Saskatchewan?

[cakadu]

I don't want to get anyone in trouble and I certainly am not pointing fingers laying blame etc. It is just a concern and I think there comes a point in time when we have to forgive and move on. I suspect that there are many hardworking people that are just waiting for a chance to do for themselves. That is what everyone wants - to feel productive and useful.

I certainly didn't want us to go down a bad road, just pointed out what I have heard raised by several folks who live there (relates included). Where does the bad stop and the good begin?

[cowman]

I'll try not to stay on my soapbox too long here! The native problem isn't much different than the problems we have in welfare. Both need a hand up NOT a handout! A typical example is these little single mothers. The govt. gives them an income but it is a dead end street. They send them off to school to upgrade to a high school diploma. So great...now they can work at Mac Donalds! But that pays so poorly they have to go back on welfare. They give up and play the game. Recently I was at a pipeline and there were a couple of young girls welding. They had taken an advanced course(with family help) and were apprenticing. The foreman told me they were very good employees and very good welders. They were making a good wage with a bright future ahead. Now if they had gone through social services they would have got shipped off to school to read Shakespeare! Alberta is crying for tradespeople and so we import them rather than train our own young. These young women can do these jobs!But try to get the govt. to help train them for something that makes sense? They won't even help an apprentice go to school anymore! These jobs pay good and allow people to stand on their own two feet. I see a lot of young natives working in the gas processing industry and they are getting ahead and becoming good citizens.