Aboriginal Affairs: Tone Deaf Conservatives

During Thursday's question period Chuck Strahl, the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, called the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples an "aspirational document" which is rather similar to Alberto Gonzales calling the US constitution "quaint". While it's true that the declaration not legally binding, the Conservatives refused to vote for it because they said it was in conflict with our Charter - an obviously hollow excuse. It seems to me that if it was only "aspirational", there shouldn't have been any legal conflict whatsoever.

From wiki:

Canada said that while it supported the spirit of the Declaration, it contained elements that were "fundamentally incompatible with Canada's constitutional framework".[5] In particular, the Canadian government had problems with Article 19 (which appears to require governments to secure the consent of indigenous peoples regarding matters of general public policy), and Articles 26 and 28 (which could allow for the re-opening or repudiation of historically settled land claims).[12]

Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Chuck Strahl described the document as "unworkable in a Western democracy under a constitutional government."[13] Strahl elaborated, saying "In Canada, you are balancing individual rights vs. collective rights, and (this) document ... has none of that. By signing on, you default to this document by saying that the only rights in play here are the rights of the First Nations. And, of course, in Canada, that's inconsistent with our constitution." He gave an example: "In Canada ... you negotiate on this ... because (native rights) don't trump all other rights in the country. You need also to consider the people who have sometimes also lived on those lands for two or three hundred years, and have hunted and fished alongside the First Nations."[14]

The Assembly of First Nations passed a resolution in mid-December to invite Presidents Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales to Canada to put pressure on the Conservative government to sign the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, calling the two heads of state "visionary leaders" and demanding Canada resign its membership on the UN Human Rights Council.[15]

So why are you really afraid of an "aspirational document", Strahl?

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Before question period began Pierre Poilievre, who has been under fire from the public for his racist remarks against first nations people on Wednesday (audio), attempted to fend off much-deserved criticism in the house by issuing a pre-emptive apology. It didn't work. Opposition members called for Steve to fire him. I'll let you guess what happened.

For all of their holier-than-thou blustering about how the Conservatives are now, supposedly, the champions of human rights for first nations people in this country, it's obvious that they're simply paying lip service to the horrendous circumstances too many aboriginals still face.

As so many people said on Wednesday, words are not enough, and the attitudes of people like Strahl and Poilievre are yet another reminder that real, effective action cannot be taken while bigotry and ignorance still exists.
 

Quote du Jour: Poilievre's Racism

Ignorance on parade. Why not pull out the "lazy Indian" stereotype on the day your prime minister is apologizing for the residential schools abuse? Might as well signal to all of those racists out there who vote for your party that you're still on their side, right?

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, who represents the Ottawa-area riding of Nepean-Carleton, appeared on a lunch-time program on CFRA News Talk Radio in the capital Wednesday.

It was just hours before Harper stood to atone on behalf of all Canadians for generations of abuse in once-mandatory native residential schools.

"Now along with this apology comes another $4 billion in compensation for those who partook in the residential schools over those years," says Poilievre, in a clip circulated by the Liberal opposition.

He was apparently unaware that students were once forced to attend schools meant to assimilate them, as his boss would later rise to say in Parliament.

Poilievre then questioned the wisdom of related compensation payments.

"Now, you know, some of us are starting to ask: 'Are we really getting value for all of this money, and is more money really going to solve the problem?'

"My view is that we need to engender the values of hard work and independence and self reliance. That's the solution in the long run - more money will not solve it."

That's exactly the kind of "white supremacy" Phil Fontaine railed against in his statement in the house on Wednesday.

It's not up to you, Mr Pierre 'PMO Talking Points Coming Out of My Ass on a Daily Basis' Poilievre to "engender" anything on our first nations people. Do you not realize that that's exactly why residential schools were set up in the first place?

Oh, but he didn't stop there:

Poilievre also told CFRA that aboriginal chiefs have too much control.

"That gets to the heart of the problem on these reserves where there is too much power concentrated in the hands of the leadership, and it makes you wonder where all of this money is going.

"We spend $10 billion dollars - $10 billion dollars - in annual spending this year alone now, that is an exceptional amount of money, and that is on top of all the resource revenue that goes to reserves that sit on petroleum products or sit on uranium mines, other things where companies have to pay them royalties.

"And that's on top of all that money that they earn on their own reserves. That is an incredible amount of money."

It's their money and their resources, you fool.

You think living on a reserve is heaven? I'd suggest you take a field trip for about a year and get back to the rest of us on that. I'll tell you what: I'll even raise the money to get you to Hobbema here in Alberta. I dare you. Tough it out for a year (if you can last more than one week) and then tell us what it's really like if you can manage to even sputter by then.

Your hatred and bigotry are nothing short of astounding. Enjoy the flames you'll get in parliament and from the public for this amazing display of absolutely pathetic ignorance. You're a disgrace.

And your party wonders why so many first nations people didn't take the apology seriously. If you have a problem with the amount of money your party has decided to spend on aboriginal affairs, take that up with your boss. And while you're having that chat with him, ask him why he ditched the Kelowna accord - the first slap in the face towards first nations people perpetrated by your Conservative party when you won minority status. Oh yes, that involved too much money too, didn't it? How would you like it if I stole your land, gave you smallpox, kidnapped your children, abused them in every possible way and tried to turn them into what I deemed "acceptable"? Just how much money do you think you'd deserve as compensation for those crimes?

I, for one, am extremely grateful that you only have minority status. Enjoy the tiny bit of power you have while it lasts. Thankfully, we've all been saved by what surely would have been a destructive bull in a china shop style of government had you actually won a majority. Your party's actions have proven that you don't deserve to govern.

Never again will this House consider us the Indian problem just for being who we are.
- Phil Fontaine

When are you going to learn that, Poilievre, or are you now leading the campaign to prove him wrong?

Want to give Poilievre a piece of your mind? Here you go: PoiliP@parl.gc.ca


(h/t Far and Wide)