*HONOUR!*
"We won't get our land back with niceness! We are a Warrior Nation, Secwepemcul'ecw, that's why our territory is 180,000 sq km of unceded Secwepemc Territory!"
https://twitter.com/KanahusFreedom/status/1089225740627763200
From Secwepemcul'ecw to Palestine: Smash All Settler-States! Take Back the Land!
*Healing Our Nations Of United Resistance!"*
From Secwepemcul'ecw to Palestine: Smash All Settler-States! Take Back the Land!
Will this smashing of states require weapons?
Some very smart suggestions to improve the Languages Act at https://fnbc.info/blogs/judith-sayers/indigenous-languages-act-it-what-w...
Will Ottawa listen?
..from the previous post. txs swallow.
quote:
Office of Commissioner of Indigenous Languages
The Indigenous Languages Act establishes the Office of Commission of Indigenous Languages. The act says this is not an agent or entity of the federal government nor are its employees part of the federal public administration.
But it is the Minister who recommends to the Cabinet, that makes the final decision on who the commissioner and directors are that will serve a five year term and any reappointments. Again, the Minister only has to consult with DIVERSE Indigenous governments and institutions in order to make the recommendation on appointments, removals or reappointments. If a commissioner cannot act, the Minister can appoint one of the directors to take the Commissioners place. It is the cabinet that decides on the salary of the Commissioner and Directors. The office must be in the National capital and if it is not, the cabinet must give approval of where it can be. The office of the Commissioner must provide a business plan and budget to the Minister and must follow the plan. They must also provide a report and audit to the Minister and the Minister must table the report in the House of Commons. Part of their report will be the adequacy of funding available for Indigenous Languages.
I would recommend if this Act was in compliance with UNDRIP, it would be an indigenous office, with officers appointed by indigenous people, and accountability to indigenous peoples. That would mean accountability to Chiefs, communities and other organizations. The mandate and priorities of the office would come from Indigenous peoples, not through federal legislation. While the Act may say that it is not a federal entity or an agent of the federal government, the reality is that it a creature of federal statute that is governed by federal Law and its powers and accountabilities come from that act. What I see, is if the Federal government is providing the funds, they want to structure the Office of Indigenous Languages the way they want. It is not indigenous self-determination, nor is it a distinct social and cultural institution as required by UNDRIP. The main control is with the federal government, not Indigenous peoples. The legislation should allow for a distinct institution governed by indigenous peoples. Money received could be accountable to the government, but it should be spent in the way indigenous peoples want to spend it within their own institution.
First Nation leaders in B.C. and Saskatchewan say resistance from several provinces and the Trudeau government’s recent cabinet shuffle are jeopardizing the federal Liberals’ planned child welfare legislation.
Leaders within the First Nations Summit in B.C., and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) in Saskatchewan tell APTN News they believe resistance from Saskatchewan, Ontario, and likely others, coupled with the removal of Jane Philpott as Indigenous Services minister and Jody Wilson-Raybould as Justice minister and Attorney General, are key factors in what could be the imminent demise of one of the government’s key promises to Indigenous peoples.
On Wednesday, FSIN published an open letter to Justin Trudeau telling the prime minister “if you can’t do right by Indigenous children, the most vulnerable population today… then there is no way your government can be viewed as having the political will to get any other aspect of the First Nations agenda right.”
quote:
Pratt told APTN Thursday that Philpott had indicated to Saskatchewan chiefs that giving First Nations jurisdiction over child welfare “was completely doable,” he said, in order to “get the jurisdiction of the provinces out of the way.”
Cheryl Casimer of the First Nations Summit in B.C. told APTN Wednesday that it would be “political suicide” for the Liberals “to table legislation that didn’t recognize full jurisdiction and authority” of First Nations.
“It can’t include any component in there that still allows for provincial oversight, because that’s the system that currently exists, and for some province’s that’s why they are dealing with high rates of children in care.”
Casimer, who is a former and councillor with the ?aq̓am First Nation, said any child welfare legislation that doesn’t give full jurisdiction to Indigenous peoples, and which doesn’t include adequate financial resources, “would be a waste of time because it’ll be rejected.
“First Nations just want to have that full jurisdiction and authority to operate child welfare systems based on their own Indigenous laws with no interference.”
'Canada's Indigenous Colonization Project: 152 Years Old and Still Going Strong'
https://twitter.com/1mohawklawyer/status/1093888206129352704
Although there are many problems with the wording in every section of this bill, and there are many legal problems raised with said wording, I have five core concerns. First, there is no specific recognition of First Nation languages as official languages, nor is there a specific First Nation language right that is actually granted or recognized. The bill merely references rights “in relation to” Indigenous languages, but this could mean one’s personal right to speak a language versus the right to receive government services on one’s language, for example. Secondly, there is no specific recognition of First Nation jurisdiction or powers in relation to First Nation languages. The Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism retains all powers in relation to the bill and any future regulations.
