And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 11:58:58 -0500
From: Lynne Moss-Sharman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: please forward: DNA research Ojibwe Thunder Bay
from Independent Aboriginal Student Supplement
The Argus, Lakehead University Thunder Bay, Ontario
March 9, 1999
article by Paul Primeau, Fort William First Nation
reply c/o [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Human Genome
In June of 1997, I began researching a thesis topic. That topic was
"Alberta's Sexual Sterilization Act" which was passed in 1928 and was in
operation until 1972. In researching the draconian act, I discovered, or
rather uncovered, that many of Canada's respected people had been
proponents of eugenics. Those people were Emily Murphy, first woman
magistrate of the British Empire and of course, Nellie McClung, who were
like sisters. Another eugenic proponent was J.S. Woodsworth, who was
entirely for Canadian nationalism. Others were Margaret Sanger, T.C.
Douglas (founder of the New Democratic Party). His MA thesis was about
eugenics. However, T.C. Douglas dropped out of the eugenics movement due to
what was happening in Germany. Germany's National Socialist Government
adopted a similar eugenics program five years after Alberta passed its
eugenics law. In other words, Canada led the way in eugenics. Similar to
other legislation passed, the Sexual Sterilization Act of 1928 interfered
with the lives of Aboriginal people.
The act targeted the most vulnerable and we as Aboriginal people know who
were the most vulnerable. In the four decades the act was in operation, the
most targeted group were the Aboriginal people. Records show that
Aboriginal children between the ages of 9 to 18 years were the most
frequently sterilized, never to procreate. Research conducted on the above
topic inspired me to uncover evidence that the Canadian government has
conducted numerous other experiments on human subjects in the same period
and are still doing so. For example, in the 1950's and 1960's they
experimented with polio vaccines. The government used cells of dead monkeys
in this experiment.
In the 1970's they experimented by injecting live cancer cells into inmates
in federal institutions in Canada. Mind control experiments were carried
out in mental institutions and prisons through the 50's and 60's. In those
experiments subjects were exposed to shock treatments, beatings that went
on for days, LSD and many other horrendous, torturous physical/mental
abuse. There are still cases in the Canadian courts today dealing with the
latter. The Alberta government since 1996 spent $58 million in compensation
to victims who were forcefully sterilized between 1928 to 1972. As of the
fall of 1998, 2000 more cases were set to go to trial.
Another scary project that is going on right in the US is the "Human Genome
Diversity Project" (HGDP). It is reported that in 1996 there were two
Genome Projects in operation. The HGDP is an offshoot of the larger HGP
(Human Genome Project) and will target the Indigenous people. The project's
goal is to map out the human genome.
Important to note is that indigenous people are the most researched race in
the world.
Researchers claim they want to study those origins so that they attain
anthropological enlightenment and are able to figure out the true origin of
human populations by studying the migration patterns of tribes compared to
their present locations. It was also reported that 10% of the populations
that were listed for this research were the Pima and the Ojibwe in Canada,
and in the U.S. the Lakota and the Pomo. This HGDP project has many tribes
in the U.S. concerned about their history. Recent history shows that with
any kind of agreement offering protection to indigenous people the common
practice is just to go in and wipe 'em out.
The reason I am writing this article is to express a concern. In November
1998 before attending an Aboriginal Management Council (AMC) meeting, I
received a package with a booklet entitled,
"ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMANS". This booklet was published
by the Medical Research Council of Canada and Section (6) states, "research
involving Aboriginal Peoples". It is important that students here at
Lakehead University read this booklet.
Too many times in our history have Aboriginal people been used as human
guinea pigs (for research). Also think about this, "Why is it so important
to Lakehead University, which already has the finest DNA lab in North
America, to have a hospital facility as well?"
In conclusion as our University's medical facilities grow, ask yourself,
"What really is Paleopathology?"
LET'S NOT LET THIS HAPPEN HERE.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I don't want no peace; I want equal rights, and justice."
--song by Peter Tosh
"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. . .But if you
have come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us work
together." --Aboriginal Woman
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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