Caroline Elliott: 🔔MAJOR BC LAND DEVELOPMENT: The Haida Nation is reporting that the BC Supreme Court has declared Aboriginal title over the entirety of Haida Gwaii, including private property. : r/ilovebc - "Haida Gwaii residents should stop paying property tax and see what happens "
Jamie Sarkonak: The National Film Board's race-based licensing regime - "In 2021, the National Film Board decided to become a political organization. It adopted a grand plan to hire based on identity, create new management roles focused on enforcing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), promote progressive concepts like intersectionality and reconstitute its policies around race. And reconstitute it did. That year, it began restricting the use of archival footage by race. As part of its DEI overhaul, the film board instituted an “Indigenous Content Moratorium,” halting the “licensing of archives, excerpts and photos portraying Indigenous participants to clients who do not self-identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis).” The policy, which the NFB described as “temporary,” applies to about 600 entries in the archive. An archive entry that contains mostly white people and only one Indigenous person would not be covered, however... The policy was designed by an organization called imagineNATIVE, an Indigenous film charity that holds an annual film festival, does screening tours and, mostly with money given to it by Netflix, sponsors professional development for its artists. The majority of its funding (59 per cent) came from government according to its latest charity filing, so it’s more accurately described as a shadow Crown corporation. In effect, every non-Indigenous Canadian is paying for this organization to lobby the film board, which they also pay for, to restrict content on the basis of race... This didn’t happen in a vacuum. Many corporate entities under the Department of Canadian Heritage umbrella have jumped on the systemic racism bandwagon and made DEI a big part of what they do. The Canadian Media Fund (CMF), which funds the production of drama, kids’ programming, documentaries and video games, was given a series of diversity quotas by the federal government a few years ago. Government-funded projects led by minorities were required to reach 45 per cent by 2024, and key creative positions were supposed to be 25 per cent staffed by minorities in that time as well. In addition, it brought in a “narrative positioning” policy banning anyone receiving CMF funding from making content about any minority unless they are part of that group, or have demonstrated “comprehensive measures” that their project will take to prevent harm to the group in question. Straight people can’t make documentaries about gay people, the able-bodied can’t make documentaries about those in wheelchairs and no racial group can make video games about anyone else — except white people, of course. Meanwhile, Parks Canada introduced an Indigenous stewardship policy last year that gives more power to First Nations over federal parklands. It’s vague and preachy, and seeing how poorly park-sharing has gone in British Columbia, with First Nations unlawfully seizing control of parklands without resistance from government, it’s a model with a poor track record. Then there’s the National Gallery of Canada, which in recent years has used the power of curation to make veiled accusations of racism against the Group of Seven. And the Canadian Council of the Arts, which openly claims to have gone on a diversity hiring spree in 2021. Telefilm Canada in 2022 brought in steep diversity quotas of 50 per cent for new hires and 30 per cent for those in management. It applies quotas to various programs it funds, requiring some projects to have a majority-Black production staff, and others to have a majority of non-white writers. The National Arts Centre, tasked with stewarding the performing arts, continues to host “Black Out” nights; the centre’s original intention back in 2023 was to restrict these by race, but after some public grilling it switched its stance to “everyone is welcome.” The National Film Board’s race-based content licensing policy is emblematic of the federal culture sphere. Once, the mission was to nurture cultural unity; now, maintaining division seems to be the goal. Normally, government entities are supposed to treat individual Canadians in a manner consistent with the Charter, which means race-based discrimination is off the table. However, because the Charter excuses discrimination when it’s done for an ameliorative purpose — that is, when it’s used to advance the interests of a minority group. The result? Exactly this: the open and jubilant denial of opportunity as revenge for the actions of long-dead men."
Film makers have a responsibility to increase indigenous representation. Since it's harder for them to do so now, they need to stop making films unless they're indigenous
First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement : r/ilovebc - "Lol ah natives complaining about a deal made in the past by historical standards getting ripped off by todays standards. A tale as old as time :)"
First Nation says it was shortchanged by millions for land in 2002 settlement : r/ilovebc - "Anyone who says this will ever end needs to get their head checked."
"As long as the sun shines, the grass grows, the money will flow. It'll never end until we say enough."
