Canada Bring Conscription

There are 49 countries who have mandatory military service requirements of their citizens. Yeah, we know North Korea and Israel are examples of the ugly face of conscription. Still, there must be some good for people to serve in the country's military (not a question). There was a documentary on the Fifth Estate about the Black kids being taken from Toronto. As you can guess, it's an ugly life for these boys and their parents. I did write about Indian kids should be joining the army. In the post: "The Armed Forces is a way out of the life of slow death. It can give hope to a group of youth that are deemed to fail. Doomed to face a hard short, in many cases violent life. A life of despair, not the good life. The Armed Forces can provide a new lifestyle, not a street lifestyle. It can give them pride. Pride in who they are and what they can be. A view of something other than decay, rot and slow death. A view other than the falsehoods of gang life."  

The notion of being forced into the Army is frightening. You lose your freedom for a specific period of time. For sure this is not what anyone would agree to. I think we have no choice to give away the freedom for a brief moment in the life. The Fifth Estate highlights how society sees the Blacks, the Indians and we are nothing (in their eyes). The only lives that matter are not ours. The military provides an escape from the world which doesn't see or care. Hopefully in the military, you can be part of something, some kind of team. Maybe learn some life skills that can you can carry throughout your life.  Maybe you become to like the army and make it a career. Who knows? 

Would Canada have the guts to introduce mandatory military service? After all, it is only the Global South we expect to have forced military service. Surprise, "go ahead and call the cops, you don't meet nice girls in coffee shops."  Greece, Switzerland, Denmark, United States (yes they still have it, but are not using it, but can at any time), total of 15 countries in Europe, Finland, Norway,  New Zealand does not have mandatory military service.  Canada borders a Wild Boar. "This Wild Boar is an invasive species which destroys: Feral swine (wild pigs, boars, or feral hogs) are a destructive, invasive species that are prevalent in the U.S."  The Wild Boar has no natural predator. "Territorial agencies are actively working together to manage the threat and damage caused by feral swine and to mitigate their impact. This collaboration includes: NATO, NGO's, ICJ. 

Canada in terms of military strength is anemic, like a marsh mellow, the small colourful ones. Not the big fluffy ones, Canada's military is not big, it's small and soft. It's actually still capable of being a military with spirit and some bite. 

In the end maybe having those Brown and Black kids in the army will quiet down those white supremacists who have made the army their home. 

boldeagle@forces.gc.ca

100 million, What our We Going to do with it?

 Our Reserve is going through interesting times. Our Chief and Council are coming up to their third year in their four year term. Yeah, we went "Custom Council" and made our own election law. Supposed to be different than the Indian Act election rules. In my opinion our Reserve's election law is funny, stupid funny. The folks who drew up the law, did some wild dancing in a dark room, naked, listening to Tiny Tim's Tiptoe Through the Tulips and came up with a dog's dish of an election law. We have just voted on a TLE for 100 million dollars (20 or 30 million for lawyers fees). The TLE process was years in the making. The Band didn't get into court and settled out of court. The community had to vote on the settlement and the Trust Agreement attached to it. First round of voting, not enough of a clear majority, a second vote sealed the deal. Where things go from here, I don't know. Our Reserve has not made sound financial decisions in the past. Not suggesting any misdeeds, rather just stupidity and naivety on our part, which happens to many people. Montana Power is a prime example of stupidity in doing business and bad decisions. Montana Power was making good money and did some crazy selling, the result loss of cash and lots of it. The reason I point this out, it's not just an Indian thing of being stupid in business. 

I recently started working in our community a few months ago. It seems I'm a functioning Depressive. Luckily I'm in no position of authority or decision making authority. It would not end well for me, I'm sure. I am told what to do and it is rewarding: no drama, no inter-office romance, no high-level-executive-meetings, no firing children from their dungeon toil of  digging holes, making shoes and shirts. I never knew just how bad our Meth problem was in the Reserve. The amount of homeless Indians in the Reserve is gummy eye opening. We do Harm Reduction activities to try and help. Other than this news, I'm sworn to secrecy to protect names of people and I intend to honour my Oath to Office. 

