This is slightly off topic, but: You have no idea how refreshing it is to run into another Alberta online who doesn't respond to anything Native-related with the usual "They need to get over the past!" and "They get too many free handouts!" bullshit. Even the bloody news stories about the flooding in Siksika and Stoney Nakoda were full of anti-Native sentiment in the comments sections, let alone articles on Idle No More and the ring road dispute.
Yeah, I'm not exactly your stereotypical Albertan. I don't agree with the whole "get over the past" attitude because even though Europeans screwed over the natives centuries ago, they're still feeling the effects, and for the longest time, our governments made no effort address their issues. Hell, the federal and provincial governments have been shitting on them as recently as the first half of the 20th century with the residential school system. Everyone knows the abuse they went through in those hell holes, and I'm sure you've heard how the Alberta government just recently declassified documents outlining how the children in the residential schools were unknowingly nutritionally experimented on. No, natives have every fucking right to be pissed at the government and the conservatives who want to pretend like that shit never happened.
To be fair, I can sort of see where the "too many free handouts" shit comes from. The whole native Reservation system is kind of retarded. As far as I know, once the government sends them money, there's not much accountability in terms of what's done with it, and there are a lot of corrupt chiefs who simply take it for themselves and let their communities continue living in squalor. It's not really any secret that a lot of reservations are shitty places to live, and our dumbass government's response is to throw more money at the problem and hope it goes away (just like with healthcare). This is what I take issue with; it's not the government is giving them free handouts, it's that the way the government is giving them money and how the system is set up is retarded. I'm all for programs that actually help natives integrate with the rest of society, like scholarships and funding to send more natives to post-secondary education. These programs are actually effective at lifting natives out of poverty, and we need more of them.
Sorry, I didn't really mean to end up ranting, but those are my opinions on the issues you mentioned. So yeah, not like your typical Albertan, I think.
