High hopes for mandatory Indigenous courses set to start at U of W - Aboriginal - CBC

A good start.  I think it should begin in High School myself.

High hopes for mandatory Indigenous courses set to start at U of W - Aboriginal - CBC:

"According to a 2011 Statistics Canada report, nearly 17 per cent of Manitoba's population identified as aboriginal — four times the Canadian average."

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  Zoo

Wasagamach children still live without running water ...

... or flush toilets, but the Harper Government is spending an outrageous amount of money for their temporary quarters during a renovation.

The Harper Government should re-locate to St. Theresa Point during their reno project.  Perhaps they'd get more work done surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian Shield and Boreal forest.  As well as develop a better understanding of life in Garden Hill, St. Theresa Point and Wasagamach.

I can not believe our government is seriously spending this kind of money on a temporary structure.  I wonder how many Aboriginal homes could be supplies with running water and flush toilets for this amount of money.

Shameful.

$42M glass dome approved for Parliament - Politics - CBC News: "The temporary Commons chamber will have exactly the same dimensions and layout as the existing one, complete with tiered seating for MPs and overhanging visitors' galleries. The soaring glass ceiling is being designed to match the neo-Gothic architecture of the rest of the Parliament Buildings."

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Dear Ellen Come to Nunavut and educate yourself and your fans.

Ellen needs to visit this girl and get a Nunavut Education.  As well as education her followers and fans on the Inuit way of life.

Why the 'Cowboys-and-Indians' photo is not OK - Aboriginal - CBC

Yet more food for thought:

"yukon23Please hold your complaints, and accusations of racism, for the real instances of racism and discrimination.
All the articles, complaints, "awareness campaigns", etc just make sure that the serious events are hidden in the constant drone of "racism, racism, discrimination, discrimation, rights, rights".
Everybody is offended by something. Show your true strength by brushing off this petty BS that is done with no ill will.
Save your breath, and your credibility, for when Quebec passes another obscene bylaw. 
How is this article ten times the length of the story of the hotel charging Aboriginal People %50 more for a room.
THAT'S racist. That is horrible.
A cheer team taking a fun picture from an age old cliche fit for halloween is a joke.
Pick your battles would ya? Please? I'm begging"

Why the 'Cowboys-and-Indians' photo is not OK - Aboriginal - CBC:

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More food for thought ... Why the 'Cowboys-and-Indians' photo is not OK - Aboriginal - CBC

This is an interesting comment to the story:

"MSmittyThis article was too politico-academic for my likes. 
The arguments against cultural appropriation reflect an insecurity amongst native people. Head-dresses in of themselves are symbolic of anachronistic clan-based societies and military chiefdoms. The "Big Man" wore the biggest head-dress. Not much different than any other clan-based society to be honest. It is not an insult, it is what it is. Us Anglo-Saxons came from a long line of filthy barbarians who never bathed or shaved but made good steel. Our barbarian "big man" also wore the biggest hat. We changed along the way... 
In any case, aboriginals do not own a right to use feathers as fashion accessories. So suck it up on that one. 
Her argument that indigenous women are 'hyper-sexualized" was nonsense. The "vanishing Indian" myth had little to do with sexuality, though one of its more ironic and interesting stories did involve a woman, in the Eastern US. The "Indian Princess" I will concede. However, every culture has its own sexualized feminine ideal. Seriously, the naughty nurse, the sexy librarian, the cheerleader, the geisha, etc. Her argument that this somehow puts women in danger is specious and actually insulting to the intelligence of those of us who know about the violence FN women can face and know it generally starts at home on the rez! 
I can deal with saying this was "not OK", or "inappropriate". However, I think we would be wise to save the word "racist" for those moments where the racism is all there. 
Being insensitive is not racism. Racism requires more than cultural appropriation. It requires hatred. Mere ignorant stereotypes which do not promote hatred and are without malice are not racist. It cheapens the word to call them racist."

