Restored John A. statue could be beginning of end for history purge - "Over the past five years, Canada has experienced a wave of name changes and statue removals unlike anything seen since the First World War, when anti-German sentiment fuelled a purge of Germanic names and symbols. The trend began in earnest in 2020 as Canadian cities were hit by “defund the police” protests inspired by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It then became supercharged in the summer of 2021, following a B.C. First Nation’s announcement that 215 anomalies turned up in a radar survey of the former Kamloops Indian Residential school were the unmarked graves of children. A running Wikipedia list catalogues 13 Canadian statues that have been destroyed by mobs or removed by civic order since 2020. Seven of those are of Macdonald, including an 1895 memorial in Montreal that was destroyed in 2020 by a defund the police protest. A Macdonald memorial in Hamilton, Ont., was destroyed under similar circumstances the next year, albeit by demonstrators fresh from a Hamilton Indigenous unity rally. The period has also been marked by dozens of renamings of streets, schools and civic buildings. In 2023, for instance, Ottawa’s Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway was renamed to Kichi Zībī Mīkan, an Algonquin word roughly meaning “river path.” Toronto renamed its iconic Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square in 2024, citing namesake Henry Dundas’s association to slavery. Although Dundas was an abolitionist and a key figure in an 18th century British push to abolish the slave trade, activists criticized him for not doing it fast enough. Ryerson University renamed itself as Toronto Metropolitan University in 2022, over connections to the Indian Residential School system. Although Egerton Ryerson was long dead before the establishment of the first Indian residential school, he had advocated a program of Indigenous children being taught “industry and sobriety” at boarding schools located far from their home communities. Indian residential schools have also largely characterized the push to remove symbols of Macdonald. Although Macdonald was the singular figure who stitched together Canada’s current form, his record on Indigenous affairs was controversial even in his own time. The renaming trend has slowed to a trickle of late, particularly amidst the flag-waving patriotism sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war against Canada, and repeated annexation threats. An ongoing Toronto District School Board renaming push remains one of the only such programs underway at a governmental level. But the announced unboxing of Ontario Legislative Assembly’s Macdonald statue represents one of the first times that a government will be reversing a sanction imposed against a Canadian historical symbol over the past five years."
It's ironic that the people who claim to be against "book banning" want to tear down statues
Tasha Kheiriddin: Indigenous leaders put Carney's dreams on notice - "Will Prime Minister Mark Carney’s national infrastructure dreams be kiboshed by Canada’s First Nations? That’s the question hanging over Ottawa this week — and if Carney’s not careful, the answer could well be yes. At Monday’s First Ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon, the PM rolled out his big plan: slash approval times for “national interest” infrastructure projects from five to two years. He got buy-in from the premiers, hoping to stimulate growth, counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and pull Canada together as one economy. Despite a shortage of specifics, there finally appears to be a willingness to get things done and reconcile the interests of East and West. Quebec Premier François Legault said he’s open to a pipeline, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was positively giddy about energy corridors, and even Alberta’s Danielle Smith was cautiously optimistic. Indigenous leaders, however, are not impressed. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse of the Assembly of First Nations warned that the plan risks trampling Indigenous rights and took umbrage at being given seven days to review draft proposals. Regional Chief Scott McLeod of the Anishinabek Nation went further , suggesting that Canada could see a new indigenous protest movement along the lines of Idle No More . That movement arose in 2012 in response to Bill C-45, legislation advanced by then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper that sought to streamline the project approvals process, and spawned protests and rail travel disruptions across the country. Now, Carney could face the same opposition, made worse by the actions of his own party and other progressive politicians over the past ten years. Their version of reconciliation did little to advance Indigenous people economically, but much to reinforce the idea that non-Indigenous people are guests in their own country. From the denigration of Canadian historical figures like John A. Macdonald, Henry Dundas and Egerton Ryerson, to the performative and divisive repetition of land acknowledgements, to the spreading of falsehoods about the existence of mass graves at residential schools, Canada was depicted as the country that could do no right by its First Nations. Little wonder, then, that many Indigenous people don’t see themselves as part of Canada and have little interest in pulling together for the “national interest.”... guilt will not help fix current problems facing First Nations. Nor will opposition to development. It will actually hurt, by weakening Canada economically and reducing its capacity to fund real change in indigenous communities, such as ending all boil water advisories and building adequate housing and schools. It may also open a door to Trump’s dream of a 51st state, by weakening the federation and opening another fault line for Washington to exploit, in addition to Western alienation. That’s not just bad news for Ottawa, but for Indigenous communities, who could arguably fare worse under a U.S. model of tribal sovereignty than under the nation-to-nation approach of the Canadian federation. At the same time, Canada can’t be “decolonized” like countries in Africa or Asia, where colonial rulers physically and legally withdrew. Here, more newcomers arrive every year, and no one is going anywhere. Most Canadians alive today had no connection to historical abuses yet are lumped together with long-dead politicians accused of genocide. We can’t afford to continue “othering” each other. At some point, the country either pulls together, or it risks coming apart."
