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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Linda McQuaig: Canada’s energy juggernaut hits a native roadblock (in The Toronto Star)

"Canadians have reason to be ashamed of our treatment of aboriginals — from residential schools to the continuing failure to provide basic necessities like water, housing and education to people whose ancestors were here long before ours arrived.

"Ironically, their insistence on their constitutional rights, as Palmater [Pam Palmater, a Mi’kmaq and spokesperson for Idle No More] notes, may be the last best hope of Canadians to reverse our own culture’s reckless disregard for the dictates of Mother Earth, who ultimately is more demanding and unforgiving even than the global economy. Rising GDP levels won’t mean much if we’re swamped by rising sea levels.

"The very least we can do is to get behind this ragtag group that has, in a few short weeks, shown more wisdom than our “advanced” society has mustered in decades."

Full article: McQuaig: Canada’s energy juggernaut hits a native roadblock.