It's funny because I tend to tell stories of my deeds on social media. I may have exaggerated a time or two about my magnanimous exploits of courage, heroics and romantic encounters. Lot of what I share is factual. Like the time I pooped my pants while I sped away from the cops, stopped over by a train on the tracks, and I lay under the train as it hummed in the spot. I watched the cop hand lights as they ran around my abandoned truck. Yeah, I was 18 and drunk as a turtle waste high in ketchup and maple syrup. I escaped the arrest and took a cab to the Reserve, which cost $65 dollars, it was 1978. I only actively drank alcohol to 19 years of age. A funny story, I stopped drinking New Years eve, 1980. The Chief we have now is the guy who beat me up that night. He beat me so bad, I didn't drink after that. Mean bugger he was, I can still feel the hurt he put on me. Funny thing is I like talking with that guy. 

The TLE process is a closed door. We don't know the formula used to calculate the amount of compensation for loss of land, the potential, the length of time and what things were worth back then compared to today's dollars. Me, I did vote yes. Not that I am happy about the amount or the Trust agreement and how it will be looked after. What would you think the community should do with it? The TLE will be locked in a Trust Fund. People are afraid of a consultant company owned by Phil Fontaine. His partner is Kathleen Mahoney, one of the Architects for Indian Residential School agreement (TRC).   I guess the membership of Sagkeeng no longer trusts them. I don't know but I am sure the community will use the Trust as a guarantee for Bank Loans. RBC is the Trust holder and people know Phil has a long time affiliation with Royal Bank. Naturally people wonder about the selection of financial institution and who decided. There is no use for people to complain as it is a done deal anyways. 

We are all hoping good things come out of the Trust Agreement. How the use of the Trust will grow and be used for the betterment of the community. Lot of folks were hoping for a direct payout of the Trust to community membership. Me, I thought that would be nice but who benefits? Not the community but the outside community from the purchasing actions of the people. The money would be gone in moments, to used car dealers, appliance stores, and other retail outfits. Quads, skidoos would be all over the Reserve. Not sure about off-Reserve folks and their purchases. With the Trust maybe the community will decide to do some exciting stuff, maybe small manufacturing business, who knows. I know if you give a dollar to someone poor, they are going to spend it. We don't have finance portfolios, savings bonds or other money instruments. That is a upper white thing. Poor people of all stripes will spend. They won't try grow it because they need it now. 

So the Band will have some cash to toy with. Some ideas on how to play is what's next on the agenda. 

My Friend Died Today

 You know life gets weird as you get older. I mean older older, not like when you are in your forties and you think that is old, but really it is not. As we get older, we start to lose more and more people. The word is surreal. Your normal life is not the same anymore. 

I have many friends, and I don't have contact with them anymore. Still they are my friends. We all go like that, life gets different so we don't have the contact with friends we once had. Like when you are friends as kids. You may not have relationships with people you once were as kids. It is a life journey. We don't stress over it or long for those long gone friendships. When they die, we do reminisce of days gone. I regret some of my actions when some of my friends died. I always wish I could have been a better friend. 

I always see "true friends" memes and quotes on the internet, like social media sites. I think they are wrong. Friendship is not a linear path with just one long good time with each other. "True Friendship" is messy, it's fun, it's pain, it's being vulnerable with each other, angry with each other, letting each other down and forgiving of each other.

That is my friend. We shared a lot of love together. We shared real anger. We shared many laughs. We shared tears. We shared hostility. We shared fun, lots of fun. We shared stories. We shared loss and we have shared blessings. 

I drove down to the Reserve to visit with the family. The drive was a journey of memories. The good, the awful, the bad and the great times we had. He was a an arse for sure. He was a gentlemen. He was a protector, and aggressor. He was a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin and an Indian, an Anishinaabe. 

I find myself feeling weird. I long for the days of my youth and my friend was a part of that, actually a big part of it. Not saying it was always good, heck no. We fought a lot. But we sure had a heck of a ride. Lots and I mean lots of laughs. Lot of those laughs were at the expense of others. Teasing, calling down, making fun and that was common. The brunt of those teased either walked into it knowingly a target or those clueless. In any case, they walked away whispering "fucking prick." Many a target was hit. Don't think my friend was immune to being hit as well. That's how it works, if you slam, expect to be slammed. I was hammered many a time, and still came back. Lot of folks kept putting their "hand on the red hot element" again and again. Foolish eh? 