"It will end when conservatives stop the land grab entirely as voters fear losing the rights to the home they paid 1.5m for."
"Who said it will end? Reconciliation, by it's definition and mandate towards this subject in Canada, is conceptualized as without end. Reconciliation was a misnomer to begin with as it implies an eventual outcome. The concept should instead be called "Fealty"."
Canadians want transparency of First Nations' finances: poll - "Most Canadians want the federal government to enforce laws requiring First Nations to publish their financial statements, a recent poll says. According to polling firm Angus Reid Institute, 82 per cent of Canadians think Ottawa should require First Nation governments to report on how they spend public money — and that this requirement should be enforced. Among Indigenous survey respondents, 72 per cent said the same. A federal law requiring First Nations to publish their financial statements — including chief and council salaries — was passed in 2013. Under the law, Ottawa could withhold money from First Nations that did not comply. The federal government has not enforced the law since 2015. But the law remains controversial. Some say it is crucial for keeping First Nations’ leadership accountable to members. Others say it reinforces stereotypes about First Nations being financially irresponsible... In a statement to Canadian Affairs, a spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada said that many Indigenous groups have told the government they want the law repealed... The financial transparency act was “one of the best news for band members in Canada,” said Robert Louie, founder of the Band Members Alliance and Advocacy Association of Canada. The non-profit helps First Nation members who are seeking accountability from their chief and council. Louie, a member of the Lower Kootenay First Nation in B.C., says he “was not surprised at all” that most First Nation members supported enforcing the law. The law required First Nations to make their financial statements available to members upon request. First Nation members often struggle to get financial information from their governments, he says, including information about how federal money intended to help First Nations children is spent. Since the federal government stopped enforcing the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, First Nation members must try to enforce it, says Louie. Often, this only happens by taking the First Nation to court — an option most people find daunting, he says... “If [First Nations governments] want to talk about being a government, they should act like a government,” said Louie. But Daniel Sims, a professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia, says many First Nations regard the law as an “intrusion” into their affairs that contradicts the idea that they should be treated as nations. In his opinion, the law “is an example of government overreach.”... In its statement to Canadian Affairs, Indigenous Services Canada confirmed that all First Nations that have federal funding agreements must provide audited financial statements to the federal government and to First Nation members. “It is not the First Nations Financial Transparency Act that creates that obligation; the First Nations Financial Transparency Act simply introduced punitive measures for First Nations experiencing capacity gaps,” spokesperson Anispiragas Piragasanathar said in a statement... But the Angus Reid poll shows many First Nations members are not convinced things are improving. Only 54 per cent of First Nations respondents said they felt the overall situation of First Nations people in their province had improved during the past 10 to 15 years. Louie says financial transparency of First Nations matters to all Canadians. While many people think financial accountability for First Nations is “an internal issue” for First Nations to figure out, this ignores the power imbalance between chief and council and First Nation members, he says. “Chief and council have all the resources, all the power,” he said."
The government should not be audited, or it spreads the stereotype that it's financially irresponsible. The solution is to give indigenous people (i.e. their governments) even more money
Weird how they must be treated as nations yet need so much money from outside
Norway House Chief and Council’s Remuneration and Expenses Over $1.65 Million in 2023/24 for an On Reserve Population of 6883 : r/Manitoba - ""No specific spending amounts were provided in the latest announcement, but Hajdu said the government has poured $8.8 billion into the principle since it was established in 2016."
I'm sorry, but over $900 million a year for nine years straight is still a STAGGERING amount of money. Jordan's own father has criticized the program for being abused and badly managed. https://globalnews.ca/news/10987773/jordan-river-andersons-family-meeting-status-jordans-principle/ "Last year, Deputy Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations Valerie Gideon sounded the alarm about some of the requests bogging down the system. In an affidavit, she listed some of the requests for funding made through Jordan’s Principle, including for modelling headshots, a zip lining kit, trampoline, music lessons, private school tuition and uniforms, snowmobiles and gaming consoles.""
Canadians favour infrastructure projects over regional or Indigenous objections: Nanos : r/WildRoseCountry - "As they should, Canadas economic future is being burned away by a few whiny special interest groups “I think what it shows is that there is a lack of understanding, writ large across the country, of the role Indigenous people play in the national economy,” said Mark Podlasly of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC). - Which is what exactly?"
