As I was not limping when I got up on
Monday morning I felt like I was almost flying after fifteen days of painful
steps. During song practice I was not only able to stand balanced on both feet
but I could also dance again.
I
finished working out the chords to "Zig-Zig avec toi" by Serge
Gainsbourg and I ran through it in French. It’s a fun song to play.
I
tried to take a siesta from 9:30 to 11:00 but there was whole crew banging,
crashing and drilling downstairs. They had also brought a radio that was turned
up to maximum volume so they could hear above their hammers and electric
screwdrivers classics from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Sometimes I could feel someone
hammering centimetres below my head and I felt my bed jump a couple of times.
As
I was getting ready to leave for school I met Benji in the hallway. He said
that the workers downstairs have just started renovating the place for Popeyes.
But I could also hear my landlord through the floor working with his man and
talking in Sri Lankan. So maybe the demolition and the renovation are happening
at the same time.
It
was a much warmer day than I’d expected and so I was overdressed for my ride
downtown. I could have worn my spring gloves and one less scarf. I was able to
put the arch of my foot on the pedal now that the wooden spike had been pulled
out.
There
were three young women chatting in the lecture hall when I arrived. One of them
asked to use the other’s little scissors but she said that hers had been
confiscated by security at a Raptors game because they were considered to be a
weapon. After the game she tried to get them back but they told her that since
she’d surrendered them she couldn’t retrieve them.
As
he began the lecture White said he had a head cold that was really just allergies.
A head cold can’t be “really just allergies". You could have one or the
other or both but one can't be the other.
The
lecture was on the chapter on Health and Well-Being from Dale Belanger’s Ways
of Knowing.
It
begins with the case of Jordan Rivers Anderson from Norway House, Manitoba. He
was born with a rare muscular disorder and was in hospitals from birth. He was
transferred to Winnipeg for treatment. Doctors said he should be in a special
foster care home near Norway House but the federal and provincial governments
squabbled with one another over who was going to pay for Jordan’s treatment and
transportation. He died two years later in a Winnipeg hospital at the age of
five. His health care would have been paid for if he’d been white or off reserve.
In 2017 the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued a ruling called Jordan’s
Principle that states that whether provincial or federal, whichever health
service is approached first by an Indigenous person must provide them with
care. One service can work out reimbursement from the other after the treatment
if such issues arise.
Trudeau’s
turned Indigenous Affairs into two separate services. Indigenous Services now
covers health and had approved over 19,700 Jordan’s Principle cases by the end
of the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
Indigenous
people in Canada are denied basic health care.
My
research: The infant mortality rate on reserves is double the national average.
Life
expectancy fifteen years shorter among Inuit.
Suicide
rates among aboriginal youth are eleven times higher than the national average.
In
some communities the suicide rate of youth under fifteen is fifty times higher.
TB
occurs forty times more often on reserves.
Harper’s
government closed or cut funding for ten aboriginal health research
groups.
The
health inequality between Indigenous and white people is greater in Canada than
in the United States.
As
far as I have been able to uncover, health care is only free for US aboriginals
at special Indian Health Service facilities, which don’t always exist in urban
areas.
There
are assumptions on the part of health care workers that a sick Indigenous
person is an addict.
He
says food is twice as expensive in Canada and of poor quality.
The
expensive part is probably true but Canadian food tends to be of a higher
quality than in the States. The Canadian nutritional guidelines are better and
Canadians tend to make better choices. You have a better chance of eating
hormone free meat in a Canadian restaurant and there are stricter rules about
food ingredients in general here. I think White prefers junk food like chips
and pop and those kinds of food do taste better in the States because there’s
more unhealthy junk in them.
Campuses
are opening food pantries.
Diabetes
among Indigenous people has been epidemic for almost a hundred years.
A
2016 study showed that the lifetime risk of diabetes among male first nations
in Alberta is 20% higher than non-First Nations for men and 40% higher for
women. This means that eight out of ten First Nations people will get diabetes
in their life compared to five out of ten non First Nations people.
17.2%
of First Nations people on reserves have type-two diabetes. Diabetes prevalence
is three to five times higher than the general population. First Nations tend
to be affected by diabetes in middle age while for the general population it is
a disease of the elderly. Since First Nations women get diabetes during
reproductive age there is a greater chance of giving birth to children with
diabetes.
But
diabetes is only 2% higher in BC. It’s twice as high in Alberta but among the
James Bay Cree it’s 14% higher.
