Have a look at this item: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/judge-rejects-application-take-aboriginal-girl-from-family-for-chemo-1.2834674
– and then think of what would have happened if McMaster Hospital authorities
had managed this situation differently – which is what the judgment is really
pointing out to them.
The hospital authorities could have recognized and respected the
constitutional right of the First Peoples to be self-determining about their own
and their children’s lives. Then they could have said to the family and the
girl: “we recognize your constitutional right to be self-determining in the
management of your child’s health. Now, tell us how we can help you to fulfil
that responsibility.”
I dare to say that the outcome would be quite different – and in fact, if
the hospital authorities are willing to have that conversation now, having
acknowledged that they had previously missed the step of respect and recognition
of First Peoples constitutional rights, then a different outcome for the child
may still be possible.
As media reporters begin to consult "experts" to try to help their readers/viewers/listeners understand what has happened in this court judgment, we will be subjected to professional people who, though well-educated, have no understanding of the law as it applies to the relationship between the First Peoples and The Rest of Us. Thus, the professionals will bemoan the fact that a child will probably die because her Mohawk family is claiming the right to follow Indigenous Knowledge, instead of placing the child totally in the hands of Scientific Knowledge. Thus, even the professional scientific knowledge carriers do not know their Canadian law, and do not respect the Indigenous Knowledge carriers who minister among their own peoples.
What the judge's finding indicates is not whether the child will live or die according to the kind of treatment she receives, but that the First Peoples have the consitutional right to manage their own lives, and it is that right that must be respected.
None of us wants to see a child die unnecessarily, but that is not the issue this Canadian judge is facing. Rather, he faces the issue of whether Canada is going to live up to and respect its own constitutional law, or whether it is going to continue to ignore the terms of the historic treaties under which our settler ancestors came to this country.
My heartiest congratulations to the Mohawk families, and the Brant CAS, for
recognizing, respecting, and upholding this very important right of the First Peoples in whose homelands The Rest of Us "live and move and have our being",
May it lead to a deeper understanding of how we are to live together in
harmony.
