $75 and can be purchased online at http://guestli.st/142815
All proceeds of the ticket sales support the NWRCT and its programs. Event updates can be found on Twitter for @nwrct and #minaake.
SOURCE: Native Women's Resource Centre Of Toronto
For further information:
For media passes or more information, contact:
Penny Deeth
Volunteer & Events Co-ordinator
Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto
416-963-9963
volunteer.nwrct@gmail.com
----------
Get this monster away from CSC- this warden allowed the systemic torture of this girl and it will NOT be tolerated..... get her gone.... Ashley's blood is on the hands of ALL Canadians...
Fired Ashley Smith warden back at CSC
Laura Stone, Global News : Tuesday, March 19, 2013 3:00 PM
19-year-old Ashley Smith choked to death in prison in 2007 as guards watched and did nothing to help.
Photo Credit: Files , Global News
RELATED
Key moments in the Ashley Smith inquest
Ashley Smith, 19, choked herself to death in a Kitchener, Ont., prison almost four years ago. Jurors view Ashley Smith death video; frantic efforts failed to revive teen
The prison warden who was fired after Ashley Smith's death is back working for the Correctional Service of Canada, Global News has learned.
Cindy Berry was acting warden when 19-year-old Smith choked herself to death on Oct. 19, 2007, at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont.
After Berry’s dismissal, a Conservative spokesman said in 2009 accountability and disciplinary action had been taken.
But it turns out Berry has been employed as a senior project officer at CSC's Ontario regional headquarters in Kingston, Ont since June 2012.
Corrections officials would not answer questions about why Berry was brought back.
"For privacy reasons, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) cannot comment on the circumstances or specific details of the employment of any individual," spokeswoman Veronique Rioux said in an email.
Calls to Berry’s office were not returned.
Berry is the latest example of what advocates say is a lack of accountability at CSC following Smith’s death.
"I think it sends a terrible message, that there is a double standard," said Kim Pate, executive director of the Canadian Association Elizabeth Fry Societies, who works with incarcerated women and knew Smith well.
"The message it sends to every prisoner, is that you are being held accountable for breaching the law... but those in whose custody, care and control you are, apparently don’t have the same level of accountability."
Pate said the system needs judicial oversight to hold corrections accountable and require them to take action.
Berry was one of 12 people fired or disciplined following Smith’s death - none of them high-ranking officials within the CSC.
A Global News investigation shows some senior prison officials have seen their careers continue and even flourish since Smith’s death more than five years ago, while others have retired.
Examples include:
- Don Head, promoted from senior deputy commissioner to CSC commissioner in 2008. He still runs the country's prison system today.
- Johanne Vallee, who was deputy commissioner for women at the time of Smith’s death, has since moved on to become regional deputy commissioner in Quebec.
- Nancy Stableford, regional deputy commissioner for Ontario during Smith’s incarceration, who has since retired.
Global News sent multiple requests to speak to Head, Vallee and Stableford, but has not received a response.
In his 2008 report on Smith’s death, Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers said most senior staff within CSC, including the commissioner, were aware of Smith’s ongoing self-injury.
While he did not mention Berry by name in the report, Sapers said the acting warden told both the Ontario regional deputy commissioner and deputy commissioner for women about the challenges of managing Smith in prison.
Berry was one of six people fired following Smith’s death, which included the deputy warden, three correctional officers and a manager.
But three of the four correctional workers – who originally faced charges after Smith’s death - are back on the job. The other officer was allowed to resign.
The charges against the officers were dropped after the Crown discovered CSC failed to disclose critical material about the orders the accused were given.
Six other employees who were suspended, docked pay or reprimanded have all had their punishments reduced.
Smith, originally incarcerated as a youth for throwing crab apples at a postal worker, was transferred 17 times during her 11 months in prison.
She spent much of her time in segregation and video footage also showed Smith being forcibly restrained and injected with medication against her will. On the day she died, Smith was under suicide watch as guards stood outside her cell watching her.
An Ontario coroner's inquest into Smith's death began in January, and is set to resume on March 25.
It is expected to last at least six months and hear from up to 100 witnesses.
So far, the inquest has heard from guards who testified that they were given instructions shortly before Smith's death not to enter her cell if she was breathing.
Another officer testified Berry had scolded him for showing "warmth" to Smith, which amounted to human interaction.
"She was a hot potato, a hot potato being bounced around at the national level," said lawyer Julian Falconer, who is representing Smith’s family at the inquest.
A spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, the minister responsible for CSC, said in a statement "this is a very sad case and our thoughts and prayers go out to Ms. Smith's family."
"The government directed Corrections Canada to fully cooperate with the coroner's inquest. Our government takes the issue of mental health in prison very seriously. That’s why we have taken action to improve access to mental health treatment."
But NDP public safety critic Randall Garrison said some policies for mentally ill inmates have not yet been implemented.
"I am concerned when we focus on the discipline of the employees, when in fact the minister and the head of corrections did not have adequate policies in place to deal with people with mental illness," he said.
"What is it that people were asked to do? If they’re trying to do their best to do the job in the conditions they’re given, then I’m not sure that’s a question of discipline, that’s a question of government policy and resources to treating people with mental health issues in our prisons."
In his report Sapers found that CSC failed to provide "an acceptable level of humane professional care and treatment" to Smith while she was in its custody.
He said senior executives at CSC national headquarters and regional headquarters closely review the daily situation reports which outline significant incidents in federal prisons.
"Yet, there is little evidence that anyone beyond the institutional level effectively intervened before Ms. Smith died."
The following is a list of officials in senior positions at the CSC and in the federal government at the time of Ashley Smith’s incarceration, death, and aftermath. This information is publicly available and compiled by Global News.
Name
October 2006 During incarceration October 2007 Post-incarceration Current
Ian McCowan
Assistant Commissioner,
Policy Sector CSC (July 2006)
Asst. Cmsr
Asst. Cmsr
Asst. Cmsr
Assistant Secretary,
Commodities and Consultations,
Privy Council Office (Feb 20, 2012)
Chris Price
Acting Director General, Security NHQ
CSC (2006)
DG - Security
DG - Security
Assistant Commissioner, Correctional
Operations and Programs CSC (June
8, 2009)
Retired (Sept. 30, 2012)
Nancy Stableforth
Regional Deputy Commissioner,
Ontario
RDC - ON
RDC - ON
Assistant Commissioner, Health Services
(Sept. 6, 2011)
Transformation Adviser (Aug 5, 2008)
Retired (Feb 15, 2013)
Therese Leblanc
Assistant Deputy Commissioner,
Institution Operation, ON
region (Dec 2006)
ADCIO
Deputy Commissioner for Women
(April 14, 2008)
Regional Deputy Commissioner,
Atlantic (Oct 2008)
Lori MacDonald
Acting deputy Commissioner for Women
DCFW Assistant Commissioner,
Communications and Citizen
Engagement
Assistant Deputy Commissioner,
Institutional operations, On (Jan 11, 2010)
Regional Deputy Commissioner,
Ontario (Feb 2012)
Ross Toller
Assistant Commissioner, Correctional
Operations and Programs CSC
ACCOP ACCOP
retired
Johanne Vallee
Quebec Provincial Court
Deputy Commissioner for Women
(March 12, 2007)
DCW Regional Deputy Commissioner, Quebec
(April 1, 2009)
Assistant Commissioner, Policy Sector
(Feb 6, 2012)
Simon Coakeley Regional Deputy Commissioner - Atlantic Executive Director, Immigration
and Refugee
Board of Canada
Keith Coulter Commissioner of
Corrections (2005)
Commissioner Commissioner Special Adviser to Minister of
Veteran's Affairs (Oct 20, 2009) External Member Privy Council Office
Audit Committee (June 28, 2009)
Cheryl Fraser Assistant Commissioner,
Human Resources, CSC Asst. comm. Asst. comm. Assistant Commissioner, Human
Resources Canada Revenue Agency
(Sept 14, 2009)
Don Head Senior Deputy Commissioner,
CSC SDC SDC Commissioner of Corrections
(July 2008) Commissioner
Read it on Global News: Global News | Fired Ashley Smith warden back at CSC
-----------
US AMERICAN INDIANS WANT respect, dignity and consultation in all matters pertaining to their land treaties that r not only valid.... but we must remember - North American Indians roamed this land 10,000 years before we arrived..... we must respect and ensure that all North American Indians are part of consultations...
IDLE NO MORE- means all First Nations, Metis, Inuit participate not just leaders - each and all must be part of negotiations and process....
USA
UN Special Rapporteur Calls for Restoration of Some Indian Lands
By Meteor Blades
Photo of UN Special Rapporteur James Anaya
James AnayaJames Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, recently spent 10 days working his way across the country to examine the situation of Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians. He held meetings with federal and state government officials, as well as with indigenous nations and their representatives. The first meeting was April 23 at the Navajo Washington Office in D.C. He also met that day in a closed-door session with elected tribal officials at the Embassy of Tribal Nations in Washington. It was a whirlwind afterward in six states, Oregon, Oklahoma, Alaska, Arizona, Washington and South Dakota.
