It occurred to me the other day that the main reason for the long delay in this Canadian government signing the UN Declaration of Rights for Indigenous peoples could very well have been that they would have to recognise that the Palestinian people are indigenous to the area occupied by Israel.
Since this conservative government specifically have stated that no matter what Israel does they will support them, then obviously they cannot support the position of the Palestinians that they have some right to land in the area in which they have lived for thousands of years. Our own First Nations people know what that’s like.
It is also regrettable that this government refuses to recognise a legally and democratically elected government simply because they do not like the elected party and their opposition to Israel’s pugnacious and criminal attacks upon themselves. It shows that the belief in democracy in this Canadian government is dead because of their apparent hatred of Hamas. Why can they not see that Hamas is the choice of the Palestinians, and we should respect that. I certainly do. Lets face it the present government of Canada has a minority not only in the seats, but also in the volume of the votes cast, and actually has less right to rule that do Hamas. Do I like what they are doing? No. However under our system I and all Canadians are stuck with them.
In the debate in the House of Commons last night concerning the problems in Egypt, MP after MP stood to protect the rights of Israel to peace, and I could not but help wonder what they were thinking. This is not about Israel – probably second in terrorism and aggression only to the USA – anymore than the Gaza Strip (heaven help us if anyone mentioned that pathetic little besieged country) or Jordan or Iran; no, this is about Egypt and the Egyptian people and their wish for democracy. Let us hope they choose a much better model than we have here in Canada where democracy is as totally dysfunctional as is our government and so, by their constant devise actions, is our parliament and parliamentary system.
You know maybe the youth of Egypt are showing the youth of Canada something. The established Canadian government is not working for them, it is working for big business, so I say to our Canadian youth, take to the streets and take your country back. It will be yours soon anyway, but my advice would be to take it back now while there is still something Mr Harper hasn’t sold or given away.
Jeremy Arney