This morning on the radio I was treated to something unique in my experience. It had to do with the ongoing stand-off in Caledonia between the residents there and the people of the neighbouring Six Nations Reserve who claim the land as part of their reservation, saying that it was stolen from them at some point in the past 200 years. There was a woman who was complaining that Ontario's Premier McGuinty was falling down on the job, not backing up the non-Native residents and cracking the whip on the Natives, who have been blocking roads and protesting. The thing that was utterly flabbergasting was that this woman was uttering all this in a Scots burr so broad she was just this side of understandable to Canadian ears. A British immigrant complaining about Native encroachment...! It might as well have been 1790.
Look, I know we're all equal, and once you've immigrated legally and become a citizen you're a citizen and that's that. At least in the eyes of the law, there's no distinction. But I have to tell you, even as a non-Native, I found myself rather affronted that this person from abroad was here demanding her own rights be respected and moreover asserted over those of the descendents of the original inhabitants of this country. Just for one brief moment there, I think I caught a glimpse of how all the rest of us must look to the Natives of the American hemisphere, Australia, Africa, and elsewhere. The arrogance, self-centredness, and hubris of this white-makes-right attitude were noxious.
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The native contingent squatting on the former Douglas Creek subdivision near Caledonia have been calling for the Federal Government to get involved in negotiating the dispute.
It's very possible they will end up regretting that request. Unlike the pusillanimous McGuinty moonbats, the Conservatives apparently aren't planning to roll over and play dead.
It hardly matters what the Conservatives are or aren't willing to do, nor the Liberals nor the NDP nor anyone else, for that matter. The government of Canada is a party to such treaties, not their arbiter. That is the role of the courts. If the courts decide the transfer was executed in good faith, so be it. If not... Well, surely the Tories — the supposed "law and order" champions who've squeaked into power largely on the people's disgust for Liberal excesses — will want to shine their badges up by either removing the developers or else conducting a fair latterday trade.
The thing that was utterly flabbergasting was that this woman was uttering all this in a Scots burr so broad she was just this side of understandable to Canadian ears. A British immigrant complaining about Native encroachment...!
And she doesn't betray a trace of irony. I know the drill.
On another note, imagine thinking McGuinty a moonbat!
On another note, imagine thinking McGuinty a moonbat!
If you're genuinely the kind of guy who believes in circling the wagons till General Sheridan arrives, anyone shy of Lord Kitchener probably comes across a little flappy. :)
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