Squalor and neglect

That's the state the Indigenous-run group home was in when a 17-year-old native resident killed himself two years ago.  The back story of how these group homes came into being is that the natives wanted their own kinship program to look after Indigenous kids who had to be taken from their care givers.  They didn't want "white men" to take care of their children.  They demanded kith and kin take over.  They knew better.

Well, that didn't work out too well for Traevon Deslarlais-Chalifoux, who had been removed from his mother's "care" for his own safety and well-being, did it.  "Conditions in B.C.'s Indigenous group homes are being allowed to deteriorate.  Without a shadow of a doubt, the situation is getting more severe and more acute," said provincial children's representative Jennifer Charlesworth.  

According to an investigation by 'The Globe and Mail', care workers in the home were verbally and physically abusive, neglectful and sometimes withheld food and locked residents outside for hours -- no matter the weather.  Traevon was also left alone in his tiny room for days and weeks at a time with no care whatsoever.  So he hanged himself.  To add insult to injury, no one in the home found him for four days.  Where was he?  Hanging in his own closet in his room at the home.

How can this have been allowed to have happened?!

"We need to know who is responsible for his death," said Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, of the union of BC Indian Chiefs.  "The ministry was negligent.  That child should have been taken out and placed somewhere else right away."  Well, duh!  Obviously, it was those running the home!  But you can bet it'll be the provincial government that'll be fingered.  In fact, they are now demanding the province enact urgent measures to ensure youth are being safely cared for in BC group homes.  But wasn't that what your much-touted kinship care program was going to do?  Isn't that still your responsibility, the one you insisted on shouldering?

That ball was dropped.  Hard.  In the case of this particular "care" home, audits have shown that in 89% of all cases, no plan for children in care had been developed and only three percent of all residents actually saw a social worker once a month, as mandated by the province.  Some didn't see a worker at all in the three-year audit period.  The audits also found that little children were being housed with much older kids in co-ed facilities with perpetrators of sexual abuse housed with their victims!

That's insane and criminal.  "The first question is:  Who failed Traevon?" asked MLA Sonia Furstenau, whose Cowichan riding has one of the highest rates of children in care in the province.  Well, when it comes to who failed, I'd start with the mother, but, of course, that won't happen.  In such cases, the parents are never to blame.  Why that is is beyond me!?  Must be "inter-generational residential school trauma" or "Colonialism", the go-to buzz blame for anything-and-everything native.

Here are a few never-mentioned facts about who's in care:

• 49% of children in care in B.C. are native, even though they make up only 7% of all children;
  
• One in six native kids is in care; and
• There are 11 times more native kids in care than all others. 

You can bet that when an inquiry is completed for this mess, it'll be the province that'll end up holding the bag.  The remedy?  More money in that bag for kinship care homes.

__________________________

And speaking of inquiries, can you believe the RCMP decided not to charge Trudeau for his four breaches of the ethnics rules when he took a boondogle freebie trip to the Aga Kahn's private island!  The reason they gave was that it would be worse for a sitting prime minister to be charged, than for just Joe Blow.  Brenda Lucki at her finest again!  Different laws for this PM for sure.

 

    

$3,730.67

That's how much I just saved by going to a local garage, instead of the Honda dealer.  My ancient, but much-loved, 2,000 Honda Civic five-speed hatchback, began leaking gasoline a while ago.  So, I took it to the local Honda dealer who charged me $75 to tell me the repair would be $3,930.67 and that the car was UNSAFE AND THAT I WOULD HAVE TO SIGN A WAIVER BEFORE THEY WOULD LET ME DRIVE IT OFF THE LOT!!!

They estimated the labour to be $3,000 because the brake line was also leaking.  Parts would apparently be $930, but because of the hours-and-hours-and-hours they would have to spend fixing both, the tally would eventually hit almost $ 4K!  "That's ludicrous," I exclaimed as I left, indignation flaring, but bum tucked safely in my beloved vehicle.  And no, I did not die while driving it home.

