Although it is modestly satisfying to see Nathan Giede fess up to his one-sided and biased commentary on Justin Trudeau hitherto, his latest screed maintains the ahistorical blinkers of neoconservatism in failure to acknowledge the central role, historically and today, of colonialism.
This deficit may, in fact, arise from his surprising - for a young fellow - invective straight out of the McCarthy era, when calling those with a different view, Marxists, really carried some heft. Today, it is an obsolete insult, that only reveals outmoded, ill-informed thinking.
Nathan's fulminations against the use of the term colonialism is strangely used to go preaching about what is good or not for "his people."
Pathetic.
All that is illustrated is why "his people" (presumably First Nations and Metis) never have and never will turn to his likes as a spokesperson.
It is fitting that the day after Nathan's latest column, a real indigenous leader (who was actually selected to speak for First Nations), Terry Teegee, waded in, in the Citizen's pages, about splitting INAC.
This, in contrast to whatever Nathan says, is something worth reading.
Contemporary indigenous leaders who have the moral and political authority to speak for First Nations are using colonialism ever more widely, not only to acknowledge history but to call attention to how it is alive and well in 21st century Canada.
Colonialism is the occupation and dominance by foreigners of land never willlingly ceded by the original occupants. It has little or nothing to do with Marx (though Marx certainly had his views on the phenomenon).
Only when settler Canada understands colonialism and its persistence will reconciliation be possible.
Norman Dale
Prince George
