[peter12]

With all due respect, troutman, that is exactly the kind of thing a lawyer would say. First Nations have been winning extremely vague cases in court - the recent Chilcotin case being a good example - but it has not translated into any appreciable difference in living standards in the actual communities. More-so, these court case settlements inevitably get divided up between lawyers, consultants, and the community elites. In some cases in Treaty 8, up to half of settlements went to third parties. Meanwhile, it is exceptionally common for community members to hold out hope for the big lottery win, whether through Land Treaty Entitlement or through a big resource revenue program.

This is not the solution to the absolute poverty and social nihilism that is prevalent in native communities. A more beneficial perspective is to look at the historical causes of the Indian Act, its actual effect on the economic and political behaviour of First Nations, the limitations of political action, and the realities of a free market that has created enormous wealth but left First Nations people behind. The crisis-level shortage of reserve housing, for instance, would very much benefit from a structure of First Nation property rights.