Reconciliation is a Liberal scam

The narrative is largely fiction. The victims are First Nations Canadians.

There is no doubt that Canadian First Nations have been mistreated over Canada’s history, and the residential schools are a blight on our history and a stain on organized religion. But there is a false narrative promoted by Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party that exaggerates the degree of harm, understates the level of support First Nations have been provided, and pretends the “missing and murdered indigenous women” were victims primarily of racism and died at the hands of white men.

The statistics are quite staggering and tell a different story. The Calgary Sun ran an article in Februrary 2021 which set out a more accurate picture than you will get from Trudeau and the Liberal Party promoters.

The first and perhaps most important fact reported is that Canada has spent $3.3 trillion on support for First Nations since Confederation. Give that some thought. According to a study done by the Parliamentary Budget Office in 2021 for the Federal Government spends about $40 billion annually (in recent years) on health care for all Canadians. On average, since Confederation, federal spending on health care would be less than one third of that, a cumulative total of no more than about $2 trillion. Ignoring the double counting since the $2 trillion estimate includes money spent on First Nations health care, Ottawa has spent over 50% more on support for First Nations since Canada was formed than it has spent supporting health care for all Canadians. Support for First Nations includes a lot more than health care so the figures aren’t comparable, but the comparison serves to point out the scale of support provided and it is not pin money.

Canadian are often reminded of the sad story of murdered and missing indigenous women, a trope used to promote allegations of “systemic racism”. There is systemic racism against indigenous Canadians in the form of the Indian Act which erects major barriers to economic success by First Nations communities, but the mistreatment of indigenous women isn’t a strong argument since the data doesn’t support the narrative. Here are some facts reported in the Calgary Sun:

Some statistics:

• According to the RCMP: Out of  6,420 missing persons in Canada 1,455 are women, of those 164 are aboriginal.

• 88% of murders of aboriginal women have been solved by police

• 89% of murders of non-aboriginal women have been solved by police

• Between 1980 and 2012 there were 20,313 murders in Canada.

• 6,551 of those victims were women and 1,017 of those were aboriginal women.

• Almost 30% of the 1,017 aboriginal women were murdered by their husbands.

• 23% were murdered by another family member.

• 30% were murdered by an acquaintance.

• So, only about 8% of aboriginal women were murdered by strangers.

• 44% of the family members and acquaintances who kill aboriginal women were drunk.

• 74% of the murderers of aboriginal women are unemployed.

• 71% of the murderers of aboriginal women already had a criminal record.

• 53% had been convicted before of a violent crime;

• 62% had a history of violence with the specific murder victim herself. 

Murder of any person is abhorrent and murders of women of any race by men comprise acts of cowardice and cannot be tolerated in our society. But pretending the murders of indigenous women is evidence of racism is not only incorrect but also abhorrent as are the murders themselves. Promoting a narrative of “racism” is destructive to society and does nothing to advance the lives of First Nations women.

A good deal of the problems facing First Nations Canadian arise from the corruption of the leadership of First Nations in many cases. The Calgary Sun lists what it says are the real issues facing First Nations:

Here are the REAL issues: 

1.   Welfare.   The billions of tax payer dollars that go to support aboriginal people, not only in living expenses but free education, free medical, no taxation, etc. has crippled them (as it has crippled many non-aboriginal Canadians for generations). The welfare is necessary since Canada’s reserve system has led to the impoverishment of many First Nations people who have few employment opportunities on reserves. 

2.   Corrupt leadership by First Nations Chiefs (by no means all of them) who have no idea how to lead, manage, inspire or teach their people .... who take for themselves and their families and friends and are not accountable to anyone (as evidenced most strongly by Chief Theresa Spence in Attawapiskat.) and blame, blame, blame the Canadian Government. 

3.  Alcohol and drug abuse, gang violence .... all contributing factors in the crime rate on reserves, lack of parenting, family violence and poverty. 

4.  A two-tiered justice system that gives aboriginal offenders lighter sentences, or no sentences at all, allowing them back into their communities to continue to abuse the same aboriginal women again and again .... often resulting in death (as evidenced by the 83% who were murdered by their husbands, a family member or an acquaintance). 

I add to that list our federal legislation. The toxic Indian Act mandates community ownership of First Nations lands and prohibits those communities from alienating their property. This denies Canadians living in reserves fundamental building blocks for economic success. They can’t sell their land and can’t borrow against it.

Responsible leaders of First Nations communities (which is most of them) have simple desires. They want the same freedoms other Canadians enjoy, to be able to govern themselves, and respect for their history and culture. They deserve at least that much from Canada. My suggestions include:

1. Repeal the Indian Act,

2. Transfer legal title to aboriginal lands to First Nations in fee simple with the same rights to alienate their property every other Canadian property owner enjoys

3. Put an end to the concept of “hereditary chiefs”. We are long past the time in history where birth gives one the right to leadership of a community or nation.

4. End the concept of “status Indian” and replace it with “Canadian”. Enact legislation to permit First Nations to transfer community property to individual ownership through mechanisms the members of each community decide through a democratic progess and eliminate barriers to such transfers imposed by Provinces or by Ottawa.

5. Meet Canada’s commitments for clean water, attainable housing and proper sewage treatment for First Nations communities and turn the facilities over to those communities to own, manage and maintain.

I grew up in Winnipeg and my childhood friends came from all sorts of backgrounds including Ukraine and First Nations. They weren’t identified by their origins, they were just chums. I yearn for the day when terms like First Nations become a relic of history and the people today labeled as First Nations become referred to as Canadians.

Canada’s international reputation suffers from the stigma of its treatment of indigenous peoples. It gets worse when our Prime Minister makes promises he neither intends to keep nor keeps in fact. Prime Minister Trudeau promised to ensure clean water on reservations many years ago but “boil water” advisories persist. Solving the clean water issue requires no more than engaging one of the several global water treatment companies capable of building modern treatment plants everywhere on Earth and getting on with it. It does not take decades or even years. What is missing is the political will and honesty in Ottawa.

No “reconciliation” will ever take place if “reconciliation” means taking money from Canadians who had nothing to do with the issues facing First Nations and giving it to indigenous Canadians without any accountability for how it is spent. But if it means treating indigenous Canadians with respect, ensuring the promises made to them are kept, and ending the systematic “racism” of the Indian Act, that could start today. It is unlikely under Trudeau leadership regardless of how often he makes empty promises.