The Dominion - Harper

Canadian Media Failed to Deliver

Martin Lukacs — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Media coverage of Canada Post labour dispute uncritical, Inaccurate

By June 14, members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) had been staging rotating strikes for 11 days. Workers had decided they would slow down the delivery of mail by striking in different communities for two to three days at a time. Workers in Winnipeg, Hamilton, Fredericton, Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Cape Breton, and more, had all taken their turns on the picket line.

So while CUPW members in Toronto and Montreal were walking the picket line on June 14, workers in every other community in Canada showed up to work as usual. Letter carriers — Canada Post workers who deliver mail in our communities every Monday through Friday — were told there was no work for them. No mail was being delivered that Tuesday. So mail sat in Canada Post processing plants; undelivered.

Indoor workers in Halifax, who process and sort the mail, were working — but no mail would leave the plant. Even priority packages, which should be delivered by noon the day after they are shipped, were not delivered.

In Fredericton, management sent indoor workers home after only three hours of work, even with mail still to process, according to a twitter update from activist Ella Henry. Fredericton workers had just come off a strike rotation, so the claim from Canada Post that there was no work for both indoor workers and letter carriers seemed quite perplexing.

Despite these circumstances, the local hourly CBC radio broadcast in Halifax told listeners all day that Canada Post workers “consider themselves to be locked out.” A CBC News headline online reads, “Union calls postal service reduction 'partial lockout.'”

The Canadian Labour Code, which governs postal workers, states that a “lockout” “includes the closing of a place of employment, a suspension of work by an employer or a refusal by an employer to continue to employ a number of their employees, done to compel their employees, or to aid another employer to compel that other employer’s employees, to agree to terms or conditions of employment.”

Letter carriers showed up to work on Tuesday, June 14, and were told to go home because Canada Post decided no mail was to be delivered. This is very clearly a “suspension of work by the employer” and in the context of the previous rotating strike, very much “done to compel their employees … to agree to terms or conditions of employment.”

The workers were locked out by their employer, plain and simple. The addition of the caveat “consider themselves” casts doubt on a clear situation, and works in favour of the employer’s spin on the situation.

There are several complexities that reporters and editors may not be familiar with when it comes to labour reporting. For example, during the June 14 partial lockout, CUPW declared the locked out workers to be on strike. This is not because the workers chose to strike that day. By declaring those members on strike, the union was able to protect workers who were not locked out from being pressured or disciplined for refusing to do the work of their locked-out co-workers. It is the responsibility of reporters and editors who intend to cover labour issues to understand these issues in order to cover labour issues fairly and accurately.

This example, though, is just one small example of the corporate and public media’s lack of fair, critical, and accurate coverage of the labour dispute.

Prior to both the rotating strikes and the lockout, which became a nation-wide full lockout on June 15, news sources reporting on the labour negotiations, repeatedly listed wages and benefits that Canada Post workers receive. At $26 per hour, a full-time worker makes about $54,000 per year. While this is higher than the median individual income of Canadian workers, it is well below the median household income of $68,860. The sticking point of the dispute was not wages for current workers. Instead, the issue has always been the implementation of two-tiered wages – lower wages for new workers. These lower wages would see new workers paid about $10,000 less than the median Canadian income, and more than $30,000 below the median household income. We are talking about middle-income, stable, secure jobs. The kind of jobs that governments argue are necessary for economic recovery. CUPW has been fighting to keep these kinds of jobs for new workers.

Many sources, including the CBC, continuously cited Canada Post’s statistic that mail volumes have fallen 17 per cent since 2006. In the Vernon Morning Star in BC, an editorial told readers, “E-mail obviously took over sending a friendly letter in the mail long ago for many of us and internet billing has become the norm … Therefore the amount of mail going into the system has obviously decreased.” Overall, however, mail volumes have increased by 10 per cent since 1997. Considering the worldwide economic recession that has been going on since at least 2008, it is understandable that mail volumes would be down the past couple of years, but it’s hardly an obvious trend. Where was the slew of reporters who should have been asking Canada Post President and CEO Deepak Chopra about the impact of the recession on mail service, whether there were signs of recovery, and what Canada Post was doing to improve and expand services for the future?

Also, there was little to no investigation of why or how mail volumes are dropping. Are people using the mail less? Are people using other mail services? Has Canada Post lost contracts to private companies, or has it given contracts to Purolator, which it owns? Are all volumes down? It is very possible that letter mail volume is down, but parcel shipping is up (think about all the online shopping people do.) Also, the whole argument that mail volumes are down because more things are being done electronically needs to be examined since the internet has been around for a while now. Why wasn’t the corporate and mainstream media looking into all of these issues? Why wasn’t the media exploring what Canada Post could be doing instead – improving door-to-door delivery, providing expanded public services (think of how processing EI claims at a post office could reduce backlogs), or the slew of services taken up by European postal services in the face of more electronic business.

How many stories, instead, were written on the opinions of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business on the strike? How many opinion editorials were published by right wing think tanks? Where were the journalists who are supposed to uncover facts?

Perhaps most frustrating was the incompatible arguments that on one hand mail is becoming irrelevant, and on the other, the disruption of the mail service has significant detrimental impacts on the economy – so detrimental that the government needed to legislate the resumption of mail service. Canada Post and the Harper government can’t have it both ways, and where were journalists to interrogate this contradiction?

Repeatedly, articles published that Canada Post lost over $100 million during the labour dispute. This is a number that was put forward by Canada Post and reporters have given no context for how the corporation arrived at that number. Reporters did little to question where that number came from or even when those losses were from.

While the rotating strikes presented delays in mail delivery, mail was still being delivered to the customer, something that postal workers were keeping in mind. While in a legal strike position, they could very well have held a nation-wide strike and stopped mail delivery all together. Instead, rotating strikes were implemented to balance the need to pressure Canada Post to bargain in good faith, and to continue to serve Canadians. Still, though, the corporate and mainstream media consistently repeated Canada Post’s rhetoric that service reductions, and the lockout were the fault of the union.

News sources completely failed to point out that locked out workers received no pay from Canada Post. Postal workers, like all Canadians, have families and bills and responsibilities and were being prevented from working by their employers. What was the economic impact of 48,000 workers being locked out? How much did workers see in lost wages? What were workers doing to make up the lost wages? Did they borrowing more? Did they dipping into savings? Did bills being left unpaid?

Where is the corporate and mainstream media on all of these questions?

Deafeningly silent.

Kaley Kennedy is a member of the Halifax Media Co-op and is involved in Support Postal Workers, a campaign organised by people in Halifax to generate community support for postal workers.

postal workers.ottawa

First Nations Under Surveillance

Martin Lukacs — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Harper government prepares for Native “unrest"

TORONTO—Internal documents from Indian Affairs and the RCMP show that shortly after being elected in January of 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the federal government intensify the gathering and sharing of intelligence on First Nations. This was done so that the government could anticipate and manage potential First Nation unrest across Canada.

Documents obtained by Access to Information requests reveals that almost immediately upon taking power in 2006, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) was given the lead role to spy on First Nations. The goal was to identify the leaders, participants and outside supporters of First Nation occupations and protests, and then to closely monitor their actions.

To accomplish this task, INAC established a "Hot Spot Reporting System." These weekly reports highlight all those communities across the country that engage in direct action to protect their lands and communities. They include bands from the coast of Vancouver Island to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

What we see in these documents—from the hot spot reports themselves, to the intelligence-sharing between government and security forces—is a closely monitored population of First Nations, who clearly are causing a panic at the highest levels of Canadian bureaucracy and political office.

In 2006, INAC gave the name"hot spots" to those First Nations conflicts of "growing concern" due to "unrest" and increasing "militancy." In a briefing presentation that INAC gave the RCMP that year, they identified certain communities as hotspots: Caledonia, Ontario (Douglas Creek Estates occupation); Belleville, Ontario (Montreal/Toronto Rail Blockade in sympathy to Caledonia); Brantford, Ontario (Grand River Conservation Authority Lands); Desoronto, Ontario (Occupation of Quarry); Grassy Narrows (Blockade of Trans Canada Hwy by environmentalists); and Maniwaki, Quebec (Blockade of Route 117).

But the "hot spot binder" prepared each week by INAC officials closely monitors any and all action taking place across the country and names dozens more communities as sources of potential unrest. A particular concern of the federal government is that these "hotspots" are unpredictable. ‘Hotspot’ protests are generally led by what the federal government labels "splinter groups" of "Aboriginal Extremists." As INAC describes in the same presentation to the RCMP:

Incidents led by splinter groups are arguably harder to manage as they exist outside negotiation processes to resolve recognized grievances with duly elected leaders. We seek to avoid giving standing to such splinter groups so as not to debase the legally recognized government. Incidents are also complicated by external groups such as Warrior Societies or non-Aboriginal counter-protest groups.

