NO ONE else will make this connection to a First Nations veto... PERIOD
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode of The Big Blue Mug, John talks about the possibility of a "Native veto" in Canada and why he thinks they have a say in everything that happens in the country. John also talks about a story that has been making the rounds in the national media.
Transcript
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Hi, it's John and welcome to the channel. It is 4.07 a.m. Sunday, December the 14th. I hope
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you're having a great start to your Sunday morning here with the Big Blue Mug, of course.
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Thank you so much for clicking on this video. By the way, for those of you who watched yesterday's
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video with the new Canadian National Anthem, O Chinada, 20,000 of you, thank you so much for
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watching. If you haven't seen it, I'll put a card at the end. And if you're here, you're new,
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or you haven't subscribed, you'd do me a great favor, a great Christmas present if you would
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click on subscribe. And a reminder, clicking on the Big Blue Mug does not actually subscribe you
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to the channel. Just do that below. So today, I am going to go someplace, I guarantee you,
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I guarantee you 100%, I'm absolutely sure that nobody else is making this connection. No one.
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In fact, there was a story I read this morning, it's about three days old, that I hadn't even seen
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that made me absolutely sure that native groups have a veto in this country, because anything that
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they do gets national news coverage. And I can't actually believe I'm making this connection today,
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considering the subject matter, the story that's coming up. Hold on, folks. The other day,
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I told you a story about what happened back on May the 3rd, all right? Orwell, actually,
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Animal Farm said that all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. And that's
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the case with Aboriginal groups in this country, First Nation groups, whatever you want to call
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them. That's true. Here's what I said just a few short days ago, and then I'm going to make a
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connection here that's going to prove to you that they have a veto. Hold on, folks. This is going to
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get interesting. Folks, I'm here to tell you, I think they have a veto. And I was thinking back
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this morning about this. Back on May 3rd, I was at the Alberta Legislature, and we had an
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independence rally back then. A couple of thousand people showed up. It was great. And the group that
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was there before us had booked the spot on the Alberta Legislature steps. They had to leave to let
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us come in. But there was a group of Aboriginal people on a hill to the right of the stage
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who yelled and screamed into a microphone constantly through our whole event to disrupt
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us. And there wasn't a cop. There wasn't anybody from the Alberta Legislature. There wasn't an
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official in this country that would have walked across and told those people they had to get off
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the land because they didn't have a right to be there. And I remember saying to somebody at the time,
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they've got the native veto. Do you really think the federal government's going to go in
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and move a group of natives off land they think is their own in British Columbia if a pipeline is
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okayed to go out to the West Coast? I said that just a couple of days ago. I stand by that comment.
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Hang on one second. I need to take a sip from the big blue mug to screw up my courage here
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because I guarantee you nobody is making this connection.
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Before I get to the main course, a little appetizer for you to prove my point
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about a native veto. So let's just take you back a few weeks ago. You might remember this story.
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This was from your national broadcaster that you paid billions of dollars for and you're going to
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pay more for. This is the propaganda wing of the Liberal Party of Canada, the CBC minister
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apologized for poor choice of words about meeting with BC First Nations. Just a refresher for you.
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This is the anti-energy minister, Tim Hodgson. And the minister made a suggestion to the
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coastal First Nations, in particular the president, Marilyn Slett, on power and politics with David
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Cochran that they could have a Zoom meeting. You know, pretty regular thing. Zoom. It's called
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Zoom, he said. I think that's what we're using. But boy, did this offend the treaty people because he's
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now apologized. He has prostrated himself in front of the people who rule over you here in Canada.
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The federal minister said he apologized. My comments last night about a virtual meeting
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with coastal First Nations, a poor choice of words, which I regret, said Hodgson. Slett
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said, Hodgson's initial comments were deeply disrespectful and show a complete lack of
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understanding of our communities. I would suggest it shows a complete lack of understanding of
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First Nations people with modern technology. But we'll move on from that. And this made national
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news. Lots of it. There's the National Post, Yahoo News. Feel free to look for it.
