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Attawapiskat is in huge trouble. An Ontarian Cree First Nations Reserve on the western edge of James Bay, it lies far enough north ( lat ~ 52°18'N) to be no place to be caught camping in November. Several hundred such citizens from the small reserve are doing exactly that, and they are in real trouble. In fact, just about a month ago they declared a State of Emergency (not the first time either) and finally, just in the last week or so, as November deepened and the temperature hovered around -22 c., the Government has taken some real notice of it. They had very little choice. The opposition has given them very little choice.
Harper may finally have his Majority, and so would rather do nothing, but with the Opposition Parties' loud and passionate pleas they no longer have the option of doing nothing at all. They tried though.
They did spend the last few weeks downplaying it as best they could and basically have spent their time and the victim's time lamenting pathetically, about all the money that they (actually we) have already wasted on these people. In the Governments view they might as well be Occupiers. Had they been there only to make a point, they would have gotten no less respect. They have not been getting any respect at all from this government.
Stephen Harper has not yet gone to have a look for himself in spite of Opposition insistence that he do so at once. Nycole Turmel, interim NDP leader and leader also of the Official Opposition, and her colleague Charlie Angus who is the NDP MP who represents the riding, have just come back today from a two day fact finding mission to the area. And as if that were not enough to highlight the issue, late last week the Canadian Red Cross had put out a plea for humanitarian aid, started taking donations, and so far some $70,000 has been raised, right here in Canada, in spite of the relatively weak economy.
The Canadian Red Cross is, as of Monday, November 28th, on the ground there and are busily handing out blankets and other needed supplies, and accessing the situation and making plans to alleviate the most immediate suffering.
This must be very embarrassing for the new Harper Majority, as this represents a very public testament to the necessity and value of a more immediate and focused intervention. It also shows that action is more effective than inaction and sheds a strong light on the impotence and limited scope of the vision of the Harper Government.
So far these Ideologues have failed utterly to offer anything that even remotely resembles; a human, a humanist or indeed a humanitarian based response from the fundamentalist wizards of the so-called think-tanks that sustain our 'dear leader'. It is clearer than ever to me that that kind of dull-witted and passive aggressive approach to real world problems can only add to the damage already done and ensure that yet more hardship will befall our countrymen from the shores of James Bay.
Our prime minister who has just repeated and repeated what many insist are petty, ridiculous, and callous complaints about the cost of this First Nation's upkeep. On some level he seems absolutely baffled that this has occurred. So he stands in House of Commons (located in Ottawapiskat) during Question Period and openly wonders aloud how these people could be mismanaging their money so badly as to be in danger of perishing. He almost seems to think that they are doing it to spite him. If they knew him as well as I am getting to, they just might be. He is a very hard man to fathom. He is a very hard man to tolerate.
Mr Harper: This is not about the money, this is about real flesh and blood Canadians. Men, women, and children, and they are in real need of a kind, compassionate, respectful and timely response from their Federal Government. So far it has been none of those things. Compassion is wrongly in my view, considered a weakness by some.
It almost seems that he had no idea that any of this was occurring, even though this situation had morphed into a huge problem for the residents of Attawapiskat back in 2009. How is that possible? It seems that there has been a kind of dream-state clouding their collective vision and letting them think of other more pleasant things, like the consolidation of power or CFL football, and Fly-by rituals designed for his own aggrandizement and personal glory.
In spite of the month old formal plea for help, our Mr. Harper spent the weekend in Vancouver, along with Peter Mackay our defence minister, and other operatives and minions basking in the military pomp and circumstance that they are working so hard to make seem Canadian.
April 2009 ~ The federal government shoots down the need for an evacuation of Attawapiskat after the community declares an emergency and closes two schools over what it calls an air-quality crisis. The problem stems from a 1979 underground fuel leak. Tearing down the school, which closed in 2009, uncorks a strong diesel smell. The provincial government tells Attawapiskat officials they can only help deal with air-quality problems if Ottawa gives its blessing. That did not happen.
May 12, 2009 ~ The federal government responds to the air-quality concerns saying that testing shows no health risks.
