From One Indigenous Peoples To Another...

"As Anishinaabe, we are troubled by the expressions of hatred against Jews and Zionists, and the disappointing ignorance, fuelled by misinformation coming from universities."

"Ignorance about the indigeneity of the Jewish people in the region that is Israel. Ignorance about the values that Israel, as a democracy, stands for -- as imperfect as it is. Ignorance about the rights and responsibilities Israel has as a nation state and member of the United Nations. Ignorance about Zionism -- its compatibility with Palestinian self-determination, a two-state solution, and the fact that the vast majority of Jewish people identify with Israel. Ignorance about the current reconciliation efforts of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. Ignorance about our shared  history and the intentions of our original relationship."

"And how quickly the sadistic savagery of Hamas's invasion of Israel and its promises to repeat October 7 again and again and again are forgotten."

Harry Laforme, Karen Restoule, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation; Dokis First Nation

Anti Israel protesters rally at the University of Toronto’s Convocation Hall as the university’s deadline to remove the encampment has passed, Monday May 27, 2024. Photo by Peter J. Thompson /National Post

Karen Restoule specializes in public affairs, and with her law degree she is a vice-president with Crestview Strategy, honourary witness to Hamas's October 7 attack suffered by Israel. Harry Laforme is a retired appellate court judge, and practising lawyer. They submitted their impressions of the recent takeover of Canadian university grounds by pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters, on unceded First Nations territory and their outrage at the protestors' bald assertions that First Nations are in support of their slanders against Israel and intimidation campaign against Canadian Jews.

 

For them the land in question has a spiritual essence that calls out to Canada's Indigenous population as the original inhabitants of the great land mass called Canada: "All relations with Indigenous peoples need to be based on the recognition and implementation of their right to self-determination", which universities claim to recognize, respecting rights and Treaties governing authentic First Nations lands. "The Land has spiritual essence and we are its custodians", a reality of "duty to consult" when Treaty Lands are used. 

Their written submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights Study of Antisemitism notes the fact that on the Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation six universities are positioned and that universities recognize the Indigenous peoples whose territory it is they occupy. Universities display fidelity to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, express awareness of Indigenous presence and land rights but often fail to respect the Treaties that govern the lands, as they have latterly been doing in permitting, without consultation of their Indigenous partners, the occupation of areas falling within the lands, for a purpose insulting to and opposed by them.

Of the six universities on Treaty Lands, five host encampments without having consulted the MCFN, where encampment occupiers along with pro-Palestinian protesters have taken control in illegal actions, excluding Jewish and Zionist students and faculty, limited their access to Treaty Lands and threatening them. The evident hatefulness of exclusion, bigotry, harassment, antisemitism, lawlessness and unadulterated antipathy are offensive to the values of the Treaty Land owners on their sacred land who are affronted by the level of lawlessness on full display.

The narratives of false history, rampant slander, and fiction posing as fact to delegitimize Israel and its historical claims of ancestry vastly predating by millennia any slender claims made by former Egyptian migrants to Palestine, as the original 'Palestinians' are offensive both to reason, and truthful history. Their goal of isolating and spreading hate against Jews offend the concept of equal human rights. To the Indigenous peoples of Canada the proponents of hate's use of sacred ceremonies like lighting of a Sacred Fire, smudging, drumming by activists in encampments on university campuses are beyond the pale in misappropriation of another culture.

The accusations of "colonizer", "settler", and "decolonize" as part of the slanderous public relations machinery of those who celebrate the Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians to justify terror, kidnapping, rape and massacres are anathema to humanity's most core values of civilization. "These words are used to assert revolutionary violence 'by any means necessary' and that 'all forms of resistance', are justified. ... We unequivocally reject these assertions and any allyship with those who hold such views", the authors of the submission wrote in justifiable outrage.

 

Supporters walk past a sign at the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on UQAM University campus, in Montreal, on May 27. Photo by Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press

"We, as Anishinaabe Zionists, are made to feel unwelcome on our Treaty Lands by treaty scofflaws and encampment occupiers, who self describe as part of the current colonial regime that marginalizes and oppresses Indigenous peoples -- us. Perhaps, they should begin an examination of the illogic of their own activities on our ancestral Treaty Lands."

"Our Treaty partners must enforce the law and codes of conduct on campuses and communities across the country Codes of conduct consistent with the Treaties and The Seven Sacred Teachings should be developed."

"The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism must be applied by all who fall within areas of federal oversight, influence, and authority. Indigenous people should be consulted with, about how Treaty Lands will be used. Universities must stop the false narratives. Facts, reality, truth -- not fiction, feelings and ideology -- should be taught."

Harry Laforme,  Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations

Karen Restoule, Dokis First Nation