Feb. 10, 2007: Dion, Nuclear ...

Foreign Sales and National Use ... There is a difference but there is much sound and fury over nuclear, global warming, and much else.

Note: There is no link because this was sent to me. Thanks, W.


Why Stephane Dion is unfit to lead this country

Randall Denley
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, February 04, 2007

I've just met Liberal leader Stephane Dion for the first time .... The thought that this fellow could become the prime minister of Canada ought to alarm us.

[....] Dion is a verbose, mild-mannered academic with a shaky grasp of English who seems unfit to chair a university department, much less lead a country.

Don't take my word for it. You can catch the interview yourself at ottawacitizen.com.

The Liberal leader is probably very smart in an academic sort of way and quite a decent person, but his ideas reflect the full, knee-jerk left-wing spectrum, and he can't even articulate them well. Nuclear power? He's against it because of concerns about the waste. At the same time that he's against this clean source of electrical power, the Liberal leader is for a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases. [Nuclear waste? I believe there were plans afoot to take care of the nuclear waste, but keep reading. See below.]

He's snidely un-American, in the way that the Liberal elite so often is. [....]

Among other things, Mr. Dion apparently favours wind power; think what that will do to birds as they fly into the windmills, but check the screen captures and link to the post: Frost Hits the Rhubarb Feb. 7, 2007: Plans ... interruptus? Check the link at the bottom of the screen captures.



Memory Lane: Search: McMaster , Shukrijumah , Khan

Frost Hits the Rhubarb Nov. 5 - 11, 2006


frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2006_11_05_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html
Search:

Nov. 5, 2006: Various

If you have not read this, do: Khadr-Almalki?-Arar? with links to other information in Nov. 4, 2006: Arar has "explaining to do"

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2006/11/
nov-4-2006-arar-has-explaining-to-do.html

Bravo, Paul Williams! "Author helped expose Canada terrorists: , June, 6, 06

www.jihadwatch.org/archives/011692.php

Lawsuit

Re: Jihad University CA: Seeks to repress research

Dr. Paul L. Williams
[....]

CHASNUPP nuclear power plant, built with Chinese assistance in central Pakistan [.... Is that the same as the KANUPP? ... Check Jan. 1, 2007, for Foreign Aid and CIDA, and check a later post where KANUPP was mentioned in a screen capture on the Canada Account and Aid via CIDA and Foreign Affairs. See below.]

... a French-Canadian nuclear engineer ... befriended by North Korean agents seeking western technology and scientific secrets.

A second unidentified Canadian, ... also met with the North Korean spies.

The French-Canadian engineer ... CANDU reactors at Wolsong, South Korea ...

A later posting on this: Nuclear: Frost Hits the Rhubarb Jan. 14 - 20, 2007

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2007_01_14_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

There is more than one related item and this link to the Asia Pacific Post: Did North Korea steal Canada's nuclear secrets? , October 24, 2002

www.asian
pacificpost.com/por
tal2/402881910674ebab
010674f495de118b.do.html


Frost Hits the Rhubarb Jan. 14 - 20, 2007

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2007_01_14_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Jan. 18, 2007: Environment

Global Warming, Kyoto, Environment and Politicized Science and Propaganda -- Current and Memory Lane

I have heard or read that Stephane Dion is talking coal while at least some provinces are leaning toward nuclear power.

Jan. 13, 2007: The Switch, Environment & Lack of Accountability
Why the Switch from using a Corporate Account to a Canada Account?

Search:

KANUPP , Pakistan sale

Check for more on the environment and the environmental review in another post in this series: Frost Hits the Rhubarb Jan. 13, 2007: Canatom NPM & Network Part 2

[Pay special attention to this I believe it connects to natives and nuclear waste, in the end.]

Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) ... 2003

Feb. 10, 2007: Global Warming

Correction Mar. 7, 2007: I corrected a date below (FHTR May 18, 2006 should have been May 28, 2006) and added search terms.

Header date corrected from Feb. 19 to Feb. 10, 2007. My typing, again. Sorry.



Global warming

Global Warming is not due to human contribution of Carbon Dioxide
Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts? , By Timothy Ball, February 5, 2007

www.canadafreepress.com/2007
/global-warming020507.htm

Global Warming, as we think we know it, doesn't exist. And I am not the only one trying to make people open up their eyes and see the truth. But few listen, despite the fact that I was the first Canadian Ph.D. in Climatology and I have an extensive background in climatology, especially the reconstruction of past climates and the impact of climate change on human history and the human condition. Few listen, even though I have a Ph.D, (Doctor of Science) from the University of London, England and was a climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg. For some reason (actually for many), the World is not listening. Here is why.

What would happen if tomorrow we were told that, after all, the Earth is flat? It would probably be the most important piece of news in the media and would generate a lot of debate. So why is it that when scientists who have studied the Global Warming phenomenon for years say that humans are not the cause nobody listens? Why does no one acknowledge that the Emperor has no clothes on? [....]

Make a wild guess about who would lose.


UN IPCC Summary - Climate Change

A prospectus for big government , Lorne Gunter, National Post, February 05, 2007 -- Lgunter@shaw.ca

www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.ht
ml?id=3ec32ebc-ccdc-4287-a69a-94da29b65178

[....] In effect, the IPCC summary is a prospectus for big government written by big government's sales department.

And don't expect the full truth to come out even when the 1,600 pages of science are finally released. The IPCC has a habit of censuring the work of scientists who disagree with the global alarmist orthodoxy. It has also instructed scientists still working on their academic contributions to the final report that those contributions must be modified after publication of the summary so as to "ensure consistency with" the summary's conclusions.

It is the political tail wagging the scientific dog. [....]

SEPP News Release: More Than 15,000 Scientists [two-thirds with advanced academic degrees] Protest Kyoto Accord; Speak Out Against Global Warming Myth -- signed "a Petition against the climate accord concluded in Kyoto (Japan) in December 1997. " The Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP), April 20, 1998 [Contact: Douglas Houts]. via CNEWS Forum link posted by caspar34

www.sepp.org/pressrel/petition.html

This is no longer available online but, my post has a lengthy excerpt. See below for the link -- Frost Hits the Rhubarb week of May 28, 2006.

... More than 15,000 scientists, [8/4/98: now about 17,000] two-thirds with advanced academic degrees, have now signed a Petition against the climate accord concluded in Kyoto (Japan) in December 1997.[....]

Dr. S. Fred Singer, president of The Science & Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) and author of Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate, explained: "Scientists are understandably upset when they see $2 billion per year devoted to research on climate change, much it irrelevant and concerned only with imaginary consequences of a hypothetical warming -- while other fields of science are starved. They are also appalled and angry that an increasing fraction of this research money is diverted into "community workshops," thinly disguised brainwashing exercises to create public fears about climate catastrophes."

