Chanie Wenjack, Gord Downie, and the Secret Path

I never heard the story of Chanie Wenjack, an Ojibway boy who lived in Northern Ontario, until today.

And although it made me feel terribly sad, I'm glad I did.

Because it couldn't be a more Canadian story, or a more powerful story of resistance.

Even if it ended so tragically.

The NDP Forces a Debate on Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women

I couldn't have asked for a better sight to pick up my sagging spirits.

In Stephen Harper's miserable Parliament, where democracy goes to die. Where there is all the time in the world to talk about war, but no time to talk about all those murdered and missing aboriginal women.

And absolutely no time or money for an inquiry into why that happened, why it keeps happening, again, and again, and again. 

And what can we do to stop this MASSACRE...



There was the wonderful sight of the NDP outsmarting the Cons and forcing a debate on the issue.  

The Day the Premiers Gave Stephen Harper a Slap in the Face

He thought he could disrespect all those dead and missing aboriginal women. He thought he could treat that holocaust as just random acts of violence.

He thought he could use his callous position to appeal to his bigot base.

He thought he could get away with it.

But today Canada's Premiers gave him a stinging slap in the face. 

Stephen Harper's Dismal and Dangerous Black and White World

I spent the weekend trying to forget, at least for a few hours, all the horrible things that are happening in this world.

By biking along the waterfront, and shooting things like this bunch of wilting but still beautiful flowers...



But even they reminded me of all those missing and murdered aboriginal women...



And made me wonder again how Stephen Harper could dismiss that veritable holocaust as mere acts of random violence.

Tina Fontaine and the Utter Bestiality of Stephen Harper

They held a funeral service for Tina Fontaine yesterday and how sad it was was. 

"Our sweet girl is now reunited with her daddy and the angels," long-time family friend Sandra Longford said during the eulogy. Longford went on to sing Never Alone, the same song she sang at Tina's father's funeral just four years earlier.

And my sorrow over the death of yet another young aboriginal woman, is only matched by my hatred for her bestial killer, and my contempt for Stephen Harper.

"It's very clear that there has been very fulsome study of this particular … of these particular things. They're not all one phenomenon," said Harper. "We should not view this as a sociological phenomenon. We should view it as crime."

The bestial leader who would show us yet again why he is unfit to be a Canadian Prime Minister.