Quote:
Originally posted by Hakan@Apr 21 2005, 09:06 PM
That's a really good point. People from Calgary have a really skewed opinion on the amount of money that native people receive. Go to a reserve in Labrador or hell, even out here on Vancouver Island and there is no where near that kind of wealth being distributed. Most of it is subsistence wealth.
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Agree and disagree. It really goes on a reserve-by-reserve basis. If the people have a good treaty even outside of Alberta, then they get some alright money. If not, then they are screwed.
I grew up in Northwestern Ontario (near the Manitoba border). Some of the poorest reserves in the area. They still get some money from the federal government. During highschool, I remember at least 3 times that some of my teenage native buddies were given thousands of dollars to do whatever they want with. Not sure what it was for, but it sure wasn't oil.
Then there was the monthly incomes for treaties made over one hundred years ago. Of course, in the treaties, it stated that they were to get "x" number of horses, "x" bags of flour, "x" blankets... etc. Nowadays they just agree on what the monetary worth would be today and pay them.
One of my best friends was from a reserve in the area. I went out there with him one time and was pretty shocked. Most of the houses were collapsing, the yards were like jungles, but everyone had brand new snowmachines and ATVs. There was also a brand new hockey arena on the reserve that the government paid for that was shut down a year later because it was badly vandalized and was used as a sniff house.
At the same time, there are other reserves that get absolutely nothing. Unless of course they are unfortunate enough to get mercury poisoning. And in B.C., I don't even think most have treaties at all.