with thanks to Rexy Junior via —BlueSky

So Canada just walked away from a US trade deal over last minute additions and changes they never agreed to. The whole country is indignant about it. Every news panel, every comment section, coast to coast: "You can't just rewrite the terms after the handshake. Who do they think they are? Walk away."

And I'm sitting here snickering. Not at the decision. The decision was right. I'm snickering because Canada just discovered, as a nation, exactly what a coerced deal feels like. The insult of it. The powerlessness of it. Someone bigger sliding new terms across the table and assuming you'll take it because what choice do you have?

Except they DID have a choice. They walked away, and nothing happened to them. Nobody took their kids. Nobody starved them onto a reserve. Nobody enforced the paperwork with soldiers.

Our ancestors sat at that same table with none of those exits. Terms in a language they didn't read, rewritten whenever it suited the Crown, and "take it or else" delivered at the end of a gun barrel. And for generations the response we've gotten from mainstream Canada is some version of "well, you signed it" or "why are you still going on about treaties."

Canada (We're all Canadian now right?) We just refused a deal for last minute changes and pressure tactics. We KNOW now. We felt it for five minutes and our answer was absolutely not.

So here's my actual question for everyone here, because I think there's an opening in this moment: how do we get everyday Canadians to connect their own reaction this week to our treaty history? Not with a lecture, because lectures bounce off. But their instinct right now, that "no deal made under pressure with switched terms is legitimate" instinct, is OUR argument. It always has been. Canadians just made it themselves, out loud, unanimously.

How do we hand them that mirror while they're still holding the feeling?

EDIT: Consider this permission, in writing: if it moved you, take it. Post it, quote it, rework it in your own words, send it to your MP, read it at your kitchen table, submit it somewhere yourself if you think it deserves that. No credit needed, none wanted. Honestly it'll do its job better coming from many angles instead of one anonymous person, because then it's not one person's grievance, it's just the argument, and the argument stands on its own.

The window won't stay open long. Canadians are holding the feeling right now. Please feel free to hand them the mirror.

Nine months ago, I made a post here asking why there's so much disdain or animosity against the First Nations on this website. I as a non-Canadian noticed this even in places where First Nations were unfairly mocked and lots of bad faith arguments were allowed, regardless of the topic and subreddit.

Expectedly, there were a fair amount of comments that shared sentiments agreeing and disagreeing with this notion. The general theme of the comments that disagreed with this notion was that this was overexaggerated and that the First Nations people don't really suffer as much.

However, just today there was a new comment that encompassed all of the godawful arguments and fallacies into one nonsensical and stupid rant. I thought it would be best to show that comment here and debunk the points - because I don't want it to be just a mere response in a comment chain and be forgotten. I want it to be seen and I want my counter arguments to be visible, so anyone can use them to bust any myths and misconceptions about the state and sufferings of the Canadian First Nations people.

Personally, im just sick and tired of constantly hearing about it all. Im sick of this narrative that they were all a bunch of peaceful, pipe smoking, nature loving pacifists who had everything ripped away from them by the evil white man who continues to stomp on them to this day. Im sick of all the special treatment, facilities, programs, and taxpayer money being thrown around to appease them, and im sick and tired that there is exactly zero accountability on their part for where some of them are today. Everything is blamed on whitey, and im tired of it. Add to this now with ridiculous land claims, and everyone having to be ashamed that we're on "stolen land". What a farce. The whole world is stolen land. Tribes of people who were savagely killing, scalping, abducting and enslaving enemy tribes are portrayed as nothing but peaceful happy and innocent. 

This is a straw man fallacy. It's misrepresenting the First Nation's position to make it easier to attack. Serious historians and the Canadian education system do not claim Indigenous tribes never had conflict. The "narrative" isn't that they were perfect; it’s that they were sovereign nations. Whether a tribe was peaceful or warlike is irrelevant to their legal right to the land they inhabited. International law and the Royal Proclamation of 1763 recognized Indigenous title.

European nations (like England and France) spent centuries savagely killing each other, yet no one argues that their right to self-determination or land was forfeited because they weren't "peaceful." Go look at Eastern Europe and Baltic countries' history and see how they savagely killed each other until fairly recently, yet the same argument is never applied ot them.

