Aboriginal Issues

Like most children, my kids did not have naturally curious taste buds. And like most children, they would often fall back on safe classics, like macaroni and cheese and instant noodles.

My son still enjoys the noodles, and he has remained loyal to the Mr. Noodles brand. That’s because Mr. Noodles alone offers his favourite flavour: “Oriental.”

One afternoon, as I stood stirring a pot of noodles, he asked, “What is Oriental, anyway?” Which is a good question. Because “Oriental” isn’t any particular flavour – it’s not soy sauce, not five-spice, but … “Oriental.”

That land is not “stolen” or “shared,” and it is certainly not “theirs.”

The Bloodvein First Nation in north eastern Manitoba has decided that it will ban all non-indigenous hunters from entering a huge swath of Crown land surrounding its reserve. It has put up a blockade. This is clearly illegal, but this is how CBC reported the illegal action:

“Chief Young told CBC that Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie has been in contact with the First Nation. She said that the minister, along with other First Nations in the area like Poplar River and Berens River, support Bloodvein’s decision to limit hunters on it’s land.”

The director of an Indigenous student services hub at the University of Toronto is no longer employed there after an investigation concluded that he sexually harassed an employee over several years.

In an Aug. 18 letter to the complainant, the university’s director of workplace investigations wrote that Michael White was no longer director of U of T’s First Nations House and Indigenous Student Services.

Ottawa has not enforced the First Nations Financial Transparency Act since 2015, despite strong public backing — including from Indigenous Canadians

Most Canadians want the federal government to enforce laws requiring First Nations to publish their financial statements, a recent poll says.

According to polling firm Angus Reid Institute, 82 per cent of Canadians think Ottawa should require First Nation governments to report on how they spend public money — and that this requirement should be enforced. Among Indigenous survey respondents, 72 per cent said the same.

As predicted in my August 11 column, British Columbia has joined the Musqueam Indian Band in moving to appeal a landmark judgment of aboriginal title to a former seasonal village site near Vancouver International Airport.

After more than 500 days of trial featuring more than 60 lawyers, BC Supreme Court Justice Barbara Young ruled in favour of the Cowichan Tribes, which brought the lawsuit more than seven years ago.

… Community members told CBC News that incidents such as arson, vehicle accidents and conflicts have increased over the past three years. Some in the community, which has no police force, blame the presence of cannabis megastores and a spate of illegal dumping that saw as many as 500 trucks a day roar into Kanehsatà:ke, according to Quebec court records.

… The stores operate outside of Quebec and Canada’s cannabis laws, and the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake has so far failed to pass any rules to regulate these operations, some of which are linked to organized crime, according to elected band officials.

“We’re in a war zone,” Montour told CBC News. “Nobody is helping us.”

The decision earlier this month by the Supreme Court of British Columbia that the Cowichan tribes hold title over federal, city, and private land in Richmond B.C. that enjoys a higher legal status than the fee simple ownership of the current proprietors is outrageous but may have some positive consequences. The decades and $7 billion that have been spent or pledged for what is called the “reconciliation” process, has finally hit a stone wall. The almost universal desire to be fair to Indigenous people and where appropriate to compensate them for inequitable treatment, has finally collided with the entrenched economic rights and interests of every owner of real property in Canada, including those of Indigenous ancestry.

VANCOUVER — A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in Federal Court says the Canadian government wrongfully denies people status under the country’s Indian Act if their ancestors “voluntarily” gave up Indigenous status under laws that predate Confederation.

Plaintiffs Charles Wesley, Christopher Wesley, Sharon Nicholas and Nicole Nicholas filed a statement of claim in Vancouver this month seeking damages from the federal government for “being deprived of the benefits” of status under the act.