This is in response to the letter about the Ipperwash settlement written by Robert W. Archibald, "Compromise one-sided," Dec. 24.
Neither might nor white is right. Right is right, no matter how inconvenient or how uncomfortable that might make you.
Archibald's inference that the government's proposed resolution of the Ipperwash land dispute is an "appeasement" hits exactly at the root of why there is so much tension between natives and non-natives - historical ignorance and Anglo arrogance.
The remark assumes that the truth behind the Ipperwash claim is meaningless and that the $26 million and the return of the land is nothing more than a patronizing pat on the head.
If true, I, too, as a Canadian taxpayer would be pretty bummed out. But I'd also assume that the people of Kettle and Stony Point would be just as upset , if that's all it is.
The truth of the matter is that the land was stolen from the natives. It didn't happen in some ancient history, and what is going back to them is no handout or patronizing appeasement. It is the right thing to do. Finally!
Another so-called "appeasement" took place at Six Nations two weeks ago when our government finally recognized another gross misconduct on Canada's part in the wanton destruction of around 2,400 acres of Six Nations land by way of the flooding of native farmland in the construction of the Welland Canal. Six Nations has been asking our government to fess up for 150 years and finally got it. Is that an appeasement too ?
The "new era" described in The Expositor editorial which Archibald speaks out against is a long time coming and I, too, hope it signals a new attitude in Ottawa and at Queen's Park.
And there's lots more to come.
Conservative federal negotiator Ron Doering has admitted to the media regarding the embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars, (today worth hundreds of millions) from the Six Nations Trust Fund to build the Grand River Navigation Canal Company in the 1830s, "We've investigated this claim and we've got a lot of 'splainin' to do, Lucy." It's about time.
Jim Windle