Teresa Spence

Where arrrree you?

Your community needs you or needs to replace you.

Attawapiskat resident reveals history of abuse

"While Attawapiskat has been thrust into the national spotlight because of a long-running housing problem, the attention is also exposing another major crisis in the impoverished community.

Jocelyn Iahtail, a former resident of Attawapiskat, is now coming forward with personal recollections of abuse.

Iahtail says the sexual abuse and incest is an epidemic that spans generations; a scourge that plagues the community in a way that is impossible to ignore any longer.

"The most frightening part is people know," Iahtail told CTV's Daniele Hamamdjian.

Iahtail says the abuse began when she was only four, and continued until she was 13. She says the abusers were people that she trusted, including relatives of some council members.

Iahtail says the abuse in communities like hers is cyclical and systemic.

Iahtail's mother, Mary Lou, says she was abused while attending residential schools and on the reserve, victimized by family and the clergy.

"My relatives, the priest, the nun's (sic) and the brothers," Mary Lou recalls.

Recalling her childhood, Iahtail also says the abuse affected every portion of her young life.

"I would become so overcome with nausea and vomiting. Just the simple act of brushing my teeth, because of the oral sex that I was forced to perform."

Iahtail and her mother decided to speak out this week because the pain continues to be pervasive in their community.

They say they also want to break the cycle of abuse that has scarred her and many others.

The scars on the community are obvious, Iahtail says: suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, gas sniffing and violence are mere symptoms. Indeed, while abuse may be less visible than squalid shacks and poor housing, it also insidious and destructive."

Victimology On Display

Have You Noticed...

...so called First Nations are only too happy to use technologies invented by the "Whiteman" to promote their hatred? Here's a case in point:

Sharing Our Cultures With The World

Just the very existence of a webpage is one such example. But look at the various features highlighted on this website. It uses photographs (a Whiteman's invention) and it highlights only events and leaders from the early 1800's up to the present, yet we are constantly reminded they have been here "since the world began".  And maps galore, all created by the evil Whiteman. And horses, that didn't exist in the Americas until the Spanish arrived. Not to mention E-books and mobile devices, and YouTube videos.

On the homepage they feature links to Amazon where they feature books and videos. Hmmmm. It's "mission statement" (another Whiteman's idea) is to "share our cultures", but what they "share" is an idealized version, devoid of many aspects of Aboriginal history and culture that doesn't advance the cause. For example, there is no mention of slavery among the Pacific Northwest cultures, nor of the near constant state of warfare between various tribes, nor of conquest of one tribe and it's territory, by another; not to mention of those politically incorrect subjects of scalping (see The Unkindest Cut, or Who Invented Scalping? by James Axtell, first published in the academic journal, William and Mary Quarterly in 1980) and torture, as practiced by the Iroquois nor of germ or chemical warfare (see Poison Arrows: Native American Indian Hunting and Warfare by David Jones, University of Texas Press, 2006).

There's a heavy focus on the myth of aboriginal stewardship of the environment. The spelling is atrocious (take a look at how they spell orchestrate on the home page, for example: "orcestrate" or "Artic" rather than ArCtic..)

All told the website is a poorly designed, barely navigable, mishmash of angry platitudes.

Two More...

...missing and murdered (?) women: Deadly Regina fire now a murder investigation

"The Regina Police Service (RPS) is looking for the two women who lived in a home that was the scene of a fire Sunday where a man's burned body was found inside."

[---]

"Later in the day, RPS put out a request to the public to find two women who lived in that house with Yacevich. Rosalyn Faye Wilm, 41, and Sarah Dawn Louisa Wilm, 22, haven't been seen since the day of the fire. The women's family is now concerned for their safety, and police aren't sure what role, if any, the women had in the fire or death.

Rosalyn Wilm is an aboriginal woman, 5'1" with a thin build, long straight brown and grey hair, brown eyes, and has some broken or missing lower teeth. Sarah Wilm is also an aboriginal woman with a medium build with long black hair and brown eyes."

[--]

"“They partied a lot. They drank a lot. A few weeks ago, police were called about six or seven times in one day to that house. So that’s just what they did was party,” said one man who gave the name Mike. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

Mike said there were often a lot of people going in and out of the house, including the day before it burned down.

“That day it happened—yeah, there was a lot of drinking going on,” he said."

Of course, this is the evil Whiteman's fault.

Look Out

I've been thinking, and that's always a dangerous thing. When you are very young and you're teeth fall out, you put them under the pillow and the Tooth Fairy comes and takes the teeth and leaves some money in their place. How come that doesn't happen when your teeth fall out in old age? This is ageism at it's worse.

Oh, My, My, My..,

...doesn't that have a familiar ring to it?

