[IPSM] TheStar.com - Reserve unable to fight deadly fire

[Macdonald Stainsby]

What is important to know about this incident is how normal it is in 
Indian Country in Canada. Last Summer in Pedzheh Kí (on a map, called 
either "Wrigley" or "Fort Wrigley") of Denendeh, I visited with a family 
who were living in a trailer next to a burned out house. I should say I 
visited with two families; one family used to live in the burned out 
house and had moved in next door with another. In this overcrowded home, 
the woman who (as a single mother in her 20's with thee kids) had 
previously lived in the house explained that this house had burned over 
two years ago. Just like in Kashechewan, there were no local means to 
deal with the fire, as the closest "white" community (Liidlii Kué/Fort 
Simpson, 270 km's away, more than half Dené but with a large component 
"white") was not somewhere easily accessible and had the only 
firefighting equipment in the region. There were no repairs that had 
been done, and no one had even the slightest thought that this would 
make the news.

Meanwhile, the Mackenzie Gas Project has continued to try and build on 
their land, in some cases it wants to come with hundreds of meters of 
the small community. this project, slated to cost 7.5 billion and 
heavily subsidized by the Canadian state, will steal their resources and 
destroy their environment. The number one concern of the community is 
the eco impact of the project, and the social impact of a "work camp" 
that will dwarf their traditional community.

Pipelines to steal gas and oil from indigenous nations in the north are 
worth billions to Canada; a couple thousand dollars to give a family 
already destitute a new home is too expensive. The story of Kashechewan 
is only new in that people hear about it; burned out housing like this, 
with no repair, no prevention facilities and no backup for the effected 
are common on many nation territories. The priorites of Canada have not 
changed at all from the time of small pox blankets-- what has changed is 
the cover story, and the ability of the state to convince the world that 
while the Lubicon Lake peoples of Alberta (one of several hundred 
nations in the whole settler-state) estimate that they alone have seen 
the theft of 13 billion dollars in resources over the last decade, 
Ottawa is supposedly "doing something" by promising to distribute 5 
billion among all the various nations, coast to coast.

Again, Canada and Québec remain the greatest Orwellian lies that are 
repeated in perpetuity on this planet. And single mothers live in 
overcrowded housing, people commit mass suicide, their resources are 
stolen, and Canada-- is held up to the world as a beacon of human rights 
and democracy. Please ponder that while you read the article below.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Article&cid=1136847012064&call_pageid=968332188492



-- 
Macdonald Stainsby
http://independentmedia.ca/survivingcanada
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope
    --Bertholt Brecht.