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Originally Posted by drto

It is an aboriginal issue in that a lot of aboriginals live in poverty "because" they are aboriginal.

While you make some good points on this Vid, one thing I fail to see in this argument is "choice". As individuals, every person has a choice. A choice to turn to drugs or not, a choice to attend school or not, a choice to succeed or not. In this day and age, it is ignorant to group all aboriginals into one group where failure is inevitable "because they are aboriginal".

At least 60% of aboriginal people don't fail. But that is still lower than the number of non-aboriginal people who don't fail. Yes, everyone has a choice. I grew up in poverty surrounded by drugs and alcohol and I've done neither (mainly because being surrounded by so much of it, I decided that it was a disgusting thing that I didn't want any part of). But for a lot of aboriginal people, especially those from First Nations or broken families, making the choice to "not fail" is more difficult than it is for kids in middle class families. Because of where they live and who surrounds them, they have less choices to do something other than drugs and alcohol.

By being born into an aboriginal family, aboriginal kids face more challenges from the start than non-aboriginals kids. This isn't inherent in aboriginal people, it is the result of something forced on them. I don't mean to unfairly group all aboriginals together in this. Some are lucky enough to be a generation or two removed from any kind of pain other than racism, and others are lucky enough to have the fortitude to overcome any challenge.

Originally Posted by drto

I agree that more can, and should be done to help aboriginals strive to succeed but the government has many programs in place that give individuals of aboriginal ancestry every chance to advance themselves.

The government has programmes in place, yes. But First Nations often don't, or try to but can't find funding for them. We have to find out why aboriginal people aren't taking advantage of the programmes the government offers and solve that problem. If it is because they have no basic education, then provide one. If it is because the programmes are run by the federal government instead of First Nations leadership, then give them the ability to provide the programmes themselves, and so on.

Originally Posted by drto

Internet businesses, as an example, don't have a "face" per se, that might allow for discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, etc. There are limitless opportunities via the web for business success.

One of the most notable in my region is Fort Serven's t-shirt business. They sell them on-line. The biggest challenge to this is access to broadband internet. Many First Nations don't have access to it in the remote northern parts of provinces, but that is improving in Northwestern Ontario with a public/private partnership to provide a broadband loop to much of the region.

Originally Posted by drto

I don't know the specifics you refer to with respect to education but I went to medical school with two individuals of native ancestry, whom I believe had their education paid for by the government!

But not their rent, or their text books, or their clothes, or food, or any extra-curricular expenditures. The government pays the course fee or tuition. That is it. It isn't much different than a basic scholarship. This is no "live for free, eat for free, and get a full education and you never have to pay anything back" deal.

Originally Posted by drto

They took every advantage provided to them under the agreements and made the best for themselves that they possibly could.

Which is great, and is happening more often now, but they were only able to take advantage of it because they had a full education before university. For aboriginal students living in a reserve with an inadequate school, this opportunity for self betterment is practically non-existent. As far as moving them to urban areas for education, Thunder Bay has just seen the 9th aboriginal teenager "disappear" in 10 years, while many others struggle with drug and alcohol abuse. Even Aboriginal students who get the chance to complete a full high school education in this city struggle with it. The school has started plans to build a safe residence for them instead of placing them in homes (people can sponsor a student, sort of like adoption of a high schooler for the school year), which will be located beside the school, and they've begun a programme to help students overcome their addictions. How long will they have money for this though? There are a lot of aboriginal led programmes that have failed because of lack of funding, and Northern Nishnawbe Education Council was almost one of them.

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

OK, here's the cities and provinces/territories by crime and their corresponding Native populations (crime rates according to Maclean's as of 2009 Aboriginal populations according to StatsCan as of 2006)

Provinces/Territories

1. Nunuvat- 85.0%
2. Northwest Territories- 50.3%
3. Yukon- 25.1%
4. Saskatchewan- 14.9%
5. Manitoba- 15.5%
6. British Columbia- 4.8%
7. Alberta- 5.8%
8. Nova Scotia- 2.7%
9. Quebec- 1.5%
10. Newfoundland and Labrador- 4.7%
11. New Brunswick- 2.5%
12. Ontario- 2.0%
13. Prince Edward Island- 1.3%

Cities

1. Prince George, B.C.- 11.4%
2. Victoria, B.C.- 3.7%
3. Regina, Sask- 9.3%
4. Saskatoon, Sask- 9.9%
5. Fort McMurray, Alta- 10.4%
6. Kelowna, B.C- 3.4%
7. Grande Prairie, Alta- 9.3%
8. Surrey, B.C- 1.9%
9. Chilliwack, B.C- 4.9%
10. Winnipeg, Man- 10.1%

Here are two more complete charts if anyone wants to spend time making a better comparison:

Aboriginal identity population by province and census division

Aboriginal identity population by province and census agglomeration or CMA for 2001, 2006, and comparing growth from 2001 to 2006. Sherbrooke, Quebec data is incomplete because that CMA changed a lot between censuses and I can't figure out why its aboriginal population went from 150 to 1,150, so I have posted only 2006 population data.