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The thing is would Native leaders even WANT a change to the current system where many can pocket money on the side and take it away from the people that they're suppose to be representing and helping to improve their lives? I seriously doubt it. Personally I would LOVE to have a transparant system to see where all the dollars given to them are spent and then redirect the money to be used more efficiently because right now its not an issue about lack funding to Natives, but rather the money not going to where its suppose to and being as efficiently used as possible.
About only 250 people live in this community yet they want a 30 MILLION DOLLAR road built for them??!?!? >_> This is the kind of stupidity that I don't get. This tiny community of Shoal Lake needs expensive and constant supplies shipped by boat to them. What I don't understand is instead of living in the middle of nowhere where you're always depending on the government to keep your community afloat, why don't the Natives and government agree to resettle these people in an area that is close to another town or city so that you can easily connect them to the outside world and provide them with the basics like water and electricity that won't cost a fortune to build.
All of the money wasted for decades in trying to keep remote Native communities alive could've probably gotten all these people proper houses and infrastructure built for them by now in their own newly created towns. Instead of continually living in squalor and dirt and no access to basic infrastructure, they could've just moved and be living in much better conditions by now.
That's what I don't understand about Natives. That they insist on living in such remote areas where help for them is so far away. Maybe if they were doing well and were mostly self sufficient then there would be an argument for them to stay where they are, but considering so many Native communities are crapholes and have many social and other problems, why WOULDN'T you want to move elsewhere where they could get help for the issues they have? If they lived near other towns or cities, they could get proper policing and firefighting services, consoling for families to try to fix their drug problems, regular trash collection etc. Alot of things they don't have access to right now, they could easily get if they would just move.
The bottom line is alot of problems Natives have right now would've been fixed a LONG time ago if they had only made better more logical choices than they have so far.
I totally agree. Land transfer is nothing new. In Europe, 100 years ago, several farms were sometimes inherited by one person. The farms were spread out all over the place, making it impossible to manage the land. Through land transfers, all the land was patched together in one piece, and everyone is happy. That is the obvious solution to people living in remote, uninhabitable places that cannot logically be serviced such that the quality of life is equal to that of someone who lives in a city.
Sure it's easy for me to say that someone can move to a different location and retain their culture. Canada is the best example of that in the world. People come to Canada, preserve their language, tradition, and culture for their children, and that culture and tradition is passed on to the next generation. Eventually, there is a generation that wants to do things differently, and so be it. That the way of the world.
100 years ago Dutch farmers wore wooden shoes. Today, they wear more modern shoes because it simply makes more sense. The wooden shoes are part of Dutch culture, they are still made, they are still worn, and they make a fun souvenir. The culture is preserved because it's fun, not because anyone is afraid that it will be lost if it is not practiced.
When I was 6 or 7 years old my mother invited an aboriginal woman to our house to teach me traditional beading. We had several sessions, one afternoon each week for several weeks, so I could learn how to make traditional aboriginal art. We started with making a 2 inch wide belt using larger sized beads, then smaller beads, and more decorative pieces. I still know how to do it. I'm not aboriginal, and no one in my family has ever been aboriginal, but my mom wanted me to learn that skill. If I could learn it without any family connection to the aboriginal community ... you have to understand ... I'm completely confused why aboriginals cannot learn their traditions.
Sure it's easy for me to say that someone can move to a different location and retain their culture. Canada is the best example of that in the world. People come to Canada, preserve their language, tradition, and culture for their children, and that culture and tradition is passed on to the next generation. Eventually, there is a generation that wants to do things differently, and so be it. That the way of the world.
BTW, what happened to first nations cultures in Canada again? How did they go from 100% to 3%?
I look at Canada in the context of the Aboriginal Rule that all immigrants to Canada must forever pay Aboriginals so they can build $300 million dollar roads to 250 aboriginals who live on known uninhabitable land. What the heck are Canadian Aboriginals doing when they demand that all new immigrants provide a portion of their earnings so extra privileges, such as free post secondary education, can be provided to aboriginal Canadians? Imagine walking across half the world and Europe because the alternative is death only to learn that the second largest country in the world, Canada, there is a life long tariff related to aboriginal?. Eh? Wouldn't it be good if Canadian aborginals abolished the tariff and welcomed people to Canada without the eternal special rights expectation ... Canada One!
BTW, what happened to first nations cultures in Canada again? How did they go from 100% to 3%?
Perhaps after 100 years culture evolves to include both the old and new ... perhaps 3% is your perception of 100%. C-est la vie, eh. How can aboriginals argue special rights when European travellers are losing their lives for the right to be 'alive'? Why do aboriginal men murder women in their communities (eg: alcohol)? Answering that question a second time does not contribute to society. How much more Canadian tax payer money is needed to prove that new Canadians should not be obligated to pay money to Canadians who don't care about their tradition, but use their tradition to leverage money from Canadians?
When the child of a 14 year old with drug problems is put into government care, is it reasonable to blame "residential schools, and colonization, racism, and poverty"? Was this 14 year old educated in a residential school? How did colonization interfere with her ability to make good decisions? What role did racism play in her pregnancy? What role did poverty play in her pregnancy? How can someone afford drugs if they are living in poverty?
"Per capita, Manitoba has more children in provincial care than any other province, with more than 10,000 children under the government’s watch. As many as 40 newborns in a single month have been taken from their mothers, Morgan said.
These displaced infants, who are disproportionately aboriginal, are typically placed in shelters.
One mother, who cannot be identified by law, told CTV Winnipeg that she had her child taken away at the age of 14. She’s taken parenting courses and been through drug tests, but – now in her thirties – her visits are still regulated.
...
“How did we end up in this situation? We ended up in this situation because of residential schools, and colonization, racism, and poverty plays a significant factor in this.”
The "sweep-things-under-the-carpet" culture is very strong in Canada. It's can be very taboo to discuss unpleasant subjects.
One of the reasons is that the Canadian identity often revolves around notions of "niceness", "best-ness", etc.
It's not a cocky arrogance like that of the Americans, it's more of a smugness.
The idea for example that Canada may not be as rich and excellence-driven as the U.S., but has nonetheless built a "better" society than the U.S. for its citizens, is close to being a dogma in Canada.
Especially in the vast area from northern Ontario going westwards, demographic growth and migration patterns in the coming years and decades are going to make the situation with aboriginals in Canada much more analogous to the historic situation with African-Americans in the U.S. than it has been in the past. (The aboriginal population share having been historically smaller in Canada than that of African-Americans in the U.S., and also the fact that African-Americans urbanized much earlier.)
It's therefore a very real possibility that, given the usual socio-economic development levels of our aboriginal population, that you will see increasingly serious issues with crime, drugs, ghettoization, etc. in Canadian cities and towns in the fairly near future.
I don't want this to happen, but based on the majority of opinions on here, you can't say that Canadians didn't ask for it.
"Only the slightest of margins separates Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Canada in the top ranks of the United Nations’ World Happiness Report released Thursday. ... The overall message of the report is that the well-being of countries depends on individuals being able to make decisions for the common good, and that the best societies are those where individuals act honestly and benevolently and where they trust that others are as well."
Don't go looking for them and you won't have to find them.
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