“There’s probably some political risks here,” Mr. Griffiths said. “The Bloq Quebecois and sovereigntists aren’t going to like the focus on military history or Canada’s journey from colony to nation state.”

Well, yeah. Isn’t that the point? How about we ignore the dead-enders and focus on promoting the values we want to our newest citizens who actually want to be here.

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Most Canadian Aboriginals live off-reserve, so the governing party in Canada has decided that we ought to be talking with their representatives, not just the First Nations people living on reserves (Vancouver Sun). This seems to be in keeping with our political system, which takes into account not only the population as a whole but also regional and municipal groupings. Nothing wrong there.

But members of Canada’s loyal opposition don’t like what they’re seeing. They’ve trotted out a number of wince-inducing quotes from Conservatives in a press release, mostly spoken with extremely poor timing, to boot, claiming that Canadians “won’t be fooled”.

But aside from the perhaps ungenerous timing of the very first quote tossed into the press release, from a Conservative on the day of the Residential Schools Apology, I’m not sure what’s terribly bad about Pierre Poilievre’s statement about Native Reserves:

“There’s too much power concentrated in the hands of the leadership and it makes you wonder where all of this money is going. …Now along with this apology comes another four billion dollars in compensation… Some of us are starting to ask are we really getting value for all of this money and is more money really going to solve the problem.”

Why is this statement considered beyond the pale by the opposition? Canadian First Nations reserves are ground-zero zones for unemployment, poor education outcomes, suicide, substance abuse and near-pervasive corruption by band councils. Why is it unfair to point out that Canadian taxpayer dollars have been subsidizing this mess, or that it’s high time we asked for better results?

Canadians do want better results. Talking with First Nations representatives living off-reserve seems like a good way to get some momentum going on improving the status of First Nations people in this country.

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From Ezra Levant‘s blog:

Khurrum Awan, the youth president of the Jew-hating Canadian Islamic Congress, has threatened me with a lawsuit…

Awan is an experienced practitioner in the soft jihad of “lawfare”, the abusive practice where lawsuits are filed against critics of radical Islam just to harass them and silence them, Erin Brockovich-style.

Par for the course.

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Release all political prisoners in Iran. Freedom for Iran.

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But for some months now, reports of protests inside and outside Iran have consistently shown two types of messages amongst demonstrators. The first type is familiar and inspiring, but the second gives me the chills. I see Iranian protesters potentially falling into the trap that Canadian Tamil protesters recently found themselves in, of believing that the worthiness of their cause permits the use of bloody rhetoric.

From a CTV News story today, here’s what I’m talking about in terms of the two types of messages with very distinct implications:

* “We are here to show our solidarity with the people of Iran and to urge the Iranian government to respect human rights” – Tom van den Brand, a spokesman for Amnesty International in Amsterdam.

* “Death to the Islamic regime!” – group of anonymous protesters.

Some of my friends will probably say I’m just being squishy, or that unity of the protest movement is too important to quibble about semantics. But I feel the words you choose to protest with are not a minor, inconsequential thing. When a state still holds a monopoly on violence and all you have is your voice, your message defines you. How the democratic revolution finally comes to Iran will depend in part on the words the movement chooses to engage its supporters.

For decades, we’ve heard “Death to America”, “Death to Israel”, “Death to…” whatever, from mass gatherings of furious Iranians. (I can’t recall a mob chanting “Death to Canada”. When that happens, I suppose that means we’ve hit the big leagues). It’s not just in Iran, but the Islamic Republic is practically synonymous with massive rallies incorporating these frightening modern versions of the Two Minutes Hate.

I’ve attended and observed plenty of protests in Canada. Typical slogans at protests include “This is what democracy sounds like!”, “Justice for the (INSERT-NAME-OF-PERSECUTED-GROUP)”, “Freedom for the (INSERT-NAME-OF-PERSECUTED-GROUP)!”, or “Hell no, we won’t go!”. Chanting “death” to anything is pretty much beyond the pale, because we recognize the obvious danger that such words are incitement to violence. That’s not only illegal, but it’s also a practice, if it were to become mainstream, that could lead to violent acts. The proof of this ranges from violent hate crimes by racist thugs to acts of genocide, like in Rwanda. And let’s face it: there are no problems in Canada that would require demonstrators to commit acts of violence against fellow citizens or the state to get what they want. We’re lucky that way.

So here’s a problem. I’m not convinced that the Iranian regime will fall to a democratic movement without bloodshed, as has happened most recently in parts of Eastern Europe. The ruling thugs have shown a clear willingness to deploy axe-and-gun-wielding militias against their own people. And they have to be mindful that during and after the last big Iranian revolution, tens of thousands of the ruling classes were tortured or killed. With that kind of precedent, even if the regime’s leaders and apparatchiks were of a mind to allow a transition to democracy, simple survival instinct will have them maintain the status quo at any cost.