In our Reserve lot of that going on, "how in the heck can people be so dumb." We had many a conversation of how we kept seeing the foolish, the dumb, the dimwitted, and  our own selves. My friend laughed as he spoke of our Leader. Saying "I wonder if they go to bed at night saying, fooled 'em again." Meaning our leadership pulled a Trump, "lie and they will believe." Of course everyone knows. My friend said "yeah he fooled me too." Everyone was I say (laughing with my friend, but from a good spot in our heart). 

I will miss my friend as I find myself in a weird place. 

Oh yeah, Fuck Cancer. 

Warren Zevon had brain Cancer, knew he was not long for the world, he wrote this song. 

Man, that guy is a real jerk.

 I was at the Canada Post office today. A fellow sent me a Pipe from the US. This guy has integrity. Lot of folks out there will take your money but won't deliver on what they paid for. A cousin was slammed over the internet for not delivering on the goods she was selling. Not a good thing to do. Any case you only have your own face to look at. Can we look at our face and say, "boy you're cute, you're doing good in the world, and you're trustworthy."  I throw cute in there because, you can only be ugly if you can't look at your own face. Looking at your own face because you are a real jerk. 

The Canada Post counter person, saw me looking at the coins in the display case and he said "they got a lot of nice coins coming out." I agreed and told him, I was a fan of the coins but stopped buying them. I used to buy the coins that were full value. I mean the face value of the coin was what it cost to buy. For instance a $30 coin cost thirty dollars.  Canada post stopped the practice of selling coins for face value. You know why? It was because of a real jerk. Yeah, one real jerk screwed it up. The thing was he was just proud of his actions. What he did was this: he would order a large amount of face value coins. He would pay by credit card. He would then return the coins and Royal Mint of Canada would accept the return and give back the amount. So the guy has not spent any money but yet collects points. He was on the news bragging about this scam. He was a law school student. He was actually bragging about his theft. What a real jerk. I don't know if you can purchase coins at face value now. 

The power of Christ compels you. The power of Christ compels you.

Like many I can be the jerk who won't look at their own ugly face. But man, I am trying to be cute. Doing lots and lots of cute things: picking up after myself, doing chores at home, not swearing at jerks when it's expected. Giving Alms to the poor. Especially, when the poor is an Indigenous Woman. There are so many people at road intersections with their hands out, "Alms for the poor, Alms for the poor." Interesting not all the intersection Stevens are not Indian. Some of them are actually middle age and older White men. Strange, I know. Doesn't fit the stereotype of who is asking for change. The bad thing for people, the poor is, not much people handle cash these days. It is the use of interact plastic cards or credit cards. So when I go to the bank I will get cash and some change as well. Just in case I want to be cute and not a real jerk. So I will try and give when I can to the Indian at the interaction. Most times I am not walking, I am one of those driving jerks. 

In our Reserve there are some people who are damn cute. They just go about being kind to others, compassionate and say nice things. They say nice things to and about people. They say nice things that are happening in the community. Damn cute I say. Then again, (audible loud long sigh) there are the real jerks. Folks who do not find joy in things in the community. This are the real jerks. I'm talking "man, that guy, that Woman, is a real jerk." 

The power of Christ compels you. The power of Christ compels you.

We had a small Elder brunch this morning. The Health Centre sponsored the Brunch. 10 people came for the brunch. Bad timing, pension day. One participant was telling us, this used to happen a few years ago with people getting together for breakfast. The food would be cooked as people arrived. It was a very nice setting for people to visit. One guy got angry because the food was taking too long and started swearing around. She said, "I never went back." Man,, that guy was a real jerk. 

That's the thing isn't it? Man, that guy is a real jerk, and the thing is, he or she will spoil a good thing. 

Rotten dirty buggers with warts on the bums. 

I wish you are cute. The cute where you can look yourself in the mirror and say "man, that guy is cute."

Can only be cute when doing good things. 

G'waabaamin Neechies 

The Power Of Neehies embrace you. The power of Neechies embrace you. 

Can White People Be Trusted As Allies.