In
1940 diabetes was rare among the aboriginal population of North America. It
began to increase rapidly in 1950 and is now epidemic.
He
said there was a raid on Tyendinaga last night.
He
said Wet’suwet’en was also raided again this morning but I think he’s talking
about a rail blockade in Northern BC in support of Wet’suwet’en where fourteen
people were arrested.
There
are vigilantes calling for violence against peaceful protestors. I think he
means there are right wing groups on social media calling for vigilante attacks
on protestors. They aren’t really vigilantes if their actions only exist in
comment sections.
Everybody
thinks that Indigenous people cannot be social drinkers.
Indigenous
people do not metabolize alcohol differently than white people and they don’t
have a higher prevalence of known risk genes. The reasons for more incidences
of alcoholism among Indigenous people are related to poverty and trauma.
Most
accept that European diseases killed off 85% of the Indigenous population.
By
the late 1500s the Spanish had brought diseases that spread north before the
French, Dutch and English arrived. The diseases affected the densely populated
areas of Mesoamerica more than the nomadic tribes of the north because they
would only wipe out small groups that were isolated from one another.
The
coronavirus is changing.
The
coronavirus can morph quickly from mild to deadly.
Weaponized
smallpox in blankets.
During
Pontiac’s uprising in 1763 Fort Pitt was being besieged. Among the settlers
taking shelter in the fort smallpox had broken out. When two chiefs came to the
fort to negotiate peace they were given two blankets and a handkerchief from
the smallpox hospital.
Indigenous
people helped Europeans with scurvy.
What
has caused diabetes among Indigenous people? Indigenous people lack the enzymes
to break down flour, sugar, lactose and white rice. Traditional food sources
were wiped out, reserve life caused health problems, and ceremonies were
suppressed.
Obesity
is high among Indigenous people in the States.
Obesity
rates among First Nations of Canada tend to be higher on reserve than off
except in Alberta where they are either the same or lower. The average obesity
rate among Indigenous people in Canada is about 18% higher than non-Indigenous
people.
In
the States the Indigenous obesity rate 30% higher among adolescents and 50%
higher among adults.
Healthy
food is expensive.
There
is a scientific basis for Indigenous medicine.
Aspirin
comes from willow bark. Indigenous people used it but so did Europeans before
contact.
He
spent a lot of the lecture talking about what he likes to eat and how he’s
unhealthy because he’s fat.
The
oldest living people maintained a garden. It provides healthy food and good
exercise.
He
says white corn digests more slowly and is healthier than sweet corn. In
general the only difference is pigment, but yellow corn has more beta-carotene,
which turns into vitamin A during digestion. Sweet corn is also an antioxidant.
He claims sweet corn has no nutritional value. He’s full of shit. Sweet corn is
rich in vitamins and nutrients.
We
are disconnected from our food.
He
talks about not having a microwave and that so much supermarket food is for the
microwave. I tell him that one can cook all microwavable food without the
microwave.
There
is always food at Indigenous gatherings but also dancing.
He
says the recommended eating times in North America are unnatural.
He
talks more about the food he likes like fiddleheads and bacon wrapped
asparagus.
He
related arguments he has with his dietician.
A
Tim Hortons large double double has six teaspoons of sugar.
Western medicine seeks to cure rather
than heal. Healing tries to get to the root of the problem. The question is
does it really get there or does it think it gets there?
The student who sits directly behind
me said that doctors stopped treating arthritis with diet because it was so
difficult to get people to change their eating habits.
There’s a pill for everything.
Indigenous communities accept the
mystery of things while western culture attempts to solve everything.
Health
problems can arise from troubled relationships. People panic because they
haven’t received a quick response on social media. We are distanced from one
another in the modern world. That doesn’t explain why people are healthier now
than they used to be.
He
asks how we interpret dreams. What if you dream someone is chasing you? It
means you wish to stay ahead and to have your problems behind you.
Poison
ivy is spread by mowing. The treatment for poison ivy is calamine lotion.
Someone showed him a plant that treats poison ivy. But he couldn’t find the
plant later. He says it was only after he asked permission, offered tobacco and
gave thanks that the plant revealed itself to him. The plant was playing hard
to get. I rolled my eyes so hard it caused an earthquake. He’s talking about
witch hazel, which if you know what it looks like and where it grows you can
find it without any hocus-pocus. It can’t make itself invisible to avoid you
because you are ungrateful.
If
you are healed you become part of the community of healing.
