PEGIUS 1ST NATIONS DUE BETTER WHICH MEANS MORE....
Jan 31, 2009 20:57:25 GMT -5
Post by proudtobeadp on Jan 31, 2009 20:57:25 GMT -5
Having grown up in Selkirk, Manitoba a DP from being born of an American military base where my father served as a military policeman at Nuremberg since WII ended, from the age of 2 until leaving when married some 22 years later gives one rare insight into the town those that pay attention absorb. When we moved in the Town of Selkirk was just over 3,000 people mainly in the employment of open hearth steel making furnaces melting down assorted scrap including wartime industry products from tank parts to defused and explosive removed large size steel cased bombs. The other industries were the mental health center lockup of that era, agriculture and a large fresh water fish harvesting and processing industry. What was not talked about and I was even oblivious to was the other deep dark secret Selkirk didn't really talk about other than Chief Peguis being buried nearby with a nice memorial at a church on the nearby north east side of the Red River was Selkirk's aboriginal past. Fully one third of Selkirk was aboriginal or metis' I grew up and was educated with but nothing really sunk in until high school where we actually had some history teachers with balls (mine were all male)
In what was a good public school system with teachers arriving at different points in my education came teachers who were students of history and even local history. It was within these teachers like Peter Thiessen and Cy Zentner (Zentner was one of the few Jewish teachers Selkirk ever knew, both her and his wife a unbelievable mathematician were remarkable) and the like that went beyond the text book and brought well researched local history into classes good students should learn from whether the local school board liked it or not or even knew. It was from them that I went from comments tossed at others and me like "whiteman you stole our land" where I knew nothing but moved there when feelings were in gear for a longish time already. Wanting to know more changed radically for me not long when I reached the age of 15 when I saved an then called indian now termed aboriginal fellow from drowning when he was laid off work to make room for a whiteman and tried to drink himself to death on a dock falling in just when I was looking around to see where I would be working my summer job. I only realized later that I was the hire that triggered the attempted suicide and there I found myself the man's thankfull hero and I was only 15 heading for 16 years of age that did something that had to be done. Even though the mans associates warned me I would drown with him if I tried to save him I put a well excuted blow to his jaw stunning him badly that allowed me to get him out of the water and his early grave.
It was with this impressionable backdrop where many of my aboriginal school mates and I grew up and are still friends of and acquaintances today generations later. It was in this backdrop that you found yourself with teachers that taught you out of text books but also from local lore and history that makes one educated about what really goes on today. The teachings were that Selkirk with its facades was really a racist town not really different that settled the Canadian or USA western plains and river valleys. That is not saying that all the people were necessarily bad as a whole but it was a mixture of many cultures foreign to the aboriginal locals that took some of the opportunity flying by and some of course were outright greedy took way more where others certainly were a mixture in between or not at all. it was in this environment that made for the Peguis reserve that was established in Victorian (Queen Victoria of UK) times and it occupied the best bottom lands agriculturally speaking from roughly the middle of Selkirk to the east and west norhernly ending near the southern tip of Lake Winnipeg of some nearly 80,000 acres.
It was this 80,000 acres that were systematically taken away to outright fraud, theft and cheating the aboriginal by methods so unbelievable it was shamefull not only to the rest of Selkirk but also the Province of Manitoba and Canada as there was that participation of governments at all levels that essentially robbed the Peguis First Nations of their rightfull lands. With Canada's Parliaments helping in the end by meeting and legalizing the frauds and thefts the Peguis First Nations was relocated into less than marginal lands in Manitoba's interlake where it was actually hoped they would never be heard from again with an attitude as if it would be great if alcoholism and smallpox would take them for good and be forgotten the same way. It was this shamefull background in more modern times of new millenium coming around the corner that First Nations not only found their voices but also got their power to deal with their land claims to rightfully become compensated for what was wrongfully and even criminally taken away but it would still be one long road.
Land claims processes in Canada finally became a legal fact of life for the non-aboriginal people flooding into Canada who finally had to face what they did and who they did it to. It also meant though that the First Nations had to still do it the white man's ways through their meetings and negotiating structures, legal system, justice systems that also involved governments at three levels with huge bureacracies and internal empire building where First Nations were not just wards of the modern Canadian state but also became a bureacratic industry unto itself because it was deemed aboriginals did not want the responsibility of taking care of themselves (the whites conveniently convinced themselves of this on their own) and acted accordingly making any progress not measured in years to deal with but in generations that saw the world go through not only two World Wars but also global regional conflicts to just come to a conclusion to the Peguis and Selkilir land claims conclusions with a vote on a package to be held finally in January of 2009 being generations of when the Peguis lands frauds and thefts actually happened.
It is with this backdrop and history that some 80,000 of the best acres of land immagineable agriculturally brought about a $126,000,000.00 settlement offer to a vote where the land in question without question was in terms of todays dollars are now worth Billions of Dollars and here the cheated and defrauded Peguis First Nations using whitemans quasi-European systems of government, conventions and laws only finally managed to get 126 million dollars for what was stolen from them in the billions of dollars. The result was that the Peguis First Nations boycotted the vote, invalidating the results and who dares blame them? I certainly don't and I am not aboriginal as others who feel the same way are not. What this really means is that little has changed in a country where hypocracy is running rampant. A country that sees more in spending billions on some Olympics where residents of its country remain defrauded and cheated. A country that sees no problem in spending billions of dollars in armaments being used to kill people in other places in the world like Afganistan where the base day to day worry is the same as First Nations is here and that is to provide the basics for its people! So with all this said just how can some supposed land claim settlement offer of 126 million dollars or just over 1,000 dollars an acre in a small cash payment and a 100 million dollar proposed trust fund supposed to equate as a fair settlement proposal for the duration of time the Frist Nations were cheated out the use of such good and developed and productive lands? If thought of this way over 1 Billion Dollars would be the beginings of a just settlement offer but not its conclusion which is still a small fractional settlement possible in terms of what was cheated, stolen and defrauded away.
It seems that billions are not enough but reasonable people, Canadians all know that 126 Million Dollars is one paltry sum so unreasonable that it is no wonder that Peguis First Nations rejected and boycotted the vote based on an offer so rediculous it has to go back to the negotiating table to get to something realistic that actually can be the basis of a vote up on. As for Canada get realistic, when you cheat and defraud you should pay and here Canada spends billions even blowing up people in foreign lands under some moral grounds using Canadian taxpayers dollars to profiteering arms merchants, defence contractors and dealers of death while with Peguis First Nations still has to come before the country cap in hand and still begging? Just what the blazes is Canada really all about? It still seems to be that the only good indian/aboriginal one is an abused, sick, poor or dead one and this country has the gaul to point out to others that it is an enlightened western democarcy? What a crock of sh*t Canada really is! Its time to go back to the negotiating table and get the full deal for this First Nations. May your Great Spirits be with you, help you and help keep you in doing so and becoming a rightful part of this country in a good and proper settlement.
My last wish is to hoping that the poor and marginal lands the Peguis First Nation was relocated and banned to in the Interlake of Manitoba finds wealth on them still undiscovered and so immense just to teach others a lesson on how rotten they were and what can happen to others as payback for just such immoral rottenness so they can think about next time Canada wants to treat its own so poorly.
In what was a good public school system with teachers arriving at different points in my education came teachers who were students of history and even local history. It was within these teachers like Peter Thiessen and Cy Zentner (Zentner was one of the few Jewish teachers Selkirk ever knew, both her and his wife a unbelievable mathematician were remarkable) and the like that went beyond the text book and brought well researched local history into classes good students should learn from whether the local school board liked it or not or even knew. It was from them that I went from comments tossed at others and me like "whiteman you stole our land" where I knew nothing but moved there when feelings were in gear for a longish time already. Wanting to know more changed radically for me not long when I reached the age of 15 when I saved an then called indian now termed aboriginal fellow from drowning when he was laid off work to make room for a whiteman and tried to drink himself to death on a dock falling in just when I was looking around to see where I would be working my summer job. I only realized later that I was the hire that triggered the attempted suicide and there I found myself the man's thankfull hero and I was only 15 heading for 16 years of age that did something that had to be done. Even though the mans associates warned me I would drown with him if I tried to save him I put a well excuted blow to his jaw stunning him badly that allowed me to get him out of the water and his early grave.
It was with this impressionable backdrop where many of my aboriginal school mates and I grew up and are still friends of and acquaintances today generations later. It was in this backdrop that you found yourself with teachers that taught you out of text books but also from local lore and history that makes one educated about what really goes on today. The teachings were that Selkirk with its facades was really a racist town not really different that settled the Canadian or USA western plains and river valleys. That is not saying that all the people were necessarily bad as a whole but it was a mixture of many cultures foreign to the aboriginal locals that took some of the opportunity flying by and some of course were outright greedy took way more where others certainly were a mixture in between or not at all. it was in this environment that made for the Peguis reserve that was established in Victorian (Queen Victoria of UK) times and it occupied the best bottom lands agriculturally speaking from roughly the middle of Selkirk to the east and west norhernly ending near the southern tip of Lake Winnipeg of some nearly 80,000 acres.
