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I'll state again that this thread is so disappointing and embarrassing to read as a Canadian.
I totally agree with the comments about the band leaders who often siphon money supposed to used to improve their communities. It's shameful and should be changed.
But who put that system in place? Who keeps it in place? The Government of Canada.
It's just so simplistic to say "cut off dem bums!", in response to a very serious problem with long historical roots related to grave injustices.
Feels like I am in a tavern with a bunch of drunk guys watching Don Cherry blather on the big screen in between periods.
And since I don't have the time to type out anything in any depth, this CBC link, for those who are genuinely interested, seems to be pretty thorough. How does native funding work? - Canada - CBC News
And if there's anything good about this thread, it's that it certainly puts paid to the idea that racism is less existent in Canada than in the US. The only thing that changes is the target.
It's weird how asking questions about what is really going on with government funding to aboriginal groups in Canada is automatically labelled: racism. All Canadians know that it is completely politically incorrect to ask questions, especially incorrect to ask for an accounting of taxpayer money that has been gifted to aboriginal groups.
On the upside, everyone knows that when an online discussion deteriorates to labelling and name calling, it is due to an inability to debate the issue.
I'll state again that this thread is so disappointing and embarrassing to read as a Canadian.
I totally agree with the comments about the band leaders who often siphon money supposed to used to improve their communities. It's shameful and should be changed.
But who put that system in place? Who keeps it in place? The Government of Canada.
It's just so simplistic to say "cut off dem bums!", in response to a very serious problem with long historical roots related to grave injustices.
Feels like I am in a tavern with a bunch of drunk guys watching Don Cherry blather on the big screen in between periods.
I honestly though we were better than this.
Perhaps you have a link to support the suggestion that the Canadian government has never been interested in an accounting of how gifted money is spent?
Regarding the "long historical roots", at what point does the generation today say: "hey, I'm sick of being tied to the gloom and doom culture that I inherited from my long dead ancestors. I'm going to have a good life that looks positively to the future. I'm going to stop expecting handouts so I can live in an uninhabitable place. I'll join the rest of the world and be thankful"?
Make no mistake - joining the rest of the world does not mean to abandon one's culture. In Canada's cultural mosaic, a multitude of cultures live happily side by side. Those who lived in mud huts in Nigeria now live in wooden houses in cities, and they celebrate their traditional cultures.
It's weird how asking questions about what is really going on with government funding to aboriginal groups in Canada is automatically labelled: racism. All Canadians know that it is completely politically incorrect to ask questions, especially incorrect to ask for an accounting of taxpayer money that has been gifted to aboriginal groups.
On the upside, everyone knows that when an online discussion deteriorates to labelling and name calling, it is due to an inability to debate the issue.
Don't forget the guilt tripping either. Professing shame over the quite appropriate mentioning of ones government demanding accountability and not receiving it is just so much holier-than-thou hyperbole.
No other segment of our society gets federal funding without at least some accountability attached. where does it say in any treaty we don't have the right to expect accountability? Why is simply mentioning these points rate an accusation of racism.
Our government put in place an 'accountability' piece of legislation, so I guess they're all a pack of racists too for acting on our behalf.
Don't forget the guilt tripping either. Professing shame over the quite appropriate mentioning of ones government demanding accountability and not receiving it is just so much holier-than-thou hyperbole.
No other segment of our society gets federal funding without at least some accountability attached. where does it say in any treaty we don't have the right to expect accountability? Why is simply mentioning these points rate an accusation of racism.
Our government put in place an 'accountability' piece of legislation, so I guess they're all a pack of racists too for acting on our behalf.
All Canadians, even those born in other countries, are being conditioned to believe that someone in Canada did a very bad thing - inherited guilt. So many new Canadians had their homes taken from them by rebels, so many fled their country because the alternative was death, so many lost everything with no recourse. After being welcomed into the second largest country in the world, they're told to give their hard earned money (keeping in mind that new immigrants trained as dentists are delivering pizza and professional engineers are pumping gas) to aboriginals because ... why? Does anyone know why? Was it because immigrants settled in Canada? Is that the crime that was committed and for which Canadians must forever pay?
Look at the Syrians fleeing their country today? Clearly they would rather walk across Europe than risk another day in Syria. Would Canadian aboriginals tell them today that they cannot come to Canada unless they pay for all eternity to ensure that aboriginals have special rights and privileges above all other Canadians? Actually, it seems that is what aboriginals are communicating to new immigrants that fled brutality to live in Canada.
I'll state again that this thread is so disappointing and embarrassing to read as a Canadian.
I totally agree with the comments about the band leaders who often siphon money supposed to used to improve their communities. It's shameful and should be changed.
But who put that system in place? Who keeps it in place? The Government of Canada.
It's just so simplistic to say "cut off dem bums!", in response to a very serious problem with long historical roots related to grave injustices.
Feels like I am in a tavern with a bunch of drunk guys watching Don Cherry blather on the big screen in between periods.
I honestly though we were better than this.
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.
Make no mistake - joining the rest of the world does not mean to abandon one's culture. In Canada's cultural mosaic, a multitude of cultures live happily side by side. .
Perhaps you have a link to support the suggestion that the Canadian government has never been interested in an accounting of how gifted money is spent?
.
I never said anything of the sort. The feds do sometimes try and crack down on things in a piecemeal way, but the problem is fundamentally with the system itself.
Unless there is a willingness to overhaul the system you'll never really address the problem of financial mismanagement and corruption on reserves. In addition to the very serious problems of third world living conditions still existing in one of the planet's richest countries.
BTW, nice touch with the use of the word "gifted"! I am not aboriginal but I am sure if they read that they might say "enjoy your prosperous lives on that *gifted* land"!
I never said anything of the sort. The feds do sometimes try and crack down on things in a piecemeal way, but the problem is fundamentally with the system itself.
Unless there is a willingness to overhaul the system you'll never really address the problem of financial mismanagement and corruption on reserves. In addition to the very serious problems of third world living conditions still existing in one of the planet's richest countries.
BTW, nice touch with the use of the word "gifted"! I am not aboriginal but I am sure if they read that they might say "enjoy your prosperous lives on that *gifted* land"!
A/J; he said gifted MONEY. Nothing about the land.
Culture has come to be such a carved-in-stone word. All one needs do is parrot that word to bring all reasonable discussion to a halt.
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