Award winning Author, Artist, & Speaker, Nehiyaw, ᐅᑭᒪᐤ ᑭᐦᐄᐤ, Métis, & yeg Councillor for Ward Dene (twitter here: @AaronWardDene )
May 29, 2021 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
We need an annual National Day of Remembrance where we acknowledge the death of children in the Canadian Residential and Industrial School system. The numbers of those deceased has not been fully accounted for and there will be more grisly discoveries.
#cdnpoli#ableg#yegcc
Some of these children were fetuses due to rape, some were due to starvation, or medical experimentation. Some to straight out murder or to suicide in moments of dark desperation and despair.
No child should feel alone. No child should be forgotten.
Apr 29, 2021 • 25 tweets • 3 min read
“But the vaccine didn’t arrive fast enough to mask our failures”
“Yes, I said mask. But you know, do your own research on masks”
These dog whistle mailouts are reprehensible & perpetuate lies & stereotypes while “innocently” “just asking questions”.
The continuous & subtle erosion of the humanity of Indigenous peoples is a continuation of the destructive attitudes we’re all trying so hard to overcome.
Apr 13, 2021 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
I really believe in, “when they go low, we go high.”
A big@ fan of “turn the other cheek.”
But that’s personal.
When those I love & those I serve are being mislead or harmed due to the irresponsible actions of others, that’s another story.
Then it’s time to fight like hell.
Get pumped & fired up, friends!
Laugh out loud.
There’s a pretty rocky road ahead, but damn if I don’t see sunshine, too.
They’ll lie, cheat, steal, and leave chaos in their wake.
They’ll show us who they are and just how small and hateful they can be.
And then we’ll win.
Dec 16, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
In politics we see stages of grief when confronted with reality.
The first stage of grief is denial. Many politicians never seem to get past that point.
Then they deflect, or try to bargain or blame.
Rarely do we see the progression to acceptance.
And so: NO positive action.
What should trouble you is that this is deliberate.
DENY, DEFLECT, DELAY.
It’s a way to ensure no progress is made because change is unsettling to power.
So if you wonder why politicians deny history or science it’s because they are trying to hold onto a false power narrative.
Jun 27, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Overwhelmed by politics? Hopeless?
Just want to disengage & ignore it all?
That. Is. By. Design.
One of the tools of some political parties is to make it all so repellent that you stay home & turn away.
Then the voice & vote of their base is amplified while you remain silent.
They count on the average person to not want to be mired in the ugliness, & reasonable people don’t want to be!
Your exhaustion is the goal.
Another tool: accuse others of what they themselves are.
Another: to use the trappings, the words, of decency to describe corruption.
May 31, 2020 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
“The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth"
I’ve been asked to comment on the issues of the past few days. I’m still thinking about that. Maybe my voice doesn’t need to be heard.
Or maybe we all need to speak.
Truth is, we need change.
I have multiple personal stories of being on the receiving end of racism and profiling, as have many Indigenous, Métis, Black, Asian, or persons of colour. My father is Cree, my mother’s side is from Norway. So I have ALSO experienced the side that DOESN’T fear on a daily basis.
Apr 25, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
The worst things that ever happened to politics is the adoption of the Left/Centre/Right framework. It’s limiting & flawed and does not accurately represent people’s reality or thinking.
All it does is create false narratives, divisions, & opportunities to game the system.
There’s a better way.
Ppl are exhausted by shouting at each other, & the inevitable result is greater extremes of folks who won’t open their ears or their thinking.
A better model is a circle w/ connective lines bridging the distances.
When we intentionally vote for ppl we know are corrupt, what do we say to politicians about what’s allowable?
When we then complain about the inevitable corruption, where will our firm footing be? We are the one who lifted them to office.
Vote how you want, of course.
#abvote
And of course, if you think I’m targeting a particular party, note that I haven’t.
Your interpretation may tell you all you need to know about your #abvote choices.
I’m happy to support both compassion & a growing economy. It can be both. It needs to be for our communities.
Apr 6, 2019 • 7 tweets • 6 min read
My grandfather was a soldier in World War II. My family has a history of military service.
The normalization of racial supremacy, the encouragement of it by some political leaders as a path to power, isn’t just abhorrent, it is a threat to our peace & to our communities.
#yegcc
As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide let me say:
- how easy it is to stoke economic fear and pair it with racial fear. We have history to prove it. We know that road.
- Canada is not immune. We must always be on guard for the small wedge that opens the door.
1. We have a capacity issue. We don’t have enough physical space for an increase in the number of transit vehicles.
*the facts likely aren’t fun.
@estolte 2. When building the new Kathleen Andrews Transit Garage, virtually no extra capacity was created. It can handle about as many vehicles as the old Westwood location that it’s replacing.
As an elected official - even locally & in another province - it would be irresponsible to make any statement that might colour perspectives in the event of what may be an inevitable appeal.
2. Additionally there is a necessary separation between judicial, legislative and executive powers in this country. They are parallel systems that should, as far as is possible, stay in their lanes.
