Racism? Ageism? on the GO trains

Let me tell you of an incident...and then you will decide what to make of it.

Three older, grey haired, white females are on a Go train heading to downtown Toronto. Sitting diagonally from them is a young Native couple. The young couple actually look even younger than they are. Go train employees enter the area asking for tickets. The older women show theirs, and the employee notes that they were not cancelled. The women are given a friendly reminder to cancel the tickets when the get off. The young Native couple is approached. The native female shows her 10 ride ticket, and how the cancellation machine had damaged the ticket when she tried to cancel it for the ride. The native female explains that she did try but the machine mangeled the ticket and did not stamp it. She is given a written warning, her driver's license number is taken. When the Go employee is questioned as to why the native was being treated more harshly, she was told that she should be thankful that she was not getting a fine of $110, and not worry about the other women who were treated with respect and courtesy.

Ageism? Racism? or just the Bad Luck of the draw?

I have been stewing on this one since the weekend. You see this is what happened to me. It would not have annoyed me so much if I had been treated as equally as the older white females, even if that had meant that we all had gotten the $110 fine. I don't care about the admonishment (although I have to tell you, that Go employee was condescending and rude) what I care about is the inequality of treatment here.

He won't be criminally charged...but atleast they arrested the BIGOT

Gary McHale was at it again today in Caledonia. The self described Martin Luther King (it's makes me gag that he likens himself to such a great man) again drove the over 100 kilometres from his home, in upper middle class Richmond hill, to 'protest' the Native occupation in Caledonia. I use the term protest loosely as I am of the belief that he simply needs/want/yearns for the attention of the media. He has also probabley run low on funds, since the last gathering was so long ago. I am still of the belief that this man is a racist and a bigot. He does not go to Caledonia to stand up for the Rights of Canadians. If he were a true activist he would be looking in to and being an activist for all people rights, not just his. Anyways back to my point. He was arrested today when he attempted to walk in to the "no go" zone that was set up to create a buffer between the Natives and the residents and protestors. I believe he wanted to be arrested. I think his ego makes him believe that this will make him a martyr or put him on a pedestal for other protestors. I think not. I think if the others had any sense in their heads they would come to the conclusion that he is a grand stander and a media whore.

I will write more on this later...just wanted to get that out.

Reasonable Insanity: It's NOT TD, It's CIBC Visa products

Reasonable Insanity: It's NOT TD, It's CIBC Visa products

Reasonable Insanity: 416-224-0391...Telephone spammer? TD Bank are you aware of the harassment?

Reasonable Insanity: 416-224-0391...Telephone spammer? TD Bank are you aware of the harassment?

Rolf Bertenberger.....miigwech

Three aggressors arrested, two drunks and a "Get A Job You Filthy Indians" Sign (held by Kevin Kelly, a 26-year-old from Hamilton). That is what the rally to Caledonia and DCE brought. It is actually with a sigh of relief that I write that. It could have been much worse. Apparently some of the rally attendees did admonish the sign holder. But really how could they have been surprised? Any reasonable person would research their leader before standing for and with them. Gary McHale is anti-Native on a whole. He is not the "freedom" crusader that he claims to be. But enough about him I'm done with that piece of excrement.

This entry is actually meant for someone else, Rolf Bertenberger. He is president of the United Steel Workers (Local 1005) in Hamilton. He and some of his union memebers made the trip to Caledonia to show support and stand with the natives. "Two hundred years of injustice have been done to native people and it is about time these things got settled." That was his stance on this matter. It made me smile that he was there and vocal. I want to thank him. Thank him for being concerned. For being concerned enough to make the trip and physically put himself in a position to show solidarity and understanding for the Native people and what they have gone through. miigwech (Ojibway = 'thank you')

Gary McHale is in it for the money you fools

Those that are supporting Gary McHale think he is doing this rally out of concern for rights and freedoms. I do not believe that is the case. He has recently admitted that he has received over $6000 in "donations" for his 'cause'. I believe that is indeed his motive. You see he tells reporters that he is a programmer and web designer. Yet I have never heard of him as a programmer. And if you refer to his own website you would see that his web design is primary level to say the most. It is aesethically not pleasing and I have a 14 year old friend that can do much better work than he. What better way to earn money than to be loud and confrontational to everyone? Get media lapping up your antics and racists to pay your way. Well I should say that not all of his supporters are racist, most likely. A good portion probabley have no clue what kind of man they are supporting. They are simply looking for someone to get results, where none have so far. Or atleast not results that are noticeable to the general public. As the general public has not been privy to what has been going on at the bargaining table.

Gary McHale...Activist or Racist?

More often than not, I prefer to completely ignore racist characters that whore themselves to the media....today I make an acception.

With his impending "rally" I felt it necessary to discuss him and his 'cause'. McHale believes that there is a two tier justice system and that the natives are being treated differently than non-native Ontarians (you only need to read previous entries to know that I actually agree with him on that point, but not from his same angle). What I have gathered from the articles I have read, he is protesting the Natives being allowed to remain on government owned lands. Why does that matter to McHale? How does a protest on lands that are presently uninhabited and the focus of negotiations with the government affect him? Why is any of it his business? He lives in Richmond Hill for crying out loud. Keeping in mind that Richmond Hill is upper middle class and can give us all a fair assumption that Mr McHale has never had to worry about: whether or not his drinking water will make him sick, whether or not he will be called a Dirty Indian or Savage today, whether or not he can go in to a service related establishment and be rejected for skin color.

