llama66 llama66:
Maybe it’s time to dissolve the Indian Act. It’s extreme, but it’s clearly not benefiting anyone. Two tier citizenry has never worked. Look at the south and South Africa as examples. The Indian act was designed to keep the indigenous folks down. Dissolve it, recognize the reserves as “special municipalities” and give them the same allotment of monies other municipalities get, hell, long term it’ll benefit the old reserves, as the provinces will have to bring their infrastructure up to the same level as other municipalities. The indigenous people can keep their culture and language like every other ethnic group has in Canada, the only thing thing that ceases is the Free money ends, I’m fine with them paying a reduced or no income tax, and getting subsidized post secondary. The time has come for us all to merge and leave the past in the past.
Just about all the Natives I've talked to or whose writings I've read would be happy to see the Indian Act dead and buried, but we'd need to have a clearer recognition of their Treaty rights and territories in the Constitution. The exact details that people have proposed vary depending on who you ask, but they would include things like control over education, civil law, land use and things like that. In effect, they might be similar to but not identical to territories.
It's been estimated that kind of recognition, along with appropriate funding levels,
could boost our overall economy by a whopping $27.7 billion. So in other words, not only would Indigenous people win from this, but we all would.
CKA Uber 
CKA Moderator 
