[IPSM] Canadian politician uses international online news service to deliver racist remarks against Aboriginal Canadians . . .

[nora butler burke]

(more here: http://www.turtleisland.org/discussion/viewtopic.php?p=8196)

Canadian politician uses international online news service to deliver 
racist remarks against Aboriginal Canadians . . .

News and Comment
by Tehaliwaskenhas
Bob Kennedy, Oneida
Copyright
Turtle Island Native Network
http://www.turtleisland.org

April 15, 2007

I hung up the phone on Bob Verdun today. Who is he? A resident of 
Kitchener, Ontario whose web site says he is "Running for election as 
Regional Chairman".

As for why I hung up the phone - I contacted him to confirm he was the 
author of an online article for a news service The Nation Newspaper (it 
promotes itself as Barbados' Leading Newspaper) that had sickening, 
disparaging remarks about First Nations people in Canada.
http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/297343495418739.php

When I read his words, I was immediately outraged (it triggered rage 
inside me from my anger) and then sick to my stomach. So once he 
confirmed he wrote the comments, I could not have further contact with him.

So what did he say that has me so hot under the collar?

An example, "Canada allows them to claim vast tracks of land for their 
exclusive use, but it's never enough. Canada allows them to live a 
totally subsidised life on their reserves, never having to work if they 
choose not to . . . No amount of land, no amount of money, and no 
special privileges will ever satisfy people who are not motivated to 
advance themselves using their own ambition and ability".

Surely someone seeking a position of such authority as a Regional Chair, 
wouldn't make public such outrageous comments.

Why don't we just ignore him? Let it go?

As someone who favours freedom of speech I always ask how far do we 
allow people to go in their rants? The answer is simple (in law anyway, 
I believe) in Canada there are hate laws on the books. People who go too 
far, are guilty of hate crimes.

For me personally I believe this would-be politician has done that . . . 
gone too far and has tossed his hate crime in my face, and against all 
Aboriginal Canadians.

OKAY, so he wrote it for an online publication in Barbados. (Where he 
spends a lot of time) Doesn't that make a difference?

No! The information freely flows, as if geography is non-existant. In 
this case, Bob Verdun's material is easily disseminated through the 
search engines, and so presto! Here it is.

"Despite all the opportunities and handouts, the "natives" are the 
poorest, least educated, and most unhealthy residents of Canada.

They are ten times more likely to be in jail for criminal activity than 
the average Canadian – and that does not include vast numbers of 
criminals who go unpunished because of special treatment on their 
private reserves (the ultimate gated communities!)."

You judge for yourself if it warrants our concern, and action. Speaking 
of action, we know that if we contact him it is not (Please!) to lash 
out with the same kind of hate he excudes through his words. Please do 
not play his game of hate. Well thought-out responses to his material 
may educate the man ( naive as I still am).

By the way, it didn't take much sleuthing to track him down. It was 
obvious he wanted people to know who he was. His e-mail address of 
bobverdun at rogers.com <mailto:bobverdun at rogers.com> was a big clue.

A quick search revealed his own web site
http://www.bobverdun.com

I read his information, and contacted him by phone and that was that.

It seems to me that Bob Verdun is one of those people the Ontario 
Provincial Police Commissioner worries about openly . . . the ones who 
incite others toward anti-native words, then actions.

The Criminal Code of Canada, Section 319 includes, "Every one who, by 
communicating statements in any public place, incites hatred against any 
identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach 
of the peace is guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to 
imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or (b) an offence 
punishable on summary conviction.Wilful promotion of hatred (2) Every 
one who, by communicating statements, other than in private 
conversation, wilfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group is 
guilty of (a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a 
term not exceeding two years, or (b) an offence punishable on summary 
conviction."

I believe Mr. Verdun's words are deliberate words of hatred aimed 
directly at Aboriginal Canadians.

More about Hate Crimes. . .
http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/about/pubs/hatecrimes

(There is a specific section on Aboriginal people, as well as 
recommendations for change)

- - - - - - -

April 19, 2007

NOTE: The following is from writer Dan David, who looked into this story 
after Turtle Island Native Network brought it to the attention of 
Aboriginal journalists via e-mail
( aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com 
<mailto:aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com> )

- - -

During more than 25 years in Canadian journalism, I find it hard to 
recall when I have come across anything as odious, ignorant, or 
insulting to
intelligence on a newspaper page as that thing you published recently by 
Bob Verdun about Aboriginal peoples in Canada.

I read it on your web site. (THE HUMAN RACE: Reparation repercussions, 
April 15, 2007, http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/297343495418739.php) 
<http://www.nationnews.com/editorial/297343495418739.php%29>

Why did you allow this hateful material to be published in the first place?

Why do you allow it to continue?

I refuse to dignify it here, either by calling it an op-ed column since 
it resembles hate mail more than fact-based journalism. I also refuse to 
include any part of it here. Anyone who bothers to inflict it upon 
themselves should ask: What if this were about me or the stereotypes 
about my group instead?