A stagnant economy won't stop them demanding more and more free money. Left wing virtue signalling has very real costs
Fraser apologizes, says comments on Indigenous consultation eroded trust - "Justice Minister Sean Fraser apologized Wednesday for comments he made about the government's duty to consult with Indigenous leaders on major projects. Fraser said Tuesday that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples requires consultation but does not amount to "a blanket veto power" over projects. Similar language asserting UNDRIP does not convey a veto is used in federal government documents about the declaration... The UN declaration, which Canada adopted, requires free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous Peoples on matters affecting their rights, lands, territories and resources. The federal government says that declaration does not amount to a "veto," but Indigenous leaders have long called for changes to how it approaches the duty to consult... First Nations leaders mount opposition to the push by the federal and provincial governments to fast-track what they call "nation-building" projects in response to increased uncertainty in the Canada-U.S. trading relationship. Indigenous leaders say they haven't been properly consulted on provincial plans. They've warned Ottawa that widespread protests and blockades are possible if they are not meaningfully consulted on federal legislation to speed up approvals of major infrastructure projects."
When everyone wants to eat, you can't get stuff done - "indigenous" people claim the whole country, so they get to veto everything, since left wingers hate Western civilisation more than they do the USA/i>
Jamie Sarkonak: The King's land acknowledgement undermined his own authority - "The whole point of bringing King Charles III over to deliver a throne speech was to assert Canadian sovereignty, so it’s curious that some of the first words out of his mouth denigrated Canada’s legitimacy. “I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people,” said the King in his opening remarks to Parliament on Tuesday. His words were largely written by the government, but he can tell the government that he’s not comfortable reading them. Whether he did, well, we’ll never know... Indigenous sovereigntists — who consist of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who don’t recognize Canada as the legal owner of Canadian lands — believe that the fundamental holders of Canadian territory are the Indigenous people. Usually, they misunderstand the numbered treaties, which were land cessation agreements, as international treaties with sovereign nations. They deny any conquest of Canada occurred. They view Canadian land as a product of theft against these sovereign nations. And their solution involves restoring Indigenous sovereignty, bit by bit, by extracting greater rents from more parts of the Canadian economy, returning more government powers and responsibilities to Indigenous groups, and shifting public opinion to be amenable to these changes. The land acknowledgement plays a big part in that last one: it’s the recitation of a creed that holds Canada to not be the ultimate authority in these lands, often made by officials in a position of power over the general public. The past several years have seen land acknowledgements go from a brief few words to open Indigenous-related government or government-adjacent announcements to reverent paragraphs recited during industry consultations with the Canada Energy Regulator, meetings of veterans’ affairs policy groups, webinars explaining benefit payments to new immigrants and even RCMP news conferences about missing children. For good measure, they’re also pasted into nuclear safety site reports , government reports about tuberculosis and various other webpages. And now, King’s speeches. And that’s just at the federal level. In Alberta, the provincial court’s 2024 Indigenous Justice Strategy promises to install land acknowledgement plaques in court foyers. Such plaques have been placed in some B.C. schools. Scroll to the bottom of any major university’s homepage and you’re likely to find one. The Ontario privacy commissioner has one. Through sheer memetic power, they’ve colonized our public institutions. They normalize the idea