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

Thu May 31 03:33:27 PDT 2007

Odious his comments were, but to cut away our access to free speech is not
the answer.
The answer is free and open debate. Through discussion hate will be exposed
for what it is, and it will also give the holder of racist thoughts an
exposure to other viewpoints and hopefully to overcome his/her hatred.

kim

On 5/31/07, nora butler burke <nora-b at riseup.net> wrote:
>
> (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>
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-- 
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. -- Albert
Einstein
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