Glad it was Halifax and not Toronto or Vancouver, somebody would have been shot
Kind of wish I was there
I'm all for having your own beliefs and expressing them
I'm even more for correcting dumb fucks when they express those beliefs
Yep or oversimplify such complex issuesIt's sad when people are so uninformed but have such a strong opinion
Reminds of someone I know well, all the best schools, excellent preconditions, emulated the role of oppressed Muslim and went crazy.Yep or oversimplify such complex issues
Right - "Oh well they have equal rights now and if the British hadnt invaded the French would have anyway so they just need to get jobs like everyone else"
Left - "whitey is evil, took their land, aboriginals were living the perfect existence, the 500 or so megafauna species they hunted into extinction was different" blah blah
I really think white kids (for example) can be taught to be proud of what their forefathers achieved and still sensitive to the indigenous folk's plight but they either hear one extreme or the other growing up and either roll with it or rebel against it
Same goes for aboriginal kids
Couldn't have said it betterYep or oversimplify such complex issues
Right - "Oh well they have equal rights now and if the British hadnt invaded the French would have anyway so they just need to get jobs like everyone else"
Left - "whitey is evil, took their land, aboriginals were living the perfect existence, the 500 or so megafauna species they hunted into extinction was different" blah blah
I really think white kids (for example) can be taught to be proud of what their forefathers achieved and still sensitive to the indigenous folk's plight but they either hear one extreme or the other growing up and either roll with it or rebel against it
Same goes for aboriginal kids
Whats the imprisonment rate of native Canadians like? we jail waaaay too many of our native people and often because of stupid shit like they visit a city for the first time, get into a fight then cant make bail because of a "lack of community ties" or just that they cant come up with the $500 in bail money while behind barsCouldn't have said it better
all people are susceptible to manipulationReminds of someone I know well, all the best schools, excellent preconditions, emulated the role of oppressed Muslim and went crazy.
I don't know the actual numbers but if I had to guess (in my community) it's pretty highWhats the imprisonment rate of native Canadians like? we jail waaaay too many of our native people and often because of stupid shit like they visit a city for the first time, get into a fight then cant make bail because of a "lack of community ties" or just that they cant come up with the $500 in bail money while behind bars
We dont jail enough natives due to the gladeau principle.its a get out of jail free card because of past injusticesWhats the imprisonment rate of native Canadians like? we jail waaaay too many of our native people and often because of stupid shit like they visit a city for the first time, get into a fight then cant make bail because of a "lack of community ties" or just that they cant come up with the $500 in bail money while behind bars
Quick google search tells me that they make up 4% of the total pop and 23% of the prison pop in CND. Google isnt always right thoughWe dont jail enough natives due to the gladeau principle.its a get out of jail free card because of past injustices
Sounds about rightQuick google search tells me that they make up 4% of the total pop and 23% of the prison pop in CND. Google isnt always right though
See I say enjoy it and be proud but people get it all fucked up when it comes to ancestors doing bad ass shit.Yep or oversimplify such complex issues
Right - "Oh well they have equal rights now and if the British hadnt invaded the French would have anyway so they just need to get jobs like everyone else"
Left - "whitey is evil, took their land, aboriginals were living the perfect existence, the 500 or so megafauna species they hunted into extinction was different" blah blah
I really think white kids (for example) can be taught to be proud of what their forefathers achieved and still sensitive to the indigenous folk's plight but they either hear one extreme or the other growing up and either roll with it or rebel against it
Same goes for aboriginal kids
Guy got a year and a half in jail and a few years probation. Seems about right for a first time First Nations offender in Canada. Also worth noting, he was not the only attacker.Local native dude chops a guy in the face with a machete .while out on a promise to appear in court beats up his prego gf.gets virtually no time due to invoking the gladeau principle
The organizer of an Indigenous protest that was interrupted by off-duty members of the military on Canada Day says it's time the Canadian Armed Forces incorporated Mi'kmaq history into its operations and training.
Five members of the Canadian Armed Forces are now suspended with pay pending an investigation into their conduct.
They disrupted a ceremony where Chief Grizzly Mamma, an Indigenous woman from B.C., was shaving her head as a sign of mourning.
The protest was held near a statue of Edward Cornwallis, a controversial British military officer credited with founding Halifax the same year he offered cash to anyone who killed a Mi'kmaq person.
Dispute over Mi'kmaq lands
The five men identified themselves as being Proud Boys, a fraternal organization that describes its members as "Western chauvinists."
One of the men said the protesters were "disrespecting Gen. Cornwallis," and part of the exchange with the activists centred on whether they were in Canada or on Mi'kmaq lands.
Rebecca Moore, who organized the July 1 event, said people were praying to their ancestors for lives lost since the beginning of colonization when they were interrupted.
Acknowledgement of territory
Now she'd like to see an ongoing public acknowledgement from the military on the East Coast that they're on unceded Mi'kmaq lands.
"So it's not disputable, it's a fact, and their employees are aware of that," she said Wednesday. "That's our history and that education piece is a key factor in avoid confrontations [such as] what happened on Canada Day."
Other institutions in Nova Scotia have taken steps to acknowledge they're on Mi'kmaq territory.
No one from the Canadian Armed Forces was immediately available to comment on Moore's call for official recognition and more education.
Ceremony overshadowed
Halifax's poet laureate, Rebecca Thomas, who was also at the ceremony, said it is unfortunate the Proud Boys' arrival overshadowed the purpose of the event.
She hopes people who've been following what happened "don't feel sorry or pity us. I want people to understand and empathize with what we're doing."
Indigenous groups have had to work hard to assert their rights and retain their language and ceremonies, Thomas said.
