Could
Native Leaders Be Charged
With "Advocating &
Promoting
Genocide"?
By Erin
Anderssen
The Globe and Mail
12-16-2
- A prominent Jewish group in Canada is calling for a
hate-crimes investigation after a former national native chief publicly
applauded Adolf Hitler for the six millions Jews "fried" in the
Holocaust. Keith Landy, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress,
suggested the Saskatchewan government should consider criminal charges
against David Ahenakew, a former leader of the Assembly of First
Nations, the country's most prominent native organization.
-
- "There's no doubt that the police should be looking
into this," Mr. Landy said. "These statements cannot be made with
impunity." In an interview with a Saskatchewan journalist after a public
speech before a provincial native group, Mr. Ahenakew was quoted as
saying that the genocide Hitler ordered against Jews and other ethnic
groups was an attempt to "clean up the world." "That's how Hitler came
in," he told the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. "He was going to make damn sure
that the Jews didn't take over Germany and Europe.
-
- That's why he fried six million of those guys, you
know. Jews would have owned the goddamned world. And look what they're
doing. They're killing people in Arab countries." Mr. Ahenakew, 68, who
headed the AFN in the 1980s and remains a prominent native statesman,
had been invited to speak before a meeting of the Federation of
Saskatchewan Indian Nations, a group he once led. The subject of the
meeting was new Health Canada policy requiring natives to sign consent
forms releasing medical information before they can obtain services. In
his speech, the Star Phoenix reported, Mr. Ahenakew said that while he
served with the Canadian Army in Germany in the 1950s, the Germans had
told him the Jews started the Second World War. Asked by a reporter to
clarify his statement, he said he agreed with the Germans, and in
reference to the Holocaust, responded, "How do you get rid of a disease
like that, that's going to take over, that's going to dominate?"
-
- When it was pointed out to him that the Nazis had
committed genocide, he said: "I don't support Hitler. But he cleaned up
a hell of a lot of things, didn't he? You would be owned by Jews right
now the world over." Mr. Ahenakew told the gathering that he has warned
provincial officials "40 years down the road, we're going to be taking
over [because of population growth among Indian people]. We're going to
be the government. You [non-Indians] are going to be the Indians, and
we're going to be the bosses. And you [the government] better start
preparing right now." He also complained about bigotry in city schools.
"My great-grandson goes to school here in Saskatoon.
-
- These goddamned immigrants � East Indians, Pakistanis,
Afghanistan, whites and so forth � call him a dirty little Indian. He's
the cleanest of the old goddamn works there. That's what I'm saying.
It's starting right there, at six years old." Mr. Ahenakew could not be
reached for comment Sunday, but he was expected to meet Monday with the
chief of the Saskatchewan native organization, Perry Bellegarde, to
discuss his statements. Native leaders have made efforts to distance
themselves from his comments. A spokesperson for the AFN stressed that
the national association does not share his views. Mr. Bellegarde, who
was not at the meeting, called the comments shocking and pointed out
that Mr. Ahenakew is no longer an elected member of the federation. As a
former provincial leader, he holds the honorary title of senator. He has
a reputation for bold talk; most recently, he was quoted in July warning
of an impending "physical confrontation" over native issues that neither
the police nor the army would be able to stop. "We respect David," Mr.
Bellegarde said Sunday.
-
- "But his views on the Holocaust are his own personal
views. His language and train of thought must have gotten off track. We
don't try to push people apart and burn bridges."Mr. Bellegarde said he
plans to send letters of apology to Canada's Jewish organizations. "I
have to extend my hand," he said. Members of the Saskatoon Jewish
community met Sunday to decide what action to take. Susanne Kaplan,
president of the congregation Agudas Israel, said that she now plans to
wait to hear from native leaders. "We'll see what they have to say." A
criminal charge under the country's hate laws would require the consent
of Saskatchewan's Attorney-General. The offence, defined as advocating
and promoting genocide, carried a maximum sentence of five years in
prison. Mr. Landy said his group will review the process for filing a
complaint and gather input from other Jewish representatives in
Saskatchewan. "One has to question what is the motivation and how deeply
held are these views," said Mr. Landy, who wants to hear from the native
community. "This is the time for good people to speak up."
-
- Another former head of the Assembly of First Nations,
Phil Fontaine, called Mr. Ahenakew's comments intolerable, but declined
to comment on whether they constituted a hate crime. "[Aboriginals] have
been subject to all kinds of similar experience with racism; I don't
know why we should turn around and inflict that on other people. You can
imagine if it was directed at us as first nations people; there would be
a great hue and cry."
-
- http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021216/wxnati1216
/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
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