Before he departed on Friday, Anaya said that restoring some lands, such as the Black Hills, to Indian control could help build reconciliation between Indians and non-Indians.
"The sense of loss, alienation and indignity is pervasive throughout Indian country," Anaya said in a statement released Friday.
"It is evident that there have still not been adequate measures of reconciliation to overcome the persistent legacies of the history of oppression, and that there is still much healing that needs to be done."
He pointed to the loss of tribal lands as a particularly sore point, naming the Black Hills of South Dakota and the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona as places where indigenous peoples feel they have "too little control."
"Securing the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands is of central importance to indigenous peoples' socio-economic development, self-determination, and cultural integrity," Anaya said.
You can learn more about his mission and what he did on his first visits at his web site here.
What follows is testimony given by several Indians at various meetings with Anaya.
Debra White Plume's (Oglala Lakota) testimony:
Debra White Plume
Debra White PlumeThere are uranium, oil, and gas corporations here now, and more want to come. We did not invite them. America welcomes Canadian-owned Cameco uranium corporation, TransCanada oil pipeline corporation, and PowerTech uranium corporation to come and obtain permits to mine uranium and slurry oil in our Territory against our wishes, this extraction and pipeline threatens our [Ogallala] Aquifer, which gives 2 million people drinking water and irrigates the world's bread basket. We have not given our free, prior and informed consent as required by the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, we know not everyone is satisfied with the Declaration, but it is a minimum standards document.
Mr. Anaya, I ask you to keep this message clear, do not pretty up my testimony. I am saying that America is committing ethnocide against our way of life, eco-cide against our Mother Earth, and genocide in our Lakota Homelands. Our Human Rights are being violated and our Inherent Right to live as Lakota People and Nation is being violated as well. Without access to our lands and waters we cannot live our collective Inherent Rights to be who we are.
We must have our lands. Share this message with the world. The United States Supreme Court agreed our Territory was stolen by the United States and was the ripest, rankest case of land theft in the United States of America's history and thus awarded us millions of dollars. Tell the world we refused the money. We want our lands and our waters. We want our Treaties upheld. We must have our lands.
In Tucson, Damon Watahomigie (Havasupai) testified: "As the first born warriors of the Grand Canyon we refuse to become the next millennium's world terrorists by allowing mega nuclear industrial complex mining industries to mine in the Grand Canyon."
As did Leonard Benally (Navajo):
Photobucket
Leonard BenallyBen Shelly [president] of the Navajo Nation is working with Senator Kyl and McCain to pass legislation for the Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement that gives away our water rights to Peabody Coal Company and Navajo Generating Station. We believe the Settlement is a tragedy not only due to the minimizing [of] Navajo rights but is waiving hundreds of millions of dollars in potential compensation for rights waived.
Our liberty is being sacrificed for an economic bonanza based on fraud and corruption. Our justice has been prostituted by hand-outs, hopelessness, and conformity elevated to the status of the national security doctrines. We are the historical lot of the dispossessed. Democracy has been whitewashed with imported detergent that allows reclaimed sewer water to get dumped on our sacred San Francisco Peaks.
Peabody's collusion with the U.S. government has resulted in a dark infamy of genocide and crimes against my people and the environment - relocation, the Bennett Freeze, uranium mining, all in the pursuit of energy resource development fueled by corporate and governmental greed and collusion.
Photobucket
Glenna Begay with
Fern Benally translatingFrom Glenna Begay (Navajo):
"Residents in the mining area have been jailed or threatened with jail for trying to protect their burial and sacred sites. Other residents have watched the unearthing of graves."
From Hathalie [Medicine Man] Norris Nez (Navajo):
"In Big Mountain, Black Mesa, on Hopi Partition Land (HPL) there were many sacred sites where offerings were given.The Holy People, the Star People recognize us by these sites that are sacred where we Diné, five fingered humans give offerings. They acknowledge that we are doing our duty to give our offerings to the Holy People. These places are for the wellness of the people, not only the Diné. Our prayers are said for all mankind."
-------------
AMERICAN INDIANS ARE NOT CONSULTED OR PART OF ANY NEGOTIATING PROCESS.... on their treaties.... and yes Canada- American Indians still have treaties.... valid and strong ones...
DID U KNOW SENATE IS VOTING ON ..oil pipelines etc. today... and American Indians have NOT been consulted???
US Department of the Interior
Indian Affairs
Frequently Asked Questions
I. Why Tribes Exist Today in the United States
What are Indian treaty rights?
From 1778 to 1871, the United States’ relations with individual American Indian nations indigenous to what is now the U.S. were defined and conducted largely through the treaty-making process. These "contracts among nations" recognized and established unique sets of rights, benefits, and conditions for the treaty-making tribes who agreed to cede of millions of acres of their homelands to the United States and accept its protection. Like other treaty obligations of the United States, Indian treaties are considered to be "the supreme law of the land," and they are the foundation upon which federal Indian law and the federal Indian trust relationship is based.
What is the legal status of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes?
Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution vests Congress, and by extension the Executive and Judicial branches of our government, with the authority to engage in relations with the tribes, thereby firmly placing tribes within the constitutional fabric of our nation. When the governmental authority of tribes was first challenged in the 1830's, U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall articulated the fundamental principle that has guided the evolution of federal Indian law to the present: That tribes possess a nationhood status and retain inherent powers of self-government.
What is the federal Indian trust responsibility?
The federal Indian trust responsibility is a legal obligation under which the United States "has charged itself with moral obligations of the highest responsibility and trust" toward Indian tribes (Seminole Nation v. United States, 1942). This obligation was first discussed by Chief Justice John Marshall in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831). Over the years, the trust doctrine has been at the center of numerous other Supreme Court cases, thus making it one of the most important principles in federal Indian law.
The federal Indian trust responsibility is also a legally enforceable fiduciary obligation on the part of the United States to protect tribal treaty rights, lands, assets, and resources, as well as a duty to carry out the mandates of federal law with respect to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages. In several cases discussing the trust responsibility, the Supreme Court has used language suggesting that it entails legal duties, moral obligations, and the fulfillment of understandings and expectations that have arisen over the entire course of the relationship between the United States and the federally recognized tribes.
What is a federally recognized tribe?
A federally recognized tribe is an American Indian or Alaska Native tribal entity that is recognized as having a government-to-government relationship with the United States, with the responsibilities, powers, limitations, and obligations attached to that designation, and is eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Furthermore, federally recognized tribes are recognized as possessing certain inherent rights of self-government (i.e., tribal sovereignty) and are entitled to receive certain federal benefits, services, and protections because of their special relationship with the United States. At present, there are 566 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages.
How is federal recognition status conferred?
Historically, most of today’s federally recognized tribes received federal recognition status through treaties, acts of Congress, presidential executive orders or other federal administrative actions, or federal court decisions.
In 1978, the Interior Department issued regulations governing the Federal Acknowledgment Process (FAP) to handle requests for federal recognition from Indian groups whose character and history varied widely in a uniform manner. These regulations – 25 C.F.R. Part 83 – were revised in 1994 and are still in effect.
Also in 1994, Congress enacted Public Law 103-454, the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act (108 Stat. 4791, 4792), which formally established three ways in which an Indian group may become federally recognized:
•By Act of Congress,
•By the administrative procedures under 25 C.F.R. Part 83, or
•By decision of a United States court.
However, a tribe whose relationship with the United States has been expressly terminated by Congress may not use the Federal Acknowledgment Process. Only Congress can restore federal recognition to a "terminated" tribe.
The Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act also requires the Secretary of the Interior to publish annually a list of the federally recognized tribes in the Federal Register.
What does tribal sovereignty mean to American Indians and Alaska Natives?
When tribes first encountered Europeans, they were a power to be reckoned with because the combined American Indian and Alaska Native population dominated the North American continent. Their strength in numbers, the control they exerted over the natural resources within and between their territories, and the European practice of establishing relations with countries other than themselves and the recognition of tribal property rights led to tribes being seen by exploring foreign powers as sovereign nations, who treatied with them accordingly.
However, as the foreign powers’ presence expanded and with the establishment and growth of the United States, tribal populations dropped dramatically and tribal sovereignty gradually eroded. While tribal sovereignty is limited today by the United States under treaties, acts of Congress, Executive Orders, federal administrative agreements and court decisions, what remains is nevertheless protected and maintained by the federally recognized tribes against further encroachment by other sovereigns, such as the states. Tribal sovereignty ensures that any decisions about the tribes with regard to their property and citizens are made with their participation and consent.
What is a federal Indian reservation?
In the United States there are three types of reserved federal lands: military, public, and Indian. A federal Indian reservation is an area of land reserved for a tribe or tribes under treaty or other agreement with the United States, executive order, or federal statute or administrative action as permanent tribal homelands, and where the federal government holds title to the land in trust on behalf of the tribe.
Approximately 56.2 million acres are held in trust by the United States for various Indian tribes and individuals. There are approximately 326 Indian land areas in the U.S. administered as federal Indian reservations (i.e., reservations, pueblos, rancherias, missions, villages, communities, etc.). The largest is the 16 million-acre Navajo Nation Reservation located in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The smallest is a 1.32-acre parcel in California where the Pit River Tribe’s cemetery is located. Many of the smaller reservations are less than 1,000 acres.
Some reservations are the remnants of a tribe’s original land base. Others were created by the federal government for the resettling of Indian people forcibly relocated from their homelands. Not every federally recognized tribe has a reservation. Federal Indian reservations are generally exempt from state jurisdiction, including taxation, except when Congress specifically authorizes such jurisdiction.
Are there any federal Indian reservations in Alaska?
Yes, one. It is the Metlakatla Indian Community of the Annette Island Reserve in southeastern Alaska.
Are there other types of "Indian lands"?
Yes. Other types of Indian lands are:
•Allotted lands, which are remnants of reservations broken up during the federal allotment period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although the practice of allotting lands had begun in the eighteenth century, it was put to greater use after the Civil War. By 1885, over 11,000 patents had been issued to individual Indians under various treaties and laws. Starting with the General Allotment Act in 1887 (also known as the Dawes Act) until the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, allotments were conveyed to members of affected tribes and held in trust by the federal government. As allotments were taken out of trust, they became subject to state and local taxation, which resulted in thousands of acres passing out of Indian hands. Today, 10,059,290.74 million acres of individually owned lands are still held in trust for allotees and their heirs.
•Restricted status, also known as restricted fee, where title to the land is held by an individual Indian person or a tribe and which can only be alienated or encumbered by the owner with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior because of limitations contained in the conveyance instrument pursuant to federal law.
•State Indian reservations, which are lands held in trust by a state for an Indian tribe. With state trust lands title is held by the state on behalf of the tribe and the lands are not subject to state property tax. They are subject to state law, however. State trust lands stem from treaties or other agreements between a tribal group and the state government or the colonial government(s) that preceded it.
American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, businesses, and individuals may also own land as private property. In such cases, they are subject to state and local laws, regulations, codes, and taxation.
Does the United States still make treaties with Indian tribes?
No. Congress ended treaty-making with Indian tribes in 1871. Since then, relations with Indian groups have been formalized and/or codified by Congressional acts, Executive Orders, and Executive Agreements. Between 1778, when the first treaty was made with the Delawares, to 1871, when Congress ended the treaty-making period, the United States Senate ratified 370 treaties. At least 45 others were negotiated with tribes but were never ratified by the Senate.
The treaties that were made often contain commitments that have either been fulfilled or subsequently superseded by Congressional legislation.
In addition, American Indians and Alaska Natives can access education, health, welfare, and other social service programs available to all citizens, if they are eligible. Even if a tribe does not have a treaty with the United States, or has treaties that were negotiated but not ratified, its members may still receive services from the BIA or other federal programs, if eligible.
The specifics of particular treaties signed by government negotiators with Indian tribes are contained in one volume (Vol. II) of the publication, Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties: 1778-1883, compiled, annotated, and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Published by the United States Government Printing Office in 1904, it is now out of print, but can be found in most large law libraries and on the Internet at http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler. The treaty volume has also been published privately under the title, "Indian Treaties: 1778-1883."
Originals of all the treaties are maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration of the General Services Administration. For more information on how to obtain copies or for more information about the treaties visit NARA’s website at www.nara.gov .
II. The Nature of Federal-Tribal and State-Tribal Relations
What is the relationship between the tribes and the United States?
The relationship between federally recognized tribes and the United States is one between sovereigns, i.e., between a government and a government. This "government-to-government" principle, which is grounded in the United States Constitution, has helped to shape the long history of relations between the federal government and these tribal nations.
What is the relationship between the tribes and the individual states?
Because the Constitution vested the Legislative Branch with plenary power over Indian Affairs, states have no authority over tribal governments unless expressly authorized by Congress. While federally recognized tribes generally are not subordinate to states, they can have a government-to-government relationship with these other sovereigns, as well.
Furthermore, federally recognized tribes possess both the right and the authority to regulate activities on their lands independently from state government control. They can enact and enforce stricter or more lenient laws and regulations than those of the surrounding or neighboring state(s) wherein they are located. Yet, tribes frequently collaborate and cooperate with states through compacts or other agreements on matters of mutual concern such as environmental protection and law enforcement.
What is Public Law 280 and where does it apply?
In 1953, Congress enacted Public Law 83-280 (67 Stat. 588) to grant certain states criminal jurisdiction over American Indians on reservations and to allow civil litigation that had come under tribal or federal court jurisdiction to be handled by state courts. However, the law did not grant states regulatory power over tribes or lands held in trust by the United States; federally guaranteed tribal hunting, trapping, and fishing rights; basic tribal governmental functions such as enrollment and domestic relations; nor the power to impose state taxes. These states also may not regulate matters such as environmental control, land use, gambling, and licenses on federal Indian reservations.
The states required by Public Law 280 to assume civil and criminal jurisdiction over federal Indian lands were Alaska (except the Metlakatla Indian Community on the Annette Island Reserve, which maintains criminal jurisdiction), California, Minnesota (except the Red Lake Reservation), Nebraska, Oregon (except the Warm Springs Reservation), and Wisconsin. In addition, the federal government gave up all special criminal jurisdiction in these states over Indian offenders and victims. The states that elected to assume full or partial jurisdiction were Arizona (1967), Florida (1961), Idaho (1963, subject to tribal consent), Iowa (1967), Montana (1963), Nevada (1955), North Dakota (1963, subject to tribal consent), South Dakota (1957-1961), Utah (1971), and Washington (1957-1963).
Subsequent acts of Congress, court decisions, and state actions to retrocede jurisdiction back to the Federal Government have muted some of the effects of the 1953 law, and strengthened the tribes’ jurisdiction over civil and criminal matters on their reservations.
III. Tribal Government: Powers, Rights, and Authorities
What are inherent powers of tribal self-government?
Tribes possess all powers of self-government except those relinquished under treaty with the United States, those that Congress has expressly extinguished, and those that federal courts have ruled are subject to existing federal law or are inconsistent with overriding national policies. Tribes, therefore, possess the right to form their own governments; to make and enforce laws, both civil and criminal; to tax; to establish and determine membership (i.e., tribal citizenship); to license and regulate activities within their jurisdiction; to zone; and to exclude persons from tribal lands.
Limitations on inherent tribal powers of self-government are few, but do include the same limitations applicable to states, e.g., neither tribes nor states have the power to make war, engage in foreign relations, or print and issue currency.
How do tribal members govern themselves?
For thousands of years, American Indians and Alaska Natives governed themselves through tribal laws, cultural traditions, religious customs, and kinship systems, such as clans and societies. Today, most modern tribal governments are organized democratically, that is, with an elected leadership.
Through their tribal governments, tribal members generally define conditions of membership, regulate domestic relations of members, prescribe rules of inheritance for reservation property not in trust status, levy taxes, regulate property under tribal jurisdiction, control the conduct of members by tribal ordinances, and administer justice. They also continue to utilize their traditional systems of self-government whenever and wherever possible.
How are tribal governments organized?
Most federally recognized tribes are organized under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.), including a number of Alaska Native villages, which adopted formal governing documents under the provisions of a 1936 amendment to the IRA. The passage in 1971 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601), however, provided for the creation of regional and village corporations under state law to manage the money and lands granted to Alaska Natives by the act. The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936 provided for the organization of Indian tribes within the State of Oklahoma.
Many tribes have constitutions, others operate under articles of association or other bodies of law, and some have found a way to combine their traditional systems of government within a modern governmental framework. Some do not operate under any of these acts, but are nevertheless organized under documents approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Contemporary tribal governments are usually, but not always, modeled upon the federal system of the three branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
The chief executive of a tribe is usually called a chairman, chairwoman or chairperson, but may also be called a principal chief, governor, president, mayor, spokesperson, or representative. The chief executive presides over the tribe’s legislative body and executive branch. In modern tribal government, the chief executive and members of the tribal council or business committee are almost always elected.
A tribe’s legislative body is usually called a tribal council, a village council, or a tribal business committee. It is comprised of tribal members who are elected by eligible tribal voters. In some tribes, the council is comprised of all eligible adult tribal members. Although some tribes require a referendum by their members to enact laws, a tribal council generally acts as any other legislative body in creating laws, authorizing expenditures, appropriating funds, and conducting oversight of activities carried out by the chief executive and tribal government employees. An elected tribal council and chief executive, recognized as such by the Secretary of the Interior, have authority to speak and act for the tribe as a whole, and to represent it in negotiations with federal, state, and local governments.
Furthermore, many tribes have established, or are building, their judicial branch – the tribal court system – to interpret tribal laws and administer justice.