July 11, 2009 ~ A massive sewage flood dumps waste into eight buildings, which house 90 people. Both the provincial and federal government do not consider the sewage an emergency and do not evacuate the families. The federal government says the emergency plan is to accommodate displaced people in the community, but Attawapiskat officials decide to evacuate anyway. Community leaders say they are evacuating because there is nowhere for them to stay. They are flown out at huge expense. No military jets for these people. The evacuation came out of the funds already under the stewardship of the Band Council.
which is part of a much larger corporation that basically controls all of the diamonds on the planet, saw the need and the opportunity to impress that even then escaped this collection of small minded and vacuously uninspired amateur petty crooks that Harper has assembled.
They stepped to the plate at least, and provided what was clearly meant to be
a temporary solution and gave a few dozen trailers in which to house the evacuees once they returned. Looking at the pictures it is obvious that these trailers were more like shacks on wheels than what we consider real house trailers. And after the waters receded these people returned to find that the buildings that had been their homes were now condemned. They still live in those trailers. And some of them still live in those condemned houses. And at this point both the trailers and those houses affected by the flood are falling apart. For a more complete Time line use the link above.
Recent pictures ~ Camping in the Near North.
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There is Nothing like Hot Chocolate
Especially when it is -22 c.
Unfortunately
this is
Attawapiskat Tap Water
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Young Residents Exercising
Their Rights |
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Home Away from Home
Tarps Make Great Skylights |
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1917 ~ Attawapiskat ~ WWI
Support Our Troops |
Sadly, it now appears that there have been 10 visits by government officials in 2011 and three of those visits were from early to mid October and yet no alarm bells whatsoever went off. And this happened just days before the Attawapiskat Band Council reached out to the world and declared a formal State of Emergency. Does that mean that no one went to see how these people were being forced to live? That no one in the Dept. knew that there had been a problem there for over fifty years, that a natural disaster in 2009 had made that situation untenable and that there were people living in shacks shanties, tents and tee-pees still waiting for the the housing that they had been promised so long ago?
So, did these government visitors simply go from the airport to the offices of the band council and back to the airport without listening to the story that the chief and anyone they approached must have been telling them?
I can almost imagine them saying to themselves, as they ignore the calls for help:
"What do we look like"?
"The Red Cross"?
This just in: Today, November 30th, Harper's tone changed with no warning at about half way through Question Period and he just announced, matter of factly, as if he had already known all about it, that he intended to send in a third party to straighten out the rabble that was causing all of this trouble.
As I watched him in the House over the last few weeks as the demands became louder and louder that he must act, I realised that he would indeed continue to accuse these victims of committing fraud. I fear that he will find the missing money, even if he has to plant the evidence of it himself.
He is perfectly capable of never admitting that he is largely to blame for the inaction and indeed he will very likely continue to feign that he has no clue that this is in any way his doing.
Is he still in denial? No, I think he knows that he is responsible for all of the suffering he allows and that which he so often causes. That was the impression that I got while watching it. It occurred to me that his ingenuine denial is not caused by any inability to see reality. His denials are due to the fact that he is shameless and will do and say anything to continue his charade.
He likes to fly in luxury, surrounded by flunkies, yes-men, personal groomers and the like. He enjoys being the center of attention and needed to be seen and admired (at least in his own head) at the Grey Cup game. But to feign blindness and make the good citizens of Attawapiskat wait while he amuses himself and spends the price of a dozen good houses to do it, is clearly psychotic.
So, without any debate, our prime minister finally just lost his patience and, flying by the seat of his pants, our Mr. Harper simply took the money out of their hands. End of story. It was obvious while watching it that he was making this proclamation because he is convinced that they cannot be trusted to stretch the 'generous' amount of money that he has so 'generously' given them. He mat even think of it as his money.
Yeah, that should work. That is exactly what Stalin would have done. Blame the downtrodden. Hang the responsibility on the victims. Is it
^NOT supposed to be the Harper Government that stands for victims? That is the story that the boys in his caucus keep telling us.That is their only defense for their incidious crime legislation. They accuse us of not supporting victims.
