This is such a relevant and cogent article, summed up best for me by: “That the abuse of indigenous women is only noticed if the perpetrator happens to be non-indigenous is a deeply troublesome sign for our society.”
Fostered and helped along apace by the MMIW report -- this is second only to the TRC report as an egregious waste of taxpayer money. It is unconscionable that our government used our money to create such societal division and twisted rhetoric.
Cathy Merrick's comment that, "violence is something we have learned as a people" is not only laughable but indicative of the hypocrisy and duplicity of the double standard characterizing indigenous offenders in Canada's justice system. One can only wonder and speculate why she did not end her statement with the popular Blame Game cliche of, "from forced attendance at Residential School." The author's are absolutely correct that the media has been purposely restrained in releasing information on this offender's criminal history and indigenous background, an omission that they have thankfully corrected and one in which I express gratitude for. Perhaps in the toxic fog of political correctness we are obliged to follow the advice of Robert Jordan who said, "that which cannot be changed must be endured".
"Political correctness is just tyranny with manners. I wish for you the courage to be unpopular. Popularity is history's pocket change. Courage is history's true currency." ~ Charlton Heston
That statement is hilarious. It posits, one imagines, some kind of pre-contact Eden full of "noble savages," instead of the Hobbesian "nasty, brutish and short" reality. There must be some kind of collective indigenous amnesia.
It is well documented that violence was part of their culture well before the new world settled here. Particularly abhorrent was the “mourning wars” they engage in.
out here on the west coast in BC, where UNDRIP is made into law and the government is busy making amendments to the Land Act that place, basically, all Crown land use under consultation agreements with first nations, even if no land or rights claim has been made, tribal customs including slavery were very brutal. The Haida and Cowichan in particular engaged in slavery and war raids up and down the coast. Yet, to hear natives (and worse, their "settler" allies) talk about the past, it was a peacable kingdom.
Yeah, I too was surprised that the residential schools didn't make it into Merrick's remarks; closest she came was a reference to keeping their people out of "the systems." I transcribed her speech while I was watching the APTN news conference. Most media reports did not include her suggestion that violence isn't the "way" of her people, or her sympathetic offering towards Manoakeesick that he loved his children, that she's sure he's sorry, etc. Here's the text of (some of) her comments; might as well share the exact words here, since I took 'em down:
Merrick:
<< It’s not our way, as a people. It’s not our way, in our culture, in our language, when we talk about violence. It’s violence, something that we have learnt, as a people. And I’m very heartbroken with the loss of our women, and with the loss of our young ones that we have lost. … And I was thinking, that we have to prevent these things from happening to our families. We need to be able to ensure that we’ll be able to provide our relatives with what they need in their life, in terms of the disparities that we encounter with our relatives. It’s sad that people are struggling, and we need to ensure that they have access to culturally appropriate services, that we’ll be able to ensure that we see, and that we be able to ensure that we provide that for them. A lot of our people get caught in between, and they struggle, and these things happen. I’m sure the man loved his children. I’m sure that he’s sorry. That he had to pull them out of the vehicle. But he did something wrong, and that’s why we’re here today, to speak to that wrongness that happened. . . . We have to respect life. We only get one chance at life. We have to respect it. We have to ensure that our relatives respect life, so they don’t end up in the systems. So we have a lot of responsibility as leaders, as mothers, as kookums, that we be responsible as to how we teach our children, to be respectful. >>
Thanks for the (lovely) ear worm Kemosabe. While we’re trippin' down memory lane, have you seen/heard Adrian Sutherland’s cover of Heart of Gold, in Cree? I much prefer it to Neil Young’s original; Sutherland is a far better singer, and rather a heartthrob to boot (IMO : ). And those adorable kids in the video, gosh. I search this out from time to time for a pick-me-up, and your link reminded me of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMTzfSWNBhc
A very talented singer and the kids were great. I can see why you liked it. Interesting to note the decline in news articles about missing children and the genocide hoax. They must feel slighted to be usurped by all the media attention given to Israel and Gaza. There is an entitled group of indigenous activists in Montreal called the Mohawk Mothers who have been interfering with the expansion of a Montreal hospital on the belief that a CIA sponsored mind control project in the 1960s used indigenous children, murdered them and then buried them on the hospital grounds. Right, a story right out of the Twilight Zone. I am surprised no one has done an article on this yet.
