Wow, a landmark decision has seen Canada sign a $20 billion compensation agreement on First Nations child welfare. Now why would they do that? In the past, their response has always seen large amounts of dollars going to lawyers fighting Indigenous claims rather than settling them.
National Indigenous Peoples Day took place June 21 while the month’s National Indigenous History Month in June is also a significant time for Indigenous people in Canada.
The clock clicked a minute passed midnight and, as if flipping a switch, the hot summer days were blown out by a mere five-minute decrease of our daily dose of sunlight. Yep, summer solstice ended and now the days will start getting shorter until they practically disappear in six months’ time. Why is it that when time is measured, there is never enough of it?
National Indigenous Day is past us and Nation Indigenous Month is ending. We’ve all heard the cries for Indigenous history to be taught in classrooms. One wonders what will be taught and how it will be presented. Candy-coated with a few dark spots would be most likely. How Canada got its name, how the Injuns helped the settlers, a few wars we helped one side or the other, the fur trade, and, of course, an apologetic reference to residential schools.
Only 43.5% of eligible voters showed up at polls during the recent provincial election in Ontario, making it the province’s lowest electoral turnout in history. That’s what often happens when parties don’t campaign for innovative social projects.
I’m rolling down the highway at the legal speed limit, fully aware that my gas-tank setting drops the faster I drive. These days, the price of gas is more than those in the far North, where high prices for everything are normal and if the price goes down, people go into economic shock. What? Gas prices have nearly doubled! What happened since the last lock down, did I miss anything? Well apparently, there’s is a war in Ukraine and the free world is doubling up all kinds of sanctions and blocking the Russian aggressor.
Chief Wayne Wabie called me this past week to share news that his community had officially been acknowledged as a First Nation by the Canadian government. This was a conversation of pure happiness, joy and relief.
For many of us in the professional world, there is nothing like attending annual meetings, regional conferences and other (earthly) events that take place in the world of business. It’s the need to meet-and-greet, schmooze-and-booze and then snooze the following morning during the most important meeting of your life.
I wonder exactly when it was that denying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms became so popular in Quebec. Make no mistake. It’s now evidently a politically astute move, as evidenced by the National Assembly’s adoption of Bill 96, our new language law, in a vote of 78-29.
When I was younger, my mother told me how she finds it crazy that many people don’t know the stars and constellations although we see them every night. That resonated with me, and it lingered in my mind, making me want to read the night sky like my ancestors did. Since I was a child, I’ve found deep space to be equally fascinating and terrifying.