Why the 'Cowboys-and-Indians' photo is not OK - Aboriginal - CBC:

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Further to ... the 'Cowboys-and-Indians' photo is not OK - Aboriginal - CBC

I'm now reading through the comments to this article with the "Most Liked" filter engaged.

... heavy sigh ...

This is when I become overwhelmed, wonder how this mess will ever be sorted out, wonder what I can possibly do to make the situation better, tear up over the immensity of the racial divide in my beloved country, ... ... ... and close the browser window.

However, in these two comments there is a spark of hope.  The first is an indication of how the public education system has failed us all, the second, a succinct list of analogies that everyone should be able to understand.

Two thumbs up for Anatpuk!

Why the 'Cowboys-and-Indians' photo is not OK - Aboriginal - CBC:

"CeeDeeEnn
Ms Mackenzie- a white settler? (shaking head) If an aboriginal person dresses up in a `white` business suit, should I be offended? If Im of Scots descent and a black person wears a kilt (as is actually the case in many Pipe and Drum bands in Canada) should I be offended? If Im Italian and an Asian wears a toga should I be offended? If a German wears a straw peaked hat should Vietnamese be offended? If an Asian wears Austrian- trachten, should Austrians be offended? This whole thing is just too ridiculous, and everyone is just way too sensitive,« less 3 days ago 22 Likes Like Share 

 Anatpuk @CeeDeeEnn, 

• A business suit isn't a cultural item 

• Black people have never systematically slaughtered Scots 

• Asians have never created Italian race specific law in Italy 

• Vietnamese have never stolen land from Germans 

• Asians have never abducted Austrian children, raped them and forced them to speak mandarian, japanese or korean. 

The whole thing is not too sensitive, the whole thing is too poorly understood to see why this is offensive to Aboriginal people"

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Why the 'Cowboys-and-Indians' photo is not OK - Aboriginal - CBC

Serious food for thought.  As a "self-confessed white-settler" myself, I have long been aware of the harm caused to our indigenous communities.

In the early 1980s I was posted to a High Arctic community.  My education and curiosity began then.  I wanted to know why on earth anyone would live on the "island of gravel" I was visiting.  Doing some research, I learned about the Canadian Government of the 1950's "program" [pogrom?] of enhancing Canadian Sovereignty over the Arctic by moving indigenous communities.

First of all, WTF!  The paternalistic gall of our leaders! [and a tangent for another day]

Then I learned that my location was not the intended destination.  During the transfer, the ship got stopped by ice short of their destination. Because they could go no further that year, it was decided to change the destination and re-locate the community to this uninhabited island.  The epitome of "close enough for government work".

Never mind that it was uninhabited for a reason, there was nothing there!  No hunting, fishing, or any of the natural resources that original communities settled in places for.

I was gob-smacked that the government would move four extended families to this isolated and barren location and literally abandon them there!  I would learn about residential schools five years later.

I personally have been paralyzed for decades after learning of just these two policies of the government.  How can anyone ever make up for, apologize enough for, these kinds of horrific events affecting decades and generations of people?

We, the "royal we", Canadians, have got to start with educating the general public.  Since the internet, and reading comments by average citizens, I am appalled by the lack of education about indigenous peoples.

Reading essays like this one is a start.

The Aboriginal section of cbc.ca is a start.

Why the 'Cowboys-and-Indians' photo is not OK - Aboriginal - CBC: "As stereotypes of indigenous people and a frontier narrative of white-settler ‘progress’ are part of our liberal ideology, it is possible to both have good intentions and act in racist ways within Canada and Saskatchewan.

However, ‘good intentions’ do not undo the effects of our actions nor should they excuse them.

Rather, our responsibility as a (white-settler) community needs to shift from simple blind ‘good intentions’ (which justifies a continued ignorance of the effects of our practices) to critical reflection on our practices before we engage in them and reparations when we cause harm (whether unintentional or intentional)."

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and the Inquiry into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Phoenix Sinclair

An excerpt from the Executive Summary of the final report from the inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair.

