As I'm sure you know, there have been protests all over the country, in solidarity with the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation in northern B.C.
And while most of the protests have been noisy but peaceful.
Some have been ugly with people denied entrance to the places where they work.
Some protesters have acted like louts or bullies.@richardzussman a reporter for @GlobalBC gets in a heated confrontation with supporters. @VictoriaNews pic.twitter.com/WDHsUHxwoU— kendra crighton (@kendracrighton) February 11, 2020
And some have severely disrupted the lives of millions of Canadians...
Which has given the Con media an excuse to call it mob rule.
Canada is slowly turning from democracy to mobocracy, as the rule of law is tested from coast to coast.
From blocked intersections in downtown Toronto, to journalists and legislators being barred entry to the B.C. legislature; from an obstructed CN line affecting rail traffic out of the port of Prince Rupert, to the barricades impeding Via Rail’s service between Toronto and Montreal, Canada is slowly being choked into submission.
And blame Justin Trudeau, in an obvious attempt to try to make him look weak, at a time when he is out of the country.
The loser Andrew Scheer is only too happy to pander to the racist mob.
And sadly so is the hapless Jagmeet Singh.The blockades shutting down our country are illegal. They must be stopped. Read my full statement here: https://t.co/j8VXqOQEAm— Andrew Scheer (@AndrewScheer) February 12, 2020
It's heartbreaking to see land defenders & Indigenous matriarchs dragged off their land.— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) February 12, 2020
If @JustinTrudeau wants Canadians to believe him when he says nation-to-nation relationships are the most important, he needs to come back to Canada and back up his words with action.
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Who once again doesn't seem to understand the difference between federal and provincial jurisdictions.
Or understand that prime ministers aren't supposed to tell the police what to do.
The saddest part of this only in Canada madness, is that Justin Trudeau had made reconciliation with Canada's native people a top priority.
But as Susan Delacourt points out, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Trudeau is not the first Canadian prime minister to be met with massive roadblocks — literal and figurative — in his relations with Indigenous people, but he is the most heavily invested.
Sometime in the distant future, when he’s reflecting on his legacy, Trudeau will no doubt reflect on whether the investment was worth it.
And reconciliation itself is now on life support.
The ever-more-pressing question is not whether Trudeau will rethink his investment in his most important relationship in future, but whether events this week are making Canadians reconsider it, too — right now.
It seemed like a good idea, but in this angry old country it may be impossible to achieve.
And the Cons and all all those others who helped kill it, will have to live with the consequences...
Delacourt's article is made even more tragic by the Cons and their useful idiot revolutionary-wannabe Dippers exploiting the situation in bad faith to cast Trudeau as some kind of complicit or callous genocidal racist. Scheer was bloviating about CBC Indigenous funding recently, and then there's Look-at-Me Jagmeet, who on one hand either doesn't get or refuses to acknowledge jurisdictional parameters, and on the other, completely ignores Horgan while leapfrogging to blame Trudeau. Meanwhile, Con trolls online are the ones spewing vomit about his trip to Africa and OMG THE MONEY WASTED ON A UN SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT WAAAA WHAT ABOUT ALBERTA. They know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. And they're the ones being racist!
ReplyDeleteDelacourt wonders if Trudeau will have any regrets about his earnest effort at Reconciliation being torn to shreds. Sometimes I wonder how he'll reflect upon whether leaving his quiet life as a schoolteacher and philanthropist for politics itself has been worth it at all. I'm sure he's glad he was the one to dislodge Harper and effectively throw the Cons into disarray. But after that? He tries so damn hard to improve the lot of settler-Canadians, immigrants, and native peoples alike, and gets nothing but shit flung at him from all sides. Add the Wexit crap and Kenney's deliberate sidelining of FN consultations on the Teck debacle to the mix, and wow, talk about pouring gasoline on a wildfire.
There's only so much one man can do. He can't undo 500 years in 5. I just hope no one gets hurt and that when he does return home, things don't further escalate. There will not be a "just watch me" moment for obvious reasons. But situations like this have the possibility of spiraling out of control, particularly due to foreign manipulators fanning the flames (there are probably a lot of "indigenous rights activists" at computer terminals in Vladivostok). Sadly, I'm sure the Cons and their mirror-universe alt-left populist shit disturbers, who don't really care about the indigenous protesters or the complex issues involved but just want to score political points and get media attention, would just love to see Trudeau caught in the middle of -- and blamed for -- a good-old-fashioned Canadian race war.
Reconciliation by negotiation requires good faith. Neither the pipeliners, the Federal government nor the government of BC have shown even the slightest hint of good faith. The issue will , as usual, be settled in the Hereditary Chiefs favour by the Supreme Court. What a waste of time and opportunity.
DeleteAgree that this entire debacle has been a waste, but none of it excuses the opportunistic hyperbole coming from the usual sources. Moreover, the central issue of the CGL project per se seems to have become the spark of a flashpoint for greater issues polarizing all countries, such as income inequality, the environment, and race relations. As Billy Joel might say Trudeau didn't start the fire. But Singh casting Trudeau as the second coming of Sir Johnny A. instead of confronting Horgan within his own party, as protestors on the other side of the country shove and even spit on Freeland, solves nothing. Neither does weak Andy, the Tool or Macho Mac demanding Trudeau come home from Africa (what Pete called his "vanity project" as though Harper being shut out of the UN didn't bruise his ego?) and send in the troops. Harper, after all, was the one who said reconciliation was "not on his radar."
