Well, dreaming big is the first step!  Wish I was smart enough to know where the riser is for step 2!  But I like your thinking Mike.

Education-let's improve our high school completion rates for everyone!

Employment-meaning ful jobs at a salary you can live on

H

Those 2 would be a start

Respect for the enviroment is important too

I can't write my dreams in any way that doesn't come across as someone putting my understanding on them.  Reason:  I see dreams/vision, then policy, then standards, then the actual working relationships.  ....and though I can see your visions, Mike, I tend to then move through the actual implementation and each path I take, is a "dang, can't go there"

so...i hope we can find a way for people to live 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rights_of_Nature

I would like to see something like this.
A boreal forest, a secluded lake, a flying squirrel, a musk ox - given the same rights as humans. Mother Earth as a being.

the basic communal cooperative song and dance:

1. universal health and dental care
2. universal public education and no public funds for private education
3. reversal of corporate welfare state:meaning that the rich will be paying more taxes and quit living off the poor and middle class on permenant "welfare"
4. tax the base for environmental protection
5. long and short gun registry
6. support for women over 45 entering or rising in corporate, government, or small business roles
7. support for the lower middle to poor in education and integration in employment
8. infrastructure/trades  and small business support by government
9. protection of urban green space
10. protection of arable lands and percentage of arable lands maintained
11. restriction of international ownership of Real Estate
12. cap on Real Estate cost to local perecentage of standard of living
13. international support as well as local support for small to medium business with regard to shipping
14. increase in subsidies for organic products
15. immediate legalization of all narcotics and marijuana

16. decriminalization of prostitution in combination with standard education and bursary system for prostitutes in line with the WHL.  The number of years that a woman works as a prostitute, is the number of years she qualifies for a scholarship at a university of her choosing - not to exceed seven years.

That was fun

A guaranteed annual income for all Canadians

Every adult files an income tax return - anybody falling below a basic line would receive a regular benefit, anybody falling above would pay their taxes. 

Seeler - resounding "yes"

I like both of the lists above and seeler's suggestion.  I was thinking about the appropriateness of dual citizenship for First Nations with the other citizenship being with their particular nation.  Some may even appropriately have triple citizenship if their parents come from two different First Nations.

A believe an important step to such a situation would be the First Nations people defining their nations.  Currently there are many reserves of Cree peoples, but there were really only about 4 or 5 Cree nations.  If they are able to combine reserves and non-treaty bands such as the Lubicon into nations, they would have much more influence and power, and credibility.

Our historical problem is that the people with little power have been frequently trampled by those with power, be they First Nations, Metis, Blacks in Nova Scotia, or women in general.  It was deemed OK to take/steal resources from land under negotiation because the ones losing land or resources did not have the means to resist.

In a country where racism still persists for many people we have large challenges to overcome before justice is achieved.

My simple hope is that we can all learn to live in peace, love and harmony with each other and with the environment around us.

I would hope that those who live in this land knew the unique legal and constitutional position aborginal peoples are in.
 

I would hope we knew what fiduciary duty means. I would hope we knew what the Royal Proclamation of 1763 says.

I would hope we quit trying to be parents to what we consider our wards and listen to adults who are our equals.
 

I would hope we quit deciding what would be best and listen....
 

I would hope we understand that too much money, too much land and too many resources are on the line to have the trustees allow the children to grow up and claim their rightful place at the table....
 

Imagine if blacks in America, post-slavery, had been made wards. Imagine that when California, the New Mexico and Utah territories were longing to be states, they were  theirs, but whites would hold it in trust and have fiduciary duties. Would we think that they should still be wards? Would we understand the government cannot give them California or the states that made up those territories? Woudl we understadn that people lived there, bought land... that there were homes and businesses there... that one cannot give up a multi-million dollar acre of real estate let alone the vast amount of land it would be?

Then, we may, just may, decide that adult equals do not have guardians or people taking over their finances or managing things for them...

