first nations – David Akin’s On The Hill

For the record: Statement from Shawn Atleo resigning as AFN National Chief

This is terribly unsettling news. Atleo is a principled, courageous leader who recognized that the single best way to make the lives of First Nations people better was through education. Improving education systems and outcomes takes time — generations even — but Atleo was a victim to attacks from other First Nations politicians looking to score quick points. Here is the statement Atleo delivered this afternoon at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa:

STATEMENT FROM ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS NATIONAL CHIEF SHAWN A-IN-CHUT ATLEO

(Ottawa, ON) – Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo made the below statement in Ottawa, ON today.

“I have stated clear priority on the recognition of Treaty, of Indigenous rights and title, on the safety and security of our most vulnerable, and I have also made my priority on education for our kids plainly clear. Continue reading For the record: Statement from Shawn Atleo resigning as AFN National Chief

NDP Convention: E-5 Emergency resolution on the on-going crisis in First Nations Communities

E-5 Emergency resolution on the on-going crisis in First Nations Communities

Submitted by : Aboriginal Commission

WHEREAS the continuing incation of the Conservative government has pushed the arleady heightened sense of frustration felt by First Nations expressed through the Idle No More grassroots movement to a tipping point : Continue reading NDP Convention: E-5 Emergency resolution on the on-going crisis in First Nations Communities

NDP Convention: E-1 Emergency resolution on NunatuKavut Community

E-1 Emergency resolution on NunatuKavut Community

Submitted by: Labrador

WHEREAS the NDP has consistently called on the Government of Canada to live up to its responsibilities towards all First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, and to make treaties, as well as the settlement and implementation of comprehensive land claims a priority; Continue reading NDP Convention: E-1 Emergency resolution on NunatuKavut Community

Annals of colonialism, pt II: Empowerment of First Nations is also their subjection

And will the profits of destruction

Forever make your eyes blind
Do you bow to the corporations?
‘Cause they pay their bills on time

God bless Elijah, with the feather in his hand
Stop stealing the Indian land
Stop stealing the Indian land
Stop stealing the Indian land

– Lyric from the lead track, “Fools Like You” from the 1992 Blue Rodeo album Lost Together

Cornell University anthropologist Paul Nadasdy has an interesting idea. The idea that First Nations should be ’empowered’ — thats the call to action in those last few triumphant lines of the Blue Rodeo anthem quoted above — may not be such a progressive idea after all. In fact, Nadasdy suggests that “empowerment” of First Nations might just be one more trick in the colonialist’s bag. Continue reading Annals of colonialism, pt II: Empowerment of First Nations is also their subjection

Joe Johnson gets a hunting license

In a fascinating and provocative essay titled “Boundaries among Kin: Sovereignty, the Modern Treaty Process, and the Rise of Ethno-Territorial Nationalism,” Cornell University Professor Paul Nadasdy argues that land claims agreements and negotiations between the Canadian government and Canadian First Nations have, at least in some instances, led to the “the rise of ethno-territorial nationalisms among First Nations.” Moreover Nadasdy presents the thesis that the very act of trying to transfer power, governance, and control from the so-called colonial power — that would be Canada — to First Nations is itself a colonizing act because, Nadasdy says, it “implicitly devalue[s] aboriginal forms of socio-political organization [and] it is also helping transform First Nation society in radical and often unintended ways. One of the most significant aspects of this transformation is the emergence among Yukon First Nation peoples of multiple ethno-territorial identities and corresponding nationalist sentiments.”

Continue reading Joe Johnson gets a hunting license