NO NATIVE PEOPLES IN CANADA?

Are there no native peoples in Canada?  The party leaders did not talk about Aboriginal issues the past two evenings of debate. The expanding indigenous population, the majority presence in the resource rich North, the growing presence in the urban centres, the vision of Canada influenced by Aboriginal cullture means little to the politicians if there are no votes connected. John Ralston Saul speak up, please.

I beg First Nations, Inuit and Metis friends to listen to native leadership and to vote in the upcoming election. The tribes, the nations who have made the treaties, the people never conquered, have slipped back into the shadows. It is obvious from both the English and the French language debates that the politicians do not consider the first founding group a factor. For them it is about French and English only: two important languages; two kinds of people worth paying attention to (and in vile wedge politics "ethnic" groups). Nothing about Aboriginal languages, cultures, peoples.

I'm not status "Indian" nor formally Metis nor Inuit. However, I am distinctively Canadian and aware that I owe my identity to the Aboriginal peoples of this land. Yes I am proud to speak both official languages and some Ojibway (Nishnabe) language.

Let me repeat: I am one who is disappointed that in the leaders' debates there has been very little, almost nothing, concerning Aboriginal issues. The politicians think that this group does not vote and carries little political weight. Let native peoples not prove them correct in their assumptions. Aboriginal title and oversight, to be effective, entails an additional responsibility -- active political involvement. Let all people of this land stand shoulder to shoulder with native brothers and sisters, and vote for politicians who protect the vision of who we can be. Let us vote for politicians who are aware that Canada has signed onto the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

On a lighter note: searching the website for the Conservative Party I noticed that Stephen Harper likes cats. According to the site, the Harper household is a feline household. As we can all agree, there is much to be learned about a person from viewing their preferred pets. It would then make sense that the Ignatieff family home have a special disposition towards dogs. And in order to liven the debates in future I would suggest that the politicians bring their pets to the debates.