Funnily enough, they also told me that two of their mechanics wanted to buy it and one was willing to pay a whopping $400!!!!!  Ludicrous was again the word I used at this news.  

So, I drove over to where I should have gone in the first place -- a small mom-and-pop garage I have often used since moving here.  Why I didn't go there in the first place I have no clue, but laziness pops into my head.  The dealer was so much closer.  What did Steve at the garage tell me?  "We have to repair one of the hoses, but the tank itself is fine.  The labour will be about $150 -- not $900! -- and then just the hose."  Can you believe that??!!??!!  The dealer tried to rip me off because to them I am just an old lady without a clue.  They wanted to fleece me and take my car away.

That's unconscionable.  Happily, I await the return of my little car in running order.  I am sure it misses me as much as I it.  (Note:  You'll see I have omitted the second "miss"; you don't need it.)       

Why not?!

I know everyone is appalled and shocked and shocked and appalled at Boris Johnson's proposal to ship illegal migrants to Rwanda, but frankly what other options does the man have?  I mean, how can British citizens be expected to take in thousands of people who just show up expecting to be welcomed in and taken care of?  B's relatives in Leister think it's a grand idea, so that's an informal survey right there.

It's not reasonable.  

The same thing is happening here, with people just strolling in over unmanned border crossings, disappearing into the community, going on welfare and generally costing Canadians a lot of money we don't have.  Countries have borders for a reason.  They also have processes that must be followed for entry.  B's family waited five years for citizenship and were sponsored by relatives, with whom they lived jammed into a very crowded apartment.  They also worked on factory night shifts and clerked at department stores, never taking a dime of public money.

Is the entirety of Africa and South Asia planning to empty out into Europe?  Looks like it is.  Is the entirety of South American and Mexico planning to empty out into the US and Canada?  Looks like it is.  And Trudeau -- in his complete and utter ignorance of how to run a country -- is yapping about "Welcome to Canada!"  Someone needs to sit him down and explain that Hello!  There is no housing for legal Canadians, let alone illegals.  As the late Jim Prentice said to Rachel Notley, "I know math is hard, Rachel" but someone needs to get a calculator out and explain to Trudeau how it all works.  

So, frankly, I think the threat of ending up in Rwanda is a good deterrent.  As for Paul Kagame, the country's president, he is welcoming the idea because it is giving him entry into both the Commonwealth and the Francophonie.  How that can happen is anybody's guess, but this is the reward he is being given for taking the unwelcome travelers.

Don't all jump down my throat at once, unless you are willing to open your doors and wallets to illegals yourself.          

Food source secured

I read somewhere that civilization can only begin when a food source has been secured.  Well, we obviously have a very secure food source, judging by one faculty that actually exists at the University of Waterloo.  As to "civilization"?  Well, you be the judge if this department represents it:

Yep, Waterloo really has a Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies!?  (And, by the way, should it not be "Recreational" Studies?  Isn't this a university-level course??)  But I digress.  Evidently, there also exists a Canadian Association for Leisure Studies!!!!  

Here's another surprise:

Did anyone else know there was such a day??!!??  I certainly didn't.  So, folks, this is where "civilization" has taken us.

I am not alone on this file

The following is Conrad Black's take on the native file.  Obviously, I am not alone, but no journalist will pick up on this -- and neither will any native or politician.  Canada has disgracefully lost the plot on this file  And you can take that to the bank.

___________________________________________

Once again, we are indebted to the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and retired judge Brian Giesbrecht for their diligent research that has unearthed the proportions of some of the embellished claims about Canada’s past treatment of its Indigenous population and particularly some of the claims made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) about “missing children.” There is no doubt that there are very serious legitimate grievances that Aboriginal people rightfully hold about the wrongs committed against them in Canada, including very serious abuses that were perpetrated against children in the residential school system. But all Canadians of European extraction are the subject of blood libels by the TRC and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Supreme Court chief justice Beverley McLachlin and others of comprehensive racism and genocidal intent against this country’s Indigenous people. Trudeau has disgraced Canada by pleading guilty on behalf of all of us to the charge of past efforts to exterminate the culture of First Nations and in the deliberate or negligent deaths of Indigenous children, and he humiliated Canada by lowering all federal flags, including on embassies and other offices abroad, to half-mast for over five months over these false charges. Many other accusers stand in the dock for falsely proclaiming or accepting this collective guilt. There has never been any general or official desire to eliminate Canada’s First Nations.