Hymie wrote about it back in July 2023: https://hymie.substack.com/p/breaking-search-dogs-find-signs-of I remember commenting on it (I see that I was long-winded, as usual : ), and you had commented on it also. But you're right, there've been no updates that I've seen. I'm curious to know what's happening with that, but haven't looked into it since last summer.
I thought it was significant (and, in a sense, encouraging) that, in response to the Carman killings, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew made the following comment, "There is no context, there is no explanation that can make this OK. This is pure darkness." Significant in the sense that he did not try to explain the killings away, blame them on the evils of settler colonialism, the legacy of residential schools etc. "No context ... no explanation ... pure darkness."
When the MMIW report was first published, I researched Stats Canada data, and found it as described above. Indeed, the highest solve rate for murders in Canada was for Indigenous women because the murderer is usually known to the victim and people who know her, and (presumably) often close by. The same is true for non-indigenous women, but their solve rate was a bit lower (presumably because there are more stranger-murders), and there is a much lower rate of murder.
The next highest solve rate was for Indigenous men, and the lowest rate was for non-indigenous men (thought to be related to drug gang violence and a high prevelance of stranger murders). Indeed, if all Indigenous murders had been compared to all murders in Canada, the gap in the level of violence and the solve rates would have made it abundantly clear, in the report, that the problem was not about non-Indigenous people killing Indigenous people.
The MMIW commission, frankly, betrayed Indigenous women when they failed to discuss what must have been abundantly obvious to them. Instead of creating (or feeding) the narrative that there are monsterous (probably white) men stalking and killing indigenous women, they had a moral obligation and the stage to say, "Indigenous women, especially on reserves, are living in horrific circumstances that include all kinds of abuse up to and including murder at the hands of indigenous men. Please help us to address this problem." Why didn't they say that? Surely it isn't because they couldn't reflect on the known statistics and their own experiences. Were they afraid? Intimidated? Or, perhaps they've learned over generations to accept violence as the reality of their lives.
As mentioned by another commenter, the suggestion that violence among indigenous people is new, the implication being, since the arrival of Europeans, is ridiculous. I have done considerable reading of journals, diaries, and biographies from early contact up to about the 1920s. Yes, they are written by Europeans with the exception of one being the diary of a "white" Indian (a white man kidnapped as a boy and adopted into Indigenous families, who was never able to return to living among Europeans). Nevertheless, while written by Europeans or their descendants, accounts I have read appear to me to be internally consistent. More important, written decades apart and being accounts which in some cases would have been unknown to other authors, they are convincingly consistent with one another. In other words, violence and the level of brutality among and between indigenous families, between less closely related groups, between hunter-gatherer groups, and between "nations" was astonishing and appalling, and pre-existed the arrival of Europeans.
Perhaps what changed during the last one or two centuries, is that Indigenous people have learned to identify it not as something to be respected (revenge, bravery, securing resources, etc.), but as something abhorrent. Hence the need to disown this aspect of indigenous history, and blame the result on Europeans.
As it turns out, it takes more than a few hundred years to evolve.
An excellent comment, Janice. Another glaring (I think) way the MMIWG inquiry report failed indigenous women is that NOT A SINGLE ONE of its 231 recommendations (Calls for Justice) in the final report is directed to the women THEMSELVES, to urge them to change any behaviours or take greater measures to reduce their risk. (Of course, we know why: To suggest that "vulnerable" individuals have any personal agency or responsibility to protect themselves would be strictly taboo! Old school victim-blaming! Boo-hiss!)
