JOHN FELDSTED: All the money and studies have not bought anyone a spine ... or lit a fire under complacent rear ends in Ottawa
CBC
News ~~ January 15th, 2019
... the United Nations Human Rights Committee
says Canada still discriminates against First Nations women and their
descendants through status requirements under the Indian Act despite several
amendments since 1985.
In an 18-page decision released Jan. 14, the
committee said Canada is obligated to remove the discrimination and to ensure
that all First Nations women and their descendants are granted Indian status on
the same footing as First Nations men and their descendants ....
CLICK HERE for full story:
The ironies are piling up like a Canadian version
of the Egyptian pyramids.
Our government has been boasting about its
self-appointed role as a world champion of human rights – except on its
doorstep. Added to that is a current UN Human Rights Committee with some very
questionable members:
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Afghanistan (2020)
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Hungary (2019)
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Rwanda (2019)
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Angola (2020)
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Iceland (2019)
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Saudi Arabia (2019)
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Australia (2020)
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Iraq (2019)
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Senegal (2020)
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Brazil (2019)
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Japan (2019)
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Slovakia (2020)
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Chile (2020)
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Mexico (2020)
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South Africa (2019)
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China (2019)
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Nepal (2020)
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Spain (2020)
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Congo (2020)
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Nigeria (2020)
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Tunisia (2019)
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Croatia (2019)
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Pakistan (2020)
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Ukraine (2020)
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Cuba (2019)
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Peru (2020)
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United Kingdom (2019)
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Egypt (2019)
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Qatar (2020)
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Posturing on the part of the UN Human Rights
Committee and our government has caught them all with their trousers at
half-mast. Worse, they don’t have the honour or decency to be embarrassed.
We have a UN agency without credibility chastising
a government without credibility. It would be humorous if it wasn’t so
pathetic. The UN and Canada are pointing the way to compassionate and ethical
behavior but are unwilling to adopt the underlying ethics and principles
themselves.
The Indian Act has needed repeal and replacement
for decades, but successive governments have failed to act. There is no joy in
having our failings rubbed in our face by another failed organization.
This long-standing travesty has poisoned to
atmosphere with aboriginal people. We cannot paper over real problems with
endless chatter about ‘reconciliation’. We have spent $ tens of millions on
studies and have dozens of recommendations. All the money and studies have not
bought anyone a spine ... or lit a fire under complacent rear ends in Ottawa.
We have to act and break a cycle of suffering that
pre-dates confederation. 200 years should have taught us that isolating
aboriginals is not working, and that aboriginals are not going to assimilate
except on their own terms. We have to stop whining, looking for excuses and get
on with it.
John Feldsted
Political Consultant
& Strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba
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