First Nations in Canada
 

What are they, and what should First Nations people do to reverse them?

Not sure if this thread is a trap or not... but the most obvious is corruption /
embezzlement and lack of transparency regarding how funds are used.

I'm open to being suspended for a week or two so you guys can discuss with a guarantee that I won't interject. I'm logging off now. Have fun with your discussion. I look forward to reading it when I get back.

I work in the North, and on First Nations in several provinces.

My observations have concluded that FN leadership is made up entirely of human beings and they are prone to the same shortcomings and disappointments any other human being placed in leadership is prone to.

At the same time those in leadership positions are capable of improving the lot of those they are in power over.

These are just the wild observations of an outsider.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

People are prone to projecting their values and ways of life onto other groups of people. I think this has happened a lot between First Nations and other Canadians.

I was expecting an argument and some inflammatory comments....but alright.

I can't say much, though I feel like people need more context into this before discussing it. This isn't something that directly relates with the topic at hand, but I do have to say that we need to make some ground in terms of reconciling and supporting the indigenous peoples......we don't need another Oka appearing in the next few years.

Do we still want to ignore this conversation, or...?

There's banishment, there's undemocratic leadership, there is favoritism, embezzling, all manner of corruption really. Mismanagement. Wanna go to the personal level and talk about addictions and abuse—what my people call "lateral violence", to differentiate it from the "structural violence" that you think is the only thing I care about?

What more is there to discuss that hasn't already been discussed, vidlette?

To sum up these lenghty and monotonous convos of the past, it's pretty clear you think everyone in Canadian society owes you and your people literally everything under the sun for past injustices.

I, like many other Canadians, disagree with that logic. We believe aboriginals need to stop playing the blame game and start to assist their people from within their own communities, because what is where the outcries come from prodominently. In other words, they need to start helping themselves.

Rinse....wash.....dry.....sully.......repeat.

Cool, vidlette?

Great! How? Any ideas on how we achieve that?

You want the truth? I don't care anymore, to be honest. Ever since I've met people like you who shout "It's all your fault!" in my face consistently, I've stopped caring about your people's movement. I, again like most Canadians, am tired of being told that we are responsible for past actions. The more you shout at us and blame us, the less we will care. Mark my words. It's already happening.

Since you are the one with the passion for this, why don't you come up with some ideas and share with us.

Hereditary leadership and communal ownership are setup up to promote abuse of power. The system is designed to fail. The only solution would be to desolve the reserves, buyout the treaties, repeal the Indian Act and remove all recognition of First Nations from the Constitution. Of course that will never happen as the activist industry creates plenty of work for bureaucrats and lawyers.

Like others have stated.. Corruption. These elders and leaders are only human. Disrespect for some of the structures built for them is another problem. OT I know, but The reservation system(s) don't work, and I personally feel that First nations people should be more integrated, yet keep and celebrate their culture like every other ethnic group..Emphasis can be put on more native community centres and support groups in urban areas..No easy answer I suppose, but in 2020, most natives embrace modern conveniences and services like the rest of us . Full on integrating is better then the some of third world reservations they live in right now.

This is one of the biggest issues. Fighting for Native things is an easy win with big payoffs for the lawyers. I know in treaty 8 in the past year each individual just recieved 15,000 cash. I can only imagine what the law firm that made that happen took home.

Until there is internal change and genuine want to improve quality of life not much is going to change. It will have to be from within, and others are correct in saying that other Canadians can only be called homicidal genociders (when they most certainly are not) so much before it falls on deaf ears.

I agree with Doug on this one: the one mistake that was made is setting up that system that we still have, and IMO the sooner we correct it the better. The fix is easy, all we have to do is abolish this superweird, creepy race-based special status that is a pure relic of a bygone era where apartheid conditions were something normal. (This solution a.k.a. "a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.")

As stated already, if I ever ventured into federal politics, this would be my flagship promise. My electoral slogan would probably be something like "Let's finally take Canada out of the 19th century and into the 20th-21th centuries; vote lio45".

Start by building a city everyone from the world wants to live in, start global businesses and invest in new colleges and universities. Run for leadership positions: why can't there be a FN PM?

Hereditary leadership is usually a really bad thing. And most Indigenous people would agree with that. Most First Nations don't have it.

When it comes to the other things you mentioned, it's extremely complicated because the federal government is working with many First Nations that with many differing views. We often only hear of the extreme things that happen and not the fact that many First Nations, tribal councils, etc. are doing really good work not just for themselves but for Canada as a whole.

You`ve got people shouting "It's all your fault!" in your face on a consistent basis?

This thread is the mistake, judging by most of the posts.

How so?

It's really ironic because he is the one sending me unsolicited PMs telling me I'm wrong and to shut up. :haha: