_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 13, ISSUE 003 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2004 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island January 15, 2005 Potawatomi mkokisis/moon of the bear Pima gi'ihothag mashath/moon when animals lose their fat +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; Soveriegn Nations, American Indian Alliance, NDNAIM, First Nations Skyvillage and Native Religions Mailing Lists; UUCP email IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "People in Montana need to know that Indian tribes are part of Montana. It's a step forward, but we have a long way to go." __ Crow Tribal Chairman Carl Venne on Tribal Peoples being asked to participate in the 2005 Montana Gubernatorial Inauguration +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! My wife, Janet, raises an important point for ALL tribes to consider: The first two articles in this issue address a critical turning point in tribal sovereign rights over tribal land. The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week to judge whether property that once belonged to an Indian nation (in this case, the Oneida) and that has been reacquired by that nation, shoud be considered part of the sovereign nation, or should it be treated as foreign-owned property under the legal jurisdiction of state and municipal governments? The Supreme Court had already determined in a prior decision that the Oneida had a valid original claim on the property in question. In Oklahoma, there are differing attitudes about the case. Some tribes support the Oneida in their claims. Others say it doesn't matter to them because "it won't impact us." Well, maybe, maybe not. New York and it municipalities are not the only entities who would like to exert control and collect taxes from tribes whose lands fall on their "turf." If the Oneida lands' sovereignty is eroded in this case, no matter how carefully or narrowly the intrusion is effected, there will be a snowball effect. Whether or not other tribes' situations exactly match those of the Oneida is irrelevant. Any unfavorable decision is going to result in a rush of claims by states and surrounding counties and cities to regulate or tax Indian enterprises within their borders. Win or lose, tribes will see years of hard-won resources dwindled away on legal fees while individual cases wind through interminable courts. Even those of us not on reservations can't afford to sit on our hands while Indian nations' sovereign rights are eroded. We can't sway a Supreme Court decision, but we can demand that the BIA -- an agency that is supposed to defend treaty rights -- do so vigorously. And we can present a united front with our reservation brothers that says -- enough of our land was taken and is being used for somebody else's benefit. What little land Indians have retained, we should be able to use as we see fit, and keep the proceeds of our labors to benefit our own people. +/// Janet Smith owlstar@bellsouth.net /*/+ P. O. Box 672168 OwlStar Trading Post + / * Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. http://www.owlstar.com * + ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - Land dispute - Professor advises Hawaiians could have far-reaching effects against Akaka Bill - Case may not affect State's Tribes - Is pride justified? - Native American Canada Myths and Realities Disaster Relief Fund - Indians first targeted - ANWR Top Priority for Energy Chief by Big Brother - Affiliated Tribes - Ottawa and Chippewa Band protest Oil and Gas Leases Diabetes Research - Manifest Destiny ... again - Justice orders Ottawa to pay up - Cayugas nix Land Settlement - Native Prisoner - Snoqualmie Tribe -- Nebraska, Native Prisoners on Road to Self-Sufficiency work on Settlement - Cherokee Nation - Philip Deloria: to build Muskogee Clinic Tales of a remarkable Father - NA Doctorate holder - N. Scott Momaday - ponders Culture, Science An Honor Song in the Old Style - Indians take part in Festivities - Rustywire: - Tribal-Language Teacher Navajo Tortillas - Nunescahdi is spreading the Word - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Faithkeeper's School - Spiritdove Poem: Only One Life - Traditional Ways, Modern Beliefs - Webstreaming Native Radio Program - Why do White People - AIM is finding strength want to Play"Indian"? in Broadcasting - Rituals in Indian Country - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Land dispute could have far-reaching effects" --------- Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 08:31:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ONEIDA LAND CASE" http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/10599257.htm Indian land dispute could have far-reaching effects Duluth News-Tribune WILLIAM KATES Associated Press January 8, 2005 SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The fight is over 10 small parcels of land in New York's smallest city. The outcome, though, could affect millions of acres of Indian land throughout the country and change the way Indian lands are taxed and governed, attorneys say. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday in a tax dispute between the tiny city of Sherrill - covering one and a half square miles with about 3,000 residents - and the prosperous Oneida Indian Nation. A federal district judge and a federal appeals court have previously sided with the Oneidas. The court's ruling will have far-reaching effects in upstate New York, where more than 330,000 acres are now subject to Indian land claims. "There are important issues to hopefully be settled. Everyone is watching where the court goes with this," said Madison County Attorney John Campanie. With profits from its successful Turning Stone Casino and Resort, the Oneidas have acquired nearly 17,000 acres of former reservation land in Madison and Oneida counties, including 10 properties in Sherrill, 35 miles east of Syracuse. The properties include a gas station, a convenience store and a now-closed T-shirt printing plant. In 2000, the city foreclosed on the 10 properties over $12,000 in unpaid property taxes. The Oneidas said the land had reverted to its reservation status, and was exempt from all local and state laws - including tax laws. The central question in the case is what happens to land, once part of an Indian reservation, that is reacquired by the tribe. Is the land sovereign, free of all but federal and tribal laws? Or are tribes like any other landowner, subject to local and state laws? "The (Oneida) land is not contiguous so there is a checker-boarding effect, and that deprives local governments their right to be self- governing," said Campanie, whose county is about 80 percent former reservation land. "So you have street corners or the middle of a block where they don't have to pay taxes, where local zoning laws don't apply, where police and firefighters have no jurisdiction," Campanie said. "That's chaos." Sherrill City Attorney Ira Sacks said if the lower court decisions are allowed to stand, "the tax base and viability of cities such as the city of Sherrill - across New York and elsewhere - will be imperiled." More than a dozen upstate counties contain Indian country or former reservation lands that could be affected by the Supreme Court's decision, said Steve Acquario, interim executive director for the New York State Association of Counties. "We respect the authority of the federal government, but taxation and jurisdiction have become very volatile issues for a growing number of upstate municipalities," said Acquario, whose organization filed legal papers supporting Sherrill. The Oneida Indian Nation is one of six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and its members once lived on about 6 million acres in central New York state, stretching from the Pennsylvania border to the St. Lawrence River and from Lake Ontario to the western foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. Joined by other Oneidas in Wisconsin and Ontario, New York's Oneidas have been in a long-running land claim lawsuit against New York state for the return of 250,000 acres in Madison and Oneida counties they claim the state illegally bought from the tribes in the 18th and 19th centuries. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a related 1985 case that the Oneidas had a valid claim to their former reservation lands. As a result, land claims by the Mohawks and Cayugas, two other upstate New York tribes, also advanced in the court system, while the state and tribes tried to negotiate settlements. "The Oneida Nation is hopeful the Supreme Court will recognize its rights on its reservation land," said Oneida spokesman Mark Emery. John Dossett, the general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians, which represents more than 250 tribes and is the nation's largest American Indian organization, said the law already is clear that local and state governments cannot tax Indians without specific federal legislation passed by Congress approving it. It also is clear, he said, that an Indian reservation can only be disestablished by Congress. "The federal statutes provide clear, bright lines regarding Indian law," Dossett said. "Our tribes are concerned the Supreme Court will abandon time-honored principles of Indian law and redefine what reservation land is, and that would create chaos." Even if the decision has limited effect outside of New York, the ramifications will touch tribes from other states, such as the Oneidas of Wisconsin and the Seneca-Cayugas of Oklahoma, both of whom trace their history back to New York and are parties to the New York land claims. The case is Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York, 03-855. ON THE NET Oneida Indian Nation: http://oneida-nation.net U.S. Supreme Court: www.supremecourtus.gov Copyright c. 2005 Duluth News-Tribune. --------- "RE: Case may not affect State's Tribes" --------- Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 08:31:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OKLAHOMA TRIBES & LAND CASE" http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/stories/20050109/localnews/1844895.html Case may not affect state's tribes Muskogee Phoenix By Clifton Adcock, Phoenix Staff Writer January 9, 2005 A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a case slated to be heard Tuesday may or may not affect Oklahoma Indian tribal lands and sovereignty, depending on who one talks to. Officials of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma said the tribe will not be affected by the ruling in City of Sherrill, N.Y., v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York, but officials with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees, a smaller tribe also headquartered in Tahlequah, said the case is a threat to all Indian tribal sovereignty. "I don't think it's something that affects us at all," Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller said. "We don't anticipate it will have an effect on the Cherokee Nation because of the facts of the case. "The facts are more specific to that tribe and their government. All of our land is already in trust. It's not an issue that affects tribes in Oklahoma, generally. We're not in the same boat they are." Miller said the ruling would not affect either the tribe's sovereignty or the taxation on its land. The Creek Nation was contacted by the Phoenix regarding the case, but did not return messages left for Principal Chief A. D. Ellis. Dianne Barker Harrold, attorney for the Keetoowahs, said the case may have bearing on Indian sovereignty -- if the court ruled for the tribe, it would strengthen tribal sovereignty. If it ruled against the tribe, it would erode that sovereignty, she said. "Tribes are very protective of their sovereignty, so any case that would impede our sovereignty is something we're watchful of," Barker Harrold said. "Indian-controlled tribal lands are something very sacred to Indian tribes. It's very important to keep that sovereignty because it's all we have." Barker Harrold said the ruling will affect all tribes, and that she had confidence the court would rule in favor of the tribe. "For the United States Supreme Court to rule would affect every Indian tribe," she said. "I can't imagine the United States Supreme Court ruling in a way that would erode the sovereignty of Indian tribes." Barker Harrold said taxing tribes would only hurt the state government, because it would take away money used to help members of the tribe who would otherwise seek assistance from the state. You can reach reporter Clifton Adcock at 684-2926 or cadcock@muskogeephoenix.com. Copyright c. 2005 Muskogee Phoenix. --------- "RE: Native American Disaster Relief Fund" --------- Date: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 1:09 AM From: Cloud Family [yakama@ai5.net] Subj: FW: Native American Disaster Relief Fund - Letter from Dr McDonald Mailing List: American_Indian_Alliance@yahoogroups.com http://209.217.226.41//Your%20Help%20Is%20Urgently%20Needed.htm Please forward. My Fellow Native Americans, My name is Robert Lame Bull McDonald, MD. I am from the Blackfeet Nation and I am an enrolled member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians. I am also leading a team of volunteers to help the victims of Tsunami Country. You can read about us on the front page of Indian Country Today available on their web sites. Our team is called the Native American E.A.G.L.E.S. That stands for Emergency Air to Ground Lift and Evacuation Service but we do much more. Right now we are trying to raise money to fund our efforts. We have a non-profit fund for tax and legal accounting called Youth Imperative that will allow a sub account for the Native American Disaster Relief Fund. I apologize if this all seems sudden and gruff but I am in the middle of responding to a global emergency. My team has yet to develop a chief in charge of fund raising. My job on the team is to save lives, as many as possible. Can Native America band together as one and support the EAGLES as we provide emergency medical and social relief for the victims of Tsunami Country? Thank you sincerely, Robert Lame Bull McDonald, MD indianrobert@msn.com Article: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096410103 --------- "RE: ANWR Top Priority for Energy Chief" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2005 08:39:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANWR" http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2635671,00.html ANWR top priority for energy chief By SAM BISHOP News-Miner Washington Bureau January 5, 2005 WASHINGTON - The top U.S. Senate Republican with authority over energy matters on Tuesday named oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as his first priority for the coming congressional session. New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, after being re-elected chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, immediately issued a news release touting his plans for the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain in Alaska's northeast corner. "We are going to make a push to develop our vast oil resources in the Arctic Refuge in a way that leaves the environment pristine while stabilizing oil prices and enhancing our energy independence," he said. According to government mid-range estimates, the area has about 5 billion barrels of developable oil at prices of $26.20 per barrel. That's about a third of the total oil pumped from the North Slope since 1977. Drilling opponents say it isn't enough to make a difference in the nation's energy prices or independence and development will sacrifice an irreplaceable wilderness. The House of Representatives approved drilling in the past two congressional sessions as part of a national energy bill. But Domenici indicated Tuesday that he is done with that strategy, which has foundered on filibuster threats in the Senate. Supporters didn't have the 60 votes necessary to stop the endless speeches permitted in that chamber. Instead, Domenici said, he expects to use a budgetary process that avoids a filibuster. That also has failed in the past, but this year, with Republican gains in the election, drilling supporters think they have the 51 votes necessary to succeed. