Another Open Space blog joins the world. Lucas Gonzales produces CoPensar. I have no idea where he is, but he mentions Tenerife and South America a lot. He is a nice recent contributer to OSLIST as well.

I had a blogger-in-person once removed experience today as Ranger Tim, made famous in the Canadian adventures of Dervala came over to Bowen Island for a walk in the forest and a peek at the storm surge crashing on the rocks of Cape Roger Curtis.

I love meeting bloggers (and their friends) in person. They have always turned out to be just the kind of people I thought they would be from reading their publishing. The list is getting pretty long too, with Rob Paterson, The Happy Tutor, AKMA, Tom Munnecke, Gerry and Debbie Gleason, Lenore Ealy among others. And that doesn’t include the people I knew BEFORE they were bloggers, or the bloggers I have spoken to on the phone…

It’s neat when faces and blogs go together and one realizes that there are many real people out there in the community that one always perceives as real. It helps to ground this stuff and these connections.

For our weekly look at practical decolonization in the Aboriginal world, we turn to a nice article in The Tyee, a regional online magazine here in British Columbia fosucing on the vision of Graham Hingangaroa Smith. He is a Maori academic educator who is visiting BC and throwing up some nice challenges to the community here with respect to academic success.

And he knows what he’s talking about. Maori education, in Maori schools has saved the Maori language, and created a huge shift in the identity of a whole new generation of Maori. When I was in New Zealand in March, I was struck by how much language was used in daily life. Having some nice kai at a hui on the marae is something easily understood by Maori and Pakeha (non-Maori) alike. In fact, I think I learned more Maori in a week than I have learned Coast Salish in the ten years I have lived here in Squamish territory.

Smith credits this amazing resurgence in Maori identity to a deep change in thinking:

Here in Canada, I have to say that we tend to suffer somewhat from being defensive, and reacting to government. The proactive initiatives I blog about here are a welcome sea change in that respect. I’m glad Smith is here spreading his gospel, because indigenous folks around the world need to hear from each other, especially about things that work so well.

Thanks to Marja-Leena for the pointer.

Buried in a long missive from Joy Harjo’s blog:

Distopia brings us some fun which only works because control in corporations has so little self-awareness.

Thanks to Wealth Bondage for the link.

Here in Canada, November 11 is the day we remember soldiers who died fighting in the wars in which Canada has fought. Increasingly over the years, Aboriginal veterans are getting their due. Back in the twentieth century, Indians who went to war for Canada lost their rights when they returned. This meant that they were no longer considered Indians, could no longer live in their communities or receive treaty and other benefits. This was called “enfranchisment” and was a sore point in Canada-First Nations relations for decades.

Despite that, Aboriginal veterans are proud of their service and the sacrifice that they made for Canada, even as their home country was dispossessing them of lands and rights. In many ways, Aboriigial vets returning from the second world war and the Korean war set the stage for the modern migrations of First Nations people to Canada’s urban areas. These vets created the first Aboriginal middle class and quietly slipped into the mainstream society to work and raise families, still connected to their home communities and yet disenfranchised from their nations by the government they had fought for.

So, like all good stories, it’s complicated.

For your remembrance day reading today, have a peek at some Aboriginal veterans resources and learn a little more about these stories, and the Aboriginal men and women who offered their lives for a country that wouldn’t respect them when they got home.