For standing up for ourselves, our beliefs, and folks we love, women are often called a bitch.
When we demand social justice, women are often called a crazy bitch.
Just goes to show you conservative men lack both imagination and decent comeback lines.
In the media Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Dumdum wanted to convince reporters that he and his staff - who were so incompetent that they didn’t know there was a disaster at Attawapiskat in the first place – had the matter well in hand. (I guess the spinners had to make the choice: do we tell the public didn’t care if people died, or do we play dumb?) He said they had sent staff and supplies up to Attawapiskat.
According to Chief Spence, the only help Indian Affairs sent was two bureaucrats who showed up with a box of donuts.
Glad to see the Red Cross speak up – as a neutral party in between. According to John Saunders most of the supplies and help that’s gone to Attawapiskat comes from the $30,000 donated by Canadians. However, Indian Affairs did let the Red Cross take a few roll away cots and some sleeping bags out of a storage they have in Timmins.
Thus I have given the Minister a new middle name to go with his nickname. He shall henceforth be known as Minister John “Big Help” Dumdum.
Sometimes you have to laugh, or cry. Today I did a bit of both.
Minister Duncan's (aka Minister Dum-dum's)performance and lack of knowledge about his file meant his press secretary had to rescue him from a press conference. Liberal Aboriginal Affairs Critic Carolyn Bennett said he was in so far over his head that she “almost felt sorry for the Minister who seemed “unable to act, unable to make a decision.”
CTV veteran reporter Craig Oliver said the Minister looked like he was “at the end of his rope.” He went on to say the Minister’s aides were interrupting, and whispering answers in his ears. Check out APTN’s report here.
Perhaps this is another occasion where Mr. Duncan can blame NDPer Charlie Angus for not whispering the answers in his ear.
But this scenario calls for more than just pointing fingers at the Conservatives.
The Liberal Party – in defending Attawapiskat looks absolutely two-faced. Today in Question Period Bob Rae questioned why the government allowed Attawapiskat to go under 3rd Party Management when the Auditor General pointed out as early as 2003 that the system was expensive and problematic. Wideye and I happened to catch it together and we nearly fell over laughing. Really Mr. Rae - you just found the 2003 report now?
I guess the Liberals were too busy to read it whilst they were in power, and steam-rolling First Nations communities with Third Party Managers. Now that the Liberals are the third party and have a little more time on their hands they finally got around to it.
Hey Mr. Rae the Liberals also put a 2 % cap on First Nations education. To quote NDP Charlie Angus (who is quickly becoming my favourite politician ever) “I wouldn’t want you to get caught flat-footed.”
Even in his death he has left a message of hope.
Jack and his party really stood up for our people. Pat Martin, Charlie Angus, Jean Crowder have all been champions of clean water, justice for families of missing and murdered aboriginal women, residential school survivors, equal eduction opportunities and so much more.
I have been crying all morning. We'll miss you Jack.
I've been watching tweets go around this week for a new show that says it's for "bloggers, tweebs and political junkies." Apparently, starting viewers do an vote online to decide which politicians get interviewed on the show, and they interview the politician later using questions viewers send in. Not sure if they will be interviewing Senators or just MPs, but you know who we'd vote for at Crazy Bitches R US. lol. And BOY OH BOY do we have questions! Anyways here's a video for anyone curious to check it out.
The idea reminds me a little of that show What's Trending which only airs online at the CBS site.
First Nations grieve loss of William Commanda William Commanda, Elder, role model, and spiritual leader to Aboriginal people, died August 2 in his home in the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation reserve near Maniwaki, Quebec. More... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kit anamikon Mani mweeckineckagoian kitcitwa onciciiwewin kije Manito ki mamawiitim, kakina endatciwatc ikwewak kin awacamenj ki kitcitwawinigo, gaie kitcitwawina Jesos ka anicinabewiitsotc kiiaiwing. Kitcitwa Mani , kije Manito wekwisisimatc gaganotmawicinam neta patatiagn, nongom gaie wi nipoiang gaganotamawicinam. Kekona ki ingi.
The Calgary Herald’s idea that international governments should negotiate with Canada as one government to another, rather than returning Canada to colonial status where the country can benefit from the benevolent direction of a more transparent, fiscally responsible mother country, suffers from the twin flaws of naïveté and vagueness.
The Herald’s yearning to see Canada maintain sovereignty is understandable. It is even justified.
But so far sovereignty has been bogged down in an elephantine bureaucracy in which fiscal accountability often appears to be ephemeral. Individual initiative gets smothered under the leaden weight of policies, procedures and dust-covered rules.
Many admit that the Constitution also needs revamping, updating and streamlining –whether that means scrapping the Senate, or finally sending these partisan appointees to the people for election.
However, with all due respect to, and sympathy for, the Calgary Herald’s position that Canadians should continue to be self-governing, long-standing problems in Canadian politics must be resolved before Canadians are ready to assume the mantle of an equal-status governance with other democracies.
