Wednesday, July 20, 2011
First Nations children are more likely to go to jail than to graduate from high school
The federal government spends just 2 per cent of its federal prison budget, which exceeds $2-billion a year, on aboriginal programs. ... From an incarceration point of view, aboriginals are rapidly approaching the same status as many blacks, Hispanics and impoverished whites in the United States in that the criminal justice system in that country preys on the socially, culturally and economically disadvantaged.
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I suspect that a lot of this stems from drug addiction. I despise the way some people dismiss the impact drugs have on our society or even promote its use
by argueing that it should be decriminalized.
This should not excuse the actions in Caledonia. The provincial gov't partly because of the inept leadership have allowed an injustice to take place. It is not acceptable.
You would think we're simply grabbing aboriginal youth and tossing them in jail. The fact remains that these people have committed a crime. Not incarcerating them seems unreasonable. Sure let's talk about root causes and prevention but once the deed is done they must meet the justice system. Culturally sensitive, sure, but not if sensitivity means "healing circles" and the result is a get-out-of-jail-free-'cause-you-stole-my-land-200-years-ago card.
There are injustices and then there are injustices. Caledonia residents who were hassled in various ways and to varying degrees will get a cash settlement. Fair enough. Early on in the protest McGuinty et al gave many Caledonia residents (that backed on to Douglas Creek) about 6K each. Fair enough. At the same time a class action residential abuse case was settled in which natives had proved they had been (phsically and/or sexually) abused for an extended period received 8K each. Don't get me wrong - I think Caledonion's deserve compensation for their suffering. But I have a hard time reconciling what appears to be the uneven compensation of "suffering". Seems like the suffering of us white folks is worth a lot more cash that if it is the natives who have done the sufffering. On the up side - Tony Merchant got to pocket a good chunk of change.
Re: "You would think we're simply grabbing aboriginal youth and tossing them in jail."
Who would think that? If that were true there would be way more natives in jail. Some are simply driven out to the middle of nowhere in the dead of winter and left to freeze to death.
Re: "you-stole-my-land-200-years-ago card"
Funny us whites get all pissy cause its been 200 years since we stole Indian land and they still won't get over it and get on with life. But if we are talking about the English stealing land from the Irish nobody accuses the Irish of trotting out the "you stole my land a thousand years ago card".
Why is that I wonder.
But if we are talking about the English stealing land from the Irish nobody accuses the Irish of trotting out the "you stole my land a thousand years ago card".
Why is that I wonder.
'Cause the Irish got on with their lives and aren't reliving ancient history, maybe? Let's face facts, the natives of North America were just a whisker above the stone age and they were conquered. Sorry about that but this Irish boy isn't going back to Ireland. Nor has this Irish boy committed a crime. It's time our native friends got over it. If they cannot or will not adapt, if they continue to commit crimes disproportionately, then they will continue to be incarcerated disproportionately. That's not racism, that's the consequences of their actions.
lots of white drop outs too
have any of you actually worked with First Nations or spent time on their reserves?
i am white & i have spent time helping First Nations with apprenticeships & college programs
there are many who are doing really well, better than statistically in the past
whether you all choose to believe so or not, the Government of Canada & Ontario keeps jerking them around, all the time.
Gov. makes deals and then renags or changes everything in the 11th hour, and i have seen this time & time again, so how do you think they might feel?
The good part is that most are reasonable & have come to understand how valuable their culture is. They are survivors. And they are passing knowledge to a new generation that is starting to move forward.
Always so much damn negativity, when black, white, aboriginal, chinese matters not, we have thieves, robbers, murderers amongst all.
Any child coming from the same conditions which these children must endure would share the same fate. It is very easy to set up conditions which gurantee failure, blame the victim and then pat oneself on the back and say how great one is. Canada can do much better !
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