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01 June 2007

Communal ownership of property...

Is one of the sacred cows of the aboriginal system in Canada...
The rotten core of the Indian Act, it seems to me, is this single line, clause 20, section 1).

"No Indian is lawfully in possession of land in a reserve unless, with the approval of the Minister, possession of the land has been allotted to him by the council of the band."

If you live on a reserve, you don't really own your home, or the land on which it sits. You borrow it - sort of. Perhaps you pass it on to your children, or perhaps you don't.

It's not your right to do so.
So what should be done to remedy this? Read one solution here.
Abolish the Indian Act. Create a process, perhaps grandfathered over a period of 20 or even 50 years, that will end all legalized special status for aboriginals in Canada, and end the reserve system as we know it.
Almost forty years ago, the Liberals... and here's a sentiment you may never hear me repeat... to their credit...
Proposed abolishing the Indian Act and ending every form of special status based on race in Canada.
Read Michael Den Tandt's editorial and find out who opposed that proposal AND, more importantly... why.

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RELATED: Read the first article too

I dare you.
The reserves themselves are incubators of misery. According to Statscan, in 2004, the rate of violent crime reported by aboriginals living off- reserve was 953 per 100,000 people. On-reserve, the rate was 7,108 per 100,000 people - more than seven times greater.

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