Everybody has heard of Attawapiskat. And for good reason. The tiny First Nation community in a remote corner of northern Ontario has become emblematic of dysfunctional native communities.
How many people have heard of Sagamok?
I've often written about Attawapiskat. I've never mentioned Sagamok, even though I've actually been there a few times but have never been to Attawapiskat.
Sagamok is just one of the many native communities in Canada that is never going to make the news because it's not newsworthy. There are many First Nations without scandals of mismanagement or epidemics of suicide or drug addiction or homelessness or child abuse.
A drive through the Sagamok First Nation reveals an ordinary community of tidy homes that will never be featured in the crisis oriented reporting that is the life-blood of the news business. In fact, the community looks more prosperous than some of the white communities in the area. On Sunday afternoon the locals were tending their gardens, sitting on porches, going boating.
Such ordinariness will never be newsworthy, while stories of addiction and dysfunction and failure inevitably are.
And so the stereotypes live on, while the success stories are ignored.
Showing posts with label attawapiskat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label attawapiskat. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Racist Canadian media find new stick to beat Chief Spence
It's a big story today, and every major Canadian news outlet has some version of it. Most of the minor ones too.
With some top-notch investigative journalism the big-city sleuths have uncovered another dirty Attawapiskat secret.
Clayton Kennedy, the partner of Chief Spence, once went BANKRUPT!!!
Yes, that's a big story. And how does a man who once went BANKRUPT, and an INDIAN man at that, get to wield influence over Chief Spence and her Band?
It's just wrong wrong wrong... by God, I think they've found the smoking gun... no wonder 100 million just disappeared into thin air!
Funny how bankruptcy in this situation is a big deal.
Bankruptcy if you're a white Canadian like Paul Reichman or Peter Munk or the Eatons or the Aspers is just a fact of business life.
If you're a native man it disqualifies you from ever raising your head from the pit of shame.
But doesn't the fact that Chief Spence relies on Kennedy for advice reveal a certain lack of judgement?
I wouldn't know. I have no idea what kind of advice he's been giving her.
But the story does bring to mind a certain Bruce Carson.
Carson was one of Prime Minister Harper's top advisers for several years. As in adviser to the leader of the entire country of 32 million, not adviser to the leader of an impoverished Indian band of a few hundred families.
Bruce Carson was a convicted swindler who had declared bankruptcy.
There you go; Harper and Spence have more in common than they realized.
Oh how I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the meeting tomorrow. The hypocrisy will be hanging in the air thicker than the smoke from the sacred sweet grass.
The Indians are bringing the sweet grass.
The Harper contingent will be providing the hypocrisy.
(Clarification: I apologize to Mr. Kennedy and to Chief Spence for lumping him in there with a convicted swindler. The only commonality between Kennedy and Carson is the bankruptcy. In addition to declaring bankruptcy, Carson had accrued several fraud related convictions which apparently did not disqualify him from being a senior adviser to the Prime Minister.)
With some top-notch investigative journalism the big-city sleuths have uncovered another dirty Attawapiskat secret.
Clayton Kennedy, the partner of Chief Spence, once went BANKRUPT!!!
Yes, that's a big story. And how does a man who once went BANKRUPT, and an INDIAN man at that, get to wield influence over Chief Spence and her Band?
It's just wrong wrong wrong... by God, I think they've found the smoking gun... no wonder 100 million just disappeared into thin air!
Funny how bankruptcy in this situation is a big deal.
Bankruptcy if you're a white Canadian like Paul Reichman or Peter Munk or the Eatons or the Aspers is just a fact of business life.
If you're a native man it disqualifies you from ever raising your head from the pit of shame.
But doesn't the fact that Chief Spence relies on Kennedy for advice reveal a certain lack of judgement?
I wouldn't know. I have no idea what kind of advice he's been giving her.
But the story does bring to mind a certain Bruce Carson.
Carson was one of Prime Minister Harper's top advisers for several years. As in adviser to the leader of the entire country of 32 million, not adviser to the leader of an impoverished Indian band of a few hundred families.
Bruce Carson was a convicted swindler who had declared bankruptcy.
There you go; Harper and Spence have more in common than they realized.
Oh how I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the meeting tomorrow. The hypocrisy will be hanging in the air thicker than the smoke from the sacred sweet grass.
The Indians are bringing the sweet grass.
The Harper contingent will be providing the hypocrisy.
(Clarification: I apologize to Mr. Kennedy and to Chief Spence for lumping him in there with a convicted swindler. The only commonality between Kennedy and Carson is the bankruptcy. In addition to declaring bankruptcy, Carson had accrued several fraud related convictions which apparently did not disqualify him from being a senior adviser to the Prime Minister.)
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Attawapiskat audit reveals reserve finances in complete disarray
At this very moment that is the top story on the Canadian edition of Google's news aggregator.