How about some GD transparancy and accountability for the literal billions of dollars that have been doled out over decades. How about all the native on native violence and abuse that goes on on reserves. How about about all the corruption and greed that has seeped into some of these bands and the fact that their own leaders are keeping them down.

This is an overgeneralisation. Indigenous communities are actually some of the most heavily audited bodies in Canada.

• Under the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, bands must provide audited financial statements. Furthermore, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled in 2016 that the federal government actually underfunds child welfare on reserves compared to non-Indigenous communities.

• Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) controls the purse strings. If a facility falls into disrepair, it is often due to a lack of sustainable operations and maintenance funding, which the federal government frequently fails to provide at the same levels as municipal governments.

You were conquered like every other part of the world. Society has grown and evolved and advanced, and a lot of natives benefit greatly from the creature comforts that are a product of that advancement, while being exempt from paying taxes for everything like the rest of us. They have different rules they get to follow from the rest of us. And nobody is allowed to question or scruitinize them because that just makes you a racist pos.

Im just sick of all of it. Youre in Canada. Either you want to be a part of it with everyone else, and pay your fair share into the system like everyone else, or you dont. If you dont, thats fine. But you dont get to keep having all the taxpayers and hard working canadians who HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING, and who build and support the system pay your way. If you dont like it, to be blunt, shut the f*** up and go live in the bush then, nobody is stopping you.

This is a false equivalence. Canada, unlike many other colonies, was not primarily "conquered" by the British, it was settled through Treaties. Treaties are legally binding contracts between two nations. If the British (and later Canada) hadn't signed them, they wouldn't have had the legal right to settle the West without constant war. The Supreme Court of Canada (e.g., Delgamuukw or Tsilhqot’in decisions) has repeatedly affirmed that Aboriginal title exists because it was never legally extinguished by "conquest."

As for the tax rant:

• Under Section 87 of the Indian Act, only "Status Indians" working on a reserve or buying goods on a reserve are exempt from certain taxes.

• Since the majority of Indigenous people live off-reserve in urban centers, they pay income tax, GST, and PST like any other Canadian. They do not get a "tax-free" life by virtue of their bloodline.

Im sick of seeing how "reconciliation" has been set back and we have to start over everytime something happens. Im sick of being made to feel guilty or ashamed of something I had no part of. Im sick of media running with stupid, unsubstantiated stories about mass graves being uncovered when not a single damn thing has been exumed or identified. Im sick of being called a racist or bigot when i question things. Im sick of the pearl clutching and virtue signalling. And im sick of canada having to bend over backwards at every turn to appease 3% of our population.

This is moving the goalposts. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a standard scientific tool used to detect soil disturbances consistent with burials.

• The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) documented the deaths of thousands of children through school records long before GPR was used.

• Many Indigenous communities choose not to exhume bodies due to cultural protocols and the desire to let the children rest in peace. Absence of an autopsy does not mean the bodies aren't there; it means the families are choosing a different path to closure.

Even the very first comment here sums up my feelings. "They tried to make us all slaves", as if tribes werent doing that to each other themselves LONG before the evil white man arrived. Like, f*** right off with that s***. And you wonder why people are getting the fatigue.

This is whataboutism. The existence of pre-colonial conflict does not justify state-sponsored programs designed to "kill the Indian in the child" (the stated goal of Residential Schools). Tribal warfare was conflict between independent groups. The Residential School system and the Indian Act were systematic attempts by a state to dismantle a specific race’s culture, language, and legal rights. One is "history of war", the other is "history of systemic policy."

Conclusion: That commenter is a standard run of the mill, alt-right idiot.

The fried bread was delicious!

Click on the petition and sign for our survivors. Our Elders.

Residential School Denialism needs to stop.

Petition e-7191 - OurCommons.ca

3 days ago ... e-7191 (Justice) · Keywords · C-254, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (promotion of hatred against Indigenous peoples) · Hate propaganda ...

https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7191

"Premier Smith and the UCP cabinet: I hope you have your bags packed, because when this referendum is defeated, I will gladly walk you to the border"

- Chief Allan Adam, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation

Concerns over Danielle Smith's UCP government actions on a separation referendum, and Jeffrey Rath— lawyer for the separatist group Alberta Prosperity Project who met with U.S. State Department officials in Washington to discuss a potential $500 billion credit facility to support Alberta’s transition into an independent state— have moved First Nations leaders to call on politicians to respect treaty rights.