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska and a member of Domenici's committee, also put ANWR drilling at the top of her list after being sworn into office Tuesday. Murkowski, 47, becomes the first Alaskan senator to have been born in the state, the result of having been the first woman to win a statewide race in Alaska. Appointed by her father after he quit the U.S. Senate and won the governorship in 2002, Murkowski went on to defeat former Democratic Gov. Tony Knowles by a margin of about 3 percent in November. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, also was sworn into office Tuesday, after an election in which he faced no significant opposition and used much of his time and money to boost Murkowski. Young, 71, has served Alaska in the House since a special election in 1973 and now is the third highest-ranking Republican. That seniority gained Young the chairmanship of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in 2001. He said Tuesday that, besides ANWR, he will push for passage of a bill setting highway spending levels for the next several years. The House and Senate couldn't reach an agreement on the spending level in 2004 and the bill died. Congress extended current spending levels through mid-2005. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, did not face re-election last year. Stevens likely will be elected chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee today, leaving his six-year chairmanship of, but not his membership on, the Senate Appropriations Committee. Stevens, 81, has served in the Senate since his appointment in 1968. Washington, D.C., reporter Sam Bishop can be reached (202) 662-8721 or sbishop@newsminer.com . Copyright c. 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. & Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Inc. --------- "RE: Affiliated Tribes protest Oil and Gas Leases" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 08:53:06 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OIL & GAS LEASE PROTESTS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/10547846.htm NEW TOWN, N.D.: Three Affiliated Tribes protest oil and gas leases Associated Press January 2, 2005 NEW TOWN, N.D. - Four oil and gas lease sales in McKenzie and Billings counties are the subject of protests by the Three Affiliated Tribes. The land, which is off the reservation, is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and managed as the Little Missouri National Grasslands. The federal oil and gas acres under the surface are owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The tribe says the areas have cultural ties. The BLM has dismissed two of the tribal protests and the tribe is appealing the first dismissal. The second dismissal, dated Dec. 21, could also be appealed. The tribe protested sales in May, July, September and November, involving 86,000 acres and some of the highest prices ever paid for oil and gas leases in North Dakota. Lease prices escalated with each sale, finally bringing $11 million for 29,000 acres in November. That compared to $500,000 for half that many acres at the BLM's March sale. Larry Melvin, who manages the Forest Service's mineral program in North Dakota, said the tribes' protest was announced at the time of the November sale, but it did not deter 12 companies from bidding. Chun Wong, the BLM oil and gas branch chief, said leaseholders can drill for oil while their lease is under protest. Only a favorable decision for the tribe would stop activity on the protested acres, he said. Elliott Milhollin, the Three Affiliated Tribes' Washington, D.C. attorney, said the BLM is required to conduct a National Historic Preservation Act survey before a lease sale. It is not enough to act on specific drilling permits, he said. "Adverse effects on traditional cultural properties often cannot be mitigated by minor changes in the location of a drilling pad, much less by archaeological data recovery," he said. In its response, the BLM said it only makes sense to inventory cultural sites when it knows where wells will be drilled. As an example, the BLM cited Blue Buttes near New Town, which are excluded from oil and gas leasing because the tribes identified the buttes as a spiritual site in 1998. It dismissed the protest of the November sale, saying the tribes had not identified cultural ties to any of the parcels that were offered. Oil development is on the increase in western North Dakota, centering around three "big play" zones, Melvin said. The three zones are near Alexander, in an area between Sidney, Mont., and Fairfield, and north of Medora on the eastern sides of Billings and Golden Valley counties. The Forest Service is deciding whether to let the Whiting Oil company of Denver conduct seismic exploration on 48 sections of the Little Missouri National Grasslands east of Fairfield. Melvin said companies are looking at the potential for re-entering old fields with horizontal drills. Copyright c. 2005 Grand Forks Herald. --------- "RE: Manifest Destiny ... again" --------- Date: Thursday, January 06, 2005 5:57 PM From: Janet Smith [owlstartrading@speakeasy.net] Subj: Manifest Destiny ... again http://www.theunion.com/article/20050106/OPINION/50106002 Our manifest destiny, our duty - The Union January 6, 2005 While substituting for a U.S. History class, I began musing through the textbook. Upon browsing through the section that covered America's expansion into the West, I came across an old term that I had not considered in a while. The term was "manifest destiny." Manifest destiny was a term coined in the 1840s during the height of America's desire to expand west. The textbook explains the term this way: "Many Americans believed that their movement westward was predestined by God. The phrase 'manifest destiny' expressed the belief that the United States was ordained to expand to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory." Many Americans also believed that this destiny was manifest, or "obvious and inevitable." While this belief may not have been the direct cause for our expansion west, the movement that it tried to justify remains a dark stain on our history. The glory of our expansion west will forever be tainted by the massacre of thousands of Native Americans and the complete obliteration of many Native American tribes. ''This era will always be spoiled by the deceit, the lies, and the broken promises our country used to exploit the Native Americans and their land. Stories of "The Trail of Tears," "The Flight of the Nez Pierce," "The Fall of the Sioux Nation," and "The Last Stand of the Apache Warriors" will forever haunt the conscience of America. Even though the ugliness of this period is etched in our brains, we must learn what caused the ugliness to disappear from the eyes of the people that created this history. When one stamps "the will of God" upon the entire movement west, people can become comfortable accepting any actions that fall under the movement as "God's divine plan." The massacre of innocent women and children is much easier to accept and reason with in one's heart when it is called the divine will of God. The people found a fancy name and a righteous concept to place upon their evildoings so that they could live with themselves and the true nature of their actions. For who can argue with the will of God, even if it involves the annihilation of an entire people, their land, and their way of life? We can lament the failures of our past; however, we cannot escape the harsh realities of the present and the history that we create today. I cannot help but fear the eerie similarities between manifest destiny and the doctrines used today to justify our malicious actions. We, too, are guilty of beautifying the ugly realities of our actions in order to ease our consciences and convince ourselves that we are doing what is right. It seems that we have learned the wrong lesson from history. We have learned to justify our actions at any cost rather than face the true nature of our actions. How else could we support the invasions of another country based on flimsy accusations? How else could we justify the destruction of Iraq's entire infrastructure with our "shock and awe" bombing rampage? What better way to wash away the blood of over 100,000 dead Iraqi citizens and over 1,200 dead American soldiers from our hands than to simply define it as "our duty to defend and promote freedom"? However noble this cause may seem, when applied to our current war, it is hollow. For Iraq never posed a threat to our freedom, and their people had little influence in the decision to promote their own liberation. Freedom is not free, but it is also not simply a card to be played when all other reasons for war have run out. Unlike our ancestors who desensitized themselves to the cruel realities of their malicious ways by calling it manifest destiny, we must not explain away our inhumanity by convincing ourselves that it is our inherent "duty." Copyright c. 2005 The Union - Grass Valley, CA. --------- "RE: Cayugas nix Land Settlement" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2005 08:39:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CAYUGA LAND" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2005/01/04/news/news02.txt Cayugas nix land settlement By Amaris Elliott-Engel / The Citizen January 5, 2005 The Cayuga Nation is tired of waiting for federal approval for its proposed casino and has pulled out of its land settlement with the state. The tribe announced Monday that its latest proposed land claim settlement with the state is now invalid because the Cayuga Nation will not renew its contract with casino developer Empire Resorts. The contract expired Dec. 31. Cayuga Nation spokesperson Clint Halftown said in a press release that Empire Resorts has failed to fulfill its promise to secure approval for the Cayugas' proposed full-scale casino at Monticello Racewat in the Catskills. State officials said Monday they haven't been notified that the tribe has pulled out. "We have not received any official word from the tribe that they've withdrawn from the agreement," said Todd Alhart, a spokesperson for Gov. George Pataki. Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Herb Marshall said the ever-changing position of the Cayugas has left county officials confounded. "They have a total lack of leadership that it's very difficult for me to understand where they are and where they are not," Marshall said. "This has changed so many times so drastically it's hard to comment." In the Nov. 18 agreement with the state, the Nation was granted rights to build a casino in Sullivan County and agreed to withdraw its cross appeal in the land claim case, while the case would continue through the courts. Under the settlement, if the tribe won the case, the state's payout was limited to $150 million, and the tribe would get the right to exercise sovereignty on 10,000 acres in the land claim area. If the state won the case, the state would not pay damages and the tribe would have the right to exercise sovereignty on 2,500 acres total in the three contiguous land parcels each in Seneca and Cayuga counties. Halftown said in the press release that the agreement might still have been acceptable if the state had not arranged settlements with out-of- state tribes that gave "out-of-state tribes a physical presence in New York State - an arrangement that would have granted local sovereignty to those tribes where there should be none." The Cayuga Nation contends tribal groups that left New York do not have the same rights to sovereignty as the Nation does. Those tribes, however, contend they were forced to leave. The Seneca-Cayugas of Oklahoma - a co-plaintiff in the land claim case - the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin-based Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, all negotiated settlements with the state in recent weeks. "The Cayuga Nation of New York is anxious to resolve its claim against the state for illegally taking our land two centuries ago, but it is unwilling to do so if out-of-state tribes are given any land as part of the settlement," Halftown said in the release. A traditional faction of the Cayugas had already said last month the proposed settlement was invalid because Halftown had no authority to negotiate on the Nation's behalf and was removed from the Nation's governing council in July. Charles Degliomini, vice president for communications and government relations at Empire Resorts, did not return phone calls seeking comment. Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net Copyright c. 2005 The Citizen, A division of Lee Publications, Inc. --------- "RE: Snoqualmie Tribe on Road to Self-Sufficiency" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2005 08:39:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SNOQUALMIE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002139669_snoqualmie04e.html Snoqualmie Tribe on road to self-sufficiency By Sonia Krishnan Seattle Times Eastside bureau January 4, 2005 Arlene Ventura keeps a memento in her office from the days when the Snoqualmie Tribe held council meetings out of a two-car garage in Fall City. Ventura still uses the worn brown chair every day at the tribe's new office in Carnation because it reminds her of the Snoqualmie journey, from an unacknowledged tribe to a federally recognized force striving toward self-sufficiency. "We've climbed many mountains," said Ventura, secretary of tribal affairs and a tribal princess. But in many respects, their voyage has just begun. Since the tribe received recognition from the federal government in 1999, it has opened two public-health clinics, founded a drug-and-alcohol recovery center and staked a claim to its reservation land. Tribal leaders are learning how to navigate a system according to written rules instead of traditional customs. They have drafted a constitution, drawn up laws and hired an administrator - the first non-native to work for the tribe. Now they are awaiting federal approval to build a $70 million casino near North Bend. It's the tribe's biggest project yet, one that could spell financial security. "The tribe isn't asking for any favors," said Ray Mullen, Tribal Council member and chairman of the economic-development committee. "We're asking for what's right." Meanwhile, there are programs to oversee, needs to tend to and people to feed. There is a village to run. Awaiting BIA action Inside a small cedar lodge on Tolt Avenue in downtown Carnation sits tribal headquarters, the epicenter of Snoqualmie affairs. An old Top 40 hit plays softly in the lobby on a recent morning. The Tribal Council has convened its biweekly meeting in a nearby room. Conceptual drawings for the Snoqualmie Hills Casino decorate the walls, showing the casino nestled among evergreen trees. The fact that the tribe is even here, in a meeting that could mirror any other City Council's - with an agenda and subcommittees - is an unsung milestone. "You would hear things about 'This is the white man's way,' or 'Why do we have to follow a system like that?' " said Matt Mattson, the tribal administrator and attorney who was hired in 2000. "But the tribe realized that, in order to act as a government within the framework of Western civilization, this was necessary." At the meeting, Mattson updates the council on the casino's status. It's become a sore subject as the tribe's application hangs in limbo with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA must designate the 56-acre site as reservation land. The tribe has been waiting since 2001. The tribe wants to break ground on the casino by next spring and is petitioning political leaders, including U.S. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, to expedite the process. But getting the government to certify land as a reservation - meaning the parcel falls under tribal authority and is generally exempt from state laws - is a lengthy process. "There are documented cases that have taken five years," said Judy Joseph, superintendent of the Puget Sound Agency of the BIA. A group of Arizona-based investors has agreed to help the tribe purchase and develop the King County-owned site once the federal government acts. The 147,000-square-foot casino would create 700 jobs in the Snoqualmie Valley. As a sovereign nation, the Snoqualmie tribe operates on a $2 million budget, 80 percent of which comes from federal grants. State grants, private foundation money and revenue from its health clinics make up the remainder. The tribe is eyeing future casino funds to start a child-care center and build senior housing for its elders, among other projects. "It will be our economic engine," Mullen said. A man of 2 tribes After the tribal meeting breaks up, council member Ron Enick wants to share a story. It's about a young man who grew up belonging to one tribe and longing for another. Enick, 45, was a member of the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe in Darrington. He and his father, Jerry Enick, are part Sauk-Suiattle and joined that tribe because they needed health coverage. But father and son also have Snoqualmie blood. Jerry Enick's mother, Evelyn Kanim Enick, was a Snoqualmie princess and the family grew up in Carnation - the tribal heartland. They gave up their membership in the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe and rejoined the Snoqualmies after recognition; Jerry Enick was voted one of two chiefs. "It was like I was coming home," said Ron Enick, who joined in 2003. Others also are being drawn back to the tribe, now that status as a sovereign nation has been secured. Federal recognition of an Indian tribe carries economic, political and social benefits, from health care to money for housing. The tribe has grown by 25 people since 1999 and has about 600 members, said Katherine Barker, a lifetime member in charge of enrollment. Hopefuls must prove that they are at least one-eighth Snoqualmie through birth certificates and genealogy records. A committee checks the authenticity of the applicant's family tree, and the Tribal Council decides. Even as the tribe attracts renewed interest, it remains a shadow of its former self. At one time it was 4,000 strong and one of the largest tribes in the Puget Sound area. In 1855, Snoqualmie Chief Patkanim ceded all tribal lands, from Snoqualmie Pass to Everett, to the U.S. government. The tribe never was paid for the land, and the people eventually scattered throughout the Puget Sound region. Tribal leaders had sought territory for a reservation since shortly after the Civil War, but it wasn't until the Snoqualmies were listed in the Congressional Record as an unrecognized tribe in 1952 that they began a 47-year fight to regain their status. Their dream is to create a centralized location. A home. A helping hand for health The Tolt Community Clinic one block from tribal headquarters is quiet on a cold winter afternoon. Tribal member Catherine Jones emerges from the patient room to schedule her next appointment. Jones, 55, has had a rough year. After her husband died from prostate cancer in October, she went to the emergency room with chest pains. Tests showed she had a heart fibrillation that required her to stop working temporarily. "I had no idea," she said. "I thought I was just exhausted from taking care of my husband." There was another problem: She had no medical insurance. Jones had lost her previous job two years ago when her Arlington-based employer, a caviar company, moved to Alaska. And she hadn't yet qualified for coverage at her new job at a grocery store in Marysville. She panicked. A tribal elder advised her to seek help at the Tolt center. As part of the federal Indian Health Service, the clinic pays for treatment for recognized members of native tribes. Jones travels more than an hour to get to Carnation. Much of what the doctors see are the same ills that plague Native Americans nationwide: diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and heart and kidney disease. The tribe runs two clinics; the other is in North Bend. The clinics serve 75 to 80 patients a week, and most are on welfare, said Dr. Gerald Yorioka, medical director of the Tolt clinic. With no job and no income, Jones is counting on the tribal food bank to keep her pantry full for two weeks at a time. The tribe also helps pay her electricity bill. It gets her by. "The golden goose" A ranch-style home with carpeting and wood paneling on Entwistle Drive in Carnation doubles as the tribe's social-service agency. Pamphlets on nicotine addiction and alcohol abuse greet visitors at the entrance. Patients speak with counselors in two rooms near the back. This is where Marie Ramirez spends her days as the tribe's social- services and interim health director. She has a vision that someday a Snoqualmie Tribe high-school student will walk up to her and say, '"I want your job." She says this as someone who has seen too many native children succumb to troubling high-school dropout rates, drug abuse and alcoholism. In 2002, the tribe set up a program called the Family Canoe project that matches at-risk students with adult mentors and prepares them for a three- week paddling journey during the summer. The trip stresses living off the land and connecting with tribal history. As a teen, Staci Moses got caught up in drinking and drugs, and never finished high school. A lifetime member of the Snoqualmie Tribe, Moses sobered up seven years ago and got a job working for the tribe as a youth coordinator. Now she hopes her three daughters make it to college. "I tell them, 'Be the first one to walk down that [graduation] aisle,'" she said. "I didn't get a chance to." Ramirez says she is eager for the casino to get started. She sees those funds helping Snoqualmie children invest in their future. "It's the golden goose," she said. "Only with the tribe becoming educationally sound can it move forward." Back at tribal headquarters, Chief Jerry Enick sits alone at the empty council table. It's noon and most of the office has cleared out for lunch. Enick isn't in a hurry to go anywhere. At 71, he has become a patient man. He saw the tribe through its bleakest days and watches now as it stands on the cusp of a new era. Before recognition, "it was a lot of wishes and wants," he said. "Now it's up to us to get it done. I just hope it happens before I pass away." Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com Copyright c. 2005 The Seattle Times Company. --------- "RE: Cherokee Nation to build Muskogee Clinic" --------- Date: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 12:42 PM From: MJLaBurt@aol.com Subj: Cherokee Nation To Build Muskogee Clinic Mailing List: NDNAIM http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=75475 Cherokee Nation To Build Muskogee Clinic MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) - The Cherokee Nation announced Wednesday it will build a new Indian health clinic in Muskogee to help ease the strain on other eastern Oklahoma health centers. The tribe will pay for construction costs of the 82,000-square-foot clinic, which will be operated by Indian Health Services as part of a joint venture, Chief Chad Smith said. It will employ more than 200 people and is expected to be operating by the end of 2006. The new clinic will help reduce overcrowding at the Cherokee Nation's clinic in Sallisaw, Claremore Indian Hospital and in particular the IHS Hastings Indian Medical Center in Tahlequah "which sometimes has more patients than it can handle," Smith said. "This is a huge jump forward for the quality of health care for our citizens," he said, adding that it will affect not only Muskogee but "every community in northeastern Oklahoma that has an IHS facility or Cherokee Nation clinic." The Cherokee Nation operates eight clinics, including a smaller one in Muskogee that now serves only women and children. The new clinic will be twice the size of any other. Hastings Indian Medical Center officials estimate the new clinic will take care of 16 percent of its patient load. A Muskogee clinic already was a known need when the hospital opened in 1984, but Congress never allocated funds for it, said Edwin McLemore, chief executive officer of the Tahlequah hospital. The hospital, which handles about 250,000 patient visits a year, has waiting lists for dental services, outpatient surgery, diagnostic tests, immunizations and the assignment of primary care physicians, he said. "We hope to be able to make better use of the resources we have with the relief Muskogee will provide," McLemore said. "We certainly applaud the Cherokee Nation." The construction costs of the new Muskogee clinic could total an estimated $20 million, Smith said. The clinic will be built on tribal land. IHS will pay for the continued operation of the facility, which could cost $17 million a year, the tribe said. The new clinic will offer a wide range of outpatient services to all American Indians, including medical, dental, eye and behavioral health care. "This is a godsend for the Cherokees and other Native Americans in the area," said Don Garvin, a tribal council member who represents Muskogee, McIntosh and Wagoner counties. "One of the biggest benefits is that people wont have to drive all the way to Tahlequah or Claremore," he said. Copyright c. 2005 KOTV. --------- "RE: NA Doctorate holder ponders Culture, Science" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2005 08:39:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CULTURE/SCIENCE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.usatoday.com//2005-01-03-nativeam-sci_x.htm?csp=34 Native American doctorate holder ponders culture, science By Peter Harriman, The Argus Leader January 3, 2004 The first Native American to earn a doctorate from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology considers himself an Indian man who practices science rather than a scientist. Timothy Bull Bennett says he can relate to what the great Boston Celtic coach and player Bill Russell meant when he said: "I'm not a basketball player. I'm a black man who plays basketball." "That has always stuck with me," Bull Bennett says. "I'm not a scientist. I'm an Indian man who practices science. I am very comfortable with who I am as an Indian man, strong in my convictions. I am also a believer in science and the scientific method and know how to apply it." He looks at what he does as a scientist through the perspective of an Indian. This insight interests officials at the South Dakota college, which is trying to recruit more Native American students. Last May, Bull Bennett became the first Native American to earn a doctoral degree from South Dakota Tech. He is a member of the Mi'kmaq Tribe from northern New England and eastern Canada. Born in Maine, he grew up in Wyoming and attended college at Casper College and the University of Wyoming before completing an undergraduate degree at Black Hills State University. Bull Bennett returned to the University of Wyoming to earn a master's in wildlife and range ecology. In 1998, South Dakota Tech recruited him. Now, they see him as a harbinger. The school has created a multicultural committee to develop strategies to attract more Indian students. This spring, recommendations will be made to President Charles Ruch. Bull Bennett was recruited into a multidisciplinary Ph.D. program at the university involving atmospheric, environmental and water resources. His doctoral research was on bison. Now, he is the science education coordinator for five North Dakota tribal colleges. In a program funded by the National Institutes of Health, he is working to increase the number of Indian students enrolled in higher-education biomedical research programs. In the past two years, South Dakota Tech has set records for enrolling and graduating Indian students. But it still falls short. In fall 2003, Tech enrolled 22 first-time Indian students, the most ever, and had a total Indian student enrollment of 65, also a record. But that represented only about 4% of the student body; Indians make up 8.3% of the state's population. Last May, nine Indian students earned undergraduate or graduate degrees. This semester, there are 10 Indian graduate students at Tech and 65 undergraduates. "As a university, we are making progress. But this issue is so important, we can't sit back and say we've done our job," says Al Boysen, a professor in Tech's humanities department and the multicultural committee chairman. Bull Bennett says it is especially important the institution make a commitment