WGARA?
The Chippewas of the the Nawash First Nation have been leasing land on Hope Bay in the Bruce Peninsula to cottagers for years, with the federal government administering the rentals for the band since 1965. The People have just decided those days are over. Notice was given to 68 cottagers who had been leasing there to clear out, something they were originally given one month to do. Chief Paul Nadjiwan, being a nice guy, gave them an extension to the end of February.
Some cottagers even built the dwellings themselves, on this leased land. Now they're moaning about the loss of their "housing investment". They knew they were leasing land, not buying it. They knew all along there's always a chance that the rightful owners of leased land might decide to do something else with their own property.
One cottager, Karen McCulloch, was interviewed about the situation, which she describes as "devastating" and "very stressful"; whining about how her father-in-law built their cottage as "a legacy for children and grandchildren". God, you're breaking my heart, woman. Once again, I have to say, it was made clear from the word 'go' that the land was being leased, not bought, so if someone was so stupid as to assume they would be allowed to squat forever on another person's land, what are the rightful owners supposed to do about it?
Actually, now that word "squat" is in here, does it ring bells for anyone else, or is it just me? How many times during the history of our country have natives found whites squatting on their land, land they were forced to leave forever? While I am sure that Chief Nadjiwan is above such pettiness as enjoying the turn-the-tables aspect of this whole situation, I am not held back by such niceties. I rather think the situation has a nice little touch of irony to it, and it's fun to see it happening.
I saw some film footage of a couple of the cottagers on a news program. They were bemoaning the band's decision and carrying on about how they had been there so long. Yeah, so? Yesterday has never been a guarantee for tomorrow.
The woman looked right at the camera at one point, with her best lost puppy expression and a tremulous little catch in her voice when she said, "We don't know what we've done wrong." I was soaking the rug with my tears by the time she finished.
You know what? Bottom line, who gives a good goddamn about them and their years of "doing whatever we want" as the whiner's hubby put it? There are issues much more worth anyone's attention going on in the world right now. If those cottagers want to give their kids and grandkids a legacy, why don't they send some money in their names to worthwhile causes involved in the fight to save the environment? Having a hand in saving clean air for their offspring to breathe or safe food for them to eat would be to leave quite a legacy indeed.
Just get out of the cottages, and get over it folks.
Some cottagers even built the dwellings themselves, on this leased land. Now they're moaning about the loss of their "housing investment". They knew they were leasing land, not buying it. They knew all along there's always a chance that the rightful owners of leased land might decide to do something else with their own property.
One cottager, Karen McCulloch, was interviewed about the situation, which she describes as "devastating" and "very stressful"; whining about how her father-in-law built their cottage as "a legacy for children and grandchildren". God, you're breaking my heart, woman. Once again, I have to say, it was made clear from the word 'go' that the land was being leased, not bought, so if someone was so stupid as to assume they would be allowed to squat forever on another person's land, what are the rightful owners supposed to do about it?
Actually, now that word "squat" is in here, does it ring bells for anyone else, or is it just me? How many times during the history of our country have natives found whites squatting on their land, land they were forced to leave forever? While I am sure that Chief Nadjiwan is above such pettiness as enjoying the turn-the-tables aspect of this whole situation, I am not held back by such niceties. I rather think the situation has a nice little touch of irony to it, and it's fun to see it happening.
I saw some film footage of a couple of the cottagers on a news program. They were bemoaning the band's decision and carrying on about how they had been there so long. Yeah, so? Yesterday has never been a guarantee for tomorrow.
The woman looked right at the camera at one point, with her best lost puppy expression and a tremulous little catch in her voice when she said, "We don't know what we've done wrong." I was soaking the rug with my tears by the time she finished.
You know what? Bottom line, who gives a good goddamn about them and their years of "doing whatever we want" as the whiner's hubby put it? There are issues much more worth anyone's attention going on in the world right now. If those cottagers want to give their kids and grandkids a legacy, why don't they send some money in their names to worthwhile causes involved in the fight to save the environment? Having a hand in saving clean air for their offspring to breathe or safe food for them to eat would be to leave quite a legacy indeed.
Just get out of the cottages, and get over it folks.
1 Comments:
Very well said.
It's ironic that when the tables are turned ... when natives occupy on land they claim, in protest, how little people seem to understand ... especially the media, which portrays the story with objectivity ... yet, when this story was shown, there was no objectivity. It is a one-sided story, where no one can understand why the rightful land owners just made a decision to evict the whole lot, who were enjoying the nice life up there.
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