Whisper n Thunder
The Whisper of Native American stories, the Thunder of stories that demand to be told.
One Admits It, One Denies It! Which is It?
ONE ADMITS IT, ONE DENIES IT! WHICH IS IT?
Canadian Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan’s denial of Residential Schools atrocities as Genocide
~ Gerald McIvor
In 1920, Federal Superintendent of Indian Affairs Duncan Campbell Scott infamously stated on
record:
“I want to get rid of the Indian problem. Our objective is to continue until there Is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question and no Indian department.”
In June, 2008 during his formal apology on the Residential Schools, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated:
“Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture… These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, `to kill the Indian in the child.' Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.”
In the same apology Prime Minister Harper further stated:
“Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm and has no place in our country. The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian Residential Schools police were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on Aboriginal culture, heritage and language.”
On October 27, 2011, Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan stated:
“I don’t view it that way (as an act of cultural genocide), but it was certainly very negative to the retention of culture and if it had extended for another generation or two it might have been lethal, yes.”
The clear contradiction between Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s words in Canada’s official apology and Indian Affairs Minster John Duncan’s words while making a formal announcement on Parliament Hill of the unveiling of a stained glass window to honor Residential Schools Survivors is a clear example of insincerity, hollow words and blatant political indemnification on Canada’s part in issuing this apology.
The United Nations definition, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, very clearly states:
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
· (a) Killing members of the group;
· (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
· (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
· (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
· (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
I demanded through correspondence that both the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and his Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan please clarify their statements in writing to First Nations as they are very clearly contradicting each other. One admits it, one denies it! To date, I have only received silence.
The once internationally respected Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have admitted their complicity and involvement in this genocidal process but have chosen to issue a one-sided report which is nothing short of an illegitimate attempt of whitewashing their involvement. Article 3 of the United Nations Convention states:
“The following acts shall be punishable:
· (a) Genocide;
· (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
· (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
· (d) Attempt to commit genocide;
· (e) Complicity in genocide.
The RCMP are clearly liable according to article 3, (e) of the international convention which Canada is signatory to and bound to uphold and enforce as per their membership in the United Nations.
For the record, Canada still owes an apology for and must be brought to account and be held legally liable for the germ warfare in another failed attempt at genocide through their distribution of the smallpox infected blankets with the clear intent of having this deadly epidemic kill off the Indians.
I also demanded that Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn Atleo please explain his silence on this matter to the survivors of the attempted genocide and to all First Nations. The National Chief was elected to protect, advance and advocate for First Nations interests and in my considered opinion, National Chief Atleo has failed to meet his mandate even minimally with his deafening silence. He has also responded with silence.
I am currently in the process of notifying Chiefs across the country to request that they formally file a criminal complaint with the International Court of Justice to have Canada formally investigated for crimes against Humanity and attempted genocide on the Indigenous peoples of this country. The international statement of claim must be filed with the clear objective of having the Indian Act and all federal legislations including Bill C-31 declared genocidal in intent and implementation of which Canada will be held to account.
It is very disturbing and disheartening that the Canadian Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan clearly exposes the Conservative intent of minimizing the darkest, saddest and most shameful chapter of Canadian history and the Conservative government’s ongoing agenda of funding reductions on the healing programs. These programs were established through the negotiations for the formal apology, Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Done in conjunction with Minister Duncan’s denial, this could be the catalyst to cause relapses for many survivors who have accepted this insincere apology and have used it as the foundation upon which to forgive what was perpetrated on their beings, accept what happened and to move forward through formal healing practices which would benefit all Canadians. This is reinforced by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper appearing on American media outlets denying that colonialism happened or exists in Canada. The actions of the Canadian government are a very clear indication that the formal apology was politically motivated for electoral favor only, and the passive genocidal policies and agenda will now continue under the right wing Conservative regime. It will be business as usual for Canada and the genocidal assimilation process will continue until we are all gone unless we as the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island stop it.
It is important to compare this to the aggressive genocide of the Jewish people by Hitler and the Nazis during World War II. While American and Canadian Indians were in the armed forces fighting to stop Hitler from achieving his goal of exterminating the Jews, Canadian and American political laws inducing passive genocide were quietly being implemented by Canadian and American bureaucrats reducing our already devastated nations or tribes as we are commonly referred to. The hypocritical American and Canadians governments fought to stop genocide while they were committing it themselves. Now Canada watches us constantly because of what they call terrorist threats. I say that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter but I have never condoned violence and never will. I urge all Indian youth to get educated, master the colonial education systems and use it to regain what was taken from us using their religion and imposed laws.
I will again request that both the Prime Minister and your Indian Affairs Minister clarify their statements to clearly show the residential schools survivors and First Nations peoples of this land exactly what they meant through their contradictory statements. I am urging all Canadian Indians to speak out because as the western world’s most infamous political prisoner Leonard Peltier so correctly stated “SILENCE IS COMPLICITY.” For as long as the sun shines, the grasses grow and the waters flow, the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island will remain strong, proud and free!!!!
