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~1UTBY FREE MS i~DN~SDA~ JUI~Y 25~ 1990, PAG~ 7 PAGE SEVEN NATiVE IRONY Trhe sumrmer of OanadaIs discontentý is almost haif gone and ail the dire predictions of impending disintegration have simply dropped from the newswires. Only a mor4h ago w. watched as Quebecois danced through the streets on St. Jean Baptiste day clebrating their national holiday. We wvatched as Bourassa and Parizeau joined forces *ta announce the foriation of a special commission to study the future course of Quebec. We watched as Mulroney tried te nail the. blame for Meech's failure on Clyde Wells' forehead. But we also watched as native Canadians rejoiced that they were the ones that kiiled Meech Lake, While Wells cried -foui, the. natives wanted to be blamed - they yearned for the centre-stage attention that the constitutional talks had denied themn. How ironic, then, that Indian niilitancy should bail over in Quebec itself - Quebecs the province more than any other that insisted that its concerne took precedence over ail others including native Canadians. How ironie that Quebec probably could have had Meech Lake if it had siniply agreed to include a few bland phrases about native and women's righta. Na tive canadians can nio longer be marginalized. The approach of Canadian governmenta for hundreds of years has been tao buy themn off with trinkets and high-sounding phrases. Natives have diacovered in the last ten years that the only way ta get the government's undivided attention is confrontation. Sa when federal Indian Affaira miniater Tom Siddon says h. will not negotiate until the natives! relinquish their arma, heIs whiastling Dixie. Why would theyl relinquish the tool that got them the attention in the fSet ple4e? IIHoW ironie that the. governiment is backed in1to a corner and negotiating with a gun ta, its head. As one Indiýn pointed out, thgt's how the governiment lias been used to, deahng with natives ... but from the other end of the gun. *Canada's natives are continuaily underestimated. The blockade at Oka has been there since Mardi and despite warnings that efforts to remove the blockade would b. met with force, the Quebec provincial police moved in to, "enforce the law." Did they really think the Mohawks would meit into the foreat from whence they came? Because of theI rose miscalculation, a police officer is diead, the. blockae is rinforced by several hundred thousand dollars worth of amashed police vehicles, the Mercier bridgeinta Montreal is closed and positions have hardened. o longer wiil the purchase of a few acres of land solve the problem.. The Quebec and federal govermnents have u nwittingly put the Indians in control of the constitutional agenda. How ironie that Quebec and Ottawa, who were so intransigent about dealing with Quebec's conèerns first, may find themselves allied once more. in pushing native concerna. This confrontation may b. remembered as the first test of Quebec's "nationhood." As Quebec separatiat leader Jaques Parizeau said in an address recently ta, a gathering of Indian« chefs, "The world will b. watching as Quebec becomes a sovereign country. We will b. judged on our treatment of niinorities so0 we will b. forced ta deal swiftly and thoroughly with the. concerna of the. Firat Nations." These words from the lips of the man who led the fight ta exclude English from commercial signa. Tolerance of the Engliah minority bas net been one cf his leading causes. <How..Queb.c treats its English minority is gaing ta b. far more. important than haw it treats its natives. Quebec would find that its signi law places it in the intalerant bush.leagues of banang republica - I doubt if there is any country i the world which regulates and restricts the use cf language on comercial signa ta the same degree.) The. figt cf the Mohawks is the. fighit cfa minoities » if the Indians, our firet citizens cen b. weiked upon, tien no minority is immune. At a demonstration at the Manitoba legilature, the Indians were jained by an equal number fi=m black, asan and European nationalities. The federal gavernment lias made it clear that the stand-off in Oka is for Quebec ta salve - wbicii is simply a nice way df staying eut Of a can't win situation. Certainly, though, Quebec is playig its carde exceedingly badly. The. Quebec economy is built ieavily> around hydro-electric powe andit is a]ready trying teo aeilth power <(i the United S ta)fo a mammoth new James Bay power project, most cfit on native territory. Queb.c lias a reputation df only negotiating with the natives when it .wents someýthin. The last land dlaims settiement which tiey nýetiaed beck i 1975 was ne exeto. It111-owed-2he u ebec+à%vrnment a uid6th SWINTER O F DREWPS 10E CfflEAM PARIR C. 1931 A popular spot ini the summer was Drew's Restaurant~ on the north aide of Dundas Street west of Brock. Hazel Rogers is- standing behind the marble-topped counter. Signs advertising Coca Cola and Canada Dry ginger aie can b. smen on the walls. WfAwInhk 10 TZARS AGO from the Wdnsda, July 23, 1980 edition of the WDIyFRER PR8 * Nineteen-year-old Diana Johansen is the 1980 County Town Carnival Queen. e The 110-year-old AUl Saints' Pàrish Hall will be demnohshed. e FIrestone workers ame llghting for pension rights folowing the cloeing of the Whitby factory. e loyd Whiteway wil open the Stardust Dinner Theatre i the oid Faith Baptiat Church in September. 25 TZARS AGO from the Wededy, July 22, 19 6o f the e Whitby firefighters risked their lives ta extinguish a gasoline tanker truck fire on Hfighway 401. a Removal of building restrictions north cf Beech Street will likely lead ta a housing construction boom. e Broolin farmer W. F. Batty has received a lifetime milk production certificate for une of bis dairy cows. a Miss Colleen Blair is WitWs new Victorian Order of Nurses representative. 125 TZARS AGO from the Thmudy, July 20, 1865 edition of the WHIRI'Y CHRONICLE a The Whitby Mechanics' Institute is planning a boat excursion te, Niagara Feus. a A picnic for the pupils of a the town echools wiil b. held at Lynddes woods, north of the race track, today. e A reaping match will lie held by the Ontario County Agricultural Society on James Drydenls farm near Brooklin next week. a The harvest will be good this year, with a yield of 60 bushels of barley ta the acr. = - .~ ~ 1 - - - - - - - - - - à