Should 'Canada' respect Scottish independence?

[A_Britishcolumbian]

she may be 87 years old but apparently she has an appetite for war. Her Majesty, Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada has decided to slap the gaels in the face from her dominion here in 'canada' by laying claim to the gaelic college in caper breton.

with an upcoming referendum in scotland in november, and no agreement in place for what will occur post referendum, we seem to have a very uncertain future here in the Kingdom.

the queens decision to use 'canada' as a launching point for her political missile is not odd, but certainly less than auspicious.

Gaelic College embroiled in royal controversy that opens centuries-old wounds
The Canadian Press
Published Saturday, December 21, 2013

HALIFAX -- A recent decision to alter the name of Cape Breton's Gaelic College has ripped open centuries-old wounds among the many descendents of Scottish immigrants who first landed in Nova Scotia more than 200 years ago.
The controversy erupted earlier this month when the college's board of directors decided to add the word "royal" to the school's name, a special designation from the Queen herself.
However, a growing chorus of complaints has emerged from those who say the addition is offensive because it ignores the fact that most of the Gaelic-speaking migrants who sailed to Nova Scotia in the late 1700s were forced out of the Highlands in the years following a decisive battle with the English.
Allan MacMaster, the member of the legislature who represents the Cape Breton district of Inverness, says the name change was inappropriate and insulting.
"The people who sought the royal designation didn't stop to think about all of the Gaels out there who would find the term offensive and hurtful given the history of the Crown trying to eradicate the Gaelic language and Gaelic culture," he said in an interview Friday.
"There was a concerted effort to break the Gaelic peoples of Scotland. ... It was a plan to ethnically cleanse the people."
MacMaster, whose Gaelic-speaking ancestors settled in Nova Scotia in 1802, said it's important to understand that the Gaelic culture, language and dress of the Highlanders was distinct from that of Lowland Scots.
"I've become careful to reference the fact that I'm a Gael," says MacMaster, who taught himself how to speak Gaelic while he was at university.
Those who know the history of the Gaels are keenly aware of the Battle of Culoden in 1746, when an English army crushed the Highland clans.
Then came the Highland Clearances, from 1780 to 1860, when farmers were evicted to make way for sheep. Thousands of Gaels disappeared into urban slums or emigrated, mostly to Canada, the United States and Australia.
About 1,200 people in Nova Scotia still speak Gaelic, most of them in Cape Breton. Language courses are offered at the college and the provincial government has an Office of Gaelic Affairs, set up by Rodney MacDonald when he was premier in 2006.
Tonya Lundrigan-Fry, vice-president of the Nova Scotia Gaelic Council, says most of the group's members are opposed to linking royalty with the Gaelic College.
"It was almost like someone digging up the past and throwing it in your face," she said in an interview. "It was really insulting and offensive to many people."
MacDonald, now the CEO at the college, declined to comment. Alex Morrison, the college's volunteer chairman, stepped down earlier this week, saying more discussion was needed to resolve the issue.
One of the college's board members, Ernie MacAulay, posted a message on the college's Facebook site saying the royal addition was a bad decision that should be reversed.
"We made a blunder," he wrote. "I hang my head with a modicum of shame for my part in this debacle, and I hope I become wiser for it."
Daniel MacInnes, a sociology professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S, says not all Nova Scotians of Scottish descent are opposed to the royal dedication.
However, MacInnes says the history of what happened in the Highlands should not be forgotten.
"There's a lack of sensitivity around what it means to be Scottish in Nova Scotia, or what it means to be Highland," he says, noting that the story of the Clearances is not well known.
"There are so many aspects and layers to this ... (but) the 35,000 who came here (to Nova Scotia) really are victims of history."

Read more: http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/gaelic-colle ... z2o9jbHZn6

After the indyref: Scottish,UK governments miss deadline to agree statement
Friday 20 December 2013

The Scottish and British governments have missed a deadline to agree a statement about what happens after the independence referendum.

The Electoral Commission asked both administrations to reach a shared position by today.

John McCormick, Electoral Commissioner for Scotland, said: "During our assessment of the question we found that people wanted impartial information about the referendum before they voted, so we asked both governments to agree a joint position on the process that will follow the referendum.

"We asked for this to be agreed by December 20 to coincide with the expected timing of Royal Assent of the Referendum Bill so that all the rules about how the referendum is conducted, and what happens afterwards, are clear at the same time.

"Now that we have Royal Assent we would like this clarity to be provided as soon as possible and we understand from both governments that progress is being made. In the interests of voters, we would ask that every effort is made to reach agreement early in the new year."

The referendum is on September 18 next year. The question will be: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

First Minister Alex Salmond said some progress is being made between governments.

"But the central difficulty here is quite simple," he told BBC Radio Scotland.

"The only institution of state which has been prepared to have technical discussions with the Scottish Government in terms of proposals for a Yes vote or the aftermath of a Yes vote is the Bank of England where Mervyn King authorised his officials to have these technical discussions because, of course, the Bank of England is independent from the Westminster Government and, therefore, he could do that.

"But no other government department in London is prepared to even have technical discussions up until now. I hope they revise that opinion because obviously what the Electoral Commission was seeking, not in terms of pre-negotiation, but certainly technical discussions would be of great benefit in giving people some outline of the immediate implications of the negotiations that will follow a Yes vote next year."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home ... 1387536676

[ifwisheswerehorses]

'canada' is not a republic. we are subject to the queen.

According to this ^ the gaelic college name change is not an issue so why are you presenting it as such?