Manning Apologizes for Leaks

"His statement followed testimony by a military psychiatrist who said Manning suffers from a series of emotional problems including a gender identity disorder and symptoms of autism. The psychiatrist also said Manning suffered problems related to fetal alcohol syndrome resulting from his mother's heavy drinking while she was pregnant with him."

A virtual panoply of ready made excuses.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah!!!

Longtime fraudster to get sentencing circle

"A convicted fraudster with an incredibly hefty criminal history will get a chance to take part in a sentencing circle.

Irene Marlene Peepeetch, 55, has more than 300 convictions to her name spanning nearly four decades and recently pleaded guilty to 30 more fraud-related charges that span five years and four provinces.

Regina Provincial Court Judge Linton Smith has been looking for alternative ways to deal with the career criminal since years spent behind bars seem to have done nothing to curb the woman's activities.

Earlier this week, Smith asked the Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer involved in the case to look into the possibility of a sentencing circle. Crown prosecutor Lo-reley Berra returned to court Thursday to inform Smith that Sakimay First Nation is "very excited and very willing" to host the sentencing circle. Peepeetch's family is reportedly eager to participate.

"It seems to me that somebody who's struggled, not learning from European-based justice, should try something else," Smith responded on Thursday."

[---]

"The woman's record begins in 1973 and consists al-most entirely of fraud, theft, impersonation and other property-related offences. While Peepeetch has received jail sentences on most of her offences, the longest sentence she's received to date was three years.

The most recent offences - of which the court has yet to hear details - date from between 2002 and 2007 and occurred in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. Peepeetch is to be sentenced on 12 counts of fraud, 13 counts of using or possessing a forged document, one count of possessing or using a stolen or forged credit card and two counts each of forgery and identity fraud."

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.


Hundreds march in Regina against Bill C-45

"“I’m standing in solidarity with my people because I’m tired of the government’s imposition and governmental discrimination policies; I’m tired of it all. They try to determine what is best for us, we know what we want, we have our own policies, we know how to govern ourselves,” said Courtney McKay, 22."

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

"Of utmost concern for the protesters is changes to the Navigable Waters Act, the Fisheries Act and a separate private members bill that could repeal or significantly change the Indian Act.

“Bill C-45 is going to affect our water ways, and its going to destroy our land and our resources,” said McKay.

After walking 3 1/2 kilometres from 5th Avenue to the Legislative Building, First Nations leaders took to the steps to a roaring crowd of 400 chanting “idle no more.”

Glenn Pelletier, a Cowessess First Nation counsellor, denounced the Harper government for not consulting First Nations on any of the changes.

While drums were beating and the smell of burning sage surrounded the crowd, Michelle Rae McKay pointed out that 89 per cent of Canadian land is owned by the crown and First Nations have a right to that land. She said the country’s aboriginals are made up of sovereign nations and Canada has “no right” to tell them what to do.

Edmund Bellegarde, tribal chairperson for File Hill Qu’Appelle tribal council, echoed that sentiment in a scrum with reporters.

“Our inherent rights to self government has to be the end result,” he said.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Oh, Man...

...How could you not "just want to hug him". His story, if you believe it, which I do, is so inspiring, just like his voice:

'awkey

So. It looks like we may not have any NHL hockey this winter.

WHO THE HELL CARES!!!

Those hockey players make waaaaay too much money anyway. If they invest it wisely, by the time they become washed-up old goats - say at 35 or something - they could be sitting pretty for the rest of their lives.

Seriously, I'd far rather watch a bunch of kids playing shinny in the streets.

And Some Stories...

...make you want to laugh and cry at the same time:

The fight for the soul of the AFN

"In the traditional politics of grievance, standing up for treaty rights is done by “pushing back” against the federal and provincial governments. “We need to make them understand they have no legal jurisdiction on our land,” said Bill Erasmus, the candidate from NWT.

For native leaders, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 is the bedrock of all negotiations – a deal with the British Crown that guaranteed peaceful co-existence but, according to First Nations, did not see them give up land title."

It's quite obvious these folks have neither read the Royal Proclamation, nor do they know anything about the times in which it was issued. It was, as the name implies, an proclamation, an edict, written by a king in which he refers to the lands occupied by Indians are "Our" lands. That's "Our" in the royal "we" sense. It was an order issued by a dictator. It was not a "deal" worked out with inhabitants of the land. It was basically an order to the occupants of New England and the Thirteen Colonies to stay put and quit gobbling up lands that still belonged to the English Crown.

Sorry. Not even close and certainly no cigar.

Good Luck With That

Workfare for reserves: Tory plan ties benefits for aboriginals to job training

"The Harper government is planning a workfare program that would oblige young aboriginals on reserves to undertake job training in return for a welfare cheque."

