The problem is, it's complicated.

First off, is the legacy of historical damage still scarring aboriginal communities in Canada.

Even disregarding that complexity though, current structure of governance in Canada makes the problem harder to identify and resolve.

Singh's return question is what would you do if Toronto faced the same problem? The answer is the federal government would by and large do nothing, because water supply is a municipal responsibility and the Mayor and city council of Toronto are responsible for fixing it, and thus federal funds don't go in and instead municipal tax money is used to keep the water supply going. Across Canada that model is working pretty decently, by and large.

The real question then is why are reserves having a harder time? Well, afore mentioned historical trauma aside, reserves represent small communities directly comparable in size and make up as municipal communities. However, the reserves are NOT managed like municipalities. Instead Canada still has a two tiered system of governance, one for reserves and another for municipalities.

In term so governance municipalities report to the provinces and the provinces report to the federal government. Reserves report directly to the federal government.

The affects everything related to governance and is responsible for a host of confusion and difficulty.

Services: Education and Health are provincially funded, and so the federal government transfer money to the provinces and tells them to figure out education and health services. Municipalities then just get those services. Reserves however sit outside that, and get entirely different intermediaries.

Taxation and funding: municipal, provincial and federal governments all gather taxes and distribute funds up and down. Reserves only deal with funding though directly to the feds, again cutting out the provincial intermediary.

Both of the above mean making an apples to apples comparison of communities to try and ensure both are treated 'equally' is impossible. It also means that solutions that work on one side don't in the other.

It's a big mess, and just throwing money at the system and saying that will fix it is just wrong. Not only that, it's been TRIED and failed. The above mentioned differences also apply to rules surrounding transparency, accountability and fraud prevention. Meaning there are a great many more loopholes available on the reserve funding side for anyone involved or attached to providing services(be that council members on reserve, or any number of external entities hired in good faith to perform services). That in turn means the amount of money lost to direct and indirect corruption is harder to find/stop.

So fix all that is the next obvious response. The problem is still complex though because when does 'fixing' becoming simply white folks making aboriginals do things the 'right(white) way that was already the source of lingering historical damage I didn't even consider yet...

It's a hard problem to solve and Singh's just trying to score cheap political points peddling easy and false answers to a complex problem.

People in Canada ARE talking about it for the first time.

First Nations people had their entire culture turned upside-down by the government of Canada and the Catholic Church. They were torn from their homes, raised in abusive conditions in institutions that expected them to conform to European norms, and even when they met those norms they were mentally and physically abused.

Now people are surprised that a generation of abused children makes for poor parents? The criminal problem with First Nations people is one that European Canadians created. It is a problem that's been ignored for far too long.

People like this need help. They do not need to see the inside of yet another cell.

The Royal Canadian Mint is a Canadian Crown Corporation, and operates under the legislative basis of the Royal Canadian Mint Act. As a Crown Corporation, it is 100% owned by the Government of Canada, which is its sole shareholder. It also serves the public’s interest while mandated to operate “in anticipation of profit”, meaning that it functions in a commercial manner and does not rely on taxpayer support to fund its operations.

The government department responsible for the Royal Canadian Mint is the Department of Finance. There are currently 10 members of the Mint’s Board of Directors, and 12 members on its Executive Team.[14] The Royal Canadian Mint has four lines of business: Bullion and Refinery Service, Canadian Circulation, Foreign Business, and Numismatics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Mint

I live right up the road from his foundation's HQ, so I used to see him quite often.

Unfortunately, the government of Canada decided they didn't like people like him speaking out against their policies while enjoying tax-exempt status on their non-profit groups and made a law saying they'd start taxing anybody who spoke out of turn.

Yeah... I think they came up with that idea in a beer hall.

the two most probable reasons why someone wouldn't come forward with information (allow information to be released)

1) it makes them look inept

2) (more likely) it cuts off the gravy train

the Conservative government in Canada are scum

I'm moving this to your profile or else the troll wins.

