DeadPresident
Avenger
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The residential school system officially ended in the 90s and while that program was in existence, Natives had fewer rights, the government had the right to take native children away from their parents. The government did this to make the children "fit in" with white society and as you can guess, there was massive abuse by the teachers towards their students, both physically and sexually. Some of the schools had a 50% morality rate and really the goal of the residential school system was to destroy the Natives' culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system
The government even experimented on these children in the 40s and 50s:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thund...ments-explained-to-kenora-survivors-1.3171557
And you could say, but the last school closed in the 90s, that means that things are great for the natives now right? Nope:
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-2/
The Natives often live on reserves with 3rd world conditions, do have the same health care access and often get harnessed by the police. Just because something as nightmarish as the residential school system no longer exists, doesn't mean racism against Natives didn't take more subtle, but still dangerous forms.
Also you can't undo the damage the resident school system created within a mere 20 years, that system existed from the 1870s to the 1990s and ruined the lives of several generations of Natives. You can't just expect Natives to "get past" that level of abuse that existed for that long, that wound will take a lot longer to heal.
If its trendy and leftist be appalled by how Canada has treated its Natives, then I am happy to take those labels.
Saying Canada is less racist then dictatorships in the ME is a meaningless race to the bottom, almost every country has problems with racism and being less racist then some other country, while still having massive problems with racism, is nothing to be proud of. Everyone should be less smug and take care of racism at home, before we start thinking we are better then everyone else in this regard.
Okay, so that's a "no" on current policies? Nowhere did I suggest it undoes past transgressions or racist policies, and I'd encourage whatever initiatives necessary for everyone to have an equality in terms of opportunities and living standards.
You also seem to be suffering from this belief that if you shout about imperfections enough they'll disappear. If you complain and identify the problem in racist policies that have left lasting damage then also suggest which policies you think will fix the situation. Many (particularly out of touch lamenters like hellified) don't actually want a solution or a completion of redress, they'd rather receive some poor excuse for compensation and eternally blame racism for the state of their lives. My question in this topic, time and agin, is for people to articulate their solutions to the social problems they see.
And comparison is useful in these cases because it contextualizes the severity. Perfect doesn't exist right now, and that seems to lead people to complain about the best there is just because it isn't their utopia.
GTFOH