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Re: Aboriginal Voters: Thomas Flanagan still a part of Stephen Harper Inner circle
Notice to Aboriginal Voters: Globe and Mail Confirms Thomas Flanagan still a part of Stephen Harper’s “Inner Circle”
January 10, 2006
Ottawa – On January 7, 2006, the Globe and Mail reaffirmed the worst fears of Aboriginal peoples across the country. In an in-depth article on the Conservative Party campaign, How Harper fashioned his lead, it was confirmed that Stephen Harper “still relies on individuals such as his former political science professor at the University of Calgary, Tom Flanagan.”
Mr. Flanagan is a part of “a small inner circle” that influences Mr. Harper and operates behind the scenes in the Conservative Party. Mr. Flanagan, who was born and raised in the United States, has spent most of his career arguing against the rights and self-government aspirations of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Mr. Flanagan has published numerous articles and a book entitled First Nations? Second Thoughts to support his proposition that Aboriginal peoples should be assimilated.
“All Aboriginal peoples need to be concerned that Mr. Flanagan is still in a position of great influence in the Conservative Party. Jim Prentice and other Conservatives have been telling Aboriginal people not to worry and that Mr. Flanagan is no longer in a position of power. This recent article demonstrates that those claims are untrue. Aboriginal peoples need to beware of what is lurking in the shadows of the Conservative Party,” said Hank Rowlinson, Co-President of the Liberal Party’s Aboriginal Peoples Commission.
Mr. Flanagan was the Co-chair of the movement that brought Harper back into federal politics, during the Stockwell Day leadership review in 2001. He later went on to be Harper’s Chief of Staff.”
In the last federal election, the leadership of the Assembly of First Nations, Métis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami collectively asked Mr. Harper to distance himself from the “antiquated, ill-informed, regressive and offensive writings of Mr. Flanagan in articles and books such as First Nations?, Second Thoughts.” Mr. Harper dismissed the question as solely "partisan" in nature and said that if he won he would be "a forgiving lot" towards First Nation, Inuit and Métis peoples. Since that time, Mr. Harper has never publicly distanced himself from the positions and writing of his ally and mentor, Thomas Flanagan.
While Mr. Harper will not distance himself from a man who wants to assimilate Aboriginal peoples, the Conservative Party has distanced itself from the historic $5.1 billion agreement reached between Prime Minister Martin, all Premiers and Aboriginal leadership at the First Ministers Meeting on Aboriginal Issues held in Kelowna in November 2005.
Jim Prentice, the Conservative Party’s critic for Aboriginal Affairs has stated that the Conservatives are only willing to “examine those figures in an overall budget context.” Conservative Finance Critic Monte Solberg confirmed this on January 9, saying “we aren’t going to accept the Liberal approach. We think it’s flawed.”
Given these statements, it is clear a Conservative Party would not follow through on the commitments made to Aboriginal peoples at the First Ministers Meeting on Aboriginal Issues.
The Aboriginal Peoples Commission is also calling on other minority groups to recognize that the influence of Thomas Flanagan in the Conservative Party also puts their rights and interests at stake.
“If, as the Conservative Party would have it, governments can ignore the constitutional rights of Aboriginal people today, they might equally be able to ignore the constitutional rights of others tomorrow. You have an interest in seeing to it that governments recognize, respect, and protect the rights of Aboriginal peoples, for you may be in the same position tomorrow,” concluded Hank Rowlinson, Co-President of the Aboriginal Peoples Commission.
What Stephen Harper’s “Inside Circle” Says About Aboriginal Peoples
Aboriginal Peoples are Immigrants
“Europeans are, in effect, a new immigrant wave, taking control of land just as earlier aboriginal settlers did. To differentiate the rights of earlier and later immigrants is a form of racism.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
Aboriginal Culture is Inferior and Primitive
“European Civilization was several thousand years more advanced than the aboriginal cultures of North America, both in technology and social organization.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
Colonization of Aboriginal Peoples was Inevitable and Justifiable
“Owing to this tremendous gap in civilization, the European colonization of North America was inevitable and, if we accept the philosophical analysis of John Locke and Emer de Vattel, justifiable.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
Aboriginal Peoples are Incapable of Governing Themselves
“Sovereignty is an attribute of statehood, and aboriginal peoples in Canada had not arrived at the state level of political organization prior to contact with Europeans.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
“Aboriginal government is fraught with difficulties stemming from small size, an overly ambitious agenda, and dependence on transfer payments.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
“In practice, aboriginal government produces wasteful, destructive, familistic factionalism.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
Aboriginal Peoples Must Assimilate
"Perhaps the damage to Canada would be tolerable if it meant that aboriginal peoples would escape from the social pathologies in which they are mired to become prosperous, self-supporting citizens" – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
“Prosperity and self-sufficiency in the modern economy require a willingness to integrate into the economy, which means, among other things, a willingness to move to where jobs and investment opportunities exist.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
“Current public policy… is flooding reserves with money, enticing people back, enticing people to stay and weakening their resolve to participate in Canadian society.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
Aboriginal Rights and Treaties Should Be Ignored
“The treaties mean what they say. Their reinterpretation… has the potential to be both expensive and mischievous for the economies of all provinces in which treaties have been signed.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
“Contemporary judicial attempts to redefine aboriginal rights are producing little but uncertainty. Recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions define aboriginal title in a way that will make its use impossible in a modern economy.” – Thomas Flanagan, Conservative Party Insider
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Nathan Fake - Outhouse (Valentino Kanzyani Remix) 
