Raise the Hammer

Good to know about the quotes.

The thing with "melting pots", is that while cultures blend (and this is true of all cultures), it almost always leads, in the long run, to a wider array of more diverse array of cultures. Many retain old identities, others create completely new ones. This is exactly how evolution works in nature, too. It always seeks to create as large a diversity as possible, to protect from specific threats (microbes, droughts, etc). When everything tends to homogenize, there's usually because something is wrong, as with an invasive species. We have English language television and internet broadcasting around the planet. We educate the children of the elite of nearly every nation. And according to markets in London, our dollar is worth dozens of times more than any other. If other cultures are disappearing, this is why.

Natives only began emerging from the legal dark ages within the last few decades. Before that, they lived for most of the last century under a set of rules so oppressive that any kind of development was impossible. Under the Indian Act, it was illegal to do business, gather in groups larger than three, travel without permission, get a lawyer for land claims, or even play pool. If Hamilton had been under these conditions, we'd look like a Brazillian slum right now.

Since First Nations rights started getting attention in the 80s and 90s, there's been tremendous regrowth and healing (ie: Nunavut), but it doesn't happen overnight.

And though land is commonly "owned" in native societies, that doesn't mean it runs like Stalinist Russia. Long before Europe abandoned feudalism, small tribal bands had very well defined hunting territories assigned to families, sustainably managing game while Europe's forests were falling. They had hunting rights to the land, but not the right to burn it down and build condominiums. This is why so many early treaties were so generous - Natives had no idea that our notion of "ownership" was much more permanent and absolute.The lack of lending opportunities to First Nations people would be understandable if anything existed on reserves which could make up for it. But after a century of crippling underfunding, there has never been the opportunity to build up the kind of capital which our banks did.