Sorry, but it's BS

Philippino Canadians send millions back to their native land every year -- money they have earned here, but give to another country, rendering it of no use to the Canadian economy.  And yet they now want Canadians to send mega-money and relief to aid in the latest disaster in that country?! 

Another Haiti.  I don't get it.  But, or course I do.  The Philippene government has not re-distributed the money.  You can bet the "powers that be" have pocketed most of it.  That is why I am not giving one cent.

Disturbing?  Read Gary Mason in The Globe and Mail today and weep.  His column will really disturb -- but not surprise -- you.  He writes about the wasteful and disastrous public-policy decision made in BC ten years ago to hand over child welfare, health and education to native communities.  In a courageous report, written by  Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond -- herself a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation -- she outlines that tens of millions of dollars have gone to "consultants" and "meeting planners", but little else.  "Aboriginal child welfare agencies were given millions without...(wait for it)...a single child protection case for which to account." 

Well, of course.  What's new?  "There is rampant neglect, there is abuse and there are really serious mental-health issues on the part of the parents," says the report.  "The public millions being spent to fund aboriginal child welfare authorities appear to have mostly ended up in people's pockets.  Few children have been helped, but any attempt by government to revert to its old ways will now be met with fierce resistance from those who have come to benefit financially from the new order."

"After my report came out, I received some really nasty, vicious e-mails from the people who stand to lose the most from any change in the status quo," Ms. Turpel-Lafond says.  Education(al) results on reserves are as bad today as they've been for a long time.  But the public hasn't seen those numbers because they'd be an embarrassment to the government -- a rebuke to its decision to devolve more and more responsibility to 'first nations'", she adds.

It's all so outrageous, predictable and sad for the children.