Correction Mar. 7, 2007: I changed this from May 18 to May 28, 2006
Related: Frost Hits the Rhubarb May 28, 2006

Search:

May 29, 06 #2: Kyoto, Scientists & Data

May 29, 06 #1: Propaganda, Kyoto, Activists, NRTEE, Global Justice

... "see Kyoto for the bogus alarmism and wealth-transfer scheme that it is."

Climate Change, the Networks, NRTEE National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy

There is much more information on that webpage.


More here: Frost Hits the Rhubarb May 23-06: UN, Rights, Activists Networks' $$$ -- Sheila Watt-Cloutier was part of that illustrious group who travelled with ex-Governor General Adrienne Clarkson on her Inuit Circumpolar Tour

That connects to what I have written on the natives' spokesperson, at least the one brought out more than once by CBC TV and mentioned in various news items elsewhere as a native with aboriginal traditional knowledge of the environment in the North, Sheila Watt-Cloutier. There is a connection between the talk of global warming, the natives, trusts, nuclear waste ... who knows what else was planned?


Related: posts within the past month or so re: natives , global warming , Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Feb. 4, 2007: Science- Traditional Knowledge-Politics

Feb. 3, 2007: Climate, Spin, Awards, Politics -- Background: excerpts only -- Check the full post and other links.


Frost Hits the Rhubarb Jan. 20, 2007: #2
Kyoto, The Science and the Scientists, Native Input, Funding, Special Arrangements and More


Frost Hits the Rhubarb Jan. 29, 2007: Climate, IPCC, CBC, Film
The Preaching, the Politics and the Science ... and the Hockey Stick Graph

Feb. 10, 2007: More Global Doing Good ...

Natives ... International ... North South Partnerships ... UK / UN ... Agencies, Government, CIDA ... Save the Children ... all selflessly doing good

Several people wrote comments; this is one example only.

A slap in the face of every Canadian

Commentary worth reading Feb. 3, 2007, Globe and Mail

[....] Canadian In Motown from United States writes: Cut the cultural crap and get to the issue. There is no Native middle class. They are dirt poor or upper middle class. To use a Chris Rock line, "when was the last time you were in a Red Lobster and saw a family of Indians?" We give them handouts to disappear from sight and wonder why their community is a disaster. Living in Saskatchewan for 27 years desensitizes a person to the abject poverty and hopelessness they live in and have made me so bitter towards anyone who thinks I should apologize for their problems. Not to say we don't have a role in their poverty, we have misdirected all our energies into such noble causes as free university tuition but we don't care a lick about them before they're in university. We give them their own school but the programs are geared towards government jobs, not private sector jobs. While learning about their heritage is important, it's hardly going to land a Native with a solid 60k a year job in a bank or hospital. Ever heard the stories of the Band farms? The government throwing money at them to try and farm, no training, no experience, just money and they bought a combine, put it on the ice and sold raffle tickets on when it would fall through. Did we expect any different? That's like getting asking a person who's never driven a car to win the Daytona 500. But hey we tried eh? Maybe getting some of the few middle class, private sector Natives to throw some ideas together, leave the social workers, Band elders, government agencies and university profs out of the discussion, they've let everyone down too many times. By the way, anyone ever notice how the government employees overseeing Indian Affairs make like ten times what an average Native makes in a year, it doesn't make much sense to me. How about you?

* Posted 05/02/07 at 3:07 AM EST

Memory Lane: re: ex-Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott, Keesekoose

Frost Hits the Rhubarb November 16, 2005
Stolen Keeseecoose $$$ -- No Forensic Audit Info from Min Scott -&- Wikipedia -- Blogging Tories -- Act!

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/
2005_11_13_frosthitstherhubarb_archive.html

Money stolen from First Nations community on Liberal watch

http://
www.conservative.ca/EN/
news_releases/
money_stolen_from_first_nations_commun
ity_on_liberal_watch/?&tpid=1979

Over $600,000 stolen from education account without interference from government

OTTAWA– Official Opposition Indian and Northern Affairs Critic Jim Prentice said that over $600,000 has been stolen from the Keeseecoose First Nation’s education account, but the Liberal government refuses to produce a forensic audit on the matter.

Keeseecoose is a small First Nations community in Saskatchewan. In the time between 1995 and 2001, over $600,000 was systematically looted from their school account, draining the community’s education funds. [. . . . ]

Despite Minister Scott’s refusal to answer the question, [Jim] Prentice continued to press the government over its inability to produce a forensic audit, noting the RCMP and the Department of Indian Affairs had been notified in 2002 of financial irregularities on the reserve’s education account. However the Department claims it has no idea of how much was stolen or where the money went. [. . . . ]

Search Hansard for [then] Min. Andy Scott and [current Minister] MP Jim Prentice [....]

More Global ... Doing Good ... this time for Natives on reserves ... Ontario

May be related to previous posts, particularly, Feb. 7, 2007: Natives - Internationals Doing Good:

Feb. 7, 2007: Plans ... interruptus?
Feb. 7, 2007: Whose fault is this?
Feb. 7, 2007: Natives - Internationals Doing Good



Search: northsouthpartnership.com / North South Partnership

UN-NGLS Millennium Development Goals


Re: Natives , Reserves , Save the Children in Britain , Ontario's official child advocate

A reserve is unlikely turf for international aid workers, but Ms. Ammirati is here with Nicholas Finney, emergencies deployment adviser with Save the Children in Britain [more below], to start work on an unprecedented partnership between northern first nations and southern social agencies. It's a project launched by a handful of child-welfare leaders whose frustration with a legacy of government failure on reserves had finally boiled over.

The two visitors, along with seven Canadian specialists, are spending a week conducting the sort of rapid-fire economic and social assessment of Webequie and the even more troubled Mishkeegogamang First Nation [....]

Judy Finlay, the province's [Ontario's] official child advocate, co-founded the project [....]

