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Originally Posted by flamesfever
Thank you for that summary. I realize that the issues facing the FN people are enormous, and a lot of effort and money will be needed to come even close to fixing the problem. However, just as the problems are numerous, perhaps the solutions are likewise just as numerous. Could you please list some of the solutions that you see as a starting point e.g. education, employment, casinos, sharing income among various reserves, relocating reserves closer to civilization, etc.
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Lots of possible ideas, but practical implementation is another story.
The first thing is to recognize that:
- the damage done through multiple generations of residential schools is pretty much incomprehensible, in the most literal sense of the word.
- our lens of capitalism (and the inherent assumptions that come with it) still does not translate very well to the world FN people have been living in. Not because the concept of 'personal property' is totally foreign like it was a couple centuries ago...but access to equitable economic participation remains very very difficult (both in terms of what they can 'give' and what they can 'take').
Obviously a lot more to unpack there, but I'll try to answer your question with my germ of an idea (that is hopelessly idealistic):
- the goal is integration without assimilation, much like we see with a lot of immigrant populations.
- reserves would essentially transform to 'holiday homes', while we figure out a way to establish new communities in/around areas with heavy immigrant populations, while beefing up the social resources that have more successfully found+helped those groups
- currently it's a bit of a dilemma where you have to be essentially all-in or all-out of the Rez system, and that needs to be broken, but without 'taking away' the comforting aspects of the rez
Another somewhat related would be an idea to pay people (above and beyond) to go to school - available for any age. One option would be creating remedial programs within community colleges (BVC here) to play catch-up from generations of weak educational resourcing, but it could apply to any program. If it means a few generations of literal 'career-learners' that's great.