We might acknowledge not only that we lied and cheated and stole.... but that we cannot ever, ever make it right. We might give back what we can and say "it is yours, always was....:

Then, maybe then, we can say "I am sorry" and move forward into new days. Until then, we cannot say "sorry"  because IMO we still have no idea what we are saying it for.
 
 

I would like to see the Indian Act scrapped.  First, for the very obvious reasons that the designation "Indian" is an historic act of ignorance which increases in ignorance every time we repeat it and second, for the subtle way it treats multiple, independant and different nations as a single monolithic entity (another act of ignorance which never seems to improve for repeating it).

I would like to see each treaty become a separate act of legislation so that treaty parties can negotiate specifics without having to forge new understandings at the expense of other treaty peoples.  If that leads to several various processes and procedures for each treaty then as cumbersome as that may be it is probably the most just treatment.

I've been thinking about this ever since first posted.  I have no quick and easy answers to the well being of our Aboriginal Canadians.  I have worked with many kids and their families through the school system that only seems to fit for some.  Too many parents have unfortunate histories so view the school as a "government institution" that doesn't have alot of their trust and respect.  Many of the kids have very different learning styles that our classrooms don't always accommodate.  For these reasons and more, the dropout rate of our Aboriginal students remains dismally high!

The best I can think of at this point is to be better LISTENERS to what the eloquent Aboriginal leaders are saying on behalf of their people.  Their view and what WE feel to be best are quite different paths.  But when there's mutual respect, I hope there can be more decisions made that benefit the whole nation that we all belong to.

Before we get too deeply into action on behalf of indigenous peoples from a position of our knowing best, I think we need to come back to questions like what do we stand for? What is Canada to us? What should Canada be? 

Then we'll have something to take to the table. 

My experience of cross cultural negotiations has been that the Western mind gets impatient with lack of unanimity among other cultures: we think in binary ways: this/that, us/them, right/wrong, good/bad… we can be better at answers than questions.

People of other cultures, especially primal cultures often get frustrated with our inability to say who we are and what we stand for. We just know what we want and we know we want it now. It's only afterwards we find out what that meant (things like climate change, acid rain, urbanisation, technological concentration, superbugs, etc, all illustrate that point).

I think you'll find most people who are immersed in their own primal cultures know very well who they are and where they stand. I think you'll find them consistent rather than in agreement. I think they find our culture, or want of it, perplexing.

I think we tend to know whether they are this/that, us/them, right/wrong, good/bad without necessarily having a clear view of ourselves. This makes us unconsistent. Do YOU trust people who are inconsistent? Or do YOU trust people who are in agreement?

If we want others to agree, how agreed are we? If we know what others need, what do we need? What do YOU need from a government? From a nation? (My own view of that's in my original posting.) What do we put at the top of our list of priorities? What goes in second place, deferring if necessary to the first? How about in third place?  …can Canada add up to something to be really proud of? What comes first there? Canada? The reasons for pride? In what ways are we consistent?

Mike,

I stand for respect.

I stand for equality born of understanding. IMO legislated equality can force some level of understanding but equality cannot really be legislated. People will believe some are inferior and some superior in spite of writs. (We tend to think most on seeing others as inferior, but often we can believe self inferior)

I stand for peace. I do not mean a cease fire or an absense of fighting but working toward genuine peace through conflict resolution.

Those are the main things I would cite.

To me, as an immigrant, Canada is the home of unsoiled land, welcome and tolerance. Yet, I am learning that like others issues welcome and tolerance does not mean embracing. 

IMO we need to quit thinking their is one culture of anyone. There is not.

There are those who wish to rape and pillage the land for profit or fun. There are those who are stewards of Mother Earth. Those people can be of any ethnicity, fiath, gender....

We can often learn to quit stereotyping by exposure. We can often learn this through intercultural dialogue. It works toward trust, respect, peace, equality...

I do not wish to focus on "the government" like they are some foreign entity, some other. They are US.

IMO The peaks are not where the real work is done. The real work is done among citizens....