Gerald McIvor
Treaty One Indian
Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA
Banner Graphic: www.firstpeople.us
Canadian Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan’s denial of Residential Schools atrocities as Genocide
~ Gerald McIvor
In 1920, Federal Superintendent of Indian Affairs Duncan Campbell Scott infamously stated on
record:“I want to get rid of the Indian problem. Our objective is to continue until there Is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question and no Indian department.”
In June, 2008 during his formal apology on the Residential Schools, Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated:
“Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture… These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, `to kill the Indian in the child.' Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.”
In the same apology Prime Minister Harper further stated:
“Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm and has no place in our country. The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian Residential Schools police were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on Aboriginal culture, heritage and language.”
On October 27, 2011, Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan stated:
“I don’t view it that way (as an act of cultural genocide), but it was certainly very negative to the retention of culture and if it had extended for another generation or two it might have been lethal, yes.”
The clear contradiction between Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s words in Canada’s official apology and Indian Affairs Minster John Duncan’s words while making a formal announcement on Parliament Hill of the unveiling of a stained glass window to honor Residential Schools Survivors is a clear example of insincerity, hollow words and blatant political indemnification on Canada’s part in issuing this apology.
The United Nations definition, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, very clearly states:
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
· (a) Killing members of the group;
· (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
· (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
· (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
· (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
I demanded through correspondence that both the Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and his Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan please clarify their statements in writing to First Nations as they are very clearly contradicting each other. One admits it, one denies it! To date, I have only received silence.
The once internationally respected Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have admitted their complicity and involvement in this genocidal process but have chosen to issue a one-sided report which is nothing short of an illegitimate attempt of whitewashing their involvement. Article 3 of the United Nations Convention states:
“The following acts shall be punishable:
· (a) Genocide;
· (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
· (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
· (d) Attempt to commit genocide;
· (e) Complicity in genocide.
The RCMP are clearly liable according to article 3, (e) of the international convention which Canada is signatory to and bound to uphold and enforce as per their membership in the United Nations.
For the record, Canada still owes an apology for and must be brought to account and be held legally liable for the germ warfare in another failed attempt at genocide through their distribution of the smallpox infected blankets with the clear intent of having this deadly epidemic kill off the Indians.
I also demanded that Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Shawn Atleo please explain his silence on this matter to the survivors of the attempted genocide and to all First Nations. The National Chief was elected to protect, advance and advocate for First Nations interests and in my considered opinion, National Chief Atleo has failed to meet his mandate even minimally with his deafening silence. He has also responded with silence.
I am currently in the process of notifying Chiefs across the country to request that they formally file a criminal complaint with the International Court of Justice to have Canada formally investigated for crimes against Humanity and attempted genocide on the Indigenous peoples of this country. The international statement of claim must be filed with the clear objective of having the Indian Act and all federal legislations including Bill C-31 declared genocidal in intent and implementation of which Canada will be held to account.
It is very disturbing and disheartening that the Canadian Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan clearly exposes the Conservative intent of minimizing the darkest, saddest and most shameful chapter of Canadian history and the Conservative government’s ongoing agenda of funding reductions on the healing programs. These programs were established through the negotiations for the formal apology, Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Done in conjunction with Minister Duncan’s denial, this could be the catalyst to cause relapses for many survivors who have accepted this insincere apology and have used it as the foundation upon which to forgive what was perpetrated on their beings, accept what happened and to move forward through formal healing practices which would benefit all Canadians. This is reinforced by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper appearing on American media outlets denying that colonialism happened or exists in Canada. The actions of the Canadian government are a very clear indication that the formal apology was politically motivated for electoral favor only, and the passive genocidal policies and agenda will now continue under the right wing Conservative regime. It will be business as usual for Canada and the genocidal assimilation process will continue until we are all gone unless we as the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island stop it.
It is important to compare this to the aggressive genocide of the Jewish people by Hitler and the Nazis during World War II. While American and Canadian Indians were in the armed forces fighting to stop Hitler from achieving his goal of exterminating the Jews, Canadian and American political laws inducing passive genocide were quietly being implemented by Canadian and American bureaucrats reducing our already devastated nations or tribes as we are commonly referred to. The hypocritical American and Canadians governments fought to stop genocide while they were committing it themselves. Now Canada watches us constantly because of what they call terrorist threats. I say that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter but I have never condoned violence and never will. I urge all Indian youth to get educated, master the colonial education systems and use it to regain what was taken from us using their religion and imposed laws.
I will again request that both the Prime Minister and your Indian Affairs Minister clarify their statements to clearly show the residential schools survivors and First Nations peoples of this land exactly what they meant through their contradictory statements. I am urging all Canadian Indians to speak out because as the western world’s most infamous political prisoner Leonard Peltier so correctly stated “SILENCE IS COMPLICITY.” For as long as the sun shines, the grasses grow and the waters flow, the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island will remain strong, proud and free!!!!
Gerald McIvor
Treaty One Indian
Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA
Photo by Nora Moore Lloyd All Rights Reserved
Banner Graphic: www.firstpeople.us
