A lot of Canadians expressed support when American First Nations protesters tried to block the Keystone XL pipeline at Standing Rock in rural North Dakota.
It's Canadian First Nations who are now leading the resistance to the threats posed by pipeline projects supported by both provincial and federal governments.
It's probably time we stood with them, showed a little solidarity.
First Nation protesters have come out in Ontario to block the railway lines between Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. In Winnipeg yesterday local First Nations shut down Portage Avenue in front of the RCMP headquarters.
Sadly, most Canadians support many out of country injustices( as do others).
ReplyDeleteThis also applies to most countries populace when commenting upon 'foreign' injustices.
Perhaps we, Canadians, are reaping the harvest of our complacency ,arrogance and denial to honestly confront First Nations land claims and acceptance that they are actually real nations that have been subjected to foreign rule.!
We the, generally, white populous have have caused confusion within the aboriginal community by sowing division within first nations by divide and conquer.
The pipe line debacle will ,possibly be resolved by giving it too or offloading to first nations as a settlement!
TB
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ReplyDeleteWell, TB, we gave them plague blankets last time. Only I doubt they would want Trudeau's Folly now that the real costs are surfacing.
What about the 20 bands that signed on to this project?
ReplyDeleteWhat about them?
ReplyDelete*sighs* The fact they want this project to go forward?
DeleteHere, Anon.
ReplyDelete"But what about the 20 First Nations that have signed on to the project, you might ask?
Yes, they signed and the negotiations were colonial. It was sign or get nothing. Many nations signed under severe constraints. Nor were they presented with economic alternatives.
"As legal scholar and expert in Indigenous rights Dayna Scott has noted, Indigenous leaders are faced with a “false choice. They’re being asked to choose whether or not they want to sign a deal and get some benefits for their people for a pipeline that’s going to go through whether or not they agree to it.”'
Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee.
Sigh.