Just a beginning??!!

That's what Siksika chief Ouray Crowfoot called the $1.3 billion -- BILLION $$$$$$!!!!! -- Trudeau (i.e., you and I) handed him yesterday.  "Full reconciliation will never be possible and past wrongs can never be made whole, but it's a start," said Crowfoot, hand out and mouth open.  This is over and above what they get annually as part of the Act.  

That'll be about $20,000 per native for.....for.....uh, nothing!  "We're not looking for anything other than equitable treatment that any other Albertan, any other Canadian would receive elsewhere," he stupefyingly added.  Really??!!!  Last time I checked the mail, my $20 grand wasn't there.  Has anyone else got theirs?!  

Some natives didn't sign it because, as one put it, "The original Surrender Claim would be worth $8 billion."  Gee, wonder if she'll refuse her $20K?  And in another 50 years, it might be worth $20 billion, so should we have just handed over a speculative $20?  Said another in a display of sincere gratitude, "It's not enough 100 percent (sic), but it's something that both parties agreed on.  I want people to invest into (sic) real problems of the nation.  I want people to invest into (sic) a detox centre, a dialysis machine, community centres; there's lots (sic) that this money can do to actually help our people." 

Well, Stoney-Nakoda just got $11,000,000 for a new health facility (see, Here's a number, May 4, 2022), so maybe you can get that thrown in too??  I mean, why not??!!

The chief is paid between $75,000 and $100,00.  If I were a band member, I'd watch his bank account very carefully.  Here's the money moment:

I must point out that these are obviously fake feathers because it would be against every sacred bone in the chief's body to kill that many sacrosanct, holy eagles for a headdress.  I mean, even The Queen is now wearing fake fur, so rest assured, Chief Crowfoot's feathers are fake. 

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While Crowfoot was signing for his cheque, Lynne Groulx, CEO of the Native Women's Association of Canada, was demanding money for action plans and money (of course) to stop the "genocide."  "Let's be clear," she said.  "No one expected to end the genocide in a single year with a single plan.  But we need a national task force (another one??!!) to review and investigate the unresolved files of the missing and murdered women and girls and redress (i.e., money) for the the unresolved files those women whose families' rights have been violated."

Lynne, you really need to google the RCMP stats on who's killing who.  Most native women -- just like non -- are killed by their own kith and kin and there are just as many unsolved non-native murdered and missing cases as native.  Ms. Groulx goes on, "We need a National Action plan (another?!) that is costed (money, again).  Hoping to keep her job, she continues...."We need timelines and measurable goals, more transparency on funding (money, again), especially those that are meant to pay (we'll be paying, not you) for the creation of accountability mechanisms and oversight bodies.

"The abominable rate of murders and disappearances among Indigenous women in Canada would not be tolerated if it is (sic) applied to all women in this country.  It should not be tolerated just because the victims are First Nations, Métis or Inuit."

See above........same numbers, same people doing the killing in both cases.  The fact that she gets away with this is wrong.  But never fear, there is a new financial army on the march looking for "victims":  The group fighting for money for anyone who went to an Indian Day School.  Now, if you went to school and came home at night -- as most of us did -- you can get money for the "abuse" you must surely have suffered at the hands of the "evil" teachers who laboured to give students an education.  

Ads are now appearing all over the television urging anyone who went to one to come forward for "compensation and legal assistance".  I mean you don't even need to fork out up-front legal money to get money; it's all there on a platter.  As Chief Crowfoot put it, "We're only asking for what any Canadian is entitled to."  Really?  I can remember several mean and brutal teachers and principals who regularly hurled chalk across the classroom, insulted students, made them stand in the hall and ultimately meted out the ultimate punishment, the dreaded strap.  

But all my memories pale when I listen to B's horror stories of heads being slammed into desks for getting a Latin verb conjugation wrong, or of the Irish brothers who taught them hockey, crushing young players into the boards while delivering other "instructive" physical checks on 12-year-olds.  "They were the toughest people I have ever known, but if I have any toughness at all, I can thank them for it," asserts B.  "About two years after I left, the meanest and toughest brother was kicked out of the order and promptly joined the Hell's Angels," he added.  "I heard he had quite a few illegitimate children in that gang."  Guess he didn't have a vocation afterall.    

In my case, what I don't remember about the "day school" I went to is being entitled to money?  Why is that?  Why don't we all get money for having had to stand in abject humiliation in the hall for chewing gum or whispering and getting caught?  And what about that male phys ed teacher who instructed us about the birds and the bees a little too enthusiastically and graphically?  Looking back, he clearly crossed a few lines, but we just laughingly shrugged it off.  Nothing happened, so there was no need to tell anyone.  Just all part of growing up.  

Sadly, that's where this entire conjured mess has left us:  Floundering in a morass of misplaced blame and unnecessary compensation.