The second paragraph in the preface of this resource says what I mean better than I ever could.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:LVf7078IgpcJ:ndhr.ca/dropfiles/Starting%2520to%2520Talk%2520Handbook%2520-%2520NDHR%2520Dec%25202011%2520-%2520print%2520quality.pdf+sioux+lookout+residential+school&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjpgAGNirbwnLhHos7UivywwZjv_dCXh-hLr6MEZJDsAUel8Xyi2OfuE_W0tjnamWOK-gB7M4IrA6qXq0kIFNQEHM4__1HZmN-Z0Hm2UHRqFt_DfCWe4XJx4i7SdW4Nt3pqa-t6&sig=AHIEtbRy8P1CRUnJjp6CQWkNM3wadM4jmA

Hi SG:

Thanks for the link.

I agree about the limits of legislation… then I think about things as recently as the campaign against smoking, the abolition of the death penalty, universal health care, free and universal education… and back to things like full enfranchisement, abolition of slavery: … none of the outcomes have been completely or exactly achieved, nor have all of the graced attiitudes become universal… but, SG, gays can get married in this country and the law is on the side of those who oppose discrimination in workplaces and tenancies and public places: we have laws that recognise hate crimes and laws that protect workers' safety on the job… always there are failings and shortfalls and opponents…

But it does generate change and attitudes do shift. People who have acted out of habit more than ill-will find that the new attitides are okay… and then they find they actually agree with them. We all look to leaders, we all can be leaders, but perceptive leadership can articulate what is not quite yet in the collectve mind. I think we are seeing thatcoming in the questioning that's growing aboutthe ature and valus of our society, and the questions being raised about the desirability of some sort of ceiling to economic priorities. 

A few laws don't hurt. 

Anyway, they can always be repealed if they are too calamitous. In relation to aboriginal peoples, however, I think their treaty partners have far more to gain than to lose by opening a few listening ears and cultivating a desire for justice and compassion.

Mike, I agree.

If laws had not been enacted regarding desegregation, civil rights, women's rights, gay rights.... I hate to think where we might be today.

Legislation goes a long way. It can put us on track to where we want to go. Alone though it cannot take us the whole way to the destination. People have to personally get onboard.

As much as it would seem O.K. to wish for complete cooperation and understanding between peoples and cultures (and I'm not sure how to define culture) there still needs to be a basic, understanding for any country to call itself a country.   I am thinking that it is wonderful to see the celebration of cultures in Canada and our openness to diversity.  Yet, we cannot celebrate all parts of all cultures.  I will never get over the horror of coming to understand the gun mentality that pervades the United States - Michael Moores' Christmas letter says it so well.   Nor should any country condone female circumscision, or the culture of rape that pervades some "cultures."  It causes me confusion to know how or where or if we, as a society so diverse, could draw the line.  What line?  Do we, as a country - a Canadian society - have a set of moral values that are sacro-sanct? 

Actually, I don't mind being called an Indian.  I even prefer it to many of the things I've been called.  To me, every time I hear the word 'Indian', it's a reminder that the European that "discovered" the Americas, was lost.  Hopelessly lost.  Wow was he lost.  If you wanted to be more lost, you'd need a bigger planet.  I mean really; there's lost, and there's missing by half a planet!  That is L.O.S.T. 

So it makes me chuckle when I think about it.

Hi alta,

Well, there is that.

That isn't laughing with us that is laughing at us.  :)

Grace and peace to you.

John

A friend of mine sent this to me.  What do you make of it?

Chief Clarence Louie, Osoyoos BC speaking in Northern Alberta :

Speaking to a large aboriginal conference and some of the attendees, including a few who hold high office, have straggled in.

'I can't stand people who are late, he says into the microphone. Indian Time doesn't cut it. '
Some giggle, but no one is quite sure how far he is going to go. Just sit back and listen:

'My first rule for success is Show up on time.'
'My No. 2 rule for success is follow Rule No. 1.'
'If your life sucks, it's because you suck.'
'Quit your sniffling.'
'Join the real world. Go to school, or get a job.'
'Get off of welfare. Get off your butt.'

