The CBC, by airing a highly biased diatribe by Ashley Callingbull, 2015’s Mrs. Universe and an aboriginal woman, once again demonstrates why the majority of Canadians have stopped watching or listening to CBC as a legitimate broadcaster of news or opinion.
As usual, CBC host Rosemary Barton ignores and fails to mention the many and varied internal structural and cultural causes of aboriginal problems. Because that would be politically incorrect, and God forbid, balanced and impartial political reporting and commentary. It would also undermine the Liberal Trudeau and NDP Mulcair narrative that the plight of the native Indians is all Harper’s fault and the lack of billions of billions of more taxpayer dollars.
Because according to this recently crowned beauty crown – and now newly crowned CBC political pundit – it is all the fault of Stephen Harper. In other words, aboriginal problems will be improved with a new government – and, by the way, an injection of billions and billions of more Canadian dollars into the pockets of native Indian chiefs which should not be accounted for. Because native Indians are owed more of Canadians’ hard-earned money, but asking for a financial accounting is disrespectful.
Numerous objective RCMP and police studies indicate that over 70% of murders of aboriginal women are carried out by aboriginal men. Should not First Nations people take responsibility for what is going on in their own communities? Why should the Canadian people support another study costing millions and millions of taxpayer money, when the primary fault for the death and disappearance of aboriginal women is aboriginal men?
This native Indian beauty queen confessed to being sexually abused from an early age, presumably by a native Indian family member or aboriginal man or men in her community. Obviously this predates Harper’s administration, but of course this is Harper’s fault, not the individual or individuals who did these terrible things, or her own family and community which permitted this sexual abuse.
Also what is wrong with First Nation bands accounting for how Canadian taxpayers funds are used? Is it right that some band chiefs earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, a year (one chief earned over a million dollars a year, without the knowledge of the people on his reserve,) well in excess of what is reasonable for any responsible political leader in Canada?
No amount of money will solve housing, water, health and educational issues on reserves in certain isolated areas. You can dump another $6 billion dollars in these reserves and the problems will persist. It is not a lack of funds, but there are other more fundamental causes at play here, which are obvious to most Canadians.
The majority of Canadians are not stupid. The majority of Canadians believe that the problems of First Nations did not start with Stephen Harper and will not end or even be improved or changed with a new NDP or Liberal government.
And the CBC, in uncritically providing a forum for Ashley Callingbull, demonstrates once again why it has lost the respect and support of the majority of Canadians as a legitimate and objective broadcaster. Like our natives, the CBC suffers from serious structural and internal cultural matters, endemic to its organization. An injection of millions of dollars of Canadians’ hard-earned money will not revive a dying institution nor encourage Canadians to come back and tune in to this failed institution.
Mitch Wolfe: The Playful Contrarian 