Riderfans is at a different level of bizarre. A handful of guys who like football and thousands of nut jobs just fighting and being pricks for the sake of it.

If they aren't doing nuclear testing in SK yet they should seriously consider it.

I spent a year in Estevan called July and August in 1990. That town makes Honey Boo-Boo look like Stephen Hawking.

I got a buddy who just moved there... Tattoo artist, of all careers.. I have to assume hes pretty much braindead by this point..

 

Then he's probably joined a cowboy church and is ready to vote for Brad Wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, sorry Zontar, not to pile on but... you clearly don't know what you're talking about in this instance. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you just thought "Schools = Good".

You know what,I'll take a stand and say residential schools were a not terrible idea that was just handled really poorly. Should a just assimilated everyone from the start then there'd be a lot less problems with reserves

Clearly, you're not too familiar with the stated aim of the Residential Schools either.  Their primary purpose was to eradicate First Nations culture, to get rid of "indians" once and for all.  Explain to me how that can ever be "not a terrible idea"?

Because assimilation is not a bad thing. Could have had just a whole bunch of Canadians rather than the government protected racism that currently exists. Signing treaties hundreds of years ago was an easy solution at the time but they have long lasting negative effects that manifest themselves in this day and age

 

 

Seems to me the best thing would be for people to stop being pieces of **** and treating people differently based on cultural background. Assimilation is just the people at the top saying "you should all be like me". It's like Nazi-ism lite.

 

no assimilation isn't a one way street, it goes two ways. Stop separating people into different groups and we can just all be Canadian and treat everyone equally. Treaties however just make sure racism and different groups being treated differently continues to exist. 

 

 

You are trying to grossly oversimplify the situation.  You can't say "just stop separating people into groups" when people naturally self-identify already. 

 

Furthermore, the treaties were a legal document. This wasn't a bill of sale for a used BBQ written on a napkin -- it was legal title to land we now live on, land that is now Canada. 

 

The government has a moral obligation as society built upon laws to uphold the treaties; or at least the spirit behind them. 

 

No I'm not over simplifying. This is how the problem gets solved. I know full well what the treaties that were signed were and what the intent was. The problem is that they are legal documents that are guaranteed by the constitution of this country, and that's a huge problem and the #1 reason why most of these problems exist. When they were signed it was seen as the easy solution, put the natives out of the way and throw them a few trinkets every now and then and let them live their traditional lifestyle. Problem is that in todays society it is a terrible solution and completely unworkable. The best solution IS to stop treating them differently and make them all Canadian and treat everyone equally. When you have such a skewed number of impoverished people on reserves it is safe to say that the system is broken, but where's the push to change a broken system? You even bring it up and you're labelled a racist. Too much blame gets thrown at the feet of the government of Canada and they're expected to fix it, but they can't fix it unilaterally, self determination and all that, so basically it's just "give us more money because residential schools! abuse! ugly history! white guilt!" It's those treaties that are holding things back. 

 

 

 

LOL   Well that doesnt seem right. The natives are native to this land....  that about as Canadian as you can get.

 

Do i have this right?    The white man comes here and brings their traditions and pretty much just throws the natives and their traditions away and now you want to make them Canadian?

 

Odd but alrighty then. 

Not a fan of the word Indian.

 

I'm a huge fan of Indian Food!!

 

 

I'm not a fan of people who are racists,  but to hate on a word is kind of weird?  

 

Not a fan of the word Indian.

 

I'm a huge fan of Indian Food!!

 

 

I'm not a fan of people who are racists,  but to hate on a word is kind of weird?  

 

 

LOL

 

Not a fan of using the word to describe natives.  Sry i worded that wrong. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, sorry Zontar, not to pile on but... you clearly don't know what you're talking about in this instance. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you just thought "Schools = Good".

You know what,I'll take a stand and say residential schools were a not terrible idea that was just handled really poorly. Should a just assimilated everyone from the start then there'd be a lot less problems with reserves

Clearly, you're not too familiar with the stated aim of the Residential Schools either.  Their primary purpose was to eradicate First Nations culture, to get rid of "indians" once and for all.  Explain to me how that can ever be "not a terrible idea"?