What is the jurisdiction of tribal courts?
Generally, tribal courts have civil jurisdiction over Indians and non-Indians who either reside or do business on federal Indian reservations. They also have criminal jurisdiction over violations of tribal laws committed by tribal members residing or doing business on the reservation.
Under 25 C.F.R. Part 115, tribal courts are responsible for appointing guardians, determining competency, awarding child support from Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts, determining paternity, sanctioning adoptions, marriages, and divorces, making presumptions of death, and adjudicating claims involving trust assets. There are approximately 225 tribes that contract or compact with the BIA to perform the Secretary’s adjudicatory function and 23 Courts of Indian Offenses (also known as CFR courts) which exercise federal authority. The Indian Tribal Justice Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-176, 107 Stat. 2005) supports tribal courts in becoming, along with federal and state courts, well-established dispensers of justice in Indian Country.
What is meant by tribal self-determination and self-governance?
Congress has recognized the right of tribes to have a greater say over the development and implementation of federal programs and policies that directly impact on them and their tribal members. It did so by enacting two major pieces of legislation that together embody the important concepts of tribal self-determination and self-governance: The Indian Self-determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, as amended (25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.) and the Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 458aa et seq.). Through these laws, Congress accorded tribal governments the authority to administer themselves the programs and services usually administered by the BIA for their tribal members. It also upheld the principle of tribal consultation, whereby the federal government consults with tribes on federal actions, policies, rules or regulations that will directly affect them.
IV. Our Nation’s American Indian and Alaska Native Citizens
Who is an American Indian or Alaska Native?
As a general rule, an American Indian or Alaska Native person is someone who has blood degree from and is recognized as such by a federally recognized tribe or village (as an enrolled tribal member) and/or the United States. Of course, blood quantum (the degree of American Indian or Alaska Native blood from a federally recognized tribe or village that a person possesses) is not the only means by which a person is considered to be an American Indian or Alaska Native. Other factors, such as a person’s knowledge of his or her tribe’s culture, history, language, religion, familial kinships, and how strongly a person identifies himself or herself as American Indian or Alaska Native, are also important. In fact, there is no single federal or tribal criterion or standard that establishes a person's identity as American Indian or Alaska Native.
There are major differences, however, when the term "American Indian" is used in an ethnological sense versus its use in a political/legal sense. The rights, protections, and services provided by the United States to individual American Indians and Alaska Natives flow not from a person's identity as such in an ethnological sense, but because he or she is a member of a federally recognized tribe. That is, a tribe that has a government-to-government relationship and a special trust relationship with the United States. These special trust and government-to-government relationships entail certain legally enforceable obligations and responsibilities on the part of the United States to persons who are enrolled members of such tribes. Eligibility requirements for federal services will differ from program to program. Likewise, the eligibility criteria for enrollment (or membership) in a tribe will differ from tribe to tribe.
How large is the national American Indian and Alaska Native population?
According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the estimated population of American Indians and Alaska Natives, including those of more than one race, as of July 1, 2007, was 4.5 million, or 1.5 per cent of the total U.S. population. In the BIA’s 2005 American Indian Population and Labor Force Report, the latest available, the total number of enrolled members of the (then) 561 federally recognized tribes was shown to be less than half the Census number, or 1,978,099.
Why are American Indians and Alaska Natives also referred to as Native Americans?
When referring to American Indian or Alaska Native persons, it is still appropriate to use the terms "American Indian" and "Alaska Native." These terms denote the cultural and historical distinctions between persons belonging to the indigenous tribes of the continental United States (American Indians) and the indigenous tribes and villages of Alaska (Alaska Natives, i.e., Eskimos, Aleuts, and Indians). They also refer specifically to persons eligible for benefits and services funded or directly provided by the BIA.
The term "Native American" came into broad usage in the 1970's as an alternative to "American Indian." Since that time, however, it has been gradually expanded within the public lexicon to include all Native peoples of the United States and its trust territories, i.e., American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Chamorros, and American Samoans, as well as persons from Canada First Nations and indigenous communities in Mexico and Central and South America who are U.S. residents.
Are American Indians and Alaska Natives wards of the Federal Government?
No. The Federal Government is a trustee of Indian property, not a guardian of all American Indians and Alaska Natives. Although the Secretary of the Interior is authorized by law to protect, where necessary, the interests of minors and adult persons deemed incompetent to handle their affairs, this protection does not confer a guardian-ward relationship.
Are American Indians and Alaska Natives citizens of the United States?
Yes. As early as 1817, U.S. citizenship had been conferred by special treaty upon specific groups of Indian people. American citizenship was also conveyed by statutes, naturalization proceedings, and by service in the Armed Forces with an honorable discharge in World War I. In 1924, Congress extended American citizenship to all other American Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States. American Indians and Alaska Natives are citizens of the United States and of the individual states, counties, cities, and towns where they reside. They can also become citizens of their tribes or villages as enrolled tribal members.
Do American Indians and Alaska Natives have the right to vote?
Yes. American Indians and Alaska Natives have the right to vote just as all other U.S. citizens do. They can vote in presidential, congressional, state and local, and tribal elections, if eligible. And, just as the federal government and state and local governments have the sovereign right to establish voter eligibility criteria, so do tribal governments.
Do American Indians and Alaska Natives have the right to hold public office?
Yes. American Indians and Alaska Natives have the same rights as other citizens to hold public office. Over the years, American Indian and Alaska Native men and women have held elected and appointed offices at all levels of federal, state, and local government. Charles Curtis, a member of the Kaw Tribe of Kansas, served in both houses of Congress before holding the second highest elected office in the nation – that of Vice President of the United States under President Herbert Hoover. American Indians and Alaska Natives also serve in state legislatures, state judicial systems, county and city governments, and on local school boards.
Do American Indians and Alaska Natives have special rights different from other citizens?
Any "special" rights held by federally recognized tribes and their members are generally based on treaties or other agreements between the tribes and the United States. The heavy price American Indians and Alaska Natives paid to retain certain rights of self-government was to relinquish much of their land and resources to the United States. U.S. law protects the inherent rights they did not relinquish. Among those may be hunting and fishing rights and access to sacred sites.
Do American Indians and Alaska Natives pay taxes?
Yes. They pay the same taxes as other citizens with the following exceptions:
•Federal income taxes are not levied on income from trust lands held for them by the U.S.
•State income taxes are not paid on income earned on a federal Indian reservation.
•State sales taxes are not paid by Indians on transactions made on a federal Indian reservation.
•Local property taxes are not paid on reservation or trust land.
Do laws that apply to non-Indians also apply to Indians?
Yes. As U.S. citizens, American Indians and Alaska Natives are generally subject to federal, state, and local laws. On federal Indian reservations, however, only federal and tribal laws apply to members of the tribe, unless Congress provides otherwise. In federal law, the Assimilative Crimes Act makes any violation of state criminal law a federal offense on reservations. Most tribes now maintain tribal court systems and facilities to detain tribal members convicted of certain offenses within the boundaries of the reservation.
Do all American Indians and Alaska Natives speak a single traditional language?
No. American Indians and Alaska Natives come from a multitude of different cultures with diverse languages, and for thousands of years used oral tradition to pass down familial and cultural information among generations of tribal members. Some tribes, even if widely scattered, belong to the same linguistic families. Common means of communicating between tribes allowed trade routes and political alliances to flourish. As contact between Indians and non-Indians grew, so did the necessity of learning of new languages. Even into the 20th century, many American Indians and Alaska Natives were bi- or multilingual from learning to speak their own language and English, French, Russian, or Spanish, or even another tribal language.
It has been reported that at the end of the 15th century over 300 American Indian and Alaska Native languages were spoken. Today, fewer than 200 tribal languages are still viable, with some having been translated into written form. English, however, has become the predominant language in the home, school, and workplace. Those tribes who can still do so are working to preserve their languages and create new speakers from among their tribal populations.
Must all American Indians and Alaska Natives live on reservations?
No. American Indians and Alaska Natives live and work anywhere in the United States (and the world) just as other citizens do. Many leave their reservations, communities or villages for the same reasons as do other Americans who move to urban centers: to seek education and employment. Over one-half of the total U.S. American Indian and Alaska Native population now live away from their tribal lands. However, most return home to visit relatives; attend family gatherings and celebrations; participate in religious, cultural, or community activities; work for their tribal governments; operate businesses; vote in tribal elections or run for tribal office; retire; or to be buried.
Do American Indians and Alaska Natives serve in the Armed Forces?
Yes. American Indians and Alaska Natives have a long and distinguished history of serving in our nation’s Armed Forces.
During the Civil War, American Indians served on both sides of the conflict. Among the most well-known are Brigadier General Ely S. Parker (Seneca), an aide to Union General Ulysses S. Grant who recorded the terms of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia that ended the war, and Brigadier General Stand Watie (Cherokee), the last of the Confederate generals to cease fighting after the surrender was concluded. American Indians also fought with Theodore Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War.
