J Simpson said “But, then, people have become very afraid (for reasons of political correctness, one supposes) to say anything critical of aboriginal practices …..”
And that’s the nub.
‘Non-autochthonous’ Cdns (a group with no registered lobbyists and no slogans) are so bullied and buffalo-ed by imposed-from-history guilt (fostered by the lobbyists and sloganeers representing the autochthonous folks) that they shy away from calling for sanity, consistency and lawful-ness when confronted by these issues.
The Simpson piece glides across the point of Sovereignty – Canadian Crown vs Pre-Existing & Independent. I’ll assert that the staunchest of the Autochthonous Leaders disavow any loyalty to the Cdn Crown, to Cdn citizenship and to Cdn law.
Further, I will say that these Leaders believe that their people are NOT subjects of the Crown, Not citizens and that their “pre-existing condition” puts them beyond/above/outside the “bundle of responsibilities and duties, conditional-rights and subject-to freedoms” that constrains those who arrived post-contact.
And who can blame them!
The current (since Calder, 1973 I think) Supreme Court trend to recognize, establish, ameliorate, promote, create etc etc a Super-Class of Canadians with a pre-European heritage is part of the problem too. If we continue to grant special-status (CdnPlus) to peoples/ nations/ IndianActBands/ governments ALONG WITH big pools of cash and taxing powers/exemptions then who can blame heart-strong individuals (with a qualifying heritage and a Crown-paid law degree) from running to the head of the parade AND THEN pushing the legal envelope on power of/for/by “their” people.
In addition, if you were a “qualifying” recipient of soon-to-come Cdn.Crown granted benefits of money, land and autonomy wouldn’t you want to limit/control/eliminate the participation of some/all of the “fringe”, “not pur laine”, “half-in/half-out” potential beneficiaries – to maximize your own share?
So Mr Simpson, don’t worry about some very-human, insider-trading rules being cooked-up by Leaders who, after having been given precedent over precedent over concession over special treatment, have come to think they are above and beyond the laws of Canada.
Thank you for outing “radical parallelism”, I’ll call it Fundamental Foolishness – sort of like 600+ Nations Warring Outside-the-Bosom of a 10+3+special-status-groups Confederated State
What all Canadians (despite 1.5 generations of heritage, national origin, language, sex, type, age etc divide-and-rule central-planning Group-Manipulation) must come to grips with “Are you a Canadian First?… or not?” and “Are you an individual First? or part of a group?”
THEN we, with our own reality established above/beyond our “roots”, we can approach the framework of an agreement with Cdn RESIDENTS who deem themselves outside our “club”, but worthy of all the benefits.
unclebobexplains 