Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
I respect your post, but I do think its an over simplification of what is a very large and complex problem.
Right at the moment, the government is basically acting as a rich uncle to the reservations throwing money at a problem and not working with the natives on how the money is truly spent, because of this there is a heightened expectation on both sides.
Is the government of canada responsible for providing social services, and infrastructure services to the reservations. Well yes they should be, but the government gets blocked out by the special status granted to the natives which gives them the right to self govern thier own reservations, in essence everytime the government tries to impose conditions on how the money is spent the Reservation leaders scream to the rafters about government interfearance and racism.
Where the responsibility does lie is two fold. One the leadership on a lot of the reservations (not all) take the money and invest it in pet projects that increase the wealth of the chiefs, or they spend it on unimportant things, they've never set up a support system for the individual's, never put conditions on education and housing of the individuals living there. In essense its the purest form of a market society where the rich truly get richer and the poor or unimportant or unconnected get screwed.
There's got to be a better way to encourage self reliance then cutting someone a cheque when he turns 18 so that he can spend it on whatever he wants ie fancy truck, liquor.
The government needs to take that money and invest it in scholarships, better housing, and intercountry regulated trade.
So while the government has a stake in this, they continually get blocked by the corrupt practices of a select few who are also media saavy enough to block any efforts to make changes.
Where the government does fall down tho is on the land settlements, but again, it takes two to negotiate anything, and the reason why the land stettlement agreements fall down is that the negotiations from the side are absolute, all or nothing, we get what we want now, or we walk away from the table.
The reservation system does not work, it foster corruption, and it certainly fosters a atmosphere on non-inertia, there are no reasons to leave the reservations, and your only source of information come from the leaders that are contiually screwing you, so of course there are going to be warrier societies and semi violent protests. Your indoctrinated to one way of thinking.
The easiest solution would be for the government to buy all the reservation land and force improvements, and then give notice that in 25 years the reservations are going to be shut down and the people that live there will be compensated for land space and they need to assimilate into Canadian society.
Thier special status is killing them and seperating them from the rest of the country, they're basically a poor version of Quebec with a higher wall and a real lack of understanding about the country around them.
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Really, I was just trying to get at refuting the idea that the problem of governance on the reserves is not a problem of Canadian governance. You've astutely stated a lot of what I would have had I had the gumption or been making the point.
I was just put off by the 'our government' vs. 'their government' sentiment I'd been reading, but I agree that it's an extremely complex issue (beyond what I got into) which is the result of long term failures in governance at both national and reserve levels and which will require long term solutions.
The complexities of the problem are well beyond my having any kind of solution to suggest that might be worth a mention.
Edit: I'm similarly respectful of you. I'm just meaning to clarify my earlier posts.