Laugh Fest

Have you ever read the comments attached to articles addressing Aboriginal issues?

This one is a regular laugh fest, as are most of them. The article deals with Chuck Stahl's announcement about amendments to the Indian Act which will, supposedly end the gender inequality currently in the Act and the comments are just chock-full of Indian Industry talking points typed in hysterical mode with objections from those who haven't been smitten with that particular crippling ideology. Some samples for your delectation:

moi123: "Ironic that a law that treated men and women differently was struck down byt he supreme court.

The intent of the law?

The right to be treated differently."

Followed by:

4th Gen TO boy:"Let's hold off on the racist comments posters. This is a legal decision to give equal rights, based of discrimination of sex, guaranteed in agreements signed by Canada's government, as part of the negotiations for our current state of peace with our first nations."

So, 4th Gen TO boy thinks the Indian Act is an "agreement signed by Canada's government, as part of negotiations for our current state peace with our first nations." BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! TO boy, maybe you should get out of Toronto once in a while.

Then there's Habitant who sums up more than 400 years of history as:

"From the day Canada became a nation until 1960, they could not even have a say through a ballot to determine who will ‘’govern’’ them. Not only have Canadians (from colonialism to modern) been freeloading off the aboriginal people of Canada for more than 400 years, they have continually excluded them from the process and imposed rule at Canadian discretion."

Well, not quite, Habitant, although that's certainly what the Indian Industry would like you to believe. Good little groupie.

And here's another little convenient untruth written by SoapboxSaulteaux:

"The pass laws that a previous generations of my relatives experienced everyday was a form of apartheid. You know, those pass laws that the Dept of Indian Affairs used to keep Indians confined to reserves and which the South African govt used to implement their own system of apartheid? Oh, my apologies, you didn't know about that, did you? There's a surprise."

Nope. Sorry SoapboxSaulteaux, Canada never had a pass system equivalent to the one implemented in South Africa. Once again, the Indian Industry has taken liberties with the truth and twisted the meaning and intent of the Permit system, which, however reprehensible it may have been, was not equivalent to the South African pass law. You will find the permit system in early versions of the Indian Act, but you will not find anything akin to South Africa's pass system in any version of that Act. There was a pass system, but it was in the form of policy and practice, not in the legislation, as was the case in South Africa. Close, but no cigar. Nice try, though.

Soapbox Saulteaux goes on to say:

"That way, my impoverished relatives and community members would not be eeking out a living on land a mere postage stamp on the Prairies."

More Indian Industry bullshit. First of all, today there is nothing stopping a First Nations individual from living off-reserve wherever he or she might want to reside. On reserve, those First Nations who have not chosen to take themselves out of the provisions of the Indian Act, indeed have suffered impediments to economic development, but to suggest that the "mere postage stamp" size of lands reserved for Indians is the problem, I'm afraid not. Look at the population versus "area-of-land-base" ratio of some of the economic powerhouses in South East Asia, for example. Singapore or Hong Kong each have a population density of well over 6,000 people per square kilometre and GDPs in the hundreds of billions. (Look it up here.) All of the smallest countries in the world have populations magnitudes higher than the populations of any of Canada's Indian reserves, even if you include the off reserve population. There are multitudes of issues impeding economic growth on Canada's Indian reserves, but size of the land base is not one of them. But then again, there is an Indian Industry meme that has it that a significant landbase is all that is needed in order to have a viable economy.

Then there's LeighT:

"Aboriginal peoples were here for over TEN THOUSAND years before others.

Settlers stole their land, attempted to wipe out aboriginal cultures and peoples, and have continued to retreat from restitution.

The Harper government and provinces continue to deny rights to Aboriginal communities, and Harper continues to avoid signing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Instead Harper cuts required funding and forces First Nations to privatize assets, resources and services.

It's good that the courts have forced Harper to at least recognize Aboriginals.

The systemic racism in Canada is disgusting."

Hmmmmm. I wonder if LieghT has ever asked herself what else has happened on this planet in the intervening ten thousand years. This is the Indian Industry meme that basically says no one other than Europeans has ever expanded their territory and/or conquered/subsumed another culture. Bleh!!

But this is my favourite:

Tomvincent99: Geloso wrote: "Let's not change the Act. Let's get REAL and ABOLISH it."

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Trudeau tried that 4 decades ago. Guess who didn't want it?

Yup.

And how about GoldenEaglet @ 11:03 am: "Canada and the United States are the only two countries in the world with Indian Reservations. That is why they are so rich and powerful."

Well, even if the emphasis is on the word "Indian" GoldenEaglet would be wrong. There are lands reserved for indigenous peoples throughout South America, too. But if the emphasis is on the word "Reservations" the countries of North and South America are not the only ones with lands reserved for Aboriginal peoples. Consider Australia, New Zealand, Russia, India and many, many other locations.

I could go on and on and on, but if anyone wants to know my take on the whole Aboriginal Rights business, look here.