Why is the Canadian Governemnt still paying off the Native Indians?

Maybe you should read up on a little History . That thing of which you’re lacking in.

Are the Canadians still living on Native land?

@laureth – Nope. The native land was owned by the government once they took it over. Just like in war.

@VohuManah – How am I lacking?

@dpworkin – Sure.

If you would have known the travesties committed by the government and what they’ve done to the Native Americans, you would not have needed to ask this question.

@VohuManah – It doesn’t matter what happened back then. They need to get over it. I know everything that happened believe it or not. The Canadian Government taking over was the best thing that happened to the Natives. They were stuck being savages while the rest of the world was advancing.

So another person can make someone decide what to do with their life? Unless a group is infringing upon the rights of others, how is making them conform to what you decide is best for them just?

Have you heard about the residential schools?

Because it’s the right thing to do. It doesn’t make up for several centuries of abuse, but it’s the right thing to do.

Oh, I see. You don’t think that these problems affect modern First Nations people.

A whole culture was ruined by the Canadian government. Many now are left choosing between their reserves and the neighboring cities/towns. Both options entail some negative details.

Putting things right isn’t easy. Money seems to be a temporary solution, yes. What alternatives do you propose?

Although I’m not terribly interested in doing a whole lot of research for someone whose mind won’t be changed anyway, it sure looks like some of the land was never actually ceded by the Natives. If I invade your home and beat you bloody until you pass out, it doesn’t mean I necessarily own your home now.

@dpworkin That was clearly a personal attack. I hope it’s removed like the comments you gave to a previous question. So is @VohuManah You’re both attacking her intelligence, which is the lowest form of an insult.

@laureth, maybe not but from a purely academic standpoint, it’s tempting isn’t it?
Get over it indeed.

@Mamradpivo – With that ideology shouldn’t the Germans be paying of the Jewish people all this time? It makes no sense. Most things donw during war is stupid and makes no sense. But I don’t think paying people off with money is going to make a difference.

@laureth – I’m talking about war and when other countries invade other ones then they do own it as long as they inhabit it. The native people should be thankful to the Europeans for coming over here and changing things like they did.

@shadling21 – At least they have a choice to be linked with the modern world or not, I think they should be thankful more than anything. It’s crazy how they get paid so much and do nothing with their lives for the most part.

@HTDC – Thank you.

@Oxymoron I can’t speak for the German government, but a large number of corporations that contributed to the Holocaust and to re-distributing Jewish wealth in the 1930’s and 1940’s have paid billions in restitution: from Swiss banks to IBM.

I fundamentally disagree with your notion that the re-settlement and subjugation over many generations of whole peoples qualifies as war. War implies a conflict between states, not a conflict of a state against a people the state considers lesser.

Finally, it’s not uncommon to force states to pay reparations for terrible things they do. North American governments have created a permanent underclass through their subjugation of the indigenous inhabitants of this land. We can’t pretend that didn’t happen. Paying a little restitution and trying to provide a way out of the extreme poverty we’ve forced people into probably doesn’t go far enough. But it’s a start.

Have you seen Avatar? If not, you should. Good movie. I didn’t think it was a necessary one, but I guess it is.

@Oxymoron – usually at the end of a war, there’s some sort of treaty signed, specifying what land now belongs to who, signed by both winners and losers for all the world to see. It appears as though that didn’t happen here, and that the Canadian (British empire) government simply rolled over a lot of the tribes and started living on the land without first acquiring clear title.

You sound a lot like the people back in the day who said that being stolen from Africa and used for slaves was the best thing that ever happened to Black people. Never mind that the “savage” image is something impressed upon one culture by another who usually doesn’t understand it at all, eh?

Wait, what? They should be “thankful”? Would you be thankful if another country came in, took away your land, called you a savage, and tossed you in an abusive school where you couldn’t reach your family? This doesn’t even begin to describe the horrible treatment that First Nations people have suffered.

The way that the First Nations were treated was more like “oppression”. There was little they could do to fight it.

Also, I’m not sure how it worked there in Canada, but here in the U.S. the tribes that signed treaties with the US gov’t often had stipulations like “we will go to our reserve and fight no more, provided that we are given X amount of food rations, clothing, etc.” – so it was the Government’s duty to see to their side of the treaty and make the payments. It didn’t always happen that way here, but if the Canadian government signed treaties with the same terms, they should abide by their word.

@laureth – You’re right, I do feel that black people being slaves back then was the best thing that happened to them. I do wish they would have been brought over under better circumstances, but nevertheless, they have benefited from it so much. If they had not been brought over we’d be seeing them on the world vision commercials covered in flies.

@gggritso – Sure have.

@shadling21 – Yeah, thankful. It sucks that the Europeans were so violent about it and everything, but what is done is done. It’s too bad for them. Their lives are better now because of everything.

K. Thought experiment. Parallel universe. The Europeans didn’t colonize North America. The continent remains undiscovered. Do you honestly think the First Nations people in this universe are less happy than the First Nations people of today? What are you building this assumption on?

You’re right, I do feel that black people being slaves back then was the best thing that happened to them. I do wish they would have been brought over under better circumstances, but nevertheless, they have benefited from it so much. If they had not been brought over we’d be seeing them on the world vision commercials covered in flies.

OK, I get it now. Parody. A little heavy-handed, but you got everyone going. For the last couple of hours I thought you were actually espousing these retrograde ideas. (I hate using the tilde myself.)

@dpworkin Sorry, my own sarcasm radar is off. Have you actually come to the conclusion that this user is joking about it all? Or are you sarcastically suggesting that she must be joking, because her thinking seems so backwards?

I am refraining from further speculation, as I believe I have filled my quota of modded-off posts for the day, and I am not amused by racist spewing, so I tend to become angry, and then post what would better have been restrained.

@shadling21 yeah, he’s totally being sarcastic. Her comments are SO bizarre, especially that last one about how much better off black people are that he’s probably spinning his eyeballs in his head like a cartoon.

@everyone: I actually pm’d @dpworkin and asked him to go easy!!! that’s how taken in
I was!!! Good lord, this girl is brilliant??? WHO KNEW!!!!!!! Very, very, very clever girl.

Signing off.

@susanc – Are you okay?

Haha, sorry but that made me actually laugh out loud. Just reading susanc’s comment then yours. :D

What the hell is wrong with me? I seriously can’t stop laughing. I need some sleep…

Troll and very good at it.

@faye – What are you talking about it?

@faye yes. Check other threads..

@Trillian – sometimes it’s hard to differentiate a troll from a lunatic fringe leftie or rightie who actually believes what they’re spewing.

@laureth (Snicker) Road trip

Face palm.
This will probably get deleted as a personal attack, but here I go. @Oxymoron I’ve been reading your questions and answers and wondering why some people have been so hostile to you. I didn’t get it and wondered what I was missing or what was lodged up some people’s asses. But then I read this thread.
Slavery was good for Africans? Native people should be thankful their cultures, land, and families were torn apart? Honey, I know you’re young. I know people think they’re hugely intelligent and worldly at 16-ish. But please, please, get some education, ask some questions and really listen to answers, travel, talk to people to work at getting rid of your insanely ignorant ethno-centric point of view. It will do you and the blood pressures of anyone you talk to in life some good.

That’s no attack. That is a kindness. She is young and foolish and is unlikely to heed your wisdom, though. Watch. There will be a snarky answer soon, or another noxious thread.

@dpworkin thanks. I try to assume people, especially young people, aren’t being jackasses on purpose…