I’ve been holding off on posting about the Conservative’s Aboriginal vision, at the suggestion of some of our Conservative friends who have been asking that I “wait until the new policy is released”.

Funny. There hasn’t been a “new policy” yet. Monte’s little slip about “our own plan” to “help the natives” is very interesting. The “policy” currently up at their website is pure Flanagan, without the explicit use of the term “assimilation”.

Which whole thing? The Conservative Aboriginal policy?

Frankly, I was insulted by the comments. If the CpoC wants me to believe that they will honor commitments (which I know they wont) and only want to deal with the fiduciary aspects of it, then that still leaves the question of wether or not they will decrease the amount of money committed (which they will).

Of course, who am I to speak, right? I am “a special interest group”, right?

Kashechewan is off the radar wideye, the First Ministers Meeting is over, and all the problems have been fixed don’t ‘cha know….. everything is good again and the Canadian population can go to sleep with easy minds tonight because of that.

How can the government reverse laws and agreements? It’s actually pretty easy if people don’t give a rats a$$ about what’s happening, or buy into the rhetoric because it’s ‘just easier to deal with’. They’re the government, they set the agenda, and people have been conditioned to believe they are powerless — at least until the next election cycle, and even then I consider voter apathy as just another sign of conditioned powerlessness.

It will be easy to do because people want to believe that all “that stuff” happened 200 years ago instead of within their lifetimes.

It will be easy to do because people really do not want to believe that their government and their religious institutions really did anything ‘that bad’.

I can pretty well guarantee you that a SSM reversal would get more coverage and national interest than the Kelowana Accord getting scrapped… it’s not worth any tax payer money so it’s something that people can get behind.

Kashechewan is the result of Liberal and Conservative governments failures. They have made little in the way of progress for years now.

The problems on reserves have been there for years. In fact it has taken this Liberal government 10 plus years to deal with the mission school issues. They still have not dealt with it as we wait for more stuff to happen.

Job opportunities, education and health care continue to be problems because neither the Conservatives or Liberals while in power do anything.

I have some concerns with a “majority” CPoC government. A monority will be tolerable. My conserns deal largely with the likes of Tom Flannigan and the Calgary school folks.

a great post here on that matter…

The tender concern for Aboriginal communities currently being shown by many of our conservative blogbrethren is deeply touching. I predict that deep concern will last exactly as long as Kashechewan and other current problems remain useful sticks to beat the Liberals over the head with - and it will then evaporate as quickly as a Liberal campaign promise.

I don’t think Kashechewan is off the radar just yet,

No? Two male prisoners were burned alive in the Kashechewan jail last weekend. The facility was an old delapitated house turned into a make-shift jail, there was no fire suppression system, no decent alarms, and the cells had to be padlocked shut because the cell door locks didn’t work. They were burned alive while locked in their cells.

- how much play did it get? How close to the centre of the radar screen is the community that had the national spotlight just a few weeks ago? What did Martin, Harper, or Layton say about it on the campaign trail?

Sorry Candace, and please forgive my bluntness (it’ not specifically directed towards you), but generally speaking mainstream southern Canada does not give a flying f****, they have greater and more important concerns to amuse themselves with and to occupy their time right now than being interested in their governments legal responsibilities towards the first peoples of the country.

I mean really, things like whether or not Jack Layton once used a for profit medical clinic, or whether Martin approved the attack ads before he approved the ads that he didn’t approve, or whether or not Harper really does suffer from cronic Bush sack envy, are way more important than people dying in poverty in their own back yard isn’t it?

– but hey, maybe the nation will get lucky and we can let the CPoC have their kick at the cat… given that their initial offering is to scrap the Kelowana Agreement things can only get better can’t they?

It is an interesting response Candance and speaks generally to the issues and problems experienced by many Aboriginal people in Canada (ie. “good rhetoric but it’s all been heard before”) but without public push where will it go?

The government has very selective radar Candace, Kashechewan is not on it, nor is it on the general publics radar - wait until the funding issues the CPoC has get opened up (if in fact the CPoC even follows through with the agreement instead of tossing it and getting on to their plan) and watch what happens now that plane loads of sick and poverty stricken Abiriginal people are not walking across a cold and snowy runway in front of TV cameras.

If Kashechewan was anywhere near close to the centre of the public radar screen two men being burned alive while padlocked in the cells of of a ramshackle jail would have resulted in significant public interest and outcry, as it happens, it did not.

Interestingly enough a dead white girl in Toronto did.

If Kashechewan was anywhere near close to the centre of the campaign radar screen two men being burned alive while padlocked in the cells of a ramshackle jail would have been worth at least passing mention, as it happens, it did not.

Interestingly enough a dead white girl in Toronto did.

Is that jaded, some would say so, I consider it realistic. I’ve lived and worked in small Aboriginal communities for (with the exception of the last 3 years) my entire adult life, I still both work with, and on behalf of, the Aboriginal community on a daily basis and I have seen this shite happen time after time after time after time, it starts to wear on a fella after a while.