Why are the Inuit complaining?
January 30, 2010 · By Charles Anthony
The National Inuit Leader should be more clear by stating exactly what the Inuit — as portrayed by herself and her organization — want from the rest of Canadians. Instead, Mary Simon offers this clueless plea:
La leader nationale des Inuits, Mary Simon, a souligné vendredi la contradiction dans un texte mis en ligne sur un blogue. “Nous nous demandons pourquoi, si ces solutions sont abordables et “à la portée de n’importe quel pays du G8″, la situation en terre inuite demeure la même encore aujourd’hui”, a-t-elle fait savoir.
Sorry, Mary, but if you do not know what your own people need, how the hell do you expect politicians in Ottawa to know??
Let me get this straight. The Inuit live in the coldest part of the country, places that have winter and subzero temperatures eleven months of the year and we are supposed to be surprized that their children have high mortality rates and greater incidences of respiratory illnesses. Duh.
Selon une étude rendue publique la veille du discours de M. Harper à Davos, la mortalité infantile chez les Inuits est quatre fois supérieure à la moyenne nationale. Les enfants inuits présentent aussi des taux de maladies respiratoires parmi les plus élevés de la planète.
Next lesson: people who live at the equator have dark skin!
As far as I am concerned, the Inuit are damn lucky. [That is not to say they have always been lucky. I know they have been abused and treated like animals in the past. ] Today, they can move to Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver if they wanted. Expecting to live in the Arctic while enjoying the comforts of modern civilization is just not reasonable and my money should not pay for it.
My guess is that Mary Simon is like every other good Canadian — she is afraid of being honest. She is afraid to bluntly say they want more money.
I would like to comment but , It apperars by your rules I cannot
as I.m not a conservative supporter,
I do not support any other party either, I only those who support Canada..
I would like to comment too but, I don’t speak or read french.
Yeah, sorry Neil, speaking or reading French are against the rules in this blog too.
The more money angle is always what it is about. Mary Simon has been running this scam for 30 years.
It is always about squeezing more money out of taxpayers down south so people up north can get more free stuff.
Inuit leadership bought into all the socialist progressive claptrap years ago and they are still barking up that tree.
Let them bark, they’ll get tired after a while.
Jeepers Cha-cha seems no else in the world has the ability to use the internet to translate articles from one language to another…how sad.
Yeah, using the internet is against the rules too.
We pay about $10,000 per year per head to the natives, via the bands.
What we should do is pay that directly to the current generation and let them do whatever they want, and the next generation (all those now under 16) can go to school, get a job, and join the rest of society.
“Today, they can move to Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver if they wanted. Expecting to live in the Arctic while enjoying the comforts of modern civilization is just not reasonable and my money should not pay for it.”
Charles, the Haitians still aren’t going to be able to move over here as a nation even if you do empty the Arctic for them. It’s time to give up on that plan: It’s time to move on.
http://www.stageleft.info/2010.....skimo-pie/
Thanks for the useless link, Bulbie, but Simon has not offered a solution to her problems. My question is still unanswered: If Simon does not know how to solve her own problems in her own home, how can she expect some else to solve them???
By the way, her home is not my home. You socialists do not get it.
Now, Charles, don’t be surly. Useless link? Yes, I suppose, if your goal to hang on to the ignorance (nothing personal, Charles, but you are remarkably ill informed) that makes views like yours sustainable.
Simon knows precisely what her people needs, Charles. They need the Government of Canada to honour the terms of the Land Claims Agreement they signed. The Government has not. The auditor general says so, the Government of Nunavut says so, a special investigation mandated by INAC says so, and dozens of independent studies say so. Links are provided at the “useless link” above.
“‘By the way, her home is not my home.”
Oh, I’m quite sure she’d agree with. But Inuit are by a large more hospitable and less arrogant than you, and they would make you welcome if you ever decided to burst your insular little bubble.
“By the way, her home is not my home. You socialists do not get it.”
Read the Land Claim. Inform yourself before you open your yap on issues you don’t have a clue about.
I want people like Simon to be explicit in their demands. That is not what she has done and that is not what you have done either. Saying that the terms of Whatever Claim must be honored says nothing because the rest of the world does not know nor should they care to know the terms of those claims. I am willing to bet that the average Inuit is just as ignorant of those claims as I am. You socialists do not get that either.
When politicians and union leaders and crony CEOs talk in nebulous terms, they are doing a great injustice to the people they represent and the people from whom they draw taxes. It also allows them to conceal bad deals — for instance, land claims. You socialists do not get that either. History is repeating itself as it always does.
Your comments are interesting though. I thank you for them. You socialists make no distinction between honest business deals and forced charity. A hand-shake is the same as a hand-out in your world. Do not feel so bad about it (you probably do not anyway but just in case) because many common confused conservatives do not get it either.