The research of the Frontier Centre and Giesbrecht has unmasked the dearth of conclusive evidence of the claims of atrocities committed against the infamous 215 Indigenous children who were allegedly killed and secretly buried in Kamloops, B.C. This charge began with the revelation by First Nation of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir that she “knew” of this secret burial because “knowledge keepers” told her about “oral histories” of six-year-old children being taken from their beds at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in the dead of night to bury fellow students in the apple orchard. Stories such as these have been circulating for decades, and were amplified by less precise allegations about mysterious unmarked graves near the locations of other residential schools.  (My note:  Now they are asking for more money to dig up maybe-graves, see below:)

The underlying problem is that even sophisticated audiences that do not accept that thousands of Indigenous children were murdered and secretly buried, as has been alleged, have been receptive to the claim that death rates at residential schools were greatly higher than on nearby reserves. This is a misconception, according to Giesbrecht. Tuberculosis was long one of the leading causes of death for the whole population, more than a century ago, when life expectancy was generally significantly lower than it is now. Indigenous people were at much greater risk of death from tuberculosis and a range of other illnesses that they had not encountered before the Europeans came to Canada, and which European-Canadians had had centuries to develop immunity to.

This vulnerability of the Indigenous population to European-originated diseases was aggravated by the fact that by the late 19th century, Plains Indians had lost their principal source of protein — the buffalo — and lived on government rations that were not nutritionally adequate and led to weakened immune systems. When the federal government took over the residential schools in 1883, the Canadian Pacific Railway had not quite reached the prairies and supplies for the Natives were imported from Montana by wagon train. Though this was certainly unintended by the authorities, the diet imposed upon the Plains Indians was insufficiently healthy. Canada’s First Nations were revealed by Peter Bryce of the Indian Affairs department in the early 1900s to have a mortality rate more than double that of the whole population, though the Aboriginal population was slowly rising despite these problems. He established that the greatest threat was a lack of familiarity with the requirements of sanitation in their residences, which were frequently overcrowded. This resulted in mortality rates that were higher than those in residential schools in many cases.

Bryce also reported in 1906 that the 189 Indian reserve medical officers toiled constantly to deal with these problems, and that a number of government-subsidized hospitals had been built in or around reserves to serve the Indigenous population. There has never been any explanation for why the media and Indigenous activists have never mentioned, nor even implied, that they were aware that death rates on reserves often exceeded those in the residential schools. Nor has there been adequate attention to the fact that attendance in residential schools was entirely voluntary to the parents until 1920, when attendance was made compulsory in order to try to ensure that all First Nations youth enjoyed the benefits of literacy. Sending the children to the residential schools was in fact a prudent measure, despite the many and sometimes terrible problems in the schools, including documented cases of abuse. Giesbrecht has established that these unheralded facts have been known and have gone practically unmentioned for over a century.

We have heard endlessly that parents “had their children ripped out of their arms, taken to a distant and unknown place, never to be seen again. Buried in an unmarked grave, long ago forgotten and overgrown,” as TRC commissioner Marie Wilson put it. The blood-red banner famously unrolled by the NCTR in 2019 is claimed to carry the names of 2,800 children who died in residential schools, but Giesbrecht’s research shows that many of those names are of children who died from many different causes, in some cases away from the schools themselves.