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Hodgson, Zoom. And you'll find dozens of stories about this, which takes us to the main course.
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Now, if you were to see this on the CBC, this is CBC again. Here it is. If you were to see this
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headline on the CBC website, you might read it. Elders say they were fired from Regina Youth
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Correction Center for defending cultural protocol. This is from three days ago. I haven't heard anybody
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talking about this, probably because if you looked at that headline, you would think it's a nothing
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story. It's the subject matter that has me absolutely convinced that the natives have a
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V to want anything because anything that happens to these people becomes a national news story.
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And this made it to the national news. Let's read a little bit about this. And I can't believe I'm
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going here. I can't believe they went there. I can't believe this is actually a news story. But here
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are the two people involved here. Elders, Calvin Peltier and Melanie Fisher. A little bit about this story.
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Elder Melanie Fisher says she enjoyed working at Regina's Paul Dojak Youth Center and loved the
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boys at the facility like her own children. She and fellow elder Calvin Peltier had a good
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relationship with the staff and were praised for their work until the relationship soured over an
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October cultural camp, she said. Fisher and Peltier say staff disrespected them and sacred ceremonies
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at the camp. Now, let me just make this point. These people can believe anything they want. They can
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believe these things are sacred ceremonies. I think it's total bullshit and I have that right
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to say that. But here we go. Continuing on, you're not going to believe this. This has made it to the
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national news, folks. When their concerns were not adequately addressed by the administration,
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they brought the issue to the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety, which was renamed the
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Ministry of Community Safety in Thursday's cabinet shuffle. Shortly after that, they were told not to come to
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the center and then fired. Fisher said. Why were they fired? Here we go, folks. Hold on to your hats.
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According to them, a staff member knowingly participated in sacred ceremonies, including a sweat lodge
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ceremony while menstruating. Fisher said in an email was sent and a meeting was held before the cultural
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camp advising staff that those on their moon time could not participate in ceremonies. This is not
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permitted because of the belief that women are very powerful during that time and their participation
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can affect traditional medicines and prevent them from working. It can make people sick, which
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happened. Our boys came out of the sweat puking, she said. This wasn't a misunderstanding. It was a serious
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violation of spirituality. Fisher said she was kicked to the corner and disrespected and that wild moose meat
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she brought to the camp, which was intended for stew, was thrown out. Now, here's my point.
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This made it to the national news. Two people fired for a job for that. Can you imagine what would
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happen? And I told you about the Hodgson story, which made it in all the media. Can you imagine an oil
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company rolling through BC with all these pipes and they start going across what they think is their
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sacred land and they have a right to this? This is their treaty right. Do you not think this would be
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the biggest story in the freaking country if a hundred of the natives showed up blocking that
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pipeline? It would never go through. Just like I said, those people wouldn't be thrown off the
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legislator lawn back in May because there's not a damn cop that would go out there and throw them off
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their land. Now, I want to case in point here. Do you remember Oka? I remember Oka. I was working at a
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radio station in Sarnia at the time. This is the Oka standoff. It was known as the Oka crisis.
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And this was over a freaking golf course. In March 1990, Mohawk warriors at Kanesataki, this is in eastern
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Ontario, western Quebec, set up a blockade over disputed land with the municipality of Oka. In
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August, Canadian soldiers were called in to serve at the standoff. There will never be a pipeline go
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through because this would be the biggest freaking story in the country and all the news media would
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be covering it. And these people have a veto, folks. And I'm proving it with a story about menstruation.
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Let me know what you think in the comments. Tell me I'm totally crazy. I don't. I'm going to read
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them. Tell me I'm totally nuts for making this connection. If you like the video, give it a
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thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel. Ring the bell for notifications. Later on, I'll be putting up my
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independence calendar right around 11 o'clock. I'm going to start working on that right now.
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Thank you for watching. I'll see you in the next one.