Why Canada Doesn't Need Tax Reductions

[maplesyrup]

Amnesty International report shames Canada for treatment of Native women

Amnesty International has just released a damning report, exposing the rampant indifference to violence against women in Canada. Clearly the world's most well known human rights watchdog found the case of women, and the egregious neglect of the safety of Native women in particular, too galling to ignore. The results deserve serious attention, as they point to the ongoing impact of colonialism and racism here in "the best place on Earth," as the B.C. Liberals' nauseating ad campaign likes to describe this corner of the world. Of course, it is right here in B.C. that one of the worst cases of serial killings in North American history took place and was ignored for years, because the victims were poor Native women.

As Canadians, when Amnesty International (AI) releases a report about violence and human rights abuses against women, our minds like to wander away from home to countries around the world. For instance, recent images of the Sudan might come to mind, where women and girls are currently being raped as a consequence of the war in Darfur. Or, our thoughts might turn to the women oppressed and victimized by patriarchal and religious states, like the Afghani women who were forced to wear the burqa under the Taliban regime. This subjugation became a symbol evoked by George W. Bush's administration -- using his wife Laura as a most unlikely pseudo-feminist mouthpiece -- to legitimize the war against, and occupation of, Afghanistan.

So the Amnesty report may prove shocking to many Canadians, who naïvely believe that our country is devoid of these types of human rights atrocities, especially in terms of violence against women -- over and above the culturally acceptable level of domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and economic exploitation that is currently tolerated. Our country will now be spotlighted among human rights abusers like Israel, China, and Sudan, thanks to the report, entitled "Stolen Sisters - Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada." The document details how First Nations women experience a horrific level of violence on an everyday basis, and how state institutions have a disinterest or indifference towards the safety of Indigenous women.

The report argues that the level of violence against First Nations women is significantly disproportionate to that suffered by other women. In fact, our own government statistics state that women between the ages of 25-44, who have status under the "Indian Act", are 5 times more likely to be killed by violence than other women. The report is saturated with the names and stories of First Nations women who have gone ‘missing’ or whose bodies have been found sexually assaulted and murdered.

I am appalled to hear that such a situation still exits in Canada after all we have been through concerning women's rights, etc.

Obviously we still have a long way to go and this is not time to cut taxes while we still have peole in our country being subjected to these atrocities. We need to immediately increase taxes and get threse Inuit women some much needed support from our governments.

[August1991]

MS:

First, will more government money solve this problem?

Second, all levels of government already take in various taxes about half our income. How much more do they want? How much more can they realistically take?

Third, please don't cut and paste long quotes. A short quote is sufficient.

[Newfie Canadian]

August makes a good point, to a point.

A lot of taxpayers money has gone into helping solve the problems that face our native communities. The problem is the money isn't being spent wisely.

Look at the Innu of Davis Inlet. $152,000,000+ was spent to move them to Natuashish. Many people thought this was going to solve the problems experienced in Davis Inlet, but it hasn't. There have been 4 suicides within the last couple of months, all young people.

Money may be the answer, but increasing taxes isn't the answer. As with all things fiscal in the government, it's a matter of spending the money in the right place and in the right way. That apparently wasn't done in Davis Inlet/Natuashish.

In this case, it's not the quantity, but the quality of the spending.

[caesar]

It is time that natives take some responsibility for their own actions. Throwing more money at them will not solve their problems. We have to quit treating them like helpless children that require our support. They can and many do stand on their own two feet and lead productive useful lives. As for the women murdered in BC; they were prostitutes and drug users and put themselves at risk, It is not our responsibility; it was theirs.

[playfullfellow]

MS, throwing more money at the situation is not going to solve the problem. The situation in reservations can be horrific but that is not due to a lack of money. People have to want to change. I know plenty of natives who have left the reserves and lead very successful lives. I know reserves that have used the money received to better the lives of it's members to great success and they are doing very well. How can you make things better if people do not want to change? Countless number of business opportunities have been set up on reserves to no avail. Businesses that do business on reserve land have to guarantee a certain number of jobs to band members but no one shows up or when they do, they just sit around. What else are we supposed to do? Everything plus wipe their butts too? No, we have to come to a point where there has to be some accountability for the money we spend on reserves. Don't bother calling me biased or racist, I married a part native woman and I personally don't care about anyones race. What I do care about is how they live their lives. Once people decide they want to change, then I feel we should help but until then, more money will not help. It is no use bankrupting the average Canadian to pay for more useless crap on reserves.