"An albatross around it's neck?"
"Showing up with cameras and putting on some ridiculous song and dance everytime we try to do anything. All they want is a cheque. Its irritating and expensive to deal with this nonsense all the time."
Canadians favour infrastructure projects over regional or Indigenous objections: Nanos : r/WildRoseCountry - "If I were Russia or China I'd definitely be supporting FN efforts against these infrastructure projects."
"Or even American energy companies who benefit heavily when our oil can’t be marketed globally. When most of our oil is forced to go to PADD 2 and PADD 3 that is a significant benefit to US incumbents. See the WCS/WTI differential: https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/dashboard/wcs-oil-price/"
Canadians favour infrastructure projects over regional or Indigenous objections: Nanos : r/WildRoseCountry - "all of these infrastructure/investment/development plans need to put to a referendum. if 6% of the national population is given the power to veto/dispute everything they dont like, then we do not live in a democracy."
'Nothing for us without us': AFN demands Yukon First Nations treated as equals in defence, security planning : r/InCanada - "Great! They’re gonna kick in funding? And land for bases? Join the ranks maybe?"
Is Canada really built on 'stolen' land? - "While the company wanted to trade and gain access to natural resources, the Natives wanted the goods and opportunities that the British brought — including blankets, weapons, wage-labour and medical services. They also wanted security... all of them depended on slave-labour. Consequently, slave-raiding and war were endemic. The HBC, however, made it clear that it wouldn’t tolerate warfare on its doorstep. As a result, the Native peoples coveted the security and status that proximity to the company’s trading posts offered. And when the foreigners cleared and cultivated land, or mined coal, they had no complaint, for land and the black stuff weren’t what mattered most to them. Moreover, when they wanted to establish reservations, the company complied. It wasn’t until the HBC first offered compensation in the 1850s that the Natives began to demand it. After all, when one set of them seized from another what did matter — slaves — they weren’t in the habit of paying. This reminds us that relations between colonizers and Indigenous peoples weren’t always characterized by conflict. In many cases, and for long periods, they co-operated to their mutual benefit. But it also shows us that the value of land differs not only between cultures, but over time. Even if it were true that, in the early 1800s, the territorial expansion of European settlement in British Columbia did deprive Indigenous peoples of their livelihood by trespassing on their fishing or hunting grounds, to surrender huge tracts of territory to them in 2025 is not to unravel history and restore the past. That’s because what mattered in the past was not land but subsistence. And British colonization replaced traditional means of subsistence with new alternatives — trading, farming and wage-earning. Now, through the Canadian state, it offers welfare payments, too. In the early 21st century, control over land means something quite different from what it meant in 1800. Its value has changed. Then, it meant access to fishing or hunting grounds and thereby the means of survival. Now, it means the lucrative ownership of resources for exploitation or development, which the Vancouver islanders in the 19th century could not imagine and did not value. So, to grant “Native title” to Indigenous peoples today is not to uphold a historic legal right, for such a thing didn’t exist. Nor is it to restore things to where they were, replacing like with like. It’s to create a novel, unequal privilege."
Meme - r/worldnews: "Renewed calls for Catholic Church apology after mass grave of Indigenous children found in Canada" *68k upvotes*
r/worldnews: "No human remains found 2 years after claims of 'mass graves' in Canada"
"Not Appropriate"
"Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators of r/worldnews" *1 upvote*
Blacklock's Reporter on X - "DOCUMENTS: $12M spent by @GcIndigenous to find purported 215 children's graves at Indian Residential School was instead spent on publicists & consultants with no graves found to date: 'We're trying to understand.'"
Jonathan Kay on X - "the “unmarked graves” social panic of 2021 keeps generating tragicomic subplots. None of those 215 claimed graves were found. But DEI grifters, lobbyists, political hacks (hi @MarcMillerVM) & academic “settlers on stolen land” (allo, Sean Carleton) all milked it for agitprop or $"
Obviously the problem is not enough money was spent
P.E.I. councillor punished for questioning Indigenous unmarked graves seeks judicial review - "Murray Harbour Coun. John Robertson claims fellow councillors exceeded their authority and violated his rights on Nov. 18, 2023, when they decided he had breached the council’s code of conduct... Robertson argues that he shouldn’t be punished for stating personal opinions that have nothing to do with his role as an elected member of council. Between late September and early October last year, coinciding with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the councillor displayed a sign on his property with the message, “Truth: mass grave hoax” and “Reconciliation: Redeem Sir John A.’s integrity.”"
