4 ~- Sunday, November 17, 1985 - North Shore News

BELIEVE IT or not, D

Bob Hunter

© strictly personal ¢

oug Collins and I agree

about many things: the perfidy of governments,

the need to defend

the West against the

totalitarian hordes, the insidiousness of the
metric system, the impudence of bureaucrats,

the fallibility of the medi

We do NOT agree on
the subject of Bannerman
of the Ding-Dong and the
‘“‘Indians,’’ except for one
detail.

The detail is the power
of the CRTC to control the
licensing of broadcasters,
thereby making a farce of
the ‘‘free’’ air waves.

1 happen to think racism
sucks (it is the lowest of
low trips), but I also hap-
pen to think that broadcast
czars are, by nature, czars.
The airwaves, if you ask
me, should be open—like
‘print, ‘like video, like
fil im—to every voice, every
vice, every mystery, every
fraud artist and saint alike.

It is the price of
freedom. Accordingly, I
would fight to the death to
defend Doug's right to say

-whatever he says, and for
‘that matter Bannerman of

the Ding -Dong’s right.
Let’s have: a debate.

- about this. -

I cannot buy the routine
that it is the fault of the
current generation of ‘‘In-
dians” in Canada that they
are caught in the awful sit-
uation they are in, I hate to
bother you with the facts,
but as anybody who has
ever visited a reserve can
tell you, it is, at the very.
best, a comfortable con-

“centration camp.

Environmental factors
‘cannot help but affect
“people's. lives. Like, if
you’re born on an ‘‘Indian

“reserve’’ in Canada, that is
-going te AFFECT your ca-

i reer path, believe it!

If one of the en-
vironmental factors turns
out to be the heavy hand of
oppréssive. state
bureaucracy—a literal ‘‘Big

1a.

Brother’? intervention in
your life, from birth to
grave—then, face it, your
chances of ‘'making it'’ in
mainstream Canadian
society are kneecapped
from the beginning,
whether anybody calls you
“brother’’ or ‘‘sister’’ or
not.

Is it the “Indians’’ fault?
Is jit my fault? Your fault?
Dad's fault? Grandpa's
fault? Who the hell's fault
is it? Does it matter?

It turns out, it does. As
ever. In fact, it is the cen-
tral pretense of the Cana-
dian ‘‘state-nation,’’ in
Richard Gwyn’s phrase,
that we are somehow a
racial and religious haven
(exactly as Louis Riel
wanted). Much of that
self-image turns on how we
deal with indigenous peo-
ple, keeping in mind that,
with the notable exception-
of Europeans, nearly
EVERYBODY on Earth -is
“indigenous.”

It seems to me that a
‘fatal flaw in the don’t-
blame-me-for-the-Ind.
ians’-plight-it’s-their-own-:
fault argument is that there
is a totally unfair quid pro
quo. Ironically, it is mainly
immigrants—from the
British Isles and
Europe—who come up
with the case that says
don’t-blame-me-things- .
were-this-way-when-I-
got-here.

In other words, the cur-
rent crop of Indians is to
blame for their own plight,
but the current crop of
whites AREN'T because it
was Grandpa's fault—
HE’s the guy who ripped
off the Indians. Me, I’m
just trying to get by in the

crazy, cruel modern world!

If there are problems on
the reserves, it is proof of
the weaknesses and inher-
ent paganism of the In-
dians today, goes the Ban-
nerman of the Ding-Dong
argument. THEY are to
blame for their own suf-
fering! Not me! Not Ban-
nerman! Not Doug! We're
clean.

Hey! Fair enough that
the CRTC shouldn't have
control over a micro-se-
cond of air time in the
True North Slightly Free! 1
agree compictely!

What I am attacking is
the thrust of Bannerman’s
on-air argument that mod-
ern Canadian ‘‘Indians’’ as
an entire race are a bad lot.
Basically, he says, they are
slobs.

I happen to have met
and known some ‘‘In-
dians’’—a total misnomer,
may | remind you—who
were more aware and sen-
sitive and intelligent than
some white people (or
yellow. people or black

people or, green people) 1-1-4

have. known. TV have also
met many ‘Indians’? who
weren't.

It may come as a shock
to Bannerman of the
Ding-Dong, but there are
Native North Americans
among us who have
penetrated most profes-
sions in Canada, who live
in suburbia, who are exec-

. utives, and who keep a low

profile about their ‘‘In-
dian’’ background, because
they don’t especially
believe in it as a superbig
deal, any more than |
believe in my ‘‘French”’ or
“Scottish” racial identities
as having very much, if
anything, to do with me.
Oh, sure, something. But
let’s just get on with it....

. Bannerman, that junk
about ‘‘Indians’’ . being
this-or-that or the other
was low class. That’s all.

Spe nd anhour,
Srealifetime’

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