UN , North-South Partnerships , Save the Children , UK , BOND

What constitutes learning in the south-north partnerships? A Discussion Paper compiled by Roger Drew, Health and Development Consultant April 2003 -- or here

www.bond.org.uk/pubs/lte
/nsworkshopdiss2.pdf

A Discussion Paper
Submitted to BOND/the Exchange Programme
By
Roger Drew
Health and Development Consultant
April 2003

CONTENTS....................................................................................................................... 2
[....]
Does Learning Promote Uniformity or Diversity? .................................................. 15
MECHANISMS OF LEARNING ................................................................................. 16
Informal, Fortuitous and Purposeful Systems ......................................................... 16
Promoting Learning.................................................................................................... 18
Barriers to Learning................................................................................................... 19
Sharing Learning ........................................................................................................ 22
[....]
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
AIDS
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
ALPS
Accountability, Learning and Planning System – used by Action Aid
BOND
British Overseas NGOs in Development
DFID
Department for International Development
NGOs
Non-Governmental Organisations
NNGOs
Northern
1
NGOs
PPA
Programme Partnership Agreement
SAR
Specific Actionable Recommendation
SNGOs
Southern NGOs
UN
United Nations
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme

1
For a detailed discussion of the terms ‘North’ and ‘South’ see Poudyal, R. Bridging the North South Divide: Linkages and Learning Between the South and North, Save the Children, Knowledge Working Paper, No. 24, 2001, pp.11-1

[....]

Types of Partnership

Amongst UK-based NGOs, the term partnership is most commonly used to describe
relationships with organizations (usually NGOs) in the South. The focus of the workshop and this document is therefore partnerships of this nature. Workshop participants pointed out that many different types of relationships may exist even within this kind of partnership, for example, there may be a difference between NNGOs which have their own in-country presence and those that do not.

Although dealing with this type of partnership allows a relatively clear focus, there are many other forms of partnership within which learning may occur. A few examples of these are:

• Partnerships between UN agencies (GLNP, 2002)
• Partnership between the Commonwealth Of Learning and Development Agencies (COL, 2002)
• The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP, 2002)
• Partnerships between the World Bank and a variety of organizations working on
indigenous knowledge (World Bank, 2002a)
• NGO partnerships with bilateral agencies, e.g. PPAs with DFID (DFID, 2002)
• NGO partnerships with academic institutions (Roper, 2002)

However, as such partnerships either do not involve NGOs or are largely North-North in nature, they are not considered in detail in this paper. Similarly much might be gained by considering learning within South-South partnerships, particularly as the importance of this is affirmed in the BOND statement of principles (BOND, 2002c). Also learning may occur multilaterally, that is between multiple organizations, i.e. within networks or alliances. Some such networks focus solely on promoting learning. One example is the Regional AIDS Training Network in Kenya which is supported by a range of northern organizations and works with 17 Southern partner institutions (UNAIDS, 2001). [....]

Related: Frost Hits the Rhubarb Jan. 28 2007 to Feb. 3, 2007 which leads to more than one pertinent item -- or link to the specific post here: Frost Hits the Rhubarb Jan. 29, 2007: More selflessly doing good

frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2007/01/
jan-29-2007-more-selflessly-doing-good.html

More selflessly doing good -- organizations, NGO's, institutes, non-profits, university departments, forums, international network(s), professional association(s), training institute(s), community colleges, coordinating committee, umbrella organization for Canada's international education agenda [webpage dated ] ... and the list of those doing good goes on and on. -- under the aegis of CIDA's Office for Democratic Governance ...

www.acdi-ci
da.gc.ca/President/CanadaCorps.nsf/
vLUWebByOrganizationEn?
OpenView&Start=1&Count=
1000&ExpandAll

Search: CIGI , research , poverty , CanadaCorps

www.google.com/search?q=
cache:zim9yaWyNNwJ:www.ac
di-cida.gc.ca/President/CanadaCorps.nsf/
vLUWebByOrganizationEn%
3FOpenView%26Start%3D1%26Count%
3D1000%26ExpandAll+cigi,+research,+poverty&hl=
en&gl=ca&ct=
clnk&cd=10 [....]

Feb. 8, 2007: Update correction

I had misdated a post as Jan. 5, 2007, which should have read Feb. 5, 2007. It has been corrected.

Feb. 5, 2007: Scientific concensus
frosthitstherhubarb.blogspot.com/2007/02/
feb-5-2007-scientific-concensus.html

This leads to other posts (see menu for the week's posts for these) on global warming and related.

Feb. 4, 2007: Science- Traditional Knowledge-Politics
Feb. 3, 2007: Environment, Russia, China, Sudan
Feb. 3, 2007: Climate, Spin, Awards, Politics

Feb. 7, 2007: Plans ... interruptus?

Update Feb. 12, 2007: see below the screen captures.

Note: Double click to enlarge screen captures and back to return.

What plans were interrupted by the election of PM Harper and the Conservatives?

























Update Feb. 12, 2007: Webpages are changed over time so check for more information here or here. Much depends upon what search terms are used, for the title alone is, apparently, not enough to bring up the same webpage.

72.14.209.104/search?q=
cache:cx1cswhzmGAJ:209.162.1
78.242/documents/Renewable%2520Ener
gy%2520and%2520Energy%2520Efficien
cy%2520Resources.pdf+
SNC+
Lavalin+
orimulsion+
Dalhousie&hl=
en&gl=
ca&ct=
clnk&cd=3

72.14.205.104/search?q=
cache:cx1cswhzmGAJ:209.162.1
78.242/documents/Renewable%2520Ener
gy%2520and%2520Energy%2520Efficien
cy%2520Resources.pdf+
energy+
granite+
canal+
snc+
lavalin&hl=
en&ct=
clnk&cd=
2&gl=ca

End of update


If you search natives or aboriginal, the Kelowna Accord, and related plans, one thing leads to another ... and eventually, you may come upon this report from APCFNC, the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs ... Read it carefully.

Search various combinations of the following: APCFNC or Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs , environment , renewable , energy , efficiency , analyze or analyzing , aboriginal land , land tenure

More: Renewable Energy Energy Efficiency Resources

209.162.178.
242/documents/
Renewable%20
Energy%20and%20
Energy%20
Efficiency%20
Resources.pdf

Land: A NEUTRAL FRAMEWORK FOR MODELLING AND ANALYSING ABORIGINAL LAND ...

Analysis, Modelling and Comparison of Aboriginal land tenure systems in Nova Scotia and British ... Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs ... a neutral framework for comparative cross-cultural land tenure studies. ... , UNB Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering

gge.unb.ca/Pubs/
TR227.pdf

Foundations of Aboriginal Title and Government;. Indian Rights,Land and Government; ... the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations. Chiefs (APCFNC) in ... , pdf

www.law.uvic.ca/
Alumni/AR2002.pdf

Also, search: A NEUTRAL FRAMEWORK FOR MODELLING AND ANALYZING ABORIGINAL LAND

Search: CCLRMP / Central Coast Land and Coast Resource Management Plan , First Nations representatives at the CCLCRMP [re: BC ]


Framework Agreement CCLCRMP Phase 1 Framework Agreement

www.citbc.org/
Framework-Agreement.pdf

[....] 5. Establish a Coast Development Trust 3 [footnote 3 An alternative mechanism may be established that would fulfill the same function as a Trust and provide the necessary independence] that is dedicated to supporting the implementation of the Framework for Managing Change by enabling socio-economic change. The Trust should be dedicated to stimulating the diversification of the local and regional economies as well as compensating for impacts on all parties, including communities, which are displaced in the process.