Oh, I know they are very hospitable. I experienced it first hand. However, I had to drive thirty hours on shale to get there and back. That is one other thing that you socialists do not get. You think that if poor suffering Canadians were living on the dark side of the moon, you will see to it that they all have the comforts of living on the planet Earth.
I will throw you a bone though. I think Harper’s pap is worse than Simon’s in this matter. My ultimate goal is to lead intelligent people to see that parallel.
Charles,
May I say that you have no clue about life other than that in your cozy apartment in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or wherever you happen to live.
Canadian soveriegnty was being established inthe 1940′s & 50′s – how you ask – well it was by relocating Inuit families to some of the most inhospitable parts of the world to live and be a presence for Canada. Not that they wanted to go, they were lied to by the government but went. I’ll bet the farm that you would never do such a thing – give up living in your so called neck of the woods.
To say that they can move to the south and join society – that is plain ignorant of their culture and lifestyle.
Why don’t you try living up here for a while and see what it is really like.
As for driving 30hrs there and back on shale – where was that?That would mean it was 15hrs each way. From where did you start?
Inuit are damn lucky – no Canada is the lucky ones – if it were not for the Inuit living here – you could have the Russians or even worse the Americans living here instead of Canadians – Inuit.
And we are still in a fight now due to global warming not brought on by the inuit, but by people elsewhere in the world including you and your friends in the south.
And for those that do not get the distinction – inuit are not on reserves and do not benefit from the same staus as “Indians”
Up here we get very tired of having people like you tell others how to live and what to do.
Living-Up-North,
The theft and the re-location are undoubtedly the original crime.
I am going to let you in on a little secret: I think the native Northerners should be get all of their land back and let you be sovereign.
I have a question for you: Would that do? maybe with a little added one-time financial compensation to go with it?
Does anybody up North ever talk about that?
As an Inuk from the North, it would be great to see what “free stuff” I have gotten from the rest of Canada. I too pay taxes just like every Canadian except people who signed the Treaty with Canada.
Hey Charles, I like your snarly article. I am an Inuk who chooses to live up here, have worked all of my life, paid my taxes, built a house for myself and family.
Tamaungalauqsimanginavit qauyimangitutit qanuinmangaat Inuit Nunaanni. Uqalugiaqangitutilluuniit.
I agree that we should separate with the mineral resources that are up here, 1/3 of the world’s natural gas, plenty of gold, uranium etc. I have been saying this for years. The Inuit should separate from Canada and join with other Inuit in Greenland, Alaska and Russia; become sovereign. I like your idea. We’d have control over the largest landmass in the world even larger than Russia.
By nature and tradition Inuit were always socialists, it was the only way to survive way up north.
As for the land claim, it spells out how the government will not just do what they want here unless the Inuit have a say in it, basically.
I encourage you guys to demand sovereignty and absolute control over your own land. I do not think you should be paying taxes to anybody except yourself.
“I had to drive thirty hours on shale to get there and back.”
Uh…Charles?
There are no roads to Nunavut. Nice try.
Are you saying there isn’t a single road to Nunavut? I find that hard to believe?
I’ve watched Ice Road Truckers on Discovery, and they’re certainly driving on something!
Bulby,
If you want to play “Where is Waldo?” go look up when the road to Yellowknife was finally paved. I know.
Now, if you ever have any free time and the balls to get to know the beauty of this country, go drive to Inuvik. I recommend doing the drive in the summer — that is the safest. If you ever do put your money were you mouth is, you can still chicken out and quit half way. The most awesome part of that drive is the southern half through the mountains. However, the northern half is still amazing in a peaceful way.
The Inuit who read my writing know what it is like to drive and they know precisely the places I have visited. I can guarantee that in their eyes, you have just convinced them how little you have seen of the north.
“Are you saying there isn’t a single road to Nunavut? I find that hard to believe?”
Do you? Oh, dear. Well, there isn’t Not a single one. There is an engineering and feasibility study underway on the possibility of a road from Churchill, Manitoba, to Arviat (and presumably, eventually, to Rankin Inlet). I don’t think it’ll be built for another ten years, if at all.
“I’ve watched Ice Road Truckers on Discovery, and they’re certainly driving on something!”
Several of the fly-in communities in the Northwest Territories and the northern provinces have ice roads. Perhaps that’s what you saw. To repeat: there are NO roads into Nunavut. Period. Full Stop.
“If you want to play “Where is Waldo?” go look up when the road to Yellowknife was finally paved. I know.”
That great. Do you know that Yellowknife isn’t in Nunavut?