Can Indians, Black People, really trust White people to be an ally? I don't think so, nope they cannot be trusted. It is not that they are not trust worthy people. It is only because of their race. Yeah, we know race is just a social construct and we are all just human beings, living side by side on this place called Earth. What the heck is a social construct anyways? The way is this, we go with who we know, who is like us. I will side with Indians against Whites 99.99% of the time. There may be an exception where I would take the side of a white person over an Indian, but has to be an extreme case. You know how I know we will chose ours other than them? It is happening everywhere. Israel is engaged in the most horrendous acts to other human beings and despite the overwhelming videos, Israel is still supported. They are portrayed as defenders, and victims. In your mind, you are saying "how the fuck can this be happening? Those people are vile, maggots, ruthless, heartless, evil monsters." Still if it was us that were doing the harm, would we not side with our own?

This is the situation with Allies. Sure they are good people, caring people, wonderful people, open-minded people, people who want fairness in the world. These people will side with the oppressed, the marginalized, the ethnic, the poor and the ( Johnny always wore black cause he identified with the poor, and the downtrodden) and the downtrodden. There is a line they will stop at. If the issue has an affect they will not benefit from but will benefit the people they normal support, it causes them to stop. It makes them turn, cease to take part or even fight against. An Ally is an Ally when it causes them no challenge to their own system, their own comfort. 

The big thing with Indian people, Indigenous people the world over, is land. Land back is a slogan and becoming a mindset of our people, and Indigenous people who were settled by colonizers, by colonialism. Even the most "bleeding-hearted, commie, liberal, woke person (lawyers, consultants) will balk at having Land handed back to Indigenous folk. Can you imagine a white lawyer arguing against his society for Indians, Blacks, Maori, Aborigine, to own the country/continent they are currently living in? They wouldn't do it, as it would be betrayal of their own people. There are some examples of people who are not siding within their "group:" Norman Finkelstein, Wallace Shawn, Peter Garrett. I am not sure how far they are willing to go with being on the "outside" of their groups. Who knows? Even the most conscientious goody has a line they will no cross. The line usually has to do with cost, how much will it cost and what is the sacrifice. 

I know there are good people who genuinely want to do what is fair, right? Okay then, if that is the case, why has there been no Reparations for the Slavery of Blacks? The United States stands on the blood and murder of countless Black people. And yet, the US will provide Billions of dollars to a genocidal society like Israel? There are too many examples of wrongs by White society to other Race groups in the country and world to mention. Let's just say, there are no Allies there. They will be Ally until it becomes too hard for their own comfort. 

The Reddest Red

 As I looked at it, as I held it in my hand, I started to think about the color, the contrast between the objects. Sure there was some obscure kind of brown amongst the white but it was the Red that held my head still, held in abeyance. I looked and I looked. How can something be this Red? I immediately thought about the different descriptions we add to the Red. It's Christmas Red. It is Cherry Red. No, it's Candy Apple Red. You know, there is a colour code, or actually, there are codes attached to colours. For real. One of the codes, used in design is the hexadecimal "representation of RGB (Red Green Black). There is also the Taylor Hartman Color Code, which is weird. It is a code for personality, what kind of person you are. Weird code of Red Blue White Yellow which traits you have and why you do things a certain way. So not related to what I was seeing.  Anyways, this is not the type of colour code I was thinking about. I was not even thinking of colour codes, but colours themselves and the names. Like Scarlet, Crimson and Vermillion. I guess I might have thought to the textures as well that are associated with the colours. Like Red Velvet. No, not the cake but the coat. Or like the Red Serge of  the Royal Canadian Mounty. You know, the always gets their man, cops. 

Speaking of cops, I don't interact with them very often. I think that is a good thing. They sure have a reputation of killing Indians. In any case, looking at the colors, especially the Red and how striking it was, I couldn't help but think of the time I chopped my hand. I was about 14 and I was outside the house. I was working on making a slingshot. I was chopping on the Y section of the tree branch I had selected for the slingshot. I was using a big knife from my Mom's kitchen. It was one of those old butcher knives with the wooden handle and the large blade. It was a multi-purpose knife that I think everyone had in their home. For some strange reason I chopped my thumb with my Mother's butcher knife. The resulting flow of warm blood was incredible. I looked at it, my thumb, turned around and walked back into the house, through the kitchen, to my parents room and I fell down. I blacked out or as they call it, fainted from the sight of the Red. 