that Canada is illegitimate, and that its non-Indigenous citizens are occupants of lands to which they don’t belong. It becomes such a regular feature of life that when B.C. decides to restrict provincial park entry by race (for more than a quarter of the year, in the case of Joffre Lakes Provincial Park) and overhaul its mining industry rules, it’s shrugged off by enough people that the provincial government faces no consequences. The same goes for the Canadian fisheries, which are increasingly subject to race-based quotas and marred by apparent illegal fishing by individuals who claim their catch is covered by treaty rights. In Nova Scotia last year, federal officials said they didn’t know how much lobster was being harvested anymore. The province, which is becoming world-famous for its lobster wars , seems unperturbed: in the last federal election, it voted mostly Liberal, a nod in favour of the status quo. Resources in the ground are made artificially hard-to-get, too. It’s no surprise when pipeline proposals are killed by courts , even when they’re informed by extensive consultations with Indigenous people. It seems these processes need to be lengthy, cumbersome and costly if they’re ever to satisfy a court. At the same time, they make us poorer. And at this point, we’re lucky if they even make it to court. B.C. folded like a house of cards when Indigenous stakeholders challenged its mining claim system for not being consultative enough (instead of appealing the court decision in question, the NDP simply rewrote the law , adding red tape to an already lengthy process). A similar challenge is underway in Saskatchewan, at least."
This Library in New Zealand Is Replacing Dewey With a System Rooted in Māori Tradition - "How do we even begin engaging with the vast stores of knowledge and wonder in a library? For many of us, the Dewey Decimal System gives us an entry point, breaking the library catalogue into more manageable groups. However, this system was developed in the 1870s and designed for American libraries. In today’s modern, global society, it can feel a little outdated. This is why one library in Aotearoa/New Zealand is trying something a little different. The team at Te Awe Library in Wellington is trialling an alternative way to organize and classify the Māori literature on their shelves, and bringing more readers into contact with great writers and great works from this culture... They began planning groupings based on the Te Ao Māori classification system. This system reflects Māori atua (Māori gods), and the sections of knowledge, activity, and thought associated with each of these atua... Under Te Awe’s new system, books about traditional artistry, woodwork, and carving are grouped under Tangaroa, who is the atua associated with these modes of expression. Tangaroa is also the atua of natural bodies of water, and so books related to the ocean, lakes and rivers, fish, and other aquatic creatures are contained here too. Rongomatāne is associated with agriculture and cultivated foods. Therefore, any books on the subject of growing crops, tending to gardens, or the culinary arts are contained within this section. As Rongomatāne is also the atua of peace, books on this subject are also organised in this area of the library. Under the Dewey Decimal System, books on wood carving and river systems would not be placed together, nor would books on conflict resolution and gardening. The age-old associations between these topics – intrinsic to Māori Mātauranga, or knowledge – are broken down and lost. With a system more closely linked to the root of this knowledge, these deep cultural associations are preserved for new generations."
Good luck interacting with libraries and users from elsewhere in the country, much less the world
Federal government faces human rights complaint over Indigenous procurement system - "Ottawa has awarded billions in federal work to companies without always requiring bidders to prove they First Nations, Inuit or Métis. The tribal council’s complaint, obtained by Global News, alleges Indigenous Services Canada -- which oversees what businesses are eligible to be listed on the IBD -- has overseen a “systemically discriminatory” system that allows non-Indigenous companies to access those federal contracts."
