Straight Talk From Osoyoos Chief Clarence Louie
September 22, 2006 · By H. Cameron
At a large aboriginal conference in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Clarence had a great deal to say about how natives in Canada can turn life around:
“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.
“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.
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.”
Make sure to read the Globe article, it’s worth it.
After having to endure, over and over, the litany of excuses people can make for why aboriginal people’s lives, for the most part suck, it is so refreshing to hear Chief Clarence Louie. He should go around like Mr. T does, except to First NBations Bands who are making a mockery out of “self government” and whip them into shpae. Bravo Chief Louie!
Dear C. Louie,
I seen you on my television one evening and was inspired to write to you about a problem i’m facing here where i live, Eskasoni Reservation. I wanted to tell you that i would so much love to start my own business (and tried) here on my reservation but have been unable for the past 8 years. The problem is not me i beleive but my Leaders here at home, I don’t want to bad mouth my people but it seems power here has always gone to many heads and have put them on high pedestals. Eskasoni has two programs working with members from this reserver and off reserve for job creation and funding, but me? never giving a chance. What i’m trying to say is that “How can i start a Business when everything here seems so one sided and that you must have some sort of connection to someone on Council it hurts me to say this, i feel i’ve gone behind my people’s back, But! i am 32 yrs old now and i have grade 12 a small family and no job,and i’m the not the only one. Another thing i wanted to mention is that The Generation who might be your age and even older are holding and having more than one job on this reserve, it’s not fair! but no one will listen! Regardless if there families have all grown up married and have jobs of there own now. But i see others here who have never even passed jr.high and are so well off because they received jobs threw politics.. This is a sensitive issue here in Eskasoni and everytime someone speaks the way im speaking right now there’s trouble. When i say trouble, that means no work for you even for a longer period of time. No one here who have the power and the JOB will ever say that what i’m saying is true but ask the little guys and they will tell you. I hope you can help me in trying to make some see what i am seeing, not too sure how you will repond back to be about this topic but i sure do hope to hear from you. Well Thank you for your time in reading this letter you are a Inspiration.
Unknown Friend
Daniel Moris
[...] Straight Talk From Osoyoos Chief Clarence Louie [...]
[...] – - – - – - – Key messages for success from Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian BandSeptember 2006- – - – - – - Chief Clarence Louie and the New Relationship in BC Priorities? Economic Development and the creation of wealth for First Nations- – - – - – - NOTE: In 2006, Chief Clarence Louie received the Order of British Columbia- – - – - – -More about Chief Clarence Louie and His Powerful Words [...]
If your life sucks, it’s because you suck….
Pretty harsh, I agree, but there’s a kernel of truth somewhere in there. I first read that quote in a Macleans article about Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos reserve in British Columbia, Canada. Here’s a no nonsense native indian chief…
[...] Web SearchResults 1 – 10 of about 146,000 for Clarence Louie. ThePolitic.com » Straight Talk From Osoyoos Chief Clarence LouieKey messages for success from Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian BandSeptember 2006- – - – [...]
Clarence Louie:
It has been some time since I saw Clarenc in Kamloops BC presenting informaiton to a bunch of eager Employment Counsellors. I was amazed at the truth he spoke and the one thing that stayed in my mind was to stop whining and get a job…. get some employment counselling.. were the shard bits that I remember. I enjoyed the presentation on Clarence very much otherwise it would not be this memorable…
I find it really ironic that a man who says Indians should get off the bottle and stop whining sells alcohol for a living. Not every reservation was lucky enough to be where they could build a ski resort and golf course. Come out here to Manitoba Clarence and make oh….let’s say Keesee or Sandy Bay into a resort.
Clarence spends more time putting down his people than helping them. His zero unemployment record is virtually un-provable and if he does give a job to one of his own, it’s picking up garbage, serving Clarence’s white friends their drinks, or cleaning their hotel rooms. This guy has a big mouth, a lot of self-loathing, and is more white than any Indian I’ve ever known.
