| Author |
Message |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 363
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 10:13 am: | 
|
Observation?
Does Factionalism Breed Anything Other Than Factions?
Is there anyone born and destined to be without guilt?
Let he who is absent of any guilt cast the first stone, perhaps?
And, have I missed something?
If the People are truly One People, it would seem to me that the motive ought be to unite rather than devide?
Sundown |
nightingalekwe
Member
Post Number: 5
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 11:47 am: |
|
If we allow elected officials take away our rights and freedoms, what kind of nation are we left with?
Is democracy worth fighting for?
Those of us at the fire have chosen to fight through peaceful protest. This is not about guilt or innocence. It is about right and wrong.
I believe that it is human to make mistakes, however that doesn't mean that those mistakes should be perpetuated through lies and poor decisions.
Just because our nation is having growing pains does not mean we are one people, even in the best of families their are disagreements and arguments.
We will get past this and be better for the experience. Everything happens for a reason and it is up to us to find out the meaning. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 364
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 11:52 am: |
|
Nightingalekwe
I hear that. I hear all, and both sides of all.
I would offer, humbly, to mediate... in a heartbeat.
See my first post, about "stepping back", and perhaps read Alex's post in that context. I believe that that was his message... and it got lost, unfortunately.
Sundown |
nightingalekwe
Member
Post Number: 6
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 12:07 pm: |
|
Mediation has been proposed however unfortunately that decision was refused by Gary et al.
We have tried many peaceful ways to be heard and will continue in a peaceful manner, at least on my part. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 365
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 12:09 pm: |
|
Please extend my offer to Gary (et al).
Sundown |
nightingalekwe
Member
Post Number: 7
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 1:27 pm: |
|
Would love to extend the offer to Gary but my requests to Gary have gone unanswered. It would be best if you tried to connact him at the band office. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 366
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 1:45 pm: |
|
Nightingalekwe
"Things Worthwhile Are Seldom Easy".
Make the call... yourself...
If Gary Refuses, It's Gary That Refuses.
Do not prejudge.
The only thing worse than Judging, Is Pre-Judging?
Do Not Divest. Choose To Invest?
Sundown |
chip
Member
Post Number: 17
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 1:57 pm: |
|
Sundown,
Each time you write, I get a little better understanding about your philosophy of life and I can see why you are so enamoured by our Anishnabe heritage.
It is with a compassionate heart that I bid you farewell.
Keep an eye open for a mention to you, Sundown, in my upcoming book.
|
nightingalekwe
Member
Post Number: 8
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 2:15 pm: |
|
I will continue to ask questions and be hopeful that someday I will get the answers.
I don't see how I'm pre-judging? Please explain how I am pre-judging because I believe I am making a statement based on current experience.
I am not offering to mediate, that offer came from you. I make my request the Chief Ayotte and council.
|
sundown
Member
Post Number: 367
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 2:15 pm: |
|
Chip
On roads as long as our have been, it is rare to encounter anyone... let alone someone so obviously worthy of encountering... at that one single crossroad.
My upcoming book is "A Life of Our Own Choosing"... and, yes, it is based on personal philosophy... way-of-being.
Perhaps we ought share a campfire, and discuss my need to be mentioning as well.
Meegwetch
Sundown |
chip
Member
Post Number: 18
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 2:43 pm: |
|
Hillbilly:
I know Alex also. I lived on Bear Island in the 50's & 60's as well.
Read "Rise in Tyranny" by Alan Bullock
I get the part from Alex's comments that we as a people have moved too fast into the future, but I totally disagree with the condescending adjective WEAKER. Different, yes.
It was a different time back then, different beliefs and understandings. Survival and interdependence went hand and hand. Today independence is propagated as the way. I mean look at Alex himself. He is very independent. He's shown that he doesn't need the Bear Island Band to survive as his predecessors did. Going back 200-300 years, if a tribal member did what Alex is doing they would not likely survive. In fact banishment from the tribal group was used as a punishment to individuals and perceived more or less as a death sentence.
So by his own actions Alex is contradicting his own philosophy. For it appears he is indeed showing he is stronger than his predecessors and so it is with others who are the living descendents of the Deep Water Peoples today regardless of mixed blood-lines. They too, can now survive in many places and environments that their predecessors could not. Put them in downtown Toronto and how long do you think they would last?