Because assimilation is not a bad thing. Could have had just a whole bunch of Canadians rather than the government protected racism that currently exists. Signing treaties hundreds of years ago was an easy solution at the time but they have long lasting negative effects that manifest themselves in this day and age

 

 

Seems to me the best thing would be for people to stop being pieces of **** and treating people differently based on cultural background. Assimilation is just the people at the top saying "you should all be like me". It's like Nazi-ism lite.

 

no assimilation isn't a one way street, it goes two ways. Stop separating people into different groups and we can just all be Canadian and treat everyone equally. Treaties however just make sure racism and different groups being treated differently continues to exist. 

 

 

You are trying to grossly oversimplify the situation.  You can't say "just stop separating people into groups" when people naturally self-identify already. 

 

Furthermore, the treaties were a legal document. This wasn't a bill of sale for a used BBQ written on a napkin -- it was legal title to land we now live on, land that is now Canada. 

 

The government has a moral obligation as society built upon laws to uphold the treaties; or at least the spirit behind them. 

 

No I'm not over simplifying. This is how the problem gets solved. I know full well what the treaties that were signed were and what the intent was. The problem is that they are legal documents that are guaranteed by the constitution of this country, and that's a huge problem and the #1 reason why most of these problems exist. When they were signed it was seen as the easy solution, put the natives out of the way and throw them a few trinkets every now and then and let them live their traditional lifestyle. Problem is that in todays society it is a terrible solution and completely unworkable. The best solution IS to stop treating them differently and make them all Canadian and treat everyone equally. When you have such a skewed number of impoverished people on reserves it is safe to say that the system is broken, but where's the push to change a broken system? You even bring it up and you're labelled a racist. Too much blame gets thrown at the feet of the government of Canada and they're expected to fix it, but they can't fix it unilaterally, self determination and all that, so basically it's just "give us more money because residential schools! abuse! ugly history! white guilt!" It's those treaties that are holding things back. 

 

 

 

LOL   Well that doesnt seem right. The natives are native to this land....  that about as Canadian as you can get.

 

Do i have this right?    The white man comes here and brings their traditions and pretty much just throws the natives and their traditions away and now you want to make them Canadian?

 

Odd but alrighty then. 

 

You know that Canada embraces people from different cultural backgrounds right? And encourages them to maintain those traditions right? 

 

Every country everywhere has been conquered by someone. You can either sit around wishing it weren't so or just move on and live in the world as it exists today. There is room for everyone to be Canadian and still celebrate their history and traditions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, sorry Zontar, not to pile on but... you clearly don't know what you're talking about in this instance. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you just thought "Schools = Good".

You know what,I'll take a stand and say residential schools were a not terrible idea that was just handled really poorly. Should a just assimilated everyone from the start then there'd be a lot less problems with reserves

Clearly, you're not too familiar with the stated aim of the Residential Schools either.  Their primary purpose was to eradicate First Nations culture, to get rid of "indians" once and for all.  Explain to me how that can ever be "not a terrible idea"?

Because assimilation is not a bad thing. Could have had just a whole bunch of Canadians rather than the government protected racism that currently exists. Signing treaties hundreds of years ago was an easy solution at the time but they have long lasting negative effects that manifest themselves in this day and age

 

 

Seems to me the best thing would be for people to stop being pieces of **** and treating people differently based on cultural background. Assimilation is just the people at the top saying "you should all be like me". It's like Nazi-ism lite.

 

no assimilation isn't a one way street, it goes two ways. Stop separating people into different groups and we can just all be Canadian and treat everyone equally. Treaties however just make sure racism and different groups being treated differently continues to exist. 

 

 

You are trying to grossly oversimplify the situation.  You can't say "just stop separating people into groups" when people naturally self-identify already. 

 

Furthermore, the treaties were a legal document. This wasn't a bill of sale for a used BBQ written on a napkin -- it was legal title to land we now live on, land that is now Canada. 

 

The government has a moral obligation as society built upon laws to uphold the treaties; or at least the spirit behind them. 