Do any of us now believe it? Do any of
them now believe it? They'd better keep pretending that they do if they understand the psyche of the man who is in charge. They are, as I understand it, clearly in no position to go against their Party's story line. They are clearly all heavily scripted and limited entirely to falling back on their own lame insupportable rhetoric in order to avoid becoming caught in their own culture of deceit. They, each and every one of them, lack the courage and the ethics it would take to now admit the truth. They were, each and all of them, handpicked for their lack of courage and ethics by a man who understands what it is to sleep at night without such comforts as are afforded by real character.
So do not expect any of them to suddenly realise that they are on the wrong side of history or that honour would dictate that they should suddenly feel contrite and cross the floor en mass or take to falling on their own rather dull swords.
Hopefully, this will serve to alert Canadians from coast to coast to coast as to the real values of the Conservative Reform Alliance Party
of Canada.
If we were to believe that Stephen Harper is uncharacteristically sincere when he maintains that the Cree in Attawapiskat are indeed to blame for their plight it must also be true that he does not know that a bottle of dish soap costs 7 dollars there, that milk is $12 per four liters, that building materials cost 4 to 5 times what they cost in the South, that the cost of property insurance is outrageous in the North as it is anywhere without proper infrastructure and emergency response capabilities. These are some of the facts that govern economics in the North.
He forgets that the sewage system that was in place practically blew up in 2009 and literally covered the floors of most of the buildings in town with untreated sewage. He conveniently overlooks that at the time, his government failed to fix it as they said that they would.
He talks about having given $90 Million over 6 years to 2400 men, women and children and he simply divides it in his head without any other more subtle considerations whatsoever and concludes quite simplistically that that is $52,000 per each of them, man, woman and child.
He does not admit that he understands that the money represents almost all of the income for the entire reservation and that it necessarily must cover all of the needs of the community. That includes infrastructure, education, salaries for band council, insurance on property, firefighting, policing, medical expenditures, labour to support all of the services on the reserve, heating, lighting and the operating of equipment and water purification, plumbing, electrical work and replacement of materials etc. etc. etc..
To have to listen to this line of obtuse, bizarre and ridiculously tangential speculation in lieu of actual mathematics is depressing enough without having also to suffer his clearly fictional and possibly delusional claim that he, this vacuous man, is an economist.
In reality that $90 Million spread over 6years is necessarily covering all of these costs for a community that far North and includes among other expenses, all of their educational, and other government services. Also 'get' that it is easily twice what it costs and the government willingly pays in the lower parts of Ontario. He ignores the fact that 80% of that is required in a Northern Economy just to cover the costs of Schooling for this small community.
He also does not seem to know that they are there because it is their homeland, but also that they in a sense, are stuck there. That there is no real work, that they will not ever own a home there and that there is no through traffic to bring in money from passersby, no tourism, no prospects to earn a living really. They can hunt and so they may eat.
If the fellow could do even simple math he would know that these people need his support. A better man would take the opportunity to be the hero and not a Zero.
With the greatest respect to these long suffering people, I will humbly suggest to them that they give Harper a more appropriate name than "Walking Eagle" which was bestowed upon him by the Blood First Nation.
Personally, I have taken to calling him "Waddling Gull" anyway.
There are rumours on the web that the one reason that he would be walking is that he is too full of shit to fly. I am not sure of the actual origin of this theory but it has been repeated so many times that I hold no reservations at all in relating it here.
I don't know what this might sound like in Cree, but how about naming him a name in Cree that means that they have adopted him. It would ideally be something that roughly means:
'Little Son of Attawapiskat'
I would at that point suggest that we can all then start referring to him as:
'Wee-otta-wop-his-cat' ~ If only under our breath!
NOTE: The
Kelowna Accord which was Liberal prime minister Paul Martin's labour of love and was widely hailed by native and non-native Canadians as a means to avoid exactly the kind of situation that Attawapiskat now finds itself in.
Harper promptly announced that he would cancel, or rather fail to implement it, back in 2006
It was the result of a very complex, co-operative and intensive consultation between all of the parties concerned with treaty rights and First Nations poverty and according to those parties would have gone a long way towards fixing most of the ills that have plagued native ~ non-native relations since the first meeting of the two groups in Canada. It would have meant a 5 Billion dollar fund to help resolve the real problems of the First Nations. Instead they have been left to suffer under agovernment thatjust does not care about others.