In my line of work, I observe "pure bloodlines" -both Anishnabek and other races and believe me, the "way of thinking" is just as "human" and susceptible to the miriad of variables contributing to disfunction as those of the mixed bloods. In fact, the mixed bloods have a diversity of understanding, having been strongly influenced by parents of different origins.
By the way, Sundown:
I think you misunderstood my reference to "treated as equals".
I completely join with you, brother, in celebration of diversity. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 368
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 2:56 pm: |
|
Nightingalekwe
I apologize for not being clear... sometimes I can be innocently obtuse.
I 'DO' offer to mediate.
Gary has not refused that offer...
So, I shall not presume his refusal.
I only ask you, from your side-of-things, as an Individual,and one I admire, to make my offer to Gary, on my behalf.
I ask you not to assume (pre-judge) that he might decline the offer.
Let him make that decision.
Let it be his honour or dishonour.
Allow him his own destiny and choosing of it?
I will not contact him.
If he wishes, expresses, that I contact him to discuss this potential, I shall...
But, out of respect, I shall let that decison be his to make...
I am at best a Simple Man, and a Canoeist at...
But, should he accept my offer, I assure you, Nightingalekwe, "we shall make very short work of what might otherwise have been a very long paddle"...
And, The People shall be again, As One.
This is my promise to you.
Meegwetch
Sundown |
nightingalekwe
Member
Post Number: 9
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 3:06 pm: |
|
I will forward the offer and will let you know the outcome.
Thank you for the offer to mediate.
With all my heart I wish this situation a peaceful ending with little to no hard feelings. I know that I will hold no ill will against anyone.
My intent through this whole process is to ensure that our leaders act in accordance with our tribal constitution. Its a standard that I hold for every elected official past present and future. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 369
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 3:16 pm: |
|
Chip
Hehe
You would, I suspect, be amazed to discover " just how much I dont misunderstand".
I have always worshipped our Blackwaters... what, indeed, lies within?
One question?
Since when has it become a sin for one to demonstrate that one is stronger... better adapted... to survive a given environment?
If this is your judgement of Alex, I as well applaud your assessment.
Sundown |
chip
Member
Post Number: 19
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 3:41 pm: |
|
Sundown:
...perhaps I have been oversensitive to Alex's references to weaker...stronger...bloodlines. I have in the past been guilty of misinterpretation or misunderstanding a fellow human being's intent.
I agree with Nightingalekwe's challenge to Alex to respond to all of this.
I'll admit, alarm bells do indeed go off when another member of our very small Band makes these suggestions as my children and grandchildren need to co-exist with their European neighbours in a respectful manner, not viewing them as weaker, or less of a people. By the same token, not viewing themselves as superior because of their race.
In the end, it is character, not race which will define our weaknesses and our strengths.
I look forward to reading your book.
|
sundown
Member
Post Number: 370
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 3:48 pm: |
|
"In the end, it is character, not race, which will define our weaknesses and strengths as a Nation".
May I use that in my Foreword...
and/or the Mediation?
Chip, I Hear You.
You Have Spoken
Sundown |
chip
Member
Post Number: 20
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, November 8, 2008 - 9:09 pm: |
|
Sundown:
You have my blessing for both.
Regards. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 373
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 3:29 pm: |
|
Nightingalekwe
What's the Good Word?
Sundown |
nightingalekwe
Member
Post Number: 10
Registered: 11-2008
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 5:19 pm: |
|
no word from the office |
preacher
Member
Post Number: 26
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 5:51 pm: |
|
"
co-exist with their European neighbours in a respectful manner, not viewing them as weaker, or less of a people.
"
Please start by referring to us as Canadian. With my ancestors having 350+ years on this land. I am born to this land. I am not European. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 374
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 7:16 am: |
|
Preacher
It is perfectly fine for you to prefer a terminology which suits your own personal sensiblities, but I suggest that it would be more respectful and proper to extend that very same "right" to all other individuals?
Cultures the world-over, when discussing such things, often refer to "Continental" Ancestry... it's quite normal.
Sundown |
preacher
Member
Post Number: 27
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 3:33 pm: |
|
Sundown, I'm not sure I understand you.
We're referring to the local FN community of Bear Island, right? Who are these "European neighbours"? Are they the residents in the area that aren't the FN community?
