“The Native people can do something about their situation - get off the reserves, get off the government dole. Get a job, pay taxes and work like a Canadian as many Natives have already done. It is hard to break from an ingrained pattern of dependance but it can be done. Those who choose to remain on the reserves are destined for “more of the same” for them and their children. It’s a sad situation and my sympathy goes out to them.
Truth be said, “You are the only one who can help yourself.”
My family came to this country with NO gov’t handouts. In fact, we were charged a “head tax” for entering this country. Those of our Chinese community of friends and family who landed before helped us get settled in Canada as Canadians. We birthed children, taught them English and Chinese. We can never deny where we came from and yet, we are proud Canadians at the same time. We are educated and law-abiding (for the most part - every family has bad apples). It all comes from hard work and no expectations of handouts from the government.
We were fortunate enough to have a support system of family and friends. For the Natives, no such mechanism seems to exist - unfortunately. If a Native wants to break away from the reserves, s/he has to do it on their own and many fail as evidenced by our prison populations. Why is there no govenment support to help Natives leave the reserve? I guess it would be seen as “cultural interference” much like the residential schools were.
A Native person, like anyone else in Canada, should have the freedom to live their lives as they choose.”
“The government can’t do anything without being called racist and having the natives cause a whole bunch of problems.
It’s only when the native leaders come to realize that they are the ones harming their own people and keeping them down. Most of the average native people already know this, they are just helpless to do much about it.
They are intimidated and robbed by their own leaders and just like nations in Africa that have thug dictators that opress their own people just to hold onto power, so do many of the native leaders in our own country. They must keep their own people down so that they are dependant on their leaders to “help” them. They cannot let the people succeed on their own or with the help of the Canadian government for then they (native leaders) will lose their power and influence over the average native.
They disguise this by saying that they are holding on to traditional native culture, however traditional native culture has proven to be an unhealthy lifestyle and then they blame all of mainstream Canadian society for their problems.
It is the traditional native heritage of corruption and oppression that is keeping them down not anything else.
Time for the regular native to REVOLT against their crooked leaders who have stolen their chances for prosperity.
Every native (yes every!!!!) I have met that have rejected the traditional native lifestyle and has worked hard to succeed has done so. They are great people and have earned their prosperity.
The Canadian government knows what the solution is and so does the public at large but the native leaders will riot before they let their power be circumvented by their own people and the government.
It’s their own corrupt leaders holding them down into poverty.”
“The sad legacy of Residential Schools rears its ugly head again. Anyone who blames the Aboriginal community for their problems clearly doesn’t know their history. This is the cycle of violence and poverty due to church and government meddling on a culture that didn’t need them. Canada should be ashamed.”
“I am wondering why when a child is murdered in the city, folks don’t immediately blame “urban society” on the death and decide everyone should move to the country…
Surprise, surprise, people do blame urban society when a crime is committed in a urban setting.
The fact is that murder happens in many communities, regardless of the racial, social, or any other make-up of the immediate community. Sure, there are some communities where crime rates are higher but the fact is that murder isn’t rampant on reserves, certainly not on any of the reserves I know of. And certainly not to the extent that one should make the bizarre assumption that people should move off the reserves and into urban settings away from the communities where people have lived for generations because a crime happens.
Perhaps the next time a murder happens in a small town, we should all force the inhabitants to move into the city for their own safety!
What nonsense.”
“While there is indeed a large trend of poverty on many Reserves, one cannot simply claim that life on the Reserve is “destined for ‘more of the same.’” Indigenous Peoples have been successful and impoverished, both on and off Reserves. A large number of Indigenous Peoples find work outside their home communities, and return to visit their families. It is not uncommon for grandparents to raise their grandchildren while the parents are away working.
I’m not sure if you meant it as such, and hope you didn’t, but your line about being educated and law-abiding can be taken to say many Indigenous Peoples are neither. Can you please clarify this?
Close community and family ties are traditionally intrinsic to most Indigenous Peoples. Certainly it can be argued that these have been weakened by the Indian Act and Residential Schools, but they are largely still strong and vibrant (see argument 2).
I really hope you’ll revisit your second last paragraph, especially your references to community, crime and leaving reserves. There really is no basis for your observations. It doesn’t reflect the education and intellect evidenced in the rest of your post.
Finally, and for the record, the Canadian Government has been ‘helping’ First Nations people get off the reserve for close to a century. It started with enfranchisement, where an education or prosperity excluded you from the reserve. Then there was the Residential Schools and attempts to ‘kill the Indian in the child.’ Most recently, the Indian Act was revised in 1983 to redefine Status, so that as Status holders marry out of Status, all future generations loose that claim. This definition is not only racist and paternalistic, it is also designed to eliminate the Treaty (Status) population by the end of this century.
Peace, Friendship, Respect.”
“What a horrible tragedy. My heart is with all those directly involved with this situation.
More tragic and heartbreaking is the posters who come out to use the death of a child as an escuse to spread their ignorance and hate.
Which in turn causes folks like myself to have to spend a little more of our valuable time setting the record straight.
There are 1,319,890 Aboriginal people in Canada.
Only 285,625 live on Reservations.
The vast majority of us (1,034,260) have done what you have requested and left the Reserves for more Urban Centres. This is where we run up against more racists, who will not hire us. This is where we feel loneliness and longing for the family and community that we left behind. This is where we fall through the cracks in despair, because we can not seem to win for trying.
As a successful, University educated, landowning, taxpaying, Indigenous woman, I feel a strong pull to help my less fortunate brothers and sisters.
I do that every way that I can.
What we need from the Non-Indigenous community is some patience, some compassion, and some understanding as to why many (not all) Reservations are in trouble.
Non-Indigenous people must educated themselves about the effects of over 500 years of Colonializm and Genocide.
For the brave and compassionate among you who are willing to open your minds and your hearts, please follow all of the CBC links, especially CBC Aboriginal. Spend some time with the interactive site on Residential schools.
Also try hiddenfromhistory.org and DanielNPaul. For accurate information about money and where it goes, try your own government site for Indian and Northern Affairs, the AFN and The Native Women’s Association of Canada.
Those of you who take the time and make the effort, may be shocked to find that you have been labouring under some gross misconceptions about us.
So many Canadians have extended their hands in friendship, and seek to develop and new Relationship with the Indigenous people of this Country.
So many are ready and willing to join us, as we move forward towards a mutually beneficial future, based in trust and respect.
Will you be of them? ”
“It is time for most aboriginals on reserves to leave them and move into urban centres. Many non-aboriginal people of my parent’s generation left small towns for a better life in the 60s and 70s. To this day, if you want a shot at a better life, many still have to leave rural areas for more urbanized ones.
Reservations in Manitoba are often only acessible by air or winter road and they have no viable industry or resources. It is time time to move on and see the reserve as a childhood home to visit and not as a place to live.”
“Hmmm…. Another sad moment for another family in Canada. This was probably another hate crime, but this time, it’s Indian against Indian. This 9 year old, regardless of what he may have done, did not deserve to die at the hand of another member of his tribe. Where was the teaching from the elders of his tribe in respecting each other and the land and so on? I believe this segregation of the Indian people from the rest of Canada will be their undoing. Perhaps they, the Indian community, needs to get with the times, integrate into society, and become more of an active participant, rather than always the “victim” of the evil “white man”.
Just a thought…”