Telling in the INAC statement above is that the identified protests are "outside of negotiation processes" with elected councils. Canada is clearly spooked by the spectre of First Nations demanding Crown recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, as well as Aboriginal and Treaty Rights, beyond the narrow confines of Crown land claims and self-government policies. These so-called "splinter" groups also threaten the status quo by demanding their own First Nation leaders, staff and advisors to pull out of the compromising negotiations

Judging from the INAC briefing to the RCMP, Indian Affairs now operates less as an institution of reconciliation and negotiation and more as a management office to control the costs of Native unrest.

In addition to hotspot reporting, the Deputy Ministers of Public Safety Emergency Preparedness Canada and INAC directed that a summer operational plan be prepared in 2006 to deal with Aboriginal occupations and protests. A progress report on the operational plan reveals the blueprint for security integration on First Nations issues.

The Standing Information Sharing Forum, for example, is chaired by the RCMP and includes as its members the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Department of Fisheries, Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Transportation Canada, and involves weekly conference calls and continuous information dissemination by INAC to its partners.

The inclusion of these government departments at the Information Sharing Forum should also alert us to the commercial threat of Aboriginal resistance to the free trade agenda.

Aboriginal people who are defending their lands are now treated on a spectrum from criminals to terrorists. Under Harper, an intensification of intelligence gathering and surveillance procedures now govern the new regime.

Haudenosaunee/Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy

The reports mention "Warrior Societies" and an "illicit agenda" referring at several points to concerns around smuggling. The federal government deems the tobacco/cigarette trade as "illicit" because Canada is not getting paid taxes by the Mohawks who are operating the businesses.

However, the 1995 federal Aboriginal Self-Government policy, which was developed unilaterally by the federal government, does not allow First Nations to share jurisdiction with government over trade and commerce matters. The federal self-government policy only allows small business operations on-reserve. Historically, the federal government has used the Indian Act to control and manage on-reserve economic development to prevent adversarial competition with surrounding non-Indian businesses and towns. For example, On the prairies, First Nations agriculture was undermined and led to the failure of farming on-reserve because of complaints from non-Indians. This policy of non-competition is still the reality today.

The federal government is particularly concerned about the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy actions at Caledonia. As the INAC 2006 report describes it:"Caledonia was and remains a significant event in risk management."

The RCMP agree. In a 2007 report to CSIS, they state: "Caledonia continues to serve as a beacon on land claims and Aboriginal rights issues across Canada."

The Canadian government is extremely worried about First Nations taking back lands and resources outside the scope of their one-sided land claims and self-government "negotiation processes," as was done at Kanenhstaton/Caledonia.

In order to contain the situation, the Crown governments have dispatched hard-nosed, experienced negotiators who have presented fixed negotiating positions from the Harper government, which is likely why there hasn't been any negotiated resolution of the situation at Kanenhstaton/Caledonia to this date. The Crown government obviously remains worried more lands will be "occupied" by the Six Nations "extremist" "splinter groups."

Ever since the 1990 stand-off in Kanesatake and Kahnawake, the federal government, the security and police agencies, and the Canadian army have been worried about a repeat of coordinated First Nation political actions across Canada.

The 2007 National Day Of Action

Specific information about policing First Nations was obtained in a series of Access to Information requests about the AFN National Day of Action that took place on June 29th, 2007. A 2007 RCMP brief to CSIS lays out a number of concerns regarding the National Day of Action. The RCMP were mainly concerned with protecting their men and women in uniform from First Nations protesters who confronted the police on the front lines. They were also concerned, by the bad public relations that might result from a particularly heavy handed approach to protesters at the event: "The often disparate and fractured nature of these events can lead the police to become the proverbial meat in the sandwich and the subject of negative public sentiment."

The RCMP also show concern that a lack of coordination, or "a fractured and inconsistent approach" by police forces, could "galvanize Nations throughout Canada." In response, cooperation between departments, security forces, and ministries are deemed to be necessary to provide a strong united front against First Nations protest.

The RCMP also caution that "Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal extremists often see these events as an opportunity to escalate or agitate the conflict." By inference, we can guess that they may be referring to groups unaffiliated with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), unwilling to negotiate under Crown policies, or prepared to engage in tactics not sanctioned by the official leadership, such as property destruction and armed conflict. Non-Aboriginal groups are also cited here as potentially threatening, giving credence to recent targeting of G20 "ringleaders" who feel their Indigenous solidarity work has made them targets of the Crown and police forces.

Cost is a serious concern to the RCMP as well. The price tag for policing these nation-wide events is "exorbitant" and therefore can lead to rash policing decisions where force is used in order to bring a quick end to conflicts. The economic risks of blockades are themselves potentially catastrophic. As the RCMP warn, "The recent CN strike represents the extent in which a national railway blockade could effect the economy of Canada."

The RCMP also express this curious concern: "The police role may be complicated by the conventional and sometimes political view that there is a clear distinction between policy and police operations." Clearly, where the distinction slips between police and policy roles, the RCMP become simply Indian Agents, carrying out the colonial work of the department. Given the information disclosed here, this distinction is impossible to maintain. Where police intimidate and arrest Indigenous peoples on their own lands, there is no law on the police's side.

There is also a considerable public relations issue at stake here. The RCMP displayed concern at the potential fall-out of a number of "perception" problems that could befall the forces:

Perception of a two-tiered approach to enforcement can generate significant criticism and motivate non-Aboriginal activists.

An intense and protracted event may lead to long-standing erosion of relationships for the police and the community—they are usually always the victims.

Because there are limitations on what the police can negotiate and success often depends on others, the role of the police can become frustrating.

It appears as though the RCMP realize to some extent that they must choose between First Nations approval of their policing tactics and the wrath of a public convinced that blockades are criminal, rather than political acts. The police, however, contrary to their assertions, are not the victims here. They are just the dupes in a much older game of cowboys and Indians.

The above RCMP statements show that even with federal financial and managerial control over First Nation Chiefs and Leaders, the same Chiefs and Leaders were still not trusted by the federal government.

One insight emerges strongly here: most threatening of all to security and government forces is coordinated First Nations action. At one point in the 2007 INAC to RCMP briefing, concern is expressed about a First Nations conference because, "The 2006 Numbered Treaty Conference proposed a 'national' movement of independent actions to express discontent."

The concern is obvious in the documents where the government follows the trajectory of the Day of Action. It was first proposed by Chief Terrance Nelson at the Assembly of First Nations' general assembly, where the motion carried. After having been approved at the AFN general assembly the nation-wide day of action was later confirmed in a personal meeting between the RCMP Commissioner and then-National Chief Phil Fontaine. "Mr. Fontaine expressed his concern over the sense of frustration that seems to exist among First Nation leaders and the growing resolve to support a June 29th blockade," a memo states.

The growing unrest, of course, cannot be resolved through greater coordination of security and government forces. First Nation frustration with this strategy will only continue to mount.

Crown Reward-Punishment System Divides Leaders and People

If coordinated action gets the goods, special attention must be paid to the government’s particular interest in "splinter" groups.

Under Canada’s colonial system, the struggle for Indigenous sovereignty, self-determination, Aboriginal and Treaty rights has historically been undermined by First Nations who cooperated with the Crown government turning in those members of First Nations who were resisting the Crown’s colonial system.

Over time this evolved into the Crown dividing First Nations into the "progressive" Indian Bands and the backward or "traditional" Indian Bands. Through its various Indian Affairs departments the federal government developed an approach to reward the "progressive' Indians and punish the "traditional" Indians.

This federal reward-punishment approach still exists, although the "Indian Agents" have been replaced by Band Councils who now do the job of delivering Crown programs and services to their community members. Funding for Band Councils and other First Nation organizations’ is tightly controlled by the federal government’s bureaucracy through a system of legislation, policies, terms and conditions.

The First Nations Chiefs and Leaders who become more known and prominent are largely the individuals who have been trained and supported by federal bureaucrats. These individuals become known for their seeming ability to get federal funding for First Nations’ projects.

However, many of these individuals depend on federal support to advance their political careers. This is the reward system at work. Those Chiefs and Leaders who do not cooperate with the federal government often have their funding requests ignored or given less precedence. In some circumstances the federal government will even support "splinter" groups to take out the offending Chief or Leader. A current prominent example of this is the Algonquins of Barriere Lake in Western Quebec, but this also occurred historically at the Six Nations Grand River Territory.

The INAC and RCMP documents make it clear that while the Canadian State Security Apparatus is concerned by "splinter" groups, they are also apprehensive even when dealing with the current Aboriginal establishment. The reports indicate a belief that Chiefs and Leaders from Indian Act Band Councils and First Nation establishment organizations like AFN and their Provincial/Territorial Organizations have the potential to become Aboriginal "extremists."

