Blackpowder, the liberal comment wasn't aimed at you, but a more general statement against bleeding heart liberals on this site and in this country.
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No problem. I have no issue with the
native culture we see on TV. (spiritual,
environmental, communal). But we have
created a one ton pailbunter and let him
loose in the kitchen!
We have created fiefdoms. You don't
enter or work on or near their land
without paying %30 to a pimp. 2 outfits
getting paid, the local one to sit, the
outside one to get the work done. etc
etc.
I wish no harm to anyone. All i wish
for anyone is peace. BUT I Agree that
mainstream sees the Dancing with Wolves
First Nations, and not the Godfather
nations We've created.
Avatar my ass. We need a 'Scarface on
the rez' for Academy nomination. Of
course, most natives are decent human
beings just like most Canucks or
Colombians. But I wouldn't do business
in Colombia. This mess is
unsustainable. S.O.S.!Comment
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As awareness has been raised over First Nations
issues, from public protests to the dubious
restricted diet of an Ontario Indian chief, maybe,
amid hope and great idealism, three things can be
learned.
First, it's overdue to acknowledge that generally,
Canadian policies toward aboriginals have failed.
From the antiquated and racist Indian Act to an
aboriginal industry of consultants, lawyers,
featherbedding chiefs and government
bureaucrats, the system is built almost entirely on
entitlements and dependency.
The way to test any success is to measure it:
Education, health, jobs, work readiness and
positive family outcomes - these lag in every
region of the country among First Nations people.
Second, the blame game must stop. And there's
plenty to go around - most of it well-deserved,
from governments that thought money was the
answer to a culture among some First Nations
that they need that funding to function.
It should be recognized that all those spending
the $10 billion that comes through the federal
aboriginal turnstile every year are only doing what
they've been conditioned to do - government, non-
government and First Nations actors alike.
Third, provided that people come to the
discussion informed and with a compassionate
heart, labelling critics of the status quo as racist is
no longer going to work.
Given the often Byzantine and upside down Alice
in Wonderland world of aboriginal policy, actually
wanting to scrap the entire thing and start over
might be a wholly rational and compassionate act.
Having spent more hours than I can remember on
Indian reserves, sitting in band halls and chatting
with First Nations people, the story never
changes. A lifetime ago as a federal politician I
represented more than one-quarter of
Saskatchewan's First Nations.
Sometimes the night after a visit was a sleepless
one, so topsy-turvy and perverse were the
conditions of life for good people surviving in the
squalor and poverty of reserve communities just a
stone's throw from often thriving and successful
non-native towns.
Long before it became popular, the answer I
always got was "it is what it is."
Asked if they favour communal home ownership
where the band council divvies up homes and
even evicts a family that offends the chief,
residents would say yes. Residents wanted
nothing of private property, mortgages or taxes
levied by the band on houses that people live in.
No one seemed to work anywhere else but in the
band office, the band-owned school, a health
centre or recreation facility.
More often than not, those elected as chief or
councillor did not have any education or prior job
experience off the reserve.
Sadly, these were often the stories of life on
reserves. Considering that more than one-half of
First Nations people live away from reserves,
there were often at least as many challenges
facing people coping with town and city life.
Successful bands and tribal councils - and
Saskatchewan has many more today than in the
past - got to where they are by participating in the
market economy, forming partnerships and
development agreements with businesses,
resource companies and other players in the
economy.
Successful bands and communities tend to avoid
or at least minimize the artificial world of cycling
government money through small and remote
communities with no prospect of independent
economic activity.
A rework of First Nations policy will obviously
have to acknowledge the important role of
treaties, of aboriginal rights and the desire to build
an enduring relationship between aboriginal
peoples and everyone in all communities.
Most critically, the outcomes of education,
training, community building and the herculean
task of improving the lives of aboriginal children is
something that has to be set on a different track,
one that moves away from generations of doing
things the same way and getting the same
lamentable results.
Admit it. If your from Saskatchewan you read that
in Gormley's voiceComment
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http://www.thestarphoenix.com/touch/story.html?
id=7804854
Sorry didn't transfer first timeComment
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15444 - You are not alone in yer Way of Thinkin. So Sad We have another 4 Years of This Sob, What a Waste of Life.........
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