1.07.2013

Chief Theresa Spence's Income and Lifestyle Being Spun to Hide Bill C-45's Authoritarian Dictates


The release of the results of the Attawapiskat audit and the comments about Chief Theresa Spence's income and lifestyle are all totally fair game in relation to the topic of her accountability as chief, even to the issues surrounding First Nations accountability generally. Likely the members of the Attawapiska reserve are totally pissed that she and her 'partner' live in luxury and roll around in a Cadillac Escapade while they live in tents with no running water. Likely this kinda situation is true in lottsa places whether they are First Nations reserves or our hometowns. But those are not the issues that Idle No More and their worldwide supporters are protesting are they?

No. The issues of Theresa Spence's corrupt lifestyle are the same as any other leader's corruption but right now they are being used to discredit the ideas being brought up by the Indigenous peoples themselves. They are being used, spun, by both The Conservatives and conservatives to hide the issues they don't want to face and don't want you to focus on either. This tactic is typical now-a-days. For instance, David Moscrop, a PHD candidate at UBC, wrote an interesting article last week in the Globe and Mail about the history of western liberal philosophy in relation to Spence and INM. It was thought provoking if nothing else. There were hundreds of comments almost all of which were personal attacks on, or the defense of, either Moscrop or Spence. Almost none even mentioned either the points he was making or those of Idle No More.

The real issues we all should be pissed off about are that before the passage of Bill C-45, 2.6 million rivers, lakes and a good portion of Canada’s three ocean shorelines were protected under the Navigable Waters Act, now only eighty-seven are protected. And that Bill C-45, which makes major changes to the treaties signed in Canada's name by the Queen, was passed without any of the legally and morally required consultation.

The grassroots members of Idle No More are First Nations people who have certain rights guaranteed them by treaties  Those treaties give them to right to challenge the illegal authoritative dictates of Bill C-45. The bill infringes on those First Nations' treaty rights, compromises ownership of their land, and takes away protection for Canada’s waterways and most of the environment. "We all should be outraged, and idle no more." - Winona LaDuke