During World War I over 8,000 American Indian soldiers, of whom 6,000 were volunteers, served. Their patriotism moved Congress to pass the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. In World War II, 25,000 American Indian and Alaska Native men and women fought on all fronts in Europe and the South Pacific earning, collectively, at least 71 Air Medals, 51 Silver Stars, 47 Bronze Stars, 34 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and two Congressional Medals of Honor. Alaska Natives also served in the Alaska Territorial Guard.
Starting in World War I and again in World War II, the U.S. military employed a number of American Indian servicemen to use their tribal languages as a military code that could not be broken by the enemy. These "code talkers" came from many different tribes, including Chippewa, Choctaw, Creek, Crow, Comanche, Hopi, Navajo, Seminole, and Sioux. During World War II, the Navajos constituted the largest component within that elite group.
In the Korean Conflict, one Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded to an American Indian serviceman. In the Vietnam War, 41,500 Indian service personnel served. In 1990, prior to Operation Desert Storm, some 24,000 Indian men and women were in the military. Approximately 3,000 served in the Persian Gulf with three among those killed in action. American Indian service personnel have also served in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom).
While American Indians and Alaska Natives have the same obligations for military service as other U.S. citizens, many tribes have a strong military tradition within their cultures, and veterans are considered to be among their most honored members.
V. The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs, the BIA, and the BIE
Who is the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs?
The Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs (AS-IA) has responsibility for fulfilling the Interior Department’s trust responsibilities to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and individuals, as well as promoting the self-determination and economic well-being of the tribes and their members. The Assistant Secretary together with the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA); the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE); the Office of External Affairs; the Office of Federal Acknowledgment; the Office of Regulatory Management, as well as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Economic Development; and the Deputy Assistant Secretary – Management.
There have been 11 assistant secretaries since the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs was established by DOI Secretarial order in 1977. The current Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs is Larry Echo Hawk, an enrolled member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, who was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 19, 2009. The assistant secretaries for Indian Affairs are:
Forrest J. Gerard, Blackfeet (1977-1980)
Thomas W. Fredericks, Mandan-Hidatsa (1980-1981)
Kenneth L. Smith, Wasco (1981-1984)
Ross O. Swimmer, Cherokee (1985-1989)
Dr. Eddie F. Brown, Tohono O’odham-Yaqui (1989-1993)
Ada E. Deer, Menominee (1993-1997)
Kevin Gover, Pawnee (1997-2001)
Neal McCaleb, Chickasaw (2001-2002)
David W. Anderson, Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa-Choctaw (2003-2005)
Carl J. Artman, Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin (2007-2008)
Larry Echo Hawk, Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma (2009-Present)
What is the Bureau of Indian Affairs?
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is the primary federal agency charged with carrying out the United States’ trust responsibility to American Indian and Alaska Native people, maintaining the federal government-to-government relationship with the federally recognized Indian tribes, and promoting and supporting tribal self-determination. The bureau implements federal laws and policies and administers programs established for American Indians and Alaska Natives under the trust responsibility and the government-to-government relationship.
What is the BIA’s history?
The Continental Congress governed Indian affairs during the first years of the United States – in 1775 it established a Committee on Indian Affairs headed by Benjamin Franklin. At the end of the eighteenth century, Congress transferred the responsibility for managing trade relations with the tribes to the Secretary of War by its act of August 20, 1789 (1 Stat. 54). An Office of Indian Trade was established in the War Department by an act of April 21, 1806 (2 Stat. 402) specifically to handle this responsibility below the secretarial level. It was later abolished by an act of May 6, 1822 (3 Stat. 679) which handed responsibility for all Indian matters back to the Secretary of War.
Secretary of War John C. Calhoun administratively established the BIA within the his department on March 11, 1824. Congress later legislatively established the bureau and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs post via the act of July 9, 1832 (4 Stat. 564). In 1849, the BIA was transferred to the newly created Interior Department. In the years that followed, the Bureau was known variously as the Indian office, the Indian bureau, the Indian department, and the Indian service. The name "Bureau of Indian Affairs" was formally adopted by the Interior Department on September 17, 1947.
Since 1824 there have been 45 Commissioners of Indian Affairs of which six have been American Indian or Alaska Native: Ely S. Parker, Seneca (1869-1871); Robert L. Bennett, Oneida (1966-1969); Louis R. Bruce, Mohawk-Oglala Sioux (1969-1973); Morris Thompson, Athabascan (1973-1976); Benjamin Reifel, Sioux (1976-1977); and William E. Hallett, Red Lake Chippewa (1979-1981).
For almost 200 years—beginning with treaty agreements negotiated by the United States and tribes in the late 18th and 19th centuries, through the General Allotment Act of 1887, which opened tribal lands west of the Mississippi to non-Indian settlers, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 when American Indians and Alaska Natives were granted U.S. citizenship and the right to vote, the New Deal and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which established modern tribal governments, the World War II period of relocation and the post-War termination era of the 1950s, the activism of the 1960s and 1970s that saw the takeover of the BIA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to the passage of landmark legislation such as the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 and the Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994, which have fundamentally changed how the BIA and the tribes conduct business with each other—the BIA has embodied the trust and government-to-government relationships between the U.S. and the tribal nations that bear the designation "federally recognized."
What is the BIA's relationship today with American Indians and Alaska Natives?
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is a rarity among federal agencies. With roots reaching back to the the earliest days of the republic, the BIA is almost as old as the United States itself. For most of its existence, the BIA has mirrored the public's ambivalence towards the nation's indigenous people. But, as federal policy has evolved from seeking the subjugation of American Indians and Alaska Natives into one that respects tribal self-determination, so, too, has the BIA's mission evolved into one that is based on service to and partnership with the tribes.
The BIA Mission Statement, which is based on principles embodied in federal treaties, laws and policies, and in judicial decisions, clearly describes the bureau's relationship today with the American Indian and Alaska Native people:
"The BIA's mission is to enhance the quality of life, to promote economic opportunity, and to carry out the responsibility to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Indian tribes and Alaska Natives. We will accomplish this through the delivery of quality services, maintaining government-to-government relationships within the spirit of self-determination."
How does the BIA carry out its mission?
Today, in keeping with their authorities and responsibilities under the Snyder Act of 1921 and other federal laws, regulations, and treaties, BIA employees across the country work with tribal governments in the administration of employment and job training assistance; law enforcement and justice; agricultural and economic development; tribal governance; and natural resources management programs to enhance the quality of life in tribal communities. The following are just some examples of what we do:
•We provide funding to and administer government program services for the federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes located in 34 states, and through them to their approximately 1.9 million members.
•We work with tribes in the administration of approximately 56 million acres of trust land, and the natural resources therein, for the use and benefit of the tribes and individual Indians.
•We maintain five law enforcement district offices nationwide to provide police protection and investigative services for both Indian and non-Indians living in Indian Country. We also directly operate or fund tribally operated law enforcement programs, courts, and detention facilities in tribal communities across the U.S.
•We build and maintain thousands of miles of roads, as well as bridges, dams, and other physical infrastructure throughout Indian Country which benefit both Indians and non-Indians alike.
•We work with other federal, tribal, state, and local emergency personnel in responses to wildland fires and other natural disasters.
•We administer the Guaranteed Indian Loan Program to stimulate, increase, and sustain Indian entrepreneurship and business development in tribal communities.
•We assist tribes in administering federal economic development and employment and training programs.
•We administer BIA programs for tribes unable or who choose not to operate those programs.
•We directly serve thousands of individual Indian trust beneficiaries by providing assistance in the probating of Indian trust estates, administering leases approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and performing other fiduciary duties.
Until 1955, the BIA’s responsibilities included providing health care services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. That year, the function was legislatively transferred as the Indian Health Service to the U.S. Public Health Service within the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, known now as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), where it has remained to this day.
What is the Bureau of Indian Education?
The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP), is under the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. It is responsible for the line direction and management of all BIE education functions, including the formation of policies and procedures, the supervision of all program activities, and the approval of the expenditure of funds appropriated for BIE education functions.
The BIE mission, which can be found in 25 C.F.R. Part 32.3, states that the BIE is to provide quality education opportunities from early childhood through life in accordance with the tribe’s needs for cultural and economic well-being in keeping with the wide diversity of Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages as distinct cultural and governmental entities. The BIE also shall manifest consideration of the whole person by taking into account the spiritual, mental, physical, and cultural aspects of the person within his or her family and tribal or village context.
The BIE school system has 184 elementary and secondary schools and dormitories located on 63 reservations in 23 states, including seven off-reservation boarding schools and 122 schools directly controlled by tribes and tribal school boards under contracts or grants with the BIE. The bureau also funds 66 residential programs for students at 52 boarding schools and at 14 dormitories housing those attending nearby tribal or public schools. The school system employs approximately 5,000 teachers, administrators, and support personnel, while an estimated 6,600 work in tribal school systems. In School Year 2006-07, the schools served almost 48,000 students.