Much internet sleuthing has found many blog and forum posts by McHale and McHale supporters. It seems to me that there is a lot of racism and racial motivation behind "the cause". While they stand on and wrap themselves in the Canadian Freedoms, they also do not stand for those same freedoms for the natives. There is no talk of what the natives are protesting and what they want. There is not talk of the freedoms they have been deprived of, such as freedom of movement. That ability to walk in to town and buy some milk or grab a hamburger at the local eatery. The natives can no longer do these simple things in Caledonia. If they try they are called dirty indians, terrorists or told simply to leave as they will get no service. McHale stands for equality only if it is his version of equality.

His own website shouts out "Al Jezeer supports Natives". Utilizing the middle eastern name for fear mongoring propaganda. Newsflash, Al Jezeer is a news outlet and their connection to Natives in Canada has nothing to do with either support of them (by terrorists was the insinuation) or what is presently happening in Caledonia or in Canada as a whole. Al Jezeer was at the time getting ready to offer english language news and were infact researching for a piece on Natives that were forced in to residential schools decades ago. There are many more insinuated links between Natives in Canada and terrorist fund raising activities in North America on his webpage. I will not link any of it here, as I will not give him any more attention than he already has (and in the end, what I believe he wants). These 'links' are tedious and have no validity. One that jumped out at me was smugglers that were operating in the Windsor area. McHale writes the headline "Canadians arrested smuggling REZ Cigs: Money Goes to Hezzbolah". If you read the actual news piece there is nothing that actually links Native activity to this incident, all it says is that Non-Taxed cigarettes were being smuggled. Note: Anyone can go to a reserve and buy cigarettes, including red necks with an agenda.

If he is half as intelligent as he pretends to be he knows that this "rally" is nothing more than asking for trouble. Aggression begets violence and throwing up the word peaceful, does not mean that that is your true intent. Inviting biker gangs to such an event is not a signalling for peaceful demonstration. Biker Clubs have more of a history of being called in as enforcers and aggressors.

Gary McHale states that this rally is against the OPP, yet he is not landing at the OPP's or the Government's doorstep. No, he is going to a location that is already rife with tension. He says that the OPP is not enforcing the laws in Caledonia. He says (I've seen him say it himself in a video available here: http://auto_sol.tao.ca/taxonomy/page/or/217 ) that he 'knows' that natives burned down the power station and the OPP is doing nothing about it. How, pray tell, does he know? Did he see it? Did he hear a confession? Did he suddenly become a forensic scientist? No, he makes an assumption that the "natives" are the criminals. After all there is no way that it could have been non-Natives.

There is so much I could post here. There is so much rhetoric that this media whore has spread where he claims to not be against Natives, yet throughout the internet much of it is indeed anti-Native. You only need to read his website or Google him. His site is wrought with articles that show natives in a bad light. From "Native children throwing rocks" (note: he didn't mention the white kid that threw a rock off an overpass almost killing a teacher) to a "Native takes gun to school" (yet again no mention of the white kids that massacred over a dozen people in Columbine or the white kid out West that shot and killed one classmate and wounded another). And there is no mention of Mafia activity or Black shootings that plague Toronto or Asian gang violence. He and his wife continuously point fingers at the Native population without balance and with extreme prejudice. It is this writers conclusion that the exclusion of other racial groups is simply because it's still safe to be racist against Natives. If his site was aimed at the black, jewish or muslim community...he would have been shut down and charged by now.

What more can I say though, really? He speaks with a smile and seeming causes on television, and shows himself for who he truely is on the net. The smiling fat guy fighting for equality on camera is only a facade. No good will come from his rally. I can only sit and hope that no one dies. The best case scenario would be that no one, or the very few racists that adamently support him, shows and are deflated.

May love surround my Native brothers & sisters and indeed the people of Caledonia... and may God keep them safe this weekend...and always.

Aboriginal Women In the Prison System

I was reading the news today. Tanya Lorraine Neill of the Gitxsan First Nation is suing Corrections Canada for improperly classifying her while she was in detention. With no criminal record, Tanya was sent to medium security prison. Since she had no record, there was no history that justified not sending her to a minimum security location. The difference between the two levels of custody, is the difference on whether or not certain passes and privileges would/could be gained. It also makes that difference on whether or not you have a better chance at early release.

It seems that a noticabley higher percentage of aboriginal women are classified as higher security risks, therefore being sent to higher security level prisons. Aboriginal women apparently also do more time than the average offender, for the same types of crimes.

I then found an interesting report, "The Custody Rating Scale, Initial Security Level Placement, and Women Offenders". This report is presented by Corrections Canada and it indeed shows that there is a problem with the classification of aboriginal women. While only 42.1% of non-aboriginal women are placed in medium security, 60.3% of aboriginal women get that same classification. As for maximum security, 10.3% for aboriginal and 2.6% for non aboriginal. Marked differences that I do not believe can be explained away by explanations of justified reasons or coincidence.

The report went on to state that Corrections Canada is concerned and more study has to be done. More study? Concerned? And how long will you be concerned for? And how long will you study for?? Action is what is needed. Not pontification. These women are being treated poorly and UNEQUAL to their peers. That is not what this country is supposed to be about.