I think we have to cut the Natives a little slack there- it was a novelty to them and the white man used it (and them) to the whiteman's advantage. Having said that, it's now time to get on with things and all Canadian citizens should have the same rights and responsibilities.
Good post. I'd like ot add too that the last residential school was closed in 1990! Many of todays Aboriginals come from parents who may have been raped, beaten, neglected, or otherwise mistreated by the schoolmasters, and separated from their parents. As such, many of them never learnt how to be parents as they had no role model, not even their parents as they were forcibly separated from them! So many from the current generation of Aboriginals have likely been raised by disfuncitonal parents, some using drogs or alcohol to try to drown childhood traumas, etc. Now extend that to entire communities. I remember reading of one community in Eastern Canada that had to be put in an addiction hospital a few years back. Nearly the entire community.
Granted, many communities have in fact climbed out of this predicament, and some reserves are quite nice and middle class even. I'm just pointing out though that those that have failed may be dealing with trauma or other psychological or emotional or other problems that have simply been passed down from parent to child.