The thing is you were able to find the info on Stats can about homicide, closure rates, et cetera. I found it. Anyone could find it. The fact that the MMIW report chose to ignore publicly available data is an egregious omission. Was that done purposely? I'd sure like to have been a fly on the wall in the committee discussion on that.
More than 20 years ago, in the report of Manitoba’s Aboriginal Justice Inquiry Implementation Commission (AJIC; the implementation report came out in 2001; the inquiry itself was conducted in the 1990s), the commissioners – both were indigenous or Metis I think – actually lambaste indigenous leaders for their failure to do anything about domestic violence in their communities. You so seldom see anyone in an official capacity daring to place blame on FN themselves (without couching it in language about intergenerational trauma, etc.), that this was quite surprising to come across. http://www.ajic.mb.ca/reports/final_toc.html
I haven’t read the full report of the MMIWG Inquiry (just the Calls portion, which was struggle enough), but I rather doubt that the MMIWG folks would have cited the following scathing comments from the AJIC report (chapter nine):
<< Most chiefs and council members are male and often exhibit bias in favour of the male partner in a domestic abuse situation. This can effectively chase the woman from her home and community.
The unwillingness of chiefs and councils to address the plight of women and children suffering abuse at the hands of husbands and fathers is quite alarming. We are concerned enough about it to state that we believe that the failure of Aboriginal government leaders to deal at all with the problem of domestic abuse is unconscionable. We believe that there is a heavy responsibility on Aboriginal leaders to recognize the significance of the problem within their own communities. They must begin to recognize, as well, how much their silence and failure to act actually contribute to the problem. >>
Wow. That's pretty powerful. I did an electronic search of the MMIW reports for the quote and for reference to the AJIC report. I cannot find reference to either. I'm not confident that confirms with certainty there is no such reference. However, it seems to me that giving what the AJIC report has to say a place may (and may have) save(d) some lives. Sadly, it appears that reaching a conclusion that lends itself to the "ongoing genocide" narrative was more important than actually saving women and girls.
There is absolutely evidence that indigenous women and girls have been harmed (and murdered) by non-indigenous men. However, there is ample evidence that the vast majority of the violence (and poverty) they suffer is experienced in their own homes and their own communities and results from a culture of violence against women, which I believe has been longstanding and pre-existed the arrival of Europeans.
That aside, the fact the MMIWG commission seems to have sought to reinforce the genocide narrative rather than expose the real cause of the misery experienced by some (many?) indigenous women, indigenous men, is really not forgivable.
that's quite interesting. Things have changed a lot vis a vis victim/oppressor narrative in the intervening 20 years. Given the Royal Commission was in what, 1995 or something like that, it's even remarkable that that topic was covered like that in a 1998 document. I wonder if any of the work of this AJIC was ever implemented. Certainly this part was disregarded.
I live in Winnipeg. First Nations refuse to deal with destructive issues within their own culture preferring to blame some spectre of the past for all woes. Governments, laws, media and institutions that encourage this chronic victimization is not helping them at all. The situation will not improve for them no matter what narrative is presented. Not until they actually assimilate into Canadian society like everyone else will they be treated and function like everyone else. Until then they will remain on the fringe, locked in some nebulous past, by their own and the governments choice and policy because that is the way of least resistance. Real change is hard, blame is easy. Anyone who had raised children realize this fact
Watching the news related to the Manitoba murders, it was abundantly clear there was a decision not to identify Manoakeesick as Native. There were two other murders reported that day in Canada, pictures of the accused were shown. There were no pictures of the murderer in Manitoba except finally a few days later on Global. There's an obvious concerted effort to not inform the public of Native misdeeds.