“Now, if you ever have any free time and the balls to get to know the beauty of this country, go drive to Inuvik..”
I have, thanks. I have actually worked in both Yellowknife and Inuvik. Neither of which are in Nunavut. You did know that too?
“I can guarantee that in their eyes, you have just convinced them how little you have seen of the north.”
Gosh. Apart from living in Iqaluit (then Frobisher Bay) from 1981 to 1984, and travelling to Arviat, Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake, Kimmirut, Qikiqtaqjuak, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay, Igloolik, Hall Beach, Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Spence Bay, Resolute, Pelly Bay, Salluit, Kujjuaq, Nain, Hopedale, Happy Valley, Inuvik, Yellowknife, Whitehorse, and (in Alaska) Kotzebue for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference,, I guess haven’t seen much of the North at all.
Sorry. Forgot Makkovik. And Marble Island, but that’s not a community.
You have probably also forgot that you have never driven up all of the way to get to the north either.
I’m sorry, was that supposed to mean something? Or is the “cryptic flounce” exit?
Heh, Balbull channelling the Godfather…”Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in”…welcome back Balbull, I missed you over here.
Believe it or not, buddy, I thought EXACTLY the same thing.
I’ve missed you too, balb… but you probably already knew that.
Oh, and I don’t think I’ve ever been any further north than Edmonton, so I’m going to back away from this debate slowly.
Regular readers of Charles might well enquire if it is possible that Charles could have covered the same ground over and over again for hour after hour?
You are proving my point: you socialists do not get it. You are so arrogant that you are incapable of addressing the fact that it is expensive to deliver services to people in remote areas. The best you can do is a personal attack on little old me to side step the issue. You think that everybody everywhere in Canada deserves do-gooders flying in and out all over the place to help the poor little natives.
I believe we should just let the natives take their own land back and do as they will with it. I guess that would put a lot of flying do-gooders out of work, right?
What happened to this thread? Somehow we wound up arguing about the ability to drive to Nunavut, and now we’re talking about how expensive it is fly goods and services to the north.
I’m somewhat confused.
Look, it’s like this: Charles makes a claim, others question this claim, so Charles says it was a ruse all along, explains you’ve fallen into his trap (strokes white cat, gazes up at hollowed-out volcano), and that the real issue was the cost. If you don’t question his claim, he complains that you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’ve not seen what he’s seen, (reports of attack ships on fire off the shoulder of orion yet to be claimed, but you know what they say, give it time…) and that you therefore shouldn’t be interfering in in other folk’s lives (strokes white cat, gazes up at hollowed out volcano, complains about taxation being theft, calls everyone a socialist).
Mr. C,
You have got it! Mwaaa-ha! Ha! Ha!
Somehow the part in my Opening Post that says “Expecting to live in the Arctic while enjoying the comforts of modern civilization is just not reasonable and my money should not pay for it.” is conveniently ignored by all you socialists.
Heh. Charles, it’s just that you don’t have a clue about the north, or the nature of a Land Claim Agreement. Sorry, but that means your views on the subject are simply the articulation of your ideological bias, not an informed opinion with anything of value to add to the dialogue on northern economic and social development.
Yeah, you are right. My ideological bias is that people in the North should be given their land back. Your bias on the otherhand has been smoked out.
The northerners should be free of parasitic Canadian socialist do-gooders whose livelihood depends on flying in and out of the North under the guise of helping.
Yawn. Ignorant ideologues used to upset me. They stopped bothering me when I realized that they don’t actually accomplish anything -ever – and I do.
I must say, though, I’m fairly staggered by the level of sheer ignorance (by which I simply mean utter lack of information) displayed by someone who proclaims himself, apparently without irony, as a “political” blogger.
Burp. Patronizing socialists used to upset me. They stopped bothering me when I realized that the justifications they provide for their parasitic existence are never any different from those of any other ideological group — they just think they are special — and they are.
I must say, though, I am not surprized in the least by your evasion of any discussion on the increased cost of delivering services to the North or even the thought of Northern sovereignty.
Ah, imitation – the sincerest form of flattery. So much easier than thought, isn’t it?
“I am not surprized in the least by your evasion of any discussion on the increased cost of delivering services to the North or even the thought of Northern sovereignty.”
Since ideologues who think that Canada should be operated as a series of regional profit centres understand neither Canada nor economics, you haven’t said anything that suggests you have anything informed or of interest to say on either topic. Do you? By all means, astonish me.
Let me help you get started. The sophisticated analysis you’ve put forward so far is that Canada should give the Arctic back to the Inuit and pull out, and the Inuit should stop complaining about how expensive stuff is up there and just move down here.
Does that do justice to your subtle, nuanced position, or are these social and economic details I’ve failed to capture?