Len Marchand Jr. was appointed BC Chief Justice in December last year. He is the first indigenous person to be appointed to that position in the history of British Columbia. His predecessor, Robert Bauman, stepped down in October.
Aboriginal Futures
Graves And School Murders? What Were We Thinking?
The year 2021 was the year of the Kamloops graves. It was the top news story of the year. It was reported by CBC and all mainstream media that ground penetrating radar had detected remains of 215 indigenous children who were found buried in the old apple orchard on...
A Separate Health Department is More Home-Grown Apartheid
A recent Winnipeg Free Press article – Citizens panel recommends Indigenous health department - by Katie May reports that a panel of thirty “randomly selected volunteers” is recommending a “dedicated Indigenous health department” in Manitoba, as an “undisputed...
There are no Indian Residential School Denialists, so Why Criminalize Them?
In a recent Canadian Press story, Kimberly Murray, the government’s special interlocutor on unmarked graves of missing Indigenous children from residential schools, is reported as saying: “We could … make it an offense to incite hate and promote hate against...
Featured News
Let’s Celebrate Reaching Global Population of Eight Billion
Recently, the United Nations estimated that the population of Planet Earth had reached eight billion souls. Despite the chatter of the highly subsidized climate doomster complex this is quite an achievement - it certainly indicates that the carrying capacity of our...
China’s “Truckers’ Convoy”
Anti-lockdown protests are now taking place across China - the Chinese equivalent of our Truckers’ Convoy. The protests are a reaction to the brutal policies that literally lock people in their apartments, when even one infection is detected. As in Canada, when...
Genocide For Dummies
On Oct. 27, 2022 my MP, Leah Gazan (NDP), presented a motion in the House of Commons to have the Indian Residential Schools recognized as a genocide (a real genocide and not just the rhetorical one of culture). Coincidentally, on that same day, the Dorchester Review...
A Year of LNG Royalties/Taxes from a Single Pipeline Could Pay for …
Sitting on top of one of the world’s largest and richest natural resource warehouses is turning into quite a disconcerting distraction. While much of Canada’s population – the heavily urban part for whom “rural” means Whistler, Muskoka, or Mont Tremblant – likes to...
The Wilderness Ghetto; the Dream of Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Nightmare of Remote Reserves
On Oct. 20th, the remote reserve of Red Sucker Lake in Northern Manitoba declared a state of emergency “after a teenage boy died by suicide earlier in the week, a man killed himself last month and several other people in the community have attempted to take their own...
Are Land Acknowledgements Justified?
Recently, Canadians have seen various institutions implementing Indigenous Land Acknowledgments (ILAs) to recognize the institution as situated on previously occupied Indigenous land. They are widely accepted, but privately disputed. It is obvious that the moral...
Killing With Kindness
The Sanderson murders are receiving a lot of media attention, as they should. Much has been written about the government policy of pretending that truly dangerous people, like these brothers, are victims, and returning them to indigenous communities, where they...
Turmoil at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) should lead to Reform
The AFN claims to speak for First Nations in Canada. But serious problems started with allegations about the new National Chief RoseAnne Archibald. Earlier this year, Archibald was subjected to complaints by her staff, alleging harassment and a toxic workplace....
A Lamentable Tale of Two Colonies
During the whole of recorded history, the empire has been the most constant and common form of political organization. A basic, self-evident feature of all empire-building has been the successful occupation of the lands of the local, Indigenous inhabitants by outside...
Moving Aboriginal Services Closer to People a Good Thing
Manitobans should be cautiously optimistic about a deal that will transfer health care for Indigenous communities in the province to a regional Indigenous authority. If done properly and not politicized, a deal between the federal government, the Manitoba government...
The Truth About Residential Schools w/Brian Giesbrecht
On this episode of Open Mike, Michael Thiessen tries to sift through the sensationalized rhetoric and common lies pertaining to the history of Canadian Residential schools by talking to former Manitoban Judge, Brian Dale Giesbrecht, author and commentator, and a...