There have been other well-publicized issues with the list, as well. Indigenous leaders were “disgusted” and “mortified” when they discovered that the NCTR’s list of deceased children in the residential school in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., contained four adults, including an Anglican archdeacon and the wife of an Anglican bishop. The TRC has exaggerated this issue: its commissioners have suggested that up to 25,000 children “never returned home,” implying that they died in the schools and their corpses vanished. TRC Commissioner Murray Sinclair and his colleagues have promoted the likely embellished claim that more than 6,000 children were exterminated in the schools and secretly disposed of by the Catholic clergy. And the Kamloops claim that caused such an uproar last year was based on 200 “soil disturbances,” which even the researcher who performed the ground-penetrating radar search was forced to list as “probable burials,” because the sites need to be excavated in order to be confirmed.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be required to restate its conclusions on a basis consistent with its own research and all research conclusions should be rigorously verified and cross-indexed. The TRC’s bloated budget makes the sloppiness of its sourcing inexcusable. There should not be another cent of reparations paid out over these claims of heinous crimes until we have more clarity. Native jurisdictions should be held to the same standards of fiscal honesty as other jurisdictions in Canada and a plan of action should be produced by the collaboration of all bona fide parties and implemented to address the genuine grievances of First Nations people. Sinclair and the other commissioners must answer these very serious findings and Trudeau and McLachlin and the other defamers of this country should be rebuked and must recant their false allegations. Justice must be done, at last, for First Nations, and for Canada.

National Post

Here's a number

$11,000,000.  That's what you and I will be paying for an expansion of the Stoney-Nakoda Health Centre near here.  Why?  Because out of a population of 3,700, they logged....wait for it....35,000 emergency visits last year alone!

That's more than nine per person.  Nine!!  That's coming up to one a month for every man, woman and child on that reserve and that's insane! 

Shouldn't Indigenous Services and the famous Marc Miller be looking at why there are so many visits?  Well, no, because that would mean getting to the nub of the problem on that reserve:  Drugs and overdoses.  Why so many?  Because there is nothing to do there except drugs because most residents who live there are unemployed because they get "their money for nothin' and their chicks for free", as Dire Straits puts it.  

Individual expenses for elected officials running Stoney Nakoda First Nation reached an all time high of $1.4 million last year, according to financial records quietly released in late November under the First Nations Financial Transparency Act.  And we're not talking salaries; we're talkin' expenses.  The following is taken from a report from a 'Rocky Mountain Outlook' report:

"The increase in individual expenditures is on top of a two per cent salary increase the politicians received last year and comes as the nation grapples with a larger than expected deficit of $13 million.

"It’s the fourth straight deficit the band has recorded since it first began publishing its financial statements in 2014 and not the first time its spending practices have been scrutinized.

"In 2015, media reports revealed elected officials were paid a combined $3.3 million in salaries and expenses – a 20 per cent jump from the previous year.

"In response, elected officials’ salaries were reduced the following year, however, individual expenses continued to rise jumping by nearly 30 per cent over the next two years to $1.4 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017.

"The Stoney Nakoda First Nation is governed by three chiefs and 12 councillors from the Bearspaw, Chiniki and Wesley bands that make up what is known as the Stoney Nakoda Tribal Council.

"Among the nation’s three chiefs, Bearspaw Chief Darcy Dixon racked up $204,129 in individual expenses last year, nearly 60 per cent more than the previous year – the most of any politician.

"His individual expenses are in addition to his annual tax-free salary of $127,453, which all three chiefs earned last year. Councillors who were elected for the full year earned $91,038 and took home between $5,250 to $139,422 in expenses.

"None of the chiefs responded to interview requests, however, acting band administrator Ken Christensen said their wages are fair, explaining each elected official earns a severance package at the end of their elected term, which varies depending on each band."

Fair?!  Are you kidding?!!!  The report goes on.....

"Their salaries stand in stark contrast to the average annual earnings of those living on the reserve, which was an average of $14,488 in 2016, according to the federal census.