The print and online operations for Nation News are based in St. 
Michael, and are billed as “Barbados’ Leading Newspaper,” 
The online version, though, is available everywhere via the Internet.

Verdun signs his racialist rant thus: “Bob Verdun is a Canadian; a 
former editor who resides in Barbados.” Confusing things, Verdun 
provides a Canadian email address. A quick check shows Verdun as a 
belligerent, failed publisher of small-time newspapers in southern 
Ontario’s Kitchener area, a loser in elections for Waterloo 
regional council, and a nag to boards of
directors of Canadian businesses. He has been sued for defamation by a 
senior executive at a major bank – something almost unheard of in 
Canadian banking circles.

All of which implies someone not unlike the neighbourhood crackpot on 
street corners yelling unintelligible insults at passersby. But Verdun 
has much less credibility.

Please remove that hateful material from your website, and consider in 
the future whether such material violates journalistic codes -- not to 
mention laws against spreading hate in Canada and elsewhere. I hope some 
of the recipients of this email letter pursue the same questions in 
their official capacities and offices.

---------------------------------------------------------
Dan David 613-920-7572 mobile
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario
shmohawk at hotmail.com <mailto:shmohawk at hotmail.com>
---------------------------------------------------------

cc: Kitchener Waterloo Record (letters at therecord.com)
Aboriginal Journalists Association
(aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com)
Canadian Association of Black Journalists (info at cabj.ca)
Black Business & Professional Association (bbpa at bellnet.ca)
Share Newspaper (share at interlog.com)
Windspeaker Native Newspaper (pbarnsley at ammsa.com)
Assembly of First Nations - Office of the National Chief (npine at afn.ca)
Andrew Telegdi, MP-Kitchener-Waterloo (Telegdi.A at parl.gc.ca)
Daryl Kramp, MP-Prince Edward Hastings (Kramp.d at parl.gc.ca)
Elisabeth Witner, MLA-Kitchener-Waterloo (elizabeth.witner at pc.ola.org)
Ernie Parsons, MLA-Prince Edward-Hastings
(eparsons,mpp.co at liberal.ola.org)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (cjfe at cjfe.org)
Bob Verdun (bobverdun at rogers.com)

- - - - - - -

Forwarded Message



Subject: Freedom of speech

Dan David's tirade just proved my point. The "natives" don't get it. 
Canada is entirely a nation of immigrants in which no one should have 
any special status. That is my considered opinion, and I have a right to 
express it -- and will continue to do so.

I believe that a pile of rough rocks is an embarrassement when it is 
presented as the symbol of Canada hosting the Winter Olympics -- and I 
will continue to say so.

I was born in Canada. No one is any more a "native" than I am. Remember 
our national anthem: "O Canada! My home and native land."

Canada has become the envy of the world because of the generous manner 
in which successive waves of immigrants have adapted and then welcomed 
those who follow. But, there are still too many members of a particular 
4% minority who want to sabotage the entire concept of a nation of equals.

Their whining demands for endless handouts are only hurting themselves. 
They should look around at all the people who have come to this country 
with absolutely nothing, and have prospered on their own efforts and merit.

This "failed" newspaper publisher is a winner of Canada's highest honour 
in media, the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service in 
Journalism. My campaign for shareholder rights and improved corporate 
governance was endorsed by the Supreme Court of Canada, and has achieved 
major reforms over the past 15 years.

Mr. David is one of many irate "natives" who have responded to an 
article of which they know nothing of its context. While he has 
refrained from the obscenities and the fascist calls for vengeance that 
have characterized many of his associates' responses, they are all 
enemies of democracy because of the extremes to which they will go to 
try to silence critics of their self-destructive privileges.

I am in Canada at the moment. I travel freely between Barbados and 
Canada, and would be happy to address anyone's legitimate, 
rationally-expressed complaints in front of any appropriate body, 
including the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Barbados enjoys a more vigorous form of free speech than Canada does. I 
can hardly wait for another big group of whiners in Canada to discover 
that homosexuality is still illegal in Barbados, and that the vast 
majority of Barbadians consider it a sin -- and so publicly! Talk about 
odious, ignorant, and insulting!! What is the world coming to when 
people dare to hold opinions that are not considered politically correct 
by various elite, entitlement-oriented special-interest groups in Canada!!!

Bob Verdun

From: Robert Verdun <bobverdun at rogers.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:53:40 -0400 (EDT)
To: Dan David <shmohawk at hotmail.com>, <nationnews at sunbeach.net>
Cc: <letters at therecord.com>,
"aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.com"<aboriginaljournalists at yahoogroups.co 

m>, <info at cabj.ca>, <bbpa at bellnet.ca>, <pbarnsley at ammsa.com>,
<share at interlog.com>, <canadianjour at magma.ca>, <cjfe at cjfe.org>,
<npine at afn.ca>, <Telegdi.A at parl.gc.ca>, <Kramp.D at parl.gc.ca>,
<elizabeth.witmer at pc.ola.org>, <eparsons.mpp.co at liberal.ola.org>,
<bobverdun at rogers.com>