The main problem with Indian reservations isn’t, as some argue, that they were established on worthless tracts of grassland. Consider the case of Buffalo County, S.D., which Census data reveal to be America’s poorest county. Some 2,000 people live there. More than 30% of the homes are headed by women without husbands. The median household income is less than $13,000. The unemployment rate is sky high.
Just to the east of Buffalo County lies Jerauld County, which is similar in size and population. Yet only 6% of its homes are headed by women without husbands, the median household income is more than $30,000, and the unemployment rate hovers around 3%. The fundamental difference between these two counties is that the Crow Creek Indian Reservation occupies much of Buffalo County. The place is a pocket of poverty in a land of plenty.
Read the whole thing.
So you should force them to work? Or do you accept them as mothers that are capable to childcare their own children and subsidize an adequate income?
A lot of people have a misconception that all poor mothers are bad mothers. I believe the poverty added stress of not being able to feed your own children causes a major depression in parents. No, they are not all bad parents. Government should try recognizing stay at home, single parents as a labor instead of a welfare case!
Too much Oprah, Sara.
And if they are “stay at home” mothers who live off government cheques as a lifestyle choice (as opposed to short term emergency support) – then yes they are a welfare case, by definition. And their children are at high risk of continuing the family tradition.
This is an interesting article although the subject is almost as volatile as two tier healthcare. As discussed many times before, something has to be done. The concept of ownership of property can help but the whole system of entitlement will make giving them property outright a disaster. Like a lot of other things �given and not earned� the concept of responsibility of your property will be lost on most of these people. How to keep the �haves� from taking advantage of the �have-nots� more so than they do now will be another problem.
Dividing the reservation�s land amongst the people will also create a lawyer�s paradise, with people off the rez wanting their share and the squabbling about who gets what. A 50� x 50� lot with a shack somewhere in northern Saskatchewan/Alberta/Manitoba etc, on it will not help the owner but a tract of land by a river or lake can be utilized in the tourism industry or at very least some money to those who sell it.
By the way, bets are on for how long will it take for our resident �Kate hater� to start venting like Mount Pinatubo. I�m betting between the tenth and fifteenth commentator.
Sara, my wife has a good friend that is a widow with an 8-year old daughter. The mother works 2 jobs and rents out her basement suite for income. She works as a school bus driver (for a contractor – not the school district) and supervises a school lunchroom. The child (best friend of my daughter) is better clothed than my kids and eats well too! They aren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but she doesn’t rely on gov’t handouts and her first concern is for her daughter. I have a ton of respect for this woman!
Maybe I misunderstood your comments Sara, but do you have any solutions to suggest?
Like a lot of other things �given and not earned� the concept of responsibility of your property will be lost on most of these people.
Better to have learned the hard way than never to have learned at all.
“Too much Oprah, Sara”
LOL! Classic Kate!
Having lived half my life in/near a northern Alberta “welfare town” (PC term: “Improvement District”) I’ll resist the temptation of spewing my two bits as Kate hasn’t enough bandwidth for the rant I’d subject the good folks to here at ‘Dead Critters’.
Needless to say, vis a vis the “Indian issue”, I think we can all concure that what’s been done up until now ‘don’t work worth a $hit.
Compare/contrast: “No work”. >
Commentary
“There’s no work here,” says Mustapha Baqer”. That’s not strictly true: there’s plenty of employment for gunmen. But the degree of interest in creating work for producing food, shelter or clothing was demonstrated when expensive greenhouses which produced valuable produce for export were torched and looted in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal. And these greenhouses were theirs .The Khaleej Times Online reported in August 19, 2005 that: > more
http://www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/
The basic issue is how can we help them to restore their pride in themselves? A friend of mine worked construction on reserves—-building government homes. The following year one of the new homes had all the doors and walls used as firewood though the winter in spite of a government supplied wood spliter being outside the door and lots of deadfall trees fifty yards away. Another home had a hole cut in the bathroom wall from the outside so the horse could drink water out of the bath tub. This destruction was not from poverty but lack of pride in the abscence of ownership.
In Cuba no-one owns their own homes. The villages outside of the tourist areas are delapidated and run down even though some of the locals make relatively good money in the tourist industry. The inside of the home is spotless and clean but the home itself is not considered an oportunity as it is in Canada. What oportunities do our native people have? Mostly they are secluded and this is passed off as maintaining their “heritage”. We may not have built walls around them but effectively we keep them “in their place” by simply giving them money.