What the INAC and RCMP briefings show is that there needs to be unity on the ground with coordinated political actions between First Nations Peoples in order to protect, defend and advance First Nation pre-existing sovereignty, and First Nation Aboriginal and Treaty rights to lands and resources. Divide and conquer tactics can only be met with new strategies of alliance-building, and by bringing the leadership back down to the land.

Russell Diabo is a member of the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake, Quebec, and a policy advisor. Shiri Pasternak is a Toronto-based writer, researcher and organizer. An earlier version of this article appeared in the Mediacoop.ca and the First Nations Strategic Bulletin.

Barriere Lake riot police

Reproductive Rights STILL an Election Issue

Anna Carastathis — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:23:57 +0000

focus on the born.jpg

"Focus on the Born": Image from a demonstration against Bill C-484, The Unborn Victims of Crime Act

When it became clear that an imminent election was in the stars, Harper distanced himself from the widely opposed Bill C-484, The Unborn Victims of Crime Act.

Now infamous, Bill C-484 was a private member bill introduced by Ken Epp (MP for Edmonton Sherwood Park, Alberta). It assigned legal personhood to unborn fetuses (in contravention of the Criminal Code). It was denounced by the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC), and other feminist organizations, as "an unconstitutional infringement on women’s rights." Similar laws are used in the United States to criminalize pregnant women who use drugs or alcohol for endangering the fetus, or to prosecute those who help them seek abortions.

While Epp refused to drop the Bill, which had passed its second reading, Harper vowed not to reopen the "debate" on abortion. (A promise, incidentally, that he has made before, during the 2004 election, and again in January 2005.)

But does that mean that reproductive rights are no longer an election issue?

Quite the opposite, according to the ARCC. Harper has said that he would not block private member bills about abortion (like C-484) in future.

In fact, on this issue, he has said he would lift tight party discipline and allow a free vote. Considering that the vast majority (74%) of current Conservative MPs are anti-choice, a majority Conservative Government could easily pass an anti-abortion bill into law.

Consider the following facts, largely culled from yesterday's press release issued by the ARCC:

$490 Billion defense road map rollout, blacked out by media

Amy Miller — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:59:52 +0000

CDMA_logo_final copy.gif

You would think something like a detailed road map of ‘the modernization of the Canadian forces’, at the big fancy 8th Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas (CDMA) would elicit some sort discussion or analysis from the Canadian media/ chattering class. At the conference, Peter Mackay began to spin links between the need to respond to ‘natural disasters’ and ‘security of the Olympics’ with armed security. The highlight of the conference was the release of Canada's 20-year, $490 billion “Canada First Defense Strategy,” a detailed plan to modernize its armed forces and its military industry. McKay also signed a Memoranda of Understanding with his counterparts in Honduras, Guatemala and Bolivia, which falls under the Military Training Assistance Programme (MTAP). Yet hardly a boo, has been published about this week long conference, as the Republican convention in St Paul and the buzz around the soon to be announced election provided a nice blackout about things that were going on, that the media and lobbyist just aren't so interested in regular folks to know about.

So what do we know happened this week in the luxury resort of Banff where the delegates from 34 countries met under the theme of ‘Co-operation and Collaboration”?
According to CP Canadian Defense Minister and host of the conference, Peter MacKay addressed the crowd by stirring their shared belief that "Now more than ever, we are all connected and need to cooperate to achieve the security, democratic development, and prosperity we all desire”.

"Sorry" For Genocide?

hillarybain — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:10:21 +0000

Residential school apology in context

"I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone...Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department; that is the whole object of this Bill." —Duncan Campbell Scott, head of the Department of Indian Affairs and founder of the residential school system, 1920

On June 11, 2008, Stephen Harper, prime minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party, issued an "apology" for the residential school system that over 150,000 indigenous children were forced through. The hype before and after the statement was enormous, with extensive coverage in all major media.

This event had a strong emotional and psychological impact on indigenous survivors of residential schools across Canada, survivors who suffered attempted forced assimilation, as well as countless acts of violence, rape and other abuses. Descendents of those subjected to this system were equally affected. People packed into community halls and similar venues on June 11 for what was bound to be an emotional day for survivors, regardless of their view on the meaning of the "apology." Some survivors reportedly felt that the statement was a step forward, while many others were highly critical.

In trying to understand the responses of indigenous people across Canada to this "apology," it is first important to address what it did not do. It must be judged in terms of the ability of indigenous people to move forward in the process of true healing, not only from the effects of the residential school system, but also from Canadian colonialism as a whole. Examined in context, the deficiencies of the "apology" are much greater than any positive impact it might have.

A crime of genocide

"I don't want to hear it. You know, you might as well send the janitor up to apologise...if it's just empty words or a nicely written text." — Michael Cachagee, survivor of Shingwauk Indian Residential School

If there is one thing that Mr. Harper's "apology" provided that could be considered groundbreaking or new, it's the idea that there can be crimes without criminals.

You might think offering an "apology" meant claiming some sort of accountability for the residential school system. But Harper's statement acknowledges that what happened was a "mistake" without addressing it as a crime, and without any sense of individual accountability. It views the residential school system as simply a mistake.

No discussion of the residential school system can be meaningful without acknowledging that this was an act of genocide. For those who value the importance of international law and the United Nations convention of genocide, a look at the UN definition itself as outlined in the "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted in 1948" is revealing:

Article 2. In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Arguably all five of these criteria apply to the residential school system and other aspects of the Canadian government's colonization of indigenous people. There can be no argument, however, that parts (b) and (e) apply. It is important to note that guilt for this crime lies not only with the individuals who committed specific crimes against indigenous people (i.e., sexual assault, physical violence, forced removal), but also with those who enacted the policy.

Harper apologized for the residential schools as a "system," but that does not absolve individuals who participated in the numerous criminal acts they committed. Yet Harper's statement attempts to do so by apologising on behalf of "all Canadians," hiding behind the false logic of "nobody is guilty if everyone is."

Cherokee activist and academic Andrea Smith discusses some of these ideas in her book Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide. Smith uses Carol Adam's concept of the "Absent Referent" in exploring various aspects of sexual violence against indigenous women, also examining how this concept recurs throughout Western society, mythology and history. One example she uses is that of the "battered" woman, a concept that makes women "the inherent victims of battering. The batterer is rendered invisible and thus the absent referent."

A similar tool of deception is at work in not only the "apology," but also in the general approach of the Canadian government toward the residential school issue. Aside from identifying notorious cases like that of the Archbishop Hubert O'Connor--who was convicted of rape and indecent assault against two young aboriginal women and who can easily be tarred in Harper's statement--the perpetrator of the crimes against residential school survivors has no tangible face and almost no concrete existence.

Putting residential schools in historical context

A second great weakness of the "apology," related to the first, is that it attempts to separate the residential schools from the wider colonial project of the Canadian state. This further obscures a true understanding of why this crime was committed.

The key role of the residential school system in the overall process of Canadian colonialism cannot be overestimated. The theft of indigenous lands and resources, along with the destruction of indigenous cultures and societies, was met with resistance. In many cases this resistance was well organized and proved difficult for European settlers to quell, despite their supposedly more advanced weapons and military organization.

Rather than risking a resurgence of resistance in various indigenous communities by allowing them to exist, authorities adopted a policy of forced partial assimilation. If total destruction of indigenous people could not be achieved, partial assimilation could weaken the resistance of indigenous communities, while producing an underclass to perform menial wage labour in the Canadian economy.

This assimilation was partial in the sense that indigenous people were not to be completely absorbed into the settler society as equals. Even to call these youth prisons "schools" distorts both how these institutions functioned and what was being taught.

The residential school system had the effect of fostering complete self-hatred in most of the students, building a collective psychology. Indigenous people were forced to internalize a conception of themselves as drunken, lazy and stupid. Weakening indigenous communities, cultures and nations was the primary goal, with little in the way of education even in terms of Western notions of learning.

Challenging the Canadian state and the underlying settler project

The political implications of the residential school project continue today. It has had such a disastrous effect on the interpersonal relationships of indigenous people that its wounds are overcome only with immense individual and collective struggle.

Generations of physical and sexual abuse, alcohol and drug addiction, continued child apprehension by branches of the Canadian state, alarming rates of suicide-—these are only the more visible of the many problems indigenous people have had to work through since the residential school experience. As a result, the ability of indigenous communities to effectively organize against the continued theft of lands and resources has been directly weakened.

Yet this resistance continues and should be understood as one of the main factors influencing the decision of the Canadian government to issue its recent apology. Currently, there are numerous struggles by indigenous people within Canada over land and resources. These struggles are intensifying in response to the Canadian capitalist economy's increased hunger for valuable resources such as platinum, uranium and oil in a time of increasing prices, scarcity and volatility in energy markets.

The struggles of indigenous people, be they Haudenosaunee, Cree, Innu, Anishininimowin, or Tahltan, are only in part over ownership of land, in the Western sense of private property. When indigenous people assert sovereignty over their lands, this also challenges the legitimacy of the entire Canadian nation state and the settler project underpinning it.

