It's Friday, and I have another weekly recap. We started the week with my son having a cold, and we're ending it with my husband and I also sick. Things they don't tell you when you have a child, you ALL get sick. My son also lost his second front tooth and it's cute to see him without them. I did change the domain name on this blog, I really wanted to open it up to who I am as a person. The domain littlecornerofmine is about this blog being my little corner on the internet. I can share what's on my mind, I can share reviews and I can try to provide some insight into Indigenous issues.


Last week, I briefly spoke about the Wet'suweten land defenders and that the RCMP have come on their land trying to enforce an injunction. The protests and railway blockades are still going strong with many Nations joining in to support the Wet'suweten. CN Railway announced they were laying off 450 people due to these blockades, however, CN announced 1600 layoffs due to a downturn in the economy in December of 2019. Were these layoffs already planned? Was it was easier to blame the blockades?  Let's just say they weren't planned, when they announced 1600 layoffs there was no outrage, but now that they blame Indigenous people for the layoffs I see the outrage. Double standard.

Many mainstream media companies turn off comments when the article pertains to Indigenous people, and this past week while I searched through Twitter and Facebook comments- the racism, misinformation, and stereotypes I'm seeing are downright cruel. It's 2020, and I see people calling us savages, saying it's not 1867 anymore (we're still governed by the Indian Act that was put in place in 1867) and we should just get over it. Having non-indigenous people laughing and cheering when Indigenous protestors are served with injunctions along the railway, hearing "arrest them all." It's hard to hear and see, especially as a mother.

During the Oka Crisis in 1990, my Dad was in his lunchroom with coworkers. The news was on and the Oka Crisis was front and center on the news. A 78-day standoff over a land dispute. One of his coworkers said, "We should have shot all those Indians a long time ago." My father stood up, took his Indian Status card out of his wallet and showed his coworker. He never said a word and walked out of the lunchroom. This story has stayed with me over the years.

Indigenous people have been fighting these fights for generations, and the legal system doesn't tend to work in our favour. We are 6% of the population, it's easy to ignore us if we don't get loud. I keep seeing people mention that the rule of law must be abided.  The "Rule of Law" allowed our children to be placed into residential schools to "kill the Indian in the child. The last school closed in 1994. The "Rule of Law" only gave us the right to lawyers in 1951. We couldn't vote until 1960. We were not allowed to go to University unless we gave up our rights. The Indian Act was put in place to weed us out. When someone tells you their ethnicity, do you ask blood quantum? Because we are asked our blood quantum over and over. Why? because the Canadian Government will only give you status if you're "Indian enough." Status Indians, are registered Indians who have rights under the Indian Act.

For those non-indigenous people stuck in the middle, it's okay to feel frustrated but it's not okay to belittle. Indigenous people have been frustrated for generations. We still have 56 nations under a long term boil water advisory. This is between Indigenous people and a government saying one thing and doing another. It's not okay to promise reconciliation, but sending in militarized RCMP when hereditary chiefs are defending their land. That is not reconciliation. There's a lot of misconceptions in Canada, a lack to education. Our dark history was taken out of the history books, why? because it's easier to hide. Canada has a hard time admitting what they've done and continue to do.

I'm really looking forward to sharing some educational posts on this blog. Recently, I watched a Thomas King (Indigenous author) interview and he said that when he was an activist shouting and stamping his feet, he wasn't considered an expert, he was entertainment. He had to find another way to get his point across and he started to use humour. Humour breaks down the defences. I want to find my voice. I want to educate as many people as I can. Many Indigenous people also have a hard time with their history, we weren't taught it in the education system either.