March 5, 2008
Brandford Expositor
Thanks to The Expositor and Sun media's Queens Park columnist, Christine Blizzard, for offering a perfect example of what was described at a McMaster University information meeting last week as mainstream manipulation of the facts.
Without any knowledge of history, it will continue to be difficult for most Canadians to even begin to understand what is going on with Six Nations land claims.
Ignorance is not racism, but racism is rooted in ignorance. Ms. Blizzard is obviously lacking in both knowledge and understanding of the events she described in Tuesday's column, "Real estate values go boom in Caledonia."
First and fundamental is the fact that the people of Six Nations are historically, not Canadians, not subjects of the Crown but, rather, allies. They have the right to become Canadians should they choose, and many have, but it is not intrinsic upon birth. They are born free to govern themselves as any other nations.
There is no point in history when Six Nations, and the Mohawks in particular, gave up that status. Yet Canada, Ontario and Brantford continue to assume jurisdiction over them. If there was such an incident, I'd be thrilled to have someone point to it.
It's a matter of power imposed upon a weaker nation culminating in 1924. Shortly after the illegal takeover of the Six Nations traditional government, Canada made it illegal for an Indian to raise money for any legal defence and disbarred any law society lawyer if they took on a case on behalf of Six Nations. That law stayed in place until 1952. By then the lie had taken root.
The federal government's 100-year campaign to hide history and assume authority over a recognized sovereign nation has resulted in this national misconception. Articles like Blizzard's continue to entrench that misinformation in the minds of Canadians.
The people of Six Nations are trying to rid themselves of the oppression and discrimination embodied in the Indian Act and return to who they once were - a free and proud nation dependent on no one but the land they stand on.
Blizzard makes a point in her article of using phrases like, "a group of Six Nations protesters" in reference to the former Douglas Creek land dispute. The fight for the truth about that land near Caledonia is being taken up by the Six Nations traditional government, chiefs and clan mothers, with the help of highly educated historians in co-operation with the Six Nations elected government - not a bunch a "protesters".
As much as Blizzard and others of her ilk would like this to be an open and shut case, it is not. It is extremely complicated thanks to the concentrated cover-up of two centuries or better of proven misappropriations and abuses of power suffered by a people the government hoped would have been assimilated long ago.
Regarding the OPP's failure to deal with what is perceived as lawlessness? Obviously, Blizzard hasn't been watching the Cayuga court house. Dozens of Six Nations people have been arrested and face charges for various things related to the reclamation of their land - a price the people of Six Nations are willing to pay for their future generations.
Two suggestions for Blizzard and those like her. First, do a little fact-finding and, secondly, pressure your Queen's Park and Parliament Hill representatives to get more serious about finding the truth and spend less time hiding it.
Jim Windle
Brantford