 

No I'm not over simplifying. This is how the problem gets solved. I know full well what the treaties that were signed were and what the intent was. The problem is that they are legal documents that are guaranteed by the constitution of this country, and that's a huge problem and the #1 reason why most of these problems exist. When they were signed it was seen as the easy solution, put the natives out of the way and throw them a few trinkets every now and then and let them live their traditional lifestyle. Problem is that in todays society it is a terrible solution and completely unworkable. The best solution IS to stop treating them differently and make them all Canadian and treat everyone equally. When you have such a skewed number of impoverished people on reserves it is safe to say that the system is broken, but where's the push to change a broken system? You even bring it up and you're labelled a racist. Too much blame gets thrown at the feet of the government of Canada and they're expected to fix it, but they can't fix it unilaterally, self determination and all that, so basically it's just "give us more money because residential schools! abuse! ugly history! white guilt!" It's those treaties that are holding things back. 

 

 

 

LOL   Well that doesnt seem right. The natives are native to this land....  that about as Canadian as you can get.

 

Do i have this right?    The white man comes here and brings their traditions and pretty much just throws the natives and their traditions away and now you want to make them Canadian?

 

Odd but alrighty then. 

 

You know that Canada embraces people from different cultural backgrounds right? And encourages them to maintain those traditions right? 

 

Every country everywhere has been conquered by someone. You can either sit around wishing it weren't so or just move on and live in the world as it exists today. There is room for everyone to be Canadian and still celebrate their history and traditions. 

 

 

 

yup i know that.

 

but you said " make them Canadian " That to me sounds like you want the natives to loose their traditions and embrace those of the white man.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, sorry Zontar, not to pile on but... you clearly don't know what you're talking about in this instance. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you just thought "Schools = Good".

You know what,I'll take a stand and say residential schools were a not terrible idea that was just handled really poorly. Should a just assimilated everyone from the start then there'd be a lot less problems with reserves

Clearly, you're not too familiar with the stated aim of the Residential Schools either.  Their primary purpose was to eradicate First Nations culture, to get rid of "indians" once and for all.  Explain to me how that can ever be "not a terrible idea"?

Because assimilation is not a bad thing. Could have had just a whole bunch of Canadians rather than the government protected racism that currently exists. Signing treaties hundreds of years ago was an easy solution at the time but they have long lasting negative effects that manifest themselves in this day and age

 

 

Seems to me the best thing would be for people to stop being pieces of **** and treating people differently based on cultural background. Assimilation is just the people at the top saying "you should all be like me". It's like Nazi-ism lite.

 

no assimilation isn't a one way street, it goes two ways. Stop separating people into different groups and we can just all be Canadian and treat everyone equally. Treaties however just make sure racism and different groups being treated differently continues to exist. 

 

 

You are trying to grossly oversimplify the situation.  You can't say "just stop separating people into groups" when people naturally self-identify already. 

 

Furthermore, the treaties were a legal document. This wasn't a bill of sale for a used BBQ written on a napkin -- it was legal title to land we now live on, land that is now Canada. 

 

The government has a moral obligation as society built upon laws to uphold the treaties; or at least the spirit behind them. 

 

No I'm not over simplifying. This is how the problem gets solved. I know full well what the treaties that were signed were and what the intent was. The problem is that they are legal documents that are guaranteed by the constitution of this country, and that's a huge problem and the #1 reason why most of these problems exist. When they were signed it was seen as the easy solution, put the natives out of the way and throw them a few trinkets every now and then and let them live their traditional lifestyle. Problem is that in todays society it is a terrible solution and completely unworkable. The best solution IS to stop treating them differently and make them all Canadian and treat everyone equally. When you have such a skewed number of impoverished people on reserves it is safe to say that the system is broken, but where's the push to change a broken system? You even bring it up and you're labelled a racist. Too much blame gets thrown at the feet of the government of Canada and they're expected to fix it, but they can't fix it unilaterally, self determination and all that, so basically it's just "give us more money because residential schools! abuse! ugly history! white guilt!" It's those treaties that are holding things back. 

