I've been staying in northen Canada for the past while, living in an area that is 30% aboriginal due to a nearby reserve; I've learned a lot.

I've been spending a lot of time on the reserve, talking to folks, and I met a man who's very involved in the tribes culture; he had something very interesting to say. 

But let me tell you a few things about the natives before I get to the point. There is about one suicide a month there. The people are very shy. The neighbouring town -about 30min away- wants nothing to do with them, and vice versa. The people who live there are the Innu, similar to the Inuit (there are a few in town), but they live farther inland. 

They used to live on the side of the river most of the year, and travel west for some of the winter. But that side of the river is beautiful, has beaches, is flat and great for building. So in the 70s, the government took the Innu out of their wigwam village and put them in a reserve on the other side of the river -all rocky and not never nice- in houses they had no idea what to do with. If some resisted, they were persicuted.

That is still were the reserve is. They are not allowed to build their own houses, or do anything but live really. The only work they COULD get is 30min away, were no one would hire them. If they leave the reserve, they lose most of the little support they get from the government.

So now that you understand who the Innu are, let me tell you what this man told us, for it was quite the story.

"The Innu, before white man came, were like the wolf, roming freely, living on nature, living in close-nit pacts. But a wolf can be broken. If you put it in a cage, beat it, only give it a little food, you will break it; it will loose it's spirit, it will be tame, and always come back to you for food, trembling. 

That is what happened to the Innu, they were put in a reserve (cage) and persicuted. They are only given a little bit of money, barely enough to live. They don't leave, because like a tame wolf, they'll always come back to where the food is. They have lost their spirit, or culture, and resort to drugs. And if anything goes wrong in their government-controlled reserve, they get the full blame. Thus they tremble under the government and when cops come around (let me tell you, they are abused by cops).

If you take a bunch of packs of wolves who usualy have each their own leader, and force them into one place, and try to make one wolf their leader, they will fight. Same as the Innu, several tribe live at one reserve and have a white chosen man rule them all... 

And if you can get the wolf packs to fight amongst themselves, you have them distracted, to busy to fight you; right were you want them. White man has drawn an "imaginary line" (as he said this he chuckled, as most Natives still think it's stupid that man-made lines on the ground make any diference, and make people fight and hate each other) and has told the Innu on one side they have to live by these rules, and get these benifits. While those who live on that side get those rules and benifits. So the the 2 tribes fight amongst each other, instead of fighting the government.

The Innu, and natives in general, can be discribed no better than 'a broken and crushed wolf' trembling in a cage."

I found this to be an eye opener. People, myself included, have thought "why don't they get out and get some work?" I thought this is a great comparison on why they live the way they do.

Any thoughts?   

That's terrible... That's my thought. Wait, what do you want me to say? Advice? Your in canada, so I doubt the U.S. can offer any EASY help, but... Idk...

Originally posted by Zeldisaster

---

That's terrible... That's my thought. Wait, what do you want me to say? Advice? Your in canada, so I doubt the U.S. can offer any EASY help, but... Idk...

---

Haha, no just your opinion is fine.

that is generally how the native populations are treated in both Canada and the US.

I live near a couple of reserves and most of the natives who live on those reserves are drunks and live off welfare and government money. It's not their fault though. We put them on to the reserves and took away their pride.

I think we could learn a lot from the way the natives used to live. They were able to live off the land without causing imbalance in nature. It's something that most of us have forgotten how to do or even care about.

same thing basically happened in the states. its pretty messed up.

This reminds me of something in American History. Natives in the US were treated like this in a grand scale with the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The president at the time, Andrew Jackson, actually called for this Act and had many tribes sign treaties, but they were really pressured in doing so. Some tribes had wars with the government in order to stay in the land that they've called their home for generations. Seeing that this happens in other places too makes me really disgusted at how the government treats natives.

This happens with most indigenous tribes in most countries (except, I suppose, people in the Amazon or other areas that can't be cordoned off), so there isn't much to say. It's terrible, yes, but there isn't much that we can do about it. It's a really messed up system and I wish there was a way that we could change it, but we pretty much can't (anyone in the legislative government?)

Honestly, I think that is worse than how the U.S treats the tribes... this happened in the 1970s you said? For that to happen in the 20th century is unacceptable. At least the US tribes actually have tribal governments... the reserves, while not the best land, are theirs, without question. They have their own police, and cops from neighboring areas have no jurisdiction on tribal lands. It's like they have their own mini-countries within US territory. In California we passed a law that allowed for the tribes to operate casinos on their land to provide more jobs for their people, and it is working really well. The money is shared with every member of the tribe and those that have the casinos are flourishing.

I've been on the Pawnee Reservation in Oklahoma, and honestly it is really nice despite it not being their native land. From what I have seen and read, they might be caged wolves, but they are certainly not broken. I think that a lot of them were for a time, but the changes that have taken place in legislation over the past 100 years have done a lot to bring back the pride that Native Americans feel in themselves and encourage the revival of their cultures.

Elara : Yes, this was during the 1970s. It may be better in many other reserves around the country, but in that small town, a lot of rules are bent as it was so isolated. They do have their own tribe counsil, but it doesn't do much. The town workers are still white and live off the reserve. They have to grocery store, gas station, or clothing outlet on the reserve. It may be true the tribe is not taking the initative, but for the most part they have no idea how to live like white men. However they do have their own school taught be native teachers; that's nice.