Aboriginal Title and Land Claims

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
17,878
61
48
Ottawa, ON
Of course it does. The majority has voted that the indians ought to learn our culture. the majority also believes in one man, one vote, for the whole country. And the majority has decided that they the indians don't need so much land; after all, isn't Canada big enough for them?

What is it, those comie indians don't believe in democracy? It's not our fault that our ancestors reduced them to a minority!

Don't you just love democracy!
 

Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
1,238
1
38
Winnipeg
RE: Aboriginal Title and

No, youwho, things arent fair. In fact they suck. What really pisses me off is the way things are beiing being brutalized thout.
 

Gonzo

Electoral Member
Dec 5, 2004
997
1
18
Was Victoria, now Ottawa
Things are not fair for all Canadians. Being a whitey, I'll never know racism like natives have. Having there land taking away, going to schools and being raped, learning a new culture so they can be considered not "savage". They had to give up there treaty rights and native status in order to vote. In 1960, after decades of debate, the House of Commons finally removed all legal impediments to the voting rights of Native citizens. Alot of reservations in Canada are worse then third world conditions. No, not every ethnic group in Canada is treated equally. The suicide rate in Canada is highest among natives, but no one wants to talk about it or do anything.
 

Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
1,238
1
38
Winnipeg
RE: Aboriginal Title and

Actually there's a lot a of talk recently. Not a lot being done though. I always wonder how many people have actually spent time on reserves and how their attitudes would change if they did.

I think that's a major part of the problem...I've been to reserves when the politicians are there. They are generally given the official tour...the new school, the drop-in centre, the pre-fab housing operation...then whisked back to the big city to stay in a nice hotel. They never see the daily grind, the massive unemployment, the social problems, or even the poverty close up.

I think all senior politicians should have to spend a week in January on a reserve that can only be reached by air or winter road. That would change a lot of minds in hurry.
 

no1important

Time Out
Jan 9, 2003
4,125
0
36
56
Vancouver
members.shaw.ca
Well, where does all the money go? The "first nations" get billions every year? Where does it go? They should all be millionaires times 2 or 3 by now. There is just over a million of them, so where is the money?????
 

Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
1,238
1
38
Winnipeg
RE: Aboriginal Title and

It's government money, go look it up.

Education, healthcare, welfare, infrastructure, land claims, training programs.

We took on a huge responsibility when we signed the treaties. For most of the existence of those treaties, instead of living up to our end we did as little as possible committing virtual cultural genocide. That created even more problems that we now get to pay for.

People who want to criticise the modern-day government forget that we were still moving backwards until the early 1960s. They also forget that those treaties are at an international level and simply abandoning them now would be hugely expensive because we would lose any international suits.
 

Martin Le Acadien

Electoral Member
Sep 29, 2004
454
0
16
Province perdue du Canada, Louisian
Re: RE: Aboriginal Title and

Reverend Blair said:
It's government money, go look it up.

Education, healthcare, welfare, infrastructure, land claims, training programs.

We took on a huge responsibility when we signed the treaties. For most of the existence of those treaties, instead of living up to our end we did as little as possible committing virtual cultural genocide. That created even more problems that we now get to pay for.

People who want to criticise the modern-day government forget that we were still moving backwards until the early 1960s. They also forget that those treaties are at an international level and simply abandoning them now would be hugely expensive because we would lose any international suits.

Hell, Rev, they even violated Queen Anne's Treaty of the 1720's which granted the right of the Acadien and Micqmaw People to live in Nova Scotia! International Suits? The First Nations or Native Ameicans (pick your preference) have been lied to by both governments (US and Canada) so to rectify the situation would take years and $$$$$$$$$$$$$.
 

Reverend Blair

Council Member
Apr 3, 2004
1,238
1
38
Winnipeg
RE: Aboriginal Title and

Actually if we were to just outright abandon the treaties it would go quite quickly compared to what's normal in such disputes. That's not to say it would be settled quickly, it would still take at least a decade, but that the lawyers' fees would start eating up money at record rates almost immediately.

Can you imagine paying a large team of lawyers and professional witnesses to go live in hotels in Europe? You think our Governor General's travel bills are a little high? Wait until you see how much lawyers can spend.

Then when Canada eventually lost we'd get to pay the tab for the native's lawyers and professional witnesses too.

We would lose too. We may have shafted the natives with the treaties, but those treaties are quite clear as to what our obligations are and we haven't lived up to them.

In the meantime the ICJ would most likely require us to maintain spending at current levels (adjusted for inflation) until the suits were settled.
 

Martin Le Acadien

Electoral Member
Sep 29, 2004
454
0
16
Province perdue du Canada, Louisian
Re: RE: Aboriginal Title and

Reverend Blair said:
That's not to say it would be settled quickly, it would still take at least a decade, but that the lawyers' fees would start eating up money at record rates almost immediately.

Can you imagine paying a large team of lawyers and professional witnesses to go live in hotels in Europe? You think our Governor General's travel bills are a little high? Wait until you see how much lawyers can spend.

Then when Canada eventually lost we'd get to pay the tab for the native's lawyers and professional witnesses too.

Lawyers can spend, they don't eat at Tim Horton's or do Scottish at McDonald"s!

Canada has spent a sum of money down here on the Acadien Lawsuits, so far no word! i wish the my native brothers and sisters better luck!
 

Paranoid Dot Calm

Council Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,142
0
36
Hide-Away Lane, Toronto
Injuns'

When I was a kid and played cowbows-and-Indians, I always wanted to be Tonto from the Lone Ranger. I used to buy black coloured candy called "black balls" and colour my face like Indians did on TV.. I remember how proud I was to master the "Indian-Flip". I loved to read Canadian history and Indian stories.
As I got older, I used to see Indians alongside the highway selling blueberries. Somehow they looked like orphans. It seemed so out of place and character to see them ..... they never even had feathers in their hats as I expected them to have.

In the 70's I owned a business in Hay River and Yellowknife, NWT. This was during the MacKenzie Valley pipeline dispute and when an inquiry was begun.
It was the law that employers had to hire 50% native. The mining companies followed the laws, but they gave the natives stupid jobs. Not responsible jobs. Not well paying jobs or positions.

They used to shut all the hotels or bars down between 6 and 7 at night. For an hour. The reason "claimed" was so that the Indians would go home and feed their families. (Isn't that wicked, eh?)

I had a contract in Fort Smith and for the school they had there. They used to bring Eskimo folks down from the artic and sort of try and familiarize themselves with "Southern Sophistication". I remember the looks on some faces as they tried to understand things that Southerners took for granted. (Like a toilet.)
I remember when they asked to have caribou and lard on their menu and they were refused. Northern natives like to eat raw caribou meat which is just slightly frozen. They have a styrofoam coffee cup with lard in it and they dip the caribou meat into the lard. (Caribou meat has no fat).

One thing that always amused me was that there were lots of Northern Natives who never thought the south was real. They thought the pictures of the CN tower (as an example) was "photo-touched" or imaginary .... just like the perfect bodies in Playboy or science fiction movies.

And now, a quarter century later, and all the government promises to these "peaceful" people .... they get nothing.
I admire them for their non-violence because if I was a Canadian Indian ..... I think I would of cut a few throats by now.

Indians are destroying themselves, just like the blacks in the U.S.. When the blacks riot, they burn their own neighbourhoods. A government only takes notice if you begin to burn their neighbourhoods and not your own.

Family wants answers after fetus returned in cardboard box
May 21, 2004
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/print/2004/05/19/canada/unbornchild040519