If you don't let people discriminate properly by race, you're racist
John A. Macdonald saved more Indigenous lives than any other PM - "For most of Canada’s history, Macdonald was considered a nation-builder worthy of celebration and veneration. Today he is a war criminal, at least to hear some tell it... Since the British conquest of New France in 1761, there were no significant wars in what is now Canada prior to the Riel Rebellion of 1885. And this solitary armed conflict was a Métis uprising notable for its lack of large-scale native participation; the First Nation death toll from the entire conflagration was no more than a few dozen. Such a long period of peaceful relations between Indigenous and white populations in Canada was largely the result of British policy that sought to make and keep treaties with native communities. The British approach is best characterized as “negotiation first, settlement second.” As Canada’s first prime minister, Macdonald was extremely proud of this legacy of peaceful co-operation and co-habitation. He was determined to maintain such a policy while overseeing the settlement of Canada’s West... Considering the accusations made against Macdonald today, it is noteworthy that he was criticized in his time for instructing the NWMP not to show favouritism towards white settlers. Rather, he argued, it was their proper role to protect the rights of native and settler alike. Such an enlightened view will no doubt comes as a surprise to his many present-day detractors. But again, it is true. And in doing so, Macdonald undoubtedly saved many more native lives from American-style frontier justice. The arrival of smallpox to North America was disastrous for native populations across the continent since they had no natural resistance to this deadly disease. In the 1830s, for example, an epidemic originating in the American West migrated north and killed three quarters of all natives living in the Edmonton area. Prior to Confederation, the governments of Upper and Lower Canada under the joint leadership of Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier had organized a vaccination campaign for provincial native populations as part of a comprehensive public health program. This was highly effective and quickly felt... The gravest charges against Macdonald’s legacy involve his role in the famine among the indigenous population of the Prairies following the collapse of North America’s buffalo herds in the late 1870s... While half rations may sound draconian to modern ears, and is no doubt uncomfortable, it is not a death sentence. Also, keep in mind that no treaty obligated the federal government to provide rations to any natives living off-reserve. Nevertheless, when the famine arrived with unexpected swiftness in 1878, the government reacted as its treaties dictated. Macdonald told the House of Commons that the “absolute failure of the usual food supply of the Indians in the North-West” created the “necessity of a large expenditure in order to save them from absolute starvation.” Natives living on reserves were provided aid, mostly flour and bacon, as per the government’s obligations. Even Daschuk acknowledges that “Rations kept many from starving.” The reduction for some was meant to encourage those wandering natives to return to their reserves, where the treaties they signed required them to be. Recall that it was this strict and legalistic approach to treaties that distinguished Canada’s native experience from the bloody and arbitrary American version. In fact, the full exchange reveals a deeper concern for the wellbeing of natives and their treaty rights. In a similar exchange, this one in the 1880 House of Commons debates Macdonald frames the issue as a moral one: “Public sentiment would not allow, and no Government would be worthy of their position, if they allowed the Indians to starve as long as we have the means to feed them. The Government adopted the best means for relieving them. We were obliged to find food for them.” Macdonald allocated considerable government resources to fulfilling its famine relief duties. In 1878 the federal budget for Indian Affairs was a rather modest $276,000. By the peak of the famine in 1884, this item had grown to $1.1 million, outweighing National Defence by a substantial margin. In fact, this was the largest famine relief program Canada had provided up to that point. That it occurred in the midst of a severe economic recession in Eastern Canada makes its scale all the more impressive. Residential schools also figure prominently in popular claims that Macdonald was responsible for a “genocide” of Indigenous people. In fact, the first such schools appeared in Canada in 1695, long before Macdonald’s tenure. And their application to western Canada cannot properly be regarded as a government plot to permanently eliminate native culture. Under the seven numbered treaties, the federal government was obligated to build and staff such schools only when requested to do so by native leaders, or, as Treaty Six clearly states, “whenever the Indians of the reserve shall desire it.” And they clearly did desire it: during Macdonald’s tenure as prime minister no fewer than 185 on-reserve day schools and 20 residential schools were built. This reveals a strong interest among native leaders to have their children given a western-style education, as well as a preference for local over residential schools at this time. Attendance was entirely voluntary. Although the Progressive movement across North America at this time was pushing governments everywhere to make schooling universally compulsory, Macdonald resisted this for native children. Without parental support, he believed, native education would not succeed. Accordingly, it was left up to native parents to decide whether their offspring should go to school. This policy continued long after Macdonald’s death. As late as 1920, attendance at all native schools in Canada was still entirely voluntary. Macdonald’s legacy is complicated by the passage of time and changing perspectives. But through careful study of his own words and deeds, as well as the reports and actions of his officials, contemporaries, native chiefs and political opponents, what emerges is a clear and powerful picture of his enlightened view towards Indigenous people and his strong sense of moral purpose. If Macdonald’s story has changed, it is because Canadian society no longer understands its own history."
