FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Jul 8

Walking a Tightrope When Discussing Human Rights and China

by bcurry

Back in March of this year, Canada joined other Western allies in sanctioning Chinese officials who are suspected of involvement in the persecution of China’s Uighur Muslim minority in the western province of Xinjiang.  There has been an on-going war of words between Chinese officials and state media with the Canadian government over alleged human rights violations in the mistreatment of its Uyghur minority.  More recently, this public war of words escalated with a Chinese anti-Canada offensive soon after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves containing the remains of children at former indigenous residential schools in Canada.  Much of the criticism towards Canada, and in particular towards Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was openly levelled by a Chinese Communist Party newspaper with an active online presence.  The Prime Minister has accused Beijing of having failed even to admit its present-day human rights problems, let alone take measures to alleviate them.  Trudeau views this failure as a “fundamental difference” compared to Canada.  However, with various active Chinese support groups located in Canada, particularly in Chinese communities and on college campuses, one can expect that the state supported campaign will continue for some time to come.

In addition, there is always the matter of economic and trade initiatives between Canada and China to consider.  The Canada China Business Council (CCBC) is a powerful high level lobby group that promotes a greater degree of commercial and diplomatic interaction between Canada and China.  The influential CCBC’s board of directors is a who’s who of Canada’s power elite.  The Council has head a number of trade missions to China, promoting lucrative Canadian business ties in China.  As one observer noted, even the Crown corporation which invests taxpayers’ money, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, has invested to the tune of $56 billion, or 12 percent of their total investments, in China.  Investments can include companies with provable links to human rights abuses.  Moreover, it has become clear that Canadian accusations of human rights violations by Chinese authorities is little more than an annoyance, intended primarily for our domestic consumption and not to be taken seriously.  Business goes on as usual.

The reality is that Canadian authorities understand this delicate relationship when it comes to Chinese foreign and domestic policies.  As in the case of Australia and the U.S., the Chinese state propaganda machine will counter with its own accusations of human rights violations in other countries, whether past or present.  They certainly have a vast array of means to counter what they view as foreign interference in their domestic affairs, whether through their on-line presence or through sources readily available within other countries.  Let’s face it, Canada by itself is not in a position to discredit those sources, and indeed may not really want to rock the boat for fear of creating future trade barriers.  When openly discussing human rights in China, Canada is forced to cautiously walk a tightrope.

Canada China's Relations Native Issues

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Jun 26

Tragic Use of Residential Schools for Indigenous Populations in North America is Part of Our History

by bcurry

History has shown us that once colonies have led to the creation of nation states, such as Canada and the United States, the next step has been to introduce policies aimed at “assimilating” native populations into the cultures of the ruling masses.  If peoples refused to assimilate, they were often separated and segregated from the rest of society, or sometimes even killed.  Part of assimilation often included the introduction of Christianity via the use of missionaries and the use of the church in running residential schools, as was the case in Canada and in French colonial times.

After a law was enacted in the early 1800’s in the U.S., residential boarding schools were established across the nation and used to house relocated Indigenous children, suppressing American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian cultures.  Records from 1819 to 1969 were kept by the Department of the Interior, which had oversight of the facilities.  Hundreds of thousands Native American children were forcibly taken from their communities to be culturally assimilated in the schools, suppressing the use of their native languages and customs.  Hundreds of children died while in custody, such that the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition was partly formed to help find the graves of the ‘missing children’.  The federal Department of the Interior is consulting with tribes on how to protect burial sites and use other information it had gathered.

Around 1883 in Canada, Indigenous children in many parts of the country were forced to attend residential schools in a forced assimilation program.  Most of these schools were operated by churches.  All of them banned the use of Indigenous languages and cultural practices, often through violence.  Disease, as well as sexual, physical and emotional abuse, were widespread. An estimated 150,000 children passed through the schools between their opening and their closing in 1996.  A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up as part of the federal government’s apology and settlement over the schools, concluded that at least 4,100 students died while attending them.  Recently, using ground-penetrating radar, mass graves containing the remains of what are believed to be mainly Indigenous children have been found in unmarked graves on the site of a former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.  Governments have now introduced funding and initiatives to retrieve residential school records, some of which are in the hands of churches, in order to identify the children buried in these unmarked graves.  However, as part of the reconciliation effort, Indigenous leaders believe that the government still has a long way to go.

This troubling history deserves more attention to raise our awareness and to educate others about the atrocities that Indigenous people experienced, especially through the teaching in our schools of the history of North American Indigenous peoples and their past and present treatment by Canadian and American administrations.  History is history and cannot be changed or erased.  Moreover, societies must learn from their history so that they can better understand their society today and work together to heal and move forward.  This upcoming Canada Day and Independence Day, both Canadians and Americans should take time to inform themselves about this tragic period of history and reflect on its dreadful impact on our Indigenous peoples.  We owe it to these children, their families and the survivors of residential schools.

