What IS bad about our system now?

To start with, it was under the current system that the residential schools were allowed to happen. This all happened under the Indian Act and under the “protection” of the Minister of Indian Affairs. The potlatch system was also banned under the Indian Act.

Also, we do not own our lands. We are “allowed” to live on Indian Reserves, as long as Canada will allow, in the way Canada requires. We do not make our own laws, and are always subject to the whim of the Minister of Indian Affairs. For example, the entire residential school process was because of the Indian Act.

And because we do not own our lands, economic development is difficult. Most Indian Reserves become islands of poverty and abuse, surrounded by an ocean of wealth. We need to change this.

But some people like the way things are, because they are used to it.