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Contributor: codc01
Date: 2003-05-01 06:14:08
I know that natives did not need the Canadian government before they arrived. But its a fact that the Canadian government is now present, you simply can't say, ok, lets go back 300 years ago, and leave us alone. Canada was invaded (thats how i call it), and natives must now live with it. Same thing happened when, for example, France was united as a country in 489 - the natives of one region are now French, its the same thing here in Canada. Natives here should adapt to Canadian values, but they should also keep their culture. And you must admit that the Canadian government gives out a lot of money to the band councils... And a lot of this money disappears.
The Indians affairs minister is proposing a law to make sure the money goes where it should go, and i actually strongly agree with him, where is the money going? I think native Canadians have a great advantage to receive all this money and have much less taxes to pay, in other countries its not like that...
You can't ask for more self-government and at the same ask for more money from the Canadian government. That seems quite illogical, same is true with Quebec, if Quebec separates from Canada, do you really think that the Canadian government will give money to Quebec?
The colonialists (French and British) did sign treaties a long time ago, and they did not respect these treaties, and i consider that very evil indeed. But the Canadian government is not to blame for this (at least i don't think so), and i think natives should really analyze this. I know that some native claims are asking for maybe 30% of the land of Canada, under the old treaties that may have been true in those times, but its impossible to do today. The natives should negociate instead so that any profits from the exploitation of the resources of that land should be shared between the natives and all the others.
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