In the area of postsecondary education, the BIE provides support to 24 tribal colleges and universities across the U.S. serving over 25,000 students, and directly operates two institutions of higher learning: the Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) in Lawrence, Kansas, and the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It also operates higher education scholarship programs for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
There have been three major legislative actions that restructured the Bureau of Indian Affairs with regard to education since the Snyder Act of 1921. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 introduced the teaching of Indian history and culture in BIA schools, which contrasted with the federal policy at the time of acculturating and assimilating Indian people through the BIA boarding school system. The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (P.L. 90-638) gave authority to the tribes to contract with the BIA for the operation of local schools and to determine education programs suitable for their children. The Education Amendments Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-561) and further technical amendments (P.L. 98-511, 99-89, and 100-297) provided funds directly to tribal schools, empowered Indian school boards, permitted local hiring of teachers and staff, and established a direct line of authority between the OIEP Director and the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.
In 2001, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (P.L. 107-110) to bring additional requirements of accountability and academic achievement for supplemental program funds provided by the U.S. Department of Education through the OIEP to the schools. In 2006, the OIEP was formally elevated to bureau status by secretarial action and renamed the Bureau of Indian Education.
For additional information
To obtain contact information for the Federally recognized tribes, click on the "Tribal Leaders Directory" link. For information about tracing American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry to any of the federally recognized tribes, click on the "Trace Indian Ancestry" link. For information about the U.S. Indian Health Service, visit www.ihs.gov or call the IHS Public Affairs Office at (301) 443-3593.
http://www.bia.gov/FAQs/index.htm
---------------
"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."
Ancient Indian Proverb
"A Mile in His Moccasins" by Lisa Danielle
"One does not sell the land people walk on." ...
Crazy Horse, Sept. 23, 1875
Luther Standing Bear Oglala Sioux
1868-1937
The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged....
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
Black Elk Oglala Sioux Holy Man
1863-1950
You have noticed that everything as Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round..... The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours....
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.
Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."
Eagle Chief (Letakos-Lesa) Pawnee
In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals, for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through the beast, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and moon should man learn.. all things tell of Tirawa.
All things in the world are two. In our minds we are two, good and evil. With our eyes we see two things, things that are fair and things that are ugly.... We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and we have the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to a good. So are all things two, all two.
Mourning Dove Salish
1888-1936
...... everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Children were encouraged to develop strict discipline and a high regard for sharing. When a girl picked her first berries and dug her first roots, they were given away to an elder so she would share her future success. When a child carried water for the home, an elder would give compliments, pretending to taste meat in water carried by a boy or berries in that of a girl. The child was encouraged not to be lazy and to grow straight like a sapling.
Flat-Iron (Maza Blaska Oglala Sioux Chief
From Wakan-Tanka, the Great Mystery, comes all power. It is from Wakan-Tanka that the holy man has wisdom and the power to heal and make holy charms. Man knows that all healing plants are given by Wakan-Tanka, therefore they are holy. So too is the buffalo holy, because it is the gift of Wakan-Tanka.
Sarah Winnemucca Paiute
(1844-1891)
The traditions of our people are handed down from father to son. The Chief is considered to be the most learned, and the leader of the tribe. The Doctor, however, is thought to have more inspiration. He is supposed to be in communion with spirits... He cures the sick by the laying of hands, and payers and incantations and heavenly songs. He infuses new life into the patient, and performs most wonderful feats of skill in his practice.... He clothes himself in the skins of young innocent animals, such as the fawn, and decorated himself with the plumage of harmless birds, such as the dove and hummingbird ...
Big Thunder (Bedagi) Wabanaki Algonquin
The Great Spirit is in all things, he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to us....
Lone Man (Isna-la-wica) Teton Sioux
... I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself.
Shooter Teton Sioux
All birds, even those of the same species, are not alike, and it is the same with animals and with human beings. The reason WakanTanka does not make two birds, or animals, or human beings exactly alike is because each is placed here by WakanTanka to be an independent individuality and to rely upon itself.
George Copway (Kah-ge-ga-bowh) Ojibwa Chief
1818-1863
Among the Indians there have been no written laws. Customs handed down from generation to generation have been the only laws to guide them. Every one might act different from what was considered right did he choose to do so, but such acts would bring upon him the censure of the Nation.... This fear of the Nation's censure acted as a mighty band, binding all in one social, honorable compact.
Tecumseh Shawnee
"Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow before a summer sun.
"Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle, give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead and everything that is dear and sacred to us? I know you will cry with me, 'Never! Never!'"
From the 1927 Grand Council of American Indians
"The white people, who are trying to make us over into their image, they want us to be what they call "assimilated," bringing the Indians into the mainstream and destroying our own way of life and our own cultural patterns. They believe we should be contented like those whose concept of happiness is materialistic and greedy, which is very different from our way.
We want freedom from the white man rather than to be intergrated. We don't want any part of the establishment, we want to be free to raise our children in our religion, in our ways, to be able to hunt and fish and live in peace. We don't want power, we don't want to be congressmen, or bankers....we want to be ourselves. We want to have our heritage, because we are the owners of this land and because we belong here.
The white man says, there is freedom and justice for all. We have had "freedom and justice," and that is why we have been almost exterminated. We shall not forget this."
From Chief Plenty Coups, Crow
"The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the blood of our ancestors."
From Black Hawk, Sauk
"How smooth must be the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."
Shinguaconse ("Little Pine")
"My father, you have made promises to me and to my children. If the promises had been made by a person of no standing, I should not be surprised to see his promises fail. But you, who are so great in riches and power; I am astonished that I do not see your promises fulfilled!
"I would have been better pleased if you had never made such promises than that you should have made them and not performed them. . ."
Resolution of the Fifth Annual Meetings of the Traditional Elders Circle, 1980
"There are many things to be shared with the Four Colors of humanity in our common destiny as one with our Mother the Earth. It is this sharing that must be considered with great care by the Elders and the medicine people who carry the Sacred Trusts, so that no harm may come to people through ignorance and misuse of these powerful forces."
Canassatego
"We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone."
Tom Brown, Jr., The Tracker
"If today I had a young mind to direct, to start on the journey of life, and I was faced with the duty of choosing between the natural way of my forefathers and that of the... present way of civilization, I would, for its welfare, unhesitatingly set that child's feet in the path of my forefathers. I would raise him to be an Indian!"
"We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit."
Wintu Woman, 19th Century
"When we Indians kill meat, we eat it all up. When we dig roots, we make little holes. When we build houses, we make little holes. When we burn grass for grasshoppers, we don't ruin things. We shake down acorns and pine nuts. We don't chop down the trees. We only use dead wood. But the white people plow up the ground, pull down the trees, kill everything. ... the White people pay no attention. ...How can the spirit of the earth like the White man? ... everywhere the White man has touched it, it is sore."
William Commanda, Mamiwinini, Canada, 1991
"Traditional people of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to spirituality. We feel that the road to technology.... has led modern society to a damaged and seared earth. Could it be that the road to technology represents a rush to destruction, and that the road to spirituality represents the slower path that the traditional native people have traveled and are now seeking again? The earth is not scorched on this trail. The grass is still growing there."
Chief Aupumut, Mohican. 1725
"When it comes time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."
Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation
"We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees."
Zitkala-Sa
"A wee child toddling in a wonder world, I prefer to their dogma my excursions into the natural gardens where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is Paganism, then at present, at least, I am a Pagan."
From Chief Joseph, Nez Perces'
"If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace.....Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.......Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade....where I choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty."
Chief Seattle
"When the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear, when that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them."
Unknown Speaker addressing the National Congress of American Indians in the mid 1960's
"In early days we were close to nature. We judged time, weather conditions, and many things by the elements--the good earth, the blue sky, the flying of geese, and the changing winds. We looked to these for guidance and answers. Our prayers and thanksgiving were said to the four winds--to the East, from whence the new day was born; to the South, which sent the warm breeze which gave a feeling of comfort; to the West, which ended the day and brought rest; and to the North, the Mother of winter whose sharp air awakened a time of preparation for the long days ahead. We lived by God's hand through nature and evaluated the changing winds to tell us or warn us of what was ahead.
Today we are again evaluating the changing winds. May we be strong in spirit and equal to our Fathers of another day in reading the signs accurately and interpreting them wisely. May Wah-Kon-Tah, the Great Spirit, look down upon us, guide us, inspire us, and give us courage and wisdom. Above all, may He look down upon us and be pleased."
Crazy Horse - Sioux
"I was hostile to the white man...We preferred hunting to a life of idleness on our reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. All we wanted was peace and to be let alone. Soldiers came...in the winter..and destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair (Custer) came...They said we massacred him, but he would have done the same to us. Our first impulse was to escape...but we were so hemmed in we had to fight. After that I lived in peace, but the government would not let me alone. I was not allowed to remain quiet. I was tired of fighting...They tried to confine me..and a soldier ran his bayonet into me. I have spoken.