So if there is going to be a democratic revolution in Iran, people may have to die. When the protesters’ chant, “Death to the Islamic regime”, they know that a “regime” doesn’t really die – the people who run the regime do. Such chants may be very pragmatic preparation to steel Iranians’ minds for coming violence.

I understand that decades of chanting “death” to anything is ingrained in the culture of political protest in Iran or other countries in a way that we just don’t get here. But these words don’t just offend “decadent” Western sensibilities: I suspect that they have already sapped a significant amount of goodwill towards the Iranian protesters.

It’s not enough for the protesters to want democracy. The words they use to motivate their own democratic revolutionaries will help determine the kind of society that comes after the regime is swept away. There needs to be a culture of basic respect for human life, to the obvious minimum standard that you don’t shout “death” to anything. Let the Iranian regime issue the death threats. This movement needs to be better than that.

Iranians chanting “Death to the Dictator”

Iranian rally shouting “Death to America”

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The USA’s President Obama has rightly backed targets to cut emissions by 17% by 2020 and 83% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels (Of course, in the USA, not everything a President wants gets done – we’ll see if the Senate approves). So now the world’s worst polluter per capita (except us carbon-spewing Canucks) are off eco-defenders’ hate-mail lists, at least for the moment. But developing nations, where fast population growth and gradually-rising living standards are quickly boosting carbon footprints, still aren’t buying in.

India’s rep says reaching climate change targets should not be borne on the backs of the developing world’s poor. This is shorthand for saying that since the developed world got to enjoy the benefits of high living standards from rampant resource exploitation, pretty much guilt-free before the recent green revolution, then India, China, Indonesia and all the rest of the developing world – most of the planet’s population – should be able to exploit resources and emit carbon to their heart’s content, at least for the next 100 years or so.

Bad idea. We’re already seeing evidence of climate change, and guess where the worst of it is happening? Drought in Africa, murderous heat in India, mass flooding in Bangladesh, crop failures in Asia… while developed nations have the resources to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, developing nations don’t. They’ve got huge incentives to cut back on their carbon output right now. These nations want their people’s living standards to continue to rise. But doing nothing about climate change means sitting back and watching their land turn into deserts or their cities to be reclaimed by the sea.

The excuse from developing nations previously has been that they couldn’t be expected to lower their carbon footprint when even the rich nations couldn’t afford to do so.

Now that the wealthy nations have stepped up, the rest of the world will need to do their part.

This doesn’t necessarily mean curtailing the developing world’s economies. Carbon can be reduced through better efficiency. Smarter uses of resources, better public transportation, recycling programs, better enforcement of regulations protecting nature preserves, moving away from the disastrous suburbian model we’ve largely adopted in the West… all of these will help. All that’s required is the will.

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According to Mr. Shaban’s blog from “Occupied Canada”:

My facebook status did read “F*** Canada Day”, and it was followed by a few other comments in response to some of the questions that people posted. Some consider that taking this position is disgraceful and shameful but I tend to disagree.

Canadian citizens may not be given to showy displays of patriotism (well, except maybe on Canada Day), but cursing the land where you were born, where your parents came to give you a better life (at least until they decided to go back to Lebanon and raise him in the Nahr El-Barid refugee camp) – is certainly disgraceful. No doubt, Mr. Shaban relishes the infamy that has come unto his reputation. He breathes in the contempt of his fellow citizens. He feels no shame. Perhaps he even feels a sense of moral superiority. In any case, as he says, he tends to disagree with the prevailing view that he’s a vile and irredeemable embarrassment.

Moving on, Mr. Shaban claims that:

First of all, my statement clearly did not reflect CAF’s position; it was my own personal opinion.

Clearly? How does this statement “clearly” not reflect CAF’s position? CAF has been describes as making decidedly un-Canadian statements including “the promotion of hatred, anti-Semitism and support for the banned terrorist organizations” (NP). Why should Canadians expect that the rest of the executive of the CAF has done anything more with their tepid and uninformative press release (CAF Disassociates Itself from Recent Comments) than stop the bleeding after one of their own said what they were all thinking?

But now we get to Omar’s rationalization for his actions:

Secondly, I said “F*** Canada Day” and I regret the dark history that this country has. On our silent government’s behalf, I apologize to the indigenous people for this, and sincerely wish it had not happened to you. I apologize to the indigenous people of Canada because their feelings are not taken into consideration at “Canada Day” celebrations.

Of course! Mr. Shaban isn’t a tactless slimeball! He’s practically a hero. Oh, wait a second…

Omar never bothered to actually see what First Nations people might have to say about Canada Day before he decided to speak for them. For instance, here we have Mike Pinay, an elder from the Peepeekisis First Nation, talking about how Canada Day is a time for everyone to celebrate being a Canadian:

“We acknowledge what our forefathers have said, that we agreed to share the land with all the newcomers,” Pinay explained. “So we acknowledge that today on Canada Day. I look at it as a commemoration of all the good things that have happened.”