Perhaps I misunderstood the context of the original statement. |
chip
Member
Post Number: 21
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 7:46 pm: |
|
TFN members ancestry goes back 10's of thousands of years in this our homeland.
Canada is an idea less than 200 years old.
I think you have misunderstood.
You are seen by the descendants of the Deep Water Peoples living here today as guests in our house (N'Daki Menan)
It is what it is my friend 
|
sundown
Member
Post Number: 375
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 8:32 pm: |
|
Thank You Chip for stating, far more eloquently than I, what I was trying to convey.
Preacher, I thank you for enabling this very senscient principle to be illuminated... and, I was/am ignorant as to the degree of your understanding of this hugely vital "understanding".
Yes... I honestly think that it was the context of the original post which may have been not completely undertsood.
I am very proud of all aspects of my ancestry, but as you may have noted earlier in this thread, I stated that my Anishnabae enrichment is some scant 350-plus years. Many here, and elsewhere, have 30 times (perhaps 100 times) as much 'heritage' as I.
I am respectful of that (not that you were not)... but, anyone who chooses to state the obvious... that the very vast majority of my ancestry is European... well... that is the simple and incontravertible truth, now isnt it?
I Am What I Am... and, I am proud of it... as are you, and they, and we?
As Chip said... none are weaker or less of a People... but, it is the people, each of us, to decide for ourselves what we are.
No one tells me what I am... or what you are... or what they are.
That is for the decider to determine, and no one else? Thats all I was saying.
Regards
Sundown
(Message edited by Sundown on November 12, 2008) |
preacher
Member
Post Number: 28
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 1:18 pm: |
|
I'm working to understand the mind of the indian.
We are Canadian. It says so on our passports and our income tax forms and our currency and our national holiday is Canada Day. I have more frequently encountered being labeled 'European' from indians as a slur.
I don't mean to sidetrack this discussion.
I just expected a better understanding of the right to identity.
Repsectfully, please carry on. I hope to learn more. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 376
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 4:08 pm: |
|
Preacher
Think about it?
Passports.
Income Tax.
Forms.
Currency.
Canada Day.
"Right to Identify".
These are all foreign concepts to The People...
About as "European" an influence as it gets?
You acknowledge you 'may not' understand/comprehend...
Which leads me-to-wonder if perhaps you may have also misinterpreted an honest comment, as a slur?
Preacher, I very much understand that you are ernestly and honestly trying to understand, and yes, respectfully. I reckon the very first step towards understanding such things is (honestly) to completely disregard (what i would term) a European mindset?
It's very much different from everything you may live/encounter every day.
Not much relates to a "Canadian" Mindset.
Think about it... The People are, and have always been, what has been for millenia, the true Canadians.
As Chip says, we, with our scant Canadian heritage, are least qualified to judge/pre-judge The People. It's ludicrous, even, to consider doing so, vis-a-vis "Self-Concept" IMO... hence my initial response to you.
Sundown
(Message edited by Sundown on November 13, 2008)
(Message edited by Sundown on November 13, 2008) |
preacher
Member
Post Number: 29
Registered: 09-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 - 1:59 pm: |
|
To clarify.
I don't think the European label was offered as a slur. I have encountered it used that way. More the result of a different cultural upbringing. The child doesn't know that "Paki" is offencive to Pakistanis until they're corrected.
I was just requesting that we be referred to as who and what we are by our own definition. Yes I know the linguistic origins. Language evolves and changes and English has been an amalgamation of all other languages it encounters for centuries.
I'm sure if you walk the streets of Temagami and ask people, "Are you European," you'll get some funny looks. |
sundown
Member
Post Number: 378
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 - 5:25 pm: |
|
Preacher
You're Right... Folks dont know words are offensive until they are corrected.
"I hear that"... learned it years ago from my Grampa.
He used to say, "A Wise Man Isn't Always Silent... He Just Knows When to Be".
He also said "A Word, Once Said, Can't Ever Be Made Unsaid".
I Miss Him... hence my Mission to make sure his words/wisdoms are not ever lost...
Or lost on anyone whom might have benefitted from "the-knowing-of-him".
Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to share his lessons with you.
Back to Regular-Programming?
Regards
Sundown
|
Temagami general 
New messages will be added after most recent message, not on archived pages