Canada (ENB) A few days after the demolition of the two British monarchs in Manitoba province during a growing outrage over the legacy of a Canadian residential school, where indigenous children were forcibly deported in the 20th century, the Walking Eagle News website
"The country was 'just seconds' from reconciliation before the statue collapsed: the Prime Minister of Manitoba," said a headline in the Walking Eagle News.
Else: "'End of History': Members of the royal family appear to be changing as the images are dropped in Manitoba".
As Canada is forced to make sense of its colonial darkness, and the inequality and injustice that continues today, the Walking Eagle News has already become a force used to hold powerful organizations and hold political leaders.
Described as the "only indigenous good news providers", Walking Eagle started as a Tim Fontaine comedy project in 2017.
After leaving a Canadian journalistic career that lasted nearly two decades, Fontaine turned to blasphemy in an effort to stir up controversy and to cover up much of the frustration felt by natives across the country.
He borrowed the name of the place from an old joke about a politician visiting indigenous communities. During the visit, the politician is nicknamed the Eagle Walk by an elder. After leaving, the reporter asks the elder what the name means.
Answer: "It is a bird of prey that cannot fly."
"When the Walking Eagle News started, it was dry and not working," Fontaine said. "Now, it just covers my anger."
HeadArticle from Walking Eagle News. Picture: Traveling Eagle Stories
Towards the end of May this year, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced it had found 215 unmarked graves, mostly children. In the weeks that followed, many communities announced the same harmful findings on former residential school sites. Fontaine's work has served as a comedy on the stake to help people make sense of the tragedy.
The account includes nearly 51,000 fans and with the fast-growing audience Fontaine says he feels a growing obligation to speak "with the way the country views Indigenous people".
At one point, his work explores the intimate relationship between Indigenous peoples and the police. One headline read: "RCMP's Struggle to Reconcile Reconciliation and the Cruel Attack of the First Nations".
At one point, he dismissed the absurdity of the country's political rhetoric: "A country 'with Indian status certificates' is considering the conduct of vaccination passports".
One of his favorite topics is “false anger” from politicians after the demolition of the image.
“All of a sudden, it's as if they believe that our whole history is somehow in the picture. They are big fans of photography, even though they have never given themselves a second look before, ”he said. "I joke that 90% of Canada's education system is based on a metaphor."
Surprisingly, however, his sarcasm speaks to both “unhealthy and very abusive relationships” that define Canada and Indigenous peoples - and the “irrational” way politicians talk about things like reconciliation. “It has become a hot topic in politics. It doesn't matter, ”he said.
In one of the richest countries in the world, dozens of indigenous communities lack access to clean drinking water, indigenous children are poorly represented in foster care, indigenous people have a low life expectancy and indigenous women remain a group that is less likely to be killed or disappeared.
Fontaine points to Justin Trudeau's visit to the site where the residence was once located, where the prime minister honored graves, as a sign of his frustration.
"Trudeau is on his knees, placing a teddy bear in the area where his government began fighting for years in court against First Nations children," was Fontaine's main theme after the event. Trudeau, who has publicly pledged support for communities seeking unmarked cemeteries, has challenged a human rights court order to compensate Indigenous children for domestic violence. "Hypocrisy is the language of the powerful," Fontaine said.
Justin Trudeau puts a teddy bear in the living room of the school. Photo: Liam Richards / AP
Because his barbs are pushed to the political leaders of all parties, he has supporters both left and in the conservative circles.
“It's more about a force attack than a left or right attack. And then maybe that's what people like about it - it's a power attack. It attacks the current situation. ”
Fontaine acknowledges that the biggest challenge in his career is the fact that the policies and social conditions that underpin decades' inequality remain entrenched, and they are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
"Every now and then a politician will say or do something ridiculous that I don't know I can write something better," he said. “How do you embarrass the shameless?”