Saturday March 15, 2008, 4:25 pm
Michael! You soooo ROCK! The new work is great!
This is an important project that will help so many people to help themselves and others in their communities.
Helping First Nations entrepeneur's to realize their dreams will have such a positive ripple effect. As their businesses flourish and grow, other First Nations people will be gainfully employed and be able to rise out of the devistating poverty that grips so many Native communities.
POVERTY is a disease with a cure. Michael's Standing Proud Project is medicine.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 4:33 pm
May your aspirations come to light and become reality.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 4:43 pm
Compassion and giving creates ways to peace and prosperity, the occupation of first nation lands by European squatters represents a lasting embarrassment to the rest of the world. Stop the discrimination against the people of the new world.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 4:52 pm
Thank you very much for the positive comments! Lauren, I think that is a great way to visualize the results of this project, as a ripple effect and that's exactly what I was aiming for when I started this project, to empower individuals so that they can take care of their lives and their families and in turn empower others to do the same.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 5:25 pm

Fantastic! Thanks, Michael!

Saturday March 15, 2008, 5:27 pm
hi thanks lauren noted

Saturday March 15, 2008, 5:29 pm
Noted, Thanks Michael and Lauren!

Saturday March 15, 2008, 5:30 pm
THANKS CHARLES,NOTED WILL PASS IT ON

Saturday March 15, 2008, 6:09 pm
Thank you, Michael & Lauren!
noted.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 6:33 pm
Noted, tnx Michael, and tnx for forwarding Carole

Saturday March 15, 2008, 6:44 pm
TY 4 fwd *C*

Saturday March 15, 2008, 6:44 pm
Carole, Thanks for the e mail, and Michael thank you! Wonderful!..noted.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 6:47 pm
wonderful project, Michael,thanks

Saturday March 15, 2008, 6:50 pm
Thank you everyone for your comments and notes and forwards!

Saturday March 15, 2008, 7:02 pm
"It is disheartening that this government [Canada] sets out reducing the cost of a toaster by a couple cents as a national objective, but not helping First Nations children finish high school or grow up in safe homes. That this government [Canada] can afford billions of dollars to rebuild Afghanistan but not support schooling, healthcare or jobs for First Nations. It is difficult to believe Canadians support these priorities."

TY, Michael.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 7:04 pm
Racism against First Nations people and people of color is Canada's "dirty little secret" ... just as it is in the U$A.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 7:16 pm

Thanks, Jim and Blue . . . I'm loving this passionate dialogue (and education).

Saturday March 15, 2008, 7:22 pm
Yes Jim, it is very disheartening and the truth is that it has been going on for far too long, here's another fact: 1 in 3 First Nation person in Canada considers their water unsafe to drink. The list goes on and it's a terribly long one but I have a feeling that tomorrow holds hope and something different for all our children.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 7:55 pm
From my own political experience Blue Bunting, I wouldn't say that racism was a major factor but I do believe that there is a genuine fear of empowering Native people since some have the archaic belief that it may not be in their best interest.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 7:56 pm
Noted, thank you Michael

Saturday March 15, 2008, 8:00 pm
*when I say their best interest, I am not referring to Aboriginals but to those who are in "power".

Saturday March 15, 2008, 8:21 pm
Well, in my own opinion, while I see this wave of romanticized respect and empathy for the original Native Americans and their struggles, disrespectful treatment, survival despite overwhelming cruelty and bigotry and attempted genocide . . . for some reason, I don't see that carrying over to modern-day Natives.

I'm hoping this project, and leaders such as yourself, will show that we still have that warrior spirit, tempered by time and change, but still strong and completely intact.

