Quote:
Originally Posted by Spocket
The first thing we have to do is to actually allow people who live on First Nations the opportunity to practise their democratic rights as voters when determining who leads the band. As it stands it's essentially nepotism of the highest order where dissenters are ostracized , their money witheld, and their livelihood placed in jeopardy any time they speak out against the current leadership. It may well be against the law for any of this to be practised but it's still the way things are.
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There's the sound a hammer hitting the nail directly on the head. This is exactly what I have experienced in my past year's dealings with some of MB reserves.
The Chiefs cannot promote any kind of changes to the current systems on the reserves because at best they will lose their jobs, and at worst their house will be burnt down.
The same goes for any citizen on the reserve - it's status quo or being forced into the fringes of the community.
The reserve system is sick, and any radical changes to this system cannot come from within (i.e. paying rent for housing). Changes have to come through the federal government, people on reserves in most cases can't and in other cases won't force the needed changes themselves.