Twocoda

under Ezras own admission this is not an Idle No More protest...it an angry mob with alot of Occupy participants...so is it no irresponsible for Sun to have posted Interview With Idle No More posted on the banner through out the entire Ezra spin? He himself agrees the Indian Act is racist...who is the creator of the Act?

they look like they could get me into some serious trouble....need a helicopter to get out...lol...

Rick Mercers Rant on Omnibus Bills ...I cant wait to hear his thoughts on the Idle No More Subject

select several images taken beside each other over lapping the frames into on another...then using photoshop use AUTOMATE>PHOTOMERGE and the program will stitch your images together Nice Panos both you and Bill

thats the only thing you said in this thread to be true....It is 2013.....and to those that think they shouldnt have to honour the signed treatys.....Look back in history and see the date on our Charter....You cant have it both ways

since someone posted a opinion of a native as to why he doenst support INM...i feel its only fair to post a report why this lady does support INM... This article, written by Linda Goyette, was originally published on Facebook on Wednesday, 16 January 2013. Ms. Goyette is an independent Writer, Editor and Proofreader, and a graduate of Carleton University where she studied Journalism. ”Why I Support Idle No More” is republished in its entirety on this blog site with written permission from the author. I am no longer a journalist, and I do not seek a bully pulpit on any topic, but tonight I want to explain to my family and friends why I give my unqualified support to the Idle No More movement as a Canadian citizen. I am becoming more and more concerned about the harsh backlash among non-aboriginal Canadians against this peaceful protest movement. I’m not talking exclusively about virulent racial bigotry and hate speech, although it exists in dark places, but more about the willful denial of reality, the blindness to injustice, among many decent people. These are the people I address tonight. I respect their right to a different opinion, but I hope they will hear me out. Four Saskatchewan women — Nina Wilson, Sylvia McAdam, Sheelah McLean and Jessica Gordon — and Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario found the courage to say that a change is going to come. Thousands of indigenous people across Canada are demonstrating in peaceful ways to tell the country that they will wait no longer for that change. When I see round dances in shopping malls, peaceful road blockades, or a chief on a hunger strike, I see an opportunity to learn more about the deep frustration of my neighbours. I see no threat at all. The protesters are asking for the country I want for myself, and for my family. Millions of Canadians do respect First Nations, Metis and Inuit legal rights because these rights are guaranteed in our modern Constitution, frequently upheld by our highest courts, entrenched in our historic treaties, and valued in our intermingled family connections, our friendships, our minds and our hearts. Many of us badly want the Canadian government to respect Indigenous land, resources, cultural ways, and most of all their right to self-determination. I feel hopeful — wildly hopeful — that a core demand of the Idle No More movement for stronger protection of our shared natural environment will spread to Canadians of all racial backgrounds and political allegiances. I also hope that the Harper government will think twice in future before it passes omnibus legislation with minimal parliamentary debate or national consultation on the contents. If the Idle No More movement has allies, and it does, we need to be more outspoken. Our silence in 2013 will be interpreted as complicity, and polite agreement, with everything that is wrong with the relationship between Canada and the founding peoples. Firm support for Idle No More could push the whole nation forward in a new and more positive direction. We need to stand beside indigenous peoples when they confront an obtuse federal government that consistently undermines their success while it scolds them about local governance. In our homes and communities, we need to challenge the mockery, the simplistic assumptions, the casual and devastating bigotry that diminish Canada and make it a smaller, narrower place than it deserves to be. As some of you know, I have worked for most of my adult life as a reporter, writer and oral history transcriber with enduring connections to many First Nations and Metis people and their communities in different parts of Canada, primarily in the West. That doesn’t make me an expert in anything, but I have had a rare opportunity to learn from the true experts – the people themselves, their life experiences, their values, their hopes. I have witnessed with my own eyes hardships and injustices that took my breath away, not only in Attawapiskat in 2010, but in almost every province and territory over three decades. To those comfortable Canadians who complain that their hard-earned tax dollars disappear down a huge funnel to places like Attawapiskat, I say: Visit the place yourself, or any other isolated, northern Aboriginal community, and you might notice that most inhabitants, primarily children and old people, endure substandard public services beyond the imagination of southern, urban Canadians. They can’t count on clean drinking water, warm housing, decent elementary schools, safe roads, good fire protection or sewage systems — all services that white Canadians in neighbouring towns and cities take for granted. Other Canadians can rely on fairly capable local and provincial governments while First Nations have to contend with the inept budgeting practices of the federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, not to mention the restrictive nature of our hideous national antique, the Indian Act. Read it some time. It will change your view of your country. To those Canadians who allege that all chiefs and band councils are robber barons who “make more than the prime minister,” and run a vast northern kleptocracy, I say: I have never heard an Idle No More activist or an Aboriginal person in any community defend overpayment of band officials, padding of expense accounts, or local corruption. Just as I have never heard any Canadian, anywhere, justify the overpayment of local, provincial or federal elected and public employees, although this also happens with depressing regularity. Overpayment happens because we allow it to happen. That can change, too. I would like to hear Canadians ask why the president of the University of Alberta, Indira Samarasekera, received $627,000 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which includes house and car allowances, performance bonuses and deferred compensation. Her salary had increased 6 per cent compared to the year before. Folks, she earned more that Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. president Barack Obama that year while Alberta students contended with steady tuition increases. She earned more than any First Nation chief I’ve ever heard of. Yet do we hear waves of public indignation about the continuing high salaries of university and college presidents across Canada? Even a murmur? We do not. We swallow similar bad news about other elected and public officials who receive sky-high salaries, benefits, and