Time to denounce the Uncle Topangas who invited Genocide
Greg Piasetzki: John A. Macdonald's return to Queen's Park an opportunity for historical literacy - "The most widespread and damaging misunderstanding is the idea that every Indigenous child was forced by law to attend a residential school, was taken far from home, kept for years and subjected to routine abuse. This narrative has become almost universally accepted in Canada. However, the reality is that, in many years, the majority of Indigenous children who attended school went to day schools and most of the students dropped out after Grade 1, whether at day or residential schools. These facts were well known at the time. They were discussed in Parliament and reported in mainstream newspapers. For example, in 1946, decades after the first residential schools were built, the Globe and Mail reported that, “Of the 128,000 Indians in this country, only 16,000 last year received formal schooling. Of this number, few stayed more than a year and only 71 … reached Grade 9.” A populist movement towards compulsory education had begun in the 1870s in Canada; by the 1940s, most Canadian children were required to attend school till at least age 15. However, the government in Macdonald’s day, and through many subsequent prime ministers, respected the wishes of Indigenous families, who were not forced to keep their children in school beyond the early grades. Clearly, neither Macdonald’s government, nor any succeeding one, was engaged in genocide, cultural or otherwise. There were also a number of initiatives of Macdonald’s governments that likely saved tens of thousands of Indigenous lives and are equally inconsistent with the notion that he had any interest in genocide. Smallpox killed thousands of Indigenous people in Canada in some pre-Confederation years and Macdonald’s governments, in the colonial era, and later when he was prime minister, ran programs to ensure that every Indigenous person in Canada, no matter how remote their location, was vaccinated against it, thus ending the threat. Similarly, when the buffalo population collapsed, Macdonald immediately initiated what was certainly the largest famine relief operation in Canadian history. Moving supplies across the county when no railway existed was an enormous undertaking, and it had the usual missteps associated with a hastily organized program of this scale. However, the program likely saved thousands of lives and avoided a human catastrophe across western Canada. A stark difference between the Canadian settlement experience and that of the Americans is the absence of war. The Americans fought a series of “Indian wars” over a period of over a century in which tens of thousands of people died. Macdonald was determined to avoid such bloodshed. His government’s policy was to ensure that treaties were signed and in place before allowing widespread settlement in western Canada. Finally, his government created the North West Mounted Police to protect the legal rights of both Indigenous people and settlers, and to deter incursions from the United States. As the famous Siksika Chief Isapo-muxika stated in 1877: “The Mounted Police have protected us as the feathers of the bird protect it from the frosts of winter.” As a result, there were no deaths in Indian wars in Canada."
Lawrence Krauss: Land acknowledgements often ignore history - "I remember the first time I heard a statement at a public event along the lines of, “This building is located on traditional unceded Aboriginal land.” It was in Australia, and it struck me as disingenuous, simplistic and patronizing. If the people making this statement really felt that badly about the land they (and possibly their forebearers) lived and worked on for generations and ostensibly stole, then they would reasonably choose to give the land back along with all they had built upon it. However, the people who utter such statements implicitly recognize that the country they inhabit and the land they live and work on is only distantly connected to the land occupied, or colonized earlier by groups we now label as Indigenous. Moreover, the land acknowledgments also skip over the reality that in some nations, treaties cover part or all of the territory — Canada and New Zealand, as examples. In giving primacy to the more activist Indigenous groups, institutions and governments around the world readily express their willingness to not only change history, but also to ignore scientific evidence as well. I live in Prince Edward Island and regularly attend musical and theatre events here. Every show begins with someone coming out to recite their Indigenous mea culpa. But the last time I heard the phrase, it was slightly different, and it jarred me. I heard that the Mi’kmaq, the Indigenous tribe with deep roots in the province, had been here “since time immemorial.” Since that event, I have begun to hear more extreme versions of this prescribed mantra, with “time immemorial” replaced by “the beginning of time.” While “time immemorial” can legally refer to any time before 1189, the claim that Indigenous people have been on the land since the beginning of time is historical and scientific nonsense... Research from 1871 suggested that Mi’kmaq believed they