Wun Feather

[Ken7]

This post is gonna hurt some feelings. (sorry)
I am good with that.
I am totally tired of people who say stupid things like "Give us back our land".
Like seriously.
I like to look them in the eyes and say:
"Ok. If you had your land back, what would you do with it?"
I will wait for the answer.
Have you ever taken the time to use google maps and look at the huge tracts of Federal land that are not being used for any purpose at all?
No one is trapping any beavers on the land.
No one is hunting wolves or coyotes, or any other fur bearing animal on that land.
Very rarely do you ever see anyone hunting anymore.
If we compare that land to the land owned by the Hutterite Colonies, you would *bleep* yourself if you saw what they are doing on their land.
They have hay and oats and barley and grain, and they run large herds of livestock and flocks of domestic geese and chickens.
Well, ever since I was 18, I have owned my own home.
Seriously!
I bought my first mobile home in Fraser Lake BC and darn it all, it was mine.
Nobody gave it to me.
I never held my hand out for it like a pet monkey in a zoo.
I earned it.
And I have never, ever, EVER been without at least one house on land ever since that day.
I guess you could say that I am the kind of Indian who just goes to work every day, and buys my own piece of land with the money I earn at my job.
I have every single right that anyone else in Canada has.
Oh.
But because I am a status Indian, (I am non Treaty.) That means even though I am Status, I am not bound by any treaty agreements or obligations.
I have WAY more rights than most Canadians.
Firstly, I have the right to be free.
I have the right to become educated if I want to.
I have the right to freedom of speech, and I have the right to every single privilege that any other Canadian has.
But that is not where it ends!
I can hunt and fish and trap and do significantly more than all my non Indigenous friends do.
No one has ever stopped me from trapping animals for subsistence on crown land.
No one has ever stopped me from hunting for subsistence on crown land.
No one has ever stopped me from gathering medicines, plants, fungi, berries or roots for traditional or ceremonial purposes.
So if I can do all those things like my ancestors did before me, why would I want to have that land back??
Isn't it actually already mine to use anyway??
Only, unlike the land that I have bought for myself over the years, I do not have the burden of paying property taxes on the land where I harvest my moose.
I just drive out there, walk a few miles along a river amongst the red willows, and when I see a bull moose, (I don't take cows because they make baby moose), I decide if it is the right one for the freezer.
Here I am with a couple of wolves in this photo.
I can use the meat, skin and tan the hide, and I can use the fur to make a nice blanket or for the top of my moccasins.
Yep. I still have those too!
You will never hear me say that you owe me any land.
As Canadians you have already given me the most important things.
And that is the freedom to carry on my Indigenous culture and traditions on Crown Land.
I don't want my land back.
I already have purchased my own, and I have the rest of the Canadian Boreal forest to do anything else I want to do.
Thank you Canada.
That is more than enough for me.
Oh. Just one more thing.
Thanks for not standing in my way when I go to work each day.
That would really suck if you did that.
And I promise not to stand in your way either.
That's what us real Indians call "A GOOD TRADE"

[1791]

Respect to you sir

[polelady]

VERY well written and thought out.... maybe he has to share it with the protesters.... !!!!

[Ken7]

VERY well written and thought out.... maybe he has to share it with the protesters.... !!!!

Would these protester actually understand the content?? I don't believe so.

[Bsuds]

Well said

[Urban Cowboy]

Excellent post Ken7.

[OKkayak]

VERY well written and thought out.... maybe he has to share it with the protesters.... !!!!

That would only work if the protestors actually cared about the issue, most of them are just there to protest, doesn't matter what they protest, they don't care.

[Brass Monkey]

Then comes the day that a pipeline is built on the land where you trap, and the pipeline project brings several hundred workers over the span of a few years, nearly bring your trapping to a full halt. Then when you go to say something your opinion is washed away, because you have no stake to the land.

Just out of curiosity Ken7, which reserve were you raised on?

[OKkayak]

Then comes the day that a pipeline is built on the land where you trap, and the pipeline project brings several hundred workers over the span of a few years, nearly bring your trapping to a full halt. Then when you go to say something your opinion is washed away, because you have no stake to the land.

