The real brave ones

In an earlier post, I congratulated Rob Norris (Government of Saskatchewan) for being willing to bring down the million-pound $hithammer onto First Nations University of Canada's administration and board of governors, who are operating in the netherworld between malevolence and delusion (Leader-Post).

But however Norris looks in this -- and I say he looks pretty good -- it's nothing compared to the bravery the student council at FNUC's Regina campus have exhibited (their facebook page). When some students protested the university takeover in Saskatoon in the summer of 2005, they were told in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS by FSIN staff that if they continued to speak out against the FSIN takeover, there would be repercussions -- their parents or siblings could lose their jobs at the band, band-run schools or band-run businesses, they could lose their housing or welfare, that sort of thing.

By speaking out against the maze of stupidity and bull$shit erected by the FSIN chiefs in order to justify attaching FNUC to their patronage train, the students are putting their careers on the line. They are challenging the power the chiefs have. Pray to God that they win: the chiefs have made a hash of things so badly, and they cannot be relied on to make the changes that FNUC needs in order to survive.