to bringing Indian students to science and engineering, because the university, founded in 1885, was largely created to produce engineers for the gold-mining industry that had a key role in ending the traditional lives of Northern Plains Indians. "Really, that stood against everything the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty stood for," Bull Bennett says of a higher-education institution established to educate mining engineers. When the U.S. abolished the 1868 treaty and opened the Black Hills to mining, it paved a path that ultimately led to the Battle of the Little Big Horn and the Indian wars of the late 1870s. In that conflict, regional tribes lost both their homeland and nomadic way of life. If Indians since then have been forced to live in a culture founded on European thinking, with its high regard for deductive logic and science, many of them in the 21st century can enrich that intellectual approach with traditional insights, Bull Bennett says. "We are very connected to the land and the resources around us. Our society is built on that. Our sense of space is what drives us, as opposed to the sense of time that drives Western societies. "There's a contingent of very talented and intelligent people within American Indian communities. They bring a diverse knowledge of who they are. They can make great students of science, if opportunities were provided." Such thinking resonates at South Dakota Tech. "Historically, the work ethic of South Dakota Tech students was enough for them to get a start on a great career," Boysen says. "But we've moved into a different world where students need to have a global view. That's what employers want, and that's what increasing diversity can give us." The university is targeting several groups of Indian students: those in Rapid City, those who live on the state's nine reservations and students who are already enrolled in the school's American Indian Outreach programs. Students have to be dedicated, says multicultural committee member Jacquelyn Bolman, manager of special projects in South Dakota Tech's Graduate Education and Sponsored Programs Department. "We are seeking students who can successfully do the mathematics and science, are interested in a science or engineering career, and are committed to four to six years of study," she says. "Earning a degree from this university is difficult. It always will be." And once Tech enrolls such students, Bull Bennett says the school has to create an environment on campus that includes a center or an office for the tribes, staffed by professionals and students. During his years at South Dakota Tech, he says he found such support intermittently. "When I was there it was not entirely lacking. Let's just say it was spotty." But he hails the effort to bring Indian students into the sciences, reflected by the creation of the multicultural committee. "What it is really going to take is a mindset that has not been especially prevalent in South Dakota schools, and that is that you are actually dealing with students with a unique cultural diversity." The multicultural committee is an appropriate first step, he says. "It's the right way to go about it. It's a good start. But the work is in front of them." Contributing: Information from the Argus Leader Copyright c. 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. --------- "RE: Indians take part in Festivities" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2005 08:39:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MONTANA GUBERNATORIAL INAUGURATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com//2005/01/04/build/state/40-newgov.inc Indians take part in festivities By JODI RAVE Missoulian January 4, 2005 HELENA - Marking an unprecedented invitation, Montana Indians arrived with their nation's flags and brought the songs that go with them. Soon, the flags representing Montana's tribal nations will fly next to the U.S. and Montana flags on the grounds of the state Capitol. It is reportedly the first time in the state's 115-year history. "It's a good day for Native Americans in Montana," said Tuffy Helgeson of the Fort Belknap Reservation. As part of Monday's gubernatorial inauguration ceremonies, representatives from the Blackfeet, Chippewa Cree, Crow, Assiniboine, Sioux, Gros Ventre, Little Shell, Northern Cheyenne, Salish and Kootenai brought their flags to the Capitol. They will likely be raised and rotated on a weekly basis. For many of the state's indigenous people, the invitation to fly their flags and to join Gov. Brian Schweitzer in inaugural festivities marked a significant day in state and tribal government relations. "It's good they're starting to take a good look at us," said Hugh Monroe of the Blackfeet Nation. "I kind of think it should have taken place a long time ago. I can't figure out why it took so long." To celebrate, many tribal citizens arrived in traditional dress and acknowledged their newfound inclusion, something owed to Schweitzer, who has also hired several American Indians to work within his administration. "It moves my heart to be with the first Montanans," Schweitzer said. "This is going to be an inclusive administration. We're going to look to all Montanans, the first, the least, the last. The ones who need a little extra help, the ones who are trying to achieve their dreams. We want to work with all of them." Crow Tribal Chairman Carl Venne described the day as historic and overdue. "People in Montana need to know that Indian tribes are part of Montana. It's a step forward, but we have a long way to go." The morning ceremonies began to wind down after Schweitzer introduced a drum group with singers representing each Montana tribe. Just as they began to drum and sing, Schweitzer walked over to the drum. They had saved a chair for him and handed him a drumstick when he sat down. He used it, and even stopped on the last beat, noted one observer. After the morning inauguration ceremonies and despite a contentious day of leadership in the House of Representatives, an aura of good will permeated a conference room adjacent to the governor's office. Several tribes presented the governor with customary gifts, including a hand drum and a pair of moccasins symbolically beaded to nearly tell the life story of the governor. "Thank you very much for honoring us here today," Schweitzer said. "John (Bohlinger) and I are proud, for the first time in the history of the state of Montana to say to you, welcome, welcome into the front door of the governor's office and the governor's home." As gifts were presented and flags unfurled, the drumming and singing continued. Just as the national anthem is commonly sung when saluting the U.S. flag, each tribal nation has a song for its flag. "It's a great honor for us to present this flag on behalf of the Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreille tribes," said Tribal Chairman Fred Matt of the Confederated Tribes of the Flathead Nation. "We know you'll fly it with the greatest respect." Jodi Rave reports on American Indian issues. She can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@missoulian.com. Copyright c. 2005 The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Tribal-Language Teacher is spreading the Word" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2005 08:39:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LANGUAGE TEACHER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0104lopez04.html A living history book Tribal-language teacher is spreading the word Judy Nichols The Arizona Republic January 4, 2005 Danny Lopez, 68, worries about dying. Not because he's ill, but because he's afraid of taking too much of the Tohono O'odham history and language with him. "Everything that I know I want to leave for my people," Lopez said. "It belongs to them. advertisement "When an elder is gone, what he knows, the songs, the history, whatever he didn't set down, that knowledge is buried underneath the ground." Lopez, who has worked for decades to preserve his tribe's culture and language, was recently chosen for the first Spirit of the Heard award. The award, given by the Heard Museum, is to honor a living member of a Southwest tribe who has demonstrated personal excellence or community leadership in a chosen field. Lopez, who teaches the Tohono O'odham language and culture at Tohono O'odham Community College, also has taught the language and culture to hundreds of children at Topawa Middle School in Topawa and Indian Oasis Primary School in Sells. He also has taught the language to paramedics so they can speak to Tohono O'odham elders when responding to calls. A storyteller, singer and cultural expert, Lopez has taught key aspects of the O'odham Himdag - the Desert People's Lifeways - to hundreds of Tohono O'odham youths, adults and elders over the past 30 years. "Lopez's commitment to his people and community in working tirelessly to teach and preserve the life and culture of the Tohono O'odham Nation makes him the perfect first recipient," said Frank Goodyear, museum director. Part of tribal identity Ofelia Zepeda, a Tohono O'odham and a professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona, said language is a critical part of tribal identity. "It's one of the main things that makes you a distinct group," Zepeda said. "The O'odham still having a number of speakers points to the fact that the tribe is still cohesive in that way." About 15-20 students enroll in Zepeda's Tohono O'odham language class each semester. One of them was Lopez. But Zepeda said he is both student and teacher. "He will send me e-mails or call about an O'odham question structure," she said. "I can be his teacher in that way, but he's my teacher in other areas because he knows so much of the language." Humble beginnings There is no public record of Lopez's birth. He was born at home in Big Field on the Tohono O'odham Reservation on Dec. 24, 1936. He attended the two-room Catholic school in Cowlic. His mother, who spoke only Tohono O'odham, would cook and sew clothes. His father, who spoke about second-grade English, would earn money chopping wood and helping with the livestock roundups. "Most of the English we heard was from peddlers who would come selling canned goods," Lopez said. The family would leave home in May, following the cotton harvest in Coolidge, Eloy, Casa Grande, Picacho and Marana. "When September came, we would go to whatever school was around," he said. "In February, the farmers would take us back home in big trucks." Eventually, Lopez went to St. John's Indian Mission in Komatke. He also attended Pima Community College, the University of Arizona and Prescott College. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in education, focusing on the Tohono O'odham language. More English spoken And he began to worry about the loss of his native language. "Everywhere, community members were using more English," Lopez said. "Meetings were conducted in O'odham, but when kids were playing outside, they spoke English. "I was concerned about the future. The elders are not going to be here forever." Jon Reyhner, a professor of education at Northern Arizona University, said Lopez's fear is not unfounded. Research shows fewer and fewer children are speaking the language. "Within a generation or two if something isn't done the language will be gone," said Reyhner, who has written books on indigenous language and has a book, American Indian Education: A History, that will be published this spring by the University of Oklahoma Press. "For 100 years there was a concerted effort to wipe out the languages in federal Indian schools and then public schools," Reyhner said. "It was part of the assimilation effort." Reyhner said that many tribes in California have lost their language and 50 or so are trying to revive them. Indigenous languages are being preserved in New Zealand and Hawaii, too. A living museum "Preservation is important so that when an elder dies all that stuff is not lost," Reyhner said. "Putting it all in a museum or an archive is better than nothing. But these languages need to live and breathe." Zepeda, who was the first generation in her family to speak English, estimated that about half the tribe, mostly the elders, still speak the language. "It's wonderful that Danny is getting the recognition for what he does," Zepeda said "He's very good, very conscientious. "He loves to learn, whether he's being a student or teaching. That's one of the things that keeps him going." Sharing a song A video of Lopez receiving his award was played recently for the faculty at Tohono O'odham Community College. Afterward they rose to their feet in a standing ovation. "When I heard that, I had to go lie down and cry," Lopez said. "I thought of all the people out there, some of them gone, my parents, my sisters, people who were willing to share a song with me. My mother-in-law, I learned a lot from her. All those people. "I wish they all could have been there. The recognition also goes to them." Copyright c. 2005, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Faithkeeper's School" --------- Date: Thursday, January 06, 2005 12:47 AM From: Debra Glor [rglor1@rochester.rr.com] Subj: info >To: gars@speakeasy.org You might want to check out this treaty website and the links attached for some good info.. www.canandaigua-treaty.org and especailly the link for the Faithkeepers school.. they are a private Seneca school on the Allegany reservation teaching the ceremonies, songs, language, cultural traditions like palnting medicines, tapping maple trees, learning the dances, beadwork,cooking traditional meals,etc.. http://faithkeepersschool.com/ Faithkeeper's School Longhouse Teachings Ganohsesge:kha:' He:nodeye:stha Senecas Preserving Our Language, Traditional Culture, And Customs As Specified In Our Spiritual Guide; The Gaiwi:yo:h The Faithkeepers School came into existence in 1998 through the efforts of Lehman Dowdy and his wife Sandy. Lehman is head Faithkeeper, and Speaker (click) in the Longhouse on the Allegany Territory. Sandy taught Seneca language, and culture for 12 years in the Salamanca Central School. She now devotes all her time to the Faithkeeper's School. Lehman notes; "Our strong focus is to preserve and maintain the traditional Seneca language, which is the means we carry on our ancient Seneca customs, ceremonies, history and laws. It has been this way through the centuries. Through the means of handing it down orally to generations of Seneca people, our customs and traditions have remained alive and constant. Now, it is time to teach our children the language and the culture so this knowledge will carry on forever. The idea of establishing a Faithkeepers School becomes all the more urgent, with the passing of Seneca elders. It is the elders who possess the means, the Seneca langauge, to pass on their knowledge and wisdom of our Seneca heritage". --------- "RE: Traditional Ways, Modern