Tom has it right

Didn't know, but there is such a thing as the Community Well-Being (CWB) index, which measures a combination of income, employment, housing and education.  In many native communities, the CWB is actually increasing, says Tom Flanagan, professor of poli-sci at the University of Calgary.  The bad news is many native communities are falling behind.

The reason?

Those communities improving are those taking control of their own affairs and utilizing off ramps from the Indian Act with such initiatives as joining the land management regime, treating land and resources as a source of income, taking advantage of local opportunities to become self-supporting via own-source revenue and developing accountable governance practices that avoid secrecy and conflict of interest, while observing the rule of law.

The rule of law and accountability!  Wow what a concept!  Transparent fiscal management!  The rule of law!  Effort and capitalization on economic opportunities!   

Those with falling CWB indecies?  Communities that practice neither own-source revenue, nor initiatives to escape from the pervasive control of the Indian Act and Indigenous Affairs bureaucracy.  Remoteness from urban locations is an obvious problem for those reserves with the most seriously declining CWB scores, notes Flanagan -- who also happens to have been former PM Stephen Harper's economics professor and mentor.  Many reserves at the very bottom have no year-round road connection to a service centre, which is a big problem.

"Finally, government needs to continue what it has already done to some degree -- create opportunities outside the Act, thus making it easier for First Nations to improve their own standard of living.  Both Ottawa and the Western provinces have caught on to the idea of First Nations owning pipelines so they can become players in the resource economy, not just suppliers of land and labour.  Now, if we can just get those pipelines built," Flanagan concludes. 

What have I been saying for years?  Get off the reserves and integrate into mainstream society and economy.  You can still keep and practice your culture and language -- like every other ethnic group does -- but start by being part of Canada.

B saved $55,330

The price of watches is ludicrous.  For a device that simply tells them what time it is, some people will actually fork out thousands and thousands of dollars.  Obviously, it's to signal to others just how filthy rich you are, that you are someone who can simply toss out more than $50,000 for a trifling watch. 

Reading 'Fortune' the other day, B came across an ad for VERY expensive watches. Taking a look, I saw one called an 'Audemars Piquet' for.....wait for it.....$55,400!  I mean, seriously!  B replaced his trusty 'Timex' a few days ago for....wait for it.....$70, meaning he saved $55,330.  He gave his other "trusty Timex" to our grandson who was absolutely thrilled!  An analog timepiece, it will now teach him to actually tell time, something you can't really do with the digital variety.

I have to add that B has a number of expensive watches, which I now wear -- including an antique Cartier, and Omega Seamaster -- but he prefers the Timex. 

Here is the most expensive watch I have ever seen:

The $55,400 Audemars Piquet

B's $70 Timex

I rest my case.

Her office?

When Trudeau shafted her, I had a little admiration for Jodi Wilson-Raybould.  I now have none.  Imagine the gall of her refusing to move out of the big, swanky office she occupied when she was Solicitor General!  Not only does she sit as an independent on the back bench in a corner, but she is also a complete nobody and yet will not vacate the office designated for the SG.

Who does she think she is?  But yet, when I realize she is a native, it all makes perfect, entitled sense.  Has she no respect for the constitution and the role of Parliament?  That is not "her" office.  It belongs to the people of Canada.  To me, she has shown her true colours and they are not pretty.

Another shock to me this past week was the revelation that the saintly Andrew Scheer has been dipping into party funds to pay for his five kids' private school education.  WTF!?  This has been a well-kept secret because everyone knows it's an outrage.  I mean, the guy has a huge salary, lives for free in the official residence of the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, gets a clothing allowance, drivers, food, household staff and yet charges the party for this kids' catholic education!?  Someone should tell him there is a very good separate school system in Ottawa (my daughter taught in it) and that he should bloody well send his kids there like the rest of the great unwashed.

So, not only is he weak and a loser, but he's also a bum.  Time to straighten up and fly right, Andrew.  And by the way, pay all the money back.

Remember Bev Oda's $16 glass of orange juice?  That was enough to finish her off.  Canadians don't like this sort of stuff.

Hahahaha!

Every day, 'The Globe and Mail' posts a "Moment in Time" feature.  Today it was about the tabling of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women on December 7, 1970.  Forty-nine years ago.  It is to laugh because not much has changed.

Hailed as a milestone achievement in the fight for women's rights, it definitely fell short.  The gender pay gap persists, domestic violence against women continues unabated, support for women released from prison isn't there, ditto for affordable child care and a whole host of other recommendations the report naively called for.  Women like my mother and her ilk ignored it; young women like I thought it a breakthrough  Trudeau senior was PM then and we all know what he thought about women, one word:  Margaret.

Sigh.  Here are the authors congratulating themselves:

Notice the men who had to handle its release.

Nothing to see here, folks, move along

Incredibly, the federal government  just released a study that says female workers who have children fall behind male counterparts financially and in career progression.

No kidding!

I have been saying this ever since I became pregnant with my first child in 1976.  Because they have the biological function of child bearing, women are penalized in the workforce.  When I had my first, I had to leave my post and go on unemployment insurance.  When I returned six months later, I was given "a" job back, not mine.  Someone else was sitting in my office doing my job.  Same thing with my second in 1979.  Only six months' UI, then back to "a" job.  Of course I fell behind.

So, it takes the government 43 years to get this figured out.  Duh!  Clawing my way back and drawing on the talent God gave me, I moved on and up, but certainly the system didn't give a sh-t.  What pisses me off are women who take up an expensive spot in an institute of higher learning, get a degree and then sit on their asses at home when they have a kid.  Why do they think we went to the barricades?  Why do they think it's OK?  I have heard so many educated women say how fortunate they are to be able to stay home -- while some man finances them -- and take care of their kids.  In reality, these are the "Real housewives of.....wherever....."  Frankly, most join a "Mum's Club" and drink wine.

Sad.  Their kids would be much better off in daycare with professionals looking after them instead of watching mummy drink wine on some neighbour's patio.
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But back to what's happening here.  Apparently, femicide is increasing.  Of the 118 murders of women and girls so far in Canada in 2019 (apparently likely a low number, say authorities), 98 perpetrators have been identified.  Of those, 98% were friends, family or acquaintances; only eight percent were strangers, says the report from the Women's Centre for Social Justice in Toronto.

In fact, the relationship between victims and killers was known in 77% of cases.  Only eight percent were strangers.  And where were the majority of these killings?  Nunavut, Yukon, Manitoba and Alberta.  And who were killed?  Indigenous women and girls.

So, folks, we know who is killing these women and girls:  Their own family members.  No need for further inquiries into "Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women".