Sitting Bull Hunkpapa Sioux
"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor..but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die...we die defending our rights."
Red Cloud(Makhpiya-luta) , April, 1870
"In 1868, men came out and brought papers. We could not read them and they did not tell us truly what was in them. We thought the treaty was to remove the forts and for us to cease from fighting. But they wanted to send us traders on the Missouri, but we wanted traders where we were. When I reached Washington, the Great Father explained to me that the interpreters had deceived me. All I want is right and just."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
....I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.
Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" - Senaca
Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book?
Spotted Tail
"This war did not spring up on our land, this war was brought upon us by the children of the Great Father who came to take our land without a price, and who, in our land, do a great many evil things... This war has come from robbery - from the stealing of our land."
John Wooden Legs, Cheyenne
"Our land is everything to us... I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember that our grandfathers paid for it - with their lives."
Wovoka, Paiute
"You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.
"You ask me to dig for stones! Shall I dig under her skin for bones? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again.
"You ask me to cut grass and make hay and sell it and be rich like white men, but how dare I cut my mother's hair?
"I want my people to stay with me here. All the dead men will come to life again. Their spirits will come to their bodies again. We must wait here in the homes of our fathers and be ready to meet them in the bosom of our mother."
Chief Maquinna, Nootka
"Once I was in Victoria, and I saw a very large house. They told me it was a bank and that the white men place their money there to be taken care of, and that by and by they got it back with interest. "We are Indians and we have no such bank; but when we have plenty of money or blankets, we give them away to other chiefs and people, and by and by they return them with interest, and our hearts feel good. Our way of giving is our bank."
Many Horses
"I will follow the white man's trail. I will make him my friend, but I will not bend my back to his burdens. I will be cunning as a coyote. I will ask him to help me understand his ways, then I will prepare the way for my children, and their children. The Great Spirit has shown me - a day will come when they will outrun the white man in his own shoes."
Metea, a Potowatami chief of the Illinois nation
"My Father: a long time has passed since first we came upon our lands; and our people have all sunk into their graves. They had sense. We are all young and foolish, and do not wish to do anything that they would not approve, were they living. We are fearful we shall offend their spirits if we sell our lands; and we are fearful we shall offend you if we do not sell them. This has caused us great perplexity of thought, because we have counselled among ourselves, and do not know how we can part with our lands.
My Father, we have sold you a great tract of land already; but it is not enough! We sold it to you for the benefit of your children, to farm and to live upon. We have now but a little left. We shall want it all for ourselves. We know not how long we shall live, and we wish to leave some lands for our children to hunt upon. You are gradually taking away our hunting grounds. Your children are driving us before them. We are growing uneasy. What lands you have you may retain. But we shall sell no more
Santana, Kiowa Chief
"I love this land and the buffalo and will not part with it. I want you to understand well what I say. Write it on paper...I hear a great deal of good talk from the gentlemen the Great Father sends us, but they never do what they say. I don't want any of the medicine lodges (schools and churches) within the country. I want the children raised as I was.
I have heard you intend to settle us on a reservation near the mountains. I don't want to settle. I love to roam over the prairies. There I feel free and happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.
A long time ago this land belonged to our fathers, but when I go up to the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks. These soldiers cut down my timber, they kill my buffalo and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting."
These words from our past, tell us of the pain and loss we, the children of the Earth, feel in our hearts and express our concern for, not only our future but the future of the world as we watch the land being raped in the name of progress. I welcome your thoughts and if you have a quote youd like to share, then send them in and Ill post them here. Thanks for your input.
http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/quotes.html
---------------
CANADA
A champion at helping native youth
For U of M staffer, education vital
By: Carolyn Shimmin-Bazak / Volunteers
Posted: 03/11/2013 1:00 AM
photo
Christine Cyr (left) plays an Inuit wrestling game with Southeast Collegiate instructor Michelle Carriere.
TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image
Christine Cyr (left) plays an Inuit wrestling game with Southeast Collegiate instructor Michelle Carriere.
Following International Women's Day, it seems only fitting when Christine Cyr speaks of the many champions, all women, who have helped her become the force she is today in the community.
And now Cyr is paying it forward by becoming a champion to many youth in Winnipeg who need a little support and guidance to pursue a post-secondary education.
Cyr grew up in the North End of Winnipeg, the oldest of seven children, facing the many challenges of living in poverty. She credits the many women she met along the way, "the champions of her life," for giving her a little nudge of encouragement to focus on her future and attain a university degree.
When asked about some of the first champions she can remember in her life, she says her earliest memories of champions were the nuns who taught in her residential school. She says they would speak kindly to her, hold her hand and make sure all of children in her family had school supplies at the start of every year. She says there are many others who have literally been "guardian angels" along the way, enabling her to achieve so much, including her four sisters, close in age, who have been a source of constant encouragement.
For Cyr, education is key. For the last 13 years, she has worked as the program co-ordinator for aboriginal recruitment at the University of Manitoba. She started the Post-Secondary Club program for high school students who may be struggling to stay motivated or lack the support to pursue a post-secondary education, which she knows all too well from her own past.
"When I used to think about university when I was younger, I never believed I could do it," recalls Cyr. "I was so shy. But it changed the very course of my life."
When she first started working at the University of Manitoba, she knew she had to approach recruitment in a different way. After talking with numerous high school students, she realized she needed to see them more regularly. She started to volunteer her time after hours to work with students in three high schools, taking them on group outings, being a constant support in their lives. She recognized some youth were desperate to learn more about their culture, so she began taking the students on educational outings to sweat lodges and different events.
"Many of the youth I work with face enormous challenges just to even get to school," Cyr says.
The busy single mother of three grown children and a five-year-old boy also volunteers on boards of various community agencies, including her youngest son's former daycare centre. She is also a member of the board of trustees as well as the chairwoman of the aboriginal relations council at the United Way of Winnipeg.
"Under Christine's leadership, the council has moved from a local volunteer network to providing national leadership in areas such as aboriginal-focused philanthropy in Canada," said Ayn Wilcox, chair of the United Way board of trustees.
On Jan. 25, Cyr received the Community Service Award from the Future Leaders of Manitoba for her volunteer work in the community.
"Christine has an unmitigated drive to mentor and create opportunities for aboriginal youth," says Chris Loewen, president of Future Leaders of Manitoba. "Through her work with various community organizations, as well as at the University of Manitoba, she provides relevant guidance and options for those who might otherwise be overlooked or ignored."
If you know a special volunteer who strives to make his or her community a better place to live, please contact Carolyn Shimmin-Bazak at carolynshimmin@gmail.com.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 11, 2013 B3
-------------------
Canada failing native offenders: report
Friday, 8 March 2013 - 2:14pm
By Terry Pedwell THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA—Aboriginal offenders make up fully one-quarter of Canada’s federal prison population—and are being left behind bars far longer than their non-aboriginal counterparts, says a special report from the country’s correctional investigator.
The report by Howard Sapers, tabled yesterday in the House of Commons, chastises the government not only for how it deals with aboriginals behind bars, but also for failing to keep them out of jail in the first place.
"If I were releasing a report card on aboriginal corrections today, it would be filled with failing grades," Sapers told a news conference.
Roughly one-in-four inmates in federal penitentiaries is aboriginal yet aboriginal-specific provisions in the justice system are chronically-underfunded, the report said.
It’s a problem that’s been largely ignored and allowed to worsen during the past two decades—ever since the Corrections and Conditional Release Act was first passed into law in 1992, said Sapers.
Sections 81 and 84 of the law allow the public safety minister to transfer aboriginal inmates to community facilities and to so-called healing lodges, but that power is not being properly used, the report concluded.
"When we consider outcomes 20 years after Section 81 and Section 84 became law, we find aboriginal offenders are still much more likely to serve more of their federal sentence behind bars and in more restricted conditions of confinement than their non-aboriginal counterparts," it noted.
The landmark report found that just four agreements have been reached between the federal government and aboriginal communities to allow for Section 81 transfer of inmates, with just 68 beds available in four healing lodges across the country.
No such agreements exist in Ontario, British Columbia, Atlantic Canada, and the North.
Healing lodges in aboriginal communities also receive only a fraction of the funding that’s made available to similar facilities operated by Corrections Canada.
The BC Civil Liberties Association called the report proof that the corrections system is "racist."
"This is an appalling example of the discrimination against indigenous people in this country, and it is tearing communities and families apart," said the association’s director, Josh Paterson.
"While those who commit crimes should be dealt with appropriately by the justice system, these numbers make clear that the system over-polices and over-incarcerates indigenous people," he added.
"This is racist and it is unacceptable."
The Conservative government needs to significantly increase funding to deal with aboriginal offenders, said Sapers.
"This is a bit of a ‘pay me now [or] pay me later’ argument," he explained.
"Healing lodge beds are cheaper to run than minimum- and medium-security beds in a mainstream institution."
But under questioning in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said people are in prison for a reason.
"It is important to note that prisoners are people who were found guilty of criminal acts by independent courts," Harper said in French.
