In the important piece on the other side of the paywall, skilled editorial writer Cory Morgan carefully shows why “the solution to every indigenous issue has been to pour more tax dollars into the system and to hand control directly to the chiefs and councils on indigenous reserves” has been an abject failure.
It underscores a similar observation made by Conrad Black, among many other commentators:
Despite the fact that many hundreds of billions of public dollars have been spent with constructive intent in Canada in this field since the Second World War, and for decades Canadian courts have generally been very sympathetic to the petitions and legal demands of native groups and individuals, it is not discernible that their condition, quality of life, or socio-economic levels of achievement have progressed much. Everyone regrets this and very few people claim to have much idea of what to do about it. It is a highly sensitive issue and any discussion of it is fraught with the explosive danger of being construed as racist, reactionary or misanthropic. I am none of those and I think that most people can agree that any analysis of this subject must begin with a recitation of facts, some of which conflict with conventional wisdom and the habitual case advanced by nativist militants.
Black, one of Canada’s most outstanding historians, concludes with the obvious assertion that:
“It is surely time for a serious, non-partisan, open-minded public policy discussion of the subject of Indigenous people.”
Regrettably, there is little reason to suspect this will happen anytime soon.
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