More importantly, it involves struggles for the assertion of a different conception of land and of indigenous worldviews that see the well-being of humans, land and all living things as inseparable. This means a respect for the earth and valuing life in a way that has little to do with their market value.

The recent struggles over land, using road blocks and other forms of direct action, mark a departure from engaging with the Canadian state on the terms it tries to set, such as the notoriously slow land claims process. The response to indigenous people standing up and asserting their rights has been criminalization. Organizers like Shaun Brant, the KI 6, Robert Lovelace and Wolverine are presented by the mainstream media, the police and politicians as criminals, while the political content and nature of their actions remain hidden.

Harper's apology, along with the entire "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" project, must be understood in this context. Both are direct attempts to reframe the direction of indigenous struggles within the context of the Canadian settler state as it exists today.

Mixed reactions to Harper's statement

The mixed response of survivors reported by the mainstream media reflects the healthy level of distrust among indigenous people regarding the true intentions and meaning of the apology. The emotional impact Harper’s statement has had on survivors of the residential school system is completely understandable; even a small acknowledgement of wrongdoing goes a long way, given how many years the Canadian government has refused to accept accountability for its crimes.

Indigenous people are subjected to a large amount of "crazy-making." Experiences are frequently either outright denied by Canadian society or downplayed, people are told simply to ‘get over it.’ Thus, Harper’s acknowledgement of past atrocities-–however weak-–produced understandable and significant emotional response.

Towards truth and reconciliation on indigenous terms

Whether it is regarding the ability to decide what will happen on our lands, or how we are to overcome the impact of the residential school experience and deciding what to do with those criminally responsible, it is essential that we carry out these struggles on our own terms.

For this reason, we have to recognize the inherent limitations to the upcoming "Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Unlike the commission of the same name that took place in post-apartheid South Africa, the same racist institutions responsible for the crimes under study are heading this commission.

With a power dynamic like this, we can't expect real truth or reconciliation to come out of this commission, especially under the Harper government--the same government that voted against ratification of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people and a government that is still pushing for the extinguishment of aboriginal title.

The most effective means of healing the wounds of the residential school experience will be to challenge the very foundations of its existence. This includes the grassroots work of survivors who have been fighting for several decades to see real justice for the perpetrators of the crimes of the residential school project. Without this effort, the Canadian government would never have been put in a position to issue an apology in the first place.

Mike Krebs is an indigenous activist in Vancouver and a contributing editor of Socialist Voice.

For more information check out Healing begins when the wounding stops: Indian Residential Schools and the prospects for "truth and reconciliation" in Canada and An Historic Non-Apology, Completely and Utterly Not Accepted

Stephen Harper

Harper Apology

Missing Voices

hillarybain — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:37:15 +0000

Media coverage of Harper's apology left obvious holes

Reactions in the media to the federal government’s June 12 apology for the horror and tragedy of the residential school system came quickly and were plenty. Many sources, including authors in the Vancouver Sun and the Toronto Star, called on the federal government to take further immediate action to back up the apology.

But even when challenging the government, by and large the underlying message in the press was: Now that we have said sorry, Canadians can pat ourselves on the back and feel better about our colonial past. While there is little doubt that such an apology was necessary and is an important step forward, the majority of mainstream media coverage shied away from the fact that we are still living in a colonial present.

Absent from coverage was talk of current problems in British Columbia concerning the 2010 Olympics and the accompanying spike in luxury ski resort developments on unceded aboriginal land. Neither was there mention of ongoing battles over mining and forestry exploitation in Ontario that landed seven First Nations elders in jail for defending their territorial rights. There was also no word of the Quebec and Canadian governments’ removal of the traditional elders in Barriere Lake, replacing them with government appointed officials. This lack of coverage isn’t necessarily surprising, given there was little coverage of these incidents before the apology, but by ignoring these concrete situations, among many others, the media relegates colonialism to our past. By doing so, we ignore the fact that the same beliefs that inspired residential schools in the early 1900s are still present-–perhaps just more subtly so-–today.

While this lack of coverage could be addressed by mainstream journalists doing a better job reporting on the ongoing crises facing First Nations, Innu and Métis communities, another way would have been to open up the pages and airwaves to those who suffered through residential schools and are still living through the repercussions today. There were a few exceptions, such as a piece by Thohahoken Michael Doxtater in Montreal’s Le Devoir and Matthew Coon Come in the Montreal Gazette, but overall First Nations voices were reported on, instead of being allowed to speak for themselves. This is not due to the lack of possible voices. From the above-mentioned Doxtater to acclaimed documentary filmmaker Alanis Obamsawin, to Cree playwright Tomson Highway, there is no shortage of choices.

One venue that seemed perfectly suited for providing this forum was the Globe and Mail's inaugural Globe Salon. An online discussion featuring 15 participants, it provided a real-time analysis of the apology, with voices coming in from across the country. The Globe, while admitting that the list was perhaps incomplete, noted it believed the voices brought together were those Canadians would want to hear. The list featured some better- and lesser-known names, from the Canadian Autoworker’s left-leaning economist Jim Stanford, to conservative Globe and Mail columnist Marcus Gee, to the online newspaper The Tyee's David Beers and Christian broadcaster Lorna Dueck. But there were clearly some holes: all were white and many are already provided ample room in the media. The most obvious problem, however, was that the list did not include a single First Nations, Innu or Métis person, let alone a survivor of residential schools.

One commenter brought up this issue. In reply, discussion moderator and Globe and Mail Opinions Editor Patrick Martin posted an advance excerpt from an online exclusive comment piece by Stephen Kakfwi, the former premier of the North West Territories and a residential school survivor. No mention was made of whether Kafkwi had originally been invited to participate in the forum and The Dominion did not receive comment from Martin by deadline.

Any hopes of returning the land, resources and rights that First Nations, Innu and Métis people strongly deserve will obviously require much more action and will invoke much more debate in Canada’s media. But only by looking beyond the typical voices and faces will we ever truly have the nation-to-nation dialogue necessary to rectify the mistakes of the past.

Missing Voices

Québec Native Women's Association responds to Harper's apology for residential schools

Anna Carastathis — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:34:47 +0000

Ellen Gabriel.jpg

The Québec Native Women's Association has called upon the Canadian government to acknowledge that residential schools were an act of genocide.

Statement by Quebec Native Women's Association/Femmes Autochtones du Québec

Re : Government of Canada's Residential School Apology
June 11, 2008, Kahnawake

Quebec Native Women recognizes the Prime Minister's official apology concerning the genocidal experience of Aboriginal people in the history of the Residential School system. While the apology to Aboriginal peoples is long overdue it is contradicted by the oppressive policies of the Indian
Act.

The heinous crimes committed against Aboriginal children who were victims and survivors of the Residential School experience must be dealt with beyond mere apologies and monetary compensation.

Canadian Prime Minister enters Barrick’s Offices through the Back Door

dawn — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:18:32 +0000

Citizens protest the meeting of Canadian Prime Minister and Barrick

Two hours late and in the presence of a huge security entourage that included guards, police and special forces, Stephen Harper arrived at the offices of Barrick Gold and entered through the parking area, in order to avoid the peoples’ protest that started at 8:00 am at the entrance to the building.

Preventative Justice

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:57:25 +0000

Activist Jaggi Singh is arrested for what he <em>might</em> do and threatened with six months in detention

Singh was attending a press conference by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and was arrested before he could even stand up and ask a question.photo: CMAQ

As spoken by Jaggi Singh, member of Block the Empire and No One Is Illegal, at Rivière-des-Prairies detention centre, by phone to allies on Sunday November 26.

Tomorrow, I will be facing a bail hearing that will determine whether or not I will spend the next six months in preventative custody. The Crown – encouraged no doubt by the Montreal police and the RCMP – is objecting to my release, arguing that I am a threat to public security. Let me explain what brings me to this position, and readers can decide for themselves who's the real threat to public security...

On Friday, I joined with at least two dozen other anti-war activists in attending an action, organized in less than 36 hours, at a press conference by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Effective action doesn't mean sitting through stage-managed photo-ops, it means standing up and holding decision-makers directly accountable for their policies. That is exactly what we, members of grassroots groups like Block the Empire, No One Is Illegal and others, intended to do.

Before we could even stand up and ask a question, the RCMP unilaterally decided to remove me from the event, not based on what I had done, but based on what I might do. When I refused, I was subsequently arrested and now find myself facing up to six months in detention. If I had the chance, I would have denounced Stephen Harper's partnership with George Bush's disastrous "war on terror." Canadian troops are in Afghanistan to allow more American troops to kill in Iraq. Moreover, the direct words of Major-General Andrew Leslie – Canada's commanding general in Afghanistan – prove the nonsensical logic of Canada's policy. Speaking at a conference in 2005, Leslie stated: "Afghanistan is a 20-year venture. There are things worth fighting for. There are things worth dying for. There are things worth killing for." In the same speech, he said: "Every time you kill an angry young man overseas, you're creating 15 more who will come after you." This is a made-in-Canada plan for disaster on the backs of Afghani civilians.