6. To expedite the necessary fund raising for the Coast Development Trust, the Provincial Government will commit funding to the Trust. It is expected that the Federal Government as well as non-government parties including companies, private foundations, and others outside of governments will also contribute in order to raise the required funds.

Federal Government funding to First Nations ... aboriginal title to the land and has the sole legal right to possession ... fair analysis would look at need to determine whether the spending—even though ... -- or Strategies for Building the Atlantic Aboriginal Economy Final Version.pdf

www.afn.ca/cmslib/
general/Federal-Govern
ment-Funding-to-First-Nations.pdf

209.162.178.242/documents/
Strategies%20for%20Building%20
the%20Atlantic%20Aboriginal%20
Economy%20Final%20Version.pdf


Nuclear Fuel Waste Dialogues Nuclear Fuel Waste Dialogues
WHEREAS the relationship between Inuit and their environment continues to be a ... simon.osmond@apcfnc.ca, or the regional repre- ...

www.itk.ca/publications/
environment-pub/ITK
Bulletin4_Eng_WEB.pdf


Re-landscaping Sovereignty ...

(Re)Landscaping Sovereignty in British Columbia, Canada ,
Kathleen M. Sullivan -- and here

www.anthrosource.net/doi/
abs/10.1525/
pol.2006.29.1.44

www.anthrosource.net/doi/
pdfplus/10.1525/
pol.2006.29.1.44 [full pdf file]

Many forms of sovereignty are still, albeit not exclusively, anchored in claims on territory and are asserted through the productive exercise of control over people, resources, and habitats located within the spaces of territory. In British Columbia, Canada, First Nations' assertions of sovereign control over their territories and resources are reconfiguring resource planning, development, and management, even as the provincial and federal governments seek to maintain their own control over the same territory. While the courts have been the primary avenue for protecting Aboriginal Title and rights, First Nations are also turning to the use of mass media and other public forums. This essay examines the assertions of sovereignty made by coastal First Nations through the venues of public forums.

Then, there is a Canadian Race Relations interest, it seems:
Search: canadian race relations foundation aboriginal land

Canadian Race Relations Foundation -- CRRF-FCRR.ca -- search aboriginal land -- here

www.crr.ca/Load.do?section=
26&subSection=
38&id=
316&type=2


Framework Agreement - pdf -- or here

www.citbc.org/Frame
work-Agreement.pdf

Feb. 7, 2007: Whose fault is this?

Fair warning: Not Politically Correct ... We've had enough of that, anyway. My comments are in navy blue.


Whose fault is this?

Natives, Demands, Rights, International Helping Groups and where that leads


Natives to hit Ottawa with rights complaint -- Grand Chief Phil Fontaine plans legal offensive as underfunding of welfare services leaves 27,000 aboriginal children in foster homes

Left unexplored are the political backgrounds of some of those do-gooders so willing to enter Canada to help him and perhaps to at the same time, to help the left, with this foray into native territory; alien leftists have been involved with Canadian natives previously, in the Caledonia stand-off, for example.

Is there something disingenuous about this? The international left will help natives who received ... I have read $9-BILLION dollars last year, if you put everything together ... yet the natives are in living in an abysmal state? , Campbell Clark, Feb. 5, 2007, Globe and Mail

www.theglobeand
mail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20070205.wafn05/
BNStory/National/home

OTTAWA — The Assembly of First Nations is preparing a human-rights complaint against the federal government alleging that the systematic underfunding of child-welfare services on reserves has fuelled a crisis that sees 27,000 aboriginal children in foster homes. [ Funny that this did not occur or at least be noticed and bruited about by the Globe and Mail repeatedly, while it was happening under the previous government administration. Of course, that government's (including previous governments') method was to sluice Canadian taxpayers' money to the natives via the Chiefs and councils ... perhaps to their aides and/or families, if that is not the same thing. There is some overlap, it seems, from what I have read. Some natives do well enough for Caribbean cruises; others squat in poverty and despair ... and it is all our fault ... That's the non-native rest of Canada, sometimes known as whitey. ]

AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine ... moving to a more confrontational approach on the issue ... file the rights complaint.

One in 10 aboriginal children is in foster care [Whose fault?], compared to one in 200 non-aboriginal children, and the AFN argues the problem is exacerbated because child-welfare agencies for first nations get 22 per cent less money than those that deal with non-aboriginal children .... [How many social workers at a decent salary would it take to staff each tiny reserve or community and there are many? Why social workers and not teachers, doctors, carpenters to show how to fix a window? Why social workers and blaming someone else when they could move to a larger center, get an education and get our of the despair? Who is controlling all that money? What are the chiefs doing to alleviate the problems? Think of the money already allocated to natives. Something is wrong and it is not with the amount of money they get.]

[...] International Congress on Ethics in Gatineau, Que.

The increasingly confrontational approach [...] scrapped former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin's $5-billion Kelowna accord [...But if you thought that idea of sluicing money willy-nilly was dead, keep reading. That upset a number of natives. Now, international organizations are involved ... somebody owes these natives and ... ]

... the deep child poverty ... international children's charities ...

Two Save the Children aid workers visited ... Ontario, Webequie First Nation and Mishkeegogamang First Nation, to write a report ... to pair reserves with non-profit aid agencies ....

[....] The AFN sees the human-rights complaint ... a strategy of legal actions against the federal government, which could be followed by class-action lawsuits on behalf of children and Charter of Rights challenges in the courts.

And although the Canadian Human Rights Commission cannot order the government to spend the extra money, the AFN hopes that a ruling that the underfunding is discriminatory would prod the government to act.

... systemic discrimination [....]

Search: International Congress on Ethics in Gatineau, Que

When I read International Congress, I check further. It's like NGO's, now termed CSO's.


* Alcoholism? Glue-sniffing? Drug taking? Whose fault?

* Little education? Whose fault?

* Children out control of their parents? Whose fault?

* Windows out in filthy, over-crowded shack homes and not fixed? Whose fault?

* Babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome? Whose fault?

* Fifteen year old producing a child? The child dead -- maybe SIDS, but ... other explanations not so benign. Whose fault?

* Watching television all day? Whose example? Whose fault?

* Transparency and accountability for money already disbursed to natives across Canada? Canadians cannot know. Privacy ... Native rights ... and the Chiefs don't have to be accountable? Whose fault is that?