The topic of blaming indigenous for the crimes they commit has become the white elephant in the room. Everyone knows it’s there but no one wants to talk about it
read an article from the Edmonton Sun a long while back that indicated that some of the missing indigenous woman are in witness protection (and they need to be), some died and may never be found, and some died that are found.....the reserves have ancient paths of dealing with people that are not the norm in the rest of Canada
They love to call themselves warriors, but how can you be one if you don’t go to war? Merrick is something else. Check out the video of her and the Marbourough hotel in Winnipeg or the recent demand for a half billion dollar road to a reservation that hosts 10k people. Unbelievable
I agree with everything said in this article, but it might make a difference in your Google searches if you spell Myles Sanderson's name correctly. Not sure why you stuck with 'Miles' throughout this article, when every hit your search pulls up spells it Myles.
Good catch, thanks. Just made a correction, and added the note: (note: “Miles” is the wrong spelling, however the redirected Google results are no different than when “Myles” is spelled correctly)
Here’s another edit you should probably make, to avoid timeline confusion.
“And earlier, on September 24th the day before the stabbing rampage, we learned that Sanderson’s sister-in-law called 911 . . .” SHOULD READ: “And earlier, on September 24th, we learned that Sanderson’s sister-in-law had called 911 the day before the stabbing rampage to report Sanderson and his brother Damien:”
(just move that one phrase, and maybe add the word "had" before "called")
But you should also be aware that the sister-in-law, Skye Sanderson, hadn't actually called 911 "to report [Myles] Sanderson and his brother Damien." She had called only because she wanted her car back, which Damien had taken. She didn’t mention that Myles was with Damien, or that either of them had outstanding warrants on them, which surely she must have known (as would Vanessa Burns have known, yet she did not report to police Myles’s assault on her on Sept 3, in which Damien had intervened).
The RCMP, from the Oct 6, 2022 CBC article:
"I'd like to be clear. At no time during the first 911 report to police or any of the following conversations between Melfort RCMP officers and the caller on the morning of Sept. 3 was Myles Sanderson's name or actions or any threats of violence reported to police," [RCMP cdr. Rhonda] Blackmore said. [“the caller” being Skye Sanderson, who had gone public about her 911 call in her Sept. 24 Global News interview]
In the recently-wrapped inquiry about the stabbings, the failure of James Smith residents, notably Skye and Vanessa, to alert RCMP about the activities of the Sanderson brothers on the reserve in the days before the stabbings WAS NOT RAISED as a contributing factor to the tragedy (to my knowledge). Or if it was raised, it was not publicized as part of the inquiry coverage, because, I guess, that would have made the victims (the widows) look bad.
What's going on in Powell River is pretty bad. I'm not sure what is worse, the toadying of council or the racism of the local band and chief. The more people let this happen the worse it's going to get. I live in Victoria, BC, where city council CANNOT WAIT to rename stuff. Streets, places, buildings. The new library is called sxʷeŋ'xʷəŋ taŋ'exw. How many of their patrons are indigenous? Likewise two new schools in Langford have unpronouncable indigenous names. How many of the students are indigenous? The only name change I marginally agree with is renaming Trutch Street in Victoria. Even for his day Trutch was a racist, and that's saying something. More importantly though, when Douglas suddenly retired Trutch took over and dispensed with Douglas' treaty plans for the entire province. Now we are left in BC with the bollocks mess of having largely untreatied land.
This is such a relevant and cogent article, summed up best for me by: “That the abuse of indigenous women is only noticed if the perpetrator happens to be non-indigenous is a deeply troublesome sign for our society.”
Fostered and helped along apace by the MMIW report -- this is second only to the TRC report as an egregious waste of taxpayer money. It is unconscionable that our government used our money to create such societal division and twisted rhetoric.
Cathy Merrick's comment that, "violence is something we have learned as a people" is not only laughable but indicative of the hypocrisy and duplicity of the double standard characterizing indigenous offenders in Canada's justice system. One can only wonder and speculate why she did not end her statement with the popular Blame Game cliche of, "from forced attendance at Residential School." The author's are absolutely correct that the media has been purposely restrained in releasing information on this offender's criminal history and indigenous background, an omission that they have thankfully corrected and one in which I express gratitude for. Perhaps in the toxic fog of political correctness we are obliged to follow the advice of Robert Jordan who said, "that which cannot be changed must be endured".
