Indian Status in Canada, a primer

[Scotus Anonymous]

Now someone in the know needs to do a primer on USian natives *doesn't hold breath*

I studied basic Native American Studies under Professor Oneida Meranto in Denver, but I can't remember anything she taught me because I wanted to bone her but she said that there was no way.

[Neesika]

Now someone in the know needs to do a primer on USian natives *doesn't hold breath*

I studied basic Native American Studies under Professor Oneida Meranto in Denver, but I can't remember anything she taught me because I wanted to bone her but she said that there was no way.

Fool! Penetrative sex is colonialism!!!!!!!!!

[Scotus Anonymous]

Now someone in the know needs to do a primer on USian natives *doesn't hold breath*

I studied basic Native American Studies under Professor Oneida Meranto in Denver, but I can't remember anything she taught me because I wanted to bone her but she said that there was no way.

Fool! Penetrative sex is colonialism!!!!!!!!!

I'm kind of lame since I only took the course because I was required to take a "Multi-Cultural" class to meet my undergrad degree requirements, and I liked the movie "Thunderheart", so I took Native American Studies.

Seriously, Professor Meranto was a super hottie, and the entire time she was talking about enrollment criteria and blood quanta and the history of the case law, I was just thinking I wanted to make out with her.

Since I'll now be trying to practice law in the American Southwest, I guess I should've been paying attention...

[Neesika]

I'm kind of lame since I only took the course because I was required to take a "Multi-Cultural" class to meet my undergrad degree requirements, and I liked the movie "Thunderheart", so I took Native American Studies.

Seriously, Professor Meranto was a super hottie, and the entire time she was talking about enrollment criteria and blood quanta and the history of the case law, I was just thinking I wanted to make out with her.

Since I'll now be trying to practice law in the American Southwest, I guess I should've been paying attention...

Lol, from what I know of her, it's probably best you didn't pay attention.

[Neesika]

On the issue of Indian status...

Today in the Globe and Mail, it is reported that the Gitxsan/Gitksan wish to relinquish Indian status in favour of sovereignty based on traditional governance. The article is somewhat confusing, as it states:

The group is willing to relinquish reserves, tax exemptions, Indian Act housing and financial supports in exchange for a share of resources. Unlike most contemporary efforts at treaty-making, it would also abandon the ambition of a separate level of government.

So it sounds like this isn't actually an issue of sovereignty, but later on the article mentions:

What would the Gitxsan get in exchange? The upfront price tag is some land ownership and cash, but the bigger prize lies down the road: The Gitxsan want a share of the resources that are taken from their 33,000-square-kilometre traditional territories, to be managed by their traditional system of clans and houses.

This is deceptive. Gitxsan/Gitksan governance and laws are based almost entirely on land and resource management. What the Gitxsan/Gitksan are actually saying is that they want to be able to use their traditional laws (ayookw) as they have done for thousands of years, within their territories. They want economic control and benefits to their resources and no longer with these things to be run by the federal government.

A broad description of the proposal can be found here in pdf.

Rather than suggest (as other bands have) that the Gitxsan/Gitskan would take over health and social services deliverance, they are saying they want the province to do it, just like is done everywhere else. Right now, these services are paid for by the Feds, but delivered by the provinces, which ultimately creates a really terrible, inefficient and ineffective system. So they want to 'buy in' to certain established systems, but ultimately they want economic control in their territory, and they want traditional forms of governance to apply. It's an interesting hybrid system.

Thoughts? Questions?

[Yootopia]

Thoughts?

It's a pretty bold move, but I doubt the government will allow it.