Opening the can of worms of accountability

Page 19

Lately, our beloved prime minister has been making a lot of interesting promises as he settles into office, like for instance making his own government more accountable to the people. I think we all need a bit more accountability in our lives. I know I do. I think it comes from being called a "no-account" too many times.

I just hope Harper isn't forgetting he's still on what could technically be called "the electoral honeymoon." And, as we all know, promises tend to come a little more easily and freely during that warm and fuzzy honeymoon period, and are a little harder to fulfill down the road. Ask couples in their second or third year of marriage. Reality, unfortunately, tends to be that way. By then talk is cheap and the proof is in the pudding as they say. Maybe this is why I'm not married or have never run for office. I hate pudding.

Accountability is a topic that has got me thinking. There is a possibility that Stephen Harper may be opening the floodgates of cultural accountability. Think of his redress of the Chinese head tax. I say this because I'm a man of the world and I've seen a few things. I've travelled to many parts of this globe, frolicking and cavorting with many of the world's Indigenous people. Trust me, the Maori, Saami, and Fijians do cavort, and occasionally, frolic. And as has always been the case, we trade-things, ideas, food, T-shirts, and more interestingly, strategies.

Recently, Australia seems to be the place where interesting and some would say radical ideas are being developed by their original inhabitants. In 1998, Tribal Elders from several Aboriginal tribes filed a motion with the country's supreme court. They were asking that their prime minister, John Howard, along with several other government officials, be charged with crimes of genocide.

They also indicted the politicians for several other equally horrendous charges. They include an attempted act of genocide by imposing conditions of life intended to destroy many Aboriginal peoples, causing serious mental harm and directly and publicly inciting genocide. All this sounded oddly familiar, from a Canadian Aboriginal perspective. Alas, the motion never went anywhere and was dropped.

But recently the next phase of the battle was launched. Once more Aboriginal Elders in Australia laid charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes against the administration of the justice of the international criminal court. Only this time, the charges were against the sovereign head of Australia, Queen Elizabeth II herself.

"Successive Australian colonial governments have been and are unwilling or unable to resolve these fundamental questions of law. Therefore, the Queen of Australia is personally responsible for the crimes perpetrated against our people" said one Aboriginal Elder in a press release.

"Queen Elizabeth II has been the sovereign ruler of Australia for the entire time that these laws have been in place and she has done nothing to stop the continuing genocide of our peoples, which is going on in this country." Now that should be an interesting court case, should anything ever come of it.

Could that happen here in Canada with our own prime minister who's so new to the position, the paint on his hair is still wet? Doubt it. Things like this don't happen that much in Canada... I've heard there are still ex-Nazis in Canadian retirement homes goose-stepping down the halls with their walkers. Still, charging the Canadian prime minister with genocide would be a cool idea to investigate.

I mean, there's accountability. And then there's accountability.