Canada Indigenous Issues Native Issues US

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May 30

History of Racism Unfolded Once Again This Week in the U.S. and Canada

by bcurry

Two events occurred this past week in both countries that underlined the nature of historical racism.  The first is the one-hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre which took place May 31 and June 1,1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  In its 1996 examination of events, the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 was able to confirm 39 dead, 26 Black and 13 White, based on contemporary autopsy reports, death certificates and other records.  However, the commission gave several estimates ranging from 75 to 300 dead, some of whom we now know were buried in unmarked mass graves.  Following the bombings and fires, about 10,000 Black people were left homeless in Tulsa.  Property damage amounted to more than $1.5 million in real estate and $750,000 in personal property (equivalent to $32.65 million in 2020).

The second event is the very recent discovery in Kamloops, British Columbia, of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children once housed in a former Indian Residential School that closed in 1978.  Canada’s residential schools were compulsory boarding schools run by the government and religious authorities during the 19th and 20th Centuries with the aim of forcibly assimilating indigenous youth.  From about 1863 to 1998, more than 150,000 indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in these schools.  The children were often not allowed to speak their language or to practise their culture, and many were mistreated and abused.  Large numbers of indigenous children were never returned to their home communities.  The school in Kamloops was the largest in the residential system.  Opened under Roman Catholic administration in 1890, the school had as many as 500 students when enrolment peaked in the 1950s.  The children’s remains — some as young as three years old —were found with the help of a ground-penetrating radar during a survey of the school.

What is even sadder about these two events is that they were never part of a history or civics curriculum in the U.S. or Canada until very recently.  The Tulsa race massacre was largely omitted from local, state, and national histories until 2020 when the massacre formally became a part of the Oklahoma school curriculum.  Until a commission launched by the Canadian government in 2008 to document the impacts of the system of Indian Residential Schools, few Canadians would have ever even heard of this part of Canada’s indigenous history.  When I was in high school in the mid-1960s, there was absolutely nothing in our Canadian history books about this “shameful” colonial policy.  It was only in 2008 that the then-prime minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the Canadian government, formally apologised for the system.  The Canadian government subsequently signed an agreement with the Assembly of First Nations pledging to pay a lump sum in compensation to former students of Indian residential schools, expected to include tens of thousands of affected persons and families.

Systemic racism of course continues to exist today in both countries.  Denying its existence is denying the historical evolution of racially-motivated policies and activities perpetrated by governments and institutions in both countries.  As a society attempting hopefully to improve race relations, we need to be aware of our histories and to discuss their relevance and importance in order to really understand and appreciate our current situation.  Hopefully, as in the case of the above two cases, this much needed discussion should begin among our youth and teachers in our schools.

Canada Native Issues Race Relations Racism US

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Feb 22

Use of Non-Violent Civil Disobedience by Anti-Pipeline Protesters

by bcurry

Throughout modern history we have seen examples of non-violent civil disobedience in the form of staged sit-ins, marches, blockades, hunger strikes and other tactics used to raise awareness about issues that are taking place in society. Among the best known examples are the movements led by people such as India’s Mahatma Gandhi, South Africa’s anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela and of course Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  One of the main principles of civil disobedience is to maintain respect for the rule of law even while disobeying a specific law considered to be unjust.  In addition, those demonstrating peaceful civil disobedience were willing to go to jail without resisting arrest by the authorities.

In the last two weeks in Canada, one has seen protests by certain indigenous groups in support of members of the Wet’suwet’en nation opposed to the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline being built through their territory in British Columbia. Protesters attempted to illegally block the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, forcing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to enforce a court injunction against the blockade.  However, within the

Wet’suwet’en nation there are major divisions between elected Band leaders who support the project in terms of its economic benefits and some hereditary chiefs who oppose the project on the basis of protecting traditional lands.

The hereditary chiefs wanted the RCMP to leave their lands, which they are prepared to do. In support of the hereditary chiefs, protesters from various native groups blocked rail lines across the country, bringing passenger rail service and rail freight traffic to a halt during the past two weeks of blockades.  Freight rail service is said to have fallen by 18%, and hundreds of rail employees have been temporarily laid off.  Court injunctions were obtained against the blockades, but the authorities had as yet to move in to dismantle the barricades.  What is also interesting is that non-native anti-pipeline groups have taken the opportunity to join in these civil disobedience activities to promote their own causes.

Now that the federal government has exhausted consultations with those representing the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, there is a clear indication that the economy is being hurt by the rail shutdown. The time has come for the authorities to move in and dismantle the illegal blockades, hopefully in a non-violent manner.  Since part of civil disobedience is the real possibility of being arrested and jailed, the protesters — both native and non-native — have to be willing to end up in jail.  Violent resistance is not among the principles governing the use of civil disobedience.  It is now up to the protesters to confirm their adherence to those principles and either dismantle the blockades or be arrested.  Not doing so will only hurt their stated causes and loose any public support and possibly even the support of many native peoples.  The federal government has made it clear that it remains willing to continue its reconciliation policies and initiatives with indigenous peoples.  The protesters, whether you choose to agree or disagree, have made their point.  Further hurting people across the country is not the way to go!

