Death and Taxes
On the international stage Canada represents a multicultural and vibrant high tech society. It is forward thinking, progressive and as democratic as you get in the world. Even still, there are glaring flaws in the social fabric that must be mended to maintain that image into the future. One such hole is the relationship between Canada and its native (or Aboriginals, whatever you prefer) citizens.
The situation as it stands, has natives scrambling to get any possible benefit from a government that earns its mandate from a people resentful of each dollar sent into the hands of natives. Natives receive less, in terms of dollars per capita, social services than other Canadians. The deadly cycle of poverty, its associated social ills and the decreased socioeconomic power to deal with the issue has persisted from when the natives were first conquered to this day.
The question is, what if we treated natives as individuals, their tribes as nations?
Canada negotiates with the native tribes to set up native provinces, of equal status to other provinces, with the ability to collect sales tax, income tax and possibly even the municipal type taxes such as gas tax and property tax. As provinces they are entitled to receive income via the equalization program and thus ensure a proper per capita dollar funding level.
First, this eliminates the need for native communities to beg the province for money. Invariably, if any government program, such as even building a hospital, is discovered by the public, the funding is immediately labelled as "waste". The issue at hand is the flow of money. Natives, like any other Canadian citizen, pay provincial and federal taxes. However, neither tax is received by native bands and thus must flow back down from the province. If native reserves were simply provinces, they would receive funding directly, as well as federal funds through the equalization program and thus be able to spend money immediately.
Secondly, people bitch to who they pay taxes toward and in this case it would be the tribal government. As seen in the past, native protests against government or government-backed corporate actions have led to bloodshed. With provincial status and a tribe installed government, they can take up issues with a more local government rather than create an adversarial environment of "natives vs the government".
Thirdly, as a province, the land natives own by treaty will simply be enshrined. It is and forever will be, their land and under their province. This opens up a lot of economic opportunity without harming the right of natives to their land. For instance, a non-native individual can purchase a house on a native reserve, attend the local school, use local social services and the tribe will not lose an inch of soil. The non-native individual simply pays taxes, especially property tax, to the local government.
Although significant in importance but not the direct intent of creating new native-provinces, one would also assume that only natives can make tribe-altering decisions through a democratic process. The horror of the residential school system and what amounted to systematic abduction, torture and rape, would not be possible because no government except the provincial one could possibly institute such a program.
Hopefully, in several centuries time, when the natives have recovered economically, socially and most importantly, psychologically, there would no longer be a "native vs Canadian" issue. With equal political power comes equality in the long term, albeit a long and slow process. One day, the discrimination would be nothing but a bad memory in Canadian history.
-Ultrapunk
The situation as it stands, has natives scrambling to get any possible benefit from a government that earns its mandate from a people resentful of each dollar sent into the hands of natives. Natives receive less, in terms of dollars per capita, social services than other Canadians. The deadly cycle of poverty, its associated social ills and the decreased socioeconomic power to deal with the issue has persisted from when the natives were first conquered to this day.
The question is, what if we treated natives as individuals, their tribes as nations?
Canada negotiates with the native tribes to set up native provinces, of equal status to other provinces, with the ability to collect sales tax, income tax and possibly even the municipal type taxes such as gas tax and property tax. As provinces they are entitled to receive income via the equalization program and thus ensure a proper per capita dollar funding level.
First, this eliminates the need for native communities to beg the province for money. Invariably, if any government program, such as even building a hospital, is discovered by the public, the funding is immediately labelled as "waste". The issue at hand is the flow of money. Natives, like any other Canadian citizen, pay provincial and federal taxes. However, neither tax is received by native bands and thus must flow back down from the province. If native reserves were simply provinces, they would receive funding directly, as well as federal funds through the equalization program and thus be able to spend money immediately.
Secondly, people bitch to who they pay taxes toward and in this case it would be the tribal government. As seen in the past, native protests against government or government-backed corporate actions have led to bloodshed. With provincial status and a tribe installed government, they can take up issues with a more local government rather than create an adversarial environment of "natives vs the government".
Thirdly, as a province, the land natives own by treaty will simply be enshrined. It is and forever will be, their land and under their province. This opens up a lot of economic opportunity without harming the right of natives to their land. For instance, a non-native individual can purchase a house on a native reserve, attend the local school, use local social services and the tribe will not lose an inch of soil. The non-native individual simply pays taxes, especially property tax, to the local government.
Although significant in importance but not the direct intent of creating new native-provinces, one would also assume that only natives can make tribe-altering decisions through a democratic process. The horror of the residential school system and what amounted to systematic abduction, torture and rape, would not be possible because no government except the provincial one could possibly institute such a program.
Hopefully, in several centuries time, when the natives have recovered economically, socially and most importantly, psychologically, there would no longer be a "native vs Canadian" issue. With equal political power comes equality in the long term, albeit a long and slow process. One day, the discrimination would be nothing but a bad memory in Canadian history.
-Ultrapunk
posted by Ultrapunk at
1:17 AM
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