I see what you're getting at, and it's arguable that I came on too strong, but I think you're missing that we generally know the difference between a different opinion from ours and trolling. bk33 can criticize and vent his vitriolic bile as much as any of us (I'm including myself in that category), and I don't think there's anybody here who has a problem with that. There aren't many vocal conservatives on the Sift, but there are some (Chilaxe comes to mind), and as long as they know how to carry on a discussion, there's little issue. Tempers flare, of course, but nobody seriously thinks they're trolling, just wrong, and that's great. But bk33 contributes nothing. And I don't mean he contributes nothing to my side of the argument -- I mean he leaves the place measurably worse than when he found it.

About CrushBug's comment. He's just venting. He didn't make any claims at all, let alone unsubstantiated ones, unless you mean about renaming The Government of Canada to "The Harper Government", which Harper has actually really done. Google it. So I think you're not seeing the qualitative difference between CrushBug's comments and bk33's.

Real mobs kill people. We just happen to outnumber him. We can't hurt or even remotely silence him.

In reply to this comment by frosty:
Sometimes there is such intolerance of opposition in opinion here at the Sift. When your typical liberal Sifter decries the greed of the private sector, vilifies "big business" and slams Fox News, it is hailed throughout the ranks as a battle cry, but when bobknight33 suggests the inefficiency of government-controlled industry and criticizes MSNBC, he is bombarded by the mob with accusations of naivety, not substantiating his remarks and being a "troll." For instance, take a post like CrushBug's -- "Fucking Harper. I am glad they have spent the time and money to change the name of the gov't to "The Harper Government" so once this horrible aberration of politics is voted out we can easily identify and kill this kind of evil bullshit." This is the quintessence of unsubstantiated, ad hominem attack. Yet it is met with resounding approval and hardy back slaps aplenty, buoyed up by the inertia of the throng.

It is. And like any other change that requires political pressure, we'll just have to apply political pressure. England is moving towards it. Many cities already do it. If the NDP ever form a government in Canada it could easily come about. Then the voting American public might look around and notice that they're not getting the same quality of democracy that other countries are, and demand their voice. The US will probably be the last modern democracy to change because of how closely they identify with a two-party system, but the wheels are already in motion. It might be another ten election cycles, who knows.>> ^ghark:

Yepyep, and I watched that vid quite a while ago, it was very informative. The issue comes around in a circle though, because it's the parties that could make a difference to the two party system, but it's not in their interests to. It's interesting to watch what's happening in Greece at the moment, the people have definitely spoken up there, but I'm very curious to see whether it will make a difference.

Right, cause that's worked sooo well here in the U.S.

Aboot time there were some Canadian ghettos/projects/hoods.

>> ^notarobot:

In Canada, The Harper Government has solved the problem of corporations and private interest being unable to profit from solving the problem of homelessness. Earlier this year they declared that they will devote billions into a new low-income housing project.

In Canada, The Harper Government has solved the problem of corporations and private interest being unable to profit from solving the problem of homelessness. Earlier this year they declared that they will devote billions into a new low-income housing project.

>> ^BoneRemake:

Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble Rabble rabble


Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

Anyhow. Stephen Harper's a bad person. Sooo, I'll vote liberal again I guess. Weren't they stealing from us just a few years ago?

Apathy is boring group on FB's got 40k attending: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172959059423450

The The Harper Government's plans in action.

The Harper Government wishes to correct your misinformation in this online forum so that there will be less confusion about the actions taken by The Harper Government.

Please note that the terms "The Government" or "The Government of Canada" are now outdated. In any case where you might have previously been used these terms please instead use the current and accurate term: "The Harper Government." For more information please see the linked video below.

Thank you for your cooperation,

The Harper Government

P.S.
We look forward to your response regarding our friend request.

http://videosift.com/video/Government-of-Canada-now-just-One-Man-in-name-at-least>> ^pho3n1x:

You have a friend request.
THE GOVERNMENT
[Confirm] [Ignore]

This has to do with the coming election. They can now say everything good done by the Government of Canada was done by the Harper Government in attack ads.

Re: comment by ^BoneRemake


While I definitely don't agree with Harper's politics... was that comment really necessary?
You've just turned a perfectly Safe For Work video into a very NSFW comment zone.