Consider Robert Nault, former Liberal Minister for Native Affairs who was drummed out, basically, when he tried to take sensible steps toward transparency and accountability for all the taxpayers' money already disbursed to natives who do not pay taxes; it is dispensed by the Chiefs and councils, at their discretion. Some, but certainly not all, may be doing a credible job but ...

Nault seemed a decent Minister who was trying to make a difference, but all those who profit from the system as it is attacked him and his sensible plans. Where is he today? What does it profit a chief to back change in what works so well for him/her and the band council? What would it profit Grand Chief Phil Fontaine? Nada! Ex-Liberal Minister Andy Scott was much more successful on the native file ... Consider why that might be.

Money is always in good taste. Accountants well known for thoroughness not wanted.

Follow the agreement(s) and read the fine print, particularly anything having to do with what might be found on the land or off-shore waters, mining, oil rights, pipeline rights of way and the like. Note trade-offs, what the natives / chiefs / councils / native teachers and social workers / hunters / whoever, might gain. Oh, yes, and the languages tzar ... linguistics departments ... academics ... (maybe e.g. Tlingit) book publishers ... criminologists pursuing studies of racism / root causes / systemic ... whatever, and the positive effects upon the natives of sentencing circles and native healers waving sweet grass, departments of do-good, no fault-finding social work ... Have I forgotten anyone?



Memory Lane: What happened with this case?

Has this been addressed? Settled? ... Ensuring that the rest of the citizens of Canada will be paying ... and paying forever?

Has the SCOC been adequately staffed enough to ensure ... ensured a proper finale for those who stand to benefit?

News Junkie Canada February 24, 2004
Natives, Human Rights, Race-based tax exemptions, United Nations / UN Louise Arbour

www.newsjunkiecanada.blogspot.com/
2004_02_24_newsjunkiecanada_archive.html

Just Say No to Race-based Tax Exemptions

Now the Indians want to be tax exempt even if they live off the reserve. In March, 2002, trial judge Campbell brought down a ruling that Treaty 8 Indians didn't have to pay taxes [wherever] they lived. He based his decision on some oral history hocus pocus the natives came up with. Luckily, the Federal Court of Appeals shot that nonsense down The Indians say they will take their claim to the Supreme Court.

[.... Well, what happened with that? ....]

The Farce of the UN Human Rights Commission

... Louise Arbour has been designated the head of this Commission. I say farce because its record is so absurdly the opposite of human rights. [....]

Feb. 7, 2007: Natives - Internationals Doing Good

Note: What follows emanates, along with my commentary, from an excellent article detailing the situation on two native Indian reserves in Canada's province of Ontario, though it could have been from any province as far as the dismal aspect goes; however, the international agencies who have partnered with the Ontario Provincial Liberal minister involved have political and/or UN tentacles, from what I can see. Check the links and decide for yourself. My comments are in navy blue.


A slap in the face of every Canadian -- It is everyone else's fault, naturally ... or is it?

"Meet Lizabell. She is 15. Her baby is dead. And still the men won't leave her alone. 'I wish my son were here. He would love me forever.' ... " Lizabell has been humiliated by rumours that she threw the baby at her former boyfriend." ... and if you want to know more, read the whole devastating indictment of what is ... The proffered solutions are worth reading; even more interesting is by whom and their networks and connections ... worth checking further. , Margaret Philp, Feb. 3, 2007, Globe and Mail

www.theglobeand
mail.com/servlet/story/
RTGAM.20070203.wxfocus
cover03/BNStory/National

The catastrophe of native life in Canada .... reports ... nothing happens [....]

But now something extraordinary ... One of the international humanitarian agencies ... is training its eye on some of the isolated, alcohol-drenched reserves here at home. Two international relief workers from Save the Children have just finished a tour in Canada ... a hard look at the poverty and hopelessness[....]

Michael Hardy, executive director of Tikinagan Child and Family Services, the native-run society responsible for protecting youngsters in the 30 first nations scattered across [Ontario's] Northwest. [That's Liberal Dalton McGuinty's bailiwick, the province of Ontario, and the Minister involved is very excited about this opportunity.]

[....] home, bursts through the door with its broken window and gaping hole where the doorknob belongs

[....] 15-year-old ... suicide

[....] questions ... strangers ... from the South -- one from the United States

[....] Barbara Ammirati of Save the Children [....]

A reserve is unlikely turf for international aid workers, but Ms. Ammirati is here with Nicholas Finney, emergencies deployment adviser with Save the Children in Britain, ... an unprecedented partnership between northern first nations and southern social agencies. It's a project launched by a handful of child-welfare leaders [.... But check that north-south bit further. It has other tentacles. ]

The two visitors, along with seven Canadian specialists, ... economic and social assessment of Webequie and the even more troubled Mishkeegogamang First Nation ....

[....] pair reserves seeking help with aid agencies that have access to vast charitable resources, in some cases global, ....

Judy Finlay, the province's [Liberal] official child advocate, co-founded the project .... "This is a turning point," she says. "It's the beginning of a movement, and that's not overstating it . . . . What's different is that this is not a story of a disempowered, hopeless group of people. It's a story of an empowered group of people, and here's what you as a civilized society can do. [This time it's really going to work for a provincial Liberal Minister ... really. Everything is going to change ... Are the Chiefs disempowered?]

[....] Webequie still depends on hunting, fishing and trapping to supplement what groceries a welfare cheque can fetch at the U.S.-owned Northern Store, where a four-litre bag of milk costs $12.89 -- nearly triple the price in Toronto. The nearest town, Pickle Lake, is a 250-kilometre flight south, and Oji-Cree is so prevalent that children are loath to speak English.

.... visit small houses crammed with three generations ... mattresses covering nearly every inch of the bedroom, rotting holes in the floor and spongy, water-damaged ceilings.

Even if people can feed themselves, those with snowmobiles must pay $2 a litre for fuel, more than twice the cost in the South, which makes a hunting excursion expensive. [....]

Prospects for economic development ... started businesses .... Coffee Shop offers groceries and coffee ... fledgling tourist lodges for sportsmen, guided by locals, go to hunt and fish.

Lillian Suganaqueb, the local health director, owns one of the lodges and a convenience store near the school. By reserve standards, she is positively wealthy, and drives a shiny pickup truck. [.... Was that intended to be ironic? ]

Emily Jacob, who serves as the reserve's mental-health worker [....] [Would it help their mental health to leave the reserve, go to a larger center, get an education and a job ... or should we discuss root causes, inadequate funding for more from the helping professions ... and whitey's fault in all this? Which will it be? Make an educated guess. ]

At the police station, one of the two Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service officers ... most of the crime stems from alcohol, but drug use is on the rise. ... addicted to the prescription painkiller Percocet, which they snort like cocaine through empty pens.