And then we have the words of Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, following Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology for the terrible abuse of Natives at the residential schools (Edmonton Journal):

But it signifies something even more important: a respectful and, therefore, liberating relationship between us and the rest of Canada. Together we can achieve the greatness our country deserves.

The apology today is founded upon, more than anything else, the recognition that we all own our own lives and destinies, the only true foundation for a society where peoples can flourish.

First Nations people have not forgotten their history. And both aboriginals and non-First Nations Canadians are also well aware that the state of Canada’s aboriginals is a national disgrace. The clear message here is that Canadians of all backgrounds want to see positive change come to aboriginal communities. Remember the past. Build a future – together.

Yet on the day when Omar took his “stand”, his supposed allies failed to show. There were no mass protests against the “occupier”. The Native artists and musicians in the Aboriginal Village at Major’s Hill Park and elsewhere were not forcibly conscripted into performing at Canada Day celebrations. Funny, that.

Omar’s statement that he would not celebrate Canada Day “until it is accepted as legitimate by the indigenous people” is a red herring that might be seen as akin to Brad Pitt’s forgotten declaration that he would not get married until all Americans – gay, straight, whatever – could get married.

But there may be a more nefarious motive at work in Mr. Shaban’s latest meandering yet defiant declaration; his explanation of his actions – which attempts to weave in Gaza and Afghanistan with the issues on Canadian reserves into a confusing diatribe – could make more sense if we see them as part of the standard tactic of Islamist fundamentalist propagandists, what Ed Hussain describes in the Islamist as the linking of a myriad of issues in the hopes of radicalizing an anti-imperialist, anti-democratic mass of permanent radicals. Burning his bridges, perhaps Mr. Shaban has decided exactly where he wants his “career” to go.

One can only hope that one day this poor deluded soul will understand what he has done and ask forgiveness. Canadians may not want to give it. But that’s not the point.

A little humility here, Mr. Shaban. A little shame.

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From Terry Glavin in his Tyee column, “Iran: Whose Side Are We Really On?”:

The uprising changes everything, and not just inside Iran. No matter what happens next, the uprising will cause convulsions in contested fields of struggle from Afghanistan to Palestine.

Already, the spectacle of angry masses thronging the streets of Iranians cities is holding out the promise of a great awakening in “progressive” politics from Berlin to Seattle. In Canada, what was once unspeakable is now unavoidably central to any serious discussion of the Iranian cause and what it demands of us.

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The climax of the war was reached late yesterday, when the LTTE announced the surrender on its website. “This battle has reached its bitter end,” LTTE official Selvarajah Pathmanathan said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. “It is our people who are dying now from bombs, shells, illness and hunger. We cannot permit any more harm to befall them. We remain with one last choice – to remove the last weak excuse of the enemy for killing our people. We have decided to silence our guns.” (Globe and Mail).

Some comments on this story in the Globe:

Sl Cha from Surrey, Canada writes: THERE ARE NATIONAL FLAGS FLYING IN EVERY TAMIL HOUSEHOLD IN SRI LANKA!!! THEY ARE RELIEVED! THERE IS NO ONE TO EXHORT MONEY ANYMORE!!! TAMILS IN SRI LANKA ARE HAPPY, NOT LIKE THE LTTE TAMIL CANADIANS…

John Little from Canada writes: Send food and other aid, but don’t bring them to Canada. It is time for them to learn to live in peace in Sri Lanka. Maybe those Tamils who said that Sri Lanka was “My country, my home”, can go back and help their country to begin to heal and recover from this decades-old senseless war.

Andre W from Toronto, Canada writes: Now that their terrorist group is defeated in Sri Lanka, what are the tamil thugs in Toronto planning to do?

GLOBAL GAEL from Kingston, Canada writes: Sl Cha,

I think both ordinary Tamils and Sinhalese truly hope that their leaders are genuinely committed to putting aside their hatred and settling on a lasting peace treaty.

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Dawn.com: “The Taliban on Wednesday night demolished 11 houses of the Sikh community in the Orakzai Agency for refusing to pay ‘Jazia’.

Earlier, the Sikh community had postponed its decision about vacating the area following the demand of the Tehrik-i-Taliban for payment of ‘Jazia’ being non-Muslims for their protection.”

Seriously, at times like these, one breathes a sigh of relief at being so remote from the ground zero of such injustices.

It might seem like ludicrous fear-mongering to suggest that Canadians in any community might soon have to pay protection money to any particular ethnic group (well, unless it’s extorting it’s own ethnic constituency, as the Tamil Tigers have apparently done in Toronto for years). But Sharia law nearly became a reality in Canada not too long ago. And most of us were probably very surprised to learn that Canadian taxpayers are already subsidizing polygamous families made possible by marriages performed under Sharia.

Orakzai sounds far away, but it isn’t so distant as we think.

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