sometimes, huge severance payments after dismissal for poor performance. That’s our tax money, too. We could at least apply our indignation evenly across the country, and we might question the national preoccupation with compensation to chiefs, and how and why that obsession came to be. Long ago, when I was reporting for the Edmonton Journal in 1980 or 1981, I received a brown envelope from a Department of Indian Affairs finance officer containing documents on the salary and benefits of an outspoken Cree leader Harold Cardinal who was working at the time to assist the northern Dene Tha’ with poor conditions on their reserve. I was in my early twenties at the time, and inexperienced, and yes, I supplied the news story that brought a good man’s hard work into disrepute, fortunately temporarily. I was a little pawn on a chessboard, pushed forward, to do the government’s bidding. Shut him up. Shut it down. I learned a hard lesson from that experience. I began to watch the situation more carefully. In the following three decades I noticed that each time First Nations and Metis leaders, or activists in the community, demanded their legal rights or a fair share of Canada’s abundant resources, similar official brown envelopes would whiz in the direction of good, bad or indifferent reporters and media commentators. These journalists would dutifully report the news of overpayments — as they should, it is indefensible — but without any context or understanding of how they were being used to silence, ignore and marginalize Aboriginal people in great need. Does the federal government release similar figures to the media about the plump expense accounts of its own senior deputy ministers? No, it does not. The Harper government encourages significant overpayments to a favoured few, on the one hand, and then spins this information to discredit the legitimate claims of an entire group of people. This is not good governance. This is dysfunctional manipulation. I don’t blame many southern Canadians for their singular focus on chiefs’ salaries — that’s just about all they’ve heard from the shills in the conservative media for two decades — but I don’t think people understand that federal transfers to First Nations are often significantly lower than provincial transfers to non-aboriginal communities for the same services. The Auditor General and Parliamentary Budget Officer have confirmed this fact again and again, and conscientious people in provincial and local governments and in the media have complained about it. Try to calculate how much public money your town or city receives for every school and hospital, for all salaries of local public employees, for road and bridge construction, for police and fire departments, for sewer lines, garbage disposal, recycling, public transit and so on. That amounts to many millions of dollars a year, too, even for small communities. Canadians interpret these financial transfers as a right of citizenship, the cost of a civil society. More than one million people in Canada describe themselves as Aboriginal, and more than 700,000 have First Nations status. The Government of Canada will spend about $8 billion this year for the budget of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, including all transfers to more than 600 communities. About twenty per cent of the total goes to departmental administration expenses, but look at the $8 billion. That’s the same amount that New Brunswick will spend this year on public services for its 751,000 people. To those Canadians who say, “But I pay taxes, and they don’t, so I have earned these services, and they haven’t,” I say in reply: A large majority of First Nations people and all Metis people, now live off-reserve, work for a living, and do pay taxes. It is the Canadian way to provide public services for all citizens, even those without paid employment, such as the elderly, parents caring for children at home, people with disabilities, and people who earn too little in their jobs to pay significant taxes. Some people on reserves, and in neighbouring non-aboriginal communities too, fall into these categories. Why should we resent them? Their gifts to us are beyond the measure of money. More important, this country is affluent and comfortable by international standards because of the rich natural resources it extracts from its northern and western regions, the traditional territory of many First Nations and Metis people. They have paid and paid the rest of Canada—in lost revenue, over generations—for the miserable level of public services they have received through much of the last century. They have received no fair share of the benefits of a rich nation, and it is time they did. To the Canadians who say, “But Idle No More leaders should be more specific, they should define their terms, I don’t know what they want,” I say: Where have you been hiding throughout your lifetime? If you don’t know what they want, you haven’t been listening. The parents and grandparents of Idle No More activists lined up at the microphones at the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry after 1974, patiently explaining to the country why their land and sovereignty needed to be respected. Decade after decade, others spoke to parliamentary committee hearings, First Ministers conferences, and every MP and reporter who would listen to them. Year after year, they testified at hearings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and at hearings of the United Nations human rights bodies. In case after case, they took the federal government to the Supreme Court of Canada to press for legitimate recognition of their land claims and treaty and Aboriginal rights. They negotiated the Kelowna Accord with the former prime minister, and then saw the deal collapse. Their frustrations found expression at Oka and Burnt Church and Ipperwash, Ont., in the protest marches through the streets of Edmonton and Winnipeg, in the railway blockades in B.C. They celebrated many victories and land claims settlements along the way, and found allies, and achieved significant improvements on their own initiative. If you don’t know about this yet, it is not too late to learn. Rather than demand that other people define their terms immediately in language you are ready to accept, just listen, and remember what you have heard. It shouldn’t be necessary to say that diverse Aboriginal communities have different definitions of sovereignty, and different interpretations of their relationship with the Canadian state. People are different. Communities are different. No single answer is the total or final answer on any public issue. The very least Canadians can do is pay attention with some level of respect and gratitude for a largely peaceful protest movement. Other countries would envy us for Idle No More, and its non-violent core values. Their patience is a great gift to this country. When the percentage of Aboriginal people in schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and jails matches their percentage of the Canadian population, some equality will have been achieved. Equality does not exist now. I think this is a defining moment in Canadian history, a time when each citizen is asked to make a choice. Where do you stand? Where will your children and grandchildren want you to stand? I have made my decision. I leave your decision to you. Thank you for listening.