... a gang of teen girls -- some as young as 13 ... sniffing gasoline and drinking hairspray when they can't find liquor....."The parents are scared to discipline for fear of suicide." [ Left unmentioned is that many of the parents themselves, are alcoholics. Where do children learn to drink at such an early age? ]

The doctor, Naseem Janmohamed ... rampant diabetes and respiratory problems living in crowded, wood-heated, sometimes mouldy homes thick with cigarette smoke. Diets are rich in fatty, processed foods, with fruit and vegetables both expensive and never part of the traditional diet. [Should the rest of Canada send in nutritionists, dietitions, cooks, more government-funded ... whatever?]

... depression, anxiety disorders and massive unresolved grief [....]

... Maurice Brubacher.

Now retired as executive director of the Children's Aid Society in Guelph

[....] Ms. Finlay.... the provincial advocate ... Mr. Hardy arrange a meeting of social and humanitarian agencies that might set their sights on the North. Most have. [global network?]

[....] At the school, where the curriculum includes classes in the Ojibway's language and culture, the children score on average between three to four grades behind kids their age in Southern Ontario. While the school is a towering new $7.5-million building with a teepee-shaped roof tall as a steeple and framed by pine timbers, Ottawa provides only about half the student allotment for education that schools elsewhere in the province receive. [Would that be because the communities are small and funding is allotted on the basis of numbers? That the building of schools takes a large chunk? Would grouping of a few of these communities help to save money so more could be spent on the individual children? Is it time to suggest that living in the bush and hoping the feds will help with some tourism projects to bring hunters to the bush is hardly the panacea that is hoped and allowed to be seriously discussed by people drunk in the morning? Maybe joining the 21st century would help? How does student-teacher ratio and funding fit in? Do the chiefs and councils have any input and it is helpful for real change? Or is the object to talk, get more funding and continue as usual? Is there a reality principle at work in any of this dismal story?]

"How can you expect that kids up North are ever going to be able to compete academically . . . if you're only prepared to spend half as much on their elementary-school education?" Mr. Brubacher demands. [ Is funding the real problem or is it the many social pathologies enabled by the giant welfare scheme that is the Indian Act?]

About 60 children are in foster care with Tikinagan, the native-run agency [....]

"Most of the children are in care because of alcohol," .... "Usually neglect and abandonment."

Lizabell Kwandibens ... 15 years ... mother, a drinker.

... gave birth .... Son Justus ... only three weeks later that she awoke one morning to discover him lying cold and lifeless next to her. His sudden death ....

Autopsy results are pending .... Lizabell has been humiliated by rumours that she threw the baby at her former boyfriend. [....]

[....] She was "almost raped," .... worries she is pregnant again. But it was hunger that drove her here. ... pipes froze ....no hot water."

[....] Josh Roundhead is playing a video game on his television screen, one of his few possessions in a house devoid of furniture. ... battled the bottle ... mouthwash and hairspray [....]

... a security guard at the band office for $12 an hour .... brothers, Cauley and Reggie ... welfare cheques . Eight people live here, three of them children, but not a morsel of food .....

... his three-year-old son, ... fetal alcohol syndrome [....]

Fetal alcohol syndrome is rife on the reserve. In a place where destructive habits betrays a wholesale loss of self-respect, the growing numbers of teenage girls becoming pregnant think nothing of treating their unborn children as recklessly as they do themselves.

"We can't do anything about it until the baby comes," ... They just say, 'It's my life. I can do what I want.' " [Legally, the foetus is not a separate person deserving of protection and those who believe in abortion don't want that changed. SoW's groups? They won't touch that ... sacred cow. ]

[....] No one fixes their broken windows, since idle teens -- Mish has no community centre, no organized sports, no clubs -- will soon smash them again. [ This might ring a bit hollow for those Canadians who often did NOT have any organized sports, no clubs, and they did not turn out that way. Who is at fault? ]

.... no bus service, people hitch [....]

Eleven people ... dingy three-bedroom house, holes punched in every one of its inside doors, mattresses tossed on bedroom floors to sleep everyone. [Do you see any scope for personal responsibility? ... Or should taxpayers just send money?]

Michele's father ... road-building crew ... $725 every two weeks .... without a car, they must hire a taxi to the Northern Store in Pickle Lake to buy groceries at a whopping $170 for a return trip [....] [Would there be any scope for an enterprising native to run taxi / bus service if he bought a van and charged a reasonable amount?]

"... can't pay all the bills ... out of food. [....]

Many of the children abuse alcohol. [....]

[Chief Connie Gray McKay] ... hope ... restoring the health of families -- teaching people themselves raised in poverty and neglect to parent and providing them a decent place to live as a start. [How about starting with a dose of reality first? ]

[....] The assessment team has come away with no shortage of ... things to recommend in their report, starting with an immediate shipment of floor-hockey equipment and 150 pairs of cheap shoes [....]

With welfare cheques in Mishkeegogamang issued by the band as food vouchers at the Northern Store [....] [Who owns or benefits from that store? In any way connected to the Chief or the council?]

... investment should be invited in the budding eco-tourism industry, bringing money and jobs into the community.

A small bus could be purchased for Mish .... [Note that passive voice; it means someone else does it. ]

What about youth-recreation programs for adolescents on both reserves where they are none, including excursions to the bush to learn traditional land-based activities like hunting and fishing? [Re-read that ... Is that realistic in the 21st century? ]

Agencies from down South should provide counselling and training should be ....

Perhaps gas could be subsidized for hunters who go into the bush for food. [ But going back to the old ways ... going out on the land ... back to the bush ... does not require a gasoline-powered snowmobile. If we're going to preserve 19th century ways and the local languages for the 67 or so native language communities, something's got to give. Make the experience for hunters authentic ... or tell the locals to get off the teat, get off the booze, go to a community where there is some menial work for which they might be fitted and join the rest of society who have made stupid choices. Stop telling the rest of us that it is our fault. It's not mine! Stop telling Canadians to fund more of their pathologies and unrealistic expectations. ]

"... basic needs ... requires humanitarian action," says Nicholas Finney of Britain's Save the Children.

[....] a few other humanitarian agencies considering the uncharted territory of northern first nations.

... Feed the Children Canada ... agency's head office in Oklahoma [....]

Charitable foundations are also showing interest. The Laidlaw Foundation [See below for more]

... the Atkinson Charitable Foundation, executive director Charles Pascal is intrigued by the project and its "genuine reciprocity" between North and South [....]