My first reaction was, oh great, more anti-native hate propaganda. Then I noticed the headline was from the National Post, the flagship of Paul Godfrey's PostMedia "empire."
These are folks who know complete financial disarray when they see it. In fact, they've been soaking in it for two and a half years now. One could even argue that PostMedia was born into complete financial disarray.
Variously referred to as "GhostMedia" or "ToastMedia" this empire-on-borrowed-time came about when a crew of hedge-fund sharpies bought up debt from the sunken Canwest empire at pennies on the dollar and then swapped that debt, at face value of course, for equity in the "new" PostMedia.
News reports at the time claimed the CanWest papers were bought for 1.1 billion, of which 950 million dollars was cash. Nobody bought the "cash" part of the story. That "cash" was really discounted debt being magically transformed into "equity," which soon enough turned into debt again, which GhostMedia has been struggling to pay off ever since.
GhostMedia is paying off that debt at rates in the 10 to 14% range on its face value. Forget about that "pennies on the dollar" stuff. In order to make those debt payments the company has been selling off everything that isn't nailed down. Journalists and editors have been pink-slipped by the bus-load. Printing presses have been sold off.
Rumor has it that all GhostMedia copy is now written by three or four unpaid interns working out of a Tim Hortons in Burlington.
The only thing that's secure at GhostMedia is Chairman Godfrey's seven number compensation package.
My first reaction was, oh great, more anti-native hate propaganda. Then I noticed the headline was from the National Post, the flagship of Paul Godfrey's PostMedia "empire."
These are folks who know complete financial disarray when they see it. In fact, they've been soaking in it for two and a half years now. One could even argue that PostMedia was born into complete financial disarray.
Variously referred to as "GhostMedia" or "ToastMedia" this empire-on-borrowed-time came about when a crew of hedge-fund sharpies bought up debt from the sunken Canwest empire at pennies on the dollar and then swapped that debt, at face value of course, for equity in the "new" PostMedia.
News reports at the time claimed the CanWest papers were bought for 1.1 billion, of which 950 million dollars was cash. Nobody bought the "cash" part of the story. That "cash" was really discounted debt being magically transformed into "equity," which soon enough turned into debt again, which GhostMedia has been struggling to pay off ever since.
GhostMedia is paying off that debt at rates in the 10 to 14% range on its face value. Forget about that "pennies on the dollar" stuff. In order to make those debt payments the company has been selling off everything that isn't nailed down. Journalists and editors have been pink-slipped by the bus-load. Printing presses have been sold off.
Rumor has it that all GhostMedia copy is now written by three or four unpaid interns working out of a Tim Hortons in Burlington.
The only thing that's secure at GhostMedia is Chairman Godfrey's seven number compensation package.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Joe Clark idle no more
You'd have to go back over thirty years to rediscover Joe Clark's moment in the spotlight. That's when he was briefly the Progressive Conservative Prime Minister of Canada. He was widely seen as a well-meaning doofus not cut out for the rough and tumble of federal politics.
He was also widely seen as being done in by the much more politically savvy Brian Mulroney.
Clark went on to serve in Mulroney's cabinet for a few years before fading into a gentle twilight of university teaching posts.
But now he's back!
Former PM Clark has dared to go where the current PM fears to tread; all the way to the Ottawa River to meet with Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.
Chief Spence is in the third week of a hunger strike to draw attention to First Nations grievances with the Harper gang. Clark came away praising Spence's vision as "humble and achievable."
Good for you, Mr. Clark! What a refreshing change from the macho posturing of the current administration.
Is it too late for a political comeback?
He was also widely seen as being done in by the much more politically savvy Brian Mulroney.
Clark went on to serve in Mulroney's cabinet for a few years before fading into a gentle twilight of university teaching posts.
But now he's back!
Former PM Clark has dared to go where the current PM fears to tread; all the way to the Ottawa River to meet with Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.
Chief Spence is in the third week of a hunger strike to draw attention to First Nations grievances with the Harper gang. Clark came away praising Spence's vision as "humble and achievable."
Good for you, Mr. Clark! What a refreshing change from the macho posturing of the current administration.
Is it too late for a political comeback?
Friday, December 21, 2012
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!
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!
Monday, December 17, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Harperites converge on Holy Land to lecture Palestinians on democracy and human rights
Canadian PM Harper sent two of his most trusted yes-men on a Holy Land junket to meet with the Palestinian leadership this week.
Foreign Minister John Baird, the imbecile last seen signing NATO bombs in Libya, and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty were in Ramallah to lecture the PA leadership on the folly of their ways in seeking UN endorsement for a Palestinian state. The Canadians reiterated the position that the timing of statehood must be negotiated directly with Israel and cannot be subject to pre-conditions.
