Ryan McMahon - Dear Canada- Podcast & More

"There are MASSIVE, fundamental gaps in knowledge, understanding & commitment to making this place better than it is. Fundamentally, most people do not have a grasp of basic Canadian history. Hell. Who wrote the text books you learned about Confederation and the settling of Canada? Likely, dead White Dudes."  http://www.rmcomedy.com/blog/canada-statement-of-facts
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Wow, I can totally relate to the first speaker. Please listen to the podcast. Powerful words.

*The second speaker is so ignorant on the truth, these opinions are so hurtful, they make me want scream and cry and vomit.... I wish she would read the Survivor's Speak
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Survivors_Speak_2015_05_30_web_o.pdf


*That awful guilty paralysis of wondering "what can we do?"

*I love what the caller said about a "broken heart" and the empathy is needed and a deep look at yourself.


 *Inside the circle and Outside the circle conversations.. crooked Chiefs"

"No Drinking Water" how is the possible in this day and age in so called "Canada"

Look at the root of the problem-
"Important point about what happens when youth must leave their communities that makes them vulnerable  to gangs. "

"Poverty breeds poverty. "

How do you break out a bad situation?
How do you escape /survivor the intergenerational abuses.

One practical thing we can do is to follow the TRC and look at the 94 calls of action
The TRC was paid for by Residential School Survivors.

Side Note: After I read some of Survivor's Speak..which was also the week honoring the Missing and Murdered Indigenous women I painted a painting called "Tail of Tears" I painted it to help vent some of the pain that I felt for the Residential School Survivor's and all Indigenous peoples, for all the INJUSTICES they have suffered...for the 125 year war on children and so much more.  https://mylangaratrccarvingjourney.blogspot.ca/2016/10/tail-of-tears-painting.html

I totally relate to the caller "asking what we can do? "
I believe our Carving for Reconciliation program
https://mylangaratrccarvingjourney.blogspot.ca/ 
this program as difficult as it was, has helped me a lot and but truthfully we have so much work to do and we must educate everyone....because so many still don't know and there are so many unhealthy people.

Oh my gosh, that guy talking about the plan to unite Indigenous & Federal Gov. I hope he reads the links and info here and takes a course like the one  I took.  It wasn't perfect, it didn't have all the answers but I believe it was the start of something very special. I am grateful for all the experiences good and bad. Since I completed my course I reached out to my daughter's school and her Social's teacher was very nice and invited me in to talk about it and soon I hope to meet with the principal who responded that she would like to discuss this in more detail. See links below too. Read this blog

I think that is a big part. Justin Wilson was challenge by another collegue on what were they doing about Reconciliation. So that is what I did. I took the course and I am in a constant state of learning and I challenged my daughter's teacher to do something in regards to Reconciliation. He is willing. That's a great start. It's a starting place, I think we need to challenge people...to take action. 

Photography by Angel Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

The Chiefs of Ontario- have a plan  http://www.chiefs-of-ontario.org/

This is a side note but look at this in how people were treated in regards to treaties...
https://mylangaratrccarvingjourney.blogspot.ca/2017/03/oregons-broken-treaties-kalapuya-grande.html 

other good info
https://mylangaratrccarvingjourney.blogspot.ca/2016/09/mistreatment-then-now.html
https://mylangaratrccarvingjourney.blogspot.ca/2016/09/listen-to-sharon-venne-speak-about.html


LAND- STOLEN LANDS!!!! and how that affects EVERYTHING today!

"We Need You to Save Our Lives!" #VoteABC
 https://tinawinterlik.blogspot.ca/2017/05/we-need-you-to-save-our-lives-voteabc.html

 

 Reposted from http://www.rmcomedy.com/blog/canada-statement-of-facts

SOME LIGHT READING

Read the Indian Act. Seriously. It's hilarious. It's a good place to start. From there, you'll see the deep seeded racism shine through the text. If it helps, imagine Kevin Spacey, or Sir Ben Kingsley or Keanu Reeves dressed up in pre-confederation garb, close your eyes and imagine them it reading out loud! http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/

You can read the White Paper - a terrible policy paper from 1969 that then Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chretien, proposed to eliminate Indian Status (and the rights therein), assimilate Indians into the body politic and complete the wholesale theft of Indigenous lands & territories by adopting fee simple/private land ownership and extinguish lands held in reserve (AKA - extinguish Aboriginal Title). http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100010189/1100100010191

You can dig into the Red Paper , https://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/aps/article/view/11690/8926  or the Citizens Plus document, the ground breaking document created by a group of great Indigenous thinkers, community leaders, philosophers and political leaders in 1970. The document fundamentally outlines the opposition to colonial rule and the top down Government approach Canada takes with Indigenous Peoples. Here's the summary - it's a quick read.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150302042148/http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/_textpopups/aboriginals/doc75_e.html


