Sunday, January 13, 2013

Shorter Matthew Coon Come to Theresa Spence?

"Stop threatening my legitimacy."

I don't know much about the relationship between Grand Chiefs and the AFN and the heads of individual Bands and settlements, but I'm increasingly convinced that the AFN is very worried about Idle No More and Theresa Spence. She's embarrassed them into action, and their actions have taken the standard apparently Constitutional form.
He [Coon Come] explained that while the Canadian Constitution Act places executive powers in the Queen, in practice this power is exercised by the prime minister.
"The prime minister is not going to relinquish his executive powers to the Governor General. That's the reality," said Coon Come.
"I don't know who is advising her. I don't know who she has surrounded herself with," said Coon Come adding "but I think if one is to make statements, they have to be credible based on at least some facts, on some knowledge, and hopefully be able to compromise."
Compromise? Fail. First off, not with this Prime Minister. The same way the Royal Proclamation of 1763 inadvertantly acknowledged the rights of Indigenous peoples by acknowledging that they must be allied with the colonisers, sitting at the table with Harper acknoledges his authority as the arbiter of the Crown and Aboriginal relationship. This is the man behind two omnibus bills and the Attawapiskat third-party manager. This is Monsieur L'etat c'est moi, complete with photos and salutes. You DO NOT give this man Czechoslovakia. Diverting slightly from Dawg, having the Governor General in the room means having a higher (if only symbolically so) authority in the room than Harper.

Second, there is no compromise on the protection of waterways, coastlines, and natural resources. There is no compromise on the Northern Gateway or Tar Sands. There is no compromise on resource access in Indigenous territories. There is nothing to compromise about over the perpetuation of the appalling conditions in many Aboriginal communities.

We reverse course, with our very bodies if need be. Anything else is failure.

7 comments:

geoff said...

I agree with you Boris, the AFN is I suspect viewed now by younger aboriginals - in the Idle No More movement - as part of the overal institution structure which has proved ineffective over 40 or so years. I'm not sure Chief Spence is directly linked to the movement. I do note that not all Chiefs in the AFN meet with Harper et gang. If the grand free state to the south of us is any example I'd suspect Harper will shortly be ordering the Horsey types along with CSIS into action if he hasn't already to infiltrate and do the normally things expected of our lovely police and security types i.e. protect the existing status quo in any way needed.

double nickel said...

The Manitoba Chiefs have their shit together.Watch them.

Boris said...

Yeah, I'm ever since Oka really, the squirrely types have been watching and waiting for something like this to kick up. The smarter ones in there and in government would realise that you can't maintain such a state of affairs forever without SOMETHING happening. And well, the Manitoba Chiefs naturally have it together because, well, Manitoba.

double nickel said...

http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/01/12/dont-brush-off-grand-chief-derek-nepinak

Boris said...

Double nickel,

The author of that piece sounds like he's off his meds a little. A few factual errors, one being that the Queen is now understood as the Queen of Canada. That's why she's on the money. Take his message and shift it slightly, and you're looking at a situation where generations of Aboriginal people have been screwed by the Canadian state. In just about every other circumstance where this has occurred there has been an uprising. Northern Ireland, Kenya, Israel, and Egypt, Syria, you name it. It's absolutely understandable and almost predictable. It is up to governments to actively correct things or face the consequences.

double nickel said...

Boris, the point of the article is that this particular Chief is not the dumbass that some of his peers have been trying to make him out to be. He and others took a principles stand against meeting with Harper on Friday. Perhaps they were right.

Anonymous said...

I'm a simplistic aging opinionated white guy Canadian of distant potato Irish ancestry. Last time I looked from the flatlands near Lake Ontario, Canada was a staggeringly vast territory.. and my home and native land, along with being home to a whole of of other individuals and families and cultures.

What I feel when I see a Toronto born lard assed political asshole and his sanctimonious lying political stockholders and petroleum pimps use the Government of Canada as their personal ideological debit machine aint fit for print. I was born in Toronto too, and can't dream of pretending to speak for.. or steal from all Canadians.

The current problems of Canada aint caused by Chief Theresa Spence or her boyfriend. As far as I know they aren't trying to order 60 F-35's or build Asian military bases. Pick any Chief from any tribe and I bet he or she aint asking Chinese VLCC tankers to arrive in Kitimaat, blasting sonar at every marine creature. Find me a chief that has American and Canadian election robocallers on their speed dial.. or wants to see what I do on the Internet.

When any First Nations person speaks, I want to listen. Its not the First Nations that thinks its OK to eradicate the boreal caribou or wild salmon, expand the tar sands or frack the land, poison our water.. Its our Prime Minister, his Bay Street Minister of Resources and his zombie woof Minister of Environment and his missing Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.. And it would seem, their snouty friends, advisors or business associates and mysterious friends in China.

There's times I really truly wonder what kind of incriminating photographs someone must have of our political leaders that might explain their actions. I dunno .. maybe they have mad cow disease.. or are acting out some bizarre Monty Python Twit of The Year script ..