"It would be nice that people understood how much Indigenous people are still fighting for sovereignty and to be understood and to be empathized with. We are not postcolonial. Canada has a lot of work when it comes to reconciliation and reparations with Indigenous people, Armed Forces included."
'Pretty prevalent' comments
While it was unusual to have a group physically interrupt an event, Moore, a member of Pictou Landing First Nation, said the mentality she encountered wasn't new.
She said similar comments are "pretty prevalent" in conversations at social events or among friends.
"People who think like that — on a day-to-day basis, and more one-on-one confrontations — that's not unusual at all," she said. "It's kind of discouraging that we have to be asserting ourselves and re-assert ourselves when these are facts. That's history."
Tuning out racist comments — in person and online — has become routine, she said. But it still takes "an emotional and mental toll."
'Duty' to educate people
Despite this, Moore said she tries to take the time to educate people on Indigenous history and culture.
"That is, in a sense, my duty, for when I have kids that maybe they don't have to fight as hard to be themselves."
People who identify as Inuit, Métis or Indigenous make up 2.5 per cent of the regular force and primary reserve force.
Daniel Le Bouthillier, a spokesperson for the Canadian Forces, said Indigenous Canadians are "core members of the defence team and deserve to be celebrated as such."
"The defence team works hard to foster a diverse, inclusive organization and will continue these efforts to ensure a respectful, dignified environment for all Canadians," he said in a statement.
The head of Canada's national Indigenous veterans organization hopes the Canadian Armed Forces members who confronted activists at an Indigenous ceremony in Halifax can stay in the military even if they were "silly" to engage in such a confrontation.
"The whole military has become politicized, we're living in a politically correct era and they [the CAF members] should have realized that this thing would be a media event," Richard Blackwolf, the national president of the Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and Serving Members Association (CAV), said in an interview with CBC News.
"But, hopefully, it won't affect their overall careers. I mean they just showed up there with a flag. They didn't beat up on anybody, it's not like that."
"I saw several races down there [at the statue], it's just a hodgepodge of activists, they're not productive people at all," Blackwolf said.
Chief Grizzly Mamma, an Indigenous woman originally from B.C., shaved her head on the steps of the statue of the controversial British military officer on Canada Day to symbolize the violence First Nations people faced under colonial rule.
"These point one percenters, they did some silly stuff, because they know what the hot-button issues for the media are. They're the bottom feeders."
Gen. Jonathan Vance, Canada's top general, has taken a different tack and said in a statement to CBC News Tuesday night that "their future in the military is certainly in doubt."
"What happened in Halifax over the weekend is deplorable, and Canadians should rest assured my senior leadership is seized of the matter," Vance said. "The members involved will be removed from training and duties while we conduct an investigation and review the circumstances."
'This is just gobbledygook'
Chief Grizzly Mamma, and a group of some 50 others, were confronted by five men who said the whole affair was "disrespectful" to Cornwallis, the city's founder. These men, who are members of the Proud Boys, a so-called "Western chauvinist" organization that is associated with the far right, were later revealed to be part of the Armed Forces.
The tense but nonviolent confrontation lasted for about 10 minutes, as the men took issue with assertions from organizers that they were interrupting a sacred rite on Mi'kmaq territory.
"This is Canada," one of the men said, his comments captured on a cellphone video posted on social media. "It might have been Mi'kmaq territory."
Rebecca Moore, the woman who organized Canada Day event, and a member of Pictou Landing First Nation in Nova Scotia, said people were praying to their ancestors for lives lost since the beginning of colonization.
After the confrontation, Moore told CBC Nova Scotia she wants the Canadian Armed Forces to acknowledge their operations are on unceded Mi'kmaq lands, urging them to improve education among its members on First Nations issues.
Blackwolf said demonstrations like this one simply give Indigenous people a bad name.
"This Chief Grizzly Mamma ... I mean real Native people don't have names like that," Blackwolf said. "This is just gobbledygook. The [servicemen] were silly enough to go there under those circumstances, they should have known better."
'We have stabbed our servicemen in the back'
Gavin McInnes, a co-founder of Proud Boys, who has been the source of controversy for inflammatory — and anti-Semitic — remarks, defended the members of his men's club.
"I think we have stabbed our servicemen in the back, we should be ashamed of ourselves," he said in an interview with CBC's Power & Politics. "They didn't do anything ... they tried to have a civil discussion."
He said his group is not restricted to whites, adding two of the CAF members in question actually have Indigenous ancestry, and one of them is gay.
Blackwolf said he hoped the standoff doesn't affect his organization's efforts to drive recruitment among Indigenous youth.
He said a career in the military is very rewarding, and there is a proud history of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people serving the Armed Forces.
People who identify as Indigenous make up 2.5 per cent of the regular force and primary reserve force.
Daniel Le Bouthillier, a spokesperson for the Canadian Forces, said Indigenous Peoples are "core members of the defence team and deserve to be celebrated as such."
"The defence team works hard to foster a diverse, inclusive organization and will continue these efforts to ensure a respectful, dignified environment for all Canadians," he said in a statement.
Proud boys would have got slaughtered for that shit here, you have a fucking statue thats not going anywhere, let the natives have their day of protest. Shit go and protest with them, build some bridges between the two communitiesThese proud boys sound like they have their heads on straight.
These proud boys are fit and firm soldiers, not the type of methead cripple the natives can freely slap around.Proud boys would have got slaughtered for that shit here, you have a fucking statue thats not going anywhere, let the natives have their day of protest. Shit go and protest with them, build some bridges between the two communities
These proud boys are fit and firm soldiers, not the type of methead cripple the natives can freely slap around.