Quote:
Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy
That said, Natives in Canada are in an absolutely desolute position. The South African Apartheid was built using the model of how Canada's government dealt with the Native population as a guide - that is scary stuff, and difficult to fight against.
....
It is truly Canada's dirty little secret. It is a huge problem and no one knows what to do about it.... so nothing gets done.
|
All true, and it puzzles me how it can be wrong to want to end the reserve system, and yet it was right to oppose apartheid. The tribes in South Africa made treaties with the white government, too, and the only real difference is that they more or less had to support themselves instead of getting a monthly cheque and subsidized housing (although the gov't did put some infrastructure into the tribal homelands, mostly as a sop to foreign opinion, whereas they may as well not have bothered).
I think plenty of people know what needs to be done - the end of special status - but nobody wants to the one to step out and say it for the fear of those who will immediately label them as racist and fascist. I suspect that one day the problem will escalate to violence, terrorism and insurrection, and we'll look back and wonder why nobody could see it coming.