had emigrated from the west, and that they warred with people already on the Island; recorded tribal traditions pointed to another group called the Kwēdĕchk as the original inhabitants. Oral histories are notoriously unreliable, but it is telling that in traditions recorded 150 years ago, when the need to connect inhabitation of the land to time immemorial was less pressing, the Mi’kmaq themselves recognized what archeology now tells us to be true. Namely, that North American inhabitants emigrated from the west, and moreover, that Mi’kmaq territory was established with a less-than-peaceful takeover. Now, however, arts organizations that claim to represent the Mi’kmaq, like Indigenous PEI, ignore historical records and claim the Mi’kmaq have been in PEI for over 10,000 years, far longer than the archaeological record supports: the oldest human bone found on the Island is only 5,000 years old... Human habitation in North America correlates with the decrease and extinction of numerous species of animals, just as in New Zealand and Australia. Hominids have, as far as we can tell, often not lived in harmony with the land. The claim that Indigenous tribes were not themselves the successors to earlier groups who had emigrated from elsewhere does a disservice to these groups, and to history. Ultimately, all human groups in what is now North America, even the first groups that occupied various locations here were colonizers from what is now Asia. One such disservice involves the sensitive issue of the repatriation of ancient bones. Some Indigenous groups claim ownership of ancient skeletons, which they view as sacred. Perhaps the most famous case in this regard was the well-publicized discovery in 1996 of “Kennewick Man,” found eroding in a Washington state riverbed. Dated at least 9,000 years old, the Pacific Northwest’s Umatilla tribe claimed it as their own; one of the group’s leaders stated, “We didn’t come across no land bridge. We have always been here.” After years of legal battles, scientists were eventually able to study the bones and determine he was indeed most closely related to modern North Americans; they could not link him to any one tribe, though several seemed to be descendants of his people. Even so, over several thousand years, the genetic relationship is too distant to warrant property rights. President Barack Obama in 2016 signed a bill to turn over the remains to the Umatilla for burial. Similar claims were made by the Navajo Nation in Arizona, who took to the courts to repatriate 303 human remains and objects that had been found on their land and are currently housed in a government archaeological centre. This, even though historical and archeological evidence showed the Navajo did not live in the valley at the time the bones were deposited, and that early inhabitants were more likely to be closer relations of the modern Hopi or Zuni tribes, according to anthropologist Elizabeth Weiss. But even if the Hopi or Zuni were the ones claiming ownership of the artifacts instead, their genetic link to the people who created them doesn’t imply immediate kinship or warrant property rights. In the same vein, the fact that I am most closely related in the distant past to Eastern Europeans doesn’t give me or them rights over each other’s property. When the digital catalogue of artifacts retrieved from a 12,000-year-old ravine near Charlie Lake in northeastern British Columbia was repatriated back to the local Dene people in 2024, an elder of the group celebrated by stating, “We can tell a narrative that is truly Indigenous.” There is no guarantee that this narrative will be based in science, however, as the only data one might use to tell the actual story of these ancient peoples is no longer accessible, even in digital form, to scientists. Whatever story that emerges from it need not pass the test of scientific scrutiny. There is no doubt that Indigenous groups have an interest in learning about ancient peoples who lived in the areas they currently inhabit, even if those ancestors may be separated in time by hundreds of generations. But so does society in general; any knowledge that results from unearthing ancient human remains and artifacts is a gift for all of humanity. Denying that gift because a group with a marginally larger genetic connection to ancient artifacts, which are likely to be also genetically connected at some level to a far larger part of the human population, is inappropriate."
Trust the Science and Research is Good - unless it threatens the left wing agenda
Meme - Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog: "You've heard of mostly peaceful riots. Now introducing non-violent human sacrifice."
CBS News: "Ancient altar found in Guatemala jungle apparently used for sacrifices, "especially of children," archaeologists say"
"Maria Beln Mendez, an archaeologist who was not involved with the project, said the discovery confirms "that there has been an interconnection between both cultures and what their relationships with their gods and celestial bodies was like." "We see how the issue of sacrifice exists in both cultures. It was a practice; it's not that they were violent. It was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies," she said."
