[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Ok, lets talk about that. Because the situation in Attawapsikat has as much to do with prior abuses of the government of Canada and the church as my love life has to do with global warning.

There is no link at all whatsoever. It has nothing to do with hating on Natives it has nothing do do with discrimination or racial bias.

I have to disagree with this, to look at this situation in isolation, ignoring the entire history of oppression is ignorant at best. The situation that currently is unfolding is one that is common to a large number of the reserves in Canada, there is poor education, poor lifestyle practices and poor integration into modern society. This is directly related to the fact that the reserve is in the middle of nowhere and the past abuses which have absolutely desecrated a culture, and that has resulted in the population being marginalized a great deal. There is a large population of young people with poor educational achievement, a lack of role models, and few career opportunities as a result. The education system on reserves has achieved poor results and consequently the population has failed to make many significant strides forward.

I am not saying that I support Theresa Spence in any way, I think that she is an awful leader and likely is a crook who has lined her own pockets on the backs of her people, all while trying to proclaim herself as their saviours. What I would say though is that the problem is much, much deeper than Theresa Spence.

But to simply say oh its about past abuses and racial crime is simply doing the same thing that Spence is doing and preventing the problem from being looked at objectively and maybe fixed.

And the government is under the same kind of paralysis and its completely wrong.

These problems can't be solved by throwing money at it. The reserve system can't be solved by increasing the budget, the problem now is systematic and needs to be looked at objectively without bringing all of the other stuff in.

To completely ignore the problems of the past and lay the blame on the feet of people currently in power is a foolish errand at best. I agree that throwing money at the problem doesn't fix it, but what steps can realistically be taken in order to begin to properly address the issues? More importantly what steps that can be taken that don't cost money?