Aboriginal corrections report finds ‘systemic discrimination’

CBC News, Mar 7, 2013

Aboriginal people are so vastly over-represented in Canada’s federal prison system that current policies are clearly failing them, according to a new report by the Office of the Correctional Investigator.

New research finds at least 3,000 confirmed Indian residential school deaths

Colin Perkel, Canadian Press, Feb 18, 2013

At least 3,000 children, including four under the age of 10 found huddled together in frozen embrace, are now known to have died during attendance at Canada’s Indian residential schools, according to new unpublished research.

Northern Territory: Australian Government Asked To Leave Aboriginal Community

Sarah Keenan, Critical Legal Thinking, 05 September 2012

Aboriginals burn Australian flag during protests in 2012.

Just over five years ago, on 21 June 2007, Australia’s then prime min­is­ter John Howard announced that rates of child sex abuse in the country’s North­ern Ter­rit­ory abori­ginal com­munit­ies were so high that they con­sti­tuted a national emer­gency. Draw­ing on the fed­eral government’s con­sti­tu­tional power to over­ride Ter­rit­ory legis­la­tion, and sus­pend­ing Australia’s Racial Dis­crim­in­a­tion Act 1975, Howard led the fed­eral gov­ern­ment in rush­ing through the North­ern Ter­rit­ory National Emer­gency Response Act 2007.  Pushed through par­lia­ment in less than four weeks, there was an almost total lack of con­sulta­tion with the abori­ginal com­munit­ies that were to be affected.

Sticker campaign targets ‘racist’ B.C. lieutenant-governor

CBC News, Aug 14, 2012

Street sign with sticker reading “Joseph Trutch was a racist bigot” in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighborhood.

A mysterious campaign has cropped up in Kitsilano that takes aim at B.C.’s first lieutenant-governor, Sir Joseph William Trutch, who was known for his hard-line views towards the province’s First Nations people.

Several street signs along Trutch Street have been defaced by a large white sticker that reads, “Joseph Trutch was a racist bigot”.

Cowichan band declares emergency over suicides

Cowichan Chief says sense of hopelessness leads to suicides, alerts

By Dirk Meissner, Canadian Press, May 14, 2012

A pervasive sense of helplessness among a Vancouver Island first nation has spawned suicides and attempted suicides, says the chief of the Cowichan Tribes.
Since January, four people have killed themselves and another 52 so-called suicide alerts have been issued in the community.

This Land is Not for Sale!

STOP THE BC TREATY PROCESS

WarriorPublications.wordpress.com, March 2012

Background & History

Graffiti against BC treaty process in Alert Bay, Kwakwak'awakw territory 2011.

BC is unique in Canada in that virtually no treaties were made in the occupation & settlement of the province. This was in violation of the 1763 Royal Proclamation, which legally bound the British to make treaties surrendering Indigenous territory. Britain –and later Canada– followed this law in their westward expansion, making a series of numbered treaties across the prairies (i.e., Treaty No. 3, etc.).

B.C. first nation one step closer to $17.5-million treaty

Warrior Publications Note: The BC treaty process, established in 1992, is an effort by the BC and Canadian governments to legitimize the theft of Indigenous lands in the province and create economic certainty for capitalists.  It is a fraudulent process in which the government negotiates with state-funded Indian Act band councils.  Once treaties are signed, the bands will owe millions of dollars loaned to them for negotiations and reserve lands will be turned to fee simple private property that can be bought and sold.

Colonization: A War for Territory

By Zig-Zag, WarriorPublications.wordpress.com

(Originally pub. 1999 as Colonization is Always War, Revised 2012)

“If anyone is trying to destroy you, STOP HIM!”
Karoniaktajeh – Louis Hall, Warrior’s Handbook p. 1

War & Colonization

Just slightly over 500 years ago, in 1492, three European ships under the command of Christopher Columbus arrived on the shores of what has come to be known as the Americas. With this began a genocidal war aimed at destroying Indigenous nations, occupying our ancestral territories, and plundering the natural wealth of the earth. How many tens of millions of Indigenous people were killed in this war will never be known, although the methods of massacres, biological warfare, executions, torture, and the enslavement of entire nations, has been well documented by historians.

‘Many survivors are in terrible pain’

Residential schools left lasting trauma, commission finds

By Terri Theodore, Winnipeg Free Press, Feb 25, 2012

Native children in residential school

VANCOUVER — Tears form in Barney Williams’ eyes and his hand rests over his heart when he speaks about how important a report on residential schools is for First Nations who grew up in the church-run schools.

“Many survivors are in terrible pain,” said Williams, himself a residential school survivor and an elder with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which released its interim report Friday.

Residential School Settlement a Flawed Deal: Survivor’s Group

Group representing residential school survivors says compensation deal flawed

Winnipeg Free Press/CP, Feb 3, 2012

Canoes outside St. Michael's Residential School in Alert Bay, BC

WINNIPEG – It’s the largest-ever compensation deal in Canadian history – but groups that represent thousands of aboriginal people have come forward to say it’s flawed.

The National Residential School Survivors Society is calling for a judicial review of the $5-billion Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

That means claimants might have to go back to court to reopen the deal.