Beliefs" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2005 08:39:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TEACHING" http://www.mininggazette.com/community/story/014202005_com01-c0104.asp Traditional ways, modern beliefs By JANE NORDBERG, Gazette Writer January 4, 2005 HOUGHTON - Gwinn resident Tim Derwin said he didn't mind making the drive to Houghton Middle School recently to dispel some myths about Native Americans. "I don't ride a horse or live in a teepee," Derwin told the audience of eighth-graders. "These are modern times. But I respect the culture that I come from." English teacher Dan Junttila invited Derwin to speak to the class in connection with a six-week unit on Native American culture. The two men were introduced by Michelle Kaufman, a member of the class who is Derwin's niece. "I had a really good feeling the first time I met Tim," Junttila said. "I could tell this was a person who wanted to help me and I wanted to meet him." Derwin began the lesson by performing a traditional "spirit song," where he chanted and moved about in four different directions successively. "I do this to show respect to each of the four directions in life," Derwin said. "Respect is probably the most important word in our culture and every day of my life is based on spiritual respect." A member of the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa tribe, Derwin's traditional name is Black Squirrel from the Wolf Clan. In the Native American culture, the clan name is similar to a surname in the Christian culture, he explained. Because of the variety of clans and a tradition based on an oral culture, there is no one way to tell a story, he said. "Somebody may come in to talk to you from Keweenaw Bay, and tell the same story in a different way," Derwin told the youths. "It doesn't make his story wrong because I was here first. Use what I teach you today, but show respect for others' beliefs." In the Native American culture, Derwin said respect extends not only to fellow human beings, but inanimate objects as well. Directing the students' attention to a large rock outside the window, Derwin said, "That rock out there? I see it as a living, breathing, thinking thing. To me, that rock might be one of my ancestors, watching me all the time to make sure I am on the right path." Derwin also shared musical instruments and other artifacts of traditional Native American life to explain the importance of animals in his culture. "Our ancestors couldn't go to Econo Foods and buy pork chops," he said, getting a smile from the audience. "They had to live off the land. So when we hunt, when we take the life of an animal, we thank that animal for what it has given us and we try to use every part of the animal. Native Americans no longer hunt because they have to, he said, but do so to extend the life of their culture. To illustrate his point, Derwin passed to the students a necklace made from deer toes, clothing from deerhide sewn with sinew and jewelry made from antlers. The regalia-clad speaker also explained the importance of the traditional Native American dress. Clothed in chaps, an apron and a breastplate traditionally made from animal bones, Derwin said the clothing is worn only at certain times, and has special significance to the wearer. "We can't make our own clothing," he said. "Somebody has to give these things to us." Derwin pointed out the duct tape holding his moccasins together, saying he had hinted to his wife, also Native American, about a new pair to no avail. "This teaches me to be patient," he said. "The moccasins will come when they come. Sometimes you have to wait for things to happen." Copyright c. 2004 The Daily Mining Gazette, Houghton, MI. --------- "RE: Why do White People want to Play"Indian"?" --------- Date: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 4:21 PM From: karaka@medscape.com [jankaraka@yahoo.co.nz] Subj: FW: FIND THE FAKE INDIAN! Why do White People Want to Play"Indian"? Mailing List: First_Nations_Skyvillage@smartgroups.com You may send this around or reprint if you give credit to Akwesasne Phoenix info@a... vol. 4, Dec. 24 issue. WIN $200! FIND THE FAKE INDIAN! Why do White People Want to Play "Indian"? MNN. Dec. 26, 2004. Indian imposters are part of our scene. From the fake Mohawks who hosted the Boston Tea Party, to Grey Owl, to Oscar de Corti, to Charlie Smoke, to all those grey-haired academics prowling around the "Indigenous" scene who have suddenly discovered an "Indian" ancestor - we just never know when another one is going to pop out of the wood pile. Ya gotta wonder. Why would anyone want to pass themselves off as an "Indian"? Do they aspire to our standard of living sat the bottom of their barrel? Do they pine for the experience of being denied a political voice, or losing their land to theft and pollution? Is it the police harassment, the racial profiling or the endemic sleaziness of the sexual innuendos we endure that they envy? Or do they feel some kind of existential angst because their family missed out on the horrific residential school genocide? We've all met someone who isn't what they say they are, or who claims to have a grandmother or grandfather who's "part Indian". Philip J. Deloria thinks they are seeking a connection with the primal purity they imagine we know. "Indians are associated with the land, and nature, and reality and authenticity. Indians are the people who possess the ultimate meanings and the ultimate truths on what America is about." This is often the white perception. One Indigenous man said, "They love our skin colour, but they hate our guts!" We evoke both love and hate from these people. "Everywhere we turn, there is something named after us - as if we are all dead and gone, relics of the past". When it comes right down to it, all you have to do to become an "Indian" is to check a box on the census form. Of course, that won't get you the right to live on a reservation or open a casino. The colonizers keep tight control over what they call legal "Indians". It's been up to the BIA in the U.S. and the DIA in Canada to define who is, or is not, an "Indian". If you play ball according to their rules, you too can become an Indian. In Canada, for example, any woman who married an "Indian" man could became a full fledged "Indian" with all the rights and benefits. But an Indigenous woman who married a white man instantly lost her claim to status. According to their rules, she had to move out of her community and couldn't come back even if she got divorced. When the United Nations found this violated equality rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the colonizers changed their laws. But they still don't let us decide who we are. It is now possible for kids raised on a reserve to lose their "Indian" status and their right to live in their community even if their ancestors have been there in every generation since Europeans invented "Prisons of Grass". Meanwhile, band registries have been inflated with the names of all sorts of strangers who claim benefits on the grounds of some sort of genealogical link. Then there are those who pretend to be Indians for a cause. The "crying Indian" was a fake. The guy in all those "Keep America Beautiful" ads during the 1970's was an Italian American named Oscar de Corti. Why did they have to pick him to represent us? Did they think he looked more real than the "real thing"? That was the deal with Gray Owl. Europeans lapped up everything he had to say. He knew what they wanted, 'cause he was one of them. He told them everything they wanted to hear. But they didn't care about what we had to say. The Ojibway of Temagami use to ask , "How could anyone mistake him for an Indian?" But no one was listening. Grey Owl's second wife, Anahareo, turned out to be another wannabee Indian. She had some Mohawk blood and she was seeking her roots - but she was doing it through a fake Indian! At least she had some genuine ancestry that she wanted to find out about. But you have to wonder why films about people like Grey Owl are big at the box office. Real indigenous people like Tecumseh and Deskaheh are ignored. And you don't have to go to Hollywood to rake it in for being a fake Indian. Brooke Edwards called herself "Medicine Eagle" and ran Indian culture camps in Montana. She charged $1500 per person for a two-week session. The Crow Indians said she totally misrepresented and abused their spiritual traditions. But who was listening? Cultists, con artists, hucksters, charlatans, "plastic medicine people" -They grow rich while real Indians starve to death. Real Indians stay out of sight and out of mind. There doesn't seem to be any limit to what people will try. Get a load of that "Rent an Indian" ad on the net: "Are you embarrassed by the lack of racial diversity at your social events? Just rent an Indian and you too can appeal to be multi-cultural in the eyes of your friends" All without having to give up your white privilege!! The American Indian Movement tried to end the activities of the plastic medicine men. But they got nowhere. So maybe we should just laugh at these people...unless they are competing for Indian scholarships at Harvard. What's a little hucksterism anyways? Marketing is made in the U.S.A. So what if all the plastic gewgaws they sell misrepresent our cultures? We could always try selling little priest dolls with vials of holy water and fake communion wafers. But would they sell? Not on your life. As Vine Deloria, says "White people in this country are so alienated from their own lives and so hungry for some sort of real life that they grasp at any straw to save themselves". The problem is that real Indigenous people rarely make the grade for non-Indian experts. How many times has someone said to me, "How can you be an Indian when you have green eyes?'..as if they had a monopoly on any kind of albinism.I answer in one word: "Colonialism". That shuts them up for a moment, but it doesn't solve the problem. Janet McCloud points out that even Indians sell our ceremonies for a fee. "This is just another theft from us." She said. "Some of these people spend about 15 minutes with an elder. Then they become official representatives of various Indian people. It's absolutely disgusting". As McCloud says, Indians like Sun Bear, who markets our heritage are a serious threat. They may even be as dangerous as the fake chiefs who signed away our land in fake treaties. Some even create new tribes composed mostly of Euroamericans. Anyone who is undermining our culture is complicit in the genocide we are trying to overcome. And what would white folk say if we started dressing up as priests, setting up our own churches and circulating collection plates? Look what happened to AIMer, Russell Means when he went to a school halloween party with his son. He painted his face white and dressed up as a "white man". Indians chortle at the thought, but the people at the party were embarrassed and confused. They did not know how to react. People are scared if they can't use familiar categories to label things the way they see them. So the fake Indian business thrives. It is based on the search for roots by a rootless people. It feeds on a 500 year old guilt complex. The colonizers sense that Indigenous philosophy makes more sense than theirs. We have earthbound problems that require earthbound answers. They want to pray to some unseen holy entity for direction and they aren't getting any. "Poor little lambs who have lost their way". Maybe we can't make them see that the answer is in themselves. But we can all do our bit to stop encouraging these plastic medicine people. Kahentinetha Horn MNN Mohawk Nation News orakwa@ paulcomm.ca When asked by an anthropologist what the Indian called America before the white man came, an Indian simply said, "Ours" Vine Deloria --------- "RE: Rituals in Indian Country" --------- Date: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 10:56 AM From: MJLaBurt@aol.com Subj: Rituals in Indian country Mailing List: Sovereign Nations Mailing List: NDNAIM http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096410085 Rituals in Indian country by: Roberto Dansie / Indian Country Today January 5, 2005 Rituals have been essential for the preservation of life and culture in Indian country. They were there at our birth and they will be there at our death. Rituals will also be there along the way as we go through the different stages of life. Let us take a moment to reflect on the nature of rituals and the role rituals have played for the survival of our people. A ritual is a way to do two main things. The first is to create a protected space where each participant can drop from the head to the heart. The second is to encourage each participant to bring his or her deepest self to the open. The protection is in how the ritual has a beginning and it has an end. The opportunity is there. For a moment, conventional time and space are put aside. One enters what numerous tribes call "dream time." Here, there is no pretending. This is no role-playing, or psychodrama. Here, everything is for real. Intensity, a key factor in traditional healing, brings the participants of the ritual right to the moment, and into a non-ordinary world. As they go through the ritual, the experience allows them to become aware of non-conceptual elements of their being. In today's world fear, vulnerability and misunderstandings are not unusual consequences of this lack of ritual. Much of the alienation that has become epidemic in our modern world has to do with the absence of meaningful rituals in our lives. Compulsions may be the way wounded souls survive the absence of meaningful rituals, the equivalent of the vanished individuals of their tribes. They have no communities to return to, that is, the ground of ritual, and the individual feels deprived of social meaning. And what does a vanished person do? One sees his or her life end with one's self. There is no transcendency nor companionship. One does not experience solitude, but isolation and loneliness. And in this aloneness, there is still a community life that keeps trying to reach others, like the salmon trying to swim up the dams built on the path to their original rivers. They are just exhausting their lives there, not going anywhere. For awhile, western psychologists, having seen the dark side of collective life - like the nationalism that gave rise to totalitarian systems - emphasized the "individual," autonomy, independence and self- reliance. With time, we have seen devastating consequences. Extremisms tend to be devastating to society. Individualism was not the exception. What we have found is radical hedonism, the endless search for personal gratification. Greed and a disregard for others and for nature. This social character, so in tune with capitalism has taken us to the edge of consumerism and human survival. There are not enough resources for humanity to lead a life like the one of industrialized nations, nor a need for people to live as they have been living in Western civilizations. Having as a way of living. Corporate systems, driven primarily by profit, have generated human beings that view their humanity as a handicap for their social advancement. Modern man has turned his back on his soul in order to succeed. The Hopi Indians described this state of life long ago. It was the time of Koyaanisqatsi: Life without balance. During this time, a particular force would grow to unprecedented proportions. Like with all ancestral prophecies, the one of the Hopi tells us that our way out of this mess is our return to balance: To discover our essential unity with each other; to listen to the earth; to cultivate peace: To return to ritual. We will do well to listen to our ancestors. The elements of ritual: 1. The opening - The ritual has either a structure known to its participants, or an explanation by a facilitator. 