Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
They're where they are because their culture was destroyed. Their culture was destroyed because that's what happens when more advanced and populous cultures meet less advanced and populous ones. It's the outcome every single time, in every corner of the planet. It requires no malice on the part of the more advanced and populous culture (which isn't to say malice is absent).
I don't look at history through the lens of a Hollywood movie narrative, with heroes, villains, and saviours. There's nothing that could have preserved the native cultures of the Americas, given the enormous disparity in technology between the old world and new, never mind the disease vulnerability that resulted in 90 per cent of the pre-contact population falling prey to smallpox, etc.
The issue is how to move forward. I don't believe the interests of native Canadians are best served by treating them as noble victims and non-native Canadians as malignant oppressors. It's an approach that makes some people feel good about themselves, but accomplishes very little.
The rest of Canada should recognize and meet our treaty obligations. And care for those natives who fall into poverty and social dysfunction, as we care for all Canadians who suffer. But a race-based justice system is a terrible idea.
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I wonder how it is in other countries. In South America for example weren't the natives totally destroyed where the entire continent speaks Spanish and is Catholic? Do they face the same or more struggles as the natives here?