"Political correctness is just tyranny with manners. I wish for you the courage to be unpopular. Popularity is history's pocket change. Courage is history's true currency." ~ Charlton Heston
That statement is hilarious. It posits, one imagines, some kind of pre-contact Eden full of "noble savages," instead of the Hobbesian "nasty, brutish and short" reality. There must be some kind of collective indigenous amnesia.
"Hypocrisy is the audacity to preach integrity from a den of corruption." ~ Wes Fesler
Free money will make you say anything
It is well documented that violence was part of their culture well before the new world settled here. Particularly abhorrent was the “mourning wars” they engage in.
out here on the west coast in BC, where UNDRIP is made into law and the government is busy making amendments to the Land Act that place, basically, all Crown land use under consultation agreements with first nations, even if no land or rights claim has been made, tribal customs including slavery were very brutal. The Haida and Cowichan in particular engaged in slavery and war raids up and down the coast. Yet, to hear natives (and worse, their "settler" allies) talk about the past, it was a peacable kingdom.
Yeah, I too was surprised that the residential schools didn't make it into Merrick's remarks; closest she came was a reference to keeping their people out of "the systems." I transcribed her speech while I was watching the APTN news conference. Most media reports did not include her suggestion that violence isn't the "way" of her people, or her sympathetic offering towards Manoakeesick that he loved his children, that she's sure he's sorry, etc. Here's the text of (some of) her comments; might as well share the exact words here, since I took 'em down:
Merrick:
<< It’s not our way, as a people. It’s not our way, in our culture, in our language, when we talk about violence. It’s violence, something that we have learnt, as a people. And I’m very heartbroken with the loss of our women, and with the loss of our young ones that we have lost. … And I was thinking, that we have to prevent these things from happening to our families. We need to be able to ensure that we’ll be able to provide our relatives with what they need in their life, in terms of the disparities that we encounter with our relatives. It’s sad that people are struggling, and we need to ensure that they have access to culturally appropriate services, that we’ll be able to ensure that we see, and that we be able to ensure that we provide that for them. A lot of our people get caught in between, and they struggle, and these things happen. I’m sure the man loved his children. I’m sure that he’s sorry. That he had to pull them out of the vehicle. But he did something wrong, and that’s why we’re here today, to speak to that wrongness that happened. . . . We have to respect life. We only get one chance at life. We have to respect it. We have to ensure that our relatives respect life, so they don’t end up in the systems. So we have a lot of responsibility as leaders, as mothers, as kookums, that we be responsible as to how we teach our children, to be respectful. >>
Impressive, Joan. The last line reminds me of a 1970 song by Crosby, Stills and Nash........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAu1T6syiD4
Thanks for the (lovely) ear worm Kemosabe. While we’re trippin' down memory lane, have you seen/heard Adrian Sutherland’s cover of Heart of Gold, in Cree? I much prefer it to Neil Young’s original; Sutherland is a far better singer, and rather a heartthrob to boot (IMO : ). And those adorable kids in the video, gosh. I search this out from time to time for a pick-me-up, and your link reminded me of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMTzfSWNBhc
A very talented singer and the kids were great. I can see why you liked it. Interesting to note the decline in news articles about missing children and the genocide hoax. They must feel slighted to be usurped by all the media attention given to Israel and Gaza. There is an entitled group of indigenous activists in Montreal called the Mohawk Mothers who have been interfering with the expansion of a Montreal hospital on the belief that a CIA sponsored mind control project in the 1960s used indigenous children, murdered them and then buried them on the hospital grounds. Right, a story right out of the Twilight Zone. I am surprised no one has done an article on this yet.