This is just an old policy flipped on it's head. Many years ago, when I worked in Northern Saskatchewan, taking a post-secondary course at tax payers expense was just another way to live off the dole. Once the course was finished, none of the people I knew who took such courses entered the workforce or started their own businesses. They simply went back on regular old welfare.

"Ottawa wants to take young natives off welfare rolls before they become too used to receiving social assistance."

Too late for that. Welfare has become firmly entrenched on reserves. It started way back in the early post-WWII era. Young aboriginals today have been raised by people living on welfare, who in turn were raised on welfare and on and on back in time to the 1940s. When I taught school on an Indian reserve back in the mid-1970s, one of the old guys on the reserve used to tell me "Welfare spoiled the Indian." There's nothing new in this policy and it's waaaaay too late to be worried about aboriginal youth being unduly influenced by welfare.

"In the March budget, the Tories said they want to “better align on-reserve Income Assistance programs with provincial systems” in terms of compliance and program requirements. In provinces like Saskatchewan, income assistance is a program of last resort and requires able-bodied welfare recipients to look for work and take training courses when offered.

Yet, despite labour shortages across much of Western Canada, the number of aboriginals on income assistance remains stubbornly high.

Saskatchewan has an unemployment rate of 4.9%, yet 48.1% of natives on reserve are on income assistance. In Manitoba, which has an unemployment rate of 5.3%, half the on-reserve native population is on welfare.

There are pilot projects such as Active Measures in Saskatchewan — a tripartite initiative between First Nations and the federal and provincial governments — that aim to help people off income support by providing better access to career planning, literacy programs, training allowances, transport and child care."

Notice nothing is said about the dismal grade school attendance rate or the disproportionate rate of single teen motherhood, which are the cause of such problems to begin with. But, what the heck:

"Working with willing bands is crucial. While the feds are keen to introduce a degree of uniformity across the system, income assistance is actually distributed by First Nations to their band members.

The government would not confirm any such plan exists but sources suggest First Nations will be encouraged to sign up for the program, attracted by the enhanced funding, but will be encouraged to cut off welfare for those refuse to accept training."

There's money to be had, and where there's money to be had, there is where you will find Indian Chiefs stuffing it into their own pockets and a bleeding-heart justice system:

"The federal government’s ability to unilaterally make any major moves in the realm of aboriginal social policy is limited. A federal court judge in the Maritimes issued an injunction in April that will temporarily prevent Ottawa from reducing social assistance rates for First Nations.

The government wanted to align the rates for First Nations at provincial levels, which would have meant less money for recipients. The judge cited the absence of consultation with First Nations about the policy as the reason for the injunction."

I would say, it's high time we started looking at treaty provisions where breaking the law can be reason to consider the treaties null and void or, gasp, even promises made by Indians themselves that they did not want to be a burden in the future and were eager to learn how to live in the "Whiteman's" economy. Enough with exploiting our government's do-gooder mentality for all it's worth.

A Variation On The...

...Man Bites Dog theme:

California man arrested for biting pet python twice

So what was it? Cruelty to animals or self defense? The man claims he was drunk at the time, so that should get him off.  Oh wait!  This is not Canada.

Your Spoonful Of Laughter....

...to start the morning off right. More than one person has noticed bookstores were spared during the London riots. Here's some analysis of that strange phenomenon:

Maybe the Least Insightful Comment Thus Far on the British Riots

The laughs, as usual, are in the comments.

Riots In England

Root causes.

"Only two groups of people seem to be getting a kick out of the rioting in England.

Firstly the rioters themselves, the nihilistic urban youth who are getting cheap thrills from looting shops, bashing bus stops, and burning down houses. And secondly middle-class radicals, trustafarians who live off daddy's cash, who get a rush of political adrenalin whenever they see blacks burning stuff because it shows that "the oppressed are fighting back!"

These two sections of British society might look and sound very different from each other, with the former more likely to wear tracksuits and trainers and to speak in urban cockney slang, while the latter is usually decked out in skinny jeans and tortoise-shell glasses and speaks with an easy-to-spot "mockney" twang. But they share some important traits, helping to explain their weird meeting of minds over recent riotous behaviour.

Firstly, neither side contributes a great deal to everyday society, the rioters being largely unemployed or even unemployable youth, and their middle-class cheerleaders being either permanent students or professional campaigners. Secondly, both sides live off other people:"

[---]

"Modern-day rioting, of both the posh and poor varieties, is not motivated by a desire to exercise autonomy, by a striving to live independently and experimentally, but rather by a belief that one should always be looked after and cared for and cooed over. In our therapeutic, welfare-entrenched age, our era of Oprah-style victimology, it seems that youth on both sides of the track run the risk of conceiving of themselves as permanent victims of powerful forces."

