A couple of weeks before Christmas I got a call from our former neighbour, we're still friends even after they've moved now, they were at one of the big malls here in Calgary and had come across a flash mob. Pretty exciting except the flash mobs we are mostly having in Canada are being staged by the Aboriginal, First Nations peoples protesting our current government. So the call kind of went like "Hey Al, listen to this"....it was hard to make out, all I could hear was a drum beat, it sounded like a factory, then I probably said "Where the hell are you?" and my friend says "We're at the mall and there's a Round Dance going on." So then I understood it was an "Idle No More" protest, after listening on the phone a little longer I could make out the Native singing. Exciting stuff! Canada is not the land of political protest, not in my lifetime, people are worried about Hockey most of the time. The other meaningful part of this little story is that our former neighbours consist of a white man married to my great friend and matriarchal figure who is an Ojibwa from Northwestern Ontario. We had many long conversations over the years, I have met their children who are my age, their grandchildren and extended family. I have some knowledge now of what goes on in some Aboriginal communities and as a minority myself (I have the gay) sympathize. It's easy to make broad generalizations about people until you get to know them and since we have kept Natives out of our society I don't think a lot of Canadians have gotten to know them. Many modern day Canadians probably don't even think about Native issues and if you're really recently immigrated you might think all this was here before somehow? Afterall, unless your name is Pocahontas we are all immigrants, I always try to keep this mind if I ever feel too entitled.
I'm sure most people around the world think Canada is a fairly innocuous and benevolent country, helping out where we can and quietly prospering under an admirably democratic government. Well, it's not true anymore! Since the election of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his band of idealist Right-Wing MP's (Members of Parliament),and with the help of The Sun Media who are modelled on FOX News from the U.S., we have become nothing more than a frozen Banana Republic! Because of our British based Parliamentary system of government the Prime Minister has immense power, this is not America my friends there are basically no "Checks and Balances". The Prime Minister and his majority power can introduce any Legislation they want, they choose the committees and who is on them, he appoints the Senate that passes Legislation and the Supreme Court as well as the Governor General who is supposed to represent the Queen; it's regarded as symbolic, supposedly. For those not living in a Commonwealth Country this may sound weird but the British Monarch is the actual head of Government; it's why she's on the $20, it's really just a vestigial leftover from colonial times We are a sovereign country with our own Constitution; it's just a style of government as opposed to a Republic. So, my point is our PM wields a lot of power, not unlike Hugo Chavez I suppose, and they have been very busy introducing huge amounts of new Legislation -about the size of a telephone book or two - called Omnibus Bills. Most of us think they do this so no one notices all the changes and so new laws are not scrutinized by the opposition, media, and the public. During the second round of Omnibus Bills our very Right-Wing and sympathetic to large Oil companies government passed a lot of Environmental changes and changes to the Indian Act which surprisingly Aboriginal peoples are really mad about! Remember last post when I said "we don't ghettoize people" where I was wagging my virtual finger at American Gun Culture? Well, I take that back, we have been pretty bad to Native peoples and continue to, and continue to ignore it, sorry. Anyway, our Natives and the Idle No More movement is specifically opposed to Bill C-45 and the Indian Act that basically gives the government and one MP the power to take away portions of Reserve land, if they see fit, like if there's oil on it. Reserve land was where we made Indians live while we were turning the land into farms and cities, it was usually land we didn't want for these uses. Also, the Navigation Protection Act formerly the Navigable Waters Act, it gives oil and gas pipeline projects the power to ignore environmental laws subject to the approval of an appointed MP, I wonder how that approval process will work!?!?!? In the right room with the right people over an expensive bottle of Scotch at a beautiful exclusive retreat! Also, The Environmental Assessment Act which speeds up any pesky studies of the environment and of course is approved by an appointed MP. After all those years of giving smallpox infected blankets to the Natives who were in our way we're finally going to give them all cancer by dumping by-products of the Tar Sands into the waterways. So, surprise! The Natives are becoming restless!
So, things are really heating up in Canada in the middle of the winter. We have a First Nations Chief, Theresa Spence, on a hunger strike in the Capital City of Ottawa demanding a meeting with the PM. The government with the help of The Sun Media are busily trying to smear her reputation, her protest is unrelated to Idle No More but the Right-Wing powers that be are trying to tie the two together as there are scurrolous accusations against Chief Spence and really she is not a master of the media and has made many public relations mistakes. Recently, there have been threats by various Native leaders to hurt the economic interests of Canada, including blocking rail lines, highways and border crossings and maybe more! Today a statue of Sir John A. McDonald, the first Prime Minister, was vandalized with spraypaint slogans "This is Stolen Land", "Murderer" and "Colonizer". While I personally don't approve of this, I think it speaks of the simmering anger boiling just below the surface.
I know a lot of Canadians do not want to face their racism and prejudice ingrained in our society against Natives, in so many ways it is similar to the Civil Rights struggle of African Americans. I say to those fellow Canadians, do you enjoy clean water and air? Are you drinking different water than everyone else because of the partisan politics you follow? I think not. These laws and this government overreach affect all of us.
The best thing the Idle No More movement can do right now is to get International attention and especially American attention. I have been busy trying to drop links all over the internet and get the attention of our more Left-leaning media friends at MSNBC. After all these protests are also starting to occur stateside; there was a flash mob at a mall in Montana just a few weeks ago by local Natives in support of Idle No More. I don't think the PM could take the International attention; it's not really in his DNA to seek discord or actually have to defend his decisions. I would like to see a conversation with someone like Kofi Annan or Ban Ki Moon, wonder what they would say???? Right now, I can only see the movement getting bigger and bigger. There is probably a lot more sympathy among Canadians of many walks who question Oil Companies, support strong environmental laws, dislike governments that rule without conscience and absolute power. No one, however, is going to support violence and vandalism so keep that in check- it will discredit your movement overnight. I would not put it past the radical Right-Wing in this country to try and stage something and blame it on Idle No More.
These are becoming crazy times.
Here's an explainey link from CBC, as always they have the best coverage for more information
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/01/04/f-idlenomore-faq.html
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