Commission on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

The Government of Canada has announced the scope of its inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. It has also said who will be the five commissioners leading the inquiry. On the surface it would appear that the inquiry's scope of investigation has been well thought out and it all likelihood will satisfy at least some of the people who demanded such an inquiry. The five commissioners are certainly well qualified and reflect most of the characteristics of the missing and murdered women including both gender and cultural/national roots. Not surprisingly however, the membership of the commission does not reflect the social class of the women whose stories are at the heart of the need for a commission. However, in spite of the well intentioned job description and the carefully chosen participants, one still needs to ask the question - why is there a need for a commission at all?

" Justin Trudeau said the "victims deserve justice, their families an opportunity to be heard and to heal" and that "we must work together to put an end to this ongoing tragedy." (CBC). I agree that it is important. It would be even more useful however, if there was a way for all Canadians to have to hear those messages, to listen to those stories. I am afraid that like so much of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's hearings and report - the vast majority of Canadians will blithely get on with their lives and pay little or no attention to this commission's work. For Canadians who have thought about this issue, have read, have listened and have talked about it - the issues are quite clear. Within a society that is sexists in nature, that is permeated with racism and that has intentionally or non-intentionally practiced cultural genocide for at least 200 hundred years - it can come as no surprise that the lives of Indigenous women have been deemed less important. We have known for a generation that our policing, our court system and our correctional system are woefully inadequate to correct the imbalances within our society. I remain unconvinced that another two years will do very much at all to change that.

CBC reported that Dawn Lavell-Harvard, the current president of NWAC (Native Women's Association of Canada) has said that "There's not going to be the commitment to make the changes we need if people don't see evidence,... And that kind of incontrovertible, independent evidence that can't be brushed off." She might be right but I don't think so. For so many of us the evidence is already clear - I do not need more proof, I don't need more evidence. For those who deny the truth, for those who live in their elite bubbles that protect them from the reality of other lives, for those who insist that the world is evolving just fine - stories are not going to change their minds.

I accept that people need to tell their stories and that for some to do so on a somewhat public national stage with be cathartic. We should encourage people to do so. But I would prefer it if a substantial portion of the 53 million dollars go to actually creating change. I would prefer that money was used to providing meaningful and accessible education so that Indigenous peoples - specifically young women had a choice as to how they spent their lives; I would prefer it if some of that money was used to fund a different way (other than incarceration) of supporting people when there was conflict within their community or within their family, I would prefer if there was a rural transportation system to ensure that people don't need to hitchhike, I would prefer if small communities had better access to health care (including mental health), clean water and decent housing. But most of all I wish that the funding be available to help the communities decide what they needed and wanted to do.

I am glad that the commission is finally underway. I truly hope that it meets the needs of people and that the recommendations that come out of it are looked at and implemented. But most of all I hope that we do not have to wait two years for changes start to happen. We know what we have to do - lets get on with it.

Ladysmith

Ladysmith is a small town on Vancouver Island just over halfway between Victoria and Nanaimo. I think it might be a charming town. I don't know as I have never been into the "downtown" core. I think, although I am not too sure why, that it is a town with lots of seniors. For those of us who only pass it by, it is probably best known for the fact that it seems to be built on a rather steep hill. I could not imagine ever living there. Walking or riding a bike to anywhere would be a challenge. It is also well know in the area because of their great sea-side park.

Transfer Beach is one of those places that while not at all a secret to folks in the area, is thankfully not well known to the thousands of tourist who flood the island in the summer time. There is lots of green grass to spread out one's picnic blanket, shady trees to snooze under, a great water pad for the kids to keep cool and safe, a better than average set of monkey bars, swings and slides, clean bathrooms and a concession stand. And then of course there is the ocean. As someone said to me on Saturday, with just a slight bit of exaggeration and a whole pile of small town pride "it is a world class beach". This past weekend, I spent the better part of Saturday and Sunday there. It was the annual Ladysmith Days. Every small town has such a weekend. There is almost always a parade, a talent contest, perhaps a beauty pageant and some sort of side walk sale. While every town I have ever been in has some sort of special weekend, the one in Ladysmith was outstanding.