Foremost among those sticky issues is accountability. Too many instances of corruption among elected leaders has been well-documented – for example the sponsorship scandal, the Conservative in- and-out election funding scheme, and breaches of the MPs’ ethic code. Or how about with rampant nepotism – the federal government refusing to release documents to Parliament, twice shutting down Parliament when it was politically inconvenient to the governing party, and impeding its citizens ability to find information through the access-to-information system.
There’s also evidence of resulting intimidation in the hierarchies governing system, both within the party and government departments – such as communications becoming so centralized in the PMO that one needs permission to put out a press release on wildlife.
Such intimidation is used vis-à-vis elements of the public that are out of favour with the government – for example recent back-to-work legislation saw a crown corporation lock out its employees so that federal politicians could screw with their salaries before legislating the lockouts back to work.
There has been a lack of transparency and accountability for the use of public money, not only as expressed in the examples above but visible in the situations in which MPs and senators maintain perks like sumptuous pensions benefits at the tax payer’s expense, all the while arguing that ordinary Joe Taxpayer does not deserve the same. MPs make $157,000 a year, Minister’s earn $233,247 a salary paid through the taxes of constituents, most of who earn less than their political leaders. Some constituents are even living in overcrowded, bed-bug ridden houses.
In the case of Minister John Duncan, the First Nations people he’s hired to benefit live under boil-water advisories or with no running water at all. Despite having thousands of bureaucrats with offices in every province and territory in Canada sucking at the public teat to solve problems like these, Duncan seems all to content to shrug and pass the buck onto chiefs, while few people outside the aboriginal community ever question just how much cash all those bureaucrats are sucking up to maintain a broken system.
Moreover, individual Canadians have not been successful in dealing with the political problems in their system. They re-elected the Liberals in 2004 after the Auditor General released evidence of corruption under the sponsorship program, and more recently Canadians returned a Conservative government to power, this time with majority power, after the party was found in contempt of Parliament.
Nor are Canadians effective at dealing with social problems in their own towns either: we see instances of substance abuse, and domestic violence, and recessions and seasonal cycles of unemployment that dampen entrepreneurial opportunities and job creation. Let’s remember that not every province enjoys the geographical luck of Ontario, which has enabled it to get into the business of manufacturing, sales. There are still parts of the country where people can only find work half the year and spend the other have on the dole. When will we admit that “have not” provinces are simply a drain on Canada’s purse strings and not sustainable or viable?
Furthermore, the federal government parties do not truly represent Canadian Citizens, for party leaders are elected only by party members; ordinary citizens do not directly elect a Prime Minister.
Also, the diverse needs of Canadians, scattered across this vast land, do not make for a comfortable one-size-fits-all model of governance. This is why we’ve seen cries for separatism and inclusion in the form of regionalized federal parties from both Quebec and the Prairies.
The Calgary Herald is a dreamer, and without dreams, nothing would happen. But the Calgary Herald must first address the staggering number of problems in the federal political system, and seek aid from other countries who know better than to re-elect leaders that have been caught playing hard and fast with the rules of democracy. The Calgary Herald must as well as clarify what a workable governance model looks like, addressing issues like Senate reform, Quebec separatism and western alienation, before Canada can become a government on par with other democracies.
The above is a tongue-in-cheek parody of very condescending commentary that appeared in the Calgary Herald. For fun your can read their original article about First Nations Self Government here.
A few points about specific land claims in light of the “take-it-or leave it offers” the federal government is planning to offer 60+ First Nations. Minister John Duncan released a statement saying that “Negotiations continue to be Canada's first choice for resolving specific claims and we are working with First Nations to that end.” He added “However, First Nations can now opt to refer their claims to the Tribunal for a binding decision if three years of negotiations do not result in a final settlement.”
It’s that last statement that’s troublesome. One can hardly call going to the tribunal an option when the feds have walked away from the table. I’m wondering how many of the 60 plus claims are over the Tribunal’s $150 million dollar limit. Of course there is still the option to go to court. At least the lawyers will be happy.
Liberal Indian Affairs Critic Carolyn Bennett has called on the government to negotiate in good faith with First Nations, proving that moral clarity comes easier to those in opposition.
When in power under Chretien, the Liberals pulled the rug out from under the Assembly of First Nations on specific claims. INAC and the AFN had a joint working group and agreed to set up an independent tribunal, which could evaluate the value of a claim and compel the government to pay within specific deadlines. However, the bill the Liberals put forward held to none of these principles. The legislation let the Minister of Indian Affairs appoint and remove commissioners, had no timelines (meaning claims could be delayed indefinitely) and capped compensation at $7 million. The legislation passed, despite outcries from First Nations citizens across Canada.
To give Paul Martin his due, he never enabled the legislation. Of course he never fixed it either. That was left to Jim Prentice.
Politics are full of fickle friends and shifting (or shifty) ethics.
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