Canadian media take lead in smear of First Nations

Sometimes an Access to Information request is ignored entirely.

Sometimes an Access to Information request spends years being bounced around between government departments before any information is successfully accessed.

But every once in awhile an Access to Information request results in the oh-so-timely release of information that the Harper gang finds it in its interest to release.

That would be the case with the lead story on the CBC news this morning, a story that is on the front page of every Canadian paper today.

Those irresponsible Indians in Attiwapiskat have pissed away over 100 million dollars in seven years.

This comes just days before Attiwapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, in the fourth week of a hunger strike, is finally scheduled to meet the Prime Minister.

Just plain pissed the money away, they did. Over 80% of their expenditures lack PROPER DOCUMENTATION!!!

That's got the racist trolls drooling all over every comment section on every news site in the land.

Which is exactly what it was designed to do.

One hundred million dollars is a lot of money. That would buy almost 2/3 of an F-35 fighter jet.

That's almost one third of what it cost the Canadian taxpayer to help smash Libya.

It's about a quarter of what Canada gave the country of Mali in "aid" during the same period.

It's less than one percent of what Canada's mission in Afghanistan has cost the Canadian taxpayer.

And while I am not for a moment suggesting that there are no management issues in Attawapiskat, this story is nothing more than a well-orchestrated smear of Chief Spence, the Idle No More movement, and First Nations in general.

IDLE NO MORE getting serious international traction

This story is from The Guardian in the UK.

They've noticed Idle No More in England, and they're telling the Theresa Spence story too.

Today's protests have made it onto the news agenda across Canada and beyond.

Eventually even Stephen Harper is going to have to pay attention.

It's a beautiful thing!

Chief Theresa Spence and the Attawapiskat news blackout

It was only a year ago that Attawapiskat was hogging major headlines around the world. The remote Indian reservation had a majority of its members living in housing that was so far below any conceivable standard of habitation that news organizations the world over were lavishing attention on the story.

Twelve months roll by, the government delivers a couple dozen double-wides to Attawapiskat, and the story is gone.

But it isn't. Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence is at this moment in the second week of a hunger strike just a few minutes from Parliament Hill. A thousand miles away the majority of her people once again face winter in housing far below any contemporary health and safety standards.

But this time around the world's media seems pre-occupied with other stories. Even Canadian mainstream outlets, with the notable exception of the Huffington Post, haven't found much space for the issue beyond a back pages paragraph or two.

It's the standard Canadian response to uncomfortable stories; close your ears and eyes until it goes away.

Well here's to you, Chief Spence; may God give you the strength to keep up the struggle until the deaf and blind find the courage to open their ears and eyes.