You can read the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. A ROYAL COMMISSION. This is in reference to your Queen, Canada. It doesn't get much bigger than this - a ROYAL commission. It's 4000 pages long but it essentially gives you the truth behind the country, it gives answers and solutions, it provides a framework on a pathway forward. https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/handle/1974/6874

Or. Maybe read the Kelowna Accord. Again, it was an exhaustive effort to come to an agreement on a framework in which to move forward with in Canada. It costs millions of dollars and hundreds of hours of negotiations, meetings and best practices to come up with the plan. Ultimately, Harper's Conservative Government squashed it, and opportunity was lost. BUT. It was a plan. It was a plan that Canadian's forget exists when they talk about the impossibility of moving forward in 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelowna_Accord

Thumb through UNDRIP. Implementation of UNDRIP in Canada would mean constitutional talks (which we need anyway, if we're going to make things right in Canada) and it'd essentially the mean the end of the Big White Daddy attitude the government holds towards Indigenous Peoples. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

You could peruse the thousands of pages of documents that the Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada has gifted us! Maybe start with the Summary Report for overall context, or read the words of Survivors themselves, or, hit the 94 Calls To Action to understand the work that your children, their children and their children's children will be undertaking in the next 100 years. http://ipolitics.ca/2016/01/12/unpacking-undrip-how-trudeau-could-take-crownfirst-nations-law-into-uncharted-waters/

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Related Links
TRC website   http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=905
https://www.facebook.com/National-Centre-for-Truth-and-Reconciliation-933534973335967/ 
TRC Summary
http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Final%20Reports/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf
Words of the Survivors http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Final%20Reports/Survivors_Speak_English_Web.pdf 
94 Calls to Action http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/RyanMichaelMcMahon
https://twitter.com/RMLpodcast
redmanlaughing.com 
https://twitter.com/SFTLpodcast 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/programs/ontariotoday

Here's a few photos from the Carving 4 Reconciliation class that I participated at Langara College in Vancouver  from Sept 2016 to April 2017
https://mylangaratrccarvingjourney.blogspot.ca/2017/04/photos-from-langara-pop-grad-carving-4.html 

https://mylangaratrccarvingjourney.blogspot.ca/2017/04/ceremony-passing-panels-responisibility.html

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

 

Design by Aaron Nelson Moody Photography by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita © 2017

She's Alive! She's Hurting! Make the Connection!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth#/media/File:The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17.jpg

Planet Earth - Amazing and Very Important
Planet Earth - amazing and very Important.To help spread awareness, please share.
Posted by Best Video You Will Ever See on Saturday, November 7, 2015

We Must Be United and Stop Harper & Bill C-51

Jeezz, it's pretty freaky the stuff that has been happening. It sure doesn't feel like Canada and with the way Harper secretly passes these things....When is it going to stop?



Have you ever seen the movie Animal Farm. You should watch. It is so representative of all the insanity that's happening in Canada right now.

I keep thinking of the poor chickens in the movie...and the old horse...watch..very carefully....everyone, please. Then think carefully because if we do not elect someone other than Harper we will have hardship and regrets for generations to come.

Please act, vote Green, or NDP or Liberal if you have to ...make it a Green/ Liberal/NDP split. Please vote.




Otherwise innocent people who love the environment and care about the future of our children may face arrest and other serious consequences and we ALL  know that is wrong. STOP HARPER FROM DESTROYING CANADA!



http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.ca/2014/10/dont-feed-fear.html
http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.ca/2014/11/grandmas-and-kids-burnaby-mountain.html
http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.ca/2014/11/what-is-radical-tamo-campos-burnaby.html
http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.ca/2014/11/mexico-they-didnt-know-we-were-seeds.html

"Most importantly, Parliament must not allow Mr. Harper to turn CSIS, an intelligence agency, into a secret police force. Intelligence-gathering was deliberately separated from police work 30 years ago, after the RCMP’s repeated breaches of the law and civil rights. A wise decision was made to keep police out of the spy business, and spies out of policing. CSIS was the outcome, but successive governments, including Mr. Harper’s, have not demonstrated enough seriousness about overseeing the agency’s activities and protecting Canadians’ privacy." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/parliament-must-reject-harpers-secret-policeman-bill/article22729037/

A Sorry State- What can we do?

Blog post by Tina Winterlik © 2012
zipolita@gmail.com
http://tinawinterlik.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/#!/zipolita @zipolita
http://gplus.to/zipolita Google+

Have you seen this?  Everyone in BC needs to watch this the video called A Sorry State | Knowledge Network  by Filmmaker Mitch Miyagawa

It is so awful what happened to the people in the Residential schools. So many people are unaware. 