Hymie wrote about it back in July 2023: https://hymie.substack.com/p/breaking-search-dogs-find-signs-of I remember commenting on it (I see that I was long-winded, as usual : ), and you had commented on it also. But you're right, there've been no updates that I've seen. I'm curious to know what's happening with that, but haven't looked into it since last summer.
I thought it was significant (and, in a sense, encouraging) that, in response to the Carman killings, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew made the following comment, "There is no context, there is no explanation that can make this OK. This is pure darkness." Significant in the sense that he did not try to explain the killings away, blame them on the evils of settler colonialism, the legacy of residential schools etc. "No context ... no explanation ... pure darkness."
Kinew's remarks were indeed a refreshing bit of straightforwardness, especially after the tearful apologetics of grand chief Cathy Merrick.
When the MMIW report was first published, I researched Stats Canada data, and found it as described above. Indeed, the highest solve rate for murders in Canada was for Indigenous women because the murderer is usually known to the victim and people who know her, and (presumably) often close by. The same is true for non-indigenous women, but their solve rate was a bit lower (presumably because there are more stranger-murders), and there is a much lower rate of murder.
The next highest solve rate was for Indigenous men, and the lowest rate was for non-indigenous men (thought to be related to drug gang violence and a high prevelance of stranger murders). Indeed, if all Indigenous murders had been compared to all murders in Canada, the gap in the level of violence and the solve rates would have made it abundantly clear, in the report, that the problem was not about non-Indigenous people killing Indigenous people.
The MMIW commission, frankly, betrayed Indigenous women when they failed to discuss what must have been abundantly obvious to them. Instead of creating (or feeding) the narrative that there are monsterous (probably white) men stalking and killing indigenous women, they had a moral obligation and the stage to say, "Indigenous women, especially on reserves, are living in horrific circumstances that include all kinds of abuse up to and including murder at the hands of indigenous men. Please help us to address this problem." Why didn't they say that? Surely it isn't because they couldn't reflect on the known statistics and their own experiences. Were they afraid? Intimidated? Or, perhaps they've learned over generations to accept violence as the reality of their lives.
As mentioned by another commenter, the suggestion that violence among indigenous people is new, the implication being, since the arrival of Europeans, is ridiculous. I have done considerable reading of journals, diaries, and biographies from early contact up to about the 1920s. Yes, they are written by Europeans with the exception of one being the diary of a "white" Indian (a white man kidnapped as a boy and adopted into Indigenous families, who was never able to return to living among Europeans). Nevertheless, while written by Europeans or their descendants, accounts I have read appear to me to be internally consistent. More important, written decades apart and being accounts which in some cases would have been unknown to other authors, they are convincingly consistent with one another. In other words, violence and the level of brutality among and between indigenous families, between less closely related groups, between hunter-gatherer groups, and between "nations" was astonishing and appalling, and pre-existed the arrival of Europeans.
Perhaps what changed during the last one or two centuries, is that Indigenous people have learned to identify it not as something to be respected (revenge, bravery, securing resources, etc.), but as something abhorrent. Hence the need to disown this aspect of indigenous history, and blame the result on Europeans.
As it turns out, it takes more than a few hundred years to evolve.
An excellent comment, Janice. Another glaring (I think) way the MMIWG inquiry report failed indigenous women is that NOT A SINGLE ONE of its 231 recommendations (Calls for Justice) in the final report is directed to the women THEMSELVES, to urge them to change any behaviours or take greater measures to reduce their risk. (Of course, we know why: To suggest that "vulnerable" individuals have any personal agency or responsibility to protect themselves would be strictly taboo! Old school victim-blaming! Boo-hiss!)
The thing is you were able to find the info on Stats can about homicide, closure rates, et cetera. I found it. Anyone could find it. The fact that the MMIW report chose to ignore publicly available data is an egregious omission. Was that done purposely? I'd sure like to have been a fly on the wall in the committee discussion on that.