Canada Native Issues

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Feb 15

Racism Against Indigenous People Exists In Canada and We Need To Do Something

by bcurry

In August 2016, a farmer shot and killed an unarmed 22 year-old Indigenous man on his Saskatchewan farm and was subsequently charged with second-degree murder. This February, an all-white jury found the accused not guilty in what the farmer claimed was an accidental shooting with a handgun.  Under Saskatchewan’s jury selection system, potential jurors are selected using provincial health care records. However, health care is provided by the federal Health Department to indigenous persons living on reserves, and consequently they wouldn’t have provincial health cards.  During the jury selection process itself and using “peremptory challenges” to block potential jurors, the defence blocked all those summoned jurors who appeared to be Indigenous, whether young or old, male or female — thus the resulting all white jury. This was not a new issue. For example, in 2013 former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci recommended discussing the possibility of asking the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to prevent the use of peremptory challenges to discriminate against First Nations people. No wonder there was outrage among Indigenous peoples across Canada. After all, justice not only has to be provided under the legal system, but it also has to be seen as being just and fair.

We now have the Federal Government stating that it will undertake a review of the Criminal Code and legal processes across Canada to determine if there are systemic discrimination practices. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to see changes made to the legal system to ensure that the rights of Indigenous people are protected and that the system is more inclusive. Given Canada’s history of racism and today’s policies aimed at reconciliation with First Nations people, changes are urgently needed. According to the most recent findings by Canada’s prison watchdog, while Indigenous people in Canada make-up 4.3 percent of the population, they represent more than 25 percent of inmates. There’s something terribly wrong with this situation.  More has to be done with regard to the lack of trust by Indigenous people with the police — especially the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the courts and the corrections system.

In 2015 in its final report documenting the history and legacy of Canada’s residential school system, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission raised serious concerns for current and future generations of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children. As a growing crisis, the report noted that Indigenous youth are overrepresented in Canada’s prisons and in the child-welfare system. Prime Minister Trudeau is planning to overhaul the way the federal government relates to Indigenous Peoples, proposing a new legislative framework designed to pave the way towards stronger rights and greater control over their own destiny. It’s about time!

Canada Native Issues Race Relations

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Apr 14

The Great North — Strong, Free and Mostly Poor for Native Populations

by bcurry

Attawapiskat is a remote community of roughly 2000 people, mostly comprised of first nation folks, and led by the reserve’s band council. It is located in the Kenora District in northern Ontario, Canada, at the mouth of the Attawapiskat River on James Bay. Like other remote northern communities, it is connected to other towns along the shore of James Bay by the seasonal ice road/winter road constructed each December. Otherwise, people and supplies have to be flown into and out of the region.

We have just learned that Attawapiskat has suffered from an epidemic of suicide attempts, including eleven young residents last April 9th involving what is believed to have been the result of a suicide pact.  Subsequently, the community’s dire situation was exposed by national media.  The province of Ontario and the Federal Government admitted that they haven’t done enough in the past to help such communities. Housing is inadequate, the local elementary school is falling apart, substance abuse is high, young people have little to do on the reserve, mental health and other social services are totally lacking, and poverty and high unemployment is rampant.  In this environment of hopelessness, it is understandable why the suicide rate for such communities is roughly eight times the national rate.

In Canada, Aboriginal kids drop out of school at a rate three times the national average. A larger number of Aboriginal children die in infancy than among the rest of our population’s newborns.  Aboriginal children and Aboriginal women continue to be sexually assaulted and violently victimized at higher rates.  Aboriginals are murdered at a rate almost seven times higher than the national average.  In 2013, the Correctional Investigator reported that Canada’s prison population has grown by 2,100 inmates — a 16.5-per-cent increase — in the last 10 years. In that time, the overall Aboriginal population in the prisons grew by 46 percent, while the number of Aboriginal women increased by 80 percent and now accounts for one in three women under federal sentence.  Something terrible has gone wrong.

These appalling statistics and numbers represent real people. Every once and awhile, tragic stories like those in Attawapiskat make the headlines. Governments are forced to react in the short-term until the headlines fade from our memories.  Recognizing the complexities, cultural issues and history behind the problems, what we really need are long-term solutions in consultation with these communities.  Just throwing more money at the problem may not be the answer.  What is needed are on-going comprehensive and holistic approaches involving access to better education, social and health services, as well as innovative socioeconomic initiatives.  We have to stop simply reacting from one crisis to another.

Canada Native Issues Uncategorized Youth Suicide

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