Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
If you think the reaction from her peers was simply about getting a job, then you are naïve. These situations are not uncommon and I have come across them as well (even mentioned in this thread), and they are about not wanting their peers to mix racially with white people. That is racism in its purist form.
Because I said that we should throw them out on the street? I am talking about complete integration instead of segregation. These "constitutionally protected rights" are also what divides them and keeps them as wards of the federal government. If it hasn't worked in 200 years, it won't work in 200 more. I'm not saying ripping off the Band-Aid won't hurt at first.
|
Complete integration (at least the type of one-sided integration that is akin to tearing off a Band-Aid) is assimilation by another name and hundreds of years of attempted assimilation has been an abject failure. They don't want to be assimilated and never have; the prospects of it working now are fairly slim.
The Constitution and the Supreme Court have clearly supported the idea that within the law there exists a place for unique rights among First Nations, so IMO the idea that they can essentially be compelled to be assimilated is shaky on both practical and legal grounds; effectively it's a utopia.
I can certainly understand the attractiveness of that thought. We're a settler and immigrant society which is largely based on people coming from around the world and assimilating into Canadian culture, and there's obviously a sense of egalitarianism to the idea. But again, it's not any more realistic now than when progressives were making the exact same argument 150 years ago. Any solution with a plausible chance of success is going to have to respect and support the idea of Native distinctiveness. It's written into our Constitution just as Quebec's distinctiveness is.
The end of the reserve system as it exists should obviously be the goal, but it's not going to be forced upon First Nations and it's likely not happening any time soon. And even if land issues themselves are solved (as some BC tribes have done with settlement claims which have resulted in a sort of quasi-municipal 4th level of government) there still remain serious social problems that will take generations to sort out even in the best case scenario.