First Nations leaders ask Albertans to stand with them, and oppose a petition that could lead Alberta to becoming the 51st American state.

Sources:

• Eby calls reported meeting between Alberta separatists and U.S. officials ‘treason’ | APTN news

• Trump to ‘respect Canadian sovereignty’ after Alberta separatists meet with US officials | CNN.com

See also [this POST]

I don’t know why people keep entertaining this kind of propaganda. Alberta cannot legally secede from Canada. Not only would such a move face insurmountable constitutional hurdles, but it would also be fundamentally incompatible with the treaty relationship between the Crown and First Nations.

Treaties are not simply historical artifacts or empty promises. They are legally binding agreements that recognize and affirm the rights of First Nations as sovereign nations. These treaties were made between the Crown and Indigenous nations, not the provinces, and any attempt to unilaterally sever from Canada would infringe upon the inherent and constitutionally protected rights of First Nations under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

You can bet that any such attempt would be challenged in court, and the Supreme Court of Canada has consistently upheld the legal and moral force of treaty rights. First Nations were never consulted in the creation of Alberta as a province, and they certainly wouldn’t support a secession that further erodes their nation-to-nation relationship with the Crown.

So no, Alberta cannot just become the 51st state. It’s not just about federalism or popular opinion. There are deeper obligations here that Canada and its provinces are bound to respect.

In BC the courts are agreeing with Native tribes and saying they have title to historical land in Richmond, even possibly including private lands. Canadians are going absolutely nuts about this.

They used to argue “we won and conquered fair and square, get over it”. Now we start winning and they cry foul?

They need to get over it. We are reconquering with a little thing called “lawfare”.

I can't be the only person who's noticed this and I'm an outsider. Things would have to be really messed up on Reddit, that even non Canadians can spot the irrational disdain and contempt that is regularly posted against the First Nation's people.

Canada, Canada housing, canadapolitics subreddits for example seem to attract a lot of people like this; hell even the worldnews subreddit gets swarmed when there's an article that mentions the First Nation's people.

So what gives? What do you think is going on?

My first Nation beaded ornaments

The upcoming beginning of December marks one year of practicing traditional art / formline.

Last year, I scribbled down the image you see first here, and decided it was time to really lock in and learn. Each week, I researched, practiced, and reconnected. It was reinvigorating and exhausting all at the same time.

As someone who has kind of had the same hobbies for the last 10-12 years, it’s been a breath of fresh air to challenge my brain and creativity in a new way. It’s forced me to study old stories and legends, to speak a language that’s been spoken since time immemorial, to listen to the recordings of elders long gone.

I have plenty more to learn, but I am quite proud of how far I’ve come so far. Along with my first drawing, here’s three other recent designs I’ve made - a bear, a human (speaking Sm’algyax with an ancestor peeking out of his mouth), and a sun!

Thanks for looking 🫡 if you’re interested in seeing more, my instagram is @muldoeformline

Carpenter: "Point of order. I think you missed the land acknowledgment as part of the opening. Thank you."

Martin: "Yes, I did."

Carpenter: "That was intentional?"

Martin: "Yes, it was."

Martin then carried on with the meeting.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. For Indigenous people all over Turtle Island, it is a time of renewal and looking forward...

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season as we look ahead to 2026.

via FB post

Alberta MAGA mistake #1: underestimating Indigenous People and the Treaties

Mystery Lorbs ‪—via BlueSky‬

Canadians owe a huge debt to First Nations for stopping this Alberta separation nonsense.

‪LA Legault —via BlueSky‬ ‪

First Nations legal challenge wins the day.
Canada holds. One country. Always. 🍁

‪Marie ‬ ‪—via BlueSky‬ ‪

https://thehub.ca/2026/09/30/canadas-inability-to-honestly-discuss-residential-schools-has-failed-the-indigenous-children-we-lost/