Editorial by Jonathan Garlow
Most experienced musicians can feel the room and tell if they are being warmly received or not. Sometimes you just gotta pass the mic and back away. At the Two Row Times we have decided to provide space for a community opinion forum.
The rules are: try to keep it to 300 words and keep‘er classy.
We can run it again next week if its a popular section. When we started this newspaper we agreed to always share a diversity of views even if these views ran contrary to those of the publisher. We have no agenda but we do have a pro-native bias because that is who we are.
As editor, I support the work of my journalists and every article they write. And when we receive important information it becomes our responsibility to inform. What people do with the information afterwards is in their own hands.
Think for yourself! People can decide on their own and that is very important to us. Maybe sometimes we are in the wrong, we do our very best to report as truthfully and honestly as we can and apologize if and when we make mistakes.
With this most recent story regarding Aaron Detlor and his position within the HDI the community seems to be split. Maybe everything would be put to rest if we knew how much money our government’s lawyer is making per year.
What price would people expect? What is a reasonable rate? $100,000 per year? $200,000 maybe? What if he is making $1 million per year — is that too much? Well in 2013 he cost us at least $175,000 when the HCCC paid the Corporation of the City of Brantford after losing a court battle. Aaron Detlor claimed zero assets. No one should be very surprised by the McClung decision that Elected Council made at a secret meeting. We all know that SNEC was imposed upon us. It doesn’t hurt when Elected Council makes deals without the peoples consent because thats what they normally do.
The huge difference though, is that our Confederacy has enjoyed a higher moral ground until now, even if it was only perceived. When they make secret deals it hurts so much more. How much longer until we see our ceremonies being done in a provincial court room, or a Canadian lawyer with some horns on his gustowah.
Some people were very critical of the Men’s Fire on Facebook but it was just one month ago when they were community heros for saving Lonewolf. The question we then ask, is Aaron Detlor a community member? Or do we all accept him as one of us now? Aside from that, it saddens us to see the intergenerational trauma and fear in our people, especially the older generation.
Facebook went eerily silent the days after Wednesday’s events, with bursts of discussion here and there. Some are angry, some are hopeful, some even speak of prophecies. Hearing the people speak it seems clear to us that we need to honour the voices of the women who have special insights into this whole ordeal. An opinion is not the same as an agenda. At the end of the day the Two Row Times still has to deal with the wild accusations that we orchestrated or colluded events, which is preposterous.
We did not orchestrate anything, I can barely orchestrate myself. The allegations that we work for Elected Council are completely not true. We are just over here and we happen to have the communities best interests at heart. So that is why we are opening up a few pages to get a wider variety of opinions and perspectives because, in times like this we should have empathy for each other.
Check out the Community Voices – Smoke Signals