Here’s some straight talk from one Indian to another Clarence: Shut up. You’re no better than any of us and just because you dress white, act white, and surround yourself with white friends, doesn’t make you better….it makes you a traitor. Jiidiish!
AND…you don’t have to look any further than his comments about how his mother speaks about her people and figure out that she likely had that attitude instilled in her by the residential school system. So…it’s no surprise that he’s taken that attitude to heart either. He loves attention, want’s to be patted on the back constantly and told what a good nDn he is, and he is more concerned with bragging about his accomplishments to the white media than anything else.
And how did he accomplish those things in the first place? Did he not accept some of the “handouts” he so openly criticizes others of accepting when he opened his winery, his resorts, his big mouth?
I’m sure his mom is very proud and when they go to church together to thank Jesus Christ for all he’s done for them, they will include you and every other self hater who supports him in their prayers.
You contradict yourself at every turn. You make the same generalizations that he does. You see all these negative things on reserve (though which one you’re talking about I’m not sure since you say you don’t live on one and what you’re basing those generalizations on I have no idea), you say that the youth are doomed to turn into their relatives, and just what the fuck are you doing to change that?
Nothing.
You run away from the problem and point fingers from a distance, nodding your head in agreement with a clone who has zero experience beyond his own lush green walls. That’s why we’re still in this mess my friend. Because people like you walk away and disassociate yourselves and blame, blame, blame.
You resign yourself to this once again stereotypical point of view that there’s nothing but nepotism and corruption on “the rez” (which one? again you don’t say) and regurgitate the same uninformed rhetoric that Clarence spews any time he gets a microphone or a camera put in front of him.
Where you get the idea that the native press doesn’t have anything to do with him I don’t know. Apparently you don’t read the native press because he’s been covered extensively in The Grassroots, The Drum, and Indian Country Today. I said the reason the white media loves him so much is because they can say “Yeah! I agree! Finally I can put forth my racist point of view because there’s an Indian out there saying it!” Read the Globe and Mail article. Even the reporter hints at this.
How does life get better for our people? By others setting examples and getting their hands dirty and doing something to help. Not by a bunch of city ndns sitting in the comfort of their cozy surroundings saying how bad those rez ndns are and how glad they are they got out of there and away from those dirty lazy people.
What example are you setting? You’re pointing fingers back at your own people and laying all kinds of blame, making all kinds of noise about how bad they are and being all smug because you don’t live on reserve.
You’re not qualified to comment on reserve life on every reserve no more than you’re qualified to agree with Clarence because you haven’t actually looked at what this moron has truly been saying.
Who else do you blame then, if not the government, when they want to dump their radioactive waste on your reservation like the Ontario government is proposing in Saugeen? Who else do you blame when the ground waters are so contaminated with fuels left by Manitoba Hydro that you can’t safely drink the water or be outside for very long and your community is plagued with cancer and respiratory diseases? Who else do you blame when Canadian government refuses to even hear the Dakota’s land claim in Southern Manitoba, while it hands over millions to the Metis? Who else do you blame when members of Indian affairs are removed from office for playing favourites and ignoring the high risk communities of the north?
Who do you blame when Mike Harris has his provincial police shoot and kill unarmed protestors? Who do you blame when thousands of children disappear from the reservation because of forced adoptions during the 60′s scoop? Did we do that ourselves? No, genius. The government did.
Who caused the cycle of poverty that exists on the reservations …? The government that until the late 60′s early 70′s and in some case the 80′s made ndns get permission to leave the reservation for any reason and forced women who married white men to give up their status while allowing white women who married ndns to gain status? The government that bribed ndns to give up their status by offering them lump sum payments to tear up their status cards and renounce their heritage?
Get an education junior. An education about the history of your own people and don’t just sit there with your anger towards your people and nod along with whoever comes along and points their finger like Clarence.