Before writing about how some of those continuing payment annual sums are spent for the benefit of First Nations peoples, I have to write about the First Nations Trust Fund. The reason I have to address the First Nations Trust Fund first has to do with some of the comments I received on Twitter after sharing yesterday’s blog article with the Twitterverse. The comments to which I’m referring are those that allege that any money paid out to First Nations peoples is charity money. Over the past few days, a document by Robofraud has been circulating online that states that the First Nations Trust Fund is over $2 TRILLION and earns an annual interest of over $35 BILLION. A trust is a way to hold property that lets Trustees manage the money so it benefits a defined beneficiary. The property that makes up the Trust is usually defined by a written trust agreement. The written trust agreements in this case are the treaties. The Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC) providedthis information with regards to themonies being held in the First Nations Trust Fund as of March 31, 2009. Is it possible that the over $2 TRILLION claimed in the Robofraud statement is correct? Since the only figures I was able to find date back to 2009 when it was at $1.15 BILLION, it’s not likely that the amount in 2013 is $2 TRILLION. Could it be $2 BILLION? Could be. Still, $2 BILLION is a sizable amount of money as is the interest $2 BILLION generates on a quarterly basis. That being said, the First Nations Trust Fund isn’t the only money that belongs to First Nations peoples that is handled by the AANDC. According to the website, the Department “may issue licences, permits, and other instruments to individuals and organizations that propose to undertake resource exploration and other types of development projects.” That money also belongs to First Nations peoples, doesn’t it? If the resource exploration and development projects weren’t on First Nations property, there wouldn’t be any need for AANCD to involve itself ergo the revenues generated from “licenses, permits and other instruments to individuals and organizations” is First Nations revenues, is it not? And how about the monies held in accounts that the AANDC identifies as Indian moneys suspense accounts? An Indian moneys suspense account is meant to hold monies “received for individual Indians and bands pending execution of the related lease, permit or licence, settlement of litigation, registration of the Indian or identification of the recipient.” The AANDC website goes on to state that “[t]hese moneys are then disbursed to an Indian, credited to an Indian Band Fund or Individual Trust Fund account, or returned to the payer, as appropriate.” What about the Environmental Studies Research Fund Account? It’s part of the AANDC as well and records levies pursuant to the Canada Petroleum Resources Act. If it wasn’t part of the First Nations portfolio, AANDC wouldn’t be dealing with it. And how about those Special Accounts as identified under Section 63 of the Indian Act — the accounts where funds such as deposits and payments on leases are held for individuals, held to be split between individuals and bands? AANDC controls that money as well. Indian Estate Accounts need to be included in the total amount of money AANDC controls since Indian Estate Accounts (pursuant to Sections 42 to 51 and 52.3 of the Indian Act) have funds from the estates of deceased First Nations peoples, those deemed mentally incompetent, and ‘missing’ First Nations peoples. Factoring in the Indian Savings Accounts that are in keeping with Sections 52 and 52.1 to 52.5 of the Indian Act and pretty soon, that $2 BILLION figure from the First Nations Trust Fund is considerably more. And contrary to popular misconception, Indian Moneys Suspense Accounts aren’t what one might think they are. In the Public Accounts Of Canada document for 2011-2012, the Indian Moneys Suspense Accounts are described as accounts to “hold moneys received for individual Indians and bands, that cannot be disbursed to an Indian, or credited to an Indian Band Fund or Individual Trust Fund account, pending execution of the related lease, permit or licence, settlement of litigation, registration of the Indian or identification of the recipient.“ In other words, there’s all kinds of money that belongs to First Nations peoples that isn’t part of the First Nations Trust Fund, and AANDC controls all of it. “But wait, there’s more!” as they say on those television infomercials! Have the monies due the First Nations peoples from natural resources been taken into consideration as part of FN revenues? What natural resources, you ask? The next thing to look at, then, are the fiduciary duties of the government towards First Nations peoples. According to the AANDC website, the Trust Fund Management System (TFMS) “is an application used to manage Indian Moneys in Trust. The responsibilities and authorities as outlined by the Indian Act allow the Minister to manage the Indian Moneys as a fiduciary (Statutory obligation of the Minister’s fiduciary responsibilities to collect, receive and hold moneys for the use and benefit of Indians or bands and to manage and expend Indian Moneys in accordance with the Indian Act.) “ The next time someone says that First Nations peoples are getting a free ridefrom taxpayers or that First Nations peoples are mismanaging the money the government gives them, step back and share facts with individuals, corporations and government departments who are riding the slammin’ bandwagon. Education is one of the strongest weapons against ignorance. Elyse Bruce