 

 

 

LOL   Well that doesnt seem right. The natives are native to this land....  that about as Canadian as you can get.

 

Do i have this right?    The white man comes here and brings their traditions and pretty much just throws the natives and their traditions away and now you want to make them Canadian?

 

Odd but alrighty then. 

 

Natives are not native to this land. They crossed over from Asia when there was a land bridge to Alaska. No one is native here. They were here first. But like every Canadian, our family ancestors all came from somewhere else. 

My parents were of German & Ukrainian descent. My Mom especially practiced her religion as well as every Ukrainian holiday & tradition there was. My grandmother refused to have anything to do with our Canadian way of life. Came to this country in 1910. She died in 1978 at the age of 93 & even though she lived in Canada for 68 years she couldn't speak a word of English. Her world was her church & living with my aunt & husband.

She raised 8 sons & daughters at Oakburn before moving to Winnipeg in the 1940's. To me she had a crappy life. Couldn't speak the language, couldn't read English. Didn't know how to drive or take a bus. Couldn't go shopping by herself or even go to the doctor without my aunt translating for her. Totally independent on her family for everything. I WISH she would have assimilated. People throw that word around here like it's garbage. It's not. There are people with closed minds that come to Canada not wanting to be a part of society which is not good. I never had a conversation with my grandmother ever. That's just wrong. 

.

 

So they didnt come here and force others to live like them.  Correct? 

So they didnt come here and force others to live like them.  Correct? 

Meaning what exactly?

 

So they didnt come here and force others to live like them.  Correct? 

Meaning what exactly?

 

 

Sry i dont mean your family.

 

You said the natives came from Asia.

 

May i ask why you never had a convo with your grandma? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, sorry Zontar, not to pile on but... you clearly don't know what you're talking about in this instance. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you just thought "Schools = Good".

You know what,I'll take a stand and say residential schools were a not terrible idea that was just handled really poorly. Should a just assimilated everyone from the start then there'd be a lot less problems with reserves

Clearly, you're not too familiar with the stated aim of the Residential Schools either.  Their primary purpose was to eradicate First Nations culture, to get rid of "indians" once and for all.  Explain to me how that can ever be "not a terrible idea"?

Because assimilation is not a bad thing. Could have had just a whole bunch of Canadians rather than the government protected racism that currently exists. Signing treaties hundreds of years ago was an easy solution at the time but they have long lasting negative effects that manifest themselves in this day and age

 

 

Seems to me the best thing would be for people to stop being pieces of **** and treating people differently based on cultural background. Assimilation is just the people at the top saying "you should all be like me". It's like Nazi-ism lite.

 

no assimilation isn't a one way street, it goes two ways. Stop separating people into different groups and we can just all be Canadian and treat everyone equally. Treaties however just make sure racism and different groups being treated differently continues to exist. 

 

 

You are trying to grossly oversimplify the situation.  You can't say "just stop separating people into groups" when people naturally self-identify already. 

 

Furthermore, the treaties were a legal document. This wasn't a bill of sale for a used BBQ written on a napkin -- it was legal title to land we now live on, land that is now Canada. 

 

The government has a moral obligation as society built upon laws to uphold the treaties; or at least the spirit behind them. 

 

No I'm not over simplifying. This is how the problem gets solved. I know full well what the treaties that were signed were and what the intent was. The problem is that they are legal documents that are guaranteed by the constitution of this country, and that's a huge problem and the #1 reason why most of these problems exist. When they were signed it was seen as the easy solution, put the natives out of the way and throw them a few trinkets every now and then and let them live their traditional lifestyle. Problem is that in todays society it is a terrible solution and completely unworkable. The best solution IS to stop treating them differently and make them all Canadian and treat everyone equally. When you have such a skewed number of impoverished people on reserves it is safe to say that the system is broken, but where's the push to change a broken system? You even bring it up and you're labelled a racist. Too much blame gets thrown at the feet of the government of Canada and they're expected to fix it, but they can't fix it unilaterally, self determination and all that, so basically it's just "give us more money because residential schools! abuse! ugly history! white guilt!" It's those treaties that are holding things back. 