The parade happened in the town but all of the other activities, including the two day Farmer's Market and craft sale happened along the waterfront. I was there to sell my weaving and so I got the chance to see most of the activities. On Saturday there were races, games, loads of families walking around, kids playing on the splash pad, people dragging all kinds of floating devices and chairs down towards the beach, and kayakers out in the bay. On Sunday it was even busier with three or four huge "bouncy castles", twenty foot high slides, and some basketball nets, more races, a tug of war, free face painting (some of the best that I had ever seen - every kid looked great) and a nail hammering contest. In an other area there was even a pole climbing contest.  What was so impressive was the number of parents who got involved in the races and the nail hammering contests. It felt as if the parents were not just there to monitor their kids' behaviour, but rather to actively participate in their town's special weekend. Everyone seemed to be having a great time.

The volunteers looked and sounded enthusiastic. For example they had zucchini car races - zucchinis that had had some Lego wheels attached and were run down a ramp. One could have assumed, with some justification, that this event would not be exciting to watch - but the announcer was having so much fun with it, that he drew quite a crowd. The folks who got the potato sack races and the various relays going seemed to be having as much fun as were the kids. It was really quite an extraordinary event and it was a pleasure to watch.

I did not sell very much but it was a joy to see families playing together.

Not a Terrorist

On February 19, 2015, I posted a blog wondering at the cost and the rational of trying to convict a young couple from Victoria of a terrorist act. An act that from all who knew them, that they could not have carried out on their own. The evidence appeared to be that their "plot" was, at the very least, guided by an uncover police officer. They were convicted by a jury of terror related charges in June of 2015.

Yesterday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce said that the police had entrapped the couple by encouraging them and facilitating their plot to place a bomb on the grounds of the BC Legislature. Their convictions were over-turned and they were free to leave after having been incarcerated for three years. Justice Catherine Bruce's comments were quite clear. The couple did not have the capacity to carry out the crime and were only able to do so under the guidance of an undercover officer. Specifically she said that " the Mounties used trickery, deceit and veiled threats to engineer the terrorist acts" (HuffPost). Justice Bruce went even further in her written statement and said " Simply put, the world has enough terrorists. We do not need the police to create more out of marginalized people who have neither the capacity nor sufficient motivation to do it themselves."(CBC)

Shortly after their release they were re-arrested because the Crown still considered them a risk. There will be a court date set to review the Crown's application for a peace bond - in spite of the fact that they have been judged not guilty of any crime.

Three years ago, Canada had a different Prime Minister. Looking back, it certainly felt as if he, at every opportunity, raised the issue of terrorism and what appeared to be the need for constant vigilance against those from other faiths who were putting our country at daily risk. There was a heightened sense of doom, that we were all potentially at risk. It is not surprising that a perhaps young and ambitious RCMP officer would have seen the opportunity to do what the government was demanding of all law enforcement agencies - find and stop the terrorists hiding in our back yards. What I find surprising or perhaps more importantly - concerning is that the "leadership of the RCMP and  the Crown's office did not see any problem with running an operation that was clearly, at the very least, entrapment. In fact it appears to have been worse than that. It was not that the police just gave the couple "enough rope to hang themselves", the police went out, bought the rope and then taught the couple how to tie the knot!

I would certainly hope that the state compensates John Nuttall and Amanda Korody for the past three years. More importantly I hope the government takes some of that money that they would have used to incarcerate them for the next twenty-five years and use it to provide an ongoing level of support that will ensure that their lives are happy and as productive as they would wish them to be.

 It is interesting to note that photographs of John Nuttall and Amanda Korody that the press have shown for the last few years do not reflect the rather handsome looking couple that they are. Nuttall, who in most those pictures is sitting in the back seat of a car, looks, at best, dishevelled. His courtroom pictures from yesterday show him clean shaven, in a nice suit - not at all like the terrorist he was accused of being. One could wonder why newer pictures were not shown at the time of his conviction.

Little Boy at the Dike

It is always difficult to know if more terrible things are happening in this century or if the media are just reporting those things more often. One can never know if there are actually more hurricanes, tornadoes or volcanic eruptions in the world than in earlier times or if the media are just responding to our apparently insatiable desire to watch other people's disasters. It would seem however, that in the past 12 or so months there has been a rise in the number of people - generally male and generally young -who in the process of committing suicide (either by killing themselves or forcing the police to kill them) have decided to kill as many other people as possible. While some of these mass murders have said that they have allegiance to ISIS or Al Qaeda and still others whose acts have been claimed by ISIS or Al Qaeda, there appears to be little evidence that this long and dispiriting list of mass murders has any real connection to any terrorist organization.