My hope is that the heart wrenching evidence I heard in Phase One of this inquiry will serve as a catalyst to ensure that the recommendations that emerge from this report are wholeheartedly embraced and implemented. The protection of children is a shared value of the whole community. The public interest that this Inquiry has

received encourages me in the belief that achievement of the better protection of all Manitoba’s children, and especially the most vulnerable, will be the true legacy of Phoenix Sinclair. 

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As our nation's broadcaster, I think the CBC is failing in its' mandate when it chose to close this article to comments.

Nunavut Tourism - Igloolik

Bucket List - places to visit again.  Igloolik.

Activities & Wildlife

The creative community of Igloolik is a cultural hub of Nunavut that comes alive in the summer months — when the sun never sets — with music festivals and circus performances. 

The land becomes dappled with colourful flowers and numerous birds flock to the area, including loons, geese, eider ducks, jaegers, plovers, snow buntings and snowy owls. Icebergs drift past the island through the narrows of Fury and Hecla Strait, which also funnels migrating beluga and bowhead whales, herds of walrus and pods of narwhal to within easy viewing distance. 

There are ancient Dorset archaeological sites nearby, to be visited with extreme care and respect. As evidenced at nearby archaeological sites, Dorset people lived here 4,000 years ago. Iglulik Inuit are the Iglulingmiut, Aivilingmiut and Tununirmiut people. Their first contact with Europeans was not until 1822, when two British Navy ships wintered in Igloolik. In 1867, the year Canada was born, the American explorer Charles Francis Hall visited Igloolik in his search for survivors of the lost Franklin Expedition. A French-Canadian mineral prospector named Tremblay of the Bernier Expedition visited the island in 1913. In 1921, a member of Knud Rasmussen's Fifth Thule Expedition also visited here. 

In the springtime, when there is still lots of snow and the sea ice is rock solid, there are many enjoyable opportunities to go out 'onto the land' by dog sled or snowmobile expedition, to camp in an igloo or climb upon an iceberg. Expert local guides are happy to escort you and your family safely across the snow and ice, lands and waters that make this place so special. 

In early April, you are also invited to participate in feasts of local foods and traditional Inuit games that celebrate Igloolik becoming a hamlet.

Nunavut Tourism - Igloolik:

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Ike Awgu: Why Are Aboriginals Afraid of Integration?

Food for thought.

Ike Awgu: Why Are Aboriginals Afraid of Integration?: "At some point, aboriginal Canadians need to consider that the best hope of a future for their children may be integration into the mainstream of Canadian socio-economic life. They need also understand that integration is not the same as assimilation.

The latter is the process by which one group's culture and language disappear and are lost under pressure to become part of another dominant group. The former is the process where one culture gains ideas, technologies and products from another without losing its own uniqueness and becomes part of a greater whole.

No one is forced to assimilate in modern Canada. Tens of thousands of people from all over the world, from places that have living conditions worse even than those found on reserves, immigrate to Canada and find success. These people care no less about their culture of origin than aboriginal people do theirs. They care no less about their history than aboriginal people do theirs. They care no less about their traditions and language than aboriginal people do theirs. Have they been "assimilated"?"

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh

One thing that I noticed when we moved from up north to the farm was that the general community here is so white.  Not only is there a definite lack of Aboriginal people in our community, there is  less than 5% of any skin colour other than "white".  But, until I read this article, I've never contemplated the undeserved privileges I have enjoyed because of my skin colour.

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh: "For me white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject. The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country; one's life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own."

Some of the white privilege I have been oblivious to:


Daily effects of white privilege
...  identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life.

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.
3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.
11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.
12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.
13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.
16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.
17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.
18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.
19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.
24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.
25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.
26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.
28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.
29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.
30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.
33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.
34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.
36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.
37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.
38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.
39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.
40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.
42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.
43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.
44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.
45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.
46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.
48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.
49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.
50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.


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Children are dying in Manitoba

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This is absolutely infuriating!

http://www.ombudsman.mb.ca/pdf/2011-12-9_cwr_report.pdf

We are talking about children dying while in care of social services and the bureaucratic blather is stunning.