 

 

 

LOL   Well that doesnt seem right. The natives are native to this land....  that about as Canadian as you can get.

 

Do i have this right?    The white man comes here and brings their traditions and pretty much just throws the natives and their traditions away and now you want to make them Canadian?

 

Odd but alrighty then. 

 

 

The list of "peoples" that have been treated well and not violated by an invading conqueror is extremely short.  Human history is a non-stop bloodbath from the apes on up and is likely doomed to carry forth until the last of the species perishes.  Nature of the beast is pretty ugly when viewed through a politically corrected lens.

Scalp Proclamation Nova Scotia 1749 signed by the Governor.

 

""For, those cause we by and with the advice and consent of His Majesty's Council, do hereby authorize and command all Officers Civil and Military, and all His Majesty's Subjects or others to annoy, distress, take or destroy the Savage commonly called Micmac, wherever they are found, and all as such as aiding and assisting them, give further by and with the consent and advice of His Majesty's Council, do promise a reward of ten Guineas for every Indian Micmac taken or killed, to be paid upon producing such Savage taken or his scalp (as in the custom of America) if killed to the Officer Commanding."

 

Genocide Convention: Genocide defined as:

.".any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; © Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

No I'm not over simplifying. This is how the problem gets solved. I know full well what the treaties that were signed were and what the intent was. The problem is that they are legal documents that are guaranteed by the constitution of this country, and that's a huge problem and the #1 reason why most of these problems exist. When they were signed it was seen as the easy solution, put the natives out of the way and throw them a few trinkets every now and then and let them live their traditional lifestyle. Problem is that in todays society it is a terrible solution and completely unworkable. The best solution IS to stop treating them differently and make them all Canadian and treat everyone equally. When you have such a skewed number of impoverished people on reserves it is safe to say that the system is broken, but where's the push to change a broken system? You even bring it up and you're labelled a racist. Too much blame gets thrown at the feet of the government of Canada and they're expected to fix it, but they can't fix it unilaterally, self determination and all that, so basically it's just "give us more money because residential schools! abuse! ugly history! white guilt!" It's those treaties that are holding things back.

The best solution is for white people to stop believing that they have a clue how to fix the problem. That's how we got into this mess in the first place

Largest untapped work force in the country, 2 million first nation grads by 2020, assimilation has happened. The days of hunting & fishing for a living are over. The reserves will dry up because the young won't stay.

People have had that theory about quite a number of unique cultures. The belief that economic reality will some how erase cultural identity is flawed. Old John A. Macdonald had a similar theory about our First Nations - history has proven him wrong.

So they didnt come here and force others to live like them.  Correct?

Meaning what exactly?

 

Sry i dont mean your family.

 

You said the natives came from Asia.

Their ancestors, yes. They came across from Asia thousands of years ago when the ocean level was low & the Aleutians were a land bridge now a group of islands. As far as my Grandma.... She couldn't speak English. I couldn't speak Ukrainian so my mother would translate for us. But

it's not the same as having an intimate conversation when a third person is translating for both.

 

May i ask why you never had a convo with your grandma?

Off-topic for a second - to the mod who split this from the other one, love the name you gave this thread.

 

 

 

 

So they didnt come here and force others to live like them.  Correct?

Meaning what exactly?

 

 

Sry i dont mean your family.

 

You said the natives came from Asia.

May i ask why you never had a convo with your grandma?

 

Their ancestors, yes.They came across a land bridge where the Aleutian islands are now from Asia to North America some 6,000 years ago (maybe more) during the ending of the last Ice Age when ocean levels were lower than today. Their ancestors were from Africa & Asia. They're no more "native" to this country (as someone described them) than you or I am. No one is native to Canada. We all come from somewhere else. They did get here first though, beating the Vikings by a few thousand years. However, they never originated in North America.

As far as my Grandmother goes. She couldn't speak, read or write English. I couldn't do the same in Ukrainian. So my mother translated whenever we spoke which wasn't often. When I was a kid & we'd go visit, she'd just sit there smiling meekly not being able to understand what was being said. I never thought about it as a teen but looking back now, it was sad. 

