Contact: Editor, pat paul, at Box 3226, Perth-Andover, NB. Canada, E7H 5K3, or at Box 603, Ft. Fairfield, ME 04742. By telephone call us at 506-273-6737. And our Email address is, [email protected] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THEFT OF A COUNTRY p.paul OUR COVER (CANADA DAY, JULY 1, 2013) DEPICTS A PAINTING OF THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION (ALL NEWLY ARRIVED IMMIGRANTS) MEETING ON Mi’kmaq Homeland AT CHARLETTOWN, P.E.I. - September 1864. A HUGE QUESTION, -WHY WERE THE TRUE AND RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF THE LAND NOT PRESENT AT THIS MEETING? THE UNFORTUNATE REALITY WAS, ONLY THE NEWLY-ARRIVED EUROPEAN PEOPLES ATTENDED. WAS THIS, 1) A TEST OR PLOY IN RACIAL CONDESCENSION, 2) A SLY & CONTRIVED COLLUSION BY FOREIGN PEOPLES, 3) A COVERT & COORDINATED PLAN TO STEALTHY OVERTAKE ALL ABORIGINAL HOMELANDS ALONG WITH THE RESOURCE-RICH NATIVE TERRITORIES THAT STOOD UNTOUCHED SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL? A TRULY BASIC PRINCIPLE THAT WAS BYPASSED OR IGNORED AT THE FATHERS MEETING WAS THE DEMOCRATIC PROCEDURE OF INVITING THE TRUE OWNERS OF THE LAND TO BE PRESENT AND TO PARTICIPATE. IN FACT THE TRUE OWNERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN PROPERLY CONSULTED AND FORMALLY INVITED WELL IN ADVANCE OF THE FATHERS GATHERING TO REQUEST THEIR HONOURABLE PRESENCE, PERMISSION AND ALSO TO LEARN FROM THEM ABOUT THE EVER-CHANGING EARTHS TOPOGRAPHY AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS THAT VARY WIDELY FROM COAST TO COAST. In a truly democratic society upon which Canada presumes to stand, Honour, Respect, Honestly, Humanity and Fair Play would typically be the upstanding essentials in creating good government. Were these basic components considered or even marginally present at the conference table? In the 1864 gathering of the founding fathers seen on the cover, they quite apparently and deliberately overlooked a few points in their so-called democratic process by not including aboriginal people at the Confederation table. Unfortunately, as it went, the newly-arrived immigrants just boldly proceeded onward without due or prior consultation, negotiation or authorization from the rightful owners of the land to form their white government, much less, inviting natives to sit-in, observe or participate in discussing major issues pertaining to the rightful ownership and/or the conditions that could ensue if, in the event, a successful overtake of the land were accomplished, and the land were transferred from aboriginal hands to the control of the new euro-outsiders. Whatever motivated the Founding Fathers, their underlying procedure emanating at the table was to significantly abolish native control and presence and to establish a new euro-style state and government upon this aboriginal country despite the pristine societies that had pre-existed and provided a continuum of harmony and balance with nature since time immemorial. This balance however, was overlooked and put at risk. And to blindly ignore the native way of life and aboriginal balanced governance without entering into due process and pre-consultation was truly an act of disgrace, dishonour, disrespect and a statement of pro-racial stumping on aboriginal societies and outright European arrogance that essentially lead up to wholesale grand theft of aboriginal lands and resources in this continent. In all fairness, no foreign agency, or any nation in the world, should be able to immediately proceed forward independently and establish a national government on its own within a homeland of another nation without prior consultation, permission and/or consent of the affected populations, as was the case in this country. Had this interaction been the course followed prior to the Founding Fathers meeting at Charlettown, a genuine give-and-take process or exchange might have been achieved and a valuable lesson in democracy and a nature-sensitive insight would have been gained from real owners of the land. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans to this land a true form of pristine democracy existed universally within the native populations. That pristine democracy stood on firm and solid ground for centuries untold where man, nature, wildlife and the environment were balanced, protected and respected on equal terms with all creation, as per instructed by the Creator. This country, in fact, was a land of giving, exchanging, sharing and cross-sharing of the bountiful goods and natural resources from tribe to tribe and nation to nation. The ancient aboriginal form of governance existed on this land for eons of time before white contact and in respect to that proven longevity, long in-depth, full scale consultations with native people regarding their customs, roles, laws, systems, and mechanisms should have been elicited before a new (Canada) governance was contemplated, introduced and implemented. As evident, a new but unfamiliar euro-type system emerged which was basically foreign, alien, remote and unconcerned of the pristine model practiced in this land for centuries by native people was the unsavory result of Canadas Confederation. However, the early newcomers to this land essentially ignored the long entrenched tribal customs and traditions completely, preferring to operate under euro-type models that were more familiar and utilized in their foreign homelands and societies in distant lands. But keep in mind, had the native governance system been fully examined, explored, recognized and accepted for its merit, success and longevity, the resulting environmental standards in this country (Canada) today would have been much stronger, safer and have greater impact on global basis, and also provide rigid, proven environmental standards that would have benefitted all generations to come. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CANADA DAY, -WHY SHOULD NATIVE PEOPLE PARTAKE IN THIS EVENT? In a printed editorial it is stated that we all have reasons to get involved in the St.Croix anniversary and by extension Canada Day celebrations, that there have been winners and losers, and that this anniversary is a time of celebration, for others an occasion for somber commemoration, and that it is a milestone by which we can judge where we stand today. Even though Indians are mentioned in the piece, I cannot help but think the opinion was written with only non-Indians in mind. Given the fact that Indian people have been deliberately and callously overlooked (not seen) for the past 500 years, my thinking should not come as a surprise to anyone. In my musings after having read the opinion, I thought, as an Indian person, how do I celebrate or commemorate this transplanted European anniversary? An anniversary that, if not for the kindness of Indian people, probably would not have been necessary to observe. And if Indian people had been more like the Europeans and had inflicted upon those first Europeans the same fate as what Europeans inflicted upon the Beothuk only a few decades later, the need for this debate would have been rendered moot. How do I, as an Indian person, celebrate or commemorate the genocide of the Beothuk, Huron, Saco, Abanaki and other nations across this country? It is like Germans asking Jews to help celebrate the Dachau, Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka death camps. As a so-called loser how do I celebrate the loss of my identity as a human being, as a Wulustukyeg? How do I celebrate the loss of my homeland? How do I commemorate the loss of my traditional spiritual ways and the traditional spiritual teachings? How do I commemorate the loss of my language? How do I commemorate the loss of my ability to pass on our Traditional teachings, language etc to the Seventh Generation? How do I celebrate the loss of my culture? How do I celebrate the loss of my sacred burial site of my Ancestors? How do I commemorate the loss of my milestones which reach back thousands and thousands of years and generations? I ask these questions from my heart. Painful, but necessary questions in my ongoing effort to get our European brothers to honestly face the legacy of the past and to honestly and truthfully address injustices in the present. Our Elders teach that in order for people to move to an equal, healthy, peaceful and just future; that those people must first take four steps in order to reach the starting point. First step: to recognize the truth of their past actions. No matter how ugly Second: to acknowledge the truth. No matter how painful Third: to accept that truth. No matter the cost. Fourth and final step: an honest, equal, healing and peaceful reconciliation can now begin. Failing this, all of the words of our eurocanadian brothers on honestly facing the legacy of the past and addressing injustice in the present will continue to ring very hollow to me, the Ancestors, the People and the Seventh Generation. I end with the words of Chief Seattle, Duwamish: To us, the ashes of our ancestors are sacred, and their sacred resting place is hallowed ground. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The Earth is not his brother, but his enemy... and when he has conquered it he moves on. He leaves his father’s graves, and his childrens birthright is forgotten. And when the last redman shall have perished, and the memory of my people has become a myth among the white man, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my people. The white man will never be alone in my People’s homeland. I humbly and respectfully ask anyone who cares to respond to help me in my question on how I, as an Indian person should celebrate or commemorate my losses. But before anyone responds, I would ask that they first weigh their response from a reversed perspective. Meaning that the 500 year scenario be reversed. That my people had invaded Europe and my people had inflicted similar diseases and losses upon Europeans which could be comparable to what occurred here on our beloved Turtle Island. These words are from the Ancestors and a child of the North American Holocaust. All My Relations, Dan Ennis
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 16:46:57 +0000
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