APTN National News
Government policies aimed at solving First Nations poverty don’t match with reality, according to some researchers.
Ryerson professor Pam Palmater is one of them.
She spoke with APTN National News.
3 thoughts on “Govt policies failing on poverty: prof”
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Thinkoutloud, I agree. Nonetheless, we are one of the richest countries in the world and our Indigenous population lives in poverty conditions. Their education is unequal, second-rate. They are set up for failure, or at least set up with a disadvantage.nnOur Indigenous population is continually ignored by the Federal gov’t. When the Indigenous population wants to benefit from, or protect, their lands from oil and gold companies, the Feds ignore them. When you talk about creating economies, then start by getting the Federal government listening to Aboriginals and acknowledging their rights to benefit from or protect their natural resources. Instead we have a weak government that cares little about the poverty stricken but cares lots about Oil and Gold. nnIt’s ridiculous that a country as rich as ours has a segment of society living in such dire poverty. And, if this country can’t meet all its needs then it needs to start taking a greater portion of the pie from these oil and gold companies, instead our governments are too scared to offend those companies. nnLook at what the unpopular Premier Stelmach of Alberta did a few years ago, he raised taxes on the oil companies when he first got in as Premier. A lot of people thought that would offend and scare away investment and he got a lot of boos for what he did, yet today Alberta continues to enjoy more and more investment from those oil companies. It’s the oil and gold companies running this country, I fear. What kind of economy is that? They walk all over Aboriginals and their lands like we are a nuisance and the Federal government bows down to those companies.nnBut, having said all that, I do agree that we, Aboriginals, need to learn some Economics 101.
Pam should suggest that the chief’s consult economists to create economies! There is not tax base, no income streams and enormous amounts of waste.