Where the fuck do you get this idea that ndns on reserve have no bills??? there’s no free hydro, free groceries, free utilities, or free anything. It’s THAT glaring example of your ignorance of reservation life that completely disqualifies you from having a valid opinion.
Come back when you actually know what the hell you’re talking about.
[...] is a fierce debate raging in an old thread about Chief Clarence Louie and his comments about Indians and live on the reserves. I highly recommend you head on over and read the two very different perspectives of Anwaan Jiimis [...]
Sorry to butt in to this interesting discussion but as a non-native who has spent some time in reservations near where I grew up I’ve often wondered why do people choose to stay there? Why don’t more people go where the opportunities are? Forgive me if that’s an ignorant question but I honestly have never understood why the reservation system continues to exist let alone why people have chosen to stay there.
It’s sad that you don’t see any positives about where you’re from. You obviously don’t look very hard or past what your prejudices towards your own people keep you from seeing. I never asked you where you were from but it’s not real hard to figure it out just going by your name, what part of the country you’re from.
That aside, I don’t see any real factual argument coming from you to support all this self-loathing you so quickly deny.
You, and your hero Clarence, both say it’s time to stop blaming the government? Well that was exactly my point, about all those things that were done to us. The 60′s scoop, Dudley George, the residential school system, Oka, etc.
If you don’t hold the government accountable for these things then what happens? They just keep on happening and they get worse. The government, which you so lovingly seem to want to protect, still wont investigate the over 500 native women who have gone missing or been murdered in this country. That government still won’t acknowledge the 60′s scoop and what harm it did an entire generation of peoples. That government still won’t apologize for gunning down Dudley George. That government still won’t allow the Dakota people’s to exercise their rights in Manitoba to claim their traditional lands. That government hands out millions of dollars, 9 million I believe the last count was, to try and revive the Metis “language” while people are living 20 to a house in Pukatawagan because they can’t build houses on the land poisoned by a diesel spill they still won’t clean up.
If you knew anything at all about your culture, you’d know that the past is something we never forget. It’s there to serve us as a reminder of what good things we’ve done, what we are capable of doing again, and what’s been done to us that we must prevent from ever happening again.
Would you tell a Jew to “get over” the Holocaust? Would you tell an African-American to “get over” slavery and lynchings and the KKK? Of course not. So why do you dismiss what’s happened to our people so easily?
The 60′s scoop taught us we needed to create our own Child and Family Services that were run by natives with native values and culture in mind. So now we have those agencies across the country from Toronto’s ACFS, to Manitoba’s many agencies, to the western provinces. We try to KEEP our children in our communities instead of letting them be taken away.
Why do we stay on the reservation? If you have to ask that, you really don’t have much of a chance of ever understanding anything about who you are.
It’s not because there’s some magical free ride that we get for staying there. Your ridiculous notion of ndns having no expenses is not only completely untrue, but atypical of white society and it’s numerous assumptions about us and how we live.
Almost all reservations are on what’s left of our traditional lands. The place where our people lived and prospered and were happy before colonialization. Our history is there, our spirits are there, and our ancestors live on there through our teachings, our stories, and our languages.
It’s not about living there because it’s easy. There’s nothing easy about a lot of people’s lives on the reservation, but there’s a lot worse that awaits many off of the rez. Go to Winnipeg and see that for yourself or Toronto.
You ask why can’t we prosper while helping people? We are prospering in many ways if you’d just open your damn eyes for a minute and stop believing everything you’re told by people like Clarence.
Hell, even Clarence claims he’s prospering, which any moron could do given the place he’s been given to live.
We have our people now becoming Judges and Justices of the Peace, we have native run agencies as previously mentioned that are staffed by natives, we have a First Nation’s University in Saskatchewan, the Turtle Mountain Community College in ND, native programs at the Universities of Western Ontario, Manitoba, Toronto, and more.
