You never know.....

...who'll turn up on a service call.  My computer wouldn't synch, so I called 'Cochrane Computers' and a guy named Tony popped over.  

As I always do -- it's the old journalist in me -- I started interviewing him.  "I'm from the Tobacco Plains Nation," he told me, a reserve in the East Kootenay valley which abuts onto Montana.  Boy, did he sure know a lot about the Indigenous file -- including all the illegal (just my opinion) actions of chiefs across Canada.

We watched footage I had posted online about the Cowichan reserve, which showed a disgraceful dump with garbage strewn everywhere.  He knew all about it, but then he showed me footage of Tobacco Plains and that was a different story.  It was clean and beautiful.

We started talking money, my favourite subject on this file, and he knew a lot about that too -- including vast corruption, which he acknowledged exists everywhere.  I referenced the 1969 White Paper, written by Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien.  Remember that?  It recommended all Indigenous leave their ghettos (the paper used that word back then) and integrate into Canadian society.  

Well, at that all Hell broke loose!  The chiefs called it "racist" and a move that would make their people the lesser equals of every other Canadian.  The reality was that they refused to give up their perks.  Tony agreed and assured me it was still happening today.  He also said, however, that he is the only native he knows who will speak honestly about the corruption.  Our old friends Tanya Talaga and the always-hysterical Pam Palmeter, certainly aren't two of them.

This is why an angry Pierre Trudeau told the chiefs, “Okay, then stay in your ghetto”. He withdrew the paper and initiated the Indigenous Policy, basically unchanged for the last fifty-plus years, namely: Send money and don't touch the Indian Act.  As I have said, the chiefs claim they want to change the Act, but they don't.

The chiefs turned their backs on real reform.

Pierre Trudeau got one thing wrong when he angrily told the chiefs that they could stay in their ghettos.  The chiefs are not in ghettos at all.  They enjoy generous tax-free-salaries and expense accounts.  Life is good for them and for the many other people who feed off this system -- a system Indigenous leaders like William Wuttunee and Calvin Helin sardonically – but accurately – called “The Indian Industry”.

The question must still be asked: What if those chiefs in 1969 had at least agreed to consider Trudeau’s plan and work with him to address their legitimate concerns? Would we now live in a country where more indigenous people had integrated into the mainstream, while keeping those parts of their Indigenous identity that mattered most to them?

They didn't want any part of it, so we'll never know.  But as I always say, it's all about money.  So when Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak et al start raving about protecting pristine land, don't buy it.  

Interesting look at education in the U.S.

 

Re-printed from 'The Catholic League'............ October 7, 2026   Under President Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), the FBI labeled mainline Catholics who opposed abortion, gay marriage and gender identity as “domestic terrorists.” Now, in a new document released by the Trump administration’s DOJ, “The New Report to Expose the Weaponization of Government Against Parents in Schools,” we learn how the Biden administration’s DOJ branded conservative parental rights groups “domestic terrorists.” The nexus is unmistakable: Biden’s DOJ declared war on religious conservatives. Yet the evidence that this Report presents shows that they were never the “domestic terrorists” they were made out to be. Once parents found out during COVID that sexually inappropriate books were being assigned, and racist presentations were being made in the classroom (ala critical race theory), they not only objected, they organized. The privileged elites who stack the school boards were taken aback. They counted on a subdued, obedient crop of parents who took the “Teacher Knows Best” approach. They were startled when the parents proved to be disobedient, showing up at meetings to register their objections. The educrats quickly contacted their allies in the Biden administration, asking them to come to their rescue. They were not disappointed. It didn’t take long before the political elites sided with the education elites against the masses, namely the parents. They were accused of violence, when there was none, and for disrupting meetings, when there was little to none. What got the goat of school board members was having to respond to some uncomfortable questions, effectively putting them on the defensive. That’s called free speech. We now know that the National School Boards Association (NSBA) had been partnering with the DOJ to provide “talking points and push back on critics regarding critical race theory (‘CRT’) and transgender policies that are creating ‘hostile situations for school board members.’” That was in July 2021, and in September it sent a letter to Biden describing these parents as participating in “domestic terrorism.” Once this hit the press, parents pushed back, and within weeks the NSBA’s board of directors apologized. This should have put the brakes on this fascistic response by the elites. It didn’t. Indeed, it escalated. On October 4, 2021, the “Garland Memorandum” was issued. This was the infamous memo by Attorney General Merrick Garland that claimed that a nefarious cadre of parents had emerged—they were objecting to offensive fare in the schools. According to the Report, the memo was draconian. “The Garland Memorandum, and its suggestion that such protests could constitute federal criminal activity, including domestic terrorism, was the product of pressure by the White House and high-ranking Department of Justice officials to find a reason to suggest that such protests could be federal crimes regardless of the initial skepticism.” Fortunately, there were honest attorneys working in Biden’s DOJ, and they dutifully warned their colleagues that in most cases there was nothing going on at these meetings other than robust discussions. They admonished them to back off lest they inspire MAGA-type revolts. Unfortunately, they were in the minority. The Report concludes that the Garland Memorandum disregarded “constitutional precepts,” creating a “chilling effect” on First Amendment rights. Those who wrote the Report cannot be blamed for not inquiring into the religious background of the protesting parents. That was not their charge. But it is the charge of the Catholic League. News reports estimate that Christians constitute 70-80 percent of these conservative parental rights groups. We know from other media stories that Orthodox Jews and practicing Muslims have also been vocal in their opposition to what has been going on in the classrooms. At issue are attempts to sexually engineer our students and to indoctrinate them in racist propaganda. In other words, led by Christians, parents are fighting for their rights against the militant secularists who dominate education, and who work in senior positions in the federal government. They are no more “domestic terrorists” than the man on the moon, and attempts to label them as such are obscene and un-American.

