jennie

So why has the media not reported this???

The unions do what the members tell them too. It is a democracy. Of course, the outsourced workers will have no benefits, no pensions, and will not receive a living wage. They won't be able to afford postsecondary for their kids, will have no retirement earnings and will require public support. I other words, the workforce becomes a net drain on the economy, not a net contributor. Nice work. We needed to go backwards to the dark ages.

I already answered that: Compensation for loss of use of those lands. The patience of Canadians has a long way to go to match the patience of Indigenous Nations over the last 500 years. Get used to it. OR get active and get our governments to honour Canada's legal obligations and pay our legal liabilities. Well I am not going to suggest that they must necessarily behave "better" than we do in the greed department. It is irrelevant to us what they do with their own land. It is only our responsibility to ensure that our governments honour the treaties and laws and respect our need for good relations with Indigenous Nations.

No YOU have no idea what people's jobs are. What was yours? If I am not at my desk I am at a meeting. Where are you? Let me guess ... hanging out over someone's desk interrupting their work (which you don't understand) to share your gems of wisdom about how nobody there does anything. I can understand why you didn't last long!

No one would ever mistake me for a "typical liberal", believe me! I am not trying to play a bigot card. I am trying to understand the extreme reaction to this. My apologies if I seem insensitive. Not my intent. I will stop now because I do not like where you are going.

And you think someone can raise a family, provide postsecondary opportunities for their kids and support themselves in retirement on those wages? A McJob is a McJob. It is not helpful.

And they have no desire to acquire the settled areas, I don't believe, but of course that may depend on the government's willingness to provide appropriate compensation for loss of use of those lands. They have committed to maintaining Algonquin Park as a park.

Faith-based schools already exist and have their own programs. Under public funding, they will be responsible for maintaining adequate student achievement of Ontario curriculum content. The public system does not regulate religious instruction. The Catholic system regulates itself according to the necessity to maintain adequate achievement. Religious instruction is entwined throughout the school day as well, so 'blocks of time allocated' doesn't adequately address the issue. I note also that attainment of Ontario curriculum objectives includes values education - respect for diversity, cooperation, etc. that all publicly funded schools must deliver. I see extension of public funding to all schools as a way of ensuring a common foundation for all students in Canadian values and respect for each other, allowing for diversity in beliefs as well.

I am using the term 'armed forces' generically to refer to police as well, who are armed. Apologies for confusion. Standoffs currently in progress in Ontario, with Canadian armed 'forces' (police) involved Six Nations Sharbot Lake Grassy Narrows Previous in Canada Burnt Church Oka - 3 deaths, military and police involved Gustafsen Lake Red Hill Valley - agent provocateur Kahnawake - multiple injuries from rock throwing, soldiers throwing teens off Mercier bridge Ipperwash - 1 death It seems to me that some Canadians decry the use of blockades naively: our governments provide no other course of action, and continue to aggressively plunder Indigenous land for resources. There is no other possible outcome: Canada is, intentionally and aggressively, as both the Algonquins and Six Nations have acknowledged, committing acts of war against Indigenous Nations.

Absolutely. Paying private interests not only for the cost of the services but also for their profits makes absolutely no sense to me.

You have made an eloquent argument for Indigenous Nations to 'take care of business' themselves, ignoring our governments that are incapable of delivering justice. I agree that the repeated pleas to government fall on deaf ears because justice is not their purpose. The question then becomes what course of action do they follow. The answer, of course, is that they, being non-citizens anyway, follow their own law not Canada's, protect their own land, negotiate their own terms with the corporations that want to do business on their land. Funny thing ... when they do that ... as the Six Nations Confederacy has ... our government gets apopleptic and wants to be involved in those negotiations. Funny thing, because they have refused all requests to get involved up until the negotiations became fruitful!! However, as you said, they should not bother trying to deal with our governments. I have come to that conclusion myself. All across the country, in many locations, Indigenous people are STANDING and protecting their land from invasion by corporations or Canada's armed forces. If their land is invaded, they will defend themselves and their land. As you say, force begets force. Since the governments will play no role, this is what we are left with: Multiple standoffs with our armed forces facing unarmed people who are protecting the environment for all of us. This is Canada's 'condition' for the forseeable future.

They have no interest in the settled areas, just in protecting the areas currently not settled. This land is part of that larger claim by the larger group of Algonquins, not a small band.

I guess that is the point of extending public funding ... ensuring common standards in education, and making choice not a matter of income.

As I understand it, the people who send their children to faith-based schools are not necessarily wealthy. This is not about the 'elite' private schools. Nor is it about segregation, but about freedom of choice.

Exactly... human rights are human rights, as is the case with the declaration: The Declaration is a collection of existing human rights, from UN documents, applicable to ALL people. There are no 'special' rights for Indigenous people. It is simply drawn together to highlight the fact that these fundamental human rights must apply to Indigenous Peoples too. It is an educational tool: "HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL ... NO EXCEPTIONS"

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news...46-854db0d9d67c

Because to you "Gay" is an insult ... (is that right?) It might not be seen that way by everyone.

Tax revolt brewing; Mine's neighbours withholding property dues http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/co...ws&classif= Frank Armstrong Local News - Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 00:00 Non-native neighbours of a proposed uranium mine north of Sharbot Lake are showing that area Algonquins aren't the only people who have resorted to civil disobedience to push for government action. A number of North Frontenac Township residents have visited their local government office recently to tell staff they won't pay their municipal tax bills until the township council takes a stance on the prospect of the uranium mine.

