Lieberman's appalling views and his visit to Canada should not be acceptable to anyone with a modicum of respect for human rights.

- Sid Shniad, Independent Jewish Voices.

What: Protest against Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman

When: 7:30pm, Monday, September 19, 2011

Where: Outside the venue where Lieberman is speaking, the Jewish Community Centre (Note: the centre is not the event sponsor), 950 W. 41st Ave, near Oak St., Vancouver.

Why: "We are extremely distressed by the Harper government's welcoming of this visit by Israel's extremist, racist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, a man who has openly advocated ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians," said Sid Shniad, spokesperson for Independent Jewish Voices.

A recent discussion over a cup of coffee with friends in Edmonton brought up four very different examples that had me considering how indigenous culture is flagrantly (mis)appropriated and twisted.

They are: a self-proposed, self-described "chosen shaman" of multiple indigenous nations named "Little Grandmother" Kiesha Crowther, the deaths and injuries that took place in an appropriated sweat lodge at a "New Age" retreat in Arizona in 2009, a noted pretender who once taught at my Alma Mater in Minnesota, and a "Quantum Healing" business-owner in Saskatoon who legitimizes culture-vulturing by means of a "Treaty of Eagle Bowl."