There was something floated on the radio awhile back pertaining to this very problem here in CAnada.Reference was made to the fact that there is no feeling of ownership amongst the people on the rez. Therefore, no desire to upkeep their homes, start businesses etc. Someone suggested a “certificate of ownership” type of thing. Giving the person(s) on the rez their “own” piece, thereby allowing the “owner” to feel they have a stake in things as well as being able to use the “certificate” for collateral in loans and such. I’m not sure of all the details, but it does bear looking into. Without the tools, and the will and knowledge to use them, they will be left behind. Far behind. Throwing ever increasing amounts of govt money at the problem doesn’t solve the problem, nothing changes. Unfortunatly, the current system invites corruption by some of the band councils, leaving those not “in” without.Very few people living on the rez talk about this problem and others through fear of retaliation, or embarrassment.One has to wonder, wot did go on in northern Sask during the vote? How many wanted to vote cons. but were pressured to vote lib? How many did vote cons but had those ballots yanked out and replaced? Whether it involves money or voting, there is a presence there that is not good for everyone. Perhaps it is a case of being caught between the past and the present, being led by ones chief, and being an individual.
First mistake: “… something has to be done”. Nope, not if I am involuntarly involved. Those who wish to fix things should do so without me or my taxes. When the Reserves’ inhabitants have figured out whose problem it is, and devised some sort of plan which may get themselves out of the problems without my assistance, I’ll listen.
Second mistake: “how can we help them to restore their pride in themselves”. Easy, by not helping them.
Cheers
JMH
Second mistake: “how can we help them to restore their pride in themselves”. Easy, by not helping them.
Pride… From what I’ve heard in the media, many don’t have pride in themselves because of the way things are now. They have lots of work to do integrating modern society and their culture. Health… A doco on the Hopi indians down south was very informative. Health among the reserves people was shocking. Diabetes was rampant, obesity, and other ailments. One fellow thought about it and concluded rightly that the diet they had until 100 yrs ago was what their bodies were used to, not the white-man’s diet. With the help of elders he educated the people on their traditional diet. After a time on this diet, the ailments experienced by the inhabitants of the reserve went down. Obesity dropped, diabetes went down etc. Along with that, other problems dropped. Pride was restored in themselves, suicide rates dropped, social problems dropped. Mind you, the chief and council did ban alcohol and drugs, and enforced it. In order for the same changes to take effect here, the people on the rez will have to provide the same level of leadership themselves, from their own ranks. Whether on or off the rez, the diet has alot to do with physical and mental health. Affect one, you affect the other.You can’t change something that has been genically sound for thousands of years overnight and expect it to function properly. It may sound “off” to some people, but for an extreme example, look what happens when you feed meat to herbivors. Their system was never designed to process meat. Neither was the native system designed to process alcohol and white flour. In time perhaps. My point… if someone in their community takes the initiative to educate them on their traditional diet, their health will improve, so will their mental health, their pride, and their circumstances. Doing it all for them accomplishes nothing, except dependance on others.
Up until about 3 minutes ago, I was an advocate of property ownership as a means to help the natives gain pride, and to integrate. But then it occured to me: If I buy a house in an affluent or an up-and-coming neighborhood, then that house is an investment, sure to give me high returns and a sense of financial security. Someone will want to buy it from me for more than I paid for it. Yet if I buy a house in a dangerous or failing neighborhood, it is worthless. Like a car, it loses value the moment the bill of sale is signed.
Who would want to invest on a native reserve? Would you want to buy a home from someone there? Chances are, no. And if that’s the case, there would be little point in granting ownership, if equity and security do not follow. And if their finances do not improve (i.e. through equity), their situations won’t either. Will their pride still increase?
Perhaps a better idea might be to assist natives in getting loans and mortgages to live off the reserves. We’ve all heard of the “special” banks that have opened to allow Muslims to borrow money without interest – why not a similar arrangement for the natives?
RG
Having lived among, and with, the natives of the far north, as I’m sure it is in the south, the Reserve = welfare system is the root cause of the problem. They are free of taxes, free healthcare and recieve monies as long as they stay on the Res. I have seen the destruction of Government housing and the complete lack of pride in those houses. I have also seen the Band Chiefs and council appoint themselves very large salaries out of treaty and land-clain settlements, and watch member of their friends and family get similar jobs in the various ‘infrastructure’ jobs in the Band’s offices. They are easy to spot: Just look for the brand new $50,000 truck or luxury car, while all others on the Res are multi-coloured beaters that barely run or are on blocks. Sounds simplistic? Stereotypical? Biggoted? Not one bit! Southern Canadians, politicians and especially national native leaders all avoid the truth. Its an ugly truth, no doubt, but none will address the real crime here, that is the corruption at the top of the native food-chain. The immeadiate “RACIST!” label given to those who dare state the truth deter anyone who tries to help.