The land bridge is still a theory. A good theory, but a theory nevertheless.

Off-topic for a second - to the mod who split this from the other one, love the name you gave this thread.

 

 

You're welcome.  ;-)

How has this thread not been locked yet?

Guess it's been a long offseason

 

How is locking a thread always some peoples' default position?

 

Sometimes it's best not to block opinions and just let people learn from each other.

Good lord.  Quite a bit of racism flying around here.

 

I love a good debate.  A few points:

 

- "Indian" is a loaded term.  Its also the correct term legally and one used by the majority of aboriginal people I know (and am related to) but when non-Aboriginals use it, it's almost always with disdain.  Dont use it.  There are other terms that dont immediately come with racist connotations. 

 

- We should be proud to have a society of many cultures and the goal should not be assimilation in the sense that some people are talking here.  The goal should not be to make every person that comes here into a white Christian.  Every single one of us, Aboriginals included, are not that far removed from being immigrants to this country.  Saying that, however, I also believe that if people want to come here, they should want to embrace North American culture (which is not to say "white").

 

- The Reserve system is broken and can never be repaired.  To fix the "problem" requires courage that no politician will ever have because it will likely mean short-term career suicide for the greater good.  Aboriginal leaders do not want to fix the problem.  They do not want an end to the reserve system which is broken and does not work.  The culture of most aboriginals is not the ceremonies and culture of their ancestors.  Those aboriginal people I have known who have had success fought hard and struggled to leave the reserve and in many cases were treated as out casts by their own people. 

 

The protests that happen are almost always BS.  There was a protest a few weeks ago where aboriginals shut down Portage and yelled racist slurs at passing motorists.  What point did this have?  These protests against the Anti-Terror bill, what point do they have?  How many of those protestors know what they are protesting and how many are simply told by their leaders that big bad Harper is out to ruin the poor "Indian"?

 

A friend of mine is a very intelligent, successful aboriginal woman and even she gets caught up in the "us vs them" mentality.  She once linked to some protest on FB (cant remember what it was) and was adament that the police were abusing the innocent protestors and to look at the video for evidence.  The video she posted so a calm, quiet, professional police force and a mob of aboriginals screaming, yelling, throwing objects, striking the police and many had their young children with them.  I realised then that this wasnt a matter of opinion....you can't win a debate when both sides are seeing completely different things.

 

- The residential schools were horrible.  They were horrible in idea and practice.  No question.  Im white and my family has fostered many aboriginal kids.  The agency really doesnt care what we do as white foster families (though publicly they dislike it) but we have always tried to respect the culture and taken part in pow-wows, smudgings etc.  On the flip side, we've paid for private school in some cases to provide a better education.  It's not about being a good aboriginal or being a good white person, its about being a good, educated person.

 

- Anyone who is against gays on religious grounds in 2015 needs to seek help.  Period.  On the flip side, people crapping on religion and the bible dont get it.

Also this debate about the Niqab is crazy.  Where is the argument about wearing a Niqab when getting your DL photo or passport? 

 

How has this thread not been locked yet?

Guess it's been a long offseason

 

How is locking a thread always some peoples' default position?

 

Sometimes it's best not to block opinions and just let people learn from each other.

 

I am a pretty big fan of how civil the discussion has been on the 3 or 4 political topics so far. I think it is important to be able to have a debate about controversial topics because if everyone is afraid of differing opinions you'll never be exposed to new ideas.

 

 

How has this thread not been locked yet?

Guess it's been a long offseason

 

How is locking a thread always some peoples' default position?

 

Sometimes it's best not to block opinions and just let people learn from each other.

 

I am a pretty big fan of how civil the discussion has been on the 3 or 4 political topics so far. I think it is important to be able to have a debate about controversial topics because if everyone is afraid of differing opinions you'll never be exposed to new ideas.

 

There is also a lot of great information and perspectives in these threads.  This is generally a great forum with some intelligent and insightful people on all sides of the discussions.

Good lord.  Quite a bit of racism flying around here.