[grammafreddy]

Who wrote the first three paragraphs of the OP? Are those your words, A_Britishcolumbian?

[A_Britishcolumbian]

the first three lines/paragraphs are mine. with rare exception my words are not capitalized, on occasion, where the respect is due, or to make a particular point, i will capitalize, otherwise i do not capitalize as to make my words distinct. there are other reasons for not capitalizing though.

text i have quoted is for the very greatest part is 'as is', but on occasion i will edit for clarity, eg. an incorrect link.

by following the link to the source all is made clear, and i recommend everyone does follow the links because very often much more info is available such as pictures, video and additional text boxes and such.

as i have pointed out in other threads, a nation has already dropped out of the commonwealth, another has hinted at doing so in the future, and 'canada' has put itself in a position as to generate animosity aimed at us by the other members.

scotland's efforts have an unknown potential for change, within, or without the commonwealth.

i feel these are extremely important and relevant issues for all of us.

[LordEd]

A college makes a mistake related to its heritage (and even acknowledges a mistake was made), and you interpret it as the Queen playing politics.

The college applied for "Royal", not the Queen inflicting it upon them.

One of the college's board members, Ernie MacAulay, posted a message on the college's Facebook site saying the royal addition was a bad decision that should be reversed.
"We made a blunder," he wrote. "I hang my head with a modicum of shame for my part in this debacle, and I hope I become wiser for it."

[LordEd]

http://www.capebretonpost.com/section/2 ... yal-rumble

On the Gaelic college's Facebook page, board member Ernie MacAulay said that while Morrison contacted the Queen's offices without consulting the members of the board, the decision to change the college's name was not his alone.

[grammafreddy]

The first three paragraphs sound like they came straight out of the National Enquirer - major sensationalism and they don't match what is in the two stories you posted.

YOU make it sound as if the Queen is making a major push on her own initiative to have the college renamed with "Royal" in the title.

The two stories say it is just one small faction from within the college who wanted to rename it and now that they know the history, even some of them are rethinking it.

[Bsuds]

Isn't it considered slander when you state something about a person as a fact that's not true?

[LoneWolf_53]

Isn't it considered slander when you state something about a person as a fact that's not true?

In the case of this OP it's more a case of business as usual.

The stream of malarkey becometh a river.

[A_Britishcolumbian]

while we may live in a kingdom, we still have the right to critisize the monarch, the 'government' or whomever we choose.

while it may have been a misguided effort and an error to to seek the 'royal' designation, it was Her Majesty's prerogative to grant the favour, and in doing so certainly made a statement of opposition to the gaels/scottish.

if the petitioners were unaware of history i could believe that. i cannot believe the Queen was unaware of the significance of the act.

[sobrohusfat]

I love the Scotts!


Just got off the phone with a friend who lives in Scotland.

She said that since early this morning the snow has been nearly waist high and is still falling.

The temperature is dropping far below zero and the north wind is increasing to near gale force.

Her husband has done nothing but look through the kitchen window and just stare.

She says that if it gets much worse, she may have to let the drunken ba$t@rd in.



The Queen is also fond of the Scotts.

[Donald G]

If you really want to understand what Scotland and the Picts, Scots and Gaels are all about start in the area of the Black Sea about 12,000 years ago when R1a and R1b split and R1b, the part of the people that became the Scottish Nation, over several thousand years, followed the retreating glaciers North up the Danube and Rhine and West across what is now Switzerland to the area of France just north of Italy. They were known as the Gauls and fought three battles against Julius Caesar. The history of those battles, written by Caesar himself, can be found on line. The writings of Pliney the Elder and Pliney the Younger add dimension to the small world that existed at that time.

Eventually people who became Scottish followed the retreating glaciers into Wales and Ireland where around 53 CE the Romans again attacked the "Blue Men" in Wales, Ireland and what was to become Scotland. In 1066 when the Northmen aka Normans invaded England many of the Scottish clan people accompanied them and remained in Scotland.

Scotland has "not suffered but one King to die in his bed". Their shenanigans, some of which were made famous by the writings of William Shakespere, document a violent history. Something that Britain made use of during the first and second world wars and on the Plains of Abraham. After the Battle of Culloden and the wholesale slaughter that followed Culloden, and the subsequent plagues and starvation that took place, the Scottish people were all but decimated.

The Scottish clans thus had no alternative but to unite and "Invade" Canada, Australia and the United States over a period of years.

For whatever reason Scotland still lives in the mind of almost every person who can trace their roots back to Scotland; a country that will live forever in the minds of the thousands of Scottish descendents who are now scattered all throughout the Western World. Robert Burns glamorized much of their history in his poetry.

The impression given by the initial thread regarding the Queen is not only completely false but historically ridiculous regarding the significant importance that the Scottish people have always attached to education and the monarchy ... in one form or another and on one side or the other ... sometimes both sides according to clan loyalty.

There is an old Scottish saying that, "you can always tell a Scotsman, but you can'ae tell him much".

Freedom or death has an often demonstrated real life history in Scotland and the Scottish people.

[KL3-Something]

Where's William Wallace when you need him.

[the truth]

Isn't it considered slander when you state something about a person as a fact that's not true?

not here,the cop bashing threads prove that..why is that anyway??????

[Donald G]

To The Truth ...

... because cops don't fight back and any nerd can convince themselves they appear "brave" by yelling obscenities at some big burly cop from among a group of "those left behind". Sadly such childish behavior will be the high point of their completely wasted life.