When I go to feasts and powwows and community events like hockey or socials or even bingo, I don’t see miserable, beaten down people sharing a bottle like you want to believe, I see children dancing in their traditional dress, laughing and enjoying being who they are. I see families coming together to support one another at times of grief and times of joy. I see entire families having giveaways in thousands of dollars of their own money spent on things to given away to celebrate personal triumphs like a child graduating high school or college or univeristy or to remember someone who has passed. I hear our language being spoken openly and with pride and I watch the elders laughing as they talk to one another in their language.
I see people with tremedous pride in who they are like Corey Whitford, a man younger than myself who travels the province promoting our way of life and our culture and showcasing the best of ndn life in the Grassroots newspaper.
I see respected elders who are invited to weddings and powwows and all manner of celebrations all across the midwest to conduct spiritual ceremonies, naming ceremonies, commemorations, and I can say having myself been adopted by one of these families in our traditional way because they saw me as a leader, an example to be looked up to, and a person who DOES things to help instead of sit at home and point fingers and lay blame like people such as yourself, I have the respect of my community, and many others, because I go there and I do something to try and make a difference.
I could go on for days about the good things, but I could care less about trying to convince a wannabe mooniyaawinini who cant see past his own anger.
Present me with factual debate or just shut the hell up. You don’t support your arguments with anything more than “I don’t see anything good” or other third party bullshit.
“You can go on fighting a fight that will never get us anywhere.” How Clarence Louie of you.
Easy words you borrow from a man who lives in the best farmland in the country, with the best geography to build resorts and wineries and whatever else his white cronies can come up with to cut chunks out of his rez with.
Yeah, people said that kind of shite to Crazy Horse, AIM, Leonard Peltier, and every other ndn who took a stand for his people and sacrificed and if they’d listened, we wouldn’t even have the small amount of land and culture that we’ve been allowed to keep. When I met with Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt a year or so ago, I didn’t see old men in their seventies, I saw warriors still fighting with pride for the rights of assholes like you who sit around doing nothing but complaining. When I mourned the passing of Vernon Bellecourt, I remembered a man who fought into his old age to stop the stereotyping of our people by universities and colleges and sports teams who use our images as logos to be trivialized.
I would love to have had you with me to tell them to stop fighting. You wouldn’t have the stones to say those words to their faces because you, like so many other hang around the fort types, have accepted defeat and seen that the white way is the easy way and you don’t have to risk anything or give up any comforts to live that life. You don’t have to respect anyone or live by the seven teachings or drive miles and miles to pay respect to people. You can just sit there with your computer and your xbox and your anger and whenever you get the chance, mouth off against the very people who would come and save your sorry ass if it were ever in jeopardy.
When you actually DO help someone, then you can say something. Until then, you can keep blowing smoke up people’s asses who don’t know any better.
I really have nothing more to say to you, as you don’t present anything other than repeated assertions and regurgitations of what your hero Clarence has already said a million times.
I pity and can’t help but laugh at anyone who want’s this man’s opinion about ndn life when he so clearly doesn’t lead one.
“I don’t see any progress from what we’ve been doing as a people.”
That makes me sad dude. You need to talk to your elders and find out where this is coming from. I am proud of who I am and I am proud of our people.
Addiction is not the sole domain of the Indian no more than poverty or laziness or corruption. It is no more exclusive to Indians than gangs or domestic violence or crime is. There are those elements in EVERY ethnic group in this country. There are plenty of white teenage mothers out there. There are plenty of black people who beat their spouses. There are plenty of Asian people who are alcoholics. Human beings are wired that way, not just Indians. So when people make broad, sweeping generalizations about us, yes, I will respond every time and defend my people and our way of life because it ISN’T all of us living our lives in that way.
I hope you find something to be proud of and I hope you do go on to become an example for our youth and your community. We NEED you to.
Best of luck and know that despite our differences of opinion, you are still my brother.
Miigwetch.