Jonathan Kay on X - "nowhere in this disgraceful @smschwientek CBC hit job on @Dallas_Brodie, which purports to be about “residential school denialism,” does @smschwientek even pretend to address Brodie’s point, which is that those 215 supposed graves in Kamloops don’t exist"
Residential school denialism: what is it and how to recognize it | CBC News - ""I think it's important to define what residential school denialism is not, which is the denial of the system's existence or even that the system had some negative effects. We don't see a lot of that," said Carleton, who is also an assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba. Instead, he said, denialism is "a strategy to twist, downplay, misrepresent, minimize residential school truths in favour of more controversial opinions that the system was well-intentioned." He said denialism in all forms — whether talking about climate change or flat Earth conspiracies — is "an attempt to shake public confidence in something that we have consensus about."... Fraser said she sees denialism when people suggest the residential school system had good intentions, as well as when people question the motives of survivors who share their stories."
If you deny that the sun goes around the earth, you are a heretic
Everyone involved with the residential school system was an evil monster, and if you disagree, you are a denier. Indigenous people are sacred and cannot be questioned (but only if they push the left wing agenda)
Thread by @TristinHopper on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "On the issue of the Kamloops 215, all anyone has to do is say "okay, we overreacted to a radar survey, sparking a gross mischaracterization of what remains one of Canada's darkest hours." Slamming every critic as a "denier" is only making this worse. Everyone knows the survey didn't uncover graves. You can deal with this on its own terms, or allow the truth to be monopolized by the fringe. What's happening now is intensely damaging. To see so many institutions and voices lining up behind an obvious lie, and to do it literally in the service of "Truth and Reconciliation." There are voices in this country who want to convince us that it was a good thing to force thousands of children into violent, assimilationist boarding schools. With each day this charade continues, you're giving them the propaganda coup of a lifetime."
Trudeau gov’t to halt funds for ‘unmarked graves’ search after millions spent, no bodies found - "The Canadian federal government will be halting funding to a committee tasked with searching for “unmarked burials” near former residential schools after zero graves were discovered and millions of taxpayer dollars spent. In a statement released last week, the National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials said it was “extremely disappointed to learn that the Government of Canada has decided to discontinue funding to support their work to help Indigenous communities in their efforts to identify, locate and commemorate missing children.”... Canada’s Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations had already confirmed it spent millions searching for “unmarked graves” at a now-closed residential school, but that the search has turned up no human remains. The initial funds budgeted in 2022 to aid in “locating burial sites linked to former Residential Schools” were already set to expire in 2025, with some $216.5 million having been spent. A total of $7.9 million granted for fieldwork has resulted in no human remains having been found to date. In 2021 and 2022, the mainstream media ran with inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some of the schools. As a result of the claims, since the spring of 2021, 112 churches, most of them Catholic, many of them on indigenous lands that serve the local population, have been burned to the ground, vandalized, or defiled in Canada... The Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation was more or less the reason there was a large international outcry in 2021 when it claimed it had found 215 “unmarked graves” of kids at the Kamloops Residential School. The claims of remains, however, were not backed by physical evidence but were rather disturbances in the soil picked up by ground-penetrating radar. The First Nation now has changed its claim of 215 graves to 200 “potential burials.” As reported by LifeSiteNews, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau as recently as June again falsely stated that “unmarked graves” were discovered at former residential schools... While there were indeed some Catholics who committed serious abuses against native children, the unproved “mass graves” narrative has led to widespread anti-Catholic sentiment since 2021. While some children did die at the once-mandatory boarding schools, evidence has revealed that many of the children tragically passed away because of unsanitary conditions due to the federal government, not the Catholic Church, failing to properly fund the system. In October of 2024, retired Manitoba judge Brian Giesbrecht said Canadians are being “deliberately deceived by their own government” after blasting the Trudeau government for “actively pursuing” a policy that blames the Catholic Church for the unfounded “deaths and secret burials” of Indigenous children. "
Meghan Murphy on X - "Because there were no unmarked graves discovered. Once again, Canadians were bamboozled. Will they ever learn to stop trusting the government and media? And working themselves up into political tizzies designed to distract them from reality?"