And you can't hunt/trap in the empty vastness a few kilometres north/south/east/west of the pipeline because?

[Brass Monkey]

And you can't hunt/trap in the empty vastness a few kilometres north/south/east/west of the pipeline because?

Maybe you can, maybe you can’t. Maybe this trapline was passed down from Great Grandpa Bushman and you know every leaf and twig along the line, maybe other Canadians already have traplines in the area neighbouring your own.

[Ken7]

Then comes the day that a pipeline is built on the land where you trap, and the pipeline project brings several hundred workers over the span of a few years, nearly bring your trapping to a full halt. Then when you go to say something your opinion is washed away, because you have no stake to the land.

Just out of curiosity Ken7, which reserve were you raised on?

Are you attempting to tell me a pipeline will destroy the trap line? I've got people in my family who did studies on pipelines etc. Are you aware the pipeline in conflict right now will only twin one that exists?

Interesting, and for your information you don't need to grow on a reserve to see what happens on one. I have a brothering law or two who grew up and were educated off their reserves and did very well, why because they applied themselves and did not sit and wait for something.

I personally grew up very close to many reserves and know many of their people. If you are truthful about your family, you personally did not live in the hut you describe.

Your claim about a pipeline would then be no different then a highway, shutting down a trapline. Funny, my friends from the reserve made a very good living trapping and hunting.

Today, what percent of our Indiginous live off the land? I'm thinking the number are not there as they were hundreds of years ago. Further to, I'm going to bet your Father never lived off solely nature and likely your grandfather either.

[Ken7]

Brass just read the bottom line on that. You just can't make this stuff up.

[Brass Monkey]

Are you attempting to tell me a pipeline will destroy the trap line? I've got people in my family who did studies on pipelines etc. Are you aware the pipeline in conflict right now will only twin one that exists?

Interesting, and for your information you don't need to grow on a reserve to see what happens on one. I have a brothering law or two who grew up and were educated off their reserves and did very well, why because they applied themselves and did not sit and wait for something.

I personally grew up very close to many reserves and know many of their people. If you are truthful about your family, you personally did not live in the hut you describe.

Your claim about a pipeline would then be no different then a highway, shutting down a trapline. Funny, my friends from the reserve made a very good living trapping and hunting.

Today, what percent of our Indiginous live off the land? I'm thinking the number are not there as they were hundreds of years ago. Further to, I'm going to bet your Father never lived off solely nature and likely your grandfather either.

It will not destroy the trapline, some pipelines are invisible when done. However, to say that bringing in hundreds of workers and loads of machines will not affect wildlife is untrue. In this context I speak about the principle of it. I would like to know how many traplines the Coquihalla crossed over, you certainly don't see anyone pulling marten from between the lanes

I was only asking, Ken7, I was not trying to pry or attack your identity or anything. I know natives my own age who tell me leaving the reserve was the best thing they ever did, I am a native who says growing up on the reserve was the best thing I ever did. It all depends on the community.

I have never described living in a hut, I am from WFN. I was speaking of those who do indeed live in huts in northern communities, like Attawapiskat.

My great, great grandmother was born in 1901 and for a while she was a bush indian and she only spoke Okanagan, she died when I was 6 or 7 in 2002-2003. She is the only one I knew personally who ever actually lived off the land, she was the toughest woman I will probably ever know. Also, we cannot forget that for a period it was illegal for natives to live off the land as they were not allowed to leave their reserves. With that came the near impossibility to hand down the knowledge of the land that had been transferred through countless generations. I would not be the hunter and outdoorsman I am today if my father didn't have the ability to take me off-reserve to see the great bountiful harvest the Okanagan Valley has to offer.

[bob vernon]

It sounds like some of us only want one kind of land claim. The moral highground.

[Urban Cowboy]

And you can't hunt/trap in the empty vastness a few kilometres north/south/east/west of the pipeline because?

Maybe you can, maybe you can’t. Maybe this trapline was passed down from Great Grandpa Bushman and you know every leaf and twig along the line, maybe other Canadians already have traplines in the area neighbouring your own.

That's what some would characterize as "grasping."