Baird and Flaherty have some experience in dealing with recalcitrant aboriginal populations. "Our native people have it a lot worse than your Palestinian lot," Baird reminded his Ramallah hosts. "But you don't see them running off whining to the UN about their lack of an independent state."
Baird may have a point.
In an informal survey of Ramallah natives, 100% said they would prefer to take their chances with Israel rather than swap places with Canadian natives in Attawapiskat.
Foreign Minister John Baird, the imbecile last seen signing NATO bombs in Libya, and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty were in Ramallah to lecture the PA leadership on the folly of their ways in seeking UN endorsement for a Palestinian state. The Canadians reiterated the position that the timing of statehood must be negotiated directly with Israel and cannot be subject to pre-conditions.
Baird and Flaherty have some experience in dealing with recalcitrant aboriginal populations. "Our native people have it a lot worse than your Palestinian lot," Baird reminded his Ramallah hosts. "But you don't see them running off whining to the UN about their lack of an independent state."
Baird may have a point.
In an informal survey of Ramallah natives, 100% said they would prefer to take their chances with Israel rather than swap places with Canadian natives in Attawapiskat.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Canada: towards a two-state solution
In reading up on the last round of spit-ball exchanges between the local council in Attawapiskat and the federal government, I am struck by how far we really are from any realization that "our" native people are not in any way "ours".
Attawapiskat, for those of you who don't remember, is that native reserve way up north where conditions are so deplorable that the community caught the attention of the international media a few months ago. Sub-standard housing, unemployment, an epidemic of substance abuse... Attawapiskat made headlines from Stockholm to Sydney.
The international attention has subsided and now it's back to business as usual, which, long story short, consists of the federal government making the natives grovel for more "help".
I've been pondering this issue for a long time, and I've come to the conclusion that there is a solution; the two state solution. Not a state and a pretend lip-service series of state-reserves scattered here and there, but two independent states.
Before that can happen, our native neighbors have to get their act together. The fact that there are approximately 600 First Nations in Canada is a legacy of colonialist divide and conquer strategies. Dignity and sovereignty aren't going to happen as long as the federal government can get away with dealing with a community of a few thousand here and another few thousand there.
Those 600 native communities need to be held together under a cohesive central authority, and while there are national umbrella organizations today, they obviously aren't up to the job.
Secondly, non-native Canada needs to recognize that for a sovereign people to thrive, they will require adequate resources. By adequate resources I don't mean welfare cheques. I mean the resources that come with having sovereign control over an equitable share of Canada's land mass.
What is an equitable share? Based on their proportion of the population of what is now Canada, this should be at a very minimum at least five percent of the land mass. That is about a ten-fold increase over the amount of resources natives have today. There may be good sound arguments that will allow a higher figure to be negotiated.
Before there are negotiations there will need to be that central authority that speaks for the aboriginal people, and in no way can it be made up of the hang-around-the-fort types who populate the leadership of national native organizations today.
We've had a system in place that's proven itself detrimental to the First Nations for well over a hundred years. That system seems to work OK for the side that has all the power. Attawapiskat tells us it doesn't work for the other side.
It's time for change.
Attawapiskat, for those of you who don't remember, is that native reserve way up north where conditions are so deplorable that the community caught the attention of the international media a few months ago. Sub-standard housing, unemployment, an epidemic of substance abuse... Attawapiskat made headlines from Stockholm to Sydney.
The international attention has subsided and now it's back to business as usual, which, long story short, consists of the federal government making the natives grovel for more "help".
I've been pondering this issue for a long time, and I've come to the conclusion that there is a solution; the two state solution. Not a state and a pretend lip-service series of state-reserves scattered here and there, but two independent states.
Before that can happen, our native neighbors have to get their act together. The fact that there are approximately 600 First Nations in Canada is a legacy of colonialist divide and conquer strategies. Dignity and sovereignty aren't going to happen as long as the federal government can get away with dealing with a community of a few thousand here and another few thousand there.
Those 600 native communities need to be held together under a cohesive central authority, and while there are national umbrella organizations today, they obviously aren't up to the job.
Secondly, non-native Canada needs to recognize that for a sovereign people to thrive, they will require adequate resources. By adequate resources I don't mean welfare cheques. I mean the resources that come with having sovereign control over an equitable share of Canada's land mass.
What is an equitable share? Based on their proportion of the population of what is now Canada, this should be at a very minimum at least five percent of the land mass. That is about a ten-fold increase over the amount of resources natives have today. There may be good sound arguments that will allow a higher figure to be negotiated.
Before there are negotiations there will need to be that central authority that speaks for the aboriginal people, and in no way can it be made up of the hang-around-the-fort types who populate the leadership of national native organizations today.
We've had a system in place that's proven itself detrimental to the First Nations for well over a hundred years. That system seems to work OK for the side that has all the power. Attawapiskat tells us it doesn't work for the other side.
It's time for change.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)