[PDW]

ok, time for what seems to be the only native guy on the board to chime in.....sigh... Ill do it point form to avoid any long reads...
-treaties
- many signed under false circumstances (ie forced/tricked) and the majority of them are not followed which rasies the issues we are seeing today.
- most if not all treaties were made understanding we would SHARE land yet we are denied access constantly.
- I forget the number of treaty but healthcare was promised as was non-taxation. Pst we do not pay for and major sales made on reserves we do not pay either, yay.. that amounts to ..uhh... cheap smokes..

Border crossing
- we haev the right to move back and fourth freely between the u.s and canada due to a treaty agreement
- we WILL need passports once that goes into place.
- we DO get pulled over and searched, NAtive people brigning drugs and weapons is a sterotype as many non natrives do the same thing. I have been pulled over MANY times, it seems almost 1 in 6 trips I get pulled over and my car searched.

protests
- everyone in canada has the constitutional right to protest.
- the highway incident was a peaceful demonstration, however the guy comeenting on guns was way out of hand and uneeded.
- there was a better way to go about it, and troubling the general population was not it. Why not line the highways with signs rather than shut it down, then people may have been more open to the issues rather than what we have here is people just pissed at indians.
- as far as OKA goes which seems to have been hinted at it wasa very violent conflict which started with violent acts against the band there with the rock throwing incident where the non natives dropped and threw rocks from and overpass at a bus full of elders, women and children who were leaving the reserve for safety.

personally
-I dont mind paying taxes that I do since I take advantage of the health care system even though it was promised
- residential schools have taken a part of my life and culture that I am working hard at getting back, even with funding that has been promised recvently revoked by the harper gonvernment.
- I still feel like the last safe racism in canada is against my people and it kind of lets me down everytime I see how easily peoples opinions are swayed against our fights.
- I am let down by the acts of the people who shut down the highway, not a good thing to do on a weekend people look forward to. Harper is probably laughing himself to sleep now knowing he has more of the public in his side. but this is the point. the governmetn wont listen unless we trouble the public then it becomes their problem, but troubling the public causes us more problems in the long run. Conservatives country wide are laughing....(i say this because they have the worst track record regarding native rights throughout history and currently)


recommended
- familiarize yourself with treaties and treaty making process throughout our history with Native people. and treaties that exisit for that matter.
- also legislation created to contain the "native problem" in the royal proclamation, BNA act, the white paper, and constituion. it would shock and surprise you to see some of the stuff that is in those documents.
- discover the RCMP's true purpose as a native task force, and the wonders of on reserve "Idnian agents" whose purpose was to make sure no indians left the reserve without a pass card and controlled band money. It is where many of canadas wealthy got their start...

Im not pro native, go home whitey kind of guy. Im pro we can co-exist. but both sides need to understand more about wehre the other is coming from. the anger you see by our people is there because many non natives just jump to conclusions. you say get educated alongside you, well, I have. and it irks me to see that the majority of the population bases their opinions on assumptions, and not educated conclusions. The governemnt loves this and so does the media. you may not notcie a sympathitic story closed by a "will cost tax payers millions" or a sotry of a native leader followed by a beer commercial but it happens often.

in sum I agree, many of the actions taken are extreme and sometimes directed at the wrong people. but also you have to agree that the mentality of many canadians is terrbile towards natives and more often than not its worse than the things we do or say.

and sorry it turned out to be a long read... I tried..