The national native leaders cried “Foul” during the election campaign at the simple announcement by the Conservative that they will review the Kelowna Accord and how the 5 billion dollars will be fairly distributed. The Conservatives said they will demand accountability and responsible spending by the native leadership. The real issue was that the money would no longer be given carte blanche to the leadership, and THAT
threatened their little empire of institutional corruption. The Conservatives are not the enemy of the natives, their own leaders are.
Solutions are not going to be easy or painless, but once the fundamental causes are identified, dealt with and properly funded, there will never be an end to the misery so many natives endure while their leaders and Band councils skim and profit for their own selfish greed.
OPPS, last paragraph needs a correction….please insert the word “unless” in the first sentance where the word ‘once’ is now….sorry….
I don’t watch Oprah, so couldn’t agree with yah on that.
I think it is a bit of mis-understanding possibly Bacardi.
I commend your friend for whats she has done and what she will do for her child. I believe children come first not woman not men but children.
In the case of these reserves and the welfare moms. What would you do give them more money to go to school, pay for housing and daycare plus as you guys say free medical, taxes etc…
That’s no solution, like the rest of you say they need pride in what they do. I also believe parents who stay at home need pride in that as well. Even if it is a mother or father on a reserve with 5 kids.
Obviously they need help, but handing them barely enough money to live on and calling them welfare bums will not work.
If a child is raised by a single parent who stays home with them, and society accept this parents as a childcare worker then there will be pride in it.
Society only accepts childcare workers if they childcare someone elses child.
What I am saying is what if that mother (or dad) of 5 is an amazing childcare worker? She knows crafts, nutrition etc…
Would you rather her work at McDonalds 50 hours a week just to be broke? Would you rather pay her daycare costs at thousands of dollars a month for her to work at McDonalds?
Or would you rather help her until all her kids are in school and she can help herself?
Poverty is a depression most won’t come out of, I think we need to help them as you say with pride in their work even if it is childcaring their own children.
I’ve got lots of horror stories about reservations as well… but I’m convinced the root cause is a total lack of empowerment. They have none of the freedoms we have, are dependant upon handouts. No wonder they have issues. If they leave the reservation they get next to nothing. It needs fixing and soon. Throwing more billions at the problem is not a solution – it needs some common sense.
RightGirl,
Most of Canada’s major banks have special Aboriginal Banking sections. If the native doesn’t qualify for a traditional loan, then the feds will guarantee it. Mind you, these loans are NOT for living off reserve. NO ONE in politics (or banking) has the gonads necessary to suggest that natives should live off-reserve. There’s plenty of scholarships and bank loans for Indians. I sell businesses for a living and many of the buyers we get looking at the larger industrial businesses are Aboriginal firms who can access federal programs and grants. A lot of times it’s a white guy or white-owned business partnering with a local tribe to buy a business. This is getting popular up north in the oilpatch.
Sara, it’s a really difficult problem to deal with. No easy answers, but NOBODY respects things that are GIVEN to them, only what is worked for and earned. When I first got my drivers license and drove my parents vehicles I never took nearly as much care with it as when I paid for my own car. Even now when I get rental vehicles I do things with them that I wouldn’t with my personal, owned and paid for transportation!
Arctic:
The exact same thing happens down here in Southern Canada, too.
Not 15 mins from my house in West Van (a very affluent part of Vancouver) is a little chunk ‘o’ the third world, the Squamish Nation Reserve. Despite sitting on a massive tract of the most valuable waterfront ppty., and despite being considered one of the wealthiest bands in CANADA, most of the residents live in squalour.
That is, except for the chiefs, their immediate families and friends. This group inevitably gets well-paying work, often for f#*k-the-dog jobs, late-model cars, expensive new or renovated homes, and private, off-reserve education.
The rest get the crumbs.
All-in-all, a perfect socialist microcosm!
well put EPW! How many of those living there would talk if they could do so without suffering intimidation and reprisal? More than just a few I think.
Ah, heck. I think the average native is doing OK. Most of your problem is that the natives don’t really want to live life like you do. I spent a month on the steppes of Mongolia last summer and trust me, the average native in Canada has his act together better than Ghangis Khan’s ancestors do. So it’s all relative.
Give me a dozen Canadian Indians over a dozen educated jihadi Muslims anyday.
“Poverty is a depression most won’t come out of, I think we need to help them as you say with pride in their work even if it is childcaring their own children.”