This is directed to “Anwaan Jiimis”. It must be so easy to sit back and critisize the hard work of other people. If your community or community members are facing a tough time, then “get off your butt” and do something about it. Are you frustrasted that you don’t have a job, are you mad that you live the way you do, Quit your belly-aching and do something !!! I don’t know why this situation happens in Indian country, but when one of Indian brothers or sisters is actually doing something with thier lives, we knock them down (where’s the mutual support).
Anwaan Jiimis, you may not know how stupid you sound, when you post comments like this(stop with the bad language already) GET OFF YOUR BUTT, welfare case.
Rik….learn to actually read, comprehend, and digest (not to mention write properly) what I actually wrote before you drop in with your ignorant and moronic outbursts.
I stand up for my Indian brothers and sisters when sellouts like Clarence constantly put them down.
Hilarious that a guy butts in saying how we put down our brothers and sisters and then goes on to put me down by trying to say I’m on welfare, frustrated that I don’t have a job….yawn….okay rik. Whatever you say man. Bang out another response on your Fisher Price keyboard with your monkey fists all you want, it will go unanswered. Something about not getting into a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
I agree with Awaan Jiimis. There is nothing original about Clarence Louie, all he’s doing is regurgitating racist propaganda that is very mainstream friendly. As a proud Metis person, I’m often disturbed by the assertions of like-minded individuals like Clarence Louie. These individuals whom profess to be self-made were kept alive by the very table they now criticize. I’m not humbled, but rather humored, by an individual such as Clarence who buys into an entire class system which claims success solely on the basis of hard work. As a descendant of “road allowance people” I only have the land beneath my feet to get me to work each day.
It’s also ironic that in a province like British Columbia, where unresolved native land claims are thwarting corporate investments, that native leaders like Calvin Helin; Clarence Louie; and Wally Oppal are suddenly being flashed in the media as aboriginal spokesmen.
The displays Clarence Louie has been showboating in the media are even more pathetic given the probability that many of his fans, and probably even some of his cohorts, snicker behind him for what he is laboring to exemplify. A few words of advice from your Metis brother Clarence: You are never going to be a White man.
I made an error in my second post above. I meant to refer to Steven Point, and not Wally Oppal. I’m sorry for the confusion this may have caused.
In my opinion this guy [Clarence Louie] is a joke. He gives speeches, but seems to shy away from debate. Aren’t warriors supposed to be able to stand up? In my case, if it weren’t for the old Metis men [warriors] sacrificing their lives for our rights in Batoche, my three great-grandfathers would never have evaded death by colonial bullets, and I wouldn’t exist. Clarence, if you are a warrior; I’m John Wayne.
hahaha….just get out there and get educated, start a business,,,do something to prosper..and if you are a leader, do what needs to be done for your people and make sure its done with high morale and purpose adn dignity for the future of our nations….stop fighting…cant you see its a divide and conquer tactic that can be traced back to confederation…its still happening…but never put down your fellow brothers or sisters if they become successful in any industry and never criticize the way they have accomplished success…its time for survival and in order to survive in this day and age we gotta play the same game everyone elses playing…and lets not forget where we came from and who our ancesters were!.
chaio.
Holly.
Success means more than making money, having influential cohorts, or hanging nice stationary on the wall. Respect for your fellow human beings certainly ranks above the aforementioned. Watch footage from the black civil rights movement? Don’t you think that Clarence Louie’s words are just as damning as police batons, dogs and fire hoses? Oh, but Mr. Clarence Louie is aboriginal; therefore, his words are righteous. Now don’t you think that is a sad conclusion?
Holly pretty much summed it up. However, in order for any of that to work, there needs to be a structure built within the band that allows band members to be included in the decision making. Jules– Success IS making money and having ties to influential people. If you are poor, nobody listens to you. In this day and age, wealth and influence IS success. Having wealth gives you the power to decide your own path.
Chief Clarence Louie of Osoyoos…
Who says there are no heros anymore???