My third concern is that there is no specific or firm commitment in relation to funding. The bill provides that the Minister will “establish measures to facilitate the provision” of funding. However, establishing “measures” is not a direct commitment for a specific funding amount or a commitment to whom this funding will flow. This relates to my fourth concern, that the bill promotes a pan-Aboriginal approach that is not First Nation-specific and appears to put other broadly-defined “Indigenous groups” on the same level as First Nations. Under this bill, funds could flow to anyone who incorporated an organization and claimed to be Indigenous – despite their lack of status as actual rights-holders within a specific First Nation territory.
Finally, this bill appears to utilize the same federally-controlled legislative framework concept for rights definition, limitation and scoping. Trudeau already had to back away from the federal rights recognition framework already rejected by numerous First Nations and First Nation organizations. Of particular concern is the federal government’s intention to establish a “framework” that is intended to define, limit and determine the scope of the language rights to be exercised, how and by whom, by way of negotiated agreements. While the AFN and the Metis National Council have come out in support of the bill, the Inuit Tapariit Kanatami have been very critical of it, explaining that they feel Canada acted in bad faith, that is not Inuit-specific, and does not protect Inuit language rights.
Pam Palmater on the Indigenous languages act, full text at https://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.com/2019/02/bill-c-91-act-respecting-indigenous.html
Jody Wilson Raybould Was the Face of Trudeau's Reconciliation Vow, 'And Now She's Gone' (and vid)
https://nationalpost.com/politics/jody-wilson-raybould-was-the-face-of-t...
"...In her testimony, Wilson Raybould explained that she held fast to her independence as attorney-general in part because 'the history of Crown-Indigenous relations in this country includes a history of the rule of law not being respected.' She had been a human symbol of the Trudeau government's commitment to reconciliation, and it's hard not to see her departure as equally symbolic..."
Coerced-sterilization allegations a 'crisis' that demands public inquiry: chief
Ongoing concerns about coerced sterilization of Indigenous women is nothing short of a "crisis" that warrants a public inquiry, says a prominent Alberta First Nations leader.
In an interview, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam said concerns were brought directly to his attention by a member of his community north of Fort McMurray.
He fears others could have been affected, maybe without their knowledge.
"You see it — there's others in the community that appear to be having the same symptoms without nobody knowing why and nobody questions anything," he said. "You tend to wonder, was it done to them without their consent, without them knowing?"
A public inquiry is necessary to ensure politicians deal with the issue "once and for all," Adam added.
"I am deeply sorry in regards to what has happened," he said, aiming that message at victims.
Morningstar Mercredi, an Indigenous author from Adam's community who says she had a pregnancy terminated and her left ovary and Fallopian tube removed against her will in the mid-1970s in Saskatoon, said she hopes more leaders speak out.
"We are talking about our women and children," she said.
She also said she personally took comfort knowing her own chief was addressing the issue publicly, after she approached him about doing so.
"He took a stand in a supportive manner and I trust he will use his role as a leader in the most effective, proactive manner that would ensure coerced sterilization of Indigenous women is not permitted to continue," she said. "I think he's a good example."
The chief's comments come as the federal government tries to pull together officials from the provinces and territories this month to discuss the issue. Quebec has already indicated it is not willing to participate.
Stopping coerced sterilizations must be part of reconciliation efforts with Indigenous Peoples, Adam said, adding he wants to see the Liberal government act to amend the Criminal Code to make it a specifically defined crime. In December, chiefs at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa also passed a resolution to politically support changes to the Criminal Code to explicitly criminalize forced sterilization.
"Mr. Trudeau has to come out and do what's right because this has been going on too long and somebody has to correct the problem," Adam said. "It is a violation of human rights."....
I Never Want To Be Seen As An Equal To Settler Society
https://indigenousmotherhood.wordpress.com/2019/03/06/i-never-want-to-be...
"I have never wanted to be an equal to settler society. Nor do I ever want to be seen as an equal in the eyes of the colonizer. And I never want to be seen as 'successful' within colonial systems...
It means never once uttering the words 'we need an Indigenous Prime Minister'."
Don't Vote For Canada
https://twitter.com/1mohawklawyer/status/1103363124638302210
"I'm tired of the SNC/JWR news. Either way the initiative delivered by the Feds as framework, 10 Principles had JWR written all over it. Let's get focused on real issues - The Feds are implementing the framework in pieces via legislation/policy. AFN/NC exec complicit with Feds."
https://twitter.com/PetersGordon/status/1103748261016453120
Warning To Indigenous Nations!
https://twitter.com/RussDiabo/status/1103857156460171265
"The Trudeau government plans to impose a new termination policy by June 2019! These contemplated changes are unprecedented in both their scope and in their effects on the rights of self-determination, the Treaties and Aboriginal Title and Rights. They are giving the whole process only four months..."
Tuberculosis Rates in the North Are 290 Times Those in the Rest of Canada. Here's Why
Trudeau apologizes Canadian colonialism continues.
Federal Budget to Forgive or Reimburse $1.4B in Loans to Indigneous Groups
https://twitter.com/RussDiabo/status/1108252902529753088
"Is this purchasing FN Chiefs support for Feds new June 2019 Termination Policy?"
'Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic of Canada'. - Indian Affairs, 1920
..petition
On March 18, 2019, the UBCIC issued an open letter calling on each Senator of Canada to pass
Bill C-262, An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, without delay.
The UBCIC is calling upon our members, allies, supporters and friends to issue a similar letter of
support. We need to demonstrate to Canada’s Senators that we will not stand idly by while
Canada delays the recognition and implementation of the human rights of Indigenous peoples.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, in Call to Action #43, called upon the
“federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for
reconciliation”.
Bill C-262 was passed in the House of Commons on May 30, 2018, with the overwhelming
majority of votes cast in support of the bill.
Bill C-262 must not be stalled in the Senate. With a looming federal election, there is a substantial and unacceptable risk that the bill may miss the legislative window.
View report online | Download PDF
Red Women Rising: Indigenous Women Survivors in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is an extraordinary report with Indigenous women survivors at the center; rather than as a secondary reference. Indigenous women in the Downtown Eastside (DTES)—a neighbourhood known as ground zero for violence against Indigenous women—are not silent victims, statistics, or stereotypes. This unprecedented work shares their powerful first-hand realities of violence, residential schools, colonization, land, resource extraction, family trauma, poverty, labour, housing, child welfare, being two-spirit, police, prisons, legal system, opioid crisis, healthcare, and more.
Authored by Carol Muree Martin (Nisga’a and Gitanyow) and Harsha Walia with 128 collaborators, the compelling stories, rigorous research, and holistic recommendations within the 220-page report drastically and urgently shifts the lens from pathologizing poverty towards amplifying resistance to and healing from all forms of gendered colonial violence. We are honoured and thrilled to share the tenacity, brilliance, and warrior women spirit of Red Women Rising.
..a must listen
Hannah Martin in the House of Commons | APTN News
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been asked some pretty tough questions as of late, but perhaps none tougher than what Hannah Martin, who is from Tatmagouche, Nova Scotia asked Wednesday as part of the Daughters of the Vote in the House of Commons.
“... And so, when I hear the leader, yourself, speak about being a feminist, to me you can not be a feminist if you are raping the land. You can not be a feminist if you are allowing corporations to rape the land - because as indigenous peoples, that is our Mother. That is not a myth, that is not a legend, that is not a belief... that is fact, that is truth to us - she is our Mother. And so when you are allowing corporations to rape the land, you are allowing the continued violence against us - the indigenous women who are protecting a sovereign nation. Sovereign nations from coast to coast to coast. We belong to sovereign nations, and the Canadian government needs to respect that...”
The town of Oka is asking the federal and provincial governments to slap a moratorium on a proposed land grant to the local Mohawk community in Kanesatake and to establish an RCMP detachment on the First Nations territory to deal with illegal cannabis sales outlets.
Oka playing with fire.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered Canada to pay compensation to First Nation children, youth and families who were taken from their homes on reserve and put in care of the state.
“This ruling is dedicated to all the First Nations children, their families and communities who were harmed by the unnecessary removal of children from your homes and communities,” the ruling says.
In the ruling issued Friday, the tribunal awarded $40,000 to each child who was taken from their parents for reasons other than sexual, physical or psychological abuse.
Under the Human Rights Act, the tribunal panel of chair Sophie Marchildon and Edward Lustig were allowed to award a maximum of $20,000 per victim.
They could add another $20,000 if the discrimination was found to be wilful and reckless.
“The Panel finds that it has sufficient evidence to find that Canada’s conduct was wilful and reckless resulting in what we have referred to as the worst-case scenario under our Act,” the ruling says.
“This case of racial discrimination is one of the worst possible cases warranting the maximum awards.”
Resistance Under Occupation
https://twitter.com/tripgone/status/1170714176827867137
"A glimpse at the will power in indigenous children. WOW."
Mi’kmaq grandmothers want unceded land recognition from Nova Scotia Supreme Court
Three Mi’kmaq grandmothers are trying to move the dial forward when it comes to the way the justice system interacts with Indigenous peoples.
On Monday, the trio pushed for recognition in Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court that the province rests on unceded Mi’kmaw territory before proceedings in their case continue — a recognition that did not verbally take place in the courtroom at the time.
Kuku’wis Wowkis, Kiju Muin and Thunderbird Swooping Down Woman are accused of violating a court-ordered injunction against trespassing on land owned by Alton Gas in Fort Ellis, N.S., during protests over the natural gas storage project the company wants to build there.
Mi’kmaw attorney Michael McDonald said he wanted the land acknowledgment to take place early in the proceedings so they could continue in a respectful manner, adding that such recognition could have a ripple effect on other cases involving Indigenous peoples.....
...
Mi’kmaq grandmothers call small courtroom size an example of ‘systemic racism’
Three Mi’kmaq grandmothers are angry after some of their friends and family were denied entry into a Halifax courtroom in a case involving Alton Gas.
Kuku’wis Wowkis, Kiju Muin and Thunderbird Swooping Down Woman appeared in Supreme Court on Monday, where they’re alleged to have contravened a court-ordered injunction against trespassing on the site of the company’s natural gas storage project in Fort Ellis, N.S..
