Problems on Indian Reserve

[barleyfarmer]

Just watched the story on the news about the living conditions on a reserve down east and the red cross is getting involved!Just want to see what everyones opinion is on this story.I'm not really sure the two levels of government are to blame but would like to see what everyone thinks.

 

[rotormech]

coming from northern mb i have seen alot of reserves.unfortunatly these people have money handed to them for along time. the whole the white man stole my land excuse is over.work like everone else ,have some self respect.i lived in uclulet bc for a few years,there was a reserve there,it was very nice,nice homes looked after,no shacks.whats the difference with those natives and some others i dont know.

 

[Stompin Tom]

There is one difference. Education and the willingness to use it.

 

[Mike270412]

coming from northern mb i have seen alot of reserves.unfortunatly these people have money handed to them for along time. the whole the white man stole my land excuse is over.work like everone else ,have some self respect.i lived in uclulet bc for a few years,there was a reserve there,it was very nice,nice homes looked after,no shacks.whats the difference with those natives and some others i dont know.

I agree! Lets all get jobs and pay taxes!

 

[byronkentgraham]

There is one difference. Education and the willingness to use it.

There are jobs in this world just for the uneducated.

 

[sledhead_2002]

If I recall correctly, average life of a house on a reservation 7-10 yrs.

I agree we give monies to the chiefs, bands or whoever, and we have no control or input on how it should be spent and too boot, also no accountability. It needs to stop. Where the cycle gets broken and at what age/generation, i dont know but it needs to stop

 

[MATTIAC]

You can lead a horse to water...

 

[AprilO]

Work as an EMT and have covered and serviced MANY reserves. Oh boy, where to start... They are given brand new houses to live in at no cost to them, some which are VERY nice! With no cleaning, no matinence done and no respect for what was given to them for FREE this house will look immaculate for approx 2 days, then it is all down hill. I go into MANY unsafe situations and houses on the reserve where there are floor tiles missing, holes in the wall, a whole wall missing where you can obviously see there once was one, stairs missing, no lightbulbs, wild animals in the house, weapons, drugs, bottles and blood about the home and kids wandering barefoot and naked throughout the home. This has been going on for years and years and they don't know any better nor do they care. A lot of nice folks who are just gliding on through life without an income, job or goal for their life which is unfortunate. The others, the ones that we get called to all the time, the criminals, drug seekers, drug addicts, people charged with assault, sexual assault, murder, etc these ones will never change no matter what opportunity you give to them, they will spit in your face, I know, I've had it happen. There are a lot of things wrong with reserves we cannot just pin point one or two things. It is much bigger than them just receiving money, food, absolutly free healthcare (including those ambulance trips) and free homes. It is so much BIGGER than that. Don't believe me, come with me for a ride along come see what I see on a daily basis at work. And yes, there are a lot of reserves who are rich and who do turn a profit! This is because they have a strong band and have resources on their land (ex. Enoch - close to Edmonton, thus a casino makes sense or Alexis reserve - out in the boonies, casino or other attractions would not make any money at all, thus they are poorer) but hey, don't get me wrong there are still the above mentioned at EVERY reserve, they are also in the city, in our home towns, they could be our neighbours, you don't know. My rant!

 

[AprilO]

Darn, now I'm noticing all my spelling and grammar mistakes, haha

 

[eclipse1966]

I dont care what your race/colour or religion is but if things are given to you on a silver platter their will be no respect for it and no incentive to better yourself. Only way to fix it is to stop the free handouts and let the strong survive. Sounds harsh but that is life. Their ancestors had to hunt for food and shelter to carry them over the winter what makes the last few generations better than that and they dont have to. Just my 2 cents worth!

 

[STYKO]

all crap, go to work like the rest of the world!!!!!!

 

[intmid8or!]

waiting for dpfn response


in before the lock

 

[munhoez]

well being a full blood cree individual(that works, pays taxes, and still have the family home on the reserve-over25 yrs)...... i have no comment.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Our people are hard working, educated, self-supporting members of society. We do suffer from a serious horsepower addiction that is a base genetic trait of the tribe and has been proven to be thus far non-curable.

In short, we don't know what the fawk these guys are doing on their reserves.

 

[Bogger]

I know some just like you my friend, unfortunately there is an overwelming majority unlike yourself. My wife is only 2 generations white woman and never bothered with status, we got the stepdaughters thier metis cards simply for the educational benefits, if it's available you'd be foolish not to take advantage of it. Unfortunately like any other government system it is abused. I do believe if you are going to recieve the advantages of modern civilization you should contribute, if you want to live traditionally off the land then that as well is your choice, but ANYONE (not just natives) who wants access to our roads, infastructure, health care, education, etc etc... should also contribute to said systems.