Bobby Dunlop, I wrote, and I quote, “Success means MORE than making money, having influential cohorts, or hanging nice stationary on the wall.” Success is a very broad term; however, your generalization has been well taken. I hate to be the one to say it, but some of you are reminding me of the noble savages written in folklore, albeit, there are actually verbs in your words. Little wonder that a [weasel-like] character like Mr. Louie actually has a following.
Okay, I’ve been a bit hard on Mr. Louie. Mr. Louie definitely deserves the praise he receives for his accomplishments. I’m proud to see our brothers and sisters live right and succeed. My only hang up with Mr.Louie and some of his supporters, is that they seem to have forgotten that policy, whether good or bad, is what directs many peoples lives.
I consider myself extremely fortunate to be a Canadian born and raised in Alberta. Being and raised 15 km from what i was tol are the 4 biggest and richest bands in Alberta. Seeing both side of this growing up i feel has given me the right to say congratulations to Chief Clarence Louie. I have become a very huge fan and feel that not only natives but every other race in the world could learn so much from this man if you would all get off your lazy asses and take every opportunity that this country has to offer other than welfare and social assistance this country would be unstoppable. There is know reason anyone in Alberta or Canada should be unemployed.
Clarence Louie deserves praise; however, calling him a hero is a stretch. Unless of course, you’re a simpleton. Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero. Mr. King spoke about being yourself and respecting your fellow human beings as a means of achieving liberation, and was punished for holding marches and standing up for what is right. Mr. Louie has taken the easier road: Be the good little brown boy and enjoy the accolades.
Chief Clarence Louie knows what he’s talking about. I work in the oil industry abd some of my best hands have been First Nation people. They all tell the same story that they were afraid to leave the reserve and when they did they were ridiculed by their friends on the reserve. Some broke under that pressure and went back to the reserve. The one’s that stayed have the good things in life. they have hope and dreams for their family. We need the First Nation people to make this world work. I know it’s not easy leaving and some of you will buckel under the pressure but maybe their is a better life out their. And to those of you who have made a good life on the reserve, well my hat comes off to you because I know it probably wasn’t easy.
there are valid points to clarence louie’s statements. Some of his quotes discredit him within the First Nations population, but that does not mean that the “meat and potatoes” should be discarded. His generalizations also hurt his credibility because not every indian is the same. HOWEVER, I still believe that he speaks the truth most of the time. And sometimes the truth hurts. A lot.
If I had the opportunity, I would like to congratulate the Chief, but also advise him that his message could and should be directed to all races of people. His People do not have the market cornered on laziness etc.
Yes , you’re right….the truth does hurt. People like J.F.K.; Bobby Kennedy; Martin Luther King Jr.; and Louis Riel exemplified just how much the truth does hurt. Do you think that Barack Obama would be running for president of The United States if Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t appeal to grassroots black America? Clarence Louie is just a load of noise in the realm of true leadership and vision.
Clerence Louie has some valid points but still has no idea of the real issues that revolve around First Nations communities. It must be easy to sit on the margins of white society and put down your Native brothers, dismissing them as lazy or dependant. So the next time you say “get of your lazy butts” maybe take into concideration that they cant get up because their legs are broken! I invite you toMy reserve! go to the Lubicon people and help them figure out a way to get the land that has been promised to them for almost 80 years, go to some of the reserves that are in dept and strategize a way to access the federal and provincial funds without millions of it being allocated to administrative fees. Find a way for reserves to access clean drinking water! Solve the gang violence and drud wars that happen in Hobbema! Come on! I invite you! You encourage Indians to abandon their traditional way of life! You live such a fast paced white lifestyle that you don’t take time to see the things you cant see with white eyes! supernatural spiritually signicant phenomena that you can only be skeptical about. So go ahead Louie! rape your grandmother, squeeze every penny you can get out of her until your land is squandered and have no choice but to return to the ways of old that your drunk ancestors made aliving from. The only thing you know is money and you want every other Indian to live a white lifestyle too. Educate us! educate our children with qualified teachers! It’s alot that you canteven do! You just have to sit back and puff cigars with your white investors in your comfy cottage. Ignoring the real issues that the rest of us Indians who live in unfortunate conditions face in day to day life. Oh and Jason, I hope your not refering to Hobbema as being the richest band in Alberta! Whatever hick town you reside in thats 15 kms from there (Wetaskiwin or Ponoka) you only have to listen to the probelms that revolve around the reserves that are to close to your perfect little community. You really want to be a proud Canadian? Then take pride in the traditional Native Land that you live on, and lend a helping hand to your brothers on crutches, ease the ears of our elders with symapthy and understanding instead of shooting them down for the problems that are beyond their conrol! Cheif Louie? hardly a cheif , nor a hero. Just a publically glorified sellout Indian. Aho!