I’m not so sure about that. Poverty is really more of a transient situation for most of us, especially in our younger years. I look back when my husband and I first married, we could have qualified for food stamps. No savings, no net worth and living precariously at the beginning of our careers. We had goals beyond that which overcame our situation.
I see no evidence that subsidies to welfare moms creates upward mobility, a wholesome family life or a multi-generational work ethic. Since the welfare was cuts in the US, birthrates have fallen in the underclass. Face it, if you don’t get money anymore for fatherless children even the stupidest slugs among us change their behavior when the money dries up.
It really is a stretch to assume that the irresponsibilty in having children without a husband or funds is noble or even a reasonable choice. Sorry, I can’t find “pride in their work” a realistic sentiment. How about pride in a responsible social decision?
See right there, irresponsibility in having children without a husband or funds.. wow that seems harsh.
I don’t agree that billions should be thrown at them no. I see just like the rest of you that the government and the bands are not responsible enough to spread the money through the town. Most of it goes in their own pockets.
I don’t know how to fix it at all.
The question I keep mulling over is,
There are two kinds of stay at home moms, a pampered housewife and a welfare mom.
Why?
It just keeps going over and over in my head. I’m sure no one grows up to become a single mom or a widower. And yes, they have to fight to survive, like your friend Bacardi.
The only difference between a pampered housewife and a welfare mom is money.
These welfare moms generally as you say keep going down deeper and deeper through generations. So obviously what we’re doing doesn’t work. We tried forcing them out to the work place and that didn’t work. So something has got to give…
I have no clue but I do believe in pride as you say pride in ownership and pride in providing for your family.
I agree that empowerment is a big problem. It starts being a problem when the kids hit gr. 6. They realize they have no prospect of doing better, if they stay on the reserve, and leaving family means more to most Indians(pc?) than it does to the general pop. The reserve we taught on, in a native run school, had not been exposed to our wonderful modern society very long. A trip south was $350 return by plane, or 13hrs. on the winter road. Up to gr.6 kids were kids. After, they were disinterested . They could see that there was not much to choose from ahead.
The federal money we all assume flows freely, comes with many strings, including specific recommendations of who to hire as consultant for each project. (i.e. kick-backs) A lot of that .
Its true that much of the solution must come from the reserve itself, and the system at times does not seem very equitable. Add to that the palpable racism in areas with larger native populations . My experience is Manitoba and Alberta, but I’m sure Cape Breton is no better. What is there to look forward to off the reserve?
Although it irked us (slightly) that people who paid no GST got full ‘rebates’ while we, with one income and 5 kids got none, life on the reserve- up north at least- is no picnic. Nothing is easy to get and nothing comes cheap. Although we were able to freeze and ship meat and milk by plane- most natives could not because they didn’t have credit cards. If we had been in the same situation, our kids would have suffered- and we had a salary and a teacherage. This has not changed much in the 10 yrs since. And as ‘our’ society continues to be absorbed, theirs is increasingly having more social problems.
It’s sad. It’s depressing.
(This is not to say that we didn’t find many wonderful people and enjoy our time there. We did. But we were able to leave when it benefitted our children.)
To Sara,
I can not beleive you would caterogize stay at home mothers as either pampered or welfare cases. I am a stay at home mother who works hard to provide a stable nurturing enviroment for my children and you have the audacity to call me pampered. A typical beer and popcorn comment from someone who clearly does not understand the sacrifices a mother makes including making the choice NOT to have children if you can not support them
As someone that lives in Buffalo County(not on the Rez) and married to a NA I can relate first hand that while the Opinion Journal doesn’t have it “nailed” it’s pretty darn close. Another big part of the problem on the CC rez is LOCAL corruption. You’ve all heard jokes about mexico’s corrupt polititions, I’ll give you a hint, They ain’t in the same league with CC when it comes to graft. To be fair, while they have improved (IMO) with that problem the last couple years, the damage(the tribe is bankrupt) was done. They caught(punished) a few small timers(and only at the casino) but there were “millions” that disappeared there.
The only difference between a pampered housewife and a welfare mom is money.
Try a husband that goes out everyday and provides for his family so mom can stay home – granted an archaic concept to you.
Excuse me, but I was home with my kids for 13 years before saving for their college tuition became a second income necessity. I was not pampered. We did not have the material extras that two incomes did, but my kids had more in the long run. They learned responsible parenting skills. Quantity time with mom when you are little is quality time. A loving dad at the dinner table every night counts for a lot.
A welfare mom’s problems transcend money. She most likely had the kids without a plan or a dad – two crucial components for a kid’s welfare, especially if you are raising boys. They need role models.
