Senator caught with pants down

I see where yet another Harper appointee to the Senate has returned the favor by publicly disgracing both himself and the man who appointed him.

Who does this guy think he is?  Berlusconi?

 Where does Big Steve find these guys? Obviously the background checks leave a little to be desired. Maybe the PMO and the RCMP were too busy figuring out ways to keep Omar Khadr behind bars to do the necessary due diligence on Bruce Carson, Arthur Porter, Patrick Brazeau, and now Senator Don Meredith.

Reading Meredith's Wikipedia page you quickly realize Mr. Meredith may or may not be a man of God, a Doctor, and a university graduate. You would think that degree of ambiguity in the man's background would raise some red flags.

Senate's token Indian gets his due

Senator Patrick Brazeau has led a charmed life. He has managed to stay a step ahead of one damning scandal after another. His tenure as National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples was overshadowed by allegations of sexual harassment, financial hanky-panky, and alcohol abuse.

Big Chief Harper decided that was the kind of man he wanted in the Senate as a token Indian, and thus Brazeau's charmed life took another step forward. The fact that Brazeau intended to keep his six-number salary as CAP chief while also pocketing his six-number senate salary gives a measure of the man's standards of integrity, and was an omen of scandals to come.

After making headlines in the past couple of weeks for his disparaging remarks about Theresa Spence and his dodgy expense claims at both of his government sinecures, Brazeau is making the front page again for his arrest on an alcohol-fueled domestic violence incident.

This seems to have been the last straw for the man who put him in the Senate. The PMO announced today that forthwith Senator Patrick Brazeau was no longer a member of the Conservative caucus.

So he instantly becomes an "independent" Senator, his pay and perks unaffected.

Patrick Brazeau achieved a status in society that would have allowed him unprecedented influence in bettering the lot of his people.

It is a tragedy that it has come to this.

Big Chief Harper's favorite Indian casts rude aspersions on Chief Spence

Think what you will of Theresa Spence's hunger strike; at least she was doing something.

Something that contrasts starkly with Patrick Brazeau's anti-Spence smear campaign.

Brazeau has been flitting around the country on his Senate expense account waxing wise on the error of Chief Spence's political protest.

This latest diatribe was so far past any standard of professionalism or common decency that it scarcely merits comment.

Unfortunately, it's exactly the kind of performance that the Indian haters will seize upon.

This should get him extensive face time on the Sun TV channel. Ezra Levant drools over this stuff.

Canada's no.1 hang-around-the-fort Indian slams Chief Spence hunger strike

The winds of fate have been gentle with Patrick Brazeau. Surviving one unseemly scandal after another during his tenure as National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, those benign breezes wafted him right into the Senate at the behest of none other than Big Chief Harper.

Now Senator Brazeau has some words of wisdom for Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence. Spence is in the third week of a hunger strike demanding a meeting with Harper and Governor General David Johnston.

Senator Brazeau's advice? Cut out the foolishness and have some respect for "proper parliamentary process."

Well Senator, I know that while your respect for proper parliamentary process has made you a favorite token Indian with the Harper gang, that process hasn't worked out so well for the vast majority of your people.

Maybe when you look around you in the upper chamber all you see is a bunch of smug upper middle class white dudes. That might be your world now, but it's not the world of Chief Spence.

Wake up Senator Brazeau!

Why Indians in Canada are spinning their wheels in the quagmire of perpetual poverty

It's all about the leadership.

Back in the day common folklore held that there were two kinds of Indians; the "hang around the Fort" guys and the others.

The Fort guys used to hang around the trading post seeking what favor they could from the White man.

The other guys stayed aloof, tried to stick to traditional ways as much as they could, and held the Fort contingent in contempt.

There will be those who challenge the legitimacy of a White man writing critically about Indian leadership. To you I say one doesn't need to be Norwegian to write about Quisling. Nor does one need to be French to speak critically of Petain.

This topic comes up because today Patrick Brazeau made it into the news as having the worst attendance record of any Canadian Senator.

Big Chief Harper made Brazeau a Senator a few years back, which was, among other things, a cynical exercise in co-optation.

He was a smart young leader.

They'd rather have him in the Fort pissing out than outside pissing in.

Meanwhile, over at the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo is running hard for re-election. There are those who believe that he too is excessively chummy with Big Chief Harper and a little too distant from the day to day reality of  Indians in Canada.

The current generation of Indian leadership doesn't have a whole lot to show in terms of achievements for their people. I've written before that the ultimate solution is the creation of a sovereign state.

The never-ending tragedy of aboriginal people in Canada will never end untill the leadership stops hanging around the Fort.