Is it really apartheid??

[ottawa,kan]

Cat Driver has on many occasions made the statement that Canadian government policy towards First Nations people is a form of apartheid. I'm not sure I agree. Certainly our policies here in the US, while really scandalous in many respects, and with a huge history going back hundreds of years, is not in my mind anything like apartheid. To my knowledge any " native american" as we use the term is perfectly free to live anywhere in the USA that he/she wants to. Lots of native american kids get an excellent college education, some at the nearby Haskell Indian Nations University, but far more at other public and private universities in america. Some choose to go back and live and work on the reservations, but many do not, and for all of them it is a choice. There is no permit needed to leave the res, no permission needed to move anywhere within the country, no work permit required of citizens, whether native american or not. Isn't that the same policy in Canada? It seems to me this is a far cry from the South African system of apartheid.

[Guido]

I think it's more of a de-facto apartheid that Cat is referring to, though I loathe to put words into his mouth - First Nations people are sidelined socially and economically in Canada because of the reserve system and the history of cultural genocide (i.e. residential schools) which have left many of these people within a generation which have little to no parental or other "standard" skills which many of us take for granted...

[Spokes]

I suppose the billions of dollars given to the first nations people every year along with the tax free status must take some of the edge off of all that.

[The Old Fogducker]

Cultural genocide?

Sounds very nice Guido, but I would submit quite the opposite is the case in Canada.

From your insightful position, tell us how has the govt attempted to deliberately and systematically exterminate the native peoples of Canada? That is what the dictionary meaning of "genocide" is after all.

While the Residential School system certainly wasn't a great place to be for any one of a hundred reasons, many "whiteys" also were being maltreated in the public schools of the same era by abusive teachers.

It could be argued the US system of dealing with Native Americans was far closer to an attempt at genocide than that of Canada and Great Britain.

Signed,
"Human Garbage"

[sky's the limit]

I'm locking this one right off the bat.

We've had far too many of these threads dealing with the First Nations - usually from divergent points with very little understanding of the topic beyond initial reactions.

stl