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4- Wednesday, Jone 2, 198B - North s are News

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I BELIEVE Georges Eramus, national chief of the

*. Assembly of First Nations, i isn’t kidding when he warns

there will soon be a violent Uprising among Canada’s own
_“Palestinians’’, as many of the younger native people are

starting to think of themselves. i .

. Dhave decided to stop using the
term “Indian” even if alot of. /
natives are perfectly comfortable

_ with it. Just like f won't use the
term ‘‘Newfie”’ any more.

As one young native guy —a
Cree— told me: ‘*Lucky for us,”
you guys weren t looking for:
‘Turkey;’ :

Calling them “Indians"* is an in--
sult, even if it is a mental habit so
deeply engrained that nobody,

‘even the victims, questions it.

The term ‘‘Indian”’ is a part of a
Canada-wide system of occupation
and oppression in which we are all
involved. .: OB .

e¢ ,
‘We. have ¢ our

‘own Gaza Strips,
. our own Sowetos..

‘We call. them oe

reserves.” Pot!

a

Hard words, but I have chosen
them carefully. | mean them i in. 4
their, full sense. .

The rest of us‘are occupiers as
surely as the Israelis and.

-native people together aga single

“stereotyped group, we fleny them)

«their identity as Separ.

bands; nations, conf¢

“In Canada alone, here were: '/}

over 50 tribes, cacll of which spok :
__ a separate language or dialect.and’”

possessed its‘own peculiar mangers

there foothills of the Hong the 9
_every square mile of land was laid
' “claim to by ons iribe or another:

“_. They were nations. Smal!’ a
tions: Some were nomadic! bu
others, like the Iroquois, iad

“banded jogetner into an ‘ac al

t was perhaps’ 1 ,000/years: old
when the first ‘Europezns, arrived.
“/ Some scholars‘arg @ that the.
‘onfederacy was the/political
lodestone from’ which the ideas of
both communism and democracy
were lifted by immigrants and:
transmitted back Home, 2°
. Since their long retreat began i in:
; the face of genotide and .
epidemics,’ ‘thievery and military
-defeats, the natives of Canada '

= have experienced a Diaspora at

*. least as traumatic as that of the.
Jews. :

“i We see its’ long-term results i in

”. the confusion of political goals «

: that still divides native people’ to-. ae

eyes of Cafiiada’ S¢

i :
day. There are old grudges as sure-
ly as,there are among Irishmen and.
~ Englishmen, some of them dating
+ back not so long ag

; Onc of the reason ive peo- ’
ples haven’treached/a certain level
of political effectiveness in Canada
yet is that, among hemselves, they
need to learn how'to operate like a

"kind of United Na ons before they «
‘can really tackle/the enemy.’

i The “enemy*} h jn this case is forea
‘itawa,

| Moreover, the enemy is you and

! me sitting on our nice little chunks
‘ of property, the legality of the ar- /
"rangement backed up by our’ army,

navy) airiforce, Mounties, cops
; and CSIS agents. of

That’ s who the enemy is in the
senfranchised
Original majority.

a vote if, even as a

7 bloc, you cai. ’ be outvoted by just ©

ry other bloc there is?%\
arliament and yet hen fi tt

r jails? .

Cinada is is something that we
f ould. familiarize ourselves with’

! pow so that when tensions explode

‘on the reserves in the next'few."
cars, we'll at least’ be able to ap-

/ Spreciate the gap in perceptions be:
ween “them” and “us.?'.;

cident of fate any more. athe
“perceive an ongoing. political situa

ion in which they are both:
hamsirung and imprisoned, denied
any effective power over their own
lives), subject'to a mind-numbing

“S set of Indian Act regulations. . ;

Several things have happened

: that have been radicalizing today’
ve mative population: . ‘ : .

. The first, and’ most important,
_was the ‘beginning of protests by
“Ratives in the late "60s, triggered __

by: an uprising, ‘against ‘awful con-" '
‘ditions in'an Alberta prison, where :'

“the inmate, population | was more |
than 80 per cent native...

‘Another. major turning point.
was the dispersal of native’
© agitators”. throughout the rest of
“the Canadian prison system, which
“ted to the growth “of many of the

‘ ‘modern’ native ‘organizations.

“The current ‘generation of. native .
leaders have, overwhelmingly, had
the experience of being inside
* Canada’s jails at one time or .

_ another i in their lives. 5° ¢

They don’t view the country _

through Maple Leaf-colored . *
"glasses. They view, it more aS a
- Gulag. And they are getting.
angrier all the time

;, of. West Vancouver ‘and his chair-

d North’ Vancouver elected 1 ‘manship of. West Vancouver’ 5 75th

Wy presidents at recent meetings.
ealtor, Bruce Pepper,

anniversary celebrations commit-

Meanwhile at’: the North ‘Vane

eghat Chamber. of -Commerce’s
“! June. 16: annual general meeting,

David Kenning’. was -tlected. as the
organization’s new president.

‘The chief: technical. officer for’
Versatile Pacific "Shipyards ° Inc.
took over from outgoing presiden'
Graham Reid, who had served: for:

Personal Injury] !

Hunter.

- Barristers & Solicitors
- #3007401 Lonsdale Ave, North Vancouver

986- 4366 | Free initial Consultation \ : él | G :

Ardagh Turner

pan mCP acnon

North: Vancouver Minor

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