A number of years ago, a similar inquiry and report were undertaken. Entitled "The Erasmus and Dussault Report" (can't even find it on google, for gawd's sake?) it uncovered exactly the same things, yet has sat buried on a shelf since it's release.
Nothing has been done, nothing has changed and I don't believe anything will. Note: no votes in it. Sorry folks, but them's the hard facts. I always marvel to hear the grand chief of the assembly of first nations, Perry Bellmare, go on about "Canadians" should do this and "Canadians" should think this and "Canadians" should give more money. Clearly, natives do not consider themselves "Canadian". And therein lies the rub. It has always been an adversarial relationship -- regardless of what Bellemare, one of the chief causes of this gulf -- tries to tell us.
Ninety-four recommendations? Come on, how realistic is that?! Might as well be 94,000.
p.s. Just heard an interview with the head of something indigenous at Ottawa U. This woman ludicrously said we should do away with Indian Affairs and other governments, "and all that interloping" and just let us manage our own affairs. Really? Does she suggest we do away with the money too, that $8.5 billion a year? As to the Indian Act itself, as I have said before, it's going nowhere because it is the mechanism through which all that money is funnelled to native bands. Not only can native leaders not get along with Ottawa, they can't even get along with each other. Just ask poor old Shawn Atleo, fired AFN grand chief, who was thrown under the bus by his counterparts precisely because he wanted to negotiate with Ottawa over educational funding. You could not make that up!
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The kerfule in Alberta politics about a senior executive of the Alberta Conservative party called the new health minister "morbidly obese" on facebook continues in all the local media. Had she been a man, no one would have bothered. But she's a woman. Here is the minister in question:
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| Sarah Hoffman. |
Miss Nancy,
ReplyDeleteAs an outsider, I'm not sure which way to take your kerfuffle:
1) No one would have bothered that the Health Minister was morbidly obese if he were a man?
2) No one would have bothered that the Health Minister was called out for being morbidly obese if he were a man?
Either way, I believe that a better-proportioned person would have been a more appropriate choice. This is akin to putting a fox in charge of the henhouse.
We had a recent health minister (male) who was 100 pounds overweight and you're correct; no one said anything. But that appointment probably wasn't an inspirational one either. As someone who swims 50 laps a day and tries to stay in shape, I applaud anyone who ditches a few pounds.
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