But Stephen Harper's complicity with US imperialism goes beyond Afghanistan and Iraq. When the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attacked civilians and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and Occupied Palestinian Territories – actions widely recognized as war crimes – Harper expressed his unconditional support for Israel. Disgustingly, even after a Montreal family was massacred in their own home in Southern Lebanon, Harper continued to describe Israel's actions as "justified and measured."

Occupations abroad are rooted in occupation at home. One of Stephen Harper's closest advisors and mentors is Calgary neo-conservative Tom Flanagan. His writings provide the ideological underpinnings for the Harper government's assimilationist policies vis-à-vis aboriginal peoples. In the context of continued self-determination struggles at Six Nations, Sun Peaks, Grassy Narrows and elsewhere, the Harper Conservative position amounts to genocide.

Ostensibly, Stephen Harper was in Montreal on Friday to announce more funding for cancer research. Meanwhile, the Harper Conservatives continue to attack publicly-funded healthcare and have deepened Liberal cutbacks to social programs, undermining services to women, the poor, immigrants, indigenous peoples and queers. Harper announced some $200 million for cancer research, while the Canadian government is spending upwards of $3 billion for Canada's intervention in Afghanistan. Everyone knows someone affected by cancer, including the demonstrators who protested Harper's press conference on Friday. The substantive point is that the general well-being of society comes not just from initiatives to fight cancer, but fundamentally from eliminating poverty and oppression. The Harper government policies in their totality are disastrous for the health of the poor, the indigenous and Canadians in general and his support of the "war on terror" fundamentally destroys the health of average Lebanese, Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghanis.

Many are uncomfortable with the idea of getting in the face of the decision-makers. But when those decision-makers are ideologically deaf to dissenting points of view, disruption and impolite protests are necessary. That's why others and I similarly confronted Immigration Minister Monte Solberg in Ottawa this past May to oppose the government's continued deportation and detention policies. These policies, under the Conservatives, have resulted in the arrest of children in schools, raids at workplaces and general insecurity and fear among Canada's non-status immigrant population. Moreover, others and I picketed Afghan puppet Hamid Karzai in September of this year and during that picket, I tried to speak directly to Michael Fortier, Stephen Harper's right-hand man in Quebec. On each of those occasions – against Monte Solberg, against Michael Fortier, and then against Stephen Harper – I was arrested and charged with public order offenses. I haven't been convicted of anything and going by past personal experience, I might very likely be acquitted of everything. My and others' desire to continue to protest even to the point of trying directly to reach decision-makers puts me in the position that I might face at least the next 6 months in prison. I don't regret any of my previous actions and I intend to defend myself vigorously at the upcoming trials. I only regret that I, along with others, can't do more to oppose policies that are not just misguided, but murderous and genocidal.

I certainly don't expect that everyone or a majority of readers to agree with my political point of view. But what's at stake at tomorrow's bail hearing is whether or not someone who actively dissents deserves to be locked up for at least six months before being convicted of anything. Either way, I'm prepared to live with the consequences of my actions, knowing that they occur in the context of movements that are uncompromisingly fighting for justice and dignity, whether at home or abroad.

On November 27, Jaggi Singh was released on a $2000 bail, money that was collected by his supporters who numbered close to one hundred at the hearing.

In addition to bail, a condition was also attached to the release; Singh is not allowed to partake in any demonstration which is illegal or non-peaceful.

Activist Jaggi Singh speaks from jail about his arrest--not for what he did, but for what he might do.

New cuts and conditions for Status of Women Canada

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 15:21:06 +0000

The program devoted to improving the condition of women in this country is dropping the word "equality" from its mandate. Status of Women Canada (SWC) has changed its statement of purpose to reflect, in the view of one critic, the "conservative ideology, […] that systemic discrimination [against women] doesn't exist."

What's more, Bev Oda, the minister for the Status of Women announced on October 3 that organizations would no longer be eligible for funding for advocacy, government lobbying, or research projects, as part of new terms and conditions for SWC grants. SWC has a grant fund of $11 million. This follows an announcement, made the previous week, that the government was reducing SWC's $13-million operational budget by $5 million over two years. "Canadian women know the value of a dollar. They know what good use of hard-earned money means," Oda said to justify the cuts to the program.

In fact, the government's own statistics suggest that Canadian women still aren't getting to know the full value of a dollar. In 2003, women who worked full-time were paid an average 70.5 cents for every dollar paid to men; immigrant women made 58 cents to the dollar of a Canadian-born man. Separate earnings statistics are not available for Aboriginal women, though it is documented that 38 per cent live under the poverty line.

A website launched yesterday to rally support for SWC urges visitors to the site to lobby the federal government to revisit the changes it recently made to the SWC's funding and objectives.

Toronto Star

CBC

DAWN/FAFIA Press Release

CNEWS

"Women in Canada Fifth Edition A Gender-based Statistical Report", 2005.

"Equality for Women: Beyond the Illusion", December 2005

'Measured' Misery?

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:41:10 +0000

Canada and the war between Israel and Hezbollah

A mother tries to comfort her child in Bourj Hammoud High School in Beirut. photo: UNHCR/C.Lau

As missiles from Israeli F-16s rained down upon Lebanon, Fredericton resident Yousseff Nakhale was trying desperately to make contact with his wife and daughter who are living in the country.

"I tried to call them yesterday (July 18th) and today (July 19th) and the phone didn't ring, there was no line. I tried on a cellular and a regular phone," said Mr. Nakhale, who was born in Lebanon and has worked in New Brunswick's restaurant business since 1998.

His wife has Canadian citizenship, and may have been shuttled out of the country by the time of publication. Mr. Nakhale's daughter and her three children do not have foreign passports. "My daughter is in more danger. She took her kids and her mother and went to the mountains."

Fighting between the Israeli army and Hizbollah guerrillas based in southern Lebanon began on July 12, when Hizbollah - a Shi'ite political organization who elect legislators, run hospitals and launch attacks - captured two Israeli soldiers from an outpost, and demanded they release Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails.

As of July 23, Israeli air attacks had killed 362 Lebanese, while Hizbollah rockets fired into Haifa and other Israeli cities have left 34 dead. The majority of casualties on both sides have been civilians.

"There is a deepening humanitarian crisis that needs immediate international attention," said Nathan Derejko, Atlantic coordinator of humanitarian issues for the Canadian Red Cross, which is supporting an international call to raise $9.07 million to help fund the materially strapped Lebanese Red Cross.

Although Lebanon's infrastructure is being destroyed, it is not Lebanon's government or military that is fighting with Israel.

After Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war ended with a treaty, the government was divided upon ethnic lines: Christians, Druze, Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims each control a percentage of the legislative seats.

Hizbollah, which translates into 'Party of God,' is a multifaceted social, economic, religious and political force. It was set up in 1982 to resist Israeli occupation of Lebanon during the brutal civil war. The group declared a political existence in 1985 and now controls 18 per cent of seats in Lebanon's parliament.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmaert called Hizbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers and killing of up to eight on July 12 an "act of war" by Lebanon. But with 50 000 soldiers, the Lebanese government doesn't have the force to shut down Hizbollah. Moreover, any attempt to do so would plunge the country back into civil war and shatter its fragile democracy.

Israel's disproportionate destruction of civilian infrastructure including bridges, water treatment facilities and roads, amounts to collective punishment against people who are guilty of one thing: being Lebanese.

Before descending into vicious sectarian civil war beginning in 1975, much like the one currently tearing apart Iraq, Lebanon was considered the 'Paris of the East.' Its capital Beirut was a glamorous modern city with a well-educated, religiously diverse population. Prior to Israel's latest bombardment, things were on the up and up for Lebanon: the economy was growing and the country's tenuous democracy was starting to work.

In Ottawa, Stephen Harper called Israel's attacks "measured," putting Canada at odds with almost the entire international community and - consequently- in perfect harmony with the Bush regime.

Israel has one of the world's most advanced armies and receives $3 billion dollars in US aide every year, more than any other country on the planet.

At his home in Fredericton Yousseff Nakhale isn't interested in talking about politics or religion. "I don't have any idea what happened with Isreal or Hizbollah or the government. Nobody likes this war. It's no good for anybody. Everybody is scared."

Prime Minister Harper called Israel's attack on Lebanon 'measured.' Chris Arsenault talks to a father who hopes his family is still safe.

The Balance of Coverage

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 21:35:44 +0000

The Canadian Media, the Middle East, and Racism

A protest in Montreal demonstrates that not everyone shares the views of Harper and much of the mainstream Canadian media. photo: CMAQ

According to the Canadian media, Israel is provoked, and then responds. For the military attacks on the Gaza Strip in late June and early July, we are told that the provocation was the June 25 operation by Palestinian resistance fighters against a military outpost near Gaza, and specifically the capture of an Israeli tank gunner.

