Posit

Your information is outdated and was originally based on some unsubstantiated guesses. You really should catch up on your reading: New Evidence Puts Man In North America 50,000 Years Ago You'll have to scroll down a ways to find it. BUT even this is becoming outdated as more recent archaeolgical research is available.

Ummmm yaaaaaa! As jennie mentions, indigenous people are oppressed all over the world. The UN Declaration states the obvious that their rights must be protected against territorial expansion and colonially imposed corporate interests. I would suggest that you read it since as of this moment, you officially don't know what you're are talking about.......

A timely reference for the discussion: No Justice for Aboriginal People, say judges

Obviously you haven't read the Declaration or you would understand that it is talking about basic human rights for aboriginal people who have been oppressed by the dominant society.

I not sure that Port Granby or Welcome wouldn't agree. Both these places are dumps adjacent to Lake Ontario where uranium tailings were dumped. The government promised 30 years ago to get rid of it but haven't raised a shovel. I think they are just waiting until the most vocal opponents die off...perhaps of radiation poisoning.... Although the government doesn't know that the residents found out years ago that one of the ways to reduce the possibility of radiation sickness was to drink lots of fluids to flush the toxins out of their system. And the best diuretic of all is - you guessed it! - beer!

Fact correction: Wrong! The oldest find of human occupation of the Americas is 60,000 years with the oldest human remains found in South Carolina at 45,000 years. This represents an occupation of North America that precedes the occupation of Europe by 10,000 years. In the scheme of things the archaeology of a place is not relevant to this discussion. What is relevant in discussing the rights of settlers versus the rights of aboriginal people is who and what was here before contact. Since native people were here and occupied all of North America prior to any European expansion, we have no right or legal authority to impose our laws and customs on them. And by law we must accommodate them both in being sensitive to their Charter Rights and their pre-existing land and customs rights. I think the Iroquois say it best in referring to the Two Row Treaty they made with the Dutch just 60 years after they arrived, and it was extended by the British and French in the same manner called the "Covenant Chain - The Treaty of Friendship and Goodwill". They say that our two cultures are like two rows - like two rivers flowing in the same direction, one contains us in our boats and the other contains them in their canoes. They say that we are not like father and son but like brothers both born of the same earth and cradled in the bosom of Nature. They also say that the treaties agreed that we would not interfere with each other's path and that one could not have one foot in either vessel without the risk of falling into the abyss between. Yet we have constantly broken that agreement and rendered it worthless it still holds some hope that we will one day remember our obligations and responsibilities. I understand that. But I also believe that you are either too far removed from the injustice Canada and non-aboriginal prejudice towards native people or you are deliberately ignoring the obvious. I have daily reminders of that injustice, be it in the courts or in communities without adequate safe drinking water, poor health services or woefully inadequate child care services in native communities. You say the government is doing too much? I say it isn't doing enough and have the force of comparative statistics to back it up. As a suggestion to become better informed, I would suggest reading more current events - especially that back pages where media tends to hide the shocking stories about natives.

So let me put it into perspective. Hunting, fishing and and land rights are Charter Rights under Canadian law. That's the same as basic human rights. However, their rights haven't been extended beyond the rest of us in the Charter. The reality is that our rights to fish and hunt and live on certain lands have been suspended by the Crown under law or in the case of land and property rights were never extended to us or our ancestors. "Crown Law" or domestic law cannot apply to people of sovereign nations and that's where it gets complicated. Native people are by law not citizens of Canada. The only way they can become citizens is to willfully and deliberately give up their rights to their aboriginal heritage. So by default while they are not citizens in many cases through treaties and through our fiduciary responsibility they are "like" citizens. The Courts have consistently upheld that those rights acquired through treaties, or by pre-existing aboriginal title must be respected. There isn't a whole lot anyone can do with that. Now while it hasn't been fully tested to date, native people do have collective property rights - something we as citizens have never held - and insofar as the SCoC has interpreted to mean that Natives must not only be consulted when development or resource harvesting takes place, but their grievances must be accommodated, as well. This means that in protecting the environment or curbing unrelentless unfettered development and destruction of sensitive and historically significant lands. For those of us wishing an end to urban sprawl, our native friends can be our allies. Many of us have joined with them to not only advance their claims and force our government to comply with treaty law and aboriginal right but to also be a unified voice against rural conversion. Alone it wouldn't be possible to make even a dent against the corporate trains running rough shod over farms and sensitive wetlands. So with our friends and allies we have a strong position. That said their rights exceed ours in some areas. That to me is a good thing - something that if we want some form of equality we should be demanding from our government to raise us under the Charter, not dragging them down.

Wrong. Corporations have the identity and force of a person beyond the group of individuals that hide behind it. Government has nothing to do with individual choice, or operation. They are are cartel of sorts with power beyond not only the individuals but the politicians we elect as overseers.

Regarding audits of FN.....Band governments are scrutinized more than any government structure - including corporations - in Canada. When was the last time that you heard of a municipal, provincial or federal government or ministry, or any corporation being put under third party management? Yet when First Nations fall into a deficit - despite being underfunded in every area of governance, they are taken over by third party managers whom INAC pays at more than 4 times the rate that band Chiefs get paid.