If
you take too much you disrupt the balance of things.
Chicken
pox was deadly at the time of first contact. He says chicken pox came from
chickens but there is no evidence of that. The name probably derived from
“Itching pox”.
Diseases
that can cross species include the bird flu, Lyme disease, AIDS, SARS, swine
flu and rabies.
The
student four rows back with the tattoos in her hands claimed TB comes from
slaughterhouses. Studies show that the original form appeared in cattle about
40,000 years ago and jumped to people that domesticated cattle in the Horn of
Africa about 10,000 years later.
He
claims Indigenous people did not domesticate animals. The Aztecs and Mayans
domesticated turkeys, ducks and dogs for food. The Incas domesticated llamas,
alpacas and guinea pigs.
People
plant corn too close and use GMOs. Some GMOs are to resist pesticides.
They
are planning to dump sewage in the St Lawrence near Montreal. They dumped it in
the late fall of 2018. Studies showed that not dumping it would be worse until
they fix their sewage treatment facilities. Studies also say that it will not
harm the fish population. They are pumping it deep in the river where it is too
cold to breed bacteria.
He
says most pipelines run through Indigenous communities. I can’t find any
confirmation that’s true.
Las
Vegas is powered by coal mined on and pumped from Indigenous land.
Treaties
are more important than the US Constitution. I think the exact wording is that
treaties are the supreme law of the land but they probably didn’t mean treaties
with Indigenous nations when they said that.
Canada’s
raids on Wet’suwet’en and Tyendinaga are in violation of UNDRIP.
Somebody
drove through a blockade but they were not charged.
If this is the guy that drove
through in Regina, it does not seem to have been a vigilante action. He saw a
gap between protesters and started through. When protesters surrounded his car
he got scared because his son was with him in the car and he just went through.
No one was injured.
If
it’s the situation when the truck driver slightly injured a protestor in
Manitoba, there may be charges after an investigation.
The
Mohawk maintaining blockades call themselves “Land protectors”.
The
tattooed student asked if it’s correct to say “Mohawk”. The Mohicans called the
Kanien’keha:ka “Maw Unk Lin” but the Dutch heard it as Mohawk. White says it’s
okay to say Mohawk.
I
would add every language has a different name for the people of other nations
that they’ve associated with for a long time. The Germans for example don’t
call themselves Germans.
Life
expectancy of Indigenous people in the United States is four years less than
the national average. In Canada it’s a little over five years less. But the
studies weren’t done in the same way.
He
talked more about his diet, his diabetes and his cravings.
The
tattooed student mentioned Indigenous women being water protectors. This
renewal of an Indigenous tradition came out of the Dakota Access Pipeline
protests and spread throughout North America to the locations of other
disputes.
She
said that she reports people for racist comments on social media all the time.
A
student further back says he was censored on Twitter and Instagram.
White
said some Indigenous people were censored on Twitter for quoting the term,
“Merciless Indian Savages” as it was used in the Declaration of
Independence.
On
Saturday February 21 in the town of Seneca Falls, New York, tribal law
enforcement officers acting on the orders of Cayuga First Nation leader Clint
Halftown came in with guns drawn and bulldozed a daycare centre, a store, a
school and several other buildings controlled by tribe members led by clan
mothers that oppose his leadership on the reserve. The properties that were
destroyed were occupied four years ago by the clan mothers group. Halftown is
the federally recognized leader but the Great Law states that clan mothers have
the power to select or remove chiefs. Halftown inherited leadership after the
death of the previous chief in 2004 but clan mothers selected their own chiefs
and claimed Halftown was stripped of power. When those opposed to Halftown’s
leadership tried to vote him out in 2005 the Bureau of Indian Affairs said not
enough people voted and so he stayed in power.
There
were only five students in tutorial.
I
complained that the course should be pointing out the difference between
Indigenous health care and regular health care. Safia seems to think it would
take an entire course to do that. But I found that Indigenous people use
provincial health care but can also access a plan for prescription drugs
through the federal government. It only gets complicated for conditions or
health needs not covered by provincial plans.
Safia
said that because of limited time we would only get five minutes each for our
media presentations and so we were not to read our entire papers.
The
WHO recognizes colonization as a cause of Indigenous health problems such as
low life expectancy, diabetes and heart disease. These health problems would
not exist if they could still be hunter-gatherers.
