Posted on 12/16/2002 12:55:23 PM PST by thinking
Native leader defends Hitler
Order of Canada member: Calls Jews 'disease' and says Nazis were right to 'fry' them
Les Perreaux
National Post, with files from Southam News
Monday, December 16, 2002
CREDIT: Bill Keay, The Vancouver Sun
Native leader David Ahenakew has been accused of racism after remarks he made on Friday.
The Canadian Jewish Congress is calling on members of the Order of Canada to mobilize against a fellow member, a First Nations leader who said Jewish people are a disease and Hitler was right when he ''fried'' six million Jews.
David Ahenakew, the former chief of the Assembly of First Nations and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN), defended the Holocaust to an assembly of native leaders, saying it was an effort by Hitler to ''clean up the world.''
In a rambling 45-minute speech to an assembly of native leaders in Saskatoon on Friday, Mr. Ahenakew attacked Jews and Asians. Later, when a reporter asked him to clarify his remarks, Mr. Ahenakew, for many years a respected senator in the FSIN, repeated his position.
''How do you get rid of a disease like that, that's going to take over, that's going to dominate?'' he told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
Keith Landy, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said yesterday he hopes Mr. Ahenakew's fellow Order of Canada members will speak out against him and pressure the Governor-General to revoke his membership. Mr. Ahenakew was named to the order in 1978.
''This is really a vile speech. Before I realized who this was, I thought it was someone who was totally ignorant and had no knowledge of history and the kind of suffering our respective peoples have had to endure,'' Mr. Landy said.
''To hear this kind of vitriol from the mouth of someone who has that kind of stature sickens the heart. I would like to leave it to his fellow travellers in that order to take it upon themselves to decide what to do.''
Stephen Harper, the leader of the Canadian Alliance, called on authorities to launch a hate crimes investigation.
''This is quite shocking. I have seen a lot of vile political stuff in my life, but I have never seen anything this bad,'' Mr. Harper said yesterday.
During a conference on native health care in Saskatoon on Friday, Mr. Ahenakew's profanity-laced rant attacked immigrants and Jewish ownership of corporate interests.
''The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war,'' said Mr. Ahenakew. ''That's how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or 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, said he learned about the Second World War and the Holocaust while serving with the army in Germany in the 1950s and in Egypt in 1964.
''All I know is what the Germans told me, '' he said. ''I believe them. I saw the Jews kill people in Egypt when I was there. The Palestinians, Arabs. I saw them [Israel] f---ing dominate everything.''
Mr. Ahenakew took aim at Jewish owners of media, including Israel Asper.
''Look at here in Canada. Izzy Asper, he controls the media. What the hell does that tell you? That's power. That's f---ing power.''
Mr. Asper is chairman of CanWest Global, owner of the National Post, the StarPhoenix and other major Canadian newspapers.
''The hell with the Jews,'' Mr. Ahenakew concluded. ''I can't stand them. And that's it. I don't want to talk about them.''
Membership in the Order of Canada can be terminated by the Governor-General if such a recommendation is made by the Advisory Council of the Order of Canada. The council consists of high-ranking bureaucrats and other recipients and is chaired by Beverley McLachlin, the Chief Justice of Canada.
Madame Justice McLachlin could not be reached yesterday.
In the 36-year history of the Order of Canada, only one has been revoked. In 1998, former hockey czar Alan Eagleson was stripped of the order after he was convicted of fraud.
In the immediate aftermath of the speech, native leaders in Saskatchewan said Mr. Ahen-akew's views do not represent his organization or Indian people, although they added Mr. Ahenakew has a right to speak his mind.
Perry Bellegarde, the chief of the FSIN, was somewhat more stern yesterday.
''Dave was a national leader, a regional leader and a veteran. We respect him for the work he has done,'' he said. ''Having said that, I'm going to be meeting with Dave and the senate executive. Dave's gotta account for his actions.''
Friday's conference was intended to mobilize First Nations leadership to fight a plan by the federal government to require Indians to sign a consent form giving up some privacy rights in their health care.
Indians say the measure is unethical, an affront to human dignity and puts natives in a second-class category.
Human rights and government coercion were supposed to be the theme of the conference.
''There is irony there, no question,'' Mr. Bellegarde said.
A deep split was apparent yesterday in the native community.
Delia Opekokew, an aboriginal lawyer, said Mr. Ahenakew should resign from his senate position on the FSIN.
''This is not an issue of freedom of speech. It is downright bigotry and racism and I am calling upon Senator Ahenakew to resign his seat because he is unfit to serve.''
Meanwhile Lawrence Joseph, a vice-chief beneath Mr. Bellegarde who is in charge of justice issues, lashed out at the media for reporting Mr. Ahenakew's comments. He accused the press of ''selling newspapers on the backs of Indians.''
Mr. Bellegarde said there is no mechanism currently in place to remove Mr. Ahenakew from the FSIN senate.
Lperreaux@nationalpost.com
Francie the Diesel Dyke: "I think he's a genius. We need more men like him in Hezbollah."
''I can't stand them. And that's it. I don't want to talk about them.''
He’s just mad that they always try to talk down the sale price on rubber tomahawks and firecrackers.
Or, er, maybe "Native Canadian"? {ggg}. I once heard a "commentator" refer to Mandela an "African-American".
A baseball bat and a set of brass 'nucks would do the trick.
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