A Canadian Native leader suggested today that an aboriginal uprising would be inevitable if Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't "do better" in meetings scheduled for Tuesday. Among the demands of the Aboriginal leaders are for a "revisiting" of Paul Martin's five billion dollar Kelowna Accord and the right of "consent" on major industrial projects. You might recall the Kelowna Accord from the dying days of the Paul Martin regime, after Martin's alliance with the NDP had crumbled, an election was inevitable, and Paul was touring the country desperately dumping promises of money to everybody. His government fell 3 days after Kelowna. Paul's attempt to "buy" the election ultimately failed, and he was voted out of office 2 months after his "landmark" Accord.
Aboriginal leaders should be more cautious with their words, as they do have considerable influence over their communities. Suggesting that there could be an "uprising" if meetings don't produce a better deal can create a self fulfilling prophecy. Making that statement increases the likelihood that it happens, and feels more like a threat than honest negotiation. Instead of asking a poll question about an aboriginal uprising, I'll ask if the Kelowna Accord should be revisited. By the way, the name "Kelowna Accord" was first coined by the Toronto Star a week after the "agreement", during the election campaign.
I would like some more clarification on what precisely the Native leaders mean when they demand "consent" of major industrial projects. Do they not already have the right of consent to projects that are on their land? Or are we talking about projects anywhere near a Native reserve or land dispute? I'm already having nightmares of Caledonia...
Me thinks they are threatening the wrong Prime Minister. I am positive that PM Harper will have none of any "Uprising" that they may be thinking of staging. No Caledonia repeats on his watch.....
ReplyDelete-
What a provocative, foolish threat! What good can come from this type of threat? We want more welfare or else... entitled much? Tribalism does manufacture this type of supremacist nature, so I guess it's no surprise. I doubt that whichever thuggish, moronic "chief" this threat is attributed to, does not speak for the majority.
ReplyDeleteWhich "Native Leader" made that statement,not Shawn Atleo,I hope.
ReplyDeleteLots of Chiefs love that "Kelowna Accord",as it handed them five billion MORE dollars with NO accountability. Martin,like a typical Liberal politician,figured he could buy his way to owning a voting block,with no thought to the consequences,as usual.
Native Leaders have always wanted a piece of the action on any development within the areas of their land claims,which comprise 105% of B.C.
In other words,the Chiefs see all that oil and gas development going on up North,and they want their "baksheesh" from Whitey,or they'll blockade roads and rail lines,the usual bullshit.
I will be pleasantly surprised (shocked) if anything more than an agreement to pay more blackmail to the Natives is agreed upon.
The Native Leaders have always sought Landlord status in Canada,with THEM as the Landlords,and everybody else paying rent to them. Maybe this time they'll come a little closer to achieving that end.
And that fact is why so many Natives won't leave the Reserve and get a job in the city.
The Chief who made the statement wasn't Atleo, it was grand chief of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.
ReplyDeleteThe PM should tell them support the pipeline, take the jobs and the money, and then we will talk.
ReplyDeleteNext he should tell them, at the first sign of an uprising all govt support of any kind will stop.
ReplyDeletehe should send them to newfound land
ReplyDeleteMakes me wonder how those prisons are coming.
ReplyDeleteif the leaders think violence is possible they better think again. there are about 30 million people who are not indians. that said i think all funding through indian affairs should be cut off. indian affairs closed and all employees fired. if we must feed, clothe, and house indians then do that and only that. i figure an annual pension for each indian living on reserve property could save we taxpayers billions and accomplish the above. old white guy
ReplyDeleteNo more race based preferential treatment, no more reserve system/apartheid, time to end the reserve system and entitlements - now.!
ReplyDeleteBear in mind, Caledonia is an Ontario government project, made possible by the armed force of the OPP. If the Caledonia goons were not protected and backed up by the OPP, they'd all be long since dead.
ReplyDeleteThe prospects for more of the same are thus pretty limited. The first band in, say, Saskatchewan to try it will also the first to be exterminated.
Uprising of what exactly? Maybe those who dont get the benefits of federal grants because native leaders are too greedy to share?Or the free education offered and none of the natives actually take advantage of it?
ReplyDeleteAs a native, im disappointed with my bretheren not pulling up their boots and getting an education one way or another.They all moan about the white man yet do NOTHING to improve their own situations.
Time to end the reserve system and reform the Indian Act.Natives are either Canadian or they arent.Since you accept federal grants, your canadian.
To come out now and saber rattle after 40-50 YEARS of Liberal dominance in this country , is hypocritical and rich.Every dime that goes to native grants needs to be audited every year.
"the world is watching" says one of the chiefs.
ReplyDeleteWatching how billions of dollars is being poured into the native reserves so that the innocent natives themselves live in shacks. Why, aren't you impressive chief. Yeah, the world is watching and soon no sympathy will be expressed.
Cut CBC off its $1.6BILLION DOLLARS to aid the aborignals.
Come to think of it, do the natives own the land where CBC sits on?
DeleteI'm not convinced that the world is watching.
DeleteThe world MIGHT be watching,depends on what Justin and Selena are up to.
ReplyDelete