The Palestinian operation, according to most Canadian media, was unprovoked – it could not have been provoked by the Israeli attacks leading up to the operation, though in June alone these had already killed 49 Palestinians. Nor could it have been provoked by the imprisonment of 359 Palestinian children, 105 Palestinian female adults and another 9000+ Arab males (mostly Palestinians) in Israeli jails, or by the mass starvation of Gaza. As a June 30 editorial in the Globe and Mail put it, "the onus for resolving the confrontation lies with Hamas" and while Palestinians must quietly endure tank shelling, air strikes and starvation, "Israel is within its right to respond to terrorism and violence."

Without pause, Israel has since gone on to invade Lebanon, killing hundreds of Lebanese, while Gaza continues to starve. In the Canadian media, Israel was provoked to do so, in this case by the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah.

Hizbollah has not been provoked in the same way the Palestinians have been. So what prompted their action? An obvious possibility is that they were moved to action by the Israeli assault on Gaza. By the time Hizbollah carried out its July 12 attack, the Israeli escalation following June 25 had already claimed another 67 Palestinian lives. More direct grievances with Israel include the continued Israeli imprisonment of many Lebanese, particularly Hizbollah supporters, and the Israeli live ammunition training on the Lebanese border that recently killed several Lebanese villagers. But one could barely begin to consider this on the basis of information provided by Canadian media. No attacks on Israel can have been provoked. All of Israel's attacks must be provoked and defensive.

On July 13, Prime Minister Stephen Harper revealed the extent to which this logic has come to dominate Canadian diplomacy. With the Israeli military intensifying its assault on the Lebanese population and on critical civilian infrastructure, Harper described the massive attack as a "measured" exercise of Israel's "right to defend itself." Mainstream media joined in the chorus: "Faced with such aggression, Israel had no choice but to strike back," a July 15 Globe and Mail editorial declared. The next day, several Canadians were added to the skyrocketing death count from Israeli massacres.

Israel's massacres in Gaza and southern Lebanon coincide with a shift in Canadian foreign policy. Under the last two regimes (Martin's Liberals and now Harper's Conservatives), Canada has rapidly shed any pretense of having an independent foreign policy and has aligned itself completely with the United States, Israel's chief financial backer and arms dealer. Where past Canadian regimes would have settled for silent complicity in war crimes, Harper actively cheers and participates in them. This drastic realignment of Canadian policy happens at a time when the U.S. and Israel are embarking on aggressive, criminal wars involving major human rights violations.

For Canadians to accept this, they will have to consume an equally drastic dose of racism, dehumanization, and distorted understanding. Getting them to do so may be something of a challenge. The Canadian media have taken up the task with gusto.

Aggression and defence

"No nation would stand by while its enemies bombarded its towns and cities."
–-Globeand Mail editorial, July 15

Of course, the Globe's editors were not talking about the Palestinian nation. The Palestinians are expected to stand by while Israel bombards its towns and cities, as it has been doing continuously for the past six years, with a sharp escalation in June – well before June 25, by which time 49 Palestinians had already been killed. But when Palestinians resist through armed struggle, we read on the Globe and Mail's editorial pages that Israel's "right to respond to the latest Palestinian provocations is beyond question." We cannot expect "superhuman effort" from Israel, the editors explain, and this is what would be required "to resist retaliating."

Through most of June, the situation was quite different – but then it was only Palestinians who were being killed, only Palestinians who were starving. This was, in the words of the Toronto Star's Mitch Potter, a period of "relative calm." For disturbing this calm, Palestinians bear a double responsibility: for aggression against Israel and for forcing Israel to attack Palestinians in response. As Potter insists on repeating, the ongoing Israeli assault was itself "sparked initially by the June 25 capture of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants."

In fact, if the notion of self-defence was applied with any consistency, the operation of June 25 would be beyond reproach. Following an economic siege and recurring air strikes on their communities, Palestinian fighters based in the Gaza Strip initiated an attack against the Israeli military. This is no small feat, since Gaza's airspace and borders are under tight Israeli control, and it is difficult for a lightly armed popular resistance to bring down F-16s. Nonetheless, the fighters managed to tunnel their way underground for hundreds of metres, deep beneath Israeli fortifications, to reach a military outpost for their raid. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting, as were two Palestinians, creating a very rare symmetry in the death count. Palestinian fighters also destroyed an Israeli tank, likely one of those that regularly shell Palestinian communities from such outposts. They captured the tank gunner and brought him back to Gaza as a prisoner of war.

The Palestinian resistance thus had one Israeli detainee, as against some 10,000 prisoners on the Israeli side. The resistance group offered a limited exchange. They would release the tank gunner if Israel freed Palestinian child prisoners, female prisoners, and approximately 1,000 "administrative detainees" currently in Israeli prisons without charge. A negotiated settlement reached through conditions of reciprocity and dignity could well have seen the soldier released. But Israel had a different plan.

As former Israeli intelligence director Shlomo Gazit explained, the situation served as a "pretext" for escalating military operations in Gaza. Israeli forces began a series of forceful incursions, destroying critical civilian infrastructure though air strikes, shelling Palestinian communities, and instituting a comprehensive siege on the territory. These escalations quickly revealed the Israeli goal as regime change. The Israeli military rounded up and detained 64 political leaders from the occupied West Bank and Gaza, including elected legislators and a third of the Palestinian Cabinet. It began aerial bombardment of central civilian structures housing the Palestinian Authority.

The Israeli regime responsible for these attacks enjoys thorough support from the Canadian government. Its prime minister, Ehud Olmert, visited Canada little more than a year ago. During the visit, he received a pledge from the federal government that it would maintain preferential trade policies towards Israel. Olmert also visited Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at Queen's Park, where he helped to set up a parallel provincial trade arrangement. Joking with reporters as he presented McGuinty with a gift, Olmert asked: "Do you want us to hug?" Olmert and Canadian officials did everything but.

The Harper government strengthened links with Israel further, making Canada still more complicit in ongoing Israeli crimes. As Israeli attacks ravaged Gaza, journalists with concern for 'balance' ought to have paid attention to who was doing the killing and who the victims were.

Instead, Canadian media continued shifting focus to Palestinian culpability and encouraging the government's pro-Israel partisanship. The spin in news coverage was spelled out explicitly on editorial pages. The Toronto Star's editors called attention to "the folly of what [Palestinians] wrought by electing a Hamas government," while staking limited optimism on "the hope of a chastened Palestinian Authority" (June 29). The editors of the National Post and the Globe and Mail held Palestinians directly responsible for Israeli attacks. "That there is a humanitarian tragedy afflicting the Palestinian people there can be no doubt," a July 29 National Post editorial conceded, "but in the current context it is a tragedy entirely of their own making." On June 30, the Globe's editors hammered away at the same theme: "The main responsibility for the death and destruction that has followed [June 25] lies with Palestinian militants and leaders."

The capture of a tank gunner as a prisoner of war was translated into an act of aggression, a "kidnapping." Within a couple of weeks, the three leading Anglo-Canadian dailies – the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the National Post – had published the name of the captured ("kidnapped") soldier more than 100 times, often alongside his age and other personal information. The Globe's Shira Herzog, reflecting a broad journalistic consensus, explained that strong Israeli retaliation was necessary: Israel "is a country that takes collective pride in the sanctity of every life, an ethos that comforts Israeli soldiers in combat who know that no human effort will be spared to rescue even a single one of them from enemy territory, dead or alive."

As for the apparent contradiction given Israel's approach to the lives of Palestinian prisoners, the issue could not be ignored entirely. On the thorny issue of child prisoners, the Globe referred readers to a front-page article on the topic it had published on June 19, titled "Getting locked up to get away from it all." The piece argued that Palestinian children view imprisonment in Israeli jails as "a dream vacation" and are getting themselves imprisoned wilfully as part of a Palestinian cultural trend. Regarding female prisoners, the paper published a June 27 report titled, "Palestinian female prisoners have 'blood on their hands.'" The title was based on a quote from the Israeli prison authority, and the article assured readers that those Palestinian women convicted in Israeli military courts were quite guilty and very bad. The Post, for its part, ran an editorial referring without distinction to all the Palestinians whom the resistance was demanding be released – children, women and "administrative detainees" alike – as "fanatics now justifiably languishing in Israeli prisons."

Canadian media thus followed the Israeli lead, prizing the sanctity of every Israeli life while holding Palestinian lives in utter contempt.

Dehumanizing Palestinians

"It is our duty to prevent any danger of losing a Jewish majority or creating an inseparable bi-national reality in the Land of Israel."
--Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, June 20, 2006 (Speech to the 35th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem)

As disturbing as it is, contempt for Palestinian life on the part of Israel and its supporters is unsurprising. It is, in fact, a necessary cornerstone of the ideology of political Zionism, which guides the Israeli political establishment and determines the core of Israeli policy.

