Large piece of Pacific Spirit being given to Musqueam

[leftside]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourview/bc/2...ut_this_d.html

This comment sums up my views:
"This is disgusting. I think that Southpark said it best when they named one of their native characters "Premise Wearing Thin".

Today's society owes nothing to Native Canadians. The past is the past and you must learn to cope with the present. It's not their land and it's not our land ,it's everybody's land.

Each person has the capacity to improve their life, quit crying over the past and lose the sense of entitlement. This has gotten out of control and the government needs to stop making decisions based on superficial political ideals. "

[vanhattan]

I am not really sure what to say regarding your statement. I do not know much about the history of local First Nations, but reading about some of the extreme cruelty that these people experienced well into the late 20th century just blows my mind.

The Canadian govenment officially condoned practices of taking First Nations out of their parents homes and "resettling" them with white christian families as late as 1974. This disgusting practice took place in my lifetime and if it happened to me I don't think my tears would be dry by now.

Clearly, the Canadian government does owe these people some sort of remediation for all the harm they suffered under official government policy and misguided private and public programs. I am not one to say what this remediation should be but I am not willing to conceed to the writers of South Park as having all the correct and best answers and solutions to obviously a very torturedly complex set of issues.

Your statement seems rather simple minded and judgemental at best. At worst, well, think about it for awhile.

[mr.x]

wasn't all of Canada theirs at what point? we might as well give them the entire city, province, and nation. certainly though, we Canadians do owe the First Nations something.

[MistyMountainHop]

I just want to keep the park a park. They can take whatever golf courses they want, but leave the parks alone.

[leftside]

I don't think the remediation should be giving them a piece of land that everybody in the city currently enjoys. Building housing on Pacific Spirit Park makes Vancouver a less enjoyable city to live in. What's next? Condo's in Stanley Park? Waterfront villas on Kits beach?

Generations of hard working Canadians (immigrants from Europe, China, Far East, India, etc) have built Canada to be what it is today and have made the land the value that it is. Now this valuable land is simply being given away all over the province. Yes, help the First Nations with social programs, health care and education - but stop giving away pieces of Canada.

[raggedy13]

I find it all somewhat ironic considering that land ownership was a foreign concept to Natives until Europeans arrived.

Why doesn't the government just pay each Native X amount of dollars in reparations and forget about land deeds and special treatment. It seems about time for the native community to join the rest of our modern multicultural society. Natives can dwell on the past all they want but if they never start looking to the future they'll never be more than 'second class citizens' in their own country. They need to take some initiative and make something of themselves instead of trying to evoke guilt in the European-Canadian population so that they can get a free ride through life. I mean where is their sense of self-respect?

Of course there are many Native people that do work hard, get an education and are successful individuals but those who bank on government handouts give all Natives a bad name. And I'm not saying that any of this has anything to do with their intrinsic 'Nativeness' because I'm sure anybody else in their position would be just the same. And I'm aware that not all Natives can just 'clean up their act' as they have many initial financial and discriminatory hurdles to overcome, but maybe with a couple million dollars each they'd see some of those hurdles disappear?

I have absolutely nothing against Native people and I think their historic (and present) treatment was appalling but we can't change the past so why not make the best of the future. The current sociopolitical arrangement seems far from sustainable. The current approach to 'compensating' Natives needs a major overhaul.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by leftside

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourview/bc/2...ut_this_d.html

This comment sums up my views:
"This is disgusting. I think that Southpark said it best when they named one of their native characters "Premise Wearing Thin".

Today's society owes nothing to Native Canadians. The past is the past and you must learn to cope with the present. It's not their land and it's not our land ,it's everybody's land.

Each person has the capacity to improve their life, quit crying over the past and lose the sense of entitlement. This has gotten out of control and the government needs to stop making decisions based on superficial political ideals. "

I TOTALLY AGREE!!!!

[Lee_Haber8]

This has got to end somewhere. Yes it was really bad that people here before us treated the ancestor's of current natives like shit, but some point they have to move on and join society. I think the federal government should offer a 'once and for all' compensation package in the billions of dollars to end all their claims and past grievances. They should also get rid of the Indian Act while they're at it.

[SpongeG]

its a complex issue

telling people to just get with the program isn't the solution

the reason all this is coming about now is we have a generation or two or more of natives who have gone out and gotten their educations and are wanting something done

most of what is happenning is righting the treaties that were drawn up 100 or so years ago that were fair and not fair - it was based on x amount of land for each member of the band but band

i am in an odd situation and going through some of this now and i don't know what to think

[vanhattan]

Guess I am out numbered here, but, WOW, I am absolutely amazed at some of the above posts. They sound very similar to what the white surpremists say about African Americans in the southeast United States. Seems like I have hit a raw nerve here. Obviously the racism in Canada is much more endemic than the politically correct mask Canada shows the world. I certainly do not have the answers in regards to this particular situation. However, by these comments, I believe that I now partially understand why these groups of natives believe that they have been wronged in the past and present and why they continue to demand concessions.

[agrant]

Saying people are racist because they are unhappy with the situation seems a bit harsh. Some could use more diplomatic wording, not pointing the finger at first nations people. Obviously, a lot of people are frustrated and find everything a bit confusing. I sense people just want the whole thing to be done with, not dragged out for the next 100 + years. There's a lot of issues. Nobody seems to know where it all ends, and there's a kinda paranoia that exists for some people about what may happen to land that is turned over. It's not knowing that gets people lashing out.

[leftside]

Glad to see that Metro Vancouver (GVRD) are trying to do something about this:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-col...3/bc-park.html

Pacific Spirit should be park land that everyone in Vancouver can enjoy. This park should not be given away as part of a political settlement.

[Distill3d]

Originally Posted by leftside

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourview/bc/2...ut_this_d.html

This comment sums up my views:
"This is disgusting. I think that Southpark said it best when they named one of their native characters "Premise Wearing Thin".

Today's society owes nothing to Native Canadians. The past is the past and you must learn to cope with the present. It's not their land and it's not our land ,it's everybody's land.

Each person has the capacity to improve their life, quit crying over the past and lose the sense of entitlement. This has gotten out of control and the government needs to stop making decisions based on superficial political ideals. "

i absolutely agree with you. the natives today should have no claim in the land that they "lost". especially when all the teachings i have ever had on natives and land have led me to believe that the natives believed the land belonged to no one. it was the settlers that came in and gave a sense of entitlement to the land.

however, now that the land is worth a large sum of money, they want what they never owned in the first place. that would be like me asking the Ritz-Carlton for the whole hotel just because i got to stay in the room once.

if any of you British Columbians think that natives deserve to have "their" land back, please, by all means take a drive out to Alberta and go visit places like Standoff and Brockett to see what will happen. or hell, why not fly to Ontario and bring up New Caledonia.

[Canadian Mind]

I've been to Standoff, what a hell-hole.

[mr.x]

i think it's absolutely absurd that they, the First Nations, complain about how we've transformed the city with building and towers....yet they have plans to do this on their own land as well.