Band aid

Anyone keen to help the project can visit its Web site, www.northsouthpartnership.com , for information, or call 1-800-263-2841. [North South Partnership ... Does that ring any bells ... perhaps UN bells?]

The members of the new alliance dedicated to improving life on native reserves

include:

The 30 first nations located in Northwestern Ontario

Humanitarian agencies Save the Children Canada, Feed the Children Canada

Tikinagan Child and Family Services, a native child-welfare agency based in Sioux Lookout

Office of the Child and Family Service Advocacy, Ontario's official child advocate

Laidlaw Foundation

Kinark Child and Family Services, Ontario's largest children's mental-health agency

Ryerson University

Voices for Children, a child-advocacy organization

This year, I have read of the United Nations / UN and "rights" ... which are burgeoning ... as we speak (Thanks Hedy for that phrase)

* the "right" to movement across borders (think "undocumented aliens", No One Is Illegal, and the like)

* the "right" to credit and there is a burgeoning banking aspect through this

* Make a guess for yourself, but I'm guessing the next "right" to come out of the UN will have to do with childrens' rights and / or natives' rights ... in addition to the natives' right to their culture which necessitates preserving their languages which is already part of the UNESCO Protocol on Cultural Diversity (of which I wrote of in the week beginning Jan. 29, 2006) with its several tentacles ... and culminating with hands in your pockets if every guilty whitey and/or First World / North Nations / the West only signs on. The Third World needs the money, after all, and it looks as though the natives are about to join the Third World, despite what is sluiced in that direction, if not to the needy, each year.

* Look forward to the "right" to knowledge ... Maybe it will necessitate Internet access which I believe is already in the works to connect the various reserves in Canada and probably around the world ... the better to communicate and to learn by ... think globally ... It will be necessary 'for the good of the children' ... and to link the leftists around the world. (If you think I'm away off track, keep digging; keep reading. Dig deeper. )





Note: I do not doubt the good will of many individuals involved. Having said that, however, I remain cynical about much of this when I check further, particularly where some of this leads. When is it acceptable in Canada for UK and US agencies to intervene? Note the tentacles, the connections, the global networks ... Perhaps foreign intervention in a Liberal province, Ontario, is acceptable if they support:

* the leftist root causes gang,
* the no-one is responsible for their own lives gang (It's all whitey's fault ... colonialism, racism, systemic discrimination ... etc.),
* the UN as global do-gooder agency despite the reality gang,
* the global anti-poverty despite the personal reasons for it gang ...
Well, fill in your own assessment. Oh, yes, this plays well for the old Kelowna Accord gang who undoubtedly will run again in the next election. What were the promises made to the natives? Why was money being promised willy-nilly? Who stood to win in the North? Keep digging.

Search: Laidlaw Foundation , check its Board, who are involved in the membership, pay attention to language ... and a few other items ... instructive.


Laidlaw Foundation: Board of Directors and Membership

Note: sustainable, environment, Africa , governance, capacity building ... Have you heard those words before somewhere? Think hard.

www.laidlawfdn.org/cms/page1049.cfm

www.laidlawfdn.org/cms/page1413.cfm



The Laidlaw Foundation and Social Inclusion ... aligned with the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD)

www.ccsd.ca/subsites/inclusion/bp/cf2.htm here


From Experiences of Exclusion to a Vision of Inclusion:
What Needs to Change?
See at the bottom of the webpage: Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD)

Another Google entry with that search:

TakingITGlobal -- orgs.takingitglobal.org/7615 -- IT = Internet Technology -- Where does that fit in? It does ...

Obviously, these people think one of the problems is social inclusion. Now, think about that ... living in the bush in the 21st century, a group of natives who are debased in various ways and personal choices such as through popping pills, dependent, on drugs and/or alcohol, without education, despairing so that they live in filth with kids watching TV instead of fixing the broken windows and cleaning up the places. Do you suppose there is any other reason? Would there be any reason they suffer exclusion ... other than our fault?

Laidlaw Foundation's Perspective on Social Inclusion
Mr. Robert Laidlaw established the Laidlaw Foundation in Toronto in 1949 as a private foundation. ...

www.ccsd.ca/events/inclusion/papers/gilbert.pdf
www.atkinsonfoundation.ca/partners/Partner_1048196731009




Canadian Council on Social Development / Conseil canadien de développement social

www.ccsd.ca
here

90 O'Connor Street, Suite 100
Ottawa Ontario
K2P 2R3
Telephone: (613) 236-8977
Fax: (613) 236-2750


Search: northsouthpartnership.com / North South Partnership

UN-NGLS Millennium Development Goals

United Nations Non-Government Liaison Service Links and Listservs

www.un-ngls.org/MDG/Links&Listservs.htm
here

So much to read, so little time ... so many NGO/CSO's selflessly doing good ...

Listservs International System Civil Society Governments

This section of the website serves as a gateway to other sources of information on the Millennium Development Goals. This gateway has two main components: listservs and links. MDG related listservs have been provided as a vehicle to get the latest news on the MDGs. To receive MDG news through these listservs, please register to the electronic mailing lists of the websites specified below. As for the links, a comprehensive list of stakeholders from outside the United Nations system - international organizations, civil society groups, and governments - has been made available. These websites offer a diversity of perspectives regarding policy, analysis and research relating to the MDGs.

Is a picture starting to emerge? NGO's are now termed Civil Society Organizations / CSO's. ..... NGO's, being unelected and therefore responsible only to those whose interests they serve, must have been getting a bad name.


Search: save the children , north south partnership / North South Partnership

www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/scf-ppa.pdf
here

One of the entries is for the UK Department for International Development and it is worth reading. You may recognize some of the language.

Search: partnership , stakeholders , Department for International Development , Current DFID/Save the Children (UK) relationship , "World Food Programme, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisations and United Nations Humanitarian Committee on Refugees" , the fight for international child rights

"Save the Children is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance. The Alliance is an association of 26 independent, non-profit, non-sectarian, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working throughout the world for children, their families and their communities. It aims to be a truly international movement for children." [These agencies are always non-profit, non-sectarian and NGO's / CSO's or Civil Society Organizations ... and somebody is paying ... but do we know who? All that doing good doesn't come cheaply. Follow the funding to the politics. Oh, yes, and internet access to network and organize is so important. Somebody has to pay. ]

Feb. 7, 2007 Bud Talkinghorn: CROP

The Radio Canada's CROP poll on official bilingualism

According to this poll, 81% of Canadians are very pleased with official bilingualism. They want to see practically every major government position filled with the fluently bilingual. The poll supposedly winkled out the statistic that 16% of Canadians are now bilingual. It would be instructive to know what per centage of the respondents were from Quebec or Acadian NB. So what are we to make of this utterly fascinating result--trumpeted by CBC as a giant step in the right direction?

