Paula LaPierre's blog

Taken from response to For The Water,
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2858

Submitted by Paula LaPierre on Thu, 2012-03-22 10:33.

The Alliston Aquifer is part of a 12,000 year old water history of the area tracing back to the melting of glaciers and the creation of the great glacier lake known as Lake Algonquin. Lake Algonquin was a pro-glacial lake that existed in east-central North America at the time of the last ice age.

At about 7,000 years ago, the lake was replaced by Lake Chippewa, named after another Indigenous Peoples closely associated with the Algonquin, as the glaciers retreated and 3,000 years later by the current Lake Michigan. Remnants of the former lake are now Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and inland portions of northern Michigan. Throughout its course of visible existence this impressive ancient lake varied considerably in size receding gradually through climate changes to the current Lake Huron and Georgian Bay that we experience today.

This ancient lake whose existence would have been directly experienced by the Indigenous Peoples of that area for thousands of years.

Because of the abundance of water Indigenous societies prospered in the area for thousands of years, developing profound spiritual, cultural, and economic relationships with the waters they found themselves so reliant on.

Traditional Values Claim Water And Women Are Our First Line Of Defense For Healthy Lives and Environment

Embedded within these cultures and socio-political structures of our founding nations were an innate abiding awareness of the special relationship between water-life-motherhood-women and the Anishnabeg Kwe were given a special obligation to protect this vital gift of the Creator.

In response to the recent February 14, 2012 article
Algonquin Land Claim Deal Near, Lawyer Says Pact of Significance to Ottawa Valley, by Mohammed Adam, in the Ottawa Citizen.

In the referred to article negotiations lawyer for the incorporated entity the Algonquins of Ontario, Robert Potts, is quoted as stating that:

"It is 400 years since Champlain set foot here, and our confederation will be 150 years old in 2017. We are right in the middle of what is one of the historic claims and settlement that will have occurred in Canada. This will be a historic treaty at a historic time."

It is 400 years since Samuel de Champlain set foot here and entered into diplomatic negotiations in accordance to customary law and diplomacy. It was during these historical meetings based on mutual respect that Canada's laws and our unwritten Constitution found their secure footing.

These important relationships, built on mutual positive intent, grounded on the rights and freedoms of natural persons are the genuine foundations of Canadian nationhood.

While the newspaper article in the Ottawa Citizen opens claiming that the "federal government grapples with festering aboriginal discontent" this must be put in proper context.

It is not about "us" or "them", natives or non-natives. It is about natural law and natural persons versus incorporated legal fictions and contractions of the higher law to suit economic and human rights disparities. Commercial contracts, whether domestic or international, cannot fully reconcile many of the underlying issues, so why are we pretending that they can? Why are we wasting tremendous amounts of time, human energy, and money in processes that cannot fulfill the requirements?

Canadians need an open and transparent process.

Special Rapporteur Mr. James Anaya has agreed to meet with Paula LaPierreregarding numerous concerns.

LaPierre contends that all Canadians have been denied access to their own genuine history. She further claims that often, as a result of this poor understanding of history there can continue a lingering sense of injustice. Communities need to have a deep understanding of their own identity and history if they are to position themselves effectively for the transitions ahead.

LaPierre looks forward to the creation of community-based processes that can stimulate deeper community learning and engagement.

The Need for Increased Legal Empowerment

We must avoid the trap of interpreting disadvantaged or poor strictly from a material paradigm.

Sincerely,

Paula LaPierre

The Dialogue Denied Us

Canada Domestic Policy can be Problematic.

Manipulation #1- We are not all Metis.
Aboriginal rights are inherent and inalienable. Program and services dollars can be used to lure people away from cultural integrity.

Manipulation #2- Aboriginal rights belong to a certain race of people who can prove they are that race.
Race was never the issue. It is about culture.