Your inane follow-up contributes nothing either. I least I was being a little humourous. Being anal about these types of things seems to be your forte......

Harper is not only the owner of the new mental health policy but he is also their first client!

Name them. The only thing underway are the same things that politicians have been doing for the last century - politicking. There is nothing substantial that our government has been doing that improves the lives of First Nation peoples. Even the so-called land claims negotiations forced by the natives taking back lands are a ruse. Harper and Prentice (ya Strahl is too new) have made it clear that they have the last word on EVERY agreement. They killed the Kelowna Accord after agreements were made and compromises offered. Does anyone think that we can talk to First Nations again with any credibility? So we go around and around all the while First Nations have worse conditions - undrinkable water, higher child mortality, poorer economies and still we steal their children and throw them in foster care because we know what is best for them. And then we complain about the drunks that litter our streets....No one is smart enough to make the connection - that displacement, isolation and assimilation have led them to the streets of Toronto, ow Winnipeg or Vancouver. Most of you are incapable of seeing how residential schools didn't just affect one or two generations but sent a legacy of illness, dis-ease and dysfunction into future generations. Dr. John Bradshaw once said that alcohol and drug addition was not only linear in its effects but that it radiates outward in circular waves affect not only immediate family members but also extended, greater extended and community members as well. This effect has contaminated whole communities and left many without knowledge of their culture and traditions or their familial histories. Our legal duties as Canadians si one thing. How ever, our moral and social obligations reach far beyond the government and its lawyers. We have a responsibility to ensure that the treatment of native peoples never digresses again - that no matter if you call it genocide or simple mistakes, we can no longer tolerate seeing our fellow human beings without the things we take for granted including clean water, safe and warm housing and food for their bellies. All those things must be guaranteed to every human being.

You need to look a little closer to what is happening in Central Canada. Oka, Ipperwash, Saugeen, Caledonia, Tyendinaga, Ardoch - these are all examples of a change in the politic of native-government relations. In the past the natives were content to sit back, and take the government's suggestions for their grievances. But because our government refuses to keep its word (right down to the lying OPP) they feel they have no choice but to start taking back the lands and resources they have been dislodged from. And funny thing, when we get a chance to examine the treaties we made with them, we find they are right. We have no right to use or develop their lands without their consent. That is backed up by the SCoC too.

No my POV guarantees that we leave our children and the generations to come a legacy of clean water, clean earth and moderate income. whitedoors suggestions will leave them all in poverty, pollution and destruction. Do you have any idea why city gangs arise out of impoverished neighbourhoods?

Hypothetically speaking, if the government banned large corporations, it would have to include international ones as well. However, the "market" doesn't demand low prices. They demand "fair prices" and most people who go to farmers markets, or shop at downtown personal service shops are willing to pay a little more than the supermarkets and department store prices for local and better quality items PLUS they recognize the bonus in shopping close to home with people who are your neighbours. All the imported crap should never have been allowed in this country IMO and those things that meet the standards should be tapped with a duty that helps maintain a competitive market with Canadian products. I am well aware that this won't happen - not because it isn't viable or reasonable, but because it interferes with those investment profits whitedoors cherishes. And presently because corporations are protected by politicians like sacred cows it is difficult to change their eating habits. They continue to milk this country and bottom entry investors for everything they can. I buy local and support my local farmers. I freeze, can and dry my own produce for winter months. Dollar for dollar, my methods are about 25% less expensive than using the energy to drive to the supermarket, to purchase chemically enhanced and fertilized produce that have been trucked thousands of miles. Plus I have the bonus of knowing where all my food comes from be it the organically raised beef we eat, to fresh same day picked eggs and corn, to maple syrup and honey. Even paying a little more for the product is still less than it would cost to drive to the store for the same items. Small manufacturers would quickly fill the needs of society and if one wasn't able to commit to the demand, another and another would start up to produce the same things. They would be employing locally and profits of the company stay locally. That is what drives a community's (and ultimately the provinces and Canada's) economics - money staying local and profits redistributed locally. The investment schemes operated by large corporations is slight of hand pyramid scheme. Profits keep leaving the company and the only way for a company to survive such an output is to receive a greater than equal input on the other side. This is done by encouraging new investors by showing that the company is doing well. And when the company reaches its epic, they report losses that gives upper level investors the opportunity to sell high while causing millions of dollars in losses for the lower end investors. Then when the market value of the stock falls to with a reasonable value, those high end rollers re-invest causing the whole pyramid scheme to start all over again. Anyone notice none of this has to do with the production, the cost of goods or the costs of employment. All of this is done electronically with a machine moving or an employee screwing a bolt? That's why corporations do none of us any good. They are leeches on society and are more apt to corrupt and backrupt us than they are to contribute to our well-being.