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Now it's the lobster

First it was the decimation of elvers (baby eels), now it's lobster.  This is what is happening mainly in New Brunswick, where  Fisheries officers just intercepted another 4,000 illegal live lobsters being shipped for sale out of province.  They have been returned to the ocean.

Illegal lobster harvest by the Indigenous in New Brunswick.

The problem is dishonesty, flagrant law breaking and, of course, money.

The Indigenous are permitted to harvest eels and lobster out-of-season, but only if they are being used for ceremonial purposes or food for their own households and not to sell.  Naturally, that's being ignored.  I mean, how many households need 4,000 lobsters?!  And who uses lobster or elvers in ceremonies?!

(I blogged the illegal elvers harvest, see "Still at it", July 4th, 2025)

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I have been following the Ottawa mayoralty race and I am amazed that Mark Sutcliffe has the nerve to run again.  Any stroll down Rideau, Elgin or Bank Streets will tell you that it is a disgrace to any city, let alone a capital.  There are bums, drunks and drug users everywhere shooting up, urinating and defecating in broad daylight!  

What does the guy do, besides swan around parties getting his picture taken?  When I was a child, my Mother used to take me shopping to Freiman's and Ogilvie's and it was a real treat.  Now, I wouldn't let my grandchildren near any of them. 

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A word about the Quebec election.  The PQ has won, but with only 28% of the vote, it's hard to figure out why?  I guess it's the first-past-the-post system, but it may be time to change that.  

I love the way the new premier, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, promises he will only focus on Quebec and work towards separation.  Separation won't happen and all the polls tell you that because Quebec has an historical habit of threatening separation, but never does.  

Why?  Because last year they received $13.9 billion in transfer payments, or 51% of all the equalization money.  Guess who gives most of that?  Alberta, that's who!  So, Paul, you had better look outside your borders and show a little respect for this province.  

But he won't.  Truly pathetic.

Typical

"They need more money."  That's what a young Indigenous server told me when we were eating lunch at a Calgary restaurant.  

This is typical of the ignorance of natives everywhere.  Last year alone, Indigenous were handed $33 billion, BILLION, for a total population of 1.8 million souls.  "Have you been to Morley lately?" I asked this young lady.  Morley is a reserve on the Trans Canada between Calgary and Banff about 50 kms from here and it's a complete dump.  

Part of the Stoney Nakoda "Nation", its elected leaders gave themselves hefty 20 percent raises of $3.3 million in salaries alone -- twice what they billed last year.  However, figures are unclear because the overall total of $34 million appears in a handy, undefined line item called “other expenses.”

That's a lot of "other expenses".  According to Wikipedia, "...Revenues for the band west of Calgary were significantly larger than expected in the fiscal year ending March 31 at $108 million, but Morley still posted a larger-than-forecast deficit of nearly $17 million, according to numbers released under the 'First Nations Financial Transparency Act'.

So, they don't need more money.  What Indigenous people like our server need to ask themselves is, "What are our leaders doing with the money?"  As I said, they don't need more of it, but that's the ubiquitous default narrative.

This is Morley, just down the road.  The leaders gave themselves hefty raises, but no one knows where the $34 million went??

Every chance I get, I try to point out the facts.  Sadly, no one wants to hear them.

Not gonna happen

I don't care what Carney and Smith say about a new pipeline to the West coast, it ain't gonna happen.  Carney has no intention of approving one and I think, although she knows that, Smith has to say it'll happen to satisfy her base and claim she's getting it done.  Smith wants a pipeline, but knows Carney will block it with unreachable conditions.  He's so cynical. 

Such conditions are vast, such as getting private-sector buy in before it begins construction -- which won't happen.  And then, of course, the Indigenous have already chimed in saying they'll oppose it.  That was a given.

Carney's also given a year for the 'Major Projects Office' to approve it, after he's taken 18 months to even put it on the table.

So no, it's not gonna happen and everyone knows it except the cloth heads who keep blindly supporting Carney.  Watch Elie Cantin Natel interview Georgeanne Burke on YouTube for the latter's analysis about Carney and his supporters.

For a country as rich in raw materials as Canada, it's a sin we can't get anything done to get our riches to eager markets.

The phantom pipeline that won't materialize.

 

I morphed

Yesterday, I morphed from writer and commentator to happy little hausfrau.  Made a batch of carrots and celery, like I did when my kids took lunches to school, and also made apple crisp in honour of my Grandmother and Mother.  

 It's apple season, so I  made apple crisp in honour of my Grandmother and Mother.

Handy snack.

  

$500 million

That's what the Jays have given Vladimir Guerrero in a 13-year deal.  That's $38 million a year, $3 million a month and $250,000 a day.

That's absolutely ludicrous!

"They aren't paying me for what I can do, they're paying me for what I did," said Vlad in defence of his absurd and obscene contract.  Seriously?!  Yep, that's what Keith Pelley, CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and Ted Rogers, executive chair, agreed to.  That's sort of like a party favour you're handed when the party's over and you're heading out the door.  "Thanks for coming.  Here's $500 million."

Guerrero is only 27 years old, but he's already a spent force, judging by his poor performance this year.  And look at the guy, all trussed up and taped in like a Thanksgiving turkey and using his bat as a crutch:

Guerrero's entire left side is a mess.

Baseball's numbers have become farcical.