The first thought I had was "hog wash", quickly followed by "Figures lie, and liars figure." Unless I meet only Canadians who are not politically correct, this stat does not resonate. Most will admit that bilingualism is an asset, but that the Trudeaupian-driven offical bilingualism is nothing but a plot to have francophones rule Canada. As far back as 1989, a study of federal government personnel (using only Stats Canada data) showed a vast over-representation of francophones in positions of power. I shudder to think what that percentage is today. Positions for senior bureaucrats are now limited to people who are already fluently bilingual. There went the last chance for unilingual anglophones to advance in government. De facto, the majority of Canadians are disenfranchised from political control.

Now let us examine this CROP poll and its instigator, Radio Canada. A week back, there were two polls gauging political support in Quebec. One showed a certain party at only 13%, while the other showed it at 23%--close to double. Which poll are we to believe? The answer is that pollsters are adept at pleasing the customer and getting the desired outcome. Questions can be tailored to elicit a given response. A Maritimes resident pointed out a poll taken back in the early 90's that showed that a language fairness political party was at almost negligible support and might, only barely, elect one candidate. The poll was commissioned by the ruling Liberal Party and the results released mere days before the election. That party with negligible support went on to elect 8 members, formed the opposition, and came in a very strong second in numerous other districts. Anglophones saw what was happening at the federal level and counterattacked at the polling stations. Like those Liberals, Radio Canada has an agenda. This Quebec wing of the CBC has always been a hotbed of separatists. Advancing francophone (i.e. Quebec) interests in running Canada has been their unspoken mandate. The fact that all Canadians have to finance this gross perversion of "Canadiana" is constantly amusing to them.

But as Joseph Goebels, the Nazi's master propagandist, said, "Tell a big lie, and tell it often." He used every government organ at his disposal to either advance Nazi doctrine or demonize his detractors. The Liberals made sure to layer their ideological nest, so that even if they lost power there would be opinion-makers still pumping out their message. CBC and its Radio Canada rump fit neatly into this scenario.

The relentless pressure on the Quebec anglophones has resulted in a mass exodus from that province. In a Globe and Mail column by Andrew Coulson (Feb. 5, 2007, A-13) the result of this pressure is shown to be detrimental to Quebec's long-term interests. A 2004 study by the geographer, Kao-Lee Liaw, showed that the outmigration of non-francophones from Quebec was five times that of Ontario. And in 2006 that outmigration was the greatest since 2000. This continuous exodus of talented anglophones has resulted in Quebec being ranked 54th in a study of the U.S states and Canadian provinces in terms of GDP. If Quebec's pure laine are willing to become our surrogate Cuba, fine, but we mustn't let them inflict their linguistic nonsense on the rest of Canada.*

© Bud Talkinghorn--One day Quebec will understand what causes that giant economic sucking sound.


* And francophones claim it is reasonable service. Bosh! It is promotion and favouritism designed to promote a minority until it totally runs the country ... On second thought, that has happened already. There are rumblings from that part of the country which actually acts when it has had enough unfairness, unlike that part which whines to gain more and more. Separatism will come but it won't be the province which has been threatening for years, which acts. When the majority of Canadians cannot work for their own government because of a language requirement to please a minority, that is not reasonable. They have used programs such as the Court Challenges Program to enforce their will and to promote their interests even more. Now, they want the return of this CCP -- a linguistic bully-pulpit with which to beat down any Anglo who dares question this -- via the appointed, ever-Liberally-compliant court system. FHTR

Feb. 7, 2007: Bud Talkinghorn

An inconvenient truth about our Aboriginal leadership

Phil Fontaine, the Grand Chief of the Indians, is on the warpath again. Now, it is that the government is not paying enough to stem the tide of native kids put in foster care. That number is an astounding 27,000, or one in ten; as opposed to one in two hundred for non-aboriginal children in Canada. That figure, along with equally and appallingly high percentages of suicides, instances of child sexual abuse, spousal abuse, substance abuse and rampant vandalism, is indicative of a failed native leadership. Fontaine never stops talking about aboriginal independence; nevertheless, these pathologies are all laid at the federal government's doorsteps. The mantra never changes, "Give us billions more and all these problems will disappear."

The inconvenient truth, Phil, is that nothing is going to change substantially, at least not until aboriginals face the fact that isolated, subsistence reserves are doomed to failure. This was a hard lesson learned by millions of white rural communities. If the local industry collapses, the people leave for greener pastures. Why do you think all those white folk came to such a hostile land as Canada to begin with? Perhaps the old Anglo-Saxon word, "gumption" covers it best. Canadians have little sympathy for people who show none, be they natives or immigrants. East-Indian PhDs will drive a taxi in Toronto, if that is all that is available to them. In other cases, slum dwellers from Trivandrum in southern India move (without family) to Bombay because they can get further ahead.

Then there is the question of Canadians' penchant [at least those of some political persuasions] for throwing money at a problem. This has been the partial solution for past governments. What the Canadian taxpayer wants to know is simple, "Where the h**l does all that $9 billion go that we give you?" I once talked to a woman who taught on the Eskosoni reserve in Nova Scotia. She confirmed that the problems that plague the isolated reserves affected hers. Yet, the Chief of the Eskosoni brought down a heftier salary than our P.M. Am I missing something here? The Chief of Davis Islet convinced the feds that the desperate housing situation and the lack of community buildings and services was the main problem there. At enormous cost, the whole reserve was moved to a brand new community with modern houses and top-notch facilities. Even before the entire community moved in the early arrivals were throwing drunken parties, while their kids ran wild and vandalized the new homes. Hello, New Davis Islet.

Mr. Fontaine is no fool though. What he can't get through political channels he thinks he can bring in by getting the Human Rights Commission to pry out more loot. This commission is the last refuge of the loonie left. One of their rulings forced an Edmonton bar owner to allow a 6'2" broad-shouldered tranny to use the ladies' washroom. His female clientele fell away sharply, needless to say. This country has not only developed a robust "rights" lobby, but has multiple connections with UN and other governmental organizations [and NGO's]. In fact, Phil mentions the Save the Children group as one of his allies. Take some time to check out this organization and its links to a panoply of far left lobbies.

Finally, Mr. Fontaine, just tell the brutal truth to your people. And that is, leave your grotty reserves and integrate with your fellow Canadians. If people with no language, cultural background or religious connection to Canada can succeed, so can you.

© Bud Talkinghorn--Please get with the reality, so I may stop writing these critiques. I know that in the hierarchy of victimhood, aboriginals top the list ... but you can't be infantile and independent at the same time.