2. Participation - Participation is done according to rank or order, in which participants perform similar of different activities during the ritual. 3. Act or re-enactment - Participants are to express themselves or infuse previous expression with their lives. 4. Meaning - The ritual has either collective meaning or personal relevance for those participating in it. In ritual every act is meaningful. 5. Relevance - Each participant is relevant to the process of the ritual and as such is equal to other participants. 6. No time - The ritual takes place beyond conventional time. 7. No place - "Dream-time" as indigenous groups call it, is the land of ritual, a space that defies our conventional space. 8. Soul - The soul is the main activated element in each participant of the ritual. 9. Spirit - The spirit is the transcendental aspect of every ritual. 10. Story - Story either surrounds the ritual or emerges in it. But there is always story in ritual. 11. Order - There is a sense of order in the ritual and chaos is at times part of this order. 12. Vision - There is a clarification of perception, a conscious dream with ritual. 13. Mystery - The unknown is always present in ritual. 14. Intuition - Intuition is awakened in ritual. 15. Sound - Words, chants, sounds of musical instruments, and even when the ritual is one of silence, there is a distinct sound to indicate its beginning. 16. Air - The air is purified for the ritual either by aromas, or by earth, water, sound or fire. 17. Creativity - A ritual allows us to drop into the creative flow of life. 18. Conductor - The conductor is someone who carries the ritual to its completion. 19. Sacredness - The ritual is a manifestation and connection to the essence of life. 20. Closure - The ritual comes full circle and reaches formal closure. 21. Generativity - The ritual, like an original cell, contains all of the basic code of rituals in it. 22. Holotropic - The ritual reflects back what the participant needs to see at that particular time in his or her life. 23. Synchronicity - The ritual brings forth co-incidence between the inner and the outer world. 24. Expansion of consciousness - Ritual enhances one's consciousness into either lower or higher states of consciousness. 25. Otherness - Aside from putting the participant in touch with their uniqueness, rituals also bring awareness as to the life and experience of others. 26. Shadow - Rituals enhance our awareness not only of our own light, but also of our own shadow, made of repressed or unconscious elements, particularly the ones that cannot find expression into ordinary life. 27. Transpersonal - The ritual puts the individual in touch with emotions and ideas that go beyond personal life, either family lineage, ethnicity, generational, racial, gender, religious, national or collective. This flow of material cannot be contained by the ordinary personal consciousness, and the ritual provides a vehicle for them as well as a protection for the individual psyche. 28. Transformation - Rituals have the potential to transform psychic energy, releasing the individual from stagnation and into the flow of life. 29. Integration - Rituals are inclusive by design, systems of wholeness, where opposing elements find their way into a balance whole. 30. Purpose - Rituals aim at having the individual continue his or her growth course, giving birth regularly to his or her sense of purpose in life. 31. Remembrance - The participant in ritual is to remember him or herself that state of knowing without thought or past, but by mere being. 32. Beingness - Rituals shift the mode of the participant from "having" to "being." 33. Grace - Even when there is effort and sacrifice by the participant, the ultimate realization that comes from ritual is experienced as grace and not as the result of one's action. 34. Universality - The ritual is not only contained in the universe. It also contains the universe, in the same way that a seed that comes from a tree also contains a tree. 35. Journey - A ritual is a departure from our ordinary existence, a journey into awakening and realization. So much in just a ritual? One can answer that much is there, already, in a seed, small as it may be. Ordinary mind is but one filament of the seed, and as such cannot contain it nor comprehend it. It may describe it and classify it. Label it, but its actual life will escape it. This totality of the seed can only be made known to the totality of our life. We must learn it with our entire being. Thus, rituals put us in touch with our totality, giving us much relief of our sense of isolation from the one life that is the essence of our being and our community. Copyright c. 2005 Indian Country Today. --------- "RE: Professor advises Hawaiians against Akaka Bill" --------- Date: Thursday, January 06, 2005 12:51 AM From: karaka@medscape.com [jankaraka@yahoo.co.nz] Subj: FW: Law professor advises Hawaiians against Akaka Bill Mailing List: First_Nations_Skyvillage@smartgroups.com http://mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=4553 Law professor advises Hawaiians against Akaka Bill By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer The Maui News Saturday January 1, 2005 KAHULUI - The Akaka Bill is a trick to swindle Native Hawaiians out of any recourse to international support, University of Illinois professor Francis Boyle told a crowd of about 50 Mauians Wednesday night. His talk at the Kahului Community Center was sponsored by the Nation of Hawaii with financial support from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. During the question period afterward, it became clear that adherents of at least three sovereignty groups were represented in the audience - Nation of Hawai'i, Reinstated Hawaiian Government and Akahi Nui's Kingdom of Hawai'i. "The kanaka maoli must build and restore the Kingdom of Hawaii from the ground up," Boyle said. "They're trying to reduce and eliminate all your claims under international law." However, he also said that until the many sovereignty groups can unite "to establish a viable, effective government," no credible plaintiff will have standing to petition the International Court of Justice. "The problem is, what we need now is a government of national unity." Boyle has worked with Keanu Sai, the chairman of the Council of Regency and acting minister of the interior of the Hawaiian Kingdom Government, to attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the joint resolution annexing Hawaii in 1898. The court decided they lacked standing, because the United States does not recognize the Kingdom of Hawaii. Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illinois. He is the legal representative of the Republic of Chechnya and founder and head of a group trying to impeach President Bush for an attempt to "impose a police state and a military dictatorship" on the United States. Although he was born, raised, educated and is employed in the United States, Boyle has taken citizenship in Ireland. He has been advising sovereignty activists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for 20 years and in Hawaii since 1993, when he lectured for the Hawaiian Sovereignty Advisory Commission, advising that the Revolution of 1893 and the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii in 1898 were contrary to international law and existing treaties and never had any validity. He described the leaders of the overthrow of the kingdom as "a gang of cutthroats, killers, murderers and thieves." Therefore, he advised, "The Kingdom of Hawaii still exists as an international state." He said the Akaka Bill was written by members of the Federalist Society, which has four former members on the U.S. Supreme Court that voted not to accept the Hawaiian Kingdom Government's suit. He described the Federalist Society as "haole right-wing racists and bigots." "They're not going to give you a government," he said. More information on Boyle is available online at www.impeach-bush-now.org Harry Eagar can be reached at heagar@mauinews.com. Copyright c. 2005 Maui News. --------- "RE: Is pride justified? Canada Myths and Realities" --------- Date: Saturday, January 08, 2005 12:38 AM From: MJLaBurt@aol.com Subj: Is pride justified? Canada Myths and Realities Mailing List: Sovereign Nations Mailing List: NDNAIM > http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20050107174115739 Is pride justified? Canada Myths and Realities Contributed by: sthompson January 7, 2005 The following issues are issues that need to be addressed thoughtfully and carefully by an effort like ours. From Resist.ca: Canadians Have No Reason to Feel Proud And the original source: Canada Myths and Realities, Znet [fair use only] Canada Myths and Realities by Samir Hussain December 14, 2004 "The faceless beast has many faces. The most dangerous face is the one that comes with a smile." -James "OJ" Pitawanakwat [1] On November 30, 2004, there was a massive mobilisation to protest George W. Bush's presence in Ottawa. This event provided an insightful example of how varied (and oftentimes mutually exclusive) agendas can occasionally fall under one banner. Indeed, a veritable motley crew of interests were represented - anarchists, communists, anti-imperialists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists, John Kerry supporters, and Canadian nationalists, among others. Unfortunately, this did not translate into having any common understandings aside from a shared opposition to, and disdain for, George W. Bush. Personally, organising as an Indigenous solidarity activist with sharp critiques of the Canadian state, I found the fervent Canadian nationalism/patriotism that reared its ugly head on several occasions to be quite unsettling. In one of the more violent confrontations with the police around the Fine Arts Museum - the police were using pepper spray and batons to beat down protestors trying to push back the barricades -, a disturbing rendition of Canada's national anthem was initiated by a few people in the crowd and soon spread like wildfire. These protestors belted out the tunes of O Canada, while some even simultaneously placed their hands over their hearts evoking their "true patriot love". Presumably, the intent was to impute "Canadian-ness" to the protestors, implying that the police were behaving in a "non-Canadian" manner. The irony, of course, is that many on the front lines battling against the police have little sympathy for the Canadian state (or its police forces), as it is this state which has consistently sought to marginalise and criminalise their dissent. The fundamental question, though, is why people use Canadian patriotism as a protective cloak from American patriotism. Do they not see that while the colours may be different, the fabric remains essentially the same? While filmmaker Michael Moore shamelessly places Canada (and Canadians) on a pedestal without any real merit, why is it that Canadians feel so smug and self-righteous without a closer inspection of what "being Canadian" means? Meanwhile, perhaps the professed intent of American citizens to immigrate to Canada following Bush' s re-election should alert us to the reality that "democratic" nation-states founded on the holocaust of Aboriginal peoples, the theft of land and the use of slavery cannot escape their ignoble roots. The unmasking of the United States' fascist tendencies have become obvious with the ascension to power of the Bush regime, complete with its right-wing fanaticism and Christian-fundamentalist agenda. Canadians would do well to avoid basking in the glory of self-adulation and become more vigilant in confronting the intensification of the attack on civil liberties here in Canada (particularly for the most targeted and vulnerable groups: the poor and working class, Aboriginal people, "ethnic minorities"). Did those fervently singing the national anthem not recognise how insensitive and offensive they were being to those who have suffered, and continue to suffer, as a result of Canadian policies? Would they have been as keen on their singing if, for example, they were standing beside an Aboriginal person or a refugee awaiting deportation? Perhaps they would argue that while Canada has its share of problems, at least it is not as bad as the United States. Down south, it may be argued, they treat "their" Indigenous and refugee populations much worse than we treat "ours" here. I rebut the argument that simply "being better" than the United States of America (or "American citizens") is hardly a cause for celebration - indeed, this is not a difficult achievement. In fact, if we measure how peaceful and just a given society is by using the United States as a yardstick, our moral compass is in need of significant retuning. Many patriotic Canadians continue to pride themselves on how Canada did not get involved in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This myth persists despite the fact that Canada's contributions to the military effort in Iraq are quite well-established. Canada sent troops to Afghanistan to free up American forces for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Canadian ships were known to have been escorting American aircraft carriers from which American warplanes conducted their aerial bombing missions. Canadian military planners were sent to the United States Central Command (USCENTCOMM) at the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida over a month before the eventual invasion and occupation of Iraq; Canadian military planners were then sent to CENTCOMM's headquarters in Qatar, where the on-going occupation of Iraq was orchestrated. Canada has allowed use of its ports in Newfoundland to permit American planes to refuel en route to the Middle East. Finally, Canadian companies have made great financial gains in supplying the United States with weapons and military equipment.[2] Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley called the U.S. policy which initially banned Canadian companies from contracts to "re-build" Iraq (after the " Coalition of the Willing" re- destroyed it) "shocking" and "unacceptable."[3] For a country whose stated official position was that of not being involved in the Anglo-American- led invasion and occupation of Iraq, Canada has sure kept busy "not helping" the United States. Yet, many Canadians still impute Canada with moral rectitude which it clearly does not deserve. Canadians often pride themselves on how different Canada is from the United States of America. But, on a fundamental level it shares much more than is commonly admitted. Both are avowedly colonialist, capitalist nation-states, with white- European and Christian origins. They were both built on the blood, sweat and tears of people (mostly non-white), the overwhelming majority of whom were not allowed to share in the wealth which a select few from the white elite have accumulated over time. Slavery was practised in both countries with varying intensity at various periods. While the United States has been the overt imperialist over the past century-and-a-half, Canada has lent its support to such endeavours; aside for its complicity in crimes in Iraq, it has been (or is currently) involved in Vietnam, Indonesia/East Timor, Afghanistan, Haiti, and Israel-Palestine, among others.[4] They have both employed immigration policies that primarily allow entry to immigrants and refugees from the South in order to meet specific needs in the labour market and/or to compensate for an otherwise slow population growth. Both governments are fraught with overwhelming conflicts of interests which favour corporate rule over public good. Finally, and perhaps of greatest importance, is the colonial history and holocaust of Indigenous peoples that characterises both these nation- states. Indeed, after originating from such shameful origins, it would in fact be a surprise if Canada had managed to truly distinguish itself from the United States on issues that actually matter. Injustices: Past and Present - the Canadian colonial reality Canadians perceive the realities of Indigenous peoples and communities in a very fragmented way. A common perception is that while there were grave injustices done to Aboriginal peoples in the past, things are somehow different now. At what point in history this disjunction occurs (i.e. what separates "then" and "now") remains elusive. The important task, then, is to show how the current relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state is not a novel one based on principles of justice and mutual respect, as most Canadians would like to believe, but rather an evolution of the same exploitative and oppressive relationship which have characterised Canadian-Indigenous relations from the start. In fact, the only difference now may be that instead of justifying theft and murder by arguing Aboriginal people are an inferior race explicitly (i. e. Social Darwinism with a little bit of White Man's Burden mixed in), Canada uses more covert means to achieve the same ends. This is not to suggest that potent vestiges of Social Darwinism are no longer with us today. On the contrary, the Canadian mindset is framed - through the collusion of governmental policies, corporate interests and biased media spins - by constant bombardment of images depicting racist stereotypes of Aboriginal peoples. Through an exaggerated and/or unsympathetic emphasis on poverty, corruption, violence, suicidality, substance abuse, etc. in Aboriginal communities, the implied message remains the same: Aboriginal people are not fit to govern themselves. Repeatedly neglected in contextualising these matters is explaining, for example, how the Canadian state imposed (through the enactment of the Indian Act) a foreign system of governance on peoples that were previously highly democratic, or exploring the genocidal legacy of the Church-run residential school system under the auspices of the Canadian state, from 1879 until 1986.[5] Also consistently neglected are the cause-effect relationships of pervasive racism and poverty faced by, and the low-intensity warfare waged against, Aboriginal communities. The caveat to all of these omissions is the manner in which self-proclaimed progressives actually acknowledge these realities, but do so to undermine Aboriginal self- determination by implying that Aboriginal people are still "healing" from these past injustices, and thus are not yet "fit" to govern themselves. Meanwhile, communities which are actively fighting colonisation, asserting their autonomy and exercising their right to self-determination are usually ignored, unless they appear in the media at a time when a direct confrontation with the state is occurring. In fact, Andy Mitchell, the previous Minister of Indian Affairs, was once provided with briefing notes (obtained by the Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act) which stated that "Aboriginal issues are traditionally a low priority for the Canadian public, unless the media forces public attention on them", intimating that the media should avoid reporting on Aboriginal issues for fear that the Canadian public start sympathising with them.[6] The threat of a good example would be particularly dangerous for the Canadian state, given how many Indigenous communities reside within its colonial borders. Ultimately, however, the net result is the same: Aboriginal people are still regarded as inferior, de facto, while the Canadian state (and therefore the Canadian people) continues to benefit from the expropriation and exploitation of their lands, whether it is for fishing, hunting, tree logging, mining or oil drilling. The legislative paper trail, from the Indian Act through to the First Nations Governance Act (which was recently "defeated") belies the Canadian state's professed goodwill in dealing with Indigenous peoples in Canada. [7] For those unconvinced, there are several recent examples which demonstrate the real agenda of the Canadian state to suppress any signs of Aboriginal autonomy and self-determination. The perpetual low- intensity warfare against Aboriginal peoples notwithstanding, the "Oka Crisis/Siege of Kanesatake" (1990), the "Ipperwash Crisis" (1995), the "Battle of Gustafsen Lake/Gustafsen Lake Crisis" (1995), and the confrontation at BurntChurch (2000) all reveal the violent reaction of the Canadian state and its provinces to Indigenous self-determination. Provincial and federal police forces, plus or minus the Canadian military, have been deployed in all the above confrontations. Some argue that it is only "conservative" Canadian politicians that have engaged in such operations. The implication being that such politicians do not represent the "true" spirit of Canada. The reality, however, is that when it comes to Aboriginal issues, there are no distinctions based on the political party. These instances do illustrate Canada's "true" spirit. The New Democratic Party (NDP) - Canada's "progressive" political party - was in power in British Columbia when it colluded with the Liberal Canadian government to send the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and military to Gustafsen Lake, " involving the largest mobilization of government fighting forces in resource-rich western Canada since the crushing of the Me'tis resistance movement led by Louis Riel in 1885."[8] History, it seems, continues to repeat itself. Progressive politics may be better tolerated in Canada versus the United States, but what is clear is that all bets are off when it comes to applying Canada's standards of justice in its dealings with Aboriginal peoples. Specifically with respect to the RCMP, they continue to fulfil the task for which they were initially created. Addressing the mythology surrounding Canadian national identity, scholar Eva Mackey suggests that the "formation of the North-west Mounted Police in 1873, to act as a quasi-military agent of the government in Western Canada, is one of the most romanticised events in Canadian popular history."[9] As Gabriella Pedicelli cites: "The NWMP was used to seize resource-rich Me'tis land and transfer control and effective ownership to the federal government. This semi-military police force was created to control Me'tis resistance as well as potential native allies farther west who also revolted against the forceable take-over of their land by the Canadian government. The federal government feared a war waged by the Me'tis and natives against white settlers. The belief was that the NWMP would civilize the wild, barbaric, heathen Indians. The mission was violently and enthusiastically carried out by its racist officers."[10] The Canadian/provincial response in the above-mentioned conflicts, and the many which go unmentioned here (Skwekwekwelt, Cheam, Grassy Narrows, Kahnawake, Six Nations, etc.) express the Canadian state's fear that Aboriginal people will start reclaiming land that is rightfully theirs, land that was not ceded nor surrendered. Even in cases where it was ceded or surrendered, it may be convincingly argued that this occurred under situations of duress, thereby severely imperilling Canadian land claims to Aboriginal territories. The Canadian government and its corporate puppet-masters naturally feel threatened by forceful demonstrations of sovereignty, for the two mutually reinforcing entities stand to lose out on the spoils from exploitation of these lands. Even after transplanting entire nations and relegating them to grossly inadequate tracts of land, these prospectors continue to smack their lips at the potential of any profit that can be made from what the Canadian government now realises to be " resource-rich" lands. Revolution is based on land The 1990 resistance in Kanesatake was to oppose a planned expansion of a golf course by the neighbouring town of Oka onto Mohawk burial grounds. The Ipperwash Crisis, where Dudley George was killed by Ontario Provincial Police, came about after several Stoney Point Indigenous peoples initiated a peaceful protest to reclaim traditional burial grounds. The Battle of Gustafsen Lake/Gustafsen Lake Crisis was a standoff in which the Ts' Peten Defenders were asserting their right to observe their Sundance ceremony on "disputed" land, land which was traditionally theirs, and had never been ceded nor surrendered.[11] The conflict at BurntChurch stemmed from the active defence of traditional fishing rights by Mik'maq people. The lesson is that protecting burial grounds, safeguarding ceremonial territories and asserting rights to ensure one's livelihood threaten the Canadian state. Land, especially reclaiming land obtained by theft, is one of the corn erstones of Aboriginal self-determination. El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (a.k.a. Malcolm X) stated: "Revolution is based on land. Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality."[12] It seems that the Canadian state and its corporate allies are well aware of this reality, and have acted accordingly. Extradition cases It should be noted that Canada's mistreatment of Indigenous peoples is not restricted to those residing within its colonial borders. The Canadian state is only too happy to comply with the American government in its own war against Indigenous peoples residing within the colonial borders of the United States. In 1876, the Hunkpapa leader, Tatanka Yotanka (a.k.a. Sitting Bull), was one of the fighters in the victorious resistance to an American offensive, later to become known as the Battle of Little Big Horn. During this battle, General George Custer was killed and his forces defeated. The American military's predictable response was to seek revenge by finding the leaders and fighters of the heroic resistance while simultaneously engaging in violent collective retribution against Indigenous peoples, of which those from the Sioux nation were most obviously targeted. By the spring of 1877, Tatanka Yotanka, along with many others (some suggest that they numbered in the thousands), had escaped to Canada and settled in the plains of Saskatchewan. Canada did not technically extradite Tatanka Yotanka, but it was hopeful that he (and those with him) would leave of his own accord when the RCMP provided an escort for General Alfred Terry from the United States' War Department. Terry came to Fort Walsh to persuade Tatanka Yotanka to return to the Great Sioux Reservation. When the latter declined, RCMP Commissioner James MacLeod addressed him accordingly: "You can expect nothing whatsoever from the Queen's government except protection so long as you behave yourselves." That the Canadian government commissioned RCMP officers to monitor Tatanka Yotanka's activities speaks volumes as to the type of " protection" it afforded him. Ultimately, Canada's withholding of any form of aid, including food and clothing for the bitter winters, forced Tatanka Yotanka, along with 186 others who were with him, to return to the United States in 1881.[13] More recently, the Canadian government extradited Leonard Peltier, an organiser with the American Indian Movement (AIM), from British Columbia to the United States in December of 1976. In what has become one of the most contentious cases in American legal history, Peltier was subsequently convicted and is serving consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary for the murder of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents following the 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee, in South Dakota. To this day, Peltier maintains his innocence while the American legal system continues to deny him a re-trial despite public support and pressure. Moreover, over two decades later, and despite significant public outcry forcing an investigation into the extradition hearings, Canada maintains its action as righteous and lawful. Despite evidence in the case suggesting otherwise, then-Canadian Justice Minister, Anne McLellan, had this to say in an October 1999 letter addressed to then-U.S. Attorney General, Janet Reno: "There is no evidence that has come to light since then that would justify a conclusion that the decisions of the Canadian courts and the Minister should be interfered with."[14] At the present time, courts in British Columbia are presiding over the extradition of John Graham, a former AIM member, to South Dakota. There, he is to stand trial for the murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, an AIM member who was involved in actions that took place on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the 1970's. A Mi'kmaq woman from the Shubenacadie reserve in Nova Scotia, she was a strong and long-time activist, regarding herself proudly as a "female warrior. "[15] Her radical politics, intelligence and energy predictably garnered the attention of the FBI. In a recent message from prison, Leonard Peltier states that the "FBI told Anna Mae that they would see her dead within a year if she did not cooperate with them, used their puppets to spread rumors that Annie Mae was an informant when she refused to cooperate, and mishandled the investigation of her death."