A Dime a Dozen Blog

Read the post below this and you’ll see well enough that I’m angry.  I’m not alone in being angry.  As I said in a previous post, I’ve been speaking and corresponding with native leaders on the number of anti-native candidates in this election.

Those candidates include Simon Bedard, who was running for the Liberals in the riding of Quebec.  He talked about killing indians, 100, 125 … and was unrepentant.  He was allowed to resign on his own terms yesterday.

Another Liberal candidate, another bout of racism.  This one, Ricardo Lopez, who said that natives should be rounded up and sent east.  Sound familiar?  He too, allowed to peacefully resign on his own terms today.

No firings, no apologies, no promises to do things different.  The election goes on and no one notices.

But, as I said, others are angry:

Patrick Brazeau – head of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples:

As an Aboriginal Canadian, I am shocked and appalled at Mr. Bedard’s comments. Equally disheartening is the fact that the Liberal Party of Canada allowed such an individual to run as a candidate in an election in 2008! No political party should have candidates who portray such hatred and racism towards Aboriginal people or any other race of people in Canada.

Luckily, the Liberal Party of Canada issued a statement today announcing the resignation of Simon Bedard as a Liberal candidate in the riding of Quebec.

Personally, I’m surprised that no other Aboriginal leader publicly called for Mr. Bedard’s resignation. This has partisan politics written all over it. Also makes me wonder why the National Chief of the AFN, other leaders and the media did not make an issue of this story in the same manner as Mr. Polievre’s comments did during the Residential School Apology. Perhaps I know the answer to my own question or perhaps there’s a double standard being applied here. Stay tuned.

The National Association of Native Friendship centres:

The National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC) is writing to urge all political leaders to take a stand against injustice and the perpetration of hatred against Aboriginal people. Aboriginal issues are Canadian issues.

One such perpetrator is former Québec City Liberal candidate, Simon Bédard. On September 12th, Liberal party leader Stéphane Dion removed Mr. Bédard for stating during the Oka crisis that “you go in there with the army – then you clean up all that. Fifty dead, 100 dead, 125 dead, that would put it out. We bury it and life goes on.”

Incredulously, not only did Mr. Bédard defend his abhorrent remarks but he justified them by
insinuating that “maybe we should have done it because seventeen years later it’s still the same.” In an ironic twist, Mr. Bédard commented that Mr. Dion had “enough backbone” to intervene in Kahnesatake. Clearly, the Liberal party leader had the spinal capacity to exterminate the political career of someone who holds such appalling views against Aboriginal people.

When will all leaders in Canada step up to the plate to eradicate hate?

Simon Bédard’s comments reflect an outdated and stereotypical mentality. One that has devastated Aboriginal people though the implementation of obscene federal policies and the continued exclusion of Aboriginal people in planning and decision making processes of policies, programs and legislation that affect our lives. This exact way of thinking and doing has hindered Aboriginal people’s opportunity to progress and enjoy the same quality of life as the rest of Canadians.

Mr. Bédard’s form of hate mongering does not only exist in political circles, or in misleading and distracting media coverage of Aboriginal issues. It happens at dinner tables in homes across Canada. It occurs at the water cooler in corporate Canada. When someone who is looked at as a Canadian leader endorses the killing of innocent men, women and children – does the government not have the responsibility to intervene?

Is there a single person in politics who will take a stand of any kind on indian-haters like these?