I work in psychiatry. Guy’s without dad’s are a mess – low self-esteem, no role model, anger and mistrust are the themes. Go to any prison and ask how many inmates have dads.
The only difference is money???? Please!!!!
anastasia,
No I don’t catagorize them that way at all. I’m sorry my wording is off yesterday. I am fighting for people to stop catagorizing them that way.
I never knew people thought that way until the Liberals would come in and tell me that if you stay home with your kids then you don’t need any funding like the National daycare gets. They said that not me. I was shocked!
Carolyn Bennett was another one I heard say “we realize tat stay at home parents are over taxed but we won’t give it back to people who don’t need it”. Thats when I realized how badly the Liberals look at stay at home parents.
I agree with daycare but I also agree with staying at home no matter what your salary is…
Penny,
I didn’t have a dad either and I agree no matter who you are, you need both parents. They don’t have to live together but they need to be a part of childrens lives.
Obviously my wording in the previous posts were misleading and I apologize for that.
I personally believe in equality for all parenting.
These last few years I have watched the Liberals subsidize upper middle class families by the thousands and when you say not everyone wants daycare. They turn around and say the low incomes don’t have a choice they need it and if you complain you will take that away from them. The Liberals aren’t giving it to them, they are handing it to the rich! Just like Quebec, there is no income requirement in their daycare system it goes to everyone. Problem is the waiting list is years long and they are only covering 13% of Quebecs children.
So sometimes I get on the defensive when I shouldn’t but I’ve been nailed hard by these Liberals trying to guilt trip me into leaving the childcare up to the professionals.
I was told by Martha Friendly that the only reason why I fight like I do is because I’m am a pampered housewife and yah that pissed me off to no end. Lately I have noticed how the aboriginal woman are being treated and it is very poor. The government and their band leader have no respect for them. To them they are welfare moms and the government has made that a degrading lifestyle choice.
Yet, the Liberals were happy enough to subsidize middle class families with thousands of dollars which is much more than any welfare mom gets on a reserve. That middle class family is respect and given tax deductions for a job well done.
Thats where I get angry..
And again I apologize for sounding badly towards you anastasia..
A welfare mom’s problems transcend money. She most likely had the kids without a plan or a dad – two crucial components for a kid’s welfare, especially if you are raising boys. They need role models.
– My mom was married with 4 kids when my dad left. He left her with 3 kids and no money. Do you think she chose this lifestyle. I don’t believe the aboriginal woman did either…
Actually, Sara – there is an entire demographic in Saskatchewan in which young single women intentionally become pregnant in order to receive the welfare benefits.
That is the first place I’d make welfare reform – refusing any additional money to reward people who decide to bear more children while on social assistance.
My mom was married with 4 kids when my dad left. He left her with 3 kids and no money. Do you think she chose this lifestyle.
Sara, your mother married. That’s the point. Divorce happens. Most welfare moms have kids with no husband or chance of a stable marriage. They choose your mother’s unexpected misery as their plan. It’s not fair to children especially males that need positive role models for their gender.
Compounding the problem is that all too often the welfare mom is a 15, 16 or 17 year old.
I worked for a short period in a juvenile detention center with lots of anti-social, angry and low self-esteem teenage males. Rarely was there a father in the picture.
Liberals have created this mess by rewarding bad behavior and refusing to hold anyone accountable for their bad behavior. Liberals need victim voters.
Sara:
“The only differance between a pampered housewife and a welfare Mom is money.”
I really take offense to that remark! I have been both “just a housewife” and also an out of home worker. It is easy to escape to the outside world of work but it takes a real woman to stay home and raise the children you produced!
My daughter has four children and she is your typical “pampered housewife”! The children go to a private school as they(she and her husband) believe that they are getting a better education there.In order for this to happen they have purchased a used home, they drive one vehicle , they eat alot of hamburger, she does all the renovations on the house from painting to laying the floors. In her spare time she drives the kids to all their activities cooks ,cleans, does laundry, is the family counsellor, nurse,accountant , chauffeur and her husband works many overtime hours. Pampered ! My A__!
Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant re-elected with an increased plurality.
Riding is also home to Golden Lake Reservation. >>>
CFB Petawawa to House Secret Force
Josh Pringle
Wednesday, February 01, 2006 2:10 AM
CFB Petawawa will be the new home of a secret 750-member commando unit.
Commander Col. David Barr says the regiment is being created to complement the secretive Joint Task Force-2 unit.
Barr says the unit will allow the Canadian Forces to counter, fight and defeat the terrorist threat at home and abroad.
The soldiers will have to complete a grueling 16-week elite training session beginning in April in Petawawa. >>> cfra.com