In
the 2011 census 28.9% of Indigenous people had no secondary school compared to
12.1 non-Indigenous. My research shows that the percentage of Indigenous people
with high school diplomas is almost the same as non-Aboriginal people. About
half of Indigenous people between 25 and 64 had postsecondary qualification.
14,4% had trade certificates, 20.3% had a college diploma and 26.5% had a
university degree.
Housing
for the James Bay Cree in Attawapiskat First Nation is like that of a third
world country. They have to live in trailers with holes in them. 85% of homes
have been officially declared unfit for human habitation. By contrast the Cree
on the Quebec side are thriving.
Safia
said her first jobs in Canada involved telephone work. She worked for the
Liberal party asking people whom they were voting for. She also asked people
their annual income and one Indigenous man said he made $3000 a year.
A
little over half of Indigenous people off reserve are employed.
The
death rates of Indigenous children from unintentional injuries are three to
four times higher.
Suicide
rates for First Nations are five to seven times higher. It’s actually three
times higher.
Suicide
rates for Inuit youth are eleven times higher than the national average.
The
Medicine Chest Clause was only in Treaty Six.
Healing
ceremonies were barred.
Self-determination
is the key.
An
environmental group claims De Beers failed to report mercury poisoning in water
from their mine.
I
volunteered to go first in our media presentations. I told Safia I have
training in public speaking from having been a panhandler. She asked if the
cops ever arrested me. I said they couldn’t arrest me for begging and so they
planted drugs on me. She said, “Now you know what the cops are like!” I
responded, “Now I know? I’ve known for a long time!”
I
stopped at Freshco on my way home where I bought a bag of cherries, four bags
of grapes, a pint of strawberries, and a carton of soymilk.
I
had a late lunch of cold pork souvlaki and yogourt.
I
took an hour-long siesta.
I
worked on typing my lecture notes.
I
grilled four chicken legs and had one for dinner with a potato and gravy while
watching the second made-for-TV Zorro movie of 1961.
This
story begins with Cuchillo and his men trying to stage another nighttime
robbery in Los Angeles but Zorro foils them again. The next day Diego goes to
the tavern where he sits with Cuchillo, who begins sketching him. He draws
Diego in Zorro’s mask and hat. Bernardo “accidentally” ruins the drawing with
food before anyone can see it. He also accidentally gets food in the face of
one of Cuchillo’s men, who wants satisfaction. Diego says he is responsible for
Bernardo and so he fights and beats the man. Later Cuchillo and his men rob the
tavern and ride out of town. Garcia and his men give chase but Cuchillo and his
men double back to Los Angeles where they try again to steal but Zorro stops
them and duels with Cuchillo until the soldiers come. Later Cuchillo and his
men occupy the home of Diego and his father. Cuchillo says that either Diego or
Alejandro has to remain in a chair at all times as insurance. Garcia comes to
tell Diego that the ship from Boston has arrived with the money for the hides.
Cuchillo has Diego and Alejandro tied up and leaves Chato to guard them as he
leaves with his men to steal the money. He tells Chato that when he hears his
gunshot he can kill them both. The shot is fired but as Chato prepares to kill
them Bernardo rattles the door of the secret passage. As Chato investigates
Bernardo pulls him through and knocks him out. Diego and his father are freed
and Zorro goes after Cuchillo. The wagon carrying the money is stolen but Zorro
gets it back and drives it to Los Angeles. Cuchillo follows and they duel
again. Cuchillo is knocked out by a falling ladder. The next day Cuchillo’s men
are all sent ahead to Mexico so Cuchillo can’t lead them. Cuchillo is then
escorted on horseback with his hands tied behind him. Chulita exits the tavern
and Don Alejandro goes to console her. She says, “Pardon me but I must not be
late” and then she goes to stand in the middle of the street. Alejandro is
puzzled since there is no stage due. Suddenly Cuchillo, with his hand free
comes riding up and sweeps her onto his horse. Later as Cuchillo and Chulita
are riding along Zorro drops a rope around both of them. He leads them to a
shrine where a priest is standing with an open Bible. Zorro says, “A married
man does not have time to be a bandito.” Cuchillo says, “This is not what I had
in mind!” Then he gives up and kisses Chulita.
Chulita
was played by Rita Moreno, who is one of the few performers to have won an
Oscar (for West Side Story), an Emmy (for The Muppet Show and The Rockford
Files), a Tony (for The Ritz) and a Grammy for The Electric Company Album). She
said Marlon Brando was a better lover than Elvis. I could have guessed that.
