Regarding Christina Blizzard's response to criticism of her column on Caledonia, "Caledonia: I am no racist," March 13, I have a few counterpoints to make.

My comment "ignorance is not racism, but racism has its roots in ignorance" was not directed specifically towards Blizzard. It was a statement of fact that I stand behind.

I did challenge Blizzard's knowledge and understanding of the Caledonia situation. I stand by that statement as well, now more so than ever.

My statements regarding the unrelinquished sovereignty of the people of Six Nations remain unchallenged by Blizzard, instead she wants to focus on individual incidents, many of which occurred during the tensest of times in Caledonia, two summers ago.

I didn't read anywhere in the mainstream media about the elderly couple heading to the Six Nations Bread and Cheese Day celebrations that was attacked by an angry mob of Caledonians. Nothing about how they were surrounded and subjected to all manner of racist remarks as the mob threatened to turn the vehicle over.

By the way, Buck Spittal, owner of a very popular Six Nations crafts shop, the driver of the vehicle, was the only one charged in the incident. Charges were eventually dropped when an independent journalist (Tim Sywyk) submitted video footage of the incident to the court proving beyond any doubt that he was the victim of the attack, not the perpetrator. Did The Sun get pictures of that incident? Was Blizzard there that day? I was.

I don't recall Blizzard, or The Sun for that matter, reporting on three acts of arson perpetrated against natives over the past few months, during the most quiet of times. Was Blizzard there on any of those occasions? I was.

Could it be that the reason retail business is down in Caledonia is a result of the fact that 11,000 people of Six Nations who used to shop there don't anymore because of the attitudes of some within that community, and not because out-of-town patrons are afraid to shop there as Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer and others insist?

By the way, Ms. Blizzard, there was no toppled hydro tower. The tower that was used to form a barricade against mobs of Caledonians on the May 24 weekend of 2006 was dragged from where it was sitting on the ground, waiting to be installed. If all you know is what Gary McHale or John Tory tell you, it's no wonder you are confused.

Regarding jurisdiction? There are dozens of native men and women currently going through Cayuga court who are facing a variety of charged relative to incidents surrounding the reclamation of what they feel is stolen land. No native is getting away with anything as Blizzard suggests.

But the most troublesome remarks in Thursday's column involves Blizzard's disconnect between history and what the people of Caledonia and Six Nations face today. She says that we should forget about past injustices and move on. What if those past injustices include the theft of hundreds of thousands of acres of Six Nations' land? Just get over it?

Will you tell Holocaust survivors or families of the victims, "Oh, get over it. That was a long time ago."

The genocidal practices and policies of our government should never be swept under the carpet.

Any suggestion that drawing attention to our government's racist policies, past and present, makes one less of a Canadian is ridiculous. It's because I am a proud Canadian that patronizing and Anglo-arrogant attitudes in Ottawa and Queen's Park stand out as much as they do to me. I want my country to come clean and do the right thing. But, "my country right or wrong?" No. I reject that thought.

How many Canadians know that both the apartheid movement in South Africa and Hitler's Final Solution of the "Jewish problem" were birthed in Ottawa, using Canada's policies in dealing with the "Indian problem" as a template? Don't believe me? Check it out and you will find that to be as true as the continued assimilation policies of today.

Three years ago every politician in Ontario was at Six Nations to stand before news cameras with statements of outrage that the drinking water conditions on much of this country's most populous reserve was as bad as in Third World countries.

"It's another Walkerton waiting to happen," said one politician to throng of television cameras.

Then came the grand announcement of $10 million to fix the problem and it slipped off the pages of the newspapers and out of the public eye. Three years later, the $10 million cheque is still in the mail and the people of Six Nations are still boiling their drinking water. Oh, but that was three years ago, what about today?

When the legal title of the very land being discussed at the table between the federal, provincial and Six Nations governments is parcelled off and sold to developers before a judgment can be made on whose land it actually is, I can't get too warm and fuzzy over the present "people of goodwill" Blizzard talks about. It's as illegal as selling a leased car or a stolen Picasso.

That's not 1924. That's 2008. Get over it? Indeed.

I'll let former Brantford Mayor Chris Friel deal with his own issues with Ms. Blizzard.

Jim Windle

Brantford

Jim Windle is a non-native journalist and amateur historian working for the Tekawennake native newspaper in Six Nations.

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