18 September 2009

Too many Chiefs...

...not enough leadership...
Horrified chiefs returned many of the bags to Health Canada on Wednesday, calling them an affront toward aboriginal values that say preparing for death is akin to tempting fate.
Does anybody else have a clue what that actually means?

Is it "traditional values" that are driving the horrific rates of drug & alcohol abuse on aboriginal reserves? Are traditional values responsible for totally unacceptable levels of domestic violence?

Murder, suicide, substance abuse, prostitution are all statistically higher than for non-aboriginal peoples.

Somebody please tell me what tradition dictates that so many aboriginals end up dropping out of school... and ending up in prison?
"To send 30 bags to one community is enough to frighten us all," Mr. Evans said. "Not just first nations."
The thing is... if Ron Evans thinks 30 rubber bags is the biggest issue he currently has on his plate... there is very little hope of attacking the real problems on aboriginal reservations.

But hey... I bet that doesn't stop the government of Canada from, yet again, pouring billions of dollars annually all over this out of control sociological fire.

Body bags.

Sweet Baby Jebus... puh-leese, enough with the smoke & mirrors.

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RELATED: That's funny... the Chiefs seem to be...

...doin' just fine without those "traditional values"...
In a given year, estimates Patricia Selinger, the school's registrar, there might be as many as several dozen students from First Nations as far away as B.C. and the Maritimes, not an insignificant number for a school of roughly 300, offering little by way of native culture, deeply imbued with Catholic values -- Sunday Mass is mandatory -- and charging tuition running $17,000 a year for in-province students and nearly $24,000 for those outside.

"I'm sure every main leader from all the main bands has sent their kids here. We've had the Fontaines, the Bellegardes, the Sandersons, the Montours and Hills from the Six Nations, the Ahenakews, the Goodstrikers from Alberta," says Terry O'Malley, the school's former president who taught there since 1978.
Apparently, there's no trickle-down economics on the rez.

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