You know. I'm beginning to think we're gonna be alright. The cult of victimology is being exposed for what it is and soundly beaten.

Does What Happens in Australia Eventually Come Here?

If so, hurry, please!

Australian police get power to 'unveil' women

"Police in New South Wales, Australia, have been given the authority to order Muslim women to remove their burqa, the traditional Muslim veil, for the sake of identification.
The decision of the Australian state government came late Monday out of the concern for identification of crime suspects..."

How 'bout them Aussies. They've still got their spine. I wish we could find ours again.

Only in Canada

A man who murders his two children and attempts to murder their mother gets three "life" sentences and will be eligible for parole in 18 years.

Hmmmm.

If I had my way, he'd be hanged at dawn.

Oh, but he was "depressed about his separation from his wife and the couple's pending divorce."

Bring back the death penalty for child killers, serial killers and mass murderers. It will make the rest of us safer. It's got nothing to do with deterrents or punishment.

Ever Heard of Theseus, Nicias or Phocion?

Me neither. Turns out they're ancient heroes from long, long ago Greece.

Why should we care? Well, we may soon have to come up with a list of heroes, or at least politically correct words, to replace some that are currently being used.

Further to this entry, here's a list of politically incorrect words which apparently are insulting:

US Military Is at War With Indigenous People: Not Just Geronimo, Tomahawk Missiles, Apache Helicopters — Using Any Native American Term Is Racist; Indian Activist Demands Apology

Do you suppose if we restrict ourselves to a list of swashbuckling heroes of European descent, we'd be accused of racism, too. I say we screw 'em and come up with that list and start using it. Let's allow Greek dudes to lead the charge:

15 Ancient Greek Heroes from Plutarch's Lives

And as any good white dude worth his salt knows, that's just the advance guard. They don't even teach about them in school any more. In the 2,500 years or so since then, there have been so many, and I for one, wouldn't be the least bit insulted if we resurrected their names and began to use them in ways that honour their heroism.

The Latest Non-Issue

...from one of the permanently aggrieved, wallowing-in-victimhood groups:

Osama Bin Laden Dead but Native-American Advocates Keep Anti-Stereotyping Message Alive

So. When are war heroes not war heroes?

Ans: When they can be pressed into service as victims.

I suspect old Geronimo may be rolling over in his grave. He'd likely prefer to be remembered for his heroism as a warrior than as a hapless victim/loser.

Quick!!

Stock up on chocolate bars. Prices are about to skyrocket.

Good thing Valentine's Day has already passed.

From the Science and Religion File

Saudi Arabia's war between god and archaeology

"For decades, Saudi Arabia's powerful clerics have waged a bitter battle against pagan faiths, idol worship, heresy, alcohol – and archaeology."

[---]

"News that David Kennedy, an Australian scholar, has succeeded in identifying almost 2,000 unexplored archaeological sites using Google Earth has focused attention on the wages of that battle: the destruction of Saudi Arabia's own heritage"

[---]

"The Kingdom's ultraconservative clerics believe that the veneration of ancient sites associated with the Prophet Mohammad and his family is heretical, and want potential shrines obliterated.

In October last year, a Saudi clerical body was reported to have renewed long-standing calls for the demolition of several historic Islamic sites – including the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the grave of his mother.

Fears that archaeology could cast light on Saudi Arabia's pre-Islamic past also led them to campaign against excavations."

[---]

"Najran, where an ancient Christian kingdom was overrun by the Jewish king Dhu Nawas a century before the Prophet Muhammad's birth in the 7th century CE, has yielded a treasure trove of ancient stone inscriptions.

There have also been significant finds at Jurash, overlooking the Red Sea, where US archaeologists have excavated new evidence on the trading routes which once ran across the region.

Prince Sultan Bin Salman, the first Saudi Arabian astronaut, played a key rule in easing up restrictions on archaeology, as head of the Kingdom's commission for tourism and antiquities.

Museums in the Kingdom have now begun displaying finds from these sites – including nudes of Hercules and Apollo, cast in bronze. Female figurines, however, are still not on display.

However, there still seem to be limits to the kingdom's tolerance of archaeology – particularly when issues of faith are touched on. Public access to an ancient church discovered by tourists in 1986, for example, is still barred."

Hmmmmm. Similar to certain issues faced by archaeologists in North America. How many times in the past thirty years have Aboriginal people claimed that certain sites should not be excavated, citing spiritual beliefs and customs as the reason, when in fact the real reason is that archaeologists might chance upon strong evidence that disproves their absurd claim that they were "put here by the creator". Funny how religious zealots get a pass provided they aren't of the Christian variety.