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Valeurs et culture

Thank you for participating in the Dialogue on Foreign Policy. The interactive web site is now closed. The Minister's report will appear on this web site once it is released.

Ce forum est bilingue, et les participants peuvent rédiger leurs commentaires dans la langue de leur choix.

We're all in the same WHOLE!

Participant: Jibongo

Date: 2003-04-26 14:12:37


It seems to me that Canada's foreign policy should be governed by the same values that should govern relationships between citizens within any healthy local community, because we, as a nation, should see ourselves as active members of our global community & work to keep it healthy. I have been deeply involved in community building for 30 years. At 80, I see these values as fundamental for community health. Without vision, we will surely perish! These ideals cannot be imposed on anyone, but if we who see their value, live them in our daily lives (& if they are valid), more & more others will emulate them & the world will gradually become more peaceful as our current harmful ways become more healing.

We must abandon the arrogance of rigidity of stance. We must admit that we all make mistakes, often without being aware that we have till much later. We even make errors in judgment that come to light only when we note their rotten results or when we are challenged by others. To encourage trust, we must invite mutual critiquing of our convictions & our values, apologize for past errors & seek to find ways that enable us all to live together in harmony with each other & with our planet. This takes conscious effort; apathy never contributes to health. We must all, each citizen & each nation, do our best to determine the policies that might best ensure a sustainable, healthy globalocal community, but we must always stay open to questioning by others. In talking with our associates about matters that matter, we have many opportunities to confirm each other's ideas or to question them. Considering the multitude of unique perspectives among our earthmates, conflicting notions are bound to arise, but they need not lead to verbal or physical battles.

Terrorism & war (& dictatorship of the majority) are the rotten fruit of arrogance & can never lead to community health. If we believe (as I do) that we each discover bits of wisdom during our life journeys, every disagreement should be seen as an opportunity to transform our apparent ‘opponent' into a friend who can help us enlarge our understanding by benefiting from each others' diverse viewpoints. [Remember: our past experiences are fixed, but the convictions we draw from them can be changed. Even our deepest convictions should be treated as hypotheses in need of confirmation or disproof. They can never ‘proved', no matter how many times they are confirmed.]

Our institutional ways are so deeply rooted, transforming them quickly is not a possibility. But I do see hope. If we strive to live the vision that we hope for as best we can. If we commit ourselves to an all- inclusive respect for the web of life. If we freely acknowledge our own fallibility & keep searching for better ways with open hearts & minds, we may be able to transform even our political parties system, our Parliament & our institutions of law enforcement---to be much more fair & democratic in their ways.

Specifically, I'd like to suggest that our government publicly acknowledge its past errors in its treatment of our First Peoples & do whatever is needed to enable them to be as self-directed in their affairs as they were before they were invaded. This would send a strong signal to the rest of the world that we want all individuals & nations to be responsibly self-directed for the common good of all life.

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We're all in the same WHOLE!

Participant: fatmomma

Date: 2003-04-26 16:22:36


Regarding our past treatment of our first natives. First, I would like to say that Canadian natives were much better treated than those in America.
The Countries that are actually responsible for any mistreatment of the first nations people are really British Empire and France; Canada was not a sovereign nation at the time.
At the time of our arrival in Canada; the conquering countries generally just took control without any regard to the original inhabitants. From the start, Canada acted more fairly than most nations did. We allowed the French people to retain their language and customs; we didn't demand they adapt completely to our ways. Canada is still working towards treaty settlement with the first natives but there needs to be concessions and cooperation on both sides. We cannot effectively make them as self directed as they were before our arrival. We should be returning to them large sustainable tract of land where they can live comfortably and be self supporting. These areas could be under self government similar to a municipal level
but in other areas of government they must be expected to join with the rest of Canada in making and respecting the rights of all equally.
We cannot right all past wrongs; we must move on; We must all join together and make Canada a strong proud nation we can all be proud of. It can be done; we are a rich country in resources and peaceful, fair people.

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We're all in the same WHOLE!

Participant: Jibongo

Date: 2003-04-30 20:55:06


By "to enable them to be as self-directed in their affairs as they were before they were invaded", I didn't mean that I thought they could go back to living exactly as they did. But I do believe it is possible (& necessary) for us all to be as self-directed as I want to be (i.e., responsibly self-directed). This does not 'right all past wrongs', but if we're going to move on, we need to give (& receive) assurances that past wrongs will not be repeated. Therefore, even if 'we', the current inhabitants of Canada, did not perpetrate the earlier 'wrongs', we do need to give assurances, & apologizing is a part of that process. So we can continue to be a (more) peaceful & fair(er) people!
The First Peoples didn't need the Canadian government before it arrived, so I'd like to leave it up to them to decide how closely they want to be connected.
"Respecting the rights of all equally" should certainly be a part of every deal made with every nation or peoples!

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We're all in the same WHOLE!

Participant: codc01

Date: 2003-05-01 06:14:08


I know that natives did not need the Canadian government before they arrived. But its a fact that the Canadian government is now present, you simply can't say, ok, lets go back 300 years ago, and leave us alone. Canada was invaded (thats how i call it), and natives must now live with it. Same thing happened when, for example, France was united as a country in 489 - the natives of one region are now French, its the same thing here in Canada. Natives here should adapt to Canadian values, but they should also keep their culture. And you must admit that the Canadian government gives out a lot of money to the band councils... And a lot of this money disappears.

The Indians affairs minister is proposing a law to make sure the money goes where it should go, and i actually strongly agree with him, where is the money going? I think native Canadians have a great advantage to receive all this money and have much less taxes to pay, in other countries its not like that...

You can't ask for more self-government and at the same ask for more money from the Canadian government. That seems quite illogical, same is true with Quebec, if Quebec separates from Canada, do you really think that the Canadian government will give money to Quebec?

The colonialists (French and British) did sign treaties a long time ago, and they did not respect these treaties, and i consider that very evil indeed. But the Canadian government is not to blame for this (at least i don't think so), and i think natives should really analyze this. I know that some native claims are asking for maybe 30% of the land of Canada, under the old treaties that may have been true in those times, but its impossible to do today. The natives should negociate instead so that any profits from the exploitation of the resources of that land should be shared between the natives and all the others.


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We're all in the same WHOLE!

Participant: codc01

Date: 2003-04-26 16:37:20


"..disagreement should be seen as an opportunity to transform our apparent ‘opponent' into a friend who can help us enlarge our understanding by benefiting from each others' diverse viewpoints.."

Even though you speak wisom, i don't see how you can implement this with everyone, how can you convert Al-Qaeda terrorists from opponents to friends... They want to destroy western civilizations...and we're part of that civilization!

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We're all in the same WHOLE!

Participant: Jibongo

Date: 2003-04-30 21:14:21


I don't know that it will ever be possible to "implement this" with everyone. All I know is: IT IS IMPORTANT TO TRY!
Please don't ignore the first part of the sentence you quoted, namely "If we believe (as I do) that we each discover bits of wisdom during our life journeys, every disagreement should be seen as an opportunity to transform our apparent ‘opponent' into a friend who can help us enlarge our understanding by benefiting from each others' diverse viewpoints." For anybody who is convinced that he or she is right & everyone else is wrong, about all we can do is to invite dialogue in a non-threatening way over & over again until the invitation is accepted.
The toughest question is: how do we keep such people from doing harm & still show them the respect we all need to show to people who do respect all life?

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