And the faith-based schools would agree with you, but the public curriculum is limited to academic study of world religions. There is no need to come up with an alternative ... the alternatives exist ... It is simply a matter of funding what is. If it's a question of looking for a CHEAPER alternative (gotcha!) ... believe me ... if it is already working and in place ... don't mess with it because that is always more costly. In reality, most private schools already use provincial curriculum, because parents demand it. We all pay education taxes whether we "use" schools at all. It's an investment, remember? I repeat my opinion that we should publicly fund EVERY child's education.

Saturday, September 01, 2007 Grassy Narrows Declares Moratorium and Challenges MNR Tender Process Currently Underway Grassy Narrows –Today, Grassy Narrows First Nation’s Chief and community leaders declared a moratorium on all industrial activity within their traditional territory without community consent. The moratorium rebukes a Provincial plan to increase clear-cut logging and asserts that any development proposals must gain community consent and participation. The moratorium was issued to government and industry leaders responsible for the ongoing destruction of Grassy Narrows traditional territory, including Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Aboriginal Affairs David Ramsay, Prime Minister Steven Harper, Abitibi Consolidated, Weyerhaeuser Corporation, and companies sourcing from the Grassy Narrows Traditional Territory. ... http://thechristianradical.blogspot.com/20...torium-and.html The community promises to “take more action with our supporters in the forest, in the markets, in the legislature, and in the courts to assert our rights as the Indigenous people of this land.” The moratorium call comes as the Grassy Narrows logging blockade enters its fifth year of denying logging trucks access to the community’s traditional territory via highway 671. “Clear-cuts are an ecological crime and a cultural nightmare for communities who depend on the Boreal Forest,” commented David Sone of Rainforest Action Network’s Old Growth campaign. “People don’t want to build their homes with Weyerhaeuser wood products that are stolen from Grassy Narrows.” Background For decades the community has sought redress through environmental assessment requests, official appeals, petitions, legal action, and unanswered public protest which gave rise to a community logging blockade, now the longest running in Canada. The action intensified this summer as 100 supporters joined community activists in shutting down the TransCanada highway for a full day. Twenty-one people, including 3 young Grassy Narrows mothers, were charged with mischief as a result of the action. A lawsuit filed in 2000 by community trappers challenges the authority of the province to issue logging licenses on Grassy Narrows’ traditional territory north of the English River and asserts that clear-cut logging violates the community’s rights under Treaty 3. A full trial was ordered for this case, and in May 2006 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered Ontario to pay the legal costs of the trappers to bring the case forward. The litigation is underway, but the trial likely will not take place until 2008. Meanwhile, clear-cut logging continues unabated. In a recent submission to the United Nations, Amnesty International argued that current logging on Grassy Narrows’ traditional land violates the community’s Indigenous rights to self-determination and culture, and fails to meet international standards of “free, prior, and informed consent” for development on traditional Indigenous lands.

Wilber the Declaration is a collection of existing human rights, from UN documents, applicable to ALL people, as you require. It is simply drawn together to highlight the fact that these fundamental human rights must apply to Indigenous Peoples too. It is an educational tool: "HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL ... NO EXCEPTIONS" You will likely find that the groups oppressed all over the world are largely Indigenous, and that industrial encroachment and environmental degradation are common concerns. http://ipsnews.net/new_focus/indigenous_peoples/index.asp http://www.amnesty.ca/campaigns/no_excepti...9aug2006pdf.pdf The Canadian government, which led the opposition to the Declaration at the Human Rights Council, has said that the Declaration could lead to criticism of how Canada has treated Indigenous land rights in the past. The USA has strongly opposed the very notion of an international human rights standard by which the treatment of Indigenous peoples might be judged.

Too funny!!! So beer IS a matter of survival in Canada!! omigod ... this isn't funny.

The responsibility of the public system is not religious indoctrination, only education. The religions must determine and maintain the standards for that.

What possible justification could we have for saying no? And besides ... as I said before ... we already have 85% of the radioactivity left here anyway ... in our watersheds ... being ingested ... very dangerous. LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND !!!

I don't believe this is what it is about at all. Ask the Landowners of Frontenac County. For them it is about protecting the land against our governments' destructive greed, and they know only the Algonquins can help them. It has become, on a very large scale, about the environment and human life. http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/co...ws&classif= Tax revolt brewing; Mine's neighbours withholding property dues Frank Armstrong Local News - Friday, August 31, 2007 @ 00:00 Non-native neighbours of a proposed uranium mine north of Sharbot Lake are showing that area Algonquins aren't the only people who have resorted to civil disobedience to push for government action. A number of North Frontenac Township residents have visited their local government office recently to tell staff they won't pay their municipal tax bills until the township council takes a stance on the prospect of the uranium mine. ... Unlike neighbouring councils in Central Frontenac and Addington Highlands, which don't want a uranium mine in the area, North Frontenac has reserved judgment because it believes that responsibility lies with the provincial government. "Individual councillors have expressed their opinions, but we're still maintaining it's a problem with the Mining Act, which is a provincial act," said Beam, adding that he personally doesn't want to see a uranium mine in the area. (and yes ... the guy's name is ... Jim Beam