I'm just a white girl with no experience with this problem at all except what from what I read and hear, so I understand that my opinion is formed from ignorance but there's an underlying theme to this thread that has been bothering me. (Aside from the blatent racism which I simply ignore as not being worth my time) Creeman has stated many times that he doesn't consider himself to be Canadian, even though he lives in Canada, pays canadian taxes and (and I make a large assumption here) probably holds canadian citizenship. To me that makes you Canadian. To my way of thinking there was a war. We came and invaded your land, we conquered the native population and created our own country. None of that was right, and I can't say I'm overly proud of my anscesters, but it was also hundreds of years ago. Nobody alive today had anything to do with it and it's kind of obvious that we're here to stay. Unless you're planning to start some sort of revolution to kick us out of your country you're sort of stuck with us. So doesn't it make sense to work within the system we've put in place, as flawed as it is? Like it or not, your people have been assimilated, would the healing not work better if you accepted that fact, dealt with it, and made lives for yourselves as Canadians? I also live in small town saskatchewan, and I see the same racism and stereotyping in person as we've sen on this thread, though never quite so extreme. And I believe it stems from all the exceptions made for native people. I think most white people don't understand why someone they consider to be just another canadian gets tax-exempt status, free housing, free education, etc etc just because of the colour of their skin, when they have to work so hard for the same things, and then are told to look past skin colour when judging another person. How can the average person avoid racism when the government throws it in their face every day? It may not be a popular opinion, but I do believe that to start the healing process we have to stop giving different races different rules. Abolish the reserves, as has been said they obviously don't work, and only serve to widen the rift. Everyone should have to pay taxes. They are necessary for keeping our country running, and if you use our roads, hospitals, social services etc, than you should have to help pay for them. As for education, I believe that should be free for everyone!!! I would gladly pay higher taxes if it ensured the right to an education for every Canadian. But again, it has to be an all or nothing deal. Special treatment breeds resentment, resentment breeds racism and racism breeds nothing but trouble.
Just my 2 cents
Kyla