Kevin Annett on Sweden Radio
http://odeo.com/episodes/23497511-Kevin-Annett-Hidden-From-History-Canada-s-Genocide
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
What is Canada?
It was just this year that the Canadian government apologized for the residential schools that were put in place to assimilate Native students into the mainstream Canadian culture. As evidenced by the deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs, Duncan Campbell Scott’s words, the goal of the Indian Act was for “Indians [to] progress into civilization and finally disappear as a separate and distinct people, not by race extinction but by gradual assimilation with their fellow-citizens.”
Unlike Joe’s claim, we were not always, “really, really nice.”
In the end, the cost of indifference is a world where people like George Bush and Stephen Harper are heads of state. It is a world where genocide makes headlines and continues to occur; it’s a world where large financial institutions get bailed out with government money that could have fed and sheltered millions of people.
It is a world that allows the Oka Crisis and residential schools to occur, a world with a climate changing for the worse, a world running out of natural resources.
http://www.theomega.ca/article/4988
Reel Youth
Residential Truth :: Unified Future
This is the first draft of this film. Created by 6 First Nation youth, Residential Truth :: Unified Future speaks of the impact of Canada's Residential Schools on their family and their own life.
http://blip.tv/file/1193433/Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Truth commission tied too closely to government: aboriginal groups
Leaders raise questions about new executive director
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 8, 2008 | 11:47 AM ET Comments55Recommend23
CBC News
Aboriginal groups are concerned that a federal government bureaucrat who is not aboriginal has been chosen to be the new executive director of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Aideen Nabigon, who has worked for the federal government on issues arising from the legacy of Indian residential schools, has replaced Bob Watts, former chief of staff to the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
Watts, who was seconded from the assembly to work as interim executive director, said this week that he was surprised that he received a letter last month saying the commission was activating the termination clause in his contract.
"I'm really at a loss to figure out what's going on except it's quite likely they're not honouring the job offer they made me," he said.
"I've put my heart and soul into this process and made commitments to survivors across the country that I was going to work hard for their benefit and not having that opportunity is tough."
While Nabigon has treaty status, Watts is from the Mohawk and Ojibway Nations in Ontario. He was directly involved in negotiating the residential schools settlement for the assembly.
Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said this week that he is worried that the federal government is behind the change in staff and that the appointment is another example of the federal interference in the commission.
"The issue here is not colour. The issue is competence and understanding and experience. That's OK as long as the independence of the TRC is not compromised in any way," he said.
Edward John, a lawyer and member of the Union of B.C. Chiefs, said the appointment is raising questions because aboriginal leaders believe that the executive director of the commission should not simply be a federal appointee.
The commission is charged with examining the legacy of abuse in Indian residential schools.
"We certainly want to make sure there is someone there who understands residential schools, who understands survivors, and not just another mandarin from Ottawa," John said.
Chief commissioner Harry LaForme defended his decision to hire Nabigon, saying he should have the independence to hire the person he thinks is best for the job.
"When it's interference and influence that's being attempted through aboriginal organizations like the AFN, then it's just me being accused of getting into bed with the federal government," he said.
"And I will defend the independence of the commission from that kind of influence as much as I will from the influence of government."
LaForme said the commission needs to strike a balance between the federal government and aboriginal interest groups and be independent from both.
He said Nabigon is an excellent choice for executive director. "She's worked on many aspects of the settlement agreement. I'm satisfied," he said.
"She's working out marvelously. I'm quite delighted with her work."
Last summer, the assembly protested another hiring. It urged LaForme to reconsider a decision to hire lawyer Owen Young, who had last worked for the Ontario government in a court case against aboriginal leaders.
The federal government formed the commission as part of the court-approved Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement that was negotiated between legal counsel for former students, legal counsel for the churches, the federal government, the assembly and other aboriginal organizations.
The commission has been asked to provide former students with an opportunity to share their experiences in a safe and culturally appropriate manner.
Its purpose is to create a historical account of the residential schools, help people to heal, and encourage reconciliation between aboriginals and non-aboriginal Canadians.
The TRC has a budget of $60 million. It was formally established on June 1, 2008, and is expected to complete its work within five years.
*******
In my opinion
Bob Watts was appointed by the governmentHarper and the fact that he is a government appointee and defender was apparent in his attempt to shut Kevin Annett down: He found out Kevin was speaking in London and called the organizers and simply INSISTED that he was coming too. He used the same old smear tactics the governments always have used against Kevin. Showed his true INAC colours, he did.
Despite the opposition, we were successful in forcing the government to create a TRC Task Force to look into the deaths of children in the residential schools, but not without opposition from the AFN, Band Councils, and the Canadian governments. Phil Fontaine and Ed John's credentials in 'independence' from government is entirely suspect, as they both operate within Canada's imposed 'Band Council' system, not traditional Indigenous governance. I would trust Justice Laforme to make an independent decision before I would trust them.
Now ... if Justice Laforme can detach himself and his budget from the dept INAC set up to spend his budget, then there is some hope of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission being independent, as it is ordered by the courts to be. I will continue to share my concerns about independence with influential Canadians and with the International Centre for Justice that oversees the process.
