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[Ben Powless]

jorge barrera is an ottawa based journalist, pretty good guy, in case you
ever have a good lead on an issue

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jesse Cardinal <jepaca1 at hotmail.com>
Date: 2008/10/20
Subject:
To:



 First Nation ex-Olympian calls for Pound to resign over 'savages' remark
 JORGE BARRERA, Canwest News ServicePublished: Sunday, October 19
A former Olympian says she was 'disturbed' and 'disappointed' by McGill
University chancellor and Canadian International Olympic Committee
representative Dick Pound's published statement that Canada was a land
inhabited by 'savages' 400 years ago.
Waneek Horn-Miller, a Mohawk and coordinator of McGill's student service's
First Peoples' House, said she hoped Pound's views did not reflect the
university's 'attitude toward the indigenous people of the country.' While
stopping short of calling for his removal as chancellor and from the IOC,
Horn-Miller said the statement was 'ignorant' and 'racist.' 'Here the
chancellor is making statements like that; it is really disappointing,' said
Horn-Miller, who was co-captain of the Canadian women's water-polo team at
the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
'I am not going to say whether he should or he should not step down; all I
can say is my reaction and McGill has to look at how it's represented.'
McGill Faculty of Education professor Michael Doxtater, director of the
university's indigenous education project, said Pound must apologize along
with the university.

 <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php>
'The worse thing the university could do is not respond,' said Doxtater, a
Mohawk and chairman of the university's joint senate-board subcommittee on
first peoples' equity.
Doxtater, brother-in-law to Waneek, said current scholarship on indigenous
history shows North America was inhabited by thriving, advanced and
organized civilizations that were decimated by disease and the 'Indian wars'
of the 1700 and 1800s.
Pound made his controversial statement during an interview with La Presse
published Aug. 9. The issue lay dormant until the National Post reported
Friday that a native advocacy group had written a letter to the IOC's ethics
commissioner demanding Pound's resignation.
'We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with
scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European origin, while in China, we're
talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization,' Pound said in the interview.
The comments were made after a question about whether the IOC was
embarrassed to be affiliated with China's political history.
The university had no immediate comment yesterday, but an official said a
statement could be released later in the day.
In a more recent media interview, Pound said he had made a clumsy comment
that was taken out of context.
The Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador said in a statement
Friday they would be asking McGill to officially sanction Pound.
AFNQL Chief Ghislain Picard said Pound should do the right thing and resign.
'Mr. Pound should himself understand the immense discourtesy of his remarks
and offer to resign,' Picard said.
'Contrary to the beliefs of Richard Pound, the First Nations of Quebec are
descendant from great societies that have occupied the territory of Quebec
for more than 5,000 years. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus,
America was inhabited by nations that lived in well-organized societies. We
were not mere herds.'






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-- 
"In life we meet extraordinary people who follow us wherever we may go" -
Trisha Nagpal
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