The news is full of stories about Canadian Aboriginal people who are living in dire poverty.
They have no clean water to drink. Their homes are rotting wood and tar paper. Their children are ill and unable to get good health care and education. They are freezing in their homes. They sniff and drink toxic substances to escape their grief and frustration. To meet their needs, some turn to smuggling cigarettes and gambling.
Who would not be outraged by their suffering?
My first reaction is to demand that the Federal Government - whose predecessors stole the native lands and their human rights in the name of the Canadian People - be obliged to react immediately by providing generous funds and assistance to these victims of the colonialists.
But then I hear the other side. Millions of tax payers' dollars have been given to native tribes. Are the tribes that are in trouble among those who have received the tax payers' money or are they exceptions? Where is the money? What has it been used for? Show us how the money has been used.
An eye witness reported seeing large animals on a reserve - I don't recall if it was bison or cattle - stripped of their hides, their carcasses left lying all over a field to rot. Nobody seemed to need their flesh for food there.
I am not interested in polls or statistics. I would like to read reports from objective eye witnesses. Where is the money? What has it been used for ? Who is really responsible for the suffering of the native children ?
All I want is the truth.
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