But the small, seventh-floor courtroom could not accommodate all their supporters, leaving some allies – including two children – waiting outside.
“The courtroom size is not compatible for our people,” Thunderbird Swooping Down Woman told Global News.
“They’re not giving us the support that we need. I’m a grandmother, I want my people around to support me. I want our knowledge keepers to be able to get in there.Previous court dates involving Indigenous activists and Alton Gas have attracted large crowds, and Thunderbird Swooping Down Woman said Supreme Court staff ought to have known that and given them a bigger room.
Previous court dates involving Indigenous activists and Alton Gas have attracted large crowds, and Thunderbird Swooping Down Woman said Supreme Court staff ought to have known that and given them a bigger room.
A representative for the Supreme Court declined multiple requests to comment on this story, or whether another, larger courtroom was available for use on Monday.
“My concern is the justice system is doing the grandmothers wrong,” said Thunderbird Swooping Down Woman.
“Another example of systemic racism. Marginalization,” added her companion, Elizabeth Marshall, who was there as a supporter.
INVASION
"In this era of 'reconciliation' Indigenous land is still being taken at gunpoint..."
drift....
Go Back to Where You Came From
“Go back to where you came from!” a white woman screamed at us at the Los Angeles International Airport. We laughed at the absurdity of the notion. The biting humor of the late Haudenosaunee and Cree comedian Charlie Hill quickly came to mind: “A redneck told me to go back to where I came from, so I put up a tipi in his backyard!”
That sunny day in early 2017, we marched behind Tongva drummers, the original people of what is currently Los Angeles. We held placards that read “No Ban On Stolen Land!” protesting Donald Trump’s executive order barring travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries in Africa and the Middle East. This defiance is the living legacy of centuries of Indigenous resistance: the active refusal to cede moral authority over who belongs and who doesn’t to a settler nation.....
....end drift
Courts deny most First Nations injunctions
Shiri Pasternak suspected corporations likely won more injunctions than First Nations did in land disputes.
But she was shocked after she and her fellow researchers began crunching numbers.
The team at Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led think tank, reviewed nearly 100 injunction cases. They found corporations succeeded in 76 per cent of injunctions filed against First Nations, while First Nations were denied in 81 per cent of injunctions against corporations.
Similarly, First Nations were denied in 82 per cent of injunctions filed against the government.
“What we found was even more shocking than we could have imagined,” Pasternak said of what she called “astronomically high” numbers for corporations and governments and “absolutely dismal success” for First Nations.
A small team of researchers at Yellowhead pored through cases across the country, set research parameters (for example, they focused on First Nations instead of Inuit and Métis) and variables and had 10 people conduct a peer review on the methodology.
They concluded the data shows that the court system is skewed toward seeing value and harm in economic terms opposed to Indigenous people asserting their rights and their laws.
“It was a very weird feeling to discover that. On the one hand, I felt vindicated that we had spent so much time on it,” Pasternak said. “And on the other hand, within a moment, I felt so depressed just thinking about how this mechanism had so unlawfully removed people from protecting their own land.”
quote:
Looking for alternatives
Pasternak said Yellowhead is now thinking about what to do with the research.
She said institutional change may need to be led by the attorney general and build off Jody Wilson-Raybould’s last directive in January, which called on prosecutors to prioritize negotiation over litigation in cases involving Indigenous Peoples.
She also said they are considering writing a submission to the UN’s committee on the elimination of racial discrimination to try and build a legal case around the harm injunctions have caused communities.
Alexander pointed out that in the 2004 case Haida v. British Columbia, the Supreme Court recommended a separate mechanism for mediation in B.C. The court said the province “may wish to adopt dispute resolution procedures like mediation or administrative regimes with impartial decision-makers in complex or difficult cases.”
He said establishing this kind of regime hasn’t been a priority — but now, B.C. has become the first province to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
The declaration defends Indigenous Peoples’ right to maintain and strengthen their legal institutions and have those legal systems recognized by the state, and the right to “own, use, develop and control” their traditional territories.
The declaration also protects Indigenous Peoples’ right to “just and fair procedures for the resolution of conflicts and disputes with states or other parties.”
Indigenous leaders march on Jan. 8, 2019, in Vancouver, B.C. Rallies were held across Canada to show solidarity with Wet'suwet'en. Photo by Michael Ruffolo
Canada's Termination Plan Continues
https://twitter.com/RussDiabo/status/1192832720306679808
"2019 is the 50th anniversary of the 1969 WHITE PAPER & the current Trudeau gov't has co-opted and compromised AFN & majority of Indian Act Chiefs and Councils to help implement 1969 goals via WHITE PAPER 2.0. New Liberal Minority Govt will continue with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Termination Plan!'
"There is a genocide happening in Canada against my Mom, Sisters, Daughters and Aunties...If we don't resist, sing our war songs, dance our war dances, speak our languages, defend our tribal lands and territories we will cease to live as true Peoples of the Land."
https://twitter.com/KanahusFreedom/status/1192850442931191809
Indigenous #MeToo catching fire in B.C. First Nations communities
A recent Facebook post by Lauraleigh Paul, the daughter of Vancouver artist Lawrence Paul, alleging an Indigenous actor had sexually assaulted her has spurred other Indigenous women to do the same.