 

I love a good debate.  A few points:

 

- "Indian" is a loaded term.  Its also the correct term legally and one used by the majority of aboriginal people I know (and am related to) but when non-Aboriginals use it, it's almost always with disdain.  Dont use it.  There are other terms that dont immediately come with racist connotations. 

 

- We should be proud to have a society of many cultures and the goal should not be assimilation in the sense that some people are talking here.  The goal should not be to make every person that comes here into a white Christian.  Every single one of us, Aboriginals included, are not that far removed from being immigrants to this country.  Saying that, however, I also believe that if people want to come here, they should want to embrace North American culture (which is not to say "white").

 

- The Reserve system is broken and can never be repaired.  To fix the "problem" requires courage that no politician will ever have because it will likely mean short-term career suicide for the greater good.  Aboriginal leaders do not want to fix the problem.  They do not want an end to the reserve system which is broken and does not work.  The culture of most aboriginals is not the ceremonies and culture of their ancestors.  Those aboriginal people I have known who have had success fought hard and struggled to leave the reserve and in many cases were treated as out casts by their own people. 

 

The protests that happen are almost always BS.  There was a protest a few weeks ago where aboriginals shut down Portage and yelled racist slurs at passing motorists.  What point did this have?  These protests against the Anti-Terror bill, what point do they have?  How many of those protestors know what they are protesting and how many are simply told by their leaders that big bad Harper is out to ruin the poor "Indian"?

 

A friend of mine is a very intelligent, successful aboriginal woman and even she gets caught up in the "us vs them" mentality.  She once linked to some protest on FB (cant remember what it was) and was adament that the police were abusing the innocent protestors and to look at the video for evidence.  The video she posted so a calm, quiet, professional police force and a mob of aboriginals screaming, yelling, throwing objects, striking the police and many had their young children with them.  I realised then that this wasnt a matter of opinion....you can't win a debate when both sides are seeing completely different things.

 

- The residential schools were horrible.  They were horrible in idea and practice.  No question.  Im white and my family has fostered many aboriginal kids.  The agency really doesnt care what we do as white foster families (though publicly they dislike it) but we have always tried to respect the culture and taken part in pow-wows, smudgings etc.  On the flip side, we've paid for private school in some cases to provide a better education.  It's not about being a good aboriginal or being a good white person, its about being a good, educated person.

 

- Anyone who is against gays on religious grounds in 2015 needs to seek help.  Period.  On the flip side, people crapping on religion and the bible dont get it.

 

I can agree and somewhat disagree with some of what your saying.

 

Good post tho for sure.

 

One thing ill point out from a personal view point that may explain some things maybe most folks dont really understand about natives that is changing somewhat but still has along way to go..... Most natives grow up and are followers and not tought to be leaders and this is a problem in todays and yesterdays native culture. The leaders are the leaders and the rest are followers... been that way for a very long time. Its no fault of theirs its just the way it is and always has been.

 

Its one of the things thats a HUGE difference between say natives and other people that come to Canada or north america to better their lives or might just want change.

 

The younger generation of natives growing up need to learn that the world is there for the taking and they dont need to follow. They can grow up and do and be whatever they want just like anyone else.

 

Them protests that were held on street corners were crap and not lead by the actual leaders...  they were lead by the rah rah im an native and this is my right and blah blah blah. Blocking traffic and stopping people from getting home and pissing them off was never the intention but once the rah rah type go hold of it it turned into a **** show doing nothing but pissing people off rather then bringing attention to the actual reason for the protest.

 

Like i said...  the younger generation need to be tought and learn they can lead and not just follow whats being told to them. The white man aint there to keep you down.

 

Grow up and be proud your native and your culture... You have the same rights as anyone else.... the world is there for the taking and instead of waiting for things to be given to you....  just go get it. 

That's a very good point.  There certainly is a strong belief in that that you do as the Elders say.  The non-aboriginal culture has a large aspect of questioning our leadership.  That's sort of the cornerstone of democracy.  There isnt true democracy in the aboriginal community.  That's another reason the reserve system has to go.