Recently the James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, issued a statement Tuesday saying he wrote to the Harper government Canada to express my deep concern about the dire social and economic condition of the Attawapiskat First Nation, which exemplifies the conditions of many aboriginal
Continue readingTag: attawapiskat
Crazy Bitches R Us: Attawapiskat: could economic sanctions against Canada work?
Recently the James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, issued a statement Tuesday saying he wrote to the Harper government Canada to express my deep concern about the dire social and economic condition of the Attawapiskat First Nation, which exemplifies the conditions of many aboriginal
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Life Getting Tough in Harperland
The consumer price index reveals that Canadians are paying higher prices today than a year ago, with significant increases in food (up 4.8%), shelter (up 1.5%) and gasoline (up 13.5%). Yet wages have only increased .08% We are not keeping pace. The Harper government can’t blame this on the global crisis because
Continue readingCanadian Museum For Human Rights one long clusterfuck
My God, this thing looks like a diaphanous church, not a friggin’ museum You’d think that a museum named for Human Rights would be a huge plus for both liberals and conservatives. Human rights are universal. Immigrants, the oppressed of the world, the plight of Canadian Aboriginals, African victims of starvation and
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Leadership By Bean Counter
In his academy award winning film, Roger and Me, Michael Moore documented what happened to the world’s largest corporation after a bean counter was put in charge. After Stephen Harper tore up the Kelowna Accord, he called on Sheila Fraser to audit Canada’s native communities. Lawrence Martin writes this morning
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Occupy #Attawapiskat, Phase Two
Clearly, the people living in Attawapiskat are existing in a crisis that represents Canada’s dysfunctional relationship with the first peoples. How can we truly “fix” Attawapiskat? By fixing the underlying broken relationship. Occupying #Attawapiskat in Twitter two weeks ago was a great start to engaging in serious improvements. Phase two
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Mia Rabson comments on the dangers of eliminating any public debate over Canada’s future direction – as the Cons are trying to do: This is one of the most important committees in Parliament. It looks at all government operations and examines spending estimates
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Our Third World
Anyone who has been to a northern reserve knows that Attawapiskat is not an aberration. Bob Rae is right. Northern native communities are “our third world.” And it’s most revealing that the Harper government’s first response to the tragedy at Attawapiskat was, as Tim Harper wrote last week, to “send
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: Is there a precedent for an Attawpiskat win in court?
A few people have asked us if a First Nation has ever successfully used the courts to kick out a Third Party Manager before. The answer is yes. In 2001 a First Nation in Ontario, the Pikangikum First Nation, asked for a judicial review after Indian Aff…
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: Is there a precedent for an Attawpiskat win in court?
A few people have asked us if a First Nation has ever successfully used the courts to kick out a Third Party Manager before. The answer is yes. In 2001 a First Nation in Ontario, the Pikangikum First Nation, asked for a judicial review after Indian Affairs refused to provide
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: Is there a precedent for an Attawpiskat win in court?
A few people have asked us if a First Nation has ever successfully used the courts to kick out a Third Party Manager before. The answer is yes. In 2001 a First Nation in Ontario, the Pikangikum First Nation, asked for a judicial review after Indian Affairs refused to provide
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – pogge points out the Cons’ suppression of news that a lack of running water on First Nations reserves facilitated the spread of H1N1 – offering a case in point as to both how neglect of social needs can carry widespread ramifications, and how
Continue readingWelcome to Harperland
How we embraced hate. I was watching the CBC News this morning, Suhana Meharchand was the host. Talking about Attawapiskat, she interviewed NDP/MP Charlie Angus. Hostilely, she asked him, “What would you do if you were Minister? Throw money at the problem?” His reply showed unflappable professionalism, indicating that he
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: So that’s the trick
Apparently it took a community housing crisis for the Cons to finally commit to…building a school which Attawapiskat has desperately needed for years. Which means that the housing problem too might be solved eventually – just as long as there’s another even larger and more immediate disaster that the Cons
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom notes that based on the Cons’ Kyoto embarrassment, Canada is now the odd man out on the world stage when it comes to climate change discussions: (I)n terms of international efforts to curb global warming, Kyoto is the only serious
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Beautiful Attawapiskat Christmas Carol
The song is Jesus Ahatonia, written by St. Jean de Brebeuf in 1643. Absolutely beautiful.
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: De Beers decision to dump sewage into Attawapiskat played role in current housing crisis
In case you missed it, see the full APTN story here.I just note I think it’s an important story because of all the haters on the Globe and Mail and CBC sites that have posted ugly, racist and totally unsubstantiated claims in the comments section, blaming the Attawapiskat residents about
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: De Beers decision to dump sewage into Attawapiskat played role in current housing crisis
In case you missed it, see the full APTN story here.I just note I think it’s an important story because of all the haters on the Globe and Mail and CBC sites that have posted ugly, racist and totally unsubstantiated claims in the comments section, blam…
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: De Beers decision to dump sewage into Attawapiskat played role in current housing crisis
In case you missed it, see the full APTN story here.I just note I think it’s an important story because of all the haters on the Globe and Mail and CBC sites that have posted ugly, racist and totally unsubstantiated claims in the comments section, blaming the Attawapiskat residents about
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: Attawapiskat: Minister Dum-dum the Red Cross won’t swallow your spin.
A quick observation. In the media Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Dumdum wanted to convince reporters that he and his staff – who were so incompetent that they didn’t know there was a disaster at Attawapiskat in the first place – had the matter well in hand. (I guess the spinners
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