Over the past week, scores of Indigenous people have shared their personal stories of sexual assault, harassment and abuse on Facebook. They have also contacted journalists and victim services.
The incidents cited have taken place in a range of settings, including within First Nations organizations, at powwows, during work trips with band councillors, during cultural events, in homes, on film shoots and in government offices.
One Indigenous woman posted to social media and called the CBC to disclose that when she was 15 years old she was sexually assaulted by an older man during a trip to Seattle for a powwow.
At the time, the man was a cultural leader in the Indigenous community in B.C., the woman said.
quote:
Despite the recent revelations, several members of Indigenous communities say vulnerable and marginalized peoples are more cautious when it comes to bringing forward accusations of sexual assault and harassment.
And they have good reason.
"It is an extremely, deeply personal thing to disclose and in Indigenous communities you're dealing with, more often than not, smaller and remote communities," said Wawmeesh Hamilton, a journalist with The Discourse media outlet. Hamilton has done extensive research on Indigenous sex offenders in First Nations.
"If you have been sexually assaulted or sexually abused, you see your abuser probably every day — whether it's at home, outside in the community, at the band office, at the gym, at the community centre — you see them all the time," Hamilton said.
The stakes are even higher when you add poverty into the mix, and if one's abuser is a leader in the community, held in high regard or in charge of critical needs like housing.
Dire need for safe houses and shelters
Mavis Erickson, a Carrier lawyer who previously worked as a special representative for the protection of First Nations women's rights for the federal government, said many Indigenous people don't come forward with sexual assault allegations because there's a lack of resources such as shelters or victim support services in Indigenous communities.
"[Indigenous] women don't have the safety and security to name men as aggressors or predators in the community because they don't have a [safe] place to go to," said Erickson.
Toronto Star journalist Tanya Talaga spoke about the need for safe houses for Indigenous women and youth during two Massey Lectures this week in Vancouver.
The Anishinaabe author of the book Seven Fallen Feathers told audiences her research revealed a connection between sexual assault and abuse and teen suicide — a phenomenon that is 11 times more likely in some Indigenous communities.
On Thursday, the B.C government announced it is building 280 new transition housing units for women and children fleeing violence, but did not indicate if they will be in Indigenous communities or if spaces will be allocated to Indigenous women.
More women coming forward means a need for more services.
Jenna Forbes, executive director of the Vancouver Aboriginal Transformative Justice Services Society, said many Indigenous people are coming forward with stories of abuse.
"Our community is reliving and getting triggered, but there aren't enough counsellors, third parties for women to make police reports, and safe spaces for confidential conversations," Forbes added.
Ottawa in court this week over First Nations child-welfare compensation order
One of the most loaded and emotional issues facing the new Justin Trudeau government on its reconciliation agenda is heading to Federal Court over the next two days.
Justice Canada lawyers are set to argue against compensating First Nations children impacted by the on-reserve child welfare system.
In September, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered Ottawa to pay $40,000 to each First Nations child affected by the on-reserve child welfare system since 2006. The compensation order followed a 2016 tribunal decision that found the federal government discriminated against First Nations children by underfunding the on-reserve child welfare system.
Ottawa has said the tribunal order could cost up to $8 billion and filed for a judicial review in October calling for the Federal Court to quash it, leading to two days of hearings beginning Monday on related legal manoeuvres.
The decision to challenge the order has drawn widespread condemnation from First Nations leaders, the NDP and the Green Party, and human rights organizations like Amnesty International.
Ottawa seeking stay of order
Ottawa will argue before the Federal Court on Monday that it should stay — or pause — the tribunal order until the judicial review application gets decided.
Ottawa has argued in court filings that the tribunal order was an overreach and that the original case was about systemic discrimination, which required a systemic fix, not individual compensation, which is the purview of class action law.
quote:
"Integrity is when words have meaning and, so far, this government's had no integrity. It has really been putting out public statements to protect itself or to get itself a pat on the back," said Blackstock.
"Well they've been ordered to make change overnight and they should be complying with the law, just like everyone else does."
The tribunal has ordered all sides in the case — Ottawa, the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations — to negotiate a method for dealing with the mechanics of the compensation and present it by Dec. 10.
However, Ottawa has refused to participate in those discussions, choosing instead to litigate, while the other parties have already begun the work of developing potential models, according to court records.
Cindy Blackstock, who heads the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society which filed the original human rights complaint in 2007 with the support of the AFN, said the government has been aware since that time that it could face a compensation order.
"Integrity is when words have meaning and, so far, this government's had no integrity. It has really been putting out public statements to protect itself or to get itself a pat on the back," said Blackstock.
"Well they've been ordered to make change overnight and they should be complying with the law, just like everyone else does."
(bears repeating!)