can never get withdrawls with footage like this...Nice Job!

lmao....that right there was clever and funny

Ha ...speak for yourself.. Welcome aboard Dwayne

Again another assumption....I do not have an iota of Native Blood in my veins or am i a member of FN...? Laws are made inspired by circumstances...some are great and some are just plain stupid....My Scottish blood relys on my moral compass to defend the great ones and fight the stupid ones and the illegal process in which they will infringe upon everyone....I am proud to be born in this country and ive had the good fortune to be in almost every part of it to appreciate each area for what is has to offer but yet in the same breath ....Im also ashamed....My memory bank is filthy rich because of this at no ones expense. There are some very good sites out there that are not affilliated with FN or indigenous peoples to what Idle No More means to them (proudly holding up "settler' or "ally" messages)...People of every walk of life, colour, religious beliefs etc...My great great Grandfather and Grandfather paid the price for you to be able to speak your opinion freely but no one in my family past had to fight the peoples of this land so we could stay here.. GO FIGURE! Mr Blizzard ...your thread which i believe to have been started as a negative perception towards Natives has only taught you that you do not have a clue as to what is going on...dont take it to heart because your not alone..ignorance is bliss. This is the last post for me in this thread Cheers

Nice shooting .....i find capturing images as pleasant as capturing a person best and just as much fun....Well Done!

How did that work out for you ...or do you walk to the beat of your own laws here on this contenient...My family has paid a large price to the Crown too....hence the reason we are here since 1736....For a better life....now scattered across this entire continent

This is where your wrong....WE are not funding anything ...simply sharing a very small portion of the wealth from resources in order to appease the Crown...First Nations in the eyes of the world are a sovereign Nation ...We are a State of their Nation...