What is clear - is that there is a new symptom or at the very least, a new indicator of a profound mental illness.  This symptom is very similar to what some communities (most notably some of our First Nation communities) experience where suicide happens in waves as one person after another - in their despair and hopelessness - take their own life. There is some understanding of the contagion that can consume a community as friends and relatives decide to take their own lives, following the example of people who they have known and loved.  The singular difference between those individuals who have a history of generations of oppression and lost opportunities, and these mass murders/suicides is that the latter want not only some escape from their perceived horrible lives but also still want their fifteen minutes of fame as well. The former just want to escape the pain.

Parts of Europe are in, and in fact have been in for some months, a state of higher anxiety and military alert. Thousands of people are investing significant resources in monitoring the thousands of people who have been put on specific watch lists - and yet these acts continue. I have this image in my head, left over from some child's story book of a boy trying to stop the dike from breaking by sticking his finger in one hole as other holes appear just beyond his reach. It would seem that even if there were enough watchers to watch everyone - it would not stop the problem. It is impossible to predict who will do what next.

While it might be somewhat useful to keep an eye on someone who has clearly made allegiance to a terrorist group - how does one protect society from someone who attacks a long-term care home for individuals who are disabled, or a gay nightclub or a regular children's school or a black church? These attacks as well as some of the attacks that on the surface have some connection to the on-going strife in the Middle East need to be seen not as acts of terror (although they do cause terror) but rather as acts of people who have neither the resources or the capacity to find the resources to at least feel as if they have some control over their lives. As a society, we need to recognize when people are living with and not coping very well with a mental illness, despair or depression. We need to ensure that there are supports in place that enable the individual. We need to be hyper-diligent - not looking for the next mass murder - but for that individual whose life is so full of anger at the despair that overwhelms them that they can no longer perceive a choice.

The problem of people killing a number of other people before they kill themselves will not go away because we give more powers to the police or the army. The little boy at the dike will never be able to plug all of the holes. The holes will plug themselves when we create a society where the individual is more important than making money, where the rights of the community are more important than that of a corporation, where individuals can envision a future that is not full of despair.

And oh yes, we need to stop making/selling guns and we need to help those who live in the Middle East to find a solution.

Gatherings and Music

It has been a while since I have posted anything on the blog. It is not because I have been feeling lazy or because there is nothing to say but rather because I have been busier than usual.

I spent nine or so days camping with the Rainbow Family - 30 or so kilometres north of Gold River. It was a marvellous Gathering with numerous Quebecois, a handful of world travellers, some very good cooks, lots of fresh water, a beautiful setting and generally the nicest harmonious collection of young people (with a few aging hippies to add flavour) one could ever imagine. While my body was getting a bit weary after sleeping on the ground for just over a week - I didn't want to leave. It felt good to be there with my chosen family, who in spite of the difference in ages and cultural background - still provide a home for me.

One of the reasons why I left the Gathering when I did was because I had purchased a weekend pass the Island's Folk Festival at Providence Farm just outside of Duncan. Folk festivals, especially the smaller ones are always a bit of a crap shoot. While one does know who the performers are before buying the tickets, there is always the risk of cancellations or only part of a specific group arriving. There is even the greater risk of two separate performers, both of which you want to see, performing at the same time on stages far apart. As well it can, of course, rain. Fortunately this year - all of the people that I was interested in seeing arrived, I saw most of the people that I wanted to listen to and it did not rain.

It must be incredibly hard to line up thirty or more acts, schedule them, find them places to live, feed them, make them feel comfortable and important and keep all of the attendees satisfied. This year there were a handful of people that I was looking forward to seeing - I did see them and they were good. I attended a couple of workshops that were interesting (although the one of finger picking was generally so far above my "wow"  factor that it was almost unappreciable), the weather was perfect and food from the various food trucks was great. It was not the best line-up ever - perhaps I missed some of the best performers - but it was highly enjoyable.

On Monday night as a fund raiser for Providence Farm and the folk guild - Si Kahn, a somewhat legendary union organizer, social activist, song writer and environmentalist gave a special performance. I went to that too. It may have been the best $25.00 I have ever spent. He is, while perhaps not the world's greatest singer or guitar player, a truly inspiring man who sings and tells stories with such passion that it is impossible not to feel energized and recommitted to changing the world.

It has been a great two weeks.

There is so much to write about...the temptation to look at the U.S. elections is almost overwhelming - there is so much to say; the number of people in the western world who are apparently committing suicide by committing mass murders is an almost bottomless topic, the weather, the cost of food and the influence of Wal-Mart on food prices, the difficulties of living alone..... the list is endless. I guess I need to get started.