"In Brutal 'Canada' Indigenous sovereign land defenders are surveilled, criminalized, intimidated, violated."
https://twitter.com/ArticulateDinos/status/1199030087913336832
"If Trudeau is calling for renewed, nation-to-nation relationships and promising a new era of recognition, rights, respect and cooperation, then we need to know how we can pursue peaceful processes for protecting our sovereignty, without the threat of state-sanctioned violence...."
https://twitter.com/KanahusFreedom/status/1198626271120412674
No such review was ever conducted and Indigenous sovereignty is still being suppressed or subverted by Canada.
Today the government is announcing that it will seek settlement....
While its lawyer attacks the claim.
This is simply not the way the law works.
If you want to settle a dispute you put something on the table and see if they agree. It is not honest to fight a claim while saying you want to settle without having an offer on the table. I have never heard an annoucement of a desire to settle without an offer to settle -- even if it is off the mark. If I am wrong -- has anyone here heard of such a thing?
A continuing regime of anti-law, Ottawa doublespeak and manufacture of consent: Talk peace continue war. "Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian that has not been absorbed into the body politic of Canada..." DIA-1921
Aboriginal Rights, the Rule of Law and Justice: Each Forsaken
https://dissidentvoice.org/2016/10/aboriginal-rights-the-rule-of-law-and...
"...Upon this basis, A-G Blake engineered the enactment of the first Indian Act in 1876, inventing municipal Indian governments subject to federal and provincial laws of general application even on unceded Indian lands, thereby in intent and effect abolishing the sovereign 'Several Nations or Tribes.' This was accompanied by a century of Indian Residential Schools that kidnapped the Indian children from age 4 to age 16 and all but destroyed the Indian culture, political organization, languages and economics.
In every generation more and more molestations and disturbances under federal and provincial law were heaped upon the native culture in an unrelenting and unconstitutional genocidal ethnic cleansing. That was the simple plan. From then until now..."
Today the government is announcing that it will seek settlement....
While its lawyer attacks the claim.
This is simply not the way the law works.
If you want to settle a dispute you put something on the table and see if they agree. It is not honest to fight a claim while saying you want to settle without having an offer on the table. I have never heard an annoucement of a desire to settle without an offer to settle -- even if it is off the mark. If I am wrong -- has anyone here heard of such a thing?
Sean I think this important issue deserves a thread of its own. I share your puzzlement and hope someone can enlighten us.
'The Gov of Canada is Committed to Seeking a Comprehensive Settlement...'
https://twitter.com/VeldonCoburn/status/1199005253062004736
"Hi Carolyn Bennett. I'm currently sitting in the courtroom at the Supreme Court of Canada where your lawyers continue to argue against what you say."
For those who apparently still find the mendacity and legal chicanery of Canada on Indigenous matters difficult to apprehend or accept, those of us who follow the just-us system rather more closely know it as a longstanding national tradition.
Cindy Blackstock
https://twitter.com/cblackst/status/1198930616630304768
"In its reply submissions Canada says none of its politicians agreed with the Tribunal's compensation order. Yet as the Caring Society submission points out the PM agreed with the Tribunal in the French Language Debate."
'We must fairly and equitably compensate FN individuals...' - Minister Miller
https://twitter.com/Niigaanwewidam/status/1199033424297611269
"Let's be clear - today's proceedings are about getting the 2016 CHRT ruling thrown out - check the wording..."
Snakes with forked tongues never to be trusted. As is obvious they don't wish to pay. At least not so much and not right now.
First Nations child welfare advocate accuses feds of 'shopping around courts'
quote:
Lawyers for the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and other parties in the case said nothing stops the government from paying damages awarded by the human-rights tribunal while also extending compensation to other victims.
“We’re in the litigation process at the tribunal on compensation because Canada wanted us to go there,” Blackstock told reporters outside the courtroom Tuesday.
“We wanted to mediate, but Canada said, ‘No, we have to litigate this in front of the tribunal.’ So they got what they wanted, which is an order, but now they don’t like the order and they want it out of the way, so that they can talk,” she said.
“It feels like they’re just trying to find a place that agrees with them.”
When governments obtain court orders against indigenous people, the militarized police usually follows to execute the order. We should not be « normalizing » @JustinTrudeau refusing to comply to 7 Tribunal orders! The Rule of Law applies to all
drift...
WA Indigenous group's $290 billion compensation claim could become one of world's biggest payouts
quote:
Noongar woman Naomi Smith, a lead claimant, said her people had been struggling since European settlement when they lost access to their traditional land.
She said this claim was seeking reimbursement for the extinguishment of their native title rights over vast swathes of their country.
"It's going to be huge in regard to what Noongar people could do for our Noongar kids," she said.
David Stevenson, the solicitor representing Ms Smith, said it was "far and away" the largest claim made in Australia.
But their rights to the vast majority of this land, 19.4 million hectares, have been "extinguished" because it was now used as government land, or for commercial, residential, agricultural or mining purposes.
This extinguishment meant the Noongar people were no longer able to exercise their traditional rights on the country.
"This is about our cultural and spiritual damage, as all the damage to our land," Ms Smith said.
...end drift
How it really is....
Indigenous Lawyer Harold Johnson on Indigenous Justice in Canada (podcast)
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-57-the-sunday-edition/clip/157492...