More than 20 years ago, in the report of Manitoba’s Aboriginal Justice Inquiry Implementation Commission (AJIC; the implementation report came out in 2001; the inquiry itself was conducted in the 1990s), the commissioners – both were indigenous or Metis I think – actually lambaste indigenous leaders for their failure to do anything about domestic violence in their communities. You so seldom see anyone in an official capacity daring to place blame on FN themselves (without couching it in language about intergenerational trauma, etc.), that this was quite surprising to come across. http://www.ajic.mb.ca/reports/final_toc.html
I haven’t read the full report of the MMIWG Inquiry (just the Calls portion, which was struggle enough), but I rather doubt that the MMIWG folks would have cited the following scathing comments from the AJIC report (chapter nine):
<< Most chiefs and council members are male and often exhibit bias in favour of the male partner in a domestic abuse situation. This can effectively chase the woman from her home and community.
The unwillingness of chiefs and councils to address the plight of women and children suffering abuse at the hands of husbands and fathers is quite alarming. We are concerned enough about it to state that we believe that the failure of Aboriginal government leaders to deal at all with the problem of domestic abuse is unconscionable. We believe that there is a heavy responsibility on Aboriginal leaders to recognize the significance of the problem within their own communities. They must begin to recognize, as well, how much their silence and failure to act actually contribute to the problem. >>
Wow. That's pretty powerful. I did an electronic search of the MMIW reports for the quote and for reference to the AJIC report. I cannot find reference to either. I'm not confident that confirms with certainty there is no such reference. However, it seems to me that giving what the AJIC report has to say a place may (and may have) save(d) some lives. Sadly, it appears that reaching a conclusion that lends itself to the "ongoing genocide" narrative was more important than actually saving women and girls.
There is absolutely evidence that indigenous women and girls have been harmed (and murdered) by non-indigenous men. However, there is ample evidence that the vast majority of the violence (and poverty) they suffer is experienced in their own homes and their own communities and results from a culture of violence against women, which I believe has been longstanding and pre-existed the arrival of Europeans.
That aside, the fact the MMIWG commission seems to have sought to reinforce the genocide narrative rather than expose the real cause of the misery experienced by some (many?) indigenous women, indigenous men, is really not forgivable.
that's quite interesting. Things have changed a lot vis a vis victim/oppressor narrative in the intervening 20 years. Given the Royal Commission was in what, 1995 or something like that, it's even remarkable that that topic was covered like that in a 1998 document. I wonder if any of the work of this AJIC was ever implemented. Certainly this part was disregarded.
I live in Winnipeg. First Nations refuse to deal with destructive issues within their own culture preferring to blame some spectre of the past for all woes. Governments, laws, media and institutions that encourage this chronic victimization is not helping them at all. The situation will not improve for them no matter what narrative is presented. Not until they actually assimilate into Canadian society like everyone else will they be treated and function like everyone else. Until then they will remain on the fringe, locked in some nebulous past, by their own and the governments choice and policy because that is the way of least resistance. Real change is hard, blame is easy. Anyone who had raised children realize this fact
Watching the news related to the Manitoba murders, it was abundantly clear there was a decision not to identify Manoakeesick as Native. There were two other murders reported that day in Canada, pictures of the accused were shown. There were no pictures of the murderer in Manitoba except finally a few days later on Global. There's an obvious concerted effort to not inform the public of Native misdeeds.
