Friday, January 18, 2013

An eloquent, disturbing silence ...


Harper Accused Of Fostering Hatred For Aboriginals www.huffingtonpost.caPrime Minister Stephen Harper is being accused of fostering hatred of aboriginals across the country by failing to condemn racist reactions to the Idle No More movement.

Canadians' reaction to the Idle No More movement has stirred up a lot of disrespectful crap in the media stream about this country's indigenous people.  But Canada's founding laws actually insist that there be respect for our Treaty relationships.  So, when things get tense, as they sometimes do among partners in a diverse federation, one might expect a national leader to feel at least some obligation to be a calming, guiding voice --to remind us all of the enshrined principles that bind us together in perpetuity in this beautiful land.  A leader who honoured our history and actually believed in who we have said we want to be as a country should, for the sake of the uniting vision he represents, be moved to insist that all citizens recognize and uphold our critical, founding values.  In a nation such as ours; in a nation whose very existence depends on maintaining respect among diverse peoples; when such a nation's leader remains silence in the midst of a bilious outpouring of ignorance, racism and disrespect from its citizenry; that leader's silence is not silence at all.

One wonders if our Prime Minister would be so silent for so long if the spew currently aimed at First Nations were directed at the French partners in our confederation ...or toward Albertans?


"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."   Dante