Its always about the money ; Dependent-ungrateful-conniving-welfare-addicted-incompetent- Indians”

What’s up with the the Globe & Mail …

Do they do  any homework before publishing ? Indeed is the Globe & Mail on some kind of mission to tell half-truths,confuse or  just insult Indigenous Peoples in general ?

Damn…

First Margret Wente then Christie Blatchford and now Gary Mason, although to be fair the Mason piece is  not quite as bad. None-the-less his piece; ‘It’s always about the money:VANOC & the aboriginal torch relay’ is confused, insulting,predictable  & irritating to read. Particularly given  the Globe’s reach &   influence,being one of Canada’s only national newspaper,yikes.

Mason start off..

Dependency spending doesn’t work,as some native leaders understand

After all everybody knows that Indigenous Peoples are all on welfare, well not all.Why can’t they all be like … (I’ll come back to the who,the predictable who, later)

First the gist of his piece…

From the day organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics began their planning, the role that Canada’s aboriginal communities would play in the Games was interwoven into virtually every discussion.They would be full partners, VANOC chief John Furlong insisted, not guilty-conscience afterthoughts. The Games were to reflect the rich, cultural influence Canada’s first nations have had on the country.

VANOC would choose the inukshuk, an Inuit landmark, as its symbol. It would make sure that aboriginals got Games-related jobs and positions on Olympic-related committees and boards. The Olympic torch would travel to remote aboriginal communities in the Far North where the flame had never been before. Olympic tickets would be made available to first nations communities.

And those were just a fraction of the efforts VANOC was making to ensure that Canada’s aboriginal communities didn’t feel left out.

So you might have imagined VANOC’s surprise when a group of B.C. native leaders announced last week that they were going to use the Games to protest against their people’s miserable lot in life.

Yes indeed surprise,surprise hey Gary,damn Indians,imagine even after all that good-will they still want more. Imagine, trying to take advantage of VANOC’s  “generosity & obvious respect for First Nations cultures” my,my. Or should that be,’it’s all about the money VANOC‘.

The group represented the B.C. First Nations Forestry Council. At a news conference, its spokesmen said that, since there were going to be 14,000 journalists in Vancouver during the Games, it would be a perfect opportunity to tell the world how horribly treated Canada’s native people were. And, oh yeah, they were upset that the B.C. government hadn’t coughed up $6.2-million in funding to help aboriginal forestry businesses. The insinuation was that if the group got the money, the protests might not happen.

Damn them “dependent-ungrateful-conniving-Indians” .

What the group’s representatives failed to mention was that they hadn’t given the B.C. government any type of business plan that showed how they were going to spend the millions. The government said it wasn’t prepared to hand over the money with no questions asked.

Damn them “dependent-ungrateful-conniving-presumptuous-Indians” . As if  anyone with a clue, would just handover a pile of money without first seeing a plan.

And further more, just when are all those “dependent-ungrateful-conniving-presumptuous-Indians” going to get with the program.

Gary Mason “gets it” , white-people “get it” …

The problem with a certain sector of the aboriginal leadership in B.C. – and much of Canada, for that matter – is that it’s always about money. There’s never enough of it from government to address aboriginals’ many problems. And I don’t say that disrespectfully.

We all know about the horrific situation that exists in too many aboriginal communities. And it persists despite the billions of dollars that have been spent over the decades on a wide array of (mostly failed) programs aimed at addressing the problems.

Let’s face it: Dependency spending doesn’t work. That’s surely been proved by now. And many of the more enlightened native leaders in Canada understand that. The way to halt the cycle of welfare addiction, with the societal and health-related issues it promotes, is through the stability provided by economic independence.

Damn  “dependent-ungrateful-conniving-presumptuous-welfare-addicted-incompetent- Indians”, and I don’t say that disrespectfully,really I don’t.

Thank god for small “miracles” hey Gary i.e…that handful of “enlightened native leaders” who finally understand that “dependency spending” does not work. Unlike all those other “dependent-ungrateful-conniving-presumptuous-welfare-addicted-incompetent Indians”…

There are a growing number of first nations communities, most notably the Osoyoos and Westbank in B.C., that recognize this. Many of these groups, led by young, smart, charismatic leaders, aren’t waiting to sign treaties – an agonizingly slow process. They’re just moving ahead, building wineries and housing developments, and leaving their grievances with the government for the courts to sort out.

Yesiree why bother with them pesky treaties. Like figured it out already geez, the government has no intention of seriously negotiating treaties . One might as well get what one can, while the pickings are good.

Why bother with the fundamental  questions that go to the very core of  one’s very existence and long term survivability as  peoples/nations. Hell there’s “nothing wrong” with  being seen as just another  ethnic minority/hyphenated Canadian ?

Indeed , its much easier to just  assimilate, incorporate  your communal properties &  nation and let the settler government’s courts & laws sort out the important stuff. For example who is and who is not native,who actually owns native lands,now there’s a “mystery”.,etc ,etc…

Hell I say put the white-man’s two favorite Indians- Chief Clarence Louie* & Robert Louis- in charge..

They’ll  show  those ,”dependent-ungrateful-conniving-welfare-addicted-incompetent-its always-about-the-money-Indians” how to do things the “right-way” ,i.e incorporate your people’s communal lands & resources then sell off or lease  said  lands for 99 years to white-people/developers .

The question that should be asked is, why do so many ;

… think that structuring band assets and Indigenous nation assets in the individual hands of an Indian Act chief or of Indian Act councillors is a good thing? Why do so many serve to transfer collective assets such as to become de facto private assets of a few who thus no longer even need to be elected by band members? Why would lawyers ever think it correct to be the facilitators?

Why,indeed !

Can you imagine the righteous outrage, if the Prime Minister of Canada attempted to incorporate Crown lands & resources(i.e the nation) and then install himself as head CEO .Creating a situation that even if he were to lose his position as PM he still remains in control/charge of the nation’s lands and resources.

So quit “whining” about the “past”  , develop some of that white-man’s…can do spirit /  pull-your-self-up by-the-boot-straps-claiming-other-peoples-lands.

Imagine you too could also have a $400,000 Mercedes Maybach sitting in your garage. Indeed you to could be held up as the poster-boy of assimilation.

See it doesn’t always have to be about the money,by the way I have a bridge I am trying to sell,are you interested ?

—————————————————————————————————————

* It’s kind of  telling  don’t you think , that when it comes to Chief Clarence Louie , who is also the Band Manager & CEO of the Band’s Economic Development Corporation, not one of his fawning white-admirers  raise any alarm bells about his mixing of politics and business. Indeed this obvious & blatant conflict of interest should be a warning sign that perhaps all is not quite peaches & cream.

Uhhmm for some “strange”reason,the words banana & republic keep dancing in my head.