This policy is based on the determination to establish and maintain a state with a Jewish majority on lands that have long been home to a predominantly non-Jewish native population. Pursuit of this goal has involved expelling Palestinians from these lands, prohibiting their right to return to their homes, and encouraging large-scale Zionist settlement from abroad. This is a recipe for perpetual crisis and violence. Israeli forces effectively control all of historic (mandatory) Palestine, the territory stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. And despite Israel's forced exile of millions of Palestinians from these lands, the present inhabitants of this territory are in the majority not Jewish.

For Canadians to support Israel, they must adopt the Israeli perspective regarding the native population of this land, the view that the Palestinian population is an ethnic imbalance to be corrected, a problem to be dealt with, a "demographic threat" to a state which must be made "Jewish" at all costs. This thoroughly racist position frames mainstream Canadian debate.

It is hardly worth quoting the National Post on this, given that the paper is operated by CanWest Global, a media conglomerate founded by two of Canada's leading Israel lobbyists (Israel Asper and Gerry Schwartz). But the position holds firm on the liberal wing of the Canadian mainstream.

Consider, for example, the work of Mitch Potter, the Toronto Star's leading Israel-Palestine pundit in recent weeks. Potter is aware that Gaza is not the planet's most densely-populated area by accident, but largely as a result of the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the 78% of historic Palestine occupied by Zionist forces in 1948 (when Zionists took their first real stab at achieving a Jewish majority). Some 700,000 Palestinians were then expelled from the territory claimed as the State of Israel, forced into either neighbouring countries or the 22 per cent of Palestine still outside of Zionist control (the West Bank and Gaza Strip). With respect to the southern Israeli settlement of Ashkelon, for example, Potter offers the following background: "The modern city was formed by Jewish immigrants to Israel in the site of the Arab town of Al-Majdal, whose 11,000 residents were mostly driven into Gaza after the 1948 war."

Potter does not even feel it necessary to explain why those driven out cannot return to their homes in accord with the basic, inalienable rights of refugees displaced during wartime. Instead, Potter automatically assumes the Israeli perspective. He correctly explains that the Israeli "disengagement" from Gaza was simply an outgrowth of Israel's agenda of ethnic and national discrimination. For obvious reasons, Israel has been finding it difficult to deny the indigenous presence on the land it has conquered. This difficulty, Potter explained, was addressed through an effort to permanently exclude the Palestinian refugees of Gaza from dominant settler society: "Analysts spoke of an emerging Israeli consensus that understood a bitter pill had to be swallowed once and for all in order for Israel to cure itself of the demographic realities of the burgeoning Palestinian birth rate."

This is unabashed racism: the native majority population is described as a disease to be treated by state policy, though even conceding a stretch of land for Palestinians to starve on is a "bitter pill." None of the leading Canadian newspapers published a serious challenge to this racism.

Instead, they repeatedly published the flimsy argument that such a challenge would itself be racist. In a rhetorical sleight of hand that has become quite familiar, commentators repeatedly suggested that basic principles of human and national rights must be sacrificed on the altar of political Zionism, and that defending the rights of Palestinians (particularly those in exile) amounts to anti-Jewish racism. The point was put clearly in a July 3 column in the Globe and Mail: "it's anti-Semitic to call, as CUPE did, for an unconditional right of return of all Palestinian refugees, since such a massive demographic change would mean the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state."

The Globe thus tells us that Palestine's indigenous population is not only inferior and troublesome, but also oppressively racist by its very presence.

From this perspective, contempt for Palestinian life comes all too naturally. On June 29, the National Post, ever a mouthpiece for Israeli diplomacy, addressed the issue through an interview with Israeli foreign and deputy Prime Minister Tzipi Livni. For Livni, as reporter Douglas Davis uncritically relayed to readers, international contempt for Palestinian life is still insufficient: "She is particularly irritated by the equivalence given to the deaths of Palestinian and Israeli children … 'Only when the world sends the right message to the terrorists will they understand that it's not the same.'" Canada's leading journalists have already gotten the message.

Consider, again, the work of Mitch Potter, who in his recent position as the Toronto Star's leading Israel-Palestine pundit is a canary in the mineshaft of liberal Canadian racism. On June 30, just one day after the publication of Livni's anti-"equivalency" plea, Potter made the following assertion: "Despite five days of international headlines there has been but a single death – that of kidnapped 18-year-old Israeli hitchhiker Eliyahu Asheri."

Apparently, it was not worth counting the two Palestinian children, aged 2 and 17, who were killed on June 28 by an unexploded Israeli shell in the Gaza community of Khan Yunis (though this had even been reported in the New York Times). Nor was it worth retracting or correcting Potter's statement in light of the Israeli military's killing of a Palestinian in nearby Rafah at 2 a.m. on the morning of the 30th, or of another in the West Bank city of Nablus a little more than three hours later (already, by 6:13 a.m., Agence France Press had reported the Nablus killing). There were reports of other deaths during this period, which Potter or his editors could easily have investigated if they took Palestinian life seriously.

Evidently, they do not. As the Palestinian death toll mounted in the following week, denying the fatalities outright became untenable. Instead, Potter reduced Palestinian resistance to stubborn stupidity and described the fallen fighters as animals: "Another batch of Palestinian militants drawn out lemming-like and falling by the dozen to higher-calibre Israeli fire, just like their predecessors." [For Potter to call Palestinians lemmings is certainly ironic].

Falling, he might have added, to U.S. weapons, with the support of Canadian foreign policy and its loyal pundits.

Whitewashing collective punishment

"Hezbollah and Hamas … triggered the current crisis by staging guerrilla raids into Israel"
–-Toronto Star, July 19 (reporter Less Whittington)

On July 12, Hizbollah, for decades the main southern Lebanese group in resistance to Israel, captured two Israeli soldiers and killed two more on the Israel-Lebanon border. That day, Israel not only killed 23 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, but also began to bomb Beirut. Israeli military action against Lebanon swiftly escalated. On July 15, for example, Reuters reported that Israel used loudspeakers to order Lebanese civilians to leave the village of Marwaheen. Twenty people, including 15 children, got in a van to leave. Israel then bombed the van, killing them all.

Of all of Israel's international allies, including the United States, the Harper government was widely regarded as the most outspoken diplomatic supporter of escalating Israeli attacks. For Canadian media, fully accustomed to whitewashing Israeli atrocities, this was only appropriate. Massacres and the war crime of collective punishment were sanitized and reduced to offhand euphemisms: "As in the Palestinian territories," the Globe's Orly Halpern reported, "Israel is ratcheting up the pressure on the civilian population in an effort to push the Lebanese to reject Hezbollah tactics."(July 14)

And as in Palestinian territory, the attacks were a matter of defence. On July 15, the Globe editorialized: "The kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers, in a small country that holds the life of every soldier dear, was a grievous provocation. Coming just weeks after the seizing of another soldier by militants at the other end of the country, it looks like a coordinated campaign of intimidation."

The imputed "coordinated campaign of intimidation," which Globe editors disapprove of, is not to be confused with Israel's "ratcheting up the pressure on the civilian population," with which the Globe raises only strategic objections.

As Israel continued to kill and starve Palestinians, and as the Lebanese death toll from Israeli massacres mounted into the hundreds (with several Canadians killed in the indiscriminate bombardment), Mitch Potter explained that Palestinians now shared blame for the violence – with Hizbollah: "The words Hamas and Hezbollah may sound equally foreboding to most Western ears. And the militant merger of the two has brought the Middle East to the brink of regional war." (July 16)

Even for the killing of Canadians, Israeli culpability was sidelined: "Lebanon terror hits home," read a Toronto Star headline on the topic for July 17; "Canadians were killed in crossfire of fight with Hezbollah," read another headline, this one from the July 18 issue of the Globe and Mail. In much of the coverage, it was as though Canadians were fleeing a natural disaster, not a campaign of collective punishment fully condoned by the Harper government.

The reliance on Israeli sources became almost comical. By July 19, the Lebanese death count from Israeli massacres had reached 312, with more than 100,000 civilians displaced. As Canadians scrambled to leave Lebanon amidst the Israeli assault, the public relations line of the chief Israeli diplomat to Canada received the widest possible circulation through a story printed by the Canadian Press. Drawing entirely from unsubstantiated claims, the piece ran with the headline "Canadians fleeing Lebanon could be Hezbollah targets: Israeli ambassador."

