Attawapiskat - A (First) National Problem

A First Nations reserve is in terrible condition, and 90 million dollars have been thrown at the problem. Just who caught it?

One thing I haven't been a huge fan of would be the over-coddling of the First Nations people of Canada. They are given all kinds of extra rights, many acres of land, and cheaper living costs, and yet, there always seems to be a problem with them.

Of course, they do deserve some special compensation for the ways they have been treated in the past. The European explorers and settlers traded their land for simple sentimental items alien to the Natives, and they treated them like animals. I understand that they should be known for being the first people here in Canada and the United States and we took it from them, but I begin to lose empathy when I consider other ethnic groups who are ridiculed and discriminated against who are living and surviving without special compensation.

When I start this argument, I usually point to the Jewish and African-American peoples who have both suffered many injustices and say, "They aren't wallowing in their past. They have mostly moved on from their dark ages and have become successful and beneficial members of our society without assistance. Why can't the First Nations people move on and become successful?” This usually shuts people up, because they can go one of three ways:

1. "No, they are successful." where I ask who is both a Native and notably successful, to which I get a vague answer.

OR

2. "Well, there always are problems with the Jews and Blacks". To which I reply, "Isn't that a bit stereotypical? Are you going to suggest Blacks are criminals and Jews are cheap scammers?” I do understand the hypocrisy, however, it gets my arguer in defense mode and they can't give solid arguments then.

OR

3. "I agree. Why is that?" to which I continue on my points.

The Aboriginal argument of "Help them" or "Don't help them" becomes a fight between the majority of people arguing with you. If you're in a classroom, don't even consider suggesting to not help them, since everyone at school really wants to save the world but don't see the realistic picture of the world. You'll get so many "You're Racist!" and "Hitler Jr. over here!" kind of statements that kids will begin to not listen to you anymore. It happens to me too often, unfortunately.

So, in Geography class, we began the day with watching a news article about this situation. Check out this link for an article that is connected to this story.

There is a reserve called Attawapiskat in Ontario, near James Bay, where the inhabitants are living in extremely poor living conditions. Their houses are primarily tents and run-down homes, where little insulation and lots of mould has been growing there, which will make their already-arrived winter very hard to live in.

The Canadian government has spent a total of around 90 million dollars to assist the reserve in rebuilding it and giving the inhabitants schools, healthcare centre’s, and proper living conditions. The money, however, has not reached the Natives there, and they continue to live poorly. Why is that?

The question that is on people's mind is, "Who took the money?” That is a very good question: was it a lack of government communication or corruption in the Reserve's funding?
Apparently, the Reserve never had a financial advisor or accountant to assist them with their problem, which could mean the money could have been lost electronically due to a lack of communication.

My question is, "Why are they living in those conditions in the first place? Why do they need the help?", and this is where my article is heading to.

Recall the saying, "Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; give a man a fishing rod, he eats for life", which can be applied against any philanthropic activities used to help people. Why do we constantly spend millions of dollars with band-aid solutions when we could be solving all kinds of world problems like cancer and gender/racial equality?

What I'm getting at is that Natives have become too dependant on the Canadian government and so, they can't function without the assistance of others. They are given their own land and their own rights, but do not fully know how to function as a member of the modern world.

Their problem is their traditions and their nationality, not the people. Their previous lifestyle never included education but rather, hunting and rituals. They aren't going to go to school and learning a skill or trade when they can live their old life with the assistance of the Canadian government without a problem. They have no incentive to become successful.

Do new immigrants need to rely on hand-outs? Do they need to live in their own sects and communities? No, they don't. They move to Canada on hopes of earning an education and becoming self-reliant members of society so they can live well.

We as a society have to find an answer to the "help or not" question. If we answer "Yes", then we will continue to spend tax-payers money on a quagmire of problems that, although it is philanthropic, will continue to grow bigger and bigger. However, if we answer "No", then they can stop living in the past, stop receiving help, and start becoming highly successful and self-reliant members of our society. This process will take at least a whole other generation, but the end-result will be great.

As usual, I apologize to anyone who is Native American and took offense to this. I am not apologizing to those who aren't and are already beginning to write angry replies to this, stating that I'm evil and fascist. You are the cause for why thousands of the world’s problems persist longer than they should, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice day.