Serendipity

Serendipity had me seated at a table with three card-carrying natives last evening at a dinner.  Boy, weren't we all in for a few surprises!  Twenty-two, 21 and 17, these young men were absolutely clueless about what it means to be a native, but they all whipped out their status cards in a show of bravado.  Depressing. 

Members of the 1,100-member Cape Mudge Reserve on Vancouver Island, these young men told me their father was the chief.  He's not.  Google anyone?  They did not know they were members of the We Kai Kai Nation.  They also did not know they did not own the land on which their reserve stands.  They had no idea what Crown Land was?  Their band sits on it.  They had no idea Canadian taxpayers fork out $17 billion every year for the keep of 1.2 million natives.  Their ignorance is a deliberate tactic by their own leadership to keep them in the dark waving placards.  They are the next to be manning the pipeline barricades with no idea of what they are protesting. 

What do they do all day living in Calgary?  "We play video games," said one.  "Are you not in school?" I asked.  "Yeah, I finished grade 12, but I'm not working."  Their mother chimed in and asserted they were..."certainly not ready to live on their own".    Ha, ha, ha, they all laughed.

So, there you have it.  Todays native warriors.  With my own Mohawk ancestry, all I could think was but for the Grace of God..............