Israel has since pledged to continue its invasion of Lebanon for weeks to come and both the Canadian government and Canadian media are lining up in support. The Toronto Star's Mitch Potter continues to get front-page attention for his articles, led by prominent cover references to Lebanese "terror" (July 18) and the suggestion that Hizbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah could be the "next Osama bin Laden" (July 19). Potter's journalism is shallow public relations, most recently for Israeli assassination efforts against Nasrallah. Potter has described the leader as an eloquent, strategic figure with a mass base for regional resistance to Israel. From his vantage point in "the corridors of power" in Israel, Potter notes that, "the strategies for Israeli victory are converging on Nasrallah's head."

Israel, while pledging a prolonged attack on Lebanon, has continued its atrocities in Gaza and escalated attacks on the West Bank, with incursions into the Palestinian towns of Nablus (where the Israeli military took over the municipality building, smashed cars and shot indiscriminately at residents' houses), Tulkarem, Bethlehem and Jenin.

The Harper government's nearly unconditional support for this Israeli aggression is scandalous, matched only by the media's support for Harper. On July 20, the Globe and Mail's editors reaffirmed this. The title of the editorial in 'Canada's national newspaper,' which praised Harper for his "refreshing" pro-Israel diplomacy, conveys the general tone of coverage: "Harper is right on the Mideast."

Mounting a challenge

There are indications that the Canadian population may be lagging behind the political establishment in its contempt for Palestinians. At the end of 2004, the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC) released polls that offer some hope in this regard. They found that prior to the recent intensification of support for Israel, official Canadian pro-Israel partisanship was opposed by majority public opinion. The polls found that the more Canadians learn about the Israel-Palestine conflict, the more they sympathize with the Palestinian cause.

In recent months, this sympathy has found increasingly organized expression. The past week's massive demonstrations in Montreal come on the heels of various important displays of regional solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Prominent among these is the decision by the Ontario wing of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE-Ontario), Canada's largest union of public sector workers, to identify Israel's regime of systematic ethnic and national discrimination as apartheid, and to join the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until apartheid is dismantled. This movement is continuing to spread and is picking up momentum within the United Church and elsewhere.

As the Canadian government opts instead for open rejection of the rights of Palestinians (and Lebanese), "Israel advocacy" groups like the Canada-Israel Committee take comfort in support from the mainstream press. When the Harper government became the first of Israel's allies to support renewed suffocation of the Palestinian economy (in March 2006), CIC communications director Paul Michaels commented happily that the "decision was greeted positively on the editorial pages of most Canadian newspapers." Again in late June, Canadian media indifference to attacks on Palestinians occasioned the expression of satisfaction on the part of the CIC: "While events on the ground included several Israeli air strikes in which civilians were injured or killed, this week's media coverage was fairly light."

With support from the government and the corporate press, Israel's allies pretend to near universal Canadian representation. They are in turn able to depict Palestine solidarity as a rejection of the popular consensus: "This week," a Globe article on July 8 declared, "public opinion was inflamed again when, contrary to the outrage [against CUPE for its Palestine work], the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada commended CUPE Ontario for its stand, and echoed the union's call for a boycott of Israeli goods."

There is no denying the real strength of Canada's institutional base of support for Israel. However, there is good reason to believe that this does not flow from "popular opinion." Rather, it results from the eagerness of the Canadian government to harmonize its foreign policy with the U.S., the support of corporate Canada for this agenda, and the strength of Canadian "Israel advocacy" groups which draw support from corporate organization, the United States and Israel itself. Mainstream media are reflecting and shaping the pro-Israel consensus determined by these powerful interests. But they have yet to bring a real public consensus behind them.

In this context, opportunities for a successful challenge to Canadian support for Israel remain very real. But it is only outside of the political establishment that this challenge can be built, and only through alternative information systems that it can be sustained. In any event, it is clear that while genuine awareness of the Israel-Palestine conflict may translate into Palestine solidarity, the mainstream press, far from the solution, is quite near to the core of the problem.

Dan Freeman-Maloy examines the Canadian media's coverage of violence in the Middle East, and finds it unbalanced, and racist.

Harper congratulates Calderón while election results disputed

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:03:05 +0000

Ballots from precincts showing strong support for López Obrador were found in a garbage dump on Tuesday. photo: El Universal

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called Mexican presidential candidate Felipe Calderón to congratulate him on his victory on Friday. Harper joins George Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in recognizing the reported election results, which have been the focus of a major controversy in Mexico.

According to Mexican law, however, Calderón cannot be declared the winner until allegations of election fraud are investigated.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Mexico City over increasing evidence of election fraud. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a centre-left candidate who was polling a few points ahead of Calderón as Mexico went to the polls, has called for a full recount of votes in 43,000 precincts where his campaign says there has been evidence of fraud.

According to The New York Times, López Obrador has objected to the recognition of Calderón by governments in the US, Spain and Canada.

The Times reported that Obrador said that recognition from Harper and others "is all part of a strategy by Mr. Calderón to end a process that was not yet over."

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that an unknown number of ballots were found in a garbage dump. The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), the body responsible for counting votes, has changed its story. According to reports in The Narco News Bulletin, the IFE stated that 98.5 per cent of the votes had been counted, when in fact 3.3 million votes had been missing from that tally. When the 3.3 million votes resurfaced, Calderón's lead had diminished from 377,000 votes to 257,000.

Critics have also alleged a pattern of vote shaving across Mexico's 130,000 precincts, and question the status of an estimated 900,000 "nullified" votes, which are counted as spoiled ballots.

Meanwhile, Mexican TV stations have refused to release the results of exit polls taken during the election to the public. Exit polls are frequently used by neutral election observers as a way to judge the accuracy of vote counts.

According to observers across the political spectrum, Mexico's political stability and civil order is hanging in the balance. If the public is not satisfied that the results reflect the vote, many fear widespread rioting, and a shutdown of key infrastructure. Major demonstrations are expected in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, The Narco News reports that, "outraged citizens armed with video cameras have besieged the 300 recount locales demanding an actual ballot-by-ballot recount."

In 1988, the founder of López Obrador's leftist party, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, lost to Carlos Salinas by one per cent of the vote--according to the official results. Thousands of Mexicans saw the result for what history would show it to be: a massive fraud, accomplished by discarding thousands of ballots. The result was enforced violently; armed forces met popular demonstrations in the streets, and 500 supporters of Cárdenas' (now Obrador's) party were killed between 1988 and 1991.

So far, the current government, the IFE and Calderón's supporters have opposed a recount.

Dru Oja Jay

» New York Times: Leftist Candidate of Mexican Elections Claims Fraud

» Narco News: In Mexico, 2.5 Million Missing Votes Reappear: López Obrador Reduces Calderón's Official Margin to 0.6 percent

» Narco News: A Full Recount Would Show that López Obrador Won Mexico's Presidency by More than One Million Votes

» Narco News: The Ominous Shadow of 1988 Hovers Over this July's Mexican Presidential Election

» CBC: Huge crowd protests Mexican election results

» Associated Press: Mexico's Calderon asks for unity while call to protest expands nationwide

» Bloomberg: Calderon Seeks Alliances in Mexico as Opponents Challenge Vote

Criminologists fear a private prison boom in Canada

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 21:40:06 +0000

Leading criminologists fear a private prison boom under the current Conservative government, reported the Toronto Star on April 2nd.

The following day, Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the Canadian Professional Police Association in Ottawa, reiterating the crime fighting promises made during the election campaign. "If you do a serious crime, you're going to do serious time," he said.

Experts agree that the government's justice strategy would dramatically spike demand for costly prison space.

"Either they'll spend a ridiculous, unsubstantiated amount of money on this or, more likely, they'll move to a more private model of corrections," Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University, told the Toronto Star.

Critics argue that private prisons put profit margins before rehabilitation; it's not in their interest to decrease the number of repeat offenders.

The Conservative government maintains that it does not advocate private prisons.

Government slashes climate change programs

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 21:15:23 +0000

Forty per cent of this year's budget for climate change programs has been slashed from the departments of Natural Resources and Environment.

"If it's not in the taxpayers' interest to fund programs that are not effective, then we are not going to," Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn told the CBC.

"Apparently, the federal government has launched a stealth campaign against action on climate change," said John Bennett, senior policy advisor for the Sierra Club of Canada, in response to the cuts. "The Harper minority government has no mandate to destroy more than decade's worth of research programs and knowledge networks needed to provide a science-based response to climate change," he added

Critics argue that the Liberal government did not do enough to address climate change, though it seems that the Conservative government will do even less. Canada's greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol - an international agreement to address climate change - in 1997. Before being elected, Harper told the CBC that a Conservative government would abandon the Kyoto Accord and set new targets that are easier to meet.

A study published in the March issue of Science found that the growing human influence on Earth's climate could lead to a long and irreversible rise in sea levels by eroding the planet's vast polar ice sheets, reports The New York Times

"If we don't like the idea of flooding out New Orleans, major portions of South Florida, and many other valued parts of the coastal U.S., we will have to commit soon to a major effort to stop most emissions of carbon to the atmosphere," " said Dr. Overpeck, a lead author of one of the studies.