(and, yes, I am Native American)

Saturday March 15, 2008, 8:26 pm
Thanx Lauren - thanx for the article Michael - great. Blessings

Saturday March 15, 2008, 8:47 pm
Carole, that's a great point. Michael and I just had this conversation the other day. Many do not realize that Aboriginal people in the US, Canada, Mexico and further, in many cases are living in 3rd world conditions, just out of sight of the larger populations.
In the past, the governments' solution to the "Indian problem" was to segregate groups to the far out nether regions. The poorest pieces of land. To isolate the people from each other and the larger society.
In many cases people are living in SUB-substandard housing, sometimes without electricty, drinkable water, with little or no access to medical care.
POVERTY is a tool of oppression. Oppression creates dispare, depression, hopelessness. A people oppressed are a people easily controlled.
HOPE can liberate a people from oppression. HOPE creates dreams and disires. HOPE is the way back.
The STANDING PROUD PROJECT is just that, HOPE. HOPE on a large scale.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 9:02 pm

Yes, Lauren.

HOPE is exactly what I see this as. A way to retain identity, and yet, use modern-day business knowledge to recover and crawl out from the oppressive grip of government control -- to once again demonstrate the very strength that made genocide of an entire race impossible.

That ray of light -- after so much darkness -- can produce miracles in the renewed determination caused by a realistic vision of a better future.

Thank you.

Saturday March 15, 2008, 10:07 pm
Hi Carol, your comments made me think back on a program I wanted to implement many years ago that I still want to see become a reality in my lifetime and this was to provide a salary to natives who go out to traditional camps and practice a traditional way of life, I also wanted to implement a traditional school out on traditional grounds to teach the youth the traditional way of life of my people with a salary for the teachers and diplomas for the students.

My people still have strong ties to their land and traditions, our native language is still our primary language over the English language. I could say a whole lot on this but it came down to the same thing, funds must mainly come from business revenues, the only problem I had at the time is that the people in power had their own agenda.

Of course the warrior spirit will always be there and that's a given, this project will bring an outlet of hope and maybe even help set forth other examples of projects in other communities aiming to move forward with less dependence on government funding.

Education gives us the tools to become self reliant in the modern world but we must never forget our identity, it is also my belief that we are in a time of balancing both worlds, the modern and the traditional.

That being said I cannot stress enough the importance of this project, the social issues are too great and I know too many young people already who have committed suicide, because of their age they have great difficulty in seeing a light at the end of this tunnel.

Here's a link of something very real that happened not to long ago and not too far away from where I live:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/22/bc-hazeltonsuicides.html

"No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster." - Dalai Lama

The youth have difficulty seeing hope and we all know that the youth are our future.

Thank you all for your support in The Standing Proud Project!

Sunday March 16, 2008, 3:52 am
This is wonderful, and I never thought of it that way, Lauren, these are definitely third world conditions and in lands of wealth. Countries with families that throw away more than some others even use in a year? How shameful is that? I had not realized how bad it was in Canada. Our governments are killing off the people as just another species they don't care about. Thank you for the enlightenment!

Sunday March 16, 2008, 7:55 am
Thank You So Much For This Post!

Sunday March 16, 2008, 8:42 am
Thank you Michael! Thank you all others for the wonderful comments! Yes, our Peoples have been victimized for so long, and have been conditioned and brainwashed by those in power that we are victims, AND WE BELIEVED IT! The time has come to return to self-reliance and take our power back. We must refuse to remain victims in a dependent status as wards of the government. Yes, many of our Peoples live in third world conditions, and most people in Canada, the US, and elsewhere are totally oblivious to this dreadful and unacceptable condition. Projects like the 'Standing Proud Project' will replace hopeless victimhood with hope and a sense of accomplishment.....Peace!

Sunday March 16, 2008, 10:03 am
Thank you very much for all your positive and supportive comments! A few years ago, I remember approaching CBC radio which is the national radio station in Canada about First Nation issues and I was told by staff that there was a regulation by the federal government to only allow CBC to broadcast a small percentage of airtime related to Aboriginal issues, I can't recall the exact percentage but I am telling you the truth.

Doesn't the grass seem a little brown on this side of the fence? Thank you very much once again for the positive and supportive comments!

Sunday March 16, 2008, 10:26 am
Good job, Lauren and Just C, posting this information for all to see. It is a worthy cause. Good luck, Michael, I will be watching this with high hopes.