tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28423454.post8082941292297549902..comments2023-10-10T05:02:26.827-07:00Comments on WesternGrit: Canada's Shame: The Abandonment of Our First NationsWesternGrithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06658358114507615351noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28423454.post-33224491424587160562011-12-23T00:13:49.724-08:002011-12-23T00:13:49.724-08:00Harper was right to dump the Kelowna Accord. It d...Harper was right to dump the Kelowna Accord. It did nothing, but a promise to throw more after bad. <br /><br />The problem with Attawapiskat and like communities is A) not knew B) is not due to a lack of funding and is C) not due to mismanagement of funds. The problem stems from the fact that such communities are utterly economically unviable and the legal relationship crown and Canadians native people's is absurd. ( The income gap between those Status Indians living on reserve vs those status Indians living off reserves is huge. In terms of median income, it is just under $6000 a year. Furthermore, whereas median income for those living off reserves has increased rapidly since 1995, median income for those living on reserves is stagnate.) In any other context this would be self evident. Indeed, imagine if the government happened to, oh, legally define what it means to be Chinese, created a department of Chinese affairs, created Chinese rights, reserved land for Chinese so defined and exempted Chinese living on reserve land from paying taxes of any kind. No one would doubt that is a recipe for disastrous social relations. So, why would anyone doubt the same about Native Affairs, native rights and native reserves?<br /><br /><br />The problem is the only possible way out this mess, viz., abolishing native rights, abolishing the Indian Act and privatizing reserve lands, has been forever blocked by section 35 of the Constitution -- a decision, by the way, that renders Trudeau's time in office an abject failure. So long as this absurd legal relationship exists, an Attawapiskat like situation will rear its ugly head every three or four years. When that happens, the Liberals will cry shame, throw in some reference to the third world and demand more funding. The Conservatives, meanwhile, will point to mismanagement.Kobyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03407275645274060038noreply@blogger.com