Retired Cree lawyer, Harvard graduate and Crown Prosecutor for 30 years in Northern Saskatchewan on Canada's Justice system:
"The incarceration rates of Indigenous people in Saskatchewan are higher than the incarceration rates in the United States, and the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. These incarceration rates continue to climb and now we're locking up more women and children than ever before None of the tinkering with the Justice system in the past 25 years has made any difference. This Justice system that I have been raised to respect and try to understand is making our existence worse."
"...Genocide continues in consequence of the lawyers' and judges' institutional and profound conflict of interest with justice - based upon the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth - which the rule of law in idealistic theory exists to serve...There is no legal point to be served in troubling to draft declarations and petitions to the government. The government knows and has heard it all before. Its whole policy as against Indian and foreign nations is to lie and to wear down resistance to the lie by the unconstitutional and mortal use of force.
There is no possibility of good faith relative to treaties regarding territory that the government has already invaded, occupied and governed in bad faith. The current conjuction of global economic and environmental crises will not likely be resolved unless a structural approach that goes to the root of the catastrophe is identified and addressed, by the authors of the problem: The North American legal profession and judiciary..."
An Identification of the Conflicted Relationship Between the Indigenous Nations and the Legal Profession in North America
https://dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/an-identification-of-the-conflicted-r...
Ignoring all those inconvenient traditional and unceded Indigenous rights
quote:
The acknowledgements are like little obligatory prayers: audience members try to look reflective and sombre for a moment, then snap back to the business at hand. I doubt most people even remember the name of the luckless First Nation just named in the recitation. It's a form of national virtue-signaling, to use an overused term.
Certainly no university president, at least to my knowledge, has ever stood up and said "this land is unceded, meaning it's not ours, so we're going to give some of it back."
It seems to be the modern Canadian approach to Indigenous people: rather than deny their problems or accuse them of creating them through their own laziness, which was how my parents' generation dealt with the question, we now smother them with humid apologies and abnegation, but not actual compensation.
quote:
The tribunal ordered the federal government and Indigenous parties to immediately begin identifying victims – Indigenous groups reckon there are as many as 56,000 – and pay them.
True to modern form, the government's response was wholehearted agreement, coupled with inaction and obstruction.
Then-Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O'Regan declared the system broken, and vowed to fix it: "We want to ensure that first and foremost, we continue to place the best interests of the child at the forefront."
"Continue"? Really?
The government then sent lawyers to federal court with orders to quash the human rights tribunal's decision, and immediately put an end to talks about identifying and compensating victims.
"Canada is committed to remedying the injustices of the past," declared Justice Department lawyer Robert Frater, in trying to have the ruling overturned. The government argued that the compensation order, if allowed to stand, would do irreparable damage to Canada's justice system (not to mention the fact that it would cost billions).
Marc Miller, O'Regan's hapless-sounding replacement at Indigenous Services, was asked on CTV in late November why the government wouldn't just abide by the order, compensate the victims, and move on.
His answer, coming from a minister in a government that was trying to kill the human rights tribunal's ruling, would have impressed George Orwell.
"What we are dealing with are the product of systemic discrimination that has occurred over decades," he began.
"These court cases are a product of government inaction. And the costs are the costs of compensation to a group of people that are due compensation, but we need to take a close and careful look at how systemic discrimination gets compensated .… How do we take a look at the form and manner of compensation, which includes and should include individual compensation and systemic remedies?"
quote:
So where does this all stand?
Indigenous groups, having won two major rulings in three years on the matter, are still waiting for the government to come to the table.
The human rights tribunal has extended until January its deadline for the formation of a process to identify and compensate Indigenous children and families. It made clear that it was doing so under duress: "The panel feels cornered [by the government] and does not appreciate it," wrote the tribunal lawyers overseeing the case.
Federal bureaucrats, meanwhile, are seeking a judicial review of the tribunal's decisions, and are thinking the best way to deal with the matter might be to encourage a class-action civil lawsuit.
BREAKING: The Honourable Mr. Justice Favel dismisses Canada's motion asking for a stay of order of 2019 CHRT 39.
Read the full ruling https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/t-1621-
Sen Murray Sinclair
https://twitter.com/SenSincmurr/status/1201869343535116288
"A government that is eager to spend millions if not billions on a pipeline, but clearly reluctant to compensate children and families it has admitted to damaging, has lost its moral compass."
Just wait and see how much of your money this same government gives to its friends in NATO and the military-industrial American warpigs complex, Canada...
..this is important to hear.
CHARLIE ANGUS TO CAROLYN BENNETT ON FIGHTING RIGHTS RULING
I cross-examined Minister Carolyn Bennett on the government's attempt to have the ruling of the Human Rights Tribunal quashed in federal court. The Tribunal found Canadian government "willfully and recklessly" discriminated against First Nation children. The government is claiming they support compensation through an outstanding class action but are attempting to shut down the power of the Rights Commission to force them to end the discrimination.
The House of Commons passed a non-binding NDP motion Wednesday calling on the federal government to pay compensation to children and families affected by the on-reserve child welfare system, as ordered by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in September.
The federal government is seeking a judicial review before the Federal Court aimed at quashing the human rights tribunal compensation order.
