Sorry, couldn't agree with you less!
Martin F. Dunn has left a new comment on your post "Here it is - The Petition!"
I am truly saddend by your petition which leaves no room for disagreement. Where is the "democracy" in that? How is that any different than the oligarchy that the MNC has imposed on the broader Metis community?
More specifically you impose the following on those who might wish to participate in your petition:
(i) "Voters lists are accurate, complete and do not contain the names of individuals who have relinquished their Metis status by virtue of applying and receiving C-31 status from the Government of Canada." What then happens to the 30,000 registered Indian individuals who responded as having "Metis only" ancestry in the 2001 census?
How, without community discussion and broad input do you decide that the federal government, by virtue of its Indian Act definitions, gets to play a major role in who has and does not have what you call "Metis status" by virtue of who they accept as "Indian?"
Are we all not direct descendants of the pre-contact indigenous people of this continent? Why should we accept government imposed divisions on our common heritage? Whose interests does that serve?
It seems to me that your petition, right out of the gate, begins to repeat the horrendous manipulation imposed on the Metis movement by the MNC over the last two decades. It, in fact, surrenders the choice of Metis people themselves as to how this issue should be treated by governments whose policies are speciffcally designed to diminish all indigenous rights to the level of government funded interest groups.
As a Metis individual who has spent some 30 years in the struggle to have the reality of Metis indigenous and inherent human rights justly accommodated, I beg you to withdraw this peitition until it has the consideration and deliberation of a much larger Metis population than your time frame now permits. At the very least it should provide an opportunity to disagree with some or any of its stipulations.
With respect,
Martin F. Dunn
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Dear Mr. Dunn:
Thank you for writing. Here are a few facts of which you may not be aware:
(1) In January, 2004 www.CyberSmokeSignals.com tried to launch an online/offline petition critical of the Manitoba Metis Federation's spending of taxpayers' money. The result - to date the MMF has paid a non-Metis attorney over $100,000 in public money (minimum $250/hour) to pursue a defamation lawsuit against CSS.com in an attempt to pressure it to shut down. That's democracy?
(2) This site was approached by a group of Metis citizens asking if we'd post their petition. Since the Federation receives over 95% of its annual budget (approximately $25 million) from the federal government, ALL Canadians are eligible to vote. If anyone disagrees obviously they can abstain or start their own - isn't that the essence of democracy and good stewardship/accountability/governance for our hard earned taxpayer dollars?
(3) The petition organizers have imposed no time frame
Sorry, couldn't agree with you less!
Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
I am truly saddend by your petition which leaves no room for disagreement. Where is the "democracy" in that? How is that any different than the oligarchy that the MNC has imposed on the broader Metis community?
More specifically you impose the following on those who might wish to participate in your petition:
(i) "Voters lists are accurate, complete and do not contain the names of individuals who have relinquished their Metis status by virtue of applying and receiving C-31 status from the Government of Canada." What then happens to the 30,000 registered Indian individuals who responded as having "Metis only" ancestry in the 2001 census?
How, without community discussion and broad input do you decide that the federal government, by virtue of its Indian Act definitions, gets to play a major role in who has and does not have what you call "Metis status" by virtue of who they accept as "Indian?"
Are we all not direct descendants of the pre-contact indigenous people of this continent? Why should we accept government imposed divisions on our common heritage? Whose interests does that serve?
It seems to me that your petition, right out of the gate, begins to repeat the horrendous manipulation imposed on the Metis movement by the MNC over the last two decades. It, in fact, surrenders the choice of Metis people themselves as to how this issue should be treated by governments whose policies are speciffcally designed to diminish all indigenous rights to the level of government funded interest groups.
As a Metis individual who has spent some 30 years in the struggle to have the reality of Metis indigenous and inherent human rights justly accommodated, I beg you to withdraw this peitition until it has the consideration and deliberation of a much larger Metis population than your time frame now permits. At the very least it should provide an opportunity to disagree with some or any of its stipulations.
With respect,
Martin F. Dunn
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Dunn:
Thank you for writing. Here are a few facts of which you may not be aware:
(1) In January, 2004 www.CyberSmokeSignals.com tried to launch an online/offline petition critical of the Manitoba Metis Federation's spending of taxpayers' money. The result - to date the MMF has paid a non-Metis attorney over $100,000 in public money (minimum $250/hour) to pursue a defamation lawsuit against CSS.com in an attempt to pressure it to shut down. That's democracy?
(2) This site was approached by a group of Metis citizens asking if we'd post their petition. Since the Federation receives over 95% of its annual budget (approximately $25 million) from the federal government, ALL Canadians are eligible to vote. If anyone disagrees obviously they can abstain or start their own - isn't that the essence of democracy and good stewardship/accountability/governance for our hard earned taxpayer dollars?
(3) The petition organizers have imposed no time frame
Sorry, couldn't agree with you less!
Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
posted by Clare L. Pieuk at 5:25 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Clare
I say let the petion go ahead
The M N C is a gong show my
opinion And it,s time for the
C 31to stick there nose in there own pot We don,t need them on our
voter,s list Marse
UN VYEU MECHIF FIERE RENE
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