"And it is essential for society to act."
The government has bolstered spending on anti-crime programs, including the Northern Aboriginal Crime Prevention Fund, added Justice minister Rob Nicholson.
But more is needed than just throwing money at the justice system, said Sapers.
Underfunding of education in aboriginal communities, and a failure to understand aboriginal people and their culture, is leading to more aboriginals being put behind bars, he noted.
The best strategy to reduce disproportionate incarceration rates among aboriginals is to spend more on education, said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo.
"We need to work together to increase graduation rates from high school, post-secondary, and training programs as the best remedies we have to keep our youth away from the justice system and out of prisons," Atleo said in a statement.
Aboriginal offenders also return to federal custody at a higher rate, are twice as likely to be involved with gangs than their non-aboriginal counterparts, and less likely to be granted parole, the report found.
---------------------
Canadian native children, a cruel history
Posted on March 8, 2013
5 Votes
Quantcast
This video from Canada is called Residential schools leave a deadly legacy.
By Vic Neufeld:
Thousands of native children died in Canada’s residential schools
8 March 2013
Recent media reports have noted research showing that at least 3,000 children are now known to have died while attending Canada’s aboriginal residential schools. The findings were released last month by Alex Maas, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission researcher managing the Commission’s Missing Children Project. Maas claims that the results are part of the first systematic search of government, school and other records, and provide primary documentation identifying deaths, when they occurred, and the circumstances.
For over a century, a system of residential schools operated in Canada under financial and administrative arrangements between the Government of Canada and the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and United churches. In all, over 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children passed through more than 130 residential schools in virtually every part of Canada. An estimated 70,000 to 80,000 former students of residential schools are alive today.
The Canadian government established this system in the 19th century, with the first schools opening in the late 1870s. Funded by the Department of Indian Affairs, and run by the churches, these schools were integral in the government’s strategy for opening up Canada’s vast northwestern territories to European settlement. Under this strategy, Canada’s native peoples were herded onto "reserve land", while their children were taken away and placed in residential schools under the so-called "civilizing" influence of the churches and other state agents. The last of these schools closed in 1996.
The schools were based on models taken from youth reformatories and jails. Children were collected from their parents, sometimes at gunpoint by police, and cut off from their families. Once delivered to the schools, they were subjected to a controlled and disciplined environment that combined religious instruction with basic skills training. Living conditions were harsh, with many children physically beaten and sexually abused. Thousands contracted tuberculosis and died while in school custody.
The nature of what happened in these schools has become a bitter contest between native activists and residential school survivors on the one side, and church and state officials on the other. Activists allege murder and genocide, and have made angry demands for investigation, prosecution and compensation. The state for its part has spent tens of millions on a "truth and reconciliation" process in an attempt to avoid liability and bolster its political allies.
Battle lines between these camps first hardened in the 1990s, when activists organized an independent Tribunal into Canadian Indian residential schools, convened under the auspices of the UN-affiliated International Human Rights Association of American Minorities. The tribunal’s June 1998 Vancouver hearings documented that every act defined as genocide by the UN Convention of 1948 occurred in Canadian residential schools. The tribunal concluded that Indian residential schools were conceived and operated for more than a century as an enormous system of terror aimed at children, as part of a larger program of ethnic annihilation and land theft.
The testimony supporting these claims was at times shocking. Elder Irene Favel told a 1998 town hall forum: "I went to residential school in Muscowequan from 1944 to 1949, and I had a rough life. I was mistreated in every way. There was a young girl, and she was pregnant from a priest there. And what they did, she had her baby, and they took the baby, and wrapped it up in a nice pink outfit, and they took it downstairs where I was cooking dinner with the nun. And they took the baby into the furnace room, and they threw that little baby in there and burned it alive. All you could hear was this little cry, like ‘Uuh!’ and that was it. You could smell that flesh cooking."
The year 1998 was also when Colin Tatz’s published his discussion paper Genocide in Australia. The paper examined the genocidal practices perpetrated against Australian Aborigines, and would be followed by court cases related to the "stolen generations." (See "Genocide in Australia – Report details crimes against Aborigines") These events occurred within the context of Australia’s "history wars" over the government’s treatment of its Aboriginal peoples. (See "What is at stake in Australia’s "History Wars"?")
By the year 2000, Canadian churches faced more than 10,000 lawsuits from survivors. Claiming that these suits would bankrupt their institutions, the churches successfully lobbied the government to enact legislation limiting the scope of lawsuits and assuming primary liability for residential school damages. Courts in Alberta and the Maritimes subsequently denied survivors the right to sue the churches for violation of their civil rights and for genocide. Later on, judicial decisions across Canada restricted the claims of survivors and prevented them from suing the churches for any issues beyond tort offenses of "physical and sexual abuse".
It was in this context that the largest class action lawsuit in Canada to date, brought on behalf of tens of thousands of survivors across Canada, culminated in 2007 with the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The Agreement established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission "to contribute to truth, healing and reconciliation." The commission, whose mandate expires in 2014, was granted $60 million in funding.
On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered to Parliament a statement of apology on behalf of the Government of Canada to survivors of residential schools. In the apology, the prime minister stated that the entire "policy of assimilation" implemented by the system of residential schools "was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country." While the prime minister spoke of this policy as one of "killing the Indian in the child", the allegations of actual child murder and genocide were neither acknowledged nor addressed.
Both the opposition Liberals and the NDP toed the official line. Opposition Leader Stephane Dion acknowledged the government’s shared responsibility and complicity in the abuse of thousands of aboriginal children, but said not a word on the more serious allegations. The Bloc Quebecois’ Gilles Duceppe and the NDP’s Jack Layton both offered similarly limited apologies.
In short, the Parliamentary apology capped earlier legislative and judicial proceedings and signalled that allegations of murder or genocide were not to form any part of the official history.
Since then, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the media have promoted this official line. The commission, chaired by aboriginal judge Murray Sinclair, produced a report entitled "They Came for the Children." Both the commission and its report have taken fire for refusing to deal with the more serious allegations. However the commission, in a struggle to maintain its credibility, has in turn blamed the federal government for withholding documents vital to its core mandate. In December 2012, the commission filed an application with Ontario Superior Court asking the court to clarify the government’s obligations in this regard.
The commission also agreed to support the "Missing Children Research Project." The project originated with the Commission’s Working Group on Missing Children and Unmarked Burials, which noted: "Questions into incidents of death and disappearance in the residential schools were raised publically in early 2007, although survivors and their supporters have been concerned with these issues for many years."
Project manager Alex Maas’ preliminary findings on the deaths of 3,000 children were reported in February. They were quickly disputed by native organizations, however. For instance, Maas’ report claimed 222 children died in the entire Northwest Territories. However, at just one territorial residential school location at Fort Providence, there are 300 children buried in a single common grave.
Maas’ research attributed many of the residential school deaths to tuberculosis. Media reports have claimed that the deaths were often due to institutional ignorance of the disease’s prevention and treatment. A February 18 CBC report, for example, noted: "For decades starting in about 1910, tuberculosis was a consistent killer—in part because of widespread ignorance over how diseases were spread." The statement, however, is incorrect: people at that time knew quite well how tuberculosis was spread.
For instance, according to the Lung Association, the "Sanatorium Age" in Canada began in 1896. The sanatorium was designed to treat the disease by the "demonstrated value of rest, fresh air, good nutrition and isolation to prevent the spread of infection." This was the exact opposite of how residential schools operated, in which sick children were routinely mixed with the healthy in atrocious living conditions. The fatal results were both foreseeable and preventable.
These practices were so obviously contrary to TB treatment as to attract contemporary concern. In 1907 Dr. Peter Bryce, chief medical officer for the federal Department of Indian Affairs, wrote to Deputy Superintendent for Indian Affairs Duncan Campbell: "I believe the conditions are being deliberately created in our Indian boarding schools to spread infectious diseases. The death rate often exceeds 50 percent. This is a national crime."
Bryce went on to write a book published in 1922 titled The Story of A National Crime: Being a Record of the Health Conditions of the Indians of Canada from 1904 to 1921. In this book Bryce cited evidence that in every school he inspected staff regularly and deliberately housed healthy children with those sick and dying of tuberculosis, then denied treatment and care to all of them. Bryce also claimed that school staff and their church employers regularly concealed or distorted the enormous death rate and the cause of death of so many children.
The commission and the mainstream media continue to evade issues of knowledge and intent, which inevitably lead to questions of state and church policy, and finally to genocide. Tellingly, and perhaps chillingly, the article brushes up against all of these questions with Maas’ quote that "student deaths were so much part of the system, architectural plans for many schools included cemeteries that were laid out in advance of the building."
Tuberculosis continues to infect and kill Canada’s native peoples at an alarming rate. According to Health Canada, the country’s aboriginal populations are disproportionately affected by TB, a disease fuelled by social factors like overcrowding and poverty—conditions rife on many native reserves.
------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.