"All parties have called on them to comply with the ruling," said NDP MP Charlie Angus, who tabled the motion.
"You can't comply with the ruling if you are trying to quash the ruling."
NATIVE AMERICAN COP 25 DELEGATION REMOVED FROM US EMBASSY
Over 75 Indigenous activists and their allies demonstrated in front of the US Embassy in Madrid, Spain to demand justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, two-spirits and girls(MMIW). The delegation was removed from the sidewalk by Spain’s National Police and followed for blocks. The police liaison with the group was held back and forced to show his documents.
In 2016, the Urban Indian Health Institute found that only 116 out of 5,712 cases of MMIWG reported in the United States were recorded in the Department of Justice’s federal missing persons database.
Many of these cases have been the direct result of extractive fossil fuel industries implanting “man camps” for transient industry workers located near Native American communities. This is especially apparent for rural areas in states such as North Dakota and Montana, which continue to be the epicenter of violence against Indigenous women. Additionally, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute, 70 percent of Alaska Natives live in urban areas, where Indigenous women not only go missing, but are underreported by municipal police agencies and all too often ignored by local media. We can no longer allow for this issue to be invisibilized by the government or the media alike
“Whether in rundown motels or pop-up camps, certain things hold true. There is an influx of transient workers who bring alcohol, drugs and violence, such as rape, murder and human trafficking,” says Casey Camp-Horinek of the Ponca Nation in Oklahoma.....
Quebec challenges federal child welfare law to the ‘detriment of First Nations children’ says chief
The regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations is scolding the province of Quebec for challenging the federal law that will reform First Nations child welfare across the country.
“I am extremely disappointed, but not surprised, by what I call the shameful decision of the Legault government,” Ghislain Picard, chief of the Assembly of First Nations for Quebec and Labrador said in a statement.
“Defending its so-called jurisdiction is one thing, but doing it on the backs of our children is another. This is totally unacceptable,” he added. "The Legault government is well aware that the current child welfare system does not work for First Nations children.”
Just two weeks before it is scheduled to take effect Canada-wide, the province of Quebec is asking its Court of Appeal to assess the constitutionality of the child welfare bill known as C-92.
Quebec is the first province to legally challenge the largest overhaul of the First Nations, Inuit and Metis child welfare system in the country’s history.
C-92 is set to come into effect as of January 1, 2020......
"When you add up all the Indian Reserves in all of Canada it adds up to 0.2% of all the land. Canada has 99.8%. You don't have to be a PhD economist to figure out who'll be rich and who'll be poor."
https://twitter.com/Weasel_Woman/status/1223669962855927810
'The Inherent Right of Self-Government Does Not Include A Right of Sovereignty in the International Law Sense' - 1995 Federal 'Inherent Right' policy.
https://twitter.com/jeffadoctor/status/1223751282030080002
"Without self-determination [Sovereignty], Self-Government becomes a liability. It's like having responsibility without any power - it sounds nice until you realize you just took on someone else's liabilities while they brush their hands clean."
Canada's 'Wreck-n-sell-yer-Nation' policy, doing just what it was designed to. Hiding the truth of an illegal occupation and ongoing genocide. Canada has been wildly successful in ways Apartheid Israel can only dream of.
Saugeen Ojibway Nation Has Saved Lake Huron From A Nuclear Waste Dump
https://www.globalresearch.ca/saugeen-ojibway-nation-saved-like-huron-nu...
"...As Chief Lester Anoquot of the Chippewas of Saugeen Ojibway Nation told the press on January 31, 'This vote was a historic milestone and momentous victory for our People. We worked for many, many years, for our right to exercise jurisdiction in our Territory and the free, prior and informed consent of our People to be recognized'. 85% of those casting ballots said no to a DGR at Bruce Power's nuclear generating station in Kincardine Ontario.
According to BeyondNuclear.org, the SON had been offered $150 million by OPG in exchange for SON agreeing to 'host' this DGR. 'It cannot have been easy for a small First Nation to reject this much money, so the rest of us might consider ways to thank them. After all, there are 40 million people (on both sides of the Canada-US border) who obtain their drinking water from the Great Lakes. A brief summary of the DGR proposal shows just how much thanks are owed the SON..."
Say Thank You!
SON Environment Office: Kathleen Ryan, Energy Manager
AFN sues Crown for $10-billion in newest First Nation child welfare case
Another class-action lawsuit has been filed against the federal government due to its discriminatory underfunding of the First Nation child welfare system on reserves and in the Yukon.
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) filed a statement of claim on behalf of the class Jan. 28.
The statement was amended Friday.
The amended claim names Ashley Dawn Louise Bach, Karen Osachoff, and Melissa Walterson as plaintiffs.
“Year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation, the Crown has systematically discriminated against First Nation Children because of their race, nationality and ethnicity and created a Removed Child Class,” wrote lawyers from Strosberg Sasso Sutts LLP.
The lawsuit seeks $10-billion in damages for harms resulting from the “willful and reckless,” discriminatory underfunding of the system as well as the Crown’s “egregious” failure to comply with Jordan’s Principle.....