"In comparison to other First Nations communities, the Siksika Nation, located an hour east of Calgary, spent a combined total of $1.2 million on salaries, remuneration and travel expenses last year for 13 elected officials. The highest earner took home a total of $102,000.

"John Reilly, a retired provincial court judge who ordered an investigation into the nation’s finances in 1996, said he wasn’t surprised to hear elected officials were reaping the benefits of their position.

"Despite the decrease, the budget still shows the overall cost to support the band’s government increased to $13.9 million from $12.3 million two years earlier.

"It’s also not clear where approximately $30.4 million dollars went in an undefined line item called “other expenses.”

This last part about it not being clear where $30.4 million wandered off to and trickled into "other expenses" is completely unacceptable.  They must be accountable -- but, wait, Trudeau cancelled the Accountability Act as his first order of business.  And they can't pay for the expansion of their own health centre.  But, of course, why would they?!  As I said, it's all "money for nothin' and your chicks for free".

$25 million for tampons

In its infinite wisdom, er, make that ignorance, this government -- under the brilliant, er, make that pudden-headed, direction of washed up, ex-broadcaster Marci Ien, minister of the ludicrous Women and Gender Equality Department -- has introduced a 'Menstrual Equity Fund' to ensure all women have access to Tampax and other monthly necessities.

$25 million is apparently what is required to ensure gender diverse, (whatever that entails?  Women posing as men who don't want to be seen buying a sanitary pad?) underprivileged, poor, racially-challenged women can buy a pad or tampon if they can't afford one.  

OMG!  What have we all been doing up until now when "that time of the month" comes along?!?!  So now we have an entire department created to deal with periods and other "female" stuff.  If you don't think I am serious, look it up!  It was actually in 'The Globe and Mail' today -- complete with a helpful picture of what the 25 mill will buy:

While the world and this country are falling apart, Canada's contribution is to hand out free sanitary pads.  Just when I thought women in public office couldn't look any more inane or foolish, a minister of the Crown announces a program so ludicrous it stuns!  Is she going to replicate the follies of her colleagues Mélanie Joly and Anita Anand and rush around all over the world "convening" meetings of heads of government to encourage other countries to hand out free tampons?!

Now, I've seen it all.

  

Ode to the humble clothesline

The clothesline is my favourite household appliance.  I love the smell of clothes and linens after they have flapped dry in the air.  Clotheslines also bring me back to a happy childhood, helping my mother with the wash and hanging out the clothes.  (Note:  I also love ironing!)

I got away from them when I moved to Toronto in the late sixties, but they returned to my life after using them in the summer at our cottage.  The first Fall we returned, I had the builder of our house put one up in the backyard and every house we have lived in since has had one.  Until the condo, where I used illegal racks on the balcony.

Moving to Calgary and a condo townhouse that also forbade them, I had to forego the lines and resort again to racks, which I did.  But now that we are in Cochrane, I am once again in clothesline heaven!  Just bought a four-sided, umbrella clothesline, which my son-in-law is going to cement into the back lawn.  Can't wait!

Here are clothesline "rules":

BASIC RULES FOR CLOTHESLINES:

(If you don't even know what clotheslines are, better skip this.)

1. You had to hang the socks by the toes... NOT the top.

2. You hung pants by the BOTTOM/cuffs... NOT the waistbands.

3. You had to WASH the clothesline(s) before hanging any clothes -
Walk the entire length of each line with a damp cloth around the lines.

4. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.

5. You NEVER hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail!
What would the neighbors think?

6. Washday on a Monday! NEVER hang clothes on the weekend,
Or on Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

7. Hang the sheets and towels on the OUTSIDE lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)

8. It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather... Clothes would "freeze-dry."

9. ALWAYS gather the clothes pins when taking down dry clothes!
Pins left on the lines were "tacky"!

10. If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item
Did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothes pins with the next washed item.

11. Clothes off of the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

12. IRONED? Well, that's a whole OTHER subject!

And now a POEM...

A clothesline was a newscast,
To neighbors passing by,
There were no secrets you could keep,
When clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link,
For neighbors always knew
If company had stopped by
To spend a night or two.


