So What's Up Canada

[JoePa]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/04...?intcmp=hplnws - sounds worse then Detroit - what's the solution -

[patvetzal]

From what I read there are a lot of "attempted" suicides, but only one that was a success. The attempts are sure getting results though. Just don't understand the relationship between the Indian Affairs dept ( federal) and Toronto politicians....

[Fox]

From what I read there are a lot of "attempted" suicides, but only one that was a success. The attempts are sure getting results though. Just don't understand the relationship between the Indian Affairs dept ( federal) and Toronto politicians....

I was thinking about this on my drive to work.

People who want to kill themselves do, those who are looking for help attempt it.

I understand how anxiety and depression work, I think that we do not put enough emphasis on mental health yet in this country and this is a massive problem in the north and not just a problem of native populations.

[JoePa]

Well here's my take on it - natives want to live a life that keeps their culture alive - kinda like living off the land - but in this modern world one can't live the old ways and be competitive - native must adopt western values which means they need to get educated and learn trades or other useful ways of making a living - sure it's nice to keep the old culture alive in a ceremonial way but not as a way of life - unless they realize that they will always be on the bottom of the totem pole - often times it may require a move off the reservation - well anyway - sounds like Canada has its problems too

[Fox]

Well here's my take on it - natives want to live a life that keeps their culture alive - kinda like living off the land - but in this modern world one can't live the old ways and be competitive - native must adopt western values which means they need to get educated and learn trades or other useful ways of making a living - sure it's nice to keep the old culture alive in a ceremonial way but not as a way of life - unless they realize that they will always be on the bottom of the totem pole - often times it may require a move off the reservation - well anyway - sounds like Canada has its problems too

Once again you surprise me.

It is a problem of the North not a problem of culture, they survived here and saved our European butts for a lot longer than we have been forcing them on to reserves.

[terrym]

The Reserve system and the Indian Act are no longer realistic, assuming they ever were. Isolating people in remote reserves with no chance of economic sustainability just makes them under funded wards of the state that we hide in the bushes. It is time to move them off these reserves as main residences into modern society. Trying to build and fund functional communities in the middle of swamps in places that in some cases are only ice road accessible is crazy. Whenthere is absolutely nothing to do and look forward to it's no surprise they are so desperate. Before the internet and television they didn't really know what was out there. Now the new generation is on the outside looking in. It will only get worse. Sometimes you just need to demolish the building and build a new one.
Ranting about what happened 300 yrs ago is in no way useful. What happened can't be reversed. You can keep working back into every civilization and see similar timelines with exploration, expansion, wars and assimilation. These First Nations did the exact same thing. They were tribal societies that were quite often brutal and at war with each other, the idea that they were peaceful people is far from reality. They were no different than the white man who invaded the land except for being hundreds of years behind in technology. .Somewhere sometime somebody killed one of your ancestors and stole either his land or wife or both.

[Hunter John]

I would end the reserve system all together and tear up the whole Indian act (or whatever they call it these days) at the same time. I truly feel for them but know matter how much money you throw at the reserves the problem wont go away. How sad it must be for the youth whom have no employment , no hope and no future other than drinking ,sniffing gas and dying while they watch the band chief and her select few live like kings.

[terrym]

I would end the reserve system all together and tear up the whole Indian act (or whatever they call it these days) at the same time. I truly feel for them but know matter how much money you throw at the reserves the problem wont go away. How sad it must be for the youth whom have no employment , no hope and no future other than drinking ,sniffing gas and dying while they watch the band chief and her select few live like kings.

Which just proves they aren't any different than any other society. Socialists and communist regimes typically have as many starving in poverty while the Elites get fat as any free market democracy. In a country like Canada with abundant land and relative wealth it's only the self serving politics that prevents people from living well. We waste enough money and food that no kid should do without anything here.

[MarkB]

OK, I'm going to play devil's advocate ...

What's wrong if someone wants to live off the land? Here's 2 simple rules though ... (1) they should have full liberty to survive as they were able to do 200 years ago, which means access to fertile land, liveable conditions (not in the arctic north), and (2) they should live by the land 100% and not want a part of another society's way of life. Wanting to live off the land, but also wanting a cellphone is not sustainable. Living in between "world's" will never work. You either commit yourself to living off the land and surviving in that environment, or commit yourself to capitalism and do everything to survive in that environment (which isn't easy either). Point is, if you do not commit yourself 100% to these ways of life, no matter which way of life it is, it doesn't work.

[terrym]

I doubt more than 10% of First Nations live off the land anymore. My guess is that's not much different than many Western Societies. The world has changed and you can't put the Genie back in the bottle. If you don't adapt to a changing world then you eventually become extinct.