DeleteTrudeau is caught in a helluva conundrum that he is wise to not intervene in directly, but his heart at least is in the right place and I think it's a stretch for anyone to deny that. If the Supreme Court will issue the final directive, then Scheer is being a hypocritical ass as usual by calling on Trudeau to intervene in the rule of law. Funny that she who must not be mentioned representing a B.C. riding, and who made a big sideshow about reconciliation and the rule of law one year ago, has been remarkably quiet about the whole thing.
Hi Jackie
DeleteYou mentioned the silence of JWR. Her husband along with other Cons lobbied long and hard to sell the government and First Nation chiefs that the road to nationhood was through financial independence which involved selling their assets including right of ways to the highest bidder. Seems some of the chiefs forgot to consult with their constituents but when pockets are greased and egos stroked bad things happen. For the Cons its a win-win, if the chiefs prevail the pipelines are built, uprising against the freely elected chiefs pushes public sentiment to judge the natives as ungovernable, Trudeau is blamed for sponsoring the unrest and under the Con regime the pipelines get built anyway. This has been brewing since 2012, nothing to do with Trudeau, just the Cons exploiting the weakest links in a society and then benefiting from the turmoil. Hey, when you elect a leader (or stay at home) and he signs a deal then you are expected to come good on it even if you had no input... war drafts 101. Perfect Con logic regardless of the circumstances.
RT
Hi RT -- Looks like I spoke too soon. I guess it was only a matter of time before she started flapping her yap seeking an extension of her 15 minutes of infamy. Shaddup!
DeleteToday we see the unedifying spectacle of a junior minister trying to con the Mohawks . I will lie to your face if you leave the land you own and let the OPP occupy it . Lying isn't the worst part of this offer; he thinks the Mohawks are stupid and he's smart. Let's all guess his IQ- no need to go past the 60th percentile.
ReplyDeleteI would like to advise the 6 nations people to offer to meet the neophite-politico in an Ottawa Tim Hortons as long as he agrees never to go back inside his office or home.
I would like title to his house because it would be to my financial advantage.
DeleteRumlyfips, why is it a forgone conclusion that the supreme court will side with the hereditary chiefs? As I understand it there are seven out of eight Wet'suwet'en groups who have approved the pipeline. So who has the power to decide this question. Is it the hereditary chiefs or the elected band councils? I don't understand the legal structure here.
Hi Riley's Sister
DeleteTonda MacCharles has a new article at the Star outlining a number of possible outcomes. It appears from this overview that the federal Liberals have adopted a more conciliatory tone than the provincial government of B.C.
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/02/13/heres-what-government-can-and-cant-do-to-end-the-wetsueweten-standoff.html
The federal NDP is not mentioned here but it appears that their own party can't get on the same page. What is clear is that the Cons wanting to send in the hired guns is a very, very bad idea.
In the Con world its a win-win, sell news media and attack Trudeau at the same time. To hell with the facts and promote the idea that the prime minister is all powerful and can decree any thing he wants.... that is until they flip and decide its illegal for him to decree anything.
ReplyDeleteThe facts are the pipeline is under provincial jurisdiction as well as dealing with the local protests. Either by provincial request or perhaps if cross border sedition is present it could become federal jurisdiction with dispatch of the military to enforce rule of law. Surely we are no where near there yet... unless you are a Con.
https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/bts/nws/nr/2019/nr15-eng.html
RT
Pipelines may be provincial jurisdiction , but land ownership is federal. The Supreme Court has decided that First Nations own their unceded territory. We now have a bunch of ragged arse angels dancing on the head of a pin singing ' but the Supreme Court did not specifically mention this particular national territory'. The weakness of the oily boys arguement shows they know they are wrong and that bullying, coercion and violence are their only hope.
DeleteI don't understand how the protesters think that by disrupting the lives of thousands of people in Ontario and Quebec as well as the economic impact these blockades are having will help their case over an LNG line thousands of miles away. If anything, with the Cons trying to milk this to their advantage, they are causing further division while blaming it on JT, even though these are clearly provincial matters. Where's Doug? Still in the U.S. kissing Trump's fat ass? It's Ontario that's bearing the brunt of these protests and he's suddenly as mute as a doorknob. Again, maybe he thinks his inaction will reflect badly on JT and in the meantime, people who were sympathetic to the indigenous causes are now turning against them in droves. And that is just the division the Cons love to exploit. Gawd I hate these Con sonsabitches who thrive on this shit. That is what I call human scum and as such, I hope there's a special place in Hell reserved for every fucking one of them that causes and or condones these tactics.
ReplyDeleteJD
Remember what Trump did with Black Lives Matter.
DeleteToo bad "the blatch" is gone, she'd have a piece out titled "The Natives Are Restless - Again"
ReplyDeleteAnne Kingston also passed. I liked her articles better. One of a dwindling number of columnists in Canada's con-friendly media I look(ed) forward to reading. Most -- and not enough -- are female: Chantal, Susan, Heather, Tabatha. Wish someone would pick up Kiki Smith. Thesaurus Rex, however, is still producing emissions. A real spring chicken he is at the age of 947 years old.
DeleteI saved a PDF of her warning to Canadians about not allowing the Cons to turn Margaret Atwood's home country into Gilead. Anne may be gone but her words remain Scheerly evergreen.
https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/alabama-is-closer-than-we-think/
Hi rumleyfips
ReplyDeletePerhaps I am wrong but it seems that BC retained control over all land rights when it joined confederation. Three party agreements seem to be messier than two.
"Before the land now known as British Columbia became a province of Canada in 1871, 14 land purchases were made from Aboriginal people by Sir James Douglas, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company and later governor of the Crown colony of Vancouver Island. After B.C. joined Canada, the federal government assumed responsibility for Indians (members of "First Nations") and B.C. retained authority over land and resources in the province. The union created difficulties between the two governments and with First Nations." https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_200611_07_e_14975.html
RT