Letters to the Editor
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@david sugarman
kt's a problem all over the world. the old culture isn't working in the new economy, yet no one wants to give up their culture and adopt wholesale the "colonizer's". it's a problem in iraq for one. a big problem. do they just become "western"? and where do you think bin laden's following comes from? and that's *modern* compared to indigenous peoples? what do they do? run casinos? (hire people to run them - and go on an *alternative* welfare system? (coupon clipping)). run tourist shows? it's very hard. they don't have a *place* in the modern world. so they get high. and you don't have to be indigenous, it happens here, in our inner cities. canada is a big country. you might think 30 million is *small* but it's not - it's only small compared to the U.S. it's big in terms of the usual. it's area is *big* and it has an army and industry and everything else a modern state has, but it, too, needs to find a *place*. and not just "not U.S." - that's not soul satisfying.
I personally don't think that Iraq necessarily should adopt western culture, and if that's an aim in the war, then screw occupation -- turn it into a colony. And then we'd really hear screams of "Imperialism!" everywhere.
My point about Canada's First Nation crisis is that, well, it's been handled poorly. I can think of one reservation I've been to that's been reasonably prosperous, and many more that have been wrecks. However:
- Why should holding onto First Nation culture entail not joining the modern world? Reservations already have guns, TVs, snowmobiles, trucks, and I don't hear anyone saying they should be gotten rid of.
- There should be a way to make reservations work. Why aren't they? How come no-one is doing anything to fix the problem? And if reservations can't work, then why do we maintain the system? It seems to me that reservations are an attempt to keep Natives away from the rest of society, which is a shame.
- How come First Nations both hate the Indian Act and refuse to support anyone trying to change it?
I really wish there were some productive push towards a solution, or resolution, or something.