The topic of blaming indigenous for the crimes they commit has become the white elephant in the room. Everyone knows it’s there but no one wants to talk about it
Once again it is the fault of us colonials we need to cough up another few billion $ for the wagon burners.
read an article from the Edmonton Sun a long while back that indicated that some of the missing indigenous woman are in witness protection (and they need to be), some died and may never be found, and some died that are found.....the reserves have ancient paths of dealing with people that are not the norm in the rest of Canada
They love to call themselves warriors, but how can you be one if you don’t go to war? Merrick is something else. Check out the video of her and the Marbourough hotel in Winnipeg or the recent demand for a half billion dollar road to a reservation that hosts 10k people. Unbelievable
If Merrick thinks her Cree weren’t violent think again. They were just losers after the Alberta Blackfoot kicked the crap out of them
I agree with everything said in this article, but it might make a difference in your Google searches if you spell Myles Sanderson's name correctly. Not sure why you stuck with 'Miles' throughout this article, when every hit your search pulls up spells it Myles.
Also I've found that different search engines have different 'druthers' when responding to certain queries. I was using Microsoft Edge the other day to search for more on a statement made by a former Tla’amin chief councillor that "white people are sub-human" (I didn't know the source publication at the time). Microsoft's search engine refused to produce ANY related hits, apart from a similar statement years ago by a Toronto BLM activist (but Edge DID advise that it was "leaving out some search results"). Tried Google instead, and the New Westminster Times article came up as the first hit (here's that piece, for those who may not have seen it: https://www.newwesttimes.com/news/white-people-are-subhuman-says-tla-amin-leader-as-powell-river-name-change-poll-now/article_b7da5af4-ca27-11ee-998d-87691206bb00.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20white%20people%20in%20Canada,River%27s%20controversial%20name%20change%20proposal.
Good catch, thanks. Just made a correction, and added the note: (note: “Miles” is the wrong spelling, however the redirected Google results are no different than when “Myles” is spelled correctly)
Here’s another edit you should probably make, to avoid timeline confusion.
“And earlier, on September 24th the day before the stabbing rampage, we learned that Sanderson’s sister-in-law called 911 . . .” SHOULD READ: “And earlier, on September 24th, we learned that Sanderson’s sister-in-law had called 911 the day before the stabbing rampage to report Sanderson and his brother Damien:”
(just move that one phrase, and maybe add the word "had" before "called")
But you should also be aware that the sister-in-law, Skye Sanderson, hadn't actually called 911 "to report [Myles] Sanderson and his brother Damien." She had called only because she wanted her car back, which Damien had taken. She didn’t mention that Myles was with Damien, or that either of them had outstanding warrants on them, which surely she must have known (as would Vanessa Burns have known, yet she did not report to police Myles’s assault on her on Sept 3, in which Damien had intervened).
The RCMP, from the Oct 6, 2022 CBC article:
"I'd like to be clear. At no time during the first 911 report to police or any of the following conversations between Melfort RCMP officers and the caller on the morning of Sept. 3 was Myles Sanderson's name or actions or any threats of violence reported to police," [RCMP cdr. Rhonda] Blackmore said. [“the caller” being Skye Sanderson, who had gone public about her 911 call in her Sept. 24 Global News interview]
In the recently-wrapped inquiry about the stabbings, the failure of James Smith residents, notably Skye and Vanessa, to alert RCMP about the activities of the Sanderson brothers on the reserve in the days before the stabbings WAS NOT RAISED as a contributing factor to the tragedy (to my knowledge). Or if it was raised, it was not publicized as part of the inquiry coverage, because, I guess, that would have made the victims (the widows) look bad.
What's going on in Powell River is pretty bad. I'm not sure what is worse, the toadying of council or the racism of the local band and chief. The more people let this happen the worse it's going to get. I live in Victoria, BC, where city council CANNOT WAIT to rename stuff. Streets, places, buildings. The new library is called sxʷeŋ'xʷəŋ taŋ'exw. How many of their patrons are indigenous? Likewise two new schools in Langford have unpronouncable indigenous names. How many of the students are indigenous? The only name change I marginally agree with is renaming Trutch Street in Victoria. Even for his day Trutch was a racist, and that's saying something. More importantly though, when Douglas suddenly retired Trutch took over and dispensed with Douglas' treaty plans for the entire province. Now we are left in BC with the bollocks mess of having largely untreatied land.