That's the fundemental problem with whitedoor's POV. They forget that everything has a cost and are apt to put what is out of sight, out of mind. The environmental cost to raping the earth for minerals and resources to make the ~things~ whitedoors likes to play with has long been forgotten. Not only do we have the environmental damages from production but also the pollution those ~thing~ produce and the waste stream the packaging, and the end product go. Then we have noise pollution as well. As of the present few corporations have ever been taken to task at repairing that damage....and if they were there would be little in ht e way of profits for his investment schemes. Rather houses that are built because they are newer than the older ones, developments, commercial plazas and office buildings trying to entice people and businesses away from their present lodgings and the vehicles used to go from one place to another all damage the environment, steal good farm land and contaminate water sheds that support streams and rivers and eventually our drinking water. Add it all up whitedoors and then see if we are profiting from your narrow POV or if your net is simply a numbers magic act.

The "forcible transfers" do not have to result in "extermination". Those are two different aspects of the same definition of what constitutes genocide. Children were removed to residential schools (and today into foster homes) with the force of the police, against the permission or wishes of the parents and consistent with the definition of genocide. Whether you want to see with blinders on is your choice. However, I am grateful that in my Canada, the majority do not see it your way. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will expose the extent to which genocide occurred (and is still occurring). I can see why you are afraid of that. Truth in the midst of myths and delusion can spoil your worldview.....

The issues aren't emotional. Just the people who discuss them are afraid of losing power over them. Its enough to make an old granny fall backward in her rocking chair....

That is a huge myth propagated by your slave masters -The Corporation. The fact is in most of Canada the goods and services offered by these large corps are available from small and medium size businesses. And what isn't readily available such as electronic items would be available if corporations no longer produced them, and the market still demanded them. The fact is that corporations exist now for only on reason - to take in income and investment, turn a profit and hand those profits back to their major shareholders. No one corporation cares about the quality of the products or services they offer except unless it hurts their bottom line. If they can produce crap and sell crap, there is no incentive to make it any better. If Dot.com corporations got the boot, there is no question there would be mass unemployment. However, those who depend on computers for their livelyhood would likely starve since few of them have an noticeable skills beyond pecking keyboards for a living. The underground construction economy would rival the total income and profits derived from corporations. Add to that the the overall construction, repair and local services and there is nothing that contributes more to the Canadian economy. Corporations are vampires and all that they pass on into the Canadian economy are their dis-eases, stress and poverty-making ideas.

No, nothing of the sort. I work for myself, earn a decent living providing a professional service. I suppose I could consider myself an anti-corporatist, since shareholder dividends essentially amount to theft - skimming off the top. ANY usury should be heavily taxed - including the big insurance scams out there. 80% of Canada's income is generated from small business employment. And when we consider that unemployment is around 5%, then welfare at 2% and government and at the remaining 3%, corporations only inject about 10% of the cash flow into the Canadian economy and most of that goes to the high end of investment portfolios. Then again many of the profits generated by companies through investment get sent out of country and are hardly ever re-invested in the business (unless of course they can make the argument that improvements will generate more profits). Corporations contribute little to the Canadian economy. Low end-investors usually take the hit on losses since the high rollers liquidate their stock long before it becomes a problem. What I find more appalling is that corporations have convinced many of you that we need them. They fill your heads with myths of being successful - if you just work a little longer and little harder so they can turn a little more profit. The sad fact is that corporations enslave individuals and their families and spit you out when you are no longer useful to them.

Do away with corporate taxes? No way! In fact in addition to high income taxes, corporations and share-holders should have to pay capital gains on all investment income over and above the annual RRSP allotment.

Not only should the Crown be responsible for Truscott for the rest of his life but he should be outfitted with the house of his choice, a new vehicle every year and any food, luxury and assistance that he desires all paid for by the government of Canada. Further every Crown attorney, police and judge or their estates should be charged the annual cost of Truscott's upkeep. Certainly it would provide some deterrence for lying, fudging and hiding evidence in trial. While I would sympathize with the children who are cut out of the inheritance in such a case, no one should be entitled to profit or gain from a miscarriage of justice.

dbl post

It isn't widely known, but in that neck of the woods the Algonquin and the Mohawks are cousins. It just depends on who your mother happened to be. As well the Mohawk Territory borders the Algonquin Territory at Highway No. 7. In fact Sharbot Lake was founded by a Mohawk family.

Actually your excuses and rationalization just add ignorant fodder to an otherwise irrelevent racist thread. It is evident where all this bigotry comes from. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission will expose those murders for all to see. They were well documented in Church records, never investigated and then buried for no one to see. Good thing there are ~some~ good people still in church administration. They were able to pull much out of the records before many of them were destroyed. And the testimony of 100s of surviving residents should shed the light on just how ignorant and racist your petty assertions are. If nothing - like murder, child sexual and physical abuse, starvation and appalling treatment - ever happened, much to your sanctimonious piety, then you have nothing to worry about letting a commission review the findings of thousands of records and testimony. Of course we both know it will be just one more conviction in the string of Canada's genocide and apartheid-based dispossession of aboriginal lands and resources.