For then you'd see the "fancy sheets",
And towels upon the line;
You'd see the "company table cloths",
With intricate designs.

The line announced a baby's birth,
From folks who lived inside,
As brand new infant clothes were hung,
So carefully with pride!


The ages of the children could,
So readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed,
You'd know how much they'd grown!

It also told when illness struck,
As extra sheets were hung;
Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe too,
Haphazardly were strung.

It also said, "On vacation now",
When lines hung limp and bare.
It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged,
With not an inch to spare!

New folks in town were scorned upon,
If wash was dingy and gray,
As neighbors carefully raised their brows,
And looked the other way.

But clotheslines now are of the past,
For dryers make work much less.
Now what goes on inside a home,
Is anybody's guess!

I really miss that way of life,
It was a friendly sign
When neighbors knew each other best...
By what hung on the line.

   

Wrong

What the Academy is doing is wrong:

____________________________________

April 4, 2022

 

Mr. David Rubin

President

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

8949 Wilshire Blvd.

Beverly Hills, CA 90211

 

Dear Mr. Rubin:

 

In 2024, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will institute inclusion standards for Oscar eligibility. Those standards are based on race, ethnicity, sex, those with disabilities, sexual orientation and gender identity. Noticeably absent is any mention of religion.

 

The 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and national origin; sexual orientation and gender identity were later added. Civil rights laws were also extended at a later date to those with disabilities, as well as veterans.

 

The Academy's criteria cover all of these categories save for religion and veteran status. Though I am a veteran, in my capacity as president of the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization, I am particularly interested in why religion—one of the original categories cited in the 1964 Civil Rights Act—was not mentioned by the Academy.

 

The Academy is a private organization and is thus not bound by these civil rights laws, so there is no legal issue here. But there is an ethical issue. Why, if the Academy is adopting inclusion standards, did it exclude religion as one of its demographic categories?

 

It is no secret that Hollywood is a gay-friendly community. Nor is it a secret that it is not religion-friendly. Why, then, would the Academy demand that movie production companies do a better job hiring more "LBGTQ+ people" but not practicing Catholics and Protestants? Clearly the former are already overrepresented; the latter are not. 

 

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this matter. Thank you for your consideration.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

William A. Donohue, Ph.D.

President, Catholic League of America

 

cc: Board of Governors 

Café Blah Blah

That was the title of a painting we purchased from a very good artist a number of years ago.  It was a charming depiction of people sitting around in a café talking and gesticulating, hence its title, "Café Blah Blah".  I bought it more for the title, than the painting.

That's what NATO, the WTO and all Western countries are currently doing while Russia destroys Ukraine.  Everyone talks and makes speeches and clutches pearls and wrings hands and issues statements and press releases and flies all over to meet and "convene" -- as that ridiculous Mélanie Joly bragged -- but no one is doing anything to help.  As for the hapless, but earnest, efforts of various church groups, they are now begging the government to help.  

When I was chair of the parish council at Our Lady of Fatima years ago, a group of do-gooders was trying to bring in refugees from somewhere and they came hat-in-hand to ask for money.  I asked them what their plan was after their charges had landed and temporary billeting with parishioners had ended?  They had no plan -- other than to dump them on welfare.  So, I refused them money because all they would be doing would be to increase the burden of Ottawa's taxpayers.  You may think that heartless, and it probably is, but the priest, knowing I was right, backed me.     

It's all so ludicrous and puts one in mind of Neville Chamberlain waving a meaningless piece of paper signed by Hitler, as the former de-planed before the onslaught of WW II.  This will only end when either someone close to Putin eliminates him, or he finds a face-saving off-ramp to withdraw.  But reading a column in 'The Globe and Mail' today, I realized that this is all a cash-via-oil grab for Putin, who wants to take over the rich petroleum resources of Ukraine and hold Europe hostage for them.

The pictures that disturb me most are these: