🚀 go-pugleaf

"Stephen Eggleston" <seggleston@shaw.ca> wrote 

> {SE} Another wonderful example of Deilly's brilliant dialogue.  I am sure he
> refers to a redneck Albertan there, 

No - just an inbred hillbilly of undetermined location

> {SE} More substantively, 9000 years is the basis of Aboriginal claims to
> inherent rights.  

9000 years had nothing to do with it.
British law recognized whichever "tribes" occupied the land at trhe
time of contact as "possessing" that land, and said that this
"possession" remained intact until it was relinquished in a treaty
with the British Crown.  (As an aside, most historians agree that the
motive here was not based on respect for the "tribes," but to prevent
anyone else (e.g. the Hudson's Bay Company) from doing side deals.)


> The British clown (or is that crown?) failed to negotiate
> settlements in some parts of the country and that is why we are where we are
> at here in BC.  Land claims generally aren't an issue in other parts of the
> country, because treaties were signed (irregardless of whether the First
> Nations knew what they were doing) and the British law stands in this
> country.
> 
> {SE} That our First Nations are destroying what is left of them through
> alcoholism, drugs, glue, whatever, is something we should all care about.
> They are people too, eh?  Try showing some humanity -- even the lower beasts
> show compassion for those who suffer ("human refuse" -- a wonderful way to
> characterize a million people in our country -- bloody redneck! -- do you
> actually know what that refers to you poor example of humankind?!).  

Exactly - and then you take ME to task for stereotyping him as an
inbred ignoramus.

> Are
> they to blame for their situation?  Hmmm... Partly, maybe.  Is the
> government to blame.  Definitely.  Are we (all of us, collectively) to
> blame? Definitely (we are all accomplices, no less than the guy who drives
> the get-away car).  Are we going to find a solution that doesn't involve
> some sort of really significant compensation, long term support, etc...?
> Not likely.
> 
> {SE} Get real. It is an issue.  What do you suggest to address it?

Negotiate treaties that bootstrap them into the mainstream economy,
while recognizing that they need to overcome a toxic spiritual legacy
as a result of eight generations of having the shit kicked out of
them.