Bud Talkinghorn

James Bartlesman's apologia for the reserve mess

The Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario rose to the defense of the native reserves and their people's successes, despite the appalling conditions on Canada's equivalent of Bantustans. He remembers the successful reserves and maintains they are the average. He doesn't get into any specifics though. It would be interesting to know what Bartlesman considers functional. The question he could ask himself is this: Why do so many of our Asian immigrants manage to succeed, despite all the language and cultural barriers they have to overcome? The simple answer is they come from a culture that has emphasized education and hard work.

Throwing money at the problem is futile. As one columnist said, "Another reserve problem equals another half billion dollar solution." Either the natives have fallen into some impentrable slough of despond or the chiefs and their band councillors are consistently robbing their reserves blind. Or both are at play. There is no way that these isolated reserves can ever be economically functional. The teacher, Ms. Laurie Gough, who wrote the National Post column exposing her hideous teaching situation in Kashechewan, faced the same reality that friends of mine have met on reserve schools. One told me of how s/he went to prepare her/his reserve class of high school equivalence students. They were two weeks away from exams. Many didn't show up regularily for classes, so needed this review. However as s/he drove on to the reserve . . . there were the majority of her/his students playing softball. The chalkboard had a message: "We are having our reserve championship softball practices. Sorry."--signed by 70% of her/his students. Most failed their exams, but miraculously, some were even accepted into university. A math instructor tells me that s/he must teach his/her graduate year, native students at a grade 10 or 11 level. This is, I suspect, the joke that passes for native student advancement across the country. The resulting "graduates"--often in Social Sciences--are then trumpeted as signs of the Federal Government's enlightened policy successes. My prof friend said, "To openly acknowledge the deficient reality of native education here is to court dismissal by the Politically Correct Police on campus." It also seems that that all the other profs who teach them must wildly inflate their marks, or face reprimand.

The entire native policy has to be re-worked and made coherent. Robert Nault had an excellent plan to demand accountability for the tax dollars given the chiefs, but Martin and Scott want to keep to their former insane policy of just shovelling out billions to cover-up the problem for the moment. If they are re-elected, the Liberals must change course. So they lose a few native votes--Phil Fontaine's revenge on The Great White Father--but in the long run, both the natives and the government must accept assimilation as the only answer, joining the mainstream society while keeping those aspects of their culture that enrich their lives. The old environment and ways have changed, not least because the natives, themselves, are living in much larger groups, are used to modern conveniences and use machines even to go out hunting. The native population deserves better than the charade of "self-government" they labour under. The various letters to the editor, like Ms. Gough's, has shown the horrid reality of much of reserve life. They will help pick the scab of this and show the gaping wound underneath. For far too long, Canadians have been given to believe the noble Indian myth that the "elites' Pollyannas" have fostered. The figures that point to massive problems in many of our reserves can no longer be papered over.

Bud Talkinghorn

Comment: Bud, you are much too optimistic. Money has papered over the whole thing for years. Why would it stop now? An attack of conscience? NJC



The $4 billion native pay-off

Historical revisionism at its best. While the people in charge of the residential schools did not control the abuse situation well, the idea of bringing Natives into the 20th Century was noble. Even early in the century, the government saw that the isolated reserves would fall into economic irrelevance if their children were denied education. To do otherwise was to see the white South African apartheid system implanted. The white Afrikaaners purposely kept native educational standards low; all the better to exclude them from power. Now we have a government that is saying, basically, "We should have taken the apartheid route." A shameful acknowledgement, but one by a government that has lost all moral courage. "Reserves collapsing into despair and anarchy, send in the Brinks trucks," is the typical Liberal response today, which fits the definition of insanity. *

Even as I write this, the media is reporting that the Liberals are prepared to announce billions extra for native education, health and housing. [The] Kelowna Conference between the First Ministers, the Federal Government and the First Nations [was] attended by 75 native chiefs from Manitoba alone. Who is paying their airfare? There is no amount of taxpayers' money the federal government ** will not throw at the natives to shut them up until after the election. A million dollar school in Kashechewan will not produce educated students with the present pathologies still in place. [** Announcements were made by the time I got this. NJC ]

And, will the $4.5 billion be enough? Not according to the Indian activists whom CBC interviewed. No sir, it will be too much fun milking a frightened Liberal government of much, much more, should it be re-elected. Since the billions will not change much, the demands and threats will continue apace. It was not government neglect that caused the water problem in Kashechewan, but rather two native water "technicians", who wouldn't impliment the recommended steps to protect the reserve's water source. No amount of money will protect reserve citizens if incompetents are in charge of essential services. However, the liberal media has left the impression that it is the government's fault.

© Bud Talkinghorn

Note:

* Bud had written 'Liberals' instead of 'federal government'. However, Paul Martin & Team have so divorced themselves from the Liberal Party corruption and its 'few' practitioners that we must accept their word -- that they have nothing to do with that Liberal Party. It's de udda guys from de udda Liberal Party, I guess. NJC

** insanity: One definition of insanity is doing the same (failing) thing over and over again and expecting different results. Our Indian Affairs department is insane by that definition.

Finally, I don't always get Bud's posts when they're most timely, nor do I post as soon as I wish to. My apologies to Bud and Bud's readers. NJC



Rita Marley's song, "One Draw" is a classic reggae tune, which extolls the virtues of "the wisdom weed"--a.k.a. Lamb's Bread or Kali. The former only sends one into a a joyous free-wheeling state for hours; the latter lives up to its Hindu god's name--it's a killer. I suspect that Rita is channelling Kali in her song. When Parliament finally gets around to the decriminalization of pot, Rita's "One Draw" will be used by the authorities to tell a cowed populous what is an "appropriate consumption" of the now semi-legal marijuana. Just to stay in the multicultural groove, the word used in much of Central America for grass is "mota"--which variously means "hill" or "rise", or "defect or fault". I think "rise" was the meaning intended here. If MADD and the bureaucrats ever get onto this term, then "defect" will be the preferred meaning. If the government ever comes to its senses and legalizes pot, their government will make sure that "one draw" definitely won't do the trick.

© Bud Talkinghorn--tongue firmly in cheek--I am glad to add to people's limited knowledge on this subject.

P.S. Rita's hubby Bob was rumoured to have consumed an ounce a day so Rita is never going to catch up with "One draw".

One Draw: The Best of Rita Marley




"There are two sides to every story, and we choose the one we want to air"--CBC executive *

What we have always thought. It won't take you long to figure out which side the CBC will take in the next election. Every chance to slag the opposition parties will be matched with a positive or neutral commentary on the Liberals. Don't take my word for it, simply watch the CBC at play in the fields of Liberal propaganda. Sorry, I forgot most of you don't even watch CBC. I therefore address my message to The Friends of the CBC, who deify this channel as the soul of Canadian culture.

* heard on CBC but exact source forgotten

© Bud Talkinghorn



A Bud potshot on the tax cuts

Long before Ralph Goodale decided that the surplus was enormous enough to grant Canadians a tax cut, Paul Martin granted his CSL a tax cut that saved the company from paying $160 million a year. He was adamant that Canadians couldn't hide their money in off-shore tax havens, but he left one loophole, Barbados, where he set up his CSL headquarters. Think about that at election time.

© Bud Talkinghorn

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