Canada's Indigenous Model is Unsustainable

Brian Giesbrecht, a retired Province of Manitoba Judge and prolific editorial writer, carefully outlines the nearly intractable conditions faced by most indigenous people living in most of the country’s Indian Reserves in the piece on the other side of the paywall when he argues:

Unlike in other rural communities, people on poor reserves tend not to move when economic opportunities decline. In small-town Canada, the rules are simple: If the towns or farms can’t supply enough jobs, one moves to the city where the jobs and careers are. But on remote reserves, most people stay put, even if there are no jobs or careers there for them. And most of those who do move to the city do not do well. With poor job skills and a lack of education and motivation, reserve residents tend to move to the mean parts of town where many end up in gangs, crime, and prostitution.

The result is that the people who stay in uneconomic remote reserves become more and more dependent. Low education levels sink even further. And succeeding generations become ever less likely to be able to provide for themselves and their families.

Please continue reading this important piece about how Canada’s most downtrodden people might be raised out of their impoverished condition.