The world need more munhoezes

well being a full blood cree individual(that works, pays taxes, and still have the family home on the reserve-over25 yrs)...... i have no comment.

 

[briguy99]

My other half is first nations and there really seem like 2 sides.......one that gets everything handed to them and the world owes them and the others are the progressive thinking ones that have very successful band/community endevours. some wont move on...others embrace what the future has for them.....

 

[mudd kitty]

I hate that First Nations are thrown into a generic stereo type. I do believe that there should be an end to the "handouts" because as far as I'm concerned anyone born in my generation was born the same way I was and there is nothing I can do for for things that were done 50+ years ago. I think we are all equal, I think that we should be judged and live by the choices we make not by our heritage or skin color. It's to bad that people have to live in condemed houses on chitty reserves but once again, in this day that is a personal choice. You can move from the chitty reserve and go out on your own. Make something for yourself..of yourself. We all come into this life the same and it ends the same. What matters is what you do in between those times. I think if the reserve is that bad then their local Indian Band should pony up some cashola and get that chit cleaned up. Or just go by some big bear and drink yourself into a stupor and forget that your living in a condemed , plywood windowed chit hole........

 

[AprilO]

I'm not saying anyone is wrong or anyone is right but having been on reserves more times than I would like to count I have noticed a not so great trend. I have noticed that it is a cycle of abuse. Example: Mom does drugs/alcohol/smokes and no prenatal care because that's what her mom and the mom before her did and now that is what she is doing to her child. When the child is born it often has some sort of medical disabitliy/learning disability and is sometimes addicted to those drugs and/or alcohol. As the child grows it grows in this horrible house/horrible atmosphere/unhealthy food and is surrounded by abuse,drugs/alcohol, poor schooling or often none at all because they parents (or often times, parent (mother), does not care if their child goes. The parents or parent does not work, child knows money comes in the form of a check in the mail every month and grows up thinking thats the way it is supposed to be. Once the child is a teenager, he is exposed to even more drugs, abuse sexual and/or physical, he gets a girl pregnant, and the trend is repeated.

Real life example: (long story short) I was working in a northern SK town, 21 year old girl comes walking in the hospital, fetus actually hanging out of her as she is walking in. We deliver baby, baby is not breathing, we do CPR, breath for baby, etc get baby back. Find out mom was a morphine and dalauded (synthetic morphine) user for whole pregnancy, mom did 50mg (normal person gets 2.5mg to 5mg for pain) three hours before birth of baby. Back to delivery room.... baby starts seizing, then stops breathing, CPR again, baby comes back... we called for SK version of STARS to come up to meet us at hospital... they don't arrive for 3 hours... it was a continuous baby seizing, back to normal(ish), baby stops breathing, breath for baby, baby's heart stops, do CPR, baby seize, etc on and on and on for three hours until they get there and take her away. Later find out that baby was severely dependant and addicted to morphine, not known the damage (internally, externally and learning disabilities baby will have) baby now has to go into a 3 hour old baby "drug rehab" for morphine... I don't know if the baby survived or not. Mom was a 21 year old white girl. My point is, it is just not natives, or whites or blacks, or spanish, or african, or european or anyone. Its everyone.

What do I think needs to be done? Abolish the reserves, get rid of them, get the aboriginal on their feet in the city, where they have access to all the resources that they need (councelling, medical, dental, proper schooling) get rid of reserve life, run down houses, dirt roads, no electricity at some places or running water, no stray wild dogs running around, proper policing, closer access to ambulances and quicker responses from police when the ambulance needs them. Its a cycle that needs to get broken, once they are on their feet, cut off the funding. I always said if I was a native I would become a professional student. Now because I do not have money given to me to pay for school I'm trying to work my a$$ off to pay for my next level of education. We can't be running around saying "they're all bad" cause they aren't. Just some of them.

I'm sure there are lots of opinions about what should and should not be done, in University I majored in History, specializing in Canadian and Arctic history of Aboriginals. I have thought about and researched this topic many times but this is just from my point of view. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone.

 

[RMK Junky]

Then there are some white round eyes that are no better

 

[AprilO]

I completly agree with you!

I know some just like you my friend, unfortunately there is an overwelming majority unlike yourself. My wife is only 2 generations white woman and never bothered with status, we got the stepdaughters thier metis cards simply for the educational benefits, if it's available you'd be foolish not to take advantage of it. Unfortunately like any other government system it is abused. I do believe if you are going to recieve the advantages of modern civilization you should contribute, if you want to live traditionally off the land then that as well is your choice, but ANYONE (not just natives) who wants access to our roads, infastructure, health care, education, etc etc... should also contribute to said systems.


The world need more munhoezes