Atlantic Xpat

Joey Smallwood was premier of Newfoundland, not PEI....

caretaker

True. He was actually the last father of confederation. If my friend knew who the others at the table were, he didn't say. Back when it wasn't legal to open a bar on Sunday I think this sort of place was common in both cities and small towns. I sometimes went on our bootlegger's Saturday rounds with him, and he would open his shack on Sunday morning and sell beer and whiskey at bar prices.

dbd33

Ha! Nope. That's just everyday life here. I suppose the people at the horse barn are mostly local but otherwise, people are from all over.

Lychee

Historically, at least in the colonial context of history, Canada’s countryside revolved around displacing indigenous people for natural resource extraction (and it still does): fish, lumber, oil, mining, etc. It’s what created the anti-indigenous narratives you still hear today of being in the way of progress, being in the way of jobs, etc. Boom bust economies were a part of the experience in many rural areas. This is also still happening.

The cities? Managerial centres for those resources, but also more diversified economies, so less affected by boom bust cycles.

Over the 150 years or so, I’m thinking this may have helped shape the mindset of country Canada vs city Canada.

caretaker

Country Canada vs City Canada is a rash generalisation, of course. The two are interconnected in ways that vary from region to region. Of course bringing in immigrants and fencing off farms was dependent on moving the natives onto reserves, and benefited from the genocidal practice of exterminating the buffalo on which they depended (both in the US and Canada), and that helped bring the various bands to sign treaty. Our cities were built on Indian land just like the farms and small towns were. When you say "Toronto, Ontario, Canada", you're talking Mohawk. "Anti-indigenous narratives" is another term for racist talking-points and should get the attention it deserves. First Nations are part of our economy, part of our society, and part of Country Canada and City Canada (I live in North Central Regina, which is considered an Urban Reserve), and are part of the decision making process in resource development where it impacts their lands or their treaty rights. I've lived in the country and the city, lived in the north and in the south, and there is no line you can draw societally that will have any real meaning or hold true across the country. Some places became centres of industry just because that's as far as the railway went at that time (Winnipeg for instance) and some stayed wild a little longer. Regina had a booming area of whore houses and saloons before they even got the roof on the railway station, but after a couple of other locations were tried, Regina became provincial capital. That isn't enough to sustain a city, though, so people here are conscious of the soil conditions in the country, because if the farmers don't have money to spend, our economy suffers.

Lychee

dbd33

Just to make a liar of me, I went for a ride tonight and ran into was a border who's quite a strong rider; strong enough to be paid to ride in Florida and in Ireland. She had with her a rider she'd just imported from Ireland along with a mare in foal, a seven year old, and some other horses I lost track of. If I followed correctly, he's Belgian but keeps most of his horses in France. So, even the horse barn has a diverse population.

I don't think it's helpful to distinguish the indigenous people from the rest of the population. Yes, colonial oppression displaced them. Yes, it's not feasible for them to live according to their ancient culture any more. That's the force of history; slaves can't go back to Africa, peasants who fled the potato famine are stuck in America now and we're not anglo-saxons in wode. Many of the people in Canada have suffered far worse deprivations than being kept as curiosities in the type of living museum they call reservations. Sustaining the aboriginal population in reservations through taxes makes no more sense than keeping the Newfies in the out ports. I support funding to integrate, scholarships and the like, but do pack it in with idea that primitive culture is sustainable in the age of meth.

macadian

Hush my mouth.......but......

caretaker

Did some Indian with really fine horses show you up badly recently? Out here they have some good horses. Don't you start deciding whose culture is worthwhile.

caretaker

Or you either.

dbd33

Any culture has some value but, if some cultures survive only because they're supported by tax revenue, that's a value judgement against the cultures not supported by tax revenue. I hate Chelsea and Chelsea supporters but I can't say that a culture of supporting Chelsea is more or less valuable than a culture of sniffing fire extinguishers in northern Canada; I don't want to support either of them.

Shard

This is reality isn't it. Of course we're all now more aware of the indiginity and even abuse that the indigenous people's ancestors suffered by our ancestors, but it's all so long ago. There seems to be quite a grudge culture within the indigenous community which stifles their integration into mainstream Canadian society. There almost seems to be a parallel with blacks in the US who fixate on their own historical oppression as a identity marker (unlike blacks in Britain or Europe). Maybe it's a North American thing to push pack agains the dominant white former colonialists? In any case, clinging to historical wrongs does not do anyone any good.

caretaker

These are a couple of the racist talking points I mentioned before. Nobody is so ignorant that they believe all there is to native culture is sniffing fire extinguishers and gobbling up tax money, it takes a willful effort to embrace that view. I live in Regina and I hear this sort of thing all the time, so there's no need to explain it to me. It's straight out of Proud Boys and Aryan Guard and a bunch of other groups. Unfortunately, they aren't all Country Canadians; there are some in the city too. Treaty rights are a legal matter, and available for review at the touch of a button.

dbd33

I suggest that my stance is not motivated by racism but irritation. This society is a multi-culture, the state does not deem it better to be a Muslim than a Jew, brown than white, all cultures should be respected. The maintenance of a different status for one ethnic group, subsidised to live in homelands but effectively forced to live in those homelands, is in conflict with the idea of equality of cultures. I grant that not all reservations are Davis Inlet and admire the acumen of some BC bands. Nonetheless, the status of the aboriginal people is an anomaly in the modern world; they don't fit with Canada.

macadian

So, should the Indian Act be repealed, everyone being Canadian and afforded the same rights and freedoms, be subject to the same benefits,tax laws and dealt with equally under the law?