He pauses, seeming to gauge whether he dare, then does.
'People often say to me, How you doin'? Geez I'm working with Indians what do you think?'
Now they are openly laughing ..... applauding. Clarence Louie is everything that was advertised and more.
 

'Our ancestors worked for a living, he says. So should you.'
 

He is, fortunately, aboriginal himself. If someone else stood up and said these things - the white columnist standing there with his mouth open, for example - you'd be seen as a racist. Instead, Chief Clarence Louie is seen, increasingly, as one of the most interesting and innovative native leaders in the country even though he avoids national politics.
 

He has come here to Fort McMurray because the aboriginal community needs, desperately, to start talking about economic development and what all this multibillion-dollar oil madness might mean, for good and for bad.
 

Clarence Louie is chief and CEO of the Osoyoos Band in British Columbia's South Okanagan. He is 44 years old, though he looks like he would have been an infant when he began his remarkable 20-year-run as chief.. He took a band that had been declared bankrupt and taken over by Indian Affairs and he has turned in into an inspiration.
 

In 2000, the band set a goal of becoming self-sufficient in five years. They're there.

The Osoyoos, 432 strong, own, among other things, a vineyard, a winery, a golf course and a tourist resort, and they are partners in the Baldy Mountain ski development. They have more businesses per capita than any other first nation in Canada.

There are not only enough jobs for everyone, there are so many jobs being created that there are now members of 13 other tribal communities working for the Osoyoos. The little band contributes $40-million a year to the area economy.

Chief Louie is tough. He is as proud of the fact that his band fires its own people as well as hires them. He has his mottos posted throughout the Rez. He believes there is no such thing as consensus, that there will always be those who disagree. And, he says, he is milquetoast compared to his own mother when it comes to how today's lazy aboriginal youth, almost exclusively male, should be dealt with.

Rent a plane, she told him, and fly them all to Iraq. Dump'em off and all the ones who make it back are keepers. Right on, Mom.

The message he has brought here to the Chipewyan, Dene and Cree who live around the oil sands is equally direct: 'Get involved, create jobs and meaningful jobs, not just window dressing for the oil companies.'
 

'The biggest employer,' he says, 'shouldn't be the band office.'
 

He also says the time has come to get over it. 'No more whining about 100-year-old failed experiments.' 'No foolishly looking to the Queen to protect rights.'
 

Louie says aboriginals here and along the Mackenzie Valley should not look at any sharing in development as rocking-chair money but as investment opportunity to create sustainable businesses. He wants them to move beyond entry-level jobs to real jobs they earn all the way to the boardrooms. He wants to see business manners develop: showing up on time, working extra hours. The business lunch, he says, should be drive through, and then right back at it.
 

'You're going to lose your language and culture faster in poverty than you will in economic development', he says to those who say he is ignoring tradition.
 

Tough talk, at times shocking talk given the audience, but on this day in this community, they took it and, judging by the response, they loved it.
 

Eighty per cent like what I have to say, Louie says, twenty per cent don't. I always say to the 20 per cent, 'Get over it.' 'Chances are you're never going to see me again and I'm never going to see you again' 'Get some counseling.'
 

The first step, he says, is all about leadership. He prides himself on being a stay-home chief who looks after the potholes in his own backyard and wastes no time running around fighting 100-year-old battles.
 

'The biggest challenge will be how you treat your own people.'
 

'Blaming government? That time is over.'

wow.  ok, that sounds like my friend who definitely has strong opinions, including about regions, bands, etc.  it would be interesting to hear the responses from others to him.

Yes Pinga.  I hope others respond.  Maybe the white nation's wishes for our Aboriginal countrymen (and women) and Chief Louie's for his own people are not so different...

That sounds surprising like the rant Bill Cosby did when addressing a gathering of african-americans a few years ago.  Not that there is any plagerism suggested or intended, but maybe the message is the same.  Could it be that would be a good message to say to the various Christian denomiations who are concerned about their futures viz role in society....?