Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Where the hell has Grassroots News been since 1997?

Tansi/Good Day Folks:

The following "highly unbiased"/"accurate"/"informed"/"objective"/"heavily subsidized" article is from Grassroots News - Manitoba's Aboriginal newspaper's answer to the state controlled and operated Soviet Union publications Pravda and Tass. What a joke! Your reaction readers?

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
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Future Of Métis Nation Now In Voters’ Hands
Editorial Grassroots News
June 27, 2006

During the current MMF campaign we’ve challenged Mr. Chartrand’s opponent and his critics to produce anything concrete to support their numerous and often outlandish accusations against his leadership or the MMF Head Office administration and found—not surprisingly—that they haven’t been able to put up.

Unfortunately they also haven’t shut up and appear to think so little of the Métis people and their innate ability to detect B.S. that their campaign platforms remain based, not on encouraging unity, but undermining it at every turn with a campaign of cowardly personal innuendo, smear tactics and absurd claims of every shape and form always directed at the person rather than Mr. Chartrand’s record.

And no wonder. From those behind Cybersmoke to Mr. Dumont himself, none have shown either the ability or forthrightness to state their cases based on the facts—because they understand that the facts undermine their arguments. It appears that this group — of which Mr. Dumont directs and instigates—would prefer that the Métis Nation return to the time when it had no public credibility, no initiative, little energy and almost no political clout and where the people were spoon fed a steady diet of we can’t do this, we can’t do that, we don’t have the funding and the types of excuses given by people unwilling and incapable of true leadership.

Winnipeg Region VP candidate Ron Chartrand is an example of the old style of leadership, repeatedly blaming the complete lack of even a single example of locally-driven initiative on the lack of funding it allegedly receives from head-office rather than acknowledge his failure to capitalize on numerous local community opportunities within a few feet from the local’s McGregor offices—an obvious fact pointed out by his VP rival Nelson Sanderson. Much smaller locals across the province aware that Head Office funding resources have their limits have met this challenge by tapping into the energy, commitment and vitality of the people. As a result they are an example of leadership transforming challenges into opportunity instead of retreating to excuses for inaction.

For every advance by the Métis Nation during the past nine years—and they have been considerable and unprecedented the MMF as organization — once virtually on the brink of financial, political and moral insolvency when Mr. Chartrand assumed leadership — has defied all the naysayers by transforming itself into a political organization that delivers on its promises and whose example has inspired thousands of young Métis men and women to complete post-secondary studies and training, to explore and celebrate their Métis cultural traditions and to become active in creating a stronger future for themselves, their Métis communities and the province in general.

To tell the Métis people today that it can’t be done, that the challenges are too fierce, that there isn’t enough money, flies in the face of what the MMF has accomplished through the work of its president, its Head Office administration and staff, and the dozens of active locals across the province whose executive and members have taken responsibility for creating opportunity and programs and services in their own communities.

People like Carl Chartrand, Robert Gaudry, Justin Richard, Nelson Sanderson, Leah LaPlante and Will Goodon have waged their campaigns for office on the premise that the Métis people deserve political representatives with a vision for the future and the energy, commitment and focus to seeing the Métis Nation progress.

The MMF is currently the envy of the rest of the Métis Nation in terms of its public profile, its creativity and credibility among the non-aboriginal public, politicians and the business community and even First Nation leaders are taking note of the organization’s ability to realize its goals and objectives because of the support from its grassroots membership — the Métis People of Manitoba.

This Thursday’s vote for the various executive and the MMF president is, in fact, not a decision between individuals but more importantly a decision between moving Métis culture, rights, and self-government forward or relegating them and the future of the Métis peoples in the province to the indifference, inaction and inability that marked Mr. Dumont’s leadership of the MMF in the ’90s.

Mr. Dumont’s failure to make himself available to the Métis people at the majority of locally sponsored debates and forums, his failure to appear in solidarity with his people during the land claims and hunting claims trials and his failure to articulate a coherent, sound and objective based political platform do little to inspire anyone.

Those who would like to see the Métis People and the MMF return to being marginalized, ignored and on the verge of collapse would like nothing better than to see Mr. Chartrand and those sharing his commitment, energy and vision defeated. That is why your decision on June 29th is so vitally important. The future of your families, communities and your nation is truly in your own hands now.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a frigging unbelievable joke - no one atGrassroots News is fit to shine the shoes of either Ron Chartrand or Yvon Dumont. Who are their candidates? Will Goodon and David Chartrand? Give me a break.

10:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is total crap....what do you expect from a publication what receives its bread and butter from the current corrupt gooddam Chartrand admin...as far as i'm concerened asahm can take himself and his goodamed criminal record and go screw himself....

10:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have had just about enough of the Chartrand Clan lies!!! No. 1 - when David Chartrand became president of the MMF for the first time, Yvon Dumont had already been Lieutenant Governor for approximately four years. If the MMF was in a financial crisis at the time of Chartrand's electorial winning of '97 it would have been after Billy Jo DeLaRonde and Ernie Blais' stay in office NOT Yvon Dumont. Yvon has never done any mudslinging in his campaigning it is all Chartrand. Grassroots need to re-read their own paper and correct the name of the real down and dirty politician, David Chartrand. I know for a fact at one of the debates I attended on of David's right-hand men smack a sixteen year old in the ribs just because he believed in Yvon Dumont. How do these people sleep at night?

Angry as hell.

2:20 PM  

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