Canada's Secret Crimes
AllHipHop - USA
As early as November, 1907, the Canadian press was acknowledging that the death rate within Indian residential schools exceeded 50% (see Appendix, ...
AllHipHop - USA
As early as November, 1907, the Canadian press was acknowledging that the death rate within Indian residential schools exceeded 50% (see Appendix, ...
Monday, October 6, 2008
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UNREPENTANT: Where are the missing children?
Skydragon Centre, Hamilton, Tues. Oct. 29 2008
Kevin Annett is a former United church minister, now a street minister in Vancouver's downtown east side.
In the 1990's, Kevin learned from some residential schools survivors about the many Indigenous children who did not survive the schools.
He opened his church to survivors to tell their stories, against criticism from non-aboriginal elders in the church and the senior administration in BC, who eventually removed him from the ministry and drummed him out of the church altogether.
It wasn't just because of the stories of children who died in the schools, but also due to other corruption he uncovered to do with native land held 'in trust' by the church.
From that time until the present, Kevin has taken his ministry to the street and has been harassed every step of the way, as Canadian institutions guarded their secrets.
Despite this he persisted in bringing this information to the Canadian public in his book Hidden from History, website www.hiddenfromhistory.org and now in a feature length award winning documentary film: UNREPENTANT: Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide.
Kevin Annett joins us at Skydragon Centre
Tuesday October 28 at 7 pm
to show and talk to us about his film,
his personal journey
and his hopes for the future.
Free admission.
Donations encouraged.
Film DVD's available for sale.
But will our governments allow the full truth to be told?
Will they explain why half of the children in Canada's 'Indian Residential Schools did not come home?
Will they investigate these deaths and disappearances and inform the families of the fates of these children?
Inform yourself.
Understand the present issues by understanding the past, and join in influencing the future of Canada.Saturday, October 4, 2008
Mush Hole Remembered: R. G. Miller, Woodland Cultural Centre, Oct 19 to Dec 24 2008
Youtube Video "Mush Hole Bricks" by timmerbigeyes
The back walls of the Mohawk Institute - the 'Mush Hole' are covered with the carved names of students.
http://mail.google.com/mail/?attid=0.1&disp=emb&view=att&th=11cc9eed13df662c
Youtube Video "Mush Hole Bricks" by timmerbigeyes
The back walls of the Mohawk Institute - the 'Mush Hole' are covered with the carved names of students.
http://mail.google.com/mail/?attid=0.1&disp=emb&view=att&th=11cc9eed13df662c
Thursday, October 2, 2008
SCOC affirms 40-year-old rape case at residential school
Top court refused to accept need for higher burden of proof in civil court
Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=886f9729-2a26-4ea9-87aa-db85abfcd9b6Published: Thursday, October 02, 2008
OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada refused Thursday to make it harder for victims of childhood sexual assault to successfully sue their tormenters in a ruling that was a loss for a former Indian residential school supervisor who was found liable for raping a child in his care almost 40 years ago.
The court unanimously overturned a 2007 decision in the British Columbia Court of Appeal that found testimony of adult victims about events that happened long ago requires independent corroboration.
"Such evidence may not be available, especially when the alleged incidents took place decades earlier," Justice Marshall Rothstein wrote in the 7-0 ruling.
The court, in siding with a complainant identified as F.H., put to rest a percolating legal debate about whether the standard of proving liability in civil cases involving serious wrongdoing should be as high or even higher than it is for proving criminal guilt. The ruling reinforces the existing standard for being found liable in a civil suit - a judge must come to the conclusion that the wrongdoing probably happened.
"I think it is time to say, once and for all in Canada, that there is only one civil standard of proof . . . and that is proof on a balance of probabilities," wrote Rothstein.
In a criminal case, where there is a presumption of innocence and the freedom of the accused is at stake, the Crown must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. However, even criminal cases do not require corroboration of sexual assault, noted Rothstein.
The complainant, F.H., was a student from 1966 to '74 at the Sechelt Indian Residential School, run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and funded by the federal government.
Ian Hugh McDougall was a supervisor at the school and F.H. said at his 13-day trial that he was repeatedly sexually assaulted in the supervisors' washroom when he was about 10 years old.
The Supreme Court decision restores the trial judge's finding that F.H. had been raped by McDougall four times during the 1968-69 school year.
"In serious cases such as this one, where there is little other evidence than that of the plaintiff and the defendant, and the alleged events took place long ago, the judge is required to make a decision, even though this may be difficult," said the decision.
"Assessing credibility is in the bailiwick of the trial judge for which he or she must be accorded a heightened degree of deference."
F.H's lawyer, Allan Donovan, said the ruling means the two sides can negotiate compensation, now that McDougall has been found liable.
The decision, he said, also clears up widespread confusion on whether judges in civil suits, particularly those involving serious allegations ranging from fraud to sexual assault, should follow a higher standard of proof. "This is going to be helpful across the board," said Donovan, predicting the decision could have a greater impact on sexual assault complainants who did not attend residential schools.
Many residential school victims are involved in an out-of-court resolution process with the federal government that precludes filing lawsuits.
© Canwest News Service 2008
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