[16] Justice must be served for the murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, but it is clear (if history were to serve as a guide) that this cannot come through the Canadian or American legal systems. This is particularly true in the present situation given the FBI's desire to exculpate itself by diverting attention from its own involvement in her murder.[17] Meanwhile, it is worthy to note that a recent extradition trial in the US gave rise to an unexpected (and arguably encouraging) result. In November 2000, Judge Janice Stewart overruled the US State Department and refused the extradition of James Pitawanakwat to British Columbia, where he would likely face political persecution at the hands of the Canadian government for his involvement in the Battle of Gustafsen Lake. Thus, for the "first time in legal history of Canada-US relations, a US judge invoked the legal authority of the political offences exception in Article 4 of the Extradition Treaty."[18] It is lamentable that the United States, and not Canada, was the one to set such a precedent. The Canadian facade of multiculturalism and tolerance Despite all this, many Canadians still regard Canada as a great country, with perhaps only historical blemishes when it comes to its treatment of Aboriginal people. Of course, to many others, such an assertion remains quite dubious. When it comes to immigrants and refugees, for example, Canada is quick to exploit its reputation as being a haven for human rights in welcoming people from other countries. Any serious study of immigration policy in Canada (much as in the United States), however, reveals that benevolence has not been the motivating factor for allowing people to enter the country. Rather, migrants are typically permitted entry into Canada for very specific tasks, ranging from domestic labour, to farming, to factory work, to building the railway, to technocratic- professional positions. In particular, the refugee claimant population has always been a pliable labour pool, bestowing employers with two mechanisms through which to exert power and subordinate their workers: by preying upon refugee claimants' precarious financial situations and by threatening to sabotage their claims for refugee status and eventual citizenship should they assert their rights to obtain dignified wages, working conditions and benefit plans. Occasionally, history offers cases that eloquently display the underlying white-supremacist and racist tendency which permeates the Canadian landscape. While usually pontificating about its "tolerance" and "multiculturalism", Canada shows its true colours suggesting otherwise in times of duress. This is perhaps best exemplified with the deplorable internment of Japanese Canadians into makeshift concentration camps during World War II, while (white) Germanic Germans were left untouched.[19] In the post-9/11 atmosphere, meanwhile, similar events are recurring, with the specific targeting of Muslim, South Asian and Arab men, many of whom are being surveilled and detained without justification. The recent high-profile cases of Maher Arar, Adil Charkoui and Mohamed Cherfi,[20] effectively expose the Canadian state's fundamentally racist and intolerant policies towards recently-arrived migrants, regardless of citizenship (Arar has been a Canadian citizen since 1991). In response to Cherfi's active role as a community organiser in Montreal, the Canadian state sent a clear message to all recent immigrants and refugees who dare to speak up and/or organise for the protection of their rights: You are not welcome here. Admittedly, public outcry has likely had some effect (Arar was eventually returned to Canada, but not after months of torture in a Syrian prison; meanwhile, several Muslim men, including Charkaoui, remain in detention in Canada for bogus "security" reasons and Cherfi is still in a US detention centre despite much mobilisation [21]). Yet, most Canadians continue to see such actions taken by the Canadian state as being somehow aberrant from its "natural" proclivities. For those dissenters the Canadian state cannot deport, meanwhile, it targets them through constant surveillance and via individual and mass arrests at demonstrations. As a result of legal fees, bail conditions, and being mired within the court system in general, these individuals are prevented from continuing with their important work as community organisers. The great myth of Canadian tolerance and multiculturalism is promulgated through the theatrical celebration of the 3 C's of being an "ethnic minority" in Canada - costume, culinary, and customs. So long as the underlying values (white-supremacist, elite, capitalist, patriarchal, heterosexist, ableist) of this society are not questioned, let alone challenged, the great Canadian myth is allowed to persist, unfettered and unchecked. In the face of this professed tolerance and multiculturalism, Black people in Canada continue to be removed from the historical and cultural landscape. They do appear as a blip on the radar screen when they are used to display Canada' s role in facilitating their escape from American slavery through the Underground Railway. Conveniently omitted from such histories, however, is the fact that Canadian luminaries like James McGill (of McGill University fame) owned slaves, both Black and Aboriginal.[22] As Dionne Brand and Krisantha Sri Bhaggiyadatta suggest, "While it takes less than one generation for a white immigrant to become Canadian, two centuries of Black settlement is still not incorporated into the image of Canada."[23] The last several decades have seen a significant migration of Black people from the West Indies as well as from sub-Saharan Africa. Black people who have either recently arrived to Canada or those who can trace their ancestry back many generations within Canada can readily attest to the systemic and institutional racism that characterises Canadian society. This is not a difficult task for it is a reality felt in everyday life, whether at school, in the playground, at work or in the community. Police brutality against the Black population serves as a strong surrogate marker of the systemic racism they have to face on a daily basis. The murders of Anthony Griffin (an unarmed black man shot in the head after complying with an officer's order to halt while attempting to flee in Montreal in 1987) and Marcellus Francois (an unarmed black man shot in the head by the Montreal police' s Tactical Squad while sitting in his car in a flagrant case of mistaken identity in 1991) caused significant outcry, yet remain an all-too-frequent occurrence in Canada.[24] This is lamentably only the tip of the iceberg of a pervasive brutality faced by Black communities across the country. Black communities (and other ghettoised communities) in Canada are targeted in ways which are comparable only to police harassment and repression faced by Aboriginal people. Meanwhile, police forces across the country consistently harass, abuse and brutalise homeless people (e.g. the brutal September 5, 1999 beating of Jean-Pierre Lizotte at the hands of Montreal police outside of Shed Cafe'; the "poet of Bordeaux", as he was affectionately known, ultimately died of complications from his beating a month later), mentally ill individuals (e.g. Albert Moses was a mentally unstable man who was shot in the head on September 30, 1994 by Toronto police for allegedly attacking a plainclothes police officer with a hammer), as well as members of racial and ethnic minorities already mentioned.[25] It remains instructive that in the overwhelming majority of these cases, the police officers involved in these murders were rarely investigated or disciplined; if they were, most were soon exonerated and often reinstated into their respective, or another, police force. None, to my knowledge, served significant (if any) prison terms. As Pedicelli suggests in her important work, When Police Kill, the "police are more prone to use force when dealing with visible minorities and the poor."[26] There should be no distinction made between a given police force and the provincial/federal superstructures which give it life; the police force is a public institution, and therefore reflects the state on whose behalf it acts. Challenging the Canadian myth The spin doctors shaping public opinion promulgate the lie that Canada was/is not involved in the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. What's worse is that, to this day, many Canadians have accepted this bait hook, line and sinker. If a state is so obviously deceitful with its own population (and Canadian history is replete with such examples), it absolves Canadians from any burden of loyalty they may feel towards it. The argument being advanced here is that only upon extricating ourselves from the myth which holds Canada as a beacon of light amidst a sea of immorality will we be able to critically analyse its intentions and actions. People should not feel a sense of indebtedness to Canada simply because they were allowed to immigrate here, were granted citizenship here, or happened to be born here. Admittedly, there are freedoms in Canada which do not exist in other countries. However, this should not be used to excuse the excesses and transgressions of the Canadian state, of which there are many. There is no reason to be an apologist for a state that continues to implement policies which harm people who reside both within and outside of Canada. Indeed, through its various involvements (as a military arms supplier, through the support of transnational corporations, etc.), Canada has had a significant hand to play in the imperialistic exploitation and disempowerment of people in other countries, often creating the very atmosphere which fosters cycles of despair leading to forced displacement and eventual immigration. That people wish to settle here as a result should not be regarded as a privilege for them, but rather as the responsibility of the Canadian state for having uprooted many of them in the first place. Further, by forcing migrants to accept the " model minority" hypothesis, Canada successfully prevents any tangible links of understanding or struggle to be forged between non-white migrants and Indigenous peoples.[27] Meanwhile, Canada's on-going attack on youth and the elderly, as well as the poor and the working class are important to analyse if one is to gain an appreciation of how Canada's "domestic" policies contrast sharply with its unsubstantiated international reputation as a broker of peace and justice abroad.[28] Many would like to believe (much as they do in the United States when evoking the notion that the Constitution was a pure and utopian tract) that Canada is "lost", as though it has fallen from grace. This is clearly not the case. Canada's existence has always been, and continues to be, predicated on the exploitation of marginalised and oppressed populations. Whenever these populations have risen up to fight for their rights, they have been met with swift and violent repression by the Canadian state. Amidst these acts of Canadian tyranny, however, history is punctuated by victories of people's movements. We should be responsible to those who have struggled and fought courageously before us to allow us the freedoms we presently enjoy. This responsibility can only be fulfilled if we, too, recognise that we will have to fight tooth and nail so that we, our children and children's children may live in a world where freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. This recognition necessarily requires that Canadians confront the state in its on-going meddling and intrusion in the affairs of Indigenous peoples. Aside for paying necessary reparations, the Canadian state must cease and desist from any interference with the lives of Indigenous peoples. At the very least, Canada has to respect its treaties with Indigenous nations and peoples. Even among radical activists critical of the Canadian state, foreign (imperialist) policy is often attacked vociferously while Canadian involvement in Aboriginal affairs is glossed over or simply paid lip service in order to convey a "thorough " and "legitimate" anti-imperialist/anti-colonialist analysis. As "Canadians ", we have a responsibility to tangibly support Indigenous struggles by forging links of solidarity while simultaneously opposing the Canadian state's on-going exploitation of Aboriginal peoples. We must view our "solidarity as logical, natural and necessary, given our position within the `belly of the beast' . In concretely targeting the roots of injustice here, we oppose injustice everywhere."[29] There is no pristine Canadian past which exists to be reclaimed. This is a figment of people's imagination. It is a myth conveniently used to alleviate the guilt which continuously grows in the Canadian collective psyche so long as Canadians freeload on the work of others, past and present. It is high time that those of us residing in Canada exorcise this false past and start taking responsibility for our present and future. I would like to acknowledge the support and insightful criticisms provided by Devin Butler Burke and Shelly (both from the IPSM collective in Montreal) in the writing of this article. The responsibility for any omissions and/or errors, however, remains my own. Samir is an organiser with the Montreal-based Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement. He is trained as a medical doctor, specialising in the field of children's health. He can be reached at samirhussain006@yahoo.ca. Endnotes 1. "James Pitawanakwat's Statement to the Court." The Gustafsen Lake Crisis: Statements from the Ts'Peten Defenders. Kersplebedeb Distribution: Montreal, 2001, p.35. (Originally published by the Anarchist Black Cross Federation in collaboration with Settlers in Support of Indigenous Sovereignty) 2. http://coat.ncf.ca/articles/links/canada_s_secret_contribution.htm. Also see Stephen Kerr, "Meet Canada, the Global Arms Dealer" June 3, 2003. En Camino. 3. http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/10/iraqcontracts_031210 4. Podur, Justin. "Canada For Anti-Imperialists" (Parts 1 and 2). ZNet. July 3, 2004. https://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID= 11&ItemID=5817 5. Milloy, John S. A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879-1986. University of Manitoba Press: Winnipeg, 1999. Note that "Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" falls under Article IIe of the United Nations' Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. More specifically on the latter, see: Chrisjohn, Roland, Pierre Loiselle, Lisa Nussey, Andrea Smith and Tara Sullivan. " Darkness Visible: Canada's War Against Indigenous Children". Peacemedia, Special Report. Quebec Public Interest Research Group, McGill University: Montreal,