Here is a video i made in December at one of the several rallies i participated in .According to the Myan calander a fire would be lit to cover the earth..Did it become a reality when the 7th Generation lit the fire for the rights of the eighth generation? As you will see Idle No More started off and still remains in the context of peaceful ceremony.The indigenous peoples of Idle No More are waking up Canadians to expose what is going on with our Government and its plans in the Name of Jobs...Plain a Simple...Either you approve or disapprove the choice is yours...With the growing numbers of people worldwide that agree with the Movement as they get educated to the truth. Canada is falling under a microscope of World scrutiny for its dirty little embarrassing secrets. If there was a war then there would be declared a winner...War was averted by a PEACEFUL agreement (Treaties) on both sides between the Crown(European) and the Indigenous People and together they fought off the Americans and later the Germans ....If you suggest the thoughts of Treaties are a "thing of the past" then the next time you walk into a Legion or Government Building that has a picture of the Queen on it ...Remember...she is a "thing of the past" and you wont have to remove your hat out of respect or abide by the Laws of the Crown..eg licenses for everything enjoyable and necessary to survive in this country. So in essence ...if you disrespect the Treaties ...you also disrespect the Crown of the very foundation we live by TODAY. In my mind the only solution is to honour the past....make amends for the atrocities and move forward in a respectful manner that is beneficial to ALL of us CANADIANS regardless of the colour of skin or tongue we speak...Coolslav....this subject is much larger than your present knowledge and you are obviously bias in your "research" for whatever reason....But i hope you continue to read and learn. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152379828855220&set=vb.894675219&type=2&theater

Thanks Wayne looks like a bunch more sheep waiting for Harper to open the gate for them

Feel free to read Bill C45....This is what a wolf in sheeps clothing reads like http://www.fin.gc.ca/pub/c45/4-eng.asp

So Blarg i suppose you think this is ok treatment for your fellow countrymen so your wife can wear a diamond on her hand...the people affected by this are living not in caves ...but un insulated sheds with a single extention cord to supply power....this is ok with you ? watch the video http://aptn.ca/pages/news/2011/12/13/de-beers-decision-to-dump-sewage-into-attawapiskat-played-role-in-current-housing-crisis/ Do you disagree with the media of the aptn and rabble.ca because they dont conform to your opinion?....you and Cheif Therese Spence have something in common then because she has no faith in the misleading Government controlled Media either....Another video for you that didnt make the news because it didnt conform to the bias of the Media...instead they edited her interveiw to conform...

ditto

i agree Leadership does lack ...Atleo in my opinion is just a go between to keep things in check....Bresleau is a Harper appointed yes man as a senator and has his own agenda to further his own career...This is why IDLE NO MORE is a grass roots movement ....Atleo couldnt handle the pressure so he is off sick for a few weeks...convenient eh?

riddle me this....whats the bigger inconvenience ? Illegal momentary blockades that affect maybe a few minutes of or life???? OR Illegal legislation by Our Government that will effect our lives indefinitely once we are raped of the resources... Johnny Bass produced a link for Pam Palmater as she is the official spokes person for the Idle No More Movement...Watch all 4 videos... She worked for Indian Affairs for many years and is a Professor at Ryerson When she is being a spokesperson for INM listen to her words....When she is being a professor at Ryerson dont listen to her words ( unless your enrolled in her class) When she is making comments in regards to anything but is irrelevant to the INM...You seem to be semi savvy with the internet Im sure you can figure out what applies to INM and what doesnt....I hope you continue your "research" and draw an educated perception of reality past present and future If you are a user of twitter ...#idleKNOWmore to educate yourself

seen that on the news last night ...i caught one of the multi coloured gold fish in a Sparta quarry years ago...Agreed....not much of a fish

Looks like a fire to me ...Sorry your so easily scared....Pack up and move from the area ...or is that a violation of your rights? So it ok for OUR Government to lay claim of it ...you buy a piece of dirt and pay tax on the sale ...build a house and pay tax on everything that goes into it .....and then continue to pay Annual Tax on it for the rest of time....So who is laying claim on land? Anti Democracy Omnibus Sugar Coating is more bitter then sweet...but most people are ignorant to the ways...and by saying nothing .... unfortunately by design is to agree....Canadians need to be Idle No More Steve ...im going to take a wild guess and assume you know nothing of the repercussions of the wind turbines to Health and Environment and the burden they impose on the Tax Payers ....This isnt the thread for that. Maybe in your world everything is generated by money....so dont cast ignorant stones at any particular group of people...I understant these are your opinions and respect that but my opinion is .....your comming off like a racist which by inlarge is an indication that you have no clue as to what is going on with any of this movement other than what you read or see by government controlled media When Harper opens the gate for you....then and only then ...are you allowed to step out of the pen

For the vast majority of the non natives its because..."when injustice becomes Law.... Resistance becomes Duty" Harper is counting on you to NOT pursue his motives and just go on with your happy life

well now with you added ...that puts us up around 5 million in Canada alone...Cheers....