He killed the Accord at the first possible opportunity. Largely, in my opinion, because it was a Liberal initiative. He dealt with it almost as soon as he had killed the Income Trusts.
I believe also, that Stephen Harper's senseless attacks on the long-form census and the long-gun registry were similarly motivated by a deep rooted and powerful disdain for all things Liberal, scientific, fact based or based on the sharing of Power. He also seized the moment and pretended to do both of these things to please the Libertarians among his flock.
Oddly he refuses both to recognize or deconstruct the incredibly sound banking regulations that remain the then finance minister Martin's legacy and simply takes the credit for the stability that has allowed him to mismanage Canada's economy for nearly six years and still have it reamain reasonably viable.
I am not convinced that it will last another five years under the stewardship of such a pompous dolt as Stephen Joseph Harper, especially after seeing the mess he has made of the simple arithmetic above. Of course it is clear that he has done it to protect his own hide and to help blame the victims of his own gross incompetence.
Leo Strauss would have been, and
Karl Rove must be very proud of Harper's 'amazing' achievements, given the fact that it is all as they like it, and is based solely on a term that Strauss so long ago usurped from Plato and redefined into a less than ethical tool for the gaining of political and social advantage:
"The Noble Lie." It is very clear to me that Harper is a fan of this device.
As a final thought, I happily recommend that a good source of information on the father of modern Neo-Conservatism, again, that being Leo Strauss, is a thorough and thoughtful reading of Emily Dee's wonderful blogs written under the title:
"Pushed to the Left and Loving It."
Note: (that links only to google, but it is kind enough to give 111 results that will get you where you need to get and offers a complete list on page 12 that lists all of it. That should get you started)
End note: It is also possible that you might want to read some of my other work. I am very interactive so feel free to join this blog as a friend, comment on any thread, Tweet the posts to your hearts content, share on Facebook or email any of the entries to a friend or even to a foe. I am also very easy to find, look me up, we are all in this Harper Land situation together, so above all else do not be a stranger.
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| I want you to lay down your life Hackle, we need a Futile Gesture at this Stage... |
Updates and info sources:
Their financial info is all on their website.
http://www.attawapiskat.org
Attawapiskat Chief in Ottawa. I am watching her speak and will have links later! She speaks from her heart and wants no more quiet passive resistance. She spoke for hours today it seemed very real and eloquent but her anger was evident in the tears. She looked exhausted.
Meanwhile ~ Harper stands firm in House of Commons and does dick all! I mean nothing. He is still talking about money. All the money is accounted for, again see the link above. It is all there. Every Penny!
It gets harder and harder every day to pretend that I consider him a man. Is he a man or a machine? He is not a man in my eyes. He sure as hell does not get that people deserve dignity. He sure as hell does not get that we thought he was a human when we allowed him to run for office.
Atleo Met Harper in Ottawa on Thursday December 1st
Third party oversight thrown out of Attawapiskat upon arrival. ll he brought to the desperate Community was two dozen donuts. I kid you not. Looking at the pictures of him, I'd say that he boarded the flight in with six dozen easy. He looked like he knew little about poverty.
I just watched
Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau on CBC. I really need to have a closer look at his politics. The interview was pathetic. I do not think I've ever seen a young First Nations man so out to lunch. He sounds exactly like any of Harper's clones. Do none of them ever have the courage to do what is right instead of what the PMO writes? Occupy the PMO!
Attawapiskat
Makes Formal Appeal to the United Nations for long term Aid
Meanwhile, winter closes in: This was taken at 10:00 Am on Tuesday December the 6th. Thankfully the wind is only 4km/h ans is coming out of the South. Although it is only fair to point out that dangerous winds are blowing in the South.
Worst Government Ever!
(Dec 10th, 2011) 'Twas Just Before Christmas:
DEC 18, 2011 ~ Bob Rae returning from Attawapiskat asks PM to go there too.
Yet Another look at the numbers
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