Quotes from John Ralston Saul

Instead we were treated to virtual silence, plus the standard reaction by the legal mainstream and commentators in the press. This ruling was a problem. In difficult times too much money was involved. The ruling only stated a principle; surely it didn't need to be enforced. Perhaps it could be ignored.

It isn't fashionable to say this these days, but a willingness to go into the streets shows a commitment to democracy. And Canadian democracy, like so many others, was born in good part on the streets in the middle of the nineteenth century. It could be argued that the general

a reigning logic of efficiency insists that money spent on the public good is somehow a form of indulgence. There

Stop thinking about living in the north and in isolated communities as an unfortunate accident or a punishment or a failure; stop thinking about it in southern urban terms. Start thinking about it as a purpose in and of itself, a necessary and happy purpose covering two-thirds of Canada, with its own reality.

And so the indigenous languages of this place do belong to the people through whom they emerged. But they also carry within them an understanding of where we are and what is required of us all. Each time one of these languages disappears, even if you have never heard it, a great steel door closes forever on an understanding of this place. The

The core of this ideology is the marginalization of the public good in favour of Hobbesian self-interest: fear

Canada is a test case for a grand notion – the notion that dissimilar peoples can share land, resources, power and dreams while respecting and sustaining their differences." So

Alexander Morris, lieutenant governor of Manitoba in the 1870s and chief treaty negotiator: "[I wish] to take the Ojibwa by the hand and never let go your hand." We

He committed the state to a permanent reciprocal relationship. It hardly matters what the legal papers say because in an oral relationship the legal relationship is oral. That is why the Supreme Court so often decides for the Aboriginal side.

The Aboriginal opportunity today is the equivalent of the Quebec issue in the 1960s and 70s. As with the francophones of that era, so the Aboriginals today are ready for a struggle to right the wrongs. And a growing number of non-Aboriginal Canadians are with them.

The government and its representatives repeatedly constructed Canada by using the language and meaning of Aboriginal peoples – the language of long-term commitments in the most complete sense. As the strength of indigenous peoples returns, the courts are holding our governments to the language they used in order to gain power. That is good for all of us, and

And now, at last, the Supreme Court has made it perfectly clear that the Manitoba Métis had been cheated out of their land by the Government of Canada. That is, by you and me. That the Government of Canada betrayed the Honour of the Crown. And we are the Crown. You and I.

The events of 1848 and 1849 are interpreted and measured through the lens of the European option of the monolithic nation-state, which is curious since the essence of the Canadian reform movement that came to power in 1848 was the idea of a bilingual state, built on immigration, multiple religions and regional differences. In other words, a non-monolithic, non-European model.

A civilization unable to differentiate between illusion and reality is usually believed to be at the tail end of its existence.

Only thus can hope be bright that there might come a tomorrow when you, the descendants of the settlers of our lands, can say to the world, Look, we came and were welcomed, and then we wrought much despair; but we are also men of honour and integrity and we set to work in cooperation, we listened and we learned, we gave our support, and today we live in harmony with the first people of this land who now call us, brothers.

The very idea of a nation-state intentionally built on ideas and a multiplicity of races, languages and myths doesn't fit into the historic Western framework and therefore cannot be real.

A Big Mac - the communion wafer of consumption