I agree with cousin Bryce. David Ahenakew was stripped of his Order of Canada for spewing anti-Semitic comments. Yet, brother Clarence can publicly say things about natives most white bigots can only imagine saying publicly. I wonder how quickly brother Clarence would be stripped of his honors if he suddenly did an about face, and publicly began ranting about the racism that exists towards aboriginal people in this country? I guess we’ll never know? Besides, most aboriginal people don’t even know who brother Clarence is.
socrates was a gadfly , he is quoted a thousand years later, for enlightenment and thought. But he peeed off, people in power, they made him drink hemlock,
A closed mind makes it own hemlock and poisons itself. constructive arguments lead to constructive means, a means to well hopefully some end….some plan ideas .
a closed mind is a terrible waste, a poison factory.
keep talking, keep discussing, keep it constructive but keep an one mind, thats all good.
LOL @ Anwaan Jiimis
His real name is Ron Neil James and he used to panhandle in Toronto Ontario. He was homeless until he shacked up with a social worker before she kicked him out. Then he moved to Manitoba where he married a native woman now he is back in Southampton Ontario. He’s also got a couple of kids with the ex that live around London Ontario that he hasn’t paid child support since he left them over 6 years ago.
He’s a full on con artist, never played or toured with any bands unless you consider garage bands or should I say basement bands.
Yes it is great that Clarence Louie is encouraging natives in Canada to be more self sufficient and provide for themselves. Starting businesses like golf courses, casinos, hotels, wineries, vineyards, orchards, oil companies, and other ventures can employ many natives and urning huge profits could be achievable. The question I have is; are they going to start paying income tax, property tax, and GST like the rest of Canadians who work hard to make a living and have to contribute to the federal coffers? If not then that is racism in reverse. Yes it is important that natives become self sufficient. But it is also important that they contribute financially to the burden society imposes on us all.
Not every single Canadian works hard for a living – there are far more non-natives siphoning welfare, than there are natives – non-natives just hide it better, i.e. common-law husbands who work to buy fancy pickups etc.
I’m a Canadian citizen who works and pays taxes, and in my workplace, we do surprisingly little for what we take home in hourly pay and garnered benefits. I’ve worked with native people who’ve worked at a reduced rate of pay, yet had to do more work to earn that pay check.
Furthermore, there is a substantially large population of non-native Canadians whom are recipients of wealth transfer from their parents – this fact, flies in the face of the common belief, that people in general work hard for everything they obtain.
In closing, preferential hiring practices weren’t created as legislative steps, put in place to favor aboriginal people. Preferential hiring practices have existed, and continue to exist, within the mainstream as a dominant feature of the established social order – prior to government policy initiatives established to encourage aboriginal recruitment.
Come on, we’ve all worked with people where we’ve scratched our head wondering how the hell they ever got hired?
I am hoping for your success as your attitude is very refeshing. I wish you the best in attempting to tell your people the truth. May all of you lead a healthy and long life. May God Bless You and Yours and perhaps you’ll all become millionare’s :-)
BCHimself
Attitude? Hmmm, interesting frame of context to say the least. Doesn’t Clarence Louie himself work for a band office?
http://www.canada.com/vancouve.....70d98aa00c