I guess your mind takes you to many places while you are examining something. My sister sold me a red car this one time. My sister's are always doing me good. Giving deals or out right gifts. My sister gave me a truck. Very nice little truck, one of those GMC trucks. The red car my sister gave was Toyota Matrix. Cool car, good handling, easy on gas. My daughter killed a deer with the red Matrix and that was it for the car. It's funny thinking about it now, my sister gave me another car before that. It was a red one as well. It was a Chevy, a small one. Can't remember the make. We called it the Rez-Rocket. I gave that one to my brother. They didn't put oil in it and the motor blew. So the end of the Rez-Rocket. Red is interesting.

Okay, so I looked at the Red and was still mesmerized at how striking, how red, how bright it was. It had my complete attention. Even though my mind wondered all over the place, I was captivated by how Red it was. The contrast of white, a dabbled with a some caramel, with the super bright red. Damn it, I never realize those Hemorrhoids bleed and have such a vibrant colour. Time for some Hemorrhoid cream. 

Shared Heartache

 Well hello there folks. Going to be 20 years since my Boy hanged himself in his mother's closet at her apartment in Winnipeg. I don't forget to think of him everyday. It's a ritual for me. Many times I remember him as a young child and other times when he is a young man. He killed himself when he was 20 years old. He struggled with addiction and it finally crushed him. So I do have an issue with drug use and drug dealers. I struggle and share the pain of failure because I know in my heart, I contributed to his addiction and his death. At the same time I now realize it was his choice to make and it was a decision, I had no real control over. I just wished he would have reached out to me before he killed himself. It is funny though, after all this time I should have "moved on." Moved on from the day of his death. Moved on from the regrets I relive almost every night as I lay in bed. There are so many regrets, not just about my boy but with my whole adult life. I think people expect a certain amount of lessening with pain over time. I suppose that is true. Still it does fucking hurt to beat all hell when you take the time and relive the moment. 

The reason it came to my mind to express and share the feelings about my Boy is due to the Netflix series, "Untamed."  Eric Bana acts as some kind of Wilderness Park cop who has lost in son. In the show he can see and talk with his child. I want that. I want to share moments with my Boy. I remember not long after he died, I was on the bus and I could actually see him sitting on the bus with me. Now I can hardly imagine the sound of his voice. I have old videos of him as a child but have not converted them into files that can be played on computer system. There are old VHS, and other videos types that are somewhere, I don't even know where they are. I always say I'm going to convert them to digital format. 20 years has past and I haven't done a single thing yet. The thing about having someone die so long ago, you know one hundred percent no one wants to hear about it. There is so much heartache out there. Why share the heartache? 

A suicide took place just this past week in our Reserve. You don't hear anything about it. Usually word travels all over; "who's family is that?" No gossip anywhere. The amount of death in our community, to cancer, to diabetes, to drug poisoning (commonly referred to as Overdose), to suicide has become common place. Our community is known to have the most amount of Women to be on Canada's Murdered Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW)list. Our community is not alone with a high death rate. Many of our Indigenous communities share the heartache of family dying. 

That's the thing about shared heartache, it is a shared experience, if it does not happen to us, we don't feel it. When I was thinking about Shared Heartache, and I can see how the pain can be. Still even with shared heartache we may not have empathy or sympathy for others. 

Share Heartache is happening right now in the world. I was sitting with a Ukrainian Woman last week. She is now living in Canada because of the war in her country. She is adjusting to a different culture here. She is in her forties, with three children and a husband. They are fortunate to have jobs. The children have made friends and are learning English language. She has family back in her country. I also met a man from Lebanon. He moved here a number of years ago and has not regretted it. He has family still living in Lebanon. He spoke about a family member who just disappeared and they don't know if he is alive or dead. The shared heartache of loss, of war, of displacement. I don't share their heartache but I sympathize. Can I share their heartache? I can "feel" for them for sure. 

I wonder if we don't share heartache does what happens to others mean anything? Mean anything to us? 

Fuck Israel.