rickc rickc:
A few months ago (before Kamloops) I could see courts siding with oil companies over First Nations/ Native Americans when it came to placement of pipelines, but not now. This story is just getting started unfortunately. They have not even begun to look at the residential schools in the states yet. Every school that gets examined is probably going to result in a higher body count. The shame is growing exponentially. The whole world is watching now. As the world's disgust grows larger with each passing day, the North American powers that be are in no position to do anything that would appear as to take a position that is detrimental to the First Nation/ Native American cause. For the first time in hundreds of years the First Nations/Native Americans are in the catbird seat. They have a real chance to get everything they need and or want. Everyone is on their side now. If they aren't, they damn well better pretend to be. Anyone standing in their way would be committing political suicide.
Any Native group advocating for violence would be the worst thing that they could do now. With the whole world on their side, why risk losing that support? Why give some politicians the break that they are looking for? Cooler heads need to prevail.
The link is dead now, but I remember that at the Iroquois solidarity blockades of the railroad tracks in Ontario last year some of the blockers posted to Facebook reproaching their fellows for endangering civilians, possibly causing a train crash, or something like that. This wasn't just a text post, but an actual video.
At other blockades, I've read about how mining opponents in the Val D'Or area in Quebec make a point of not stopping your average Jean from going to work, and the 1492 Land Back Lane blockers having a policy of letting regular commuters and emergency vehicles through. There are Idle No More events planned in several cities on Canada Day, but they were mentioned as being peaceful and will probably be like the MMIWG marches a few years ago or the original Idle No More gatherings from 2012.
Take those reports with as many shakers of salt as you want, since I got them from leftist/Indigenous sources, but they might at least be hopeful signs. Even at standoffs like Oka and Ipperwash, wasn't it the police and military that started the violence, rather than the Native protesters?
Honestly, I'm having trouble thinking of any Indigenous activists that are advocating actual violence. Even the ones that adamantly deny they're Canadian are bitchslapping the rest of us in print and video rather than doing anything physical. They're saying we might be able to build a newer Canadian identity, one that actually lives up to its bright, shiny image, or
challenging us to actually live up to our lofty claims and support their efforts to lobby Ottawa and the provinces.
Maybe I'm wrong-I avoid Twitter like the plague now, have never been on Tumblr and I generally stick to what I'm familiar with on Facebook-but the only people I've seen advocating large-scale violence are ethnic fakers like Ward Churchill (passed himself off as Native) and Jessica Krug (passed herself off as Hispanic) but are really self-hating white people, the kind of white self-proclaimed 'allies' who accuse minorities who disagree with them of suffering from 'internalized racism'.
We're ultimately going to have to open up the Constitution to address the biggest issues Native people are facing, but there's a ton of things the governments could do without touching it. Update the funding formulas for reserve infrastructure so there's enough money to actually maintain their houses and waterworks. Stop taking Native kids into foster care. Obey the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal openings. Release any and all records they have related to residential schools. Reduce the red tape band councils have to put up with. Institute proper, steady funding for language relearning.
CKA Moderator 
Is it any wonder why so many died. Sick bastards that took part in this should be rotting in hell.