Wikipedia file

It makes me so sad that people do not know what happened and have no understanding of the homelessness & drug problems of the DTES- Downtown Eastside.  Recently I was with a group of people, various ages but a few were youth and one was not from Canada.  They made some very inappropriate comments and were saying how they just couldn't understand how people could get so addicted.

I spoke up in defense. I told them about the Residential schools, how children were taken from their families and not allowed to speak their language or see their families and how they lost their spirituality. I told them that these children were abused.  I had to keep it light as it was not the time or place to go into great detail but it bothered me terribly.

I told them that those children never learned to parent because they were forcibly taken from their families. They lost their spirituality and were forced to learn religion. They were horribly abused, mentally, physical and sexually. It is so shocking and disturbing to think this could happen...here...in my province where I grew up and live today.

These children who were abused, many of them turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the past. They didn't learn to parent and their children were damaged in the process. Many of those children grew up and turned to alcohol and drugs and the vicious cycle continues. 

Wikipedia file

Now the drugs are even worse and some of the monstrous crimes (especially against women) that have happened are unbelievable with the authorities still abusing their powers and ignoring the rights of people ( especially women. )

When will the destruction end. 

I don't know. 

If I won the lottery- I mean a big lottery- one of those 50 million dollar lotteries,  I would take all those people and set up programs.

Everyone would get a little cob house and a little piece of land. They would all have little gardens and a few chickens, rabbits and we'd all live close to a river or water.  We'd live off the land.

There be counseling and massage therapy and aromatherapy and all sorts of herbal advice.  Maybe then by getting back to the land some healing could begin. And lots of art!  That's what one of my ideas is.  Maybe then people could get in touch with their souls and regain some of their own spirituality. Everything on my vision board

Maybe some really rich person will read this and try it. Maybe someone will start a foundation and raise the money to do it.

Now if only the we could do that.  I have to think positive, it's the only way to be. I have to have hope. Like the father in this show,  he said "what's done is done."  When I say it, it may sound callous and harsh, but it's not meant to be. A person has to come to terms with these things in order to find inner peace.  As much as we would like to change the past we can not.

While the government apologized, it helped in that it acknowledged the crimes against these people but it doesn't change anything, it doesn't make it better and for some who applied to get help, and were denied, it's obviously made things worse. I feel so sad for these people. I pray hard for these poor tortured souls.  I just pray that my child understands what happened.

I am grateful for this show and for people sharing their painful stories so that people can begin to understand. So that we can share this information with our families, especially our children. We need to share it so that they can understand what is happening in the province, especially in Vancouver on the Downtown Eastside.  We need to see the bigger picture so that children can be educated and have compassion and empathy and understanding about the whole and not the pieces. 

So that when someone sees a person that is homeless or very drugged and and their clothing is soiled  and passed out from intoxication, that in ignorance this person does not laugh or make inappropriate jokes or condemn. That instead they feel compassion and say a prayer and if they can help.

One other point in all of this I want to make is that not everyone looks "First Nations!"  While trying to explain that this happened to the First Nations people, the person I was trying to explain it to, replied, "they didn't look First Nations."  I replied, they were probably mixed.



Of course, later I had the perfect answer- which was..."do I look First Nations?"

My family didn't suffer the abuses that happened to many of the First Nations in this province,  as my great grandmother married a man from another country and my grandfather married a woman from another country.  So we are very mixed.

 Still I have Metis and Songhee and I take my heritage very seriously. I am proud that I am connected to this land. I belong here and it makes me angry that my ancestors and relatives and people of my culture have been so badly abused. It makes me angry that these things happened to anyone, ever!!!

It makes me angry, upset and confused that although the Prime Minister apologized, that when 6 kids under the age of 20 walk 1600 km to meet him and tell them about the problems of drug abuse and other issues facing them, he can't even be there to meet them. 

What can I do?

I feel powerless. There is not much I can do. Except this perhaps. Trying to share. Trying to educate people who do not know. To make sure my daughter understands. It's only with knowledge that we can heal the wounds and prevent atrocities such as those that happened from happening again.

I'd like to make a film. I have an idea for one. I was looking at a fundraising campaign the other day to see if I could maybe raise some funds for a camera and computer and  things.  I'll let you know if I do. Maybe if it was successful...I could start the foundation to raise the funds for the cob houses, land, and therapy.

Well I've got to go to bed. I give thanks that I can sleep pretty peacefully at night. I am not haunted by nightmares of the past that many people are. I am grateful I have a place to stay in right now, I have food to eat and I have dreams for the future. It's not as much a many people have, but it's a lot more than many have. I am grateful for what I have.

Each night I say my gratitude prayers. It's how I cope. I like to meditate if I can and often little miracles happen, sometimes even big ones :D. I'm praying for the people in this film A Sorry State | Knowledge Network and all the people who've been hurt, for all the little children and their parents, grandparents and families. I pray we can all find peace.  

It's all I can do. How about you?