Left wingers are still raging about "denialists", so this won't stop them
Mark Carney's Father and His Role in the Indigenous School System - "What these politicians didn’t seem to understand is the fact that since May 27, 2021, when the “215 at Kamloops” claim was made, nothing can be said publicly about the fact that the claim was false from the start. Or that honest discussion about residential schools is no longer possible in this country. If these subjects come up, a politician is best advised to mumble something about “reconciliation” and then quickly move on to another topic. Other politicians have learned this lesson the hard way as well. In 2021 a brand new Conservative cabinet minister in Manitoba tried to say some rather innocuous things about residential schools. He said that while some students had bad experiences at the schools, the intention was to provide an education, and many former students reported positive experiences. This was the truth — even the TRC Report has a chapter entitled “Warm Memories” that consists entirely of former students reporting their good experiences at residential schools. But Wab Kinew, the-then future Premier of Manitoba, was not interested in facts. He literally leaped to the stage and very publicly rebuked the startled minister. Even the fact that this new cabinet minister is Métis didn’t save him. Kinew lit into him with the bogus claim that the stated purpose of residential schools was “to kill the Indian in the child.” The fact that it was an American who had never even visited Canada who made that statement in an entirely different context mattered not a whit. That cabinet minister was toast, while Kinew’s career soared. And remember in 2008 when Pierre Poilievre was publicly scolded by PM Stephen Harper? Poilievre dared to opine that people who had been harmed at residential schools should be compensated, but those who had simply attended — many with good results — should not. His leader, Stephen Harper humiliated Poilievre for voicing this completely common sense opinion. Poilievre was in the political doghouse for years, and never forgot this painful lesson. The fact that he was right and Harper was wrong didn’t matter. He should not have risked offending Indigenous sensibilities by speaking honestly. He learned his lesson. Poilievre has never publicly voiced common sense opinions on controversial Indigenous matters to this day. Justin Trudeau never made such a mistake. He accomplished this, since 2015, by giving the chiefs virtually everything they wanted, and never disagreeing with them on anything contentious. It should be remembered that he not only accepted the Truth and Reconciliation Report in 2015 before he even read it, but agreed to implement all 94 Calls to Action without even having the costs of doing so assessed. Had he taken the time to do so he would have quickly concluded that what was basically a socialist’s wish list, that included items that had nothing to do with truth or reconciliation — such as additional funding for the CBC — would have bankrupted the country for a generation if all of them were implemented . But Trudeau never publicly questioned any part of the TRC report, although he found ways to avoid implementing the most outrageously expensive and unworkable of the ‘Calls.’ And when the Kamloops claim was made on May 27, 2021, falsely claiming that an Indian band had found the remains of 215 Indigenous children, Trudeau not only immediately accepted the claim, but ordered that flags at federal buildings be flown at half mast not only across Canada, but across the world. He then — virtually inviting fraudulent claims — made $320,000,000 available to any Indigenous community that wanted to make a similar specious attack on the public purse. To cap it all off, since 2015 Trudeau has spent more than three times as much public money on Indigenous matters as any previous Canadian prime minister, without achieving any notable results in the quality of life for the many members of the Indigenous underclass, and making them even more dependent on the taxpayer than they already were. The massive debt with which Trudeau leaves Canada is based in large part on this enormous and wasteful spending on all things Indigenous... Mark Carney knows a lot about this subject. He was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, a part of Canada which is heavily Indigenous. His father, Robert Carney, taught at schools there, and rose to become NWT’s Superintendent of School Programmes. He was intimately acquainted with education in the North. In other words, Robert Carney was one of that very cadre of teachers and educators who are today accused by Indigenous activists of committing cultural genocide — or even actual genocide — against Indigenous children for attempting to provide them with an education at day and residential schools. But the reality is that Robert Carney — like the overwhelming majority of yesterday’s educators — was a conscientious teacher devoted to the education of Indigenous children."
Of course, left wingers will close two eyes. But if Carney were a non-left wing candidate... good luck to him