It was this 80,000 acres that were systematically taken away to outright fraud, theft and cheating the aboriginal by methods so unbelievable it was shamefull not only to the rest of Selkirk but also the Province of Manitoba and Canada as there was that participation of governments at all levels that essentially robbed the Peguis First Nations of their rightfull lands. With Canada's Parliaments helping in the end by meeting and legalizing the frauds and thefts the Peguis First Nations was relocated into less than marginal lands in Manitoba's interlake where it was actually hoped they would never be heard from again with an attitude as if it would be great if alcoholism and smallpox would take them for good and be forgotten the same way. It was this shamefull background in more modern times of new millenium coming around the corner that First Nations not only found their voices but also got their power to deal with their land claims to rightfully become compensated for what was wrongfully and even criminally taken away but it would still be one long road.
Land claims processes in Canada finally became a legal fact of life for the non-aboriginal people flooding into Canada who finally had to face what they did and who they did it to. It also meant though that the First Nations had to still do it the white man's ways through their meetings and negotiating structures, legal system, justice systems that also involved governments at three levels with huge bureacracies and internal empire building where First Nations were not just wards of the modern Canadian state but also became a bureacratic industry unto itself because it was deemed aboriginals did not want the responsibility of taking care of themselves (the whites conveniently convinced themselves of this on their own) and acted accordingly making any progress not measured in years to deal with but in generations that saw the world go through not only two World Wars but also global regional conflicts to just come to a conclusion to the Peguis and Selkilir land claims conclusions with a vote on a package to be held finally in January of 2009 being generations of when the Peguis lands frauds and thefts actually happened.
It is with this backdrop and history that some 80,000 of the best acres of land immagineable agriculturally brought about a $126,000,000.00 settlement offer to a vote where the land in question without question was in terms of todays dollars are now worth Billions of Dollars and here the cheated and defrauded Peguis First Nations using whitemans quasi-European systems of government, conventions and laws only finally managed to get 126 million dollars for what was stolen from them in the billions of dollars. The result was that the Peguis First Nations boycotted the vote, invalidating the results and who dares blame them? I certainly don't and I am not aboriginal as others who feel the same way are not. What this really means is that little has changed in a country where hypocracy is running rampant. A country that sees more in spending billions on some Olympics where residents of its country remain defrauded and cheated. A country that sees no problem in spending billions of dollars in armaments being used to kill people in other places in the world like Afganistan where the base day to day worry is the same as First Nations is here and that is to provide the basics for its people! So with all this said just how can some supposed land claim settlement offer of 126 million dollars or just over 1,000 dollars an acre in a small cash payment and a 100 million dollar proposed trust fund supposed to equate as a fair settlement proposal for the duration of time the Frist Nations were cheated out the use of such good and developed and productive lands? If thought of this way over 1 Billion Dollars would be the beginings of a just settlement offer but not its conclusion which is still a small fractional settlement possible in terms of what was cheated, stolen and defrauded away.
It seems that billions are not enough but reasonable people, Canadians all know that 126 Million Dollars is one paltry sum so unreasonable that it is no wonder that Peguis First Nations rejected and boycotted the vote based on an offer so rediculous it has to go back to the negotiating table to get to something realistic that actually can be the basis of a vote up on. As for Canada get realistic, when you cheat and defraud you should pay and here Canada spends billions even blowing up people in foreign lands under some moral grounds using Canadian taxpayers dollars to profiteering arms merchants, defence contractors and dealers of death while with Peguis First Nations still has to come before the country cap in hand and still begging? Just what the blazes is Canada really all about? It still seems to be that the only good indian/aboriginal one is an abused, sick, poor or dead one and this country has the gaul to point out to others that it is an enlightened western democarcy? What a crock of sh*t Canada really is! Its time to go back to the negotiating table and get the full deal for this First Nations. May your Great Spirits be with you, help you and help keep you in doing so and becoming a rightful part of this country in a good and proper settlement.
My last wish is to hoping that the poor and marginal lands the Peguis First Nation was relocated and banned to in the Interlake of Manitoba finds wealth on them still undiscovered and so immense just to teach others a lesson on how rotten they were and what can happen to others as payback for just such immoral rottenness so they can think about next time Canada wants to treat its own so poorly.