[maplesyrup]

It is obvious there is still a lot of denial going on here in Canada with men in particular about women's rights.

First Nation peoples are making progress but it is a very slow and difficult road to climb.

If we can put a person on the moon, in other words if we make ending these abominable situations for our aboriginals a priority, we can solve the problem. and yea tough , it does take some money, so lose this" mash the poor mentality which results from lower taxes", and start acting like true Christians!

[kimmy]

Syrup, I think what people are saying is that money on its own is not the answer. There has to be some kind of change in plans. What really is the answer in dealing with First Nations issues? We know that all the statistics (not just violence against women, but also crime, drug abuse, alcoholism, suicides, and others) are deplorable among natives, and we have to somehow figure out what the source of these alarming numbers is.

If you think of domestic violence, one of the things that immediately comes to mind is tougher law enforcement. But that's not necessarily an easy thing to do. And I think that when it comes to natives, our law enforcement officers are often in a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" position. They are aware of the potential for extra scrutiny and allegations of racism in any dealing with natives, which might reduce their willingness to become involved in situations. More involvement from law enforcement will probably have to be part of the solution, but it's not as easy as just showing up at the reserve and acting tough. It's a complicated issue.

-kimmy

[maplesyrup]

Syrup, I think what people are saying is that money on its own is not the answer. There has to be some kind of change in plans.

Kimmy.......I agree. Now that the plight of these First Nations women has been publicized by Amnesty, and given Canada a serious black eye, around the world, Canada had better start addressing the issue, before we get a second condemnation from them, a year from now. But it is also going to cost us additional in the pocketbook, and rightfully so. Maybe we will need to raise taxes to properly deal with this as well.

I don't know of another world organization working in the area of human rights, that has more credibility than Amnesty International.

[playfullfellow]

MS, I still have to disagree with just spending more money on the situation with natives. A lot of natives have made it quite clear that they do not want the white man interfering with life on the preserves. If we make tougher laws, then they scream discrimination. If we prosecute further for violences, then they scream discrimination.

Right now a status Indian can have a free home, free education, not pay taxes for items bought on reserve, not register a fire arm, hunt anytime on reserve or crown land, fish where ever they want with no license, receive an endowment when they turn 18, they can get a free education, they get grants to start businesses we can only dream of, free counselling if they want it, free lawyers, free post secondary education, monthly cheques, can bypass local bylaws on reserves, nad the list continues. Where do we stop? We already spend billions of dollars every year on natives. You are still naive enough to believe that we can solve the problem by throwing more money at it. Well, it won't work because there are already a lot of programs available if people want to change but they have to want to change first. It's like you can't force a smoker to quit unless he wants to. You can't force people to change their lifestyle unless they want to. There are a lot of opportunities for them to do so now.

[Argus]

Amnesty International report shames Canada for treatment of Native women [/url

Big yawn.

Amnesty is one of those groups which feels that the only way it can appear even-handed in the world is to criticise the very few, extremely minor transgressions of western nations (even if it has to exaggerate them) with the same vigour (or more) as it criticises the brutal tortures and murders of the rest of the world. It's simplistic and silly, but then, there are a lot of silly, simplistic people in the world who find comfort in that sort of thing. No one with any sense will pay the slightest attention to this report.

I am appalled to hear that such a situation still exits in Canada after all we have been through concerning women's rights, etc.

Yes, well, you're one of those people who is easily appalled. You'll probably be "appalled" to discover there are high rates of alcoholism and drug abuse on the reserves too.

Obviously we still have a long way to go and this is not time to cut taxes while we still have peole in our country being subjected to these atrocities.

Atrocities yet. Sheesh. I bet it would appall you to find out that the plight of women on the reserves is a good deal better than the plight of women in most of the rest of the world.

We need to immediately increase taxes and get threse Inuit women some much needed support from our governments.

Sometimes I wonder whether you're being facetious, or whether you really are this stratified in your outlook on life. How anyone, even a dedicated socialist could believe increasing taxes was going to make the lives of Native women better is beyond me.

[Argus]

It is obvious there is still a lot of denial going on here in Canada with men in particular about women's rights.

Uhm, the only denial I see is with regard to blinkered leftists who believe that every problem can be solved by throwing more money at it with no thought whatsoever as to how that will help.

[cgarrett]

the basis of all feminist thought, no matter how confused by factions for or against, is that women are under represented in the decision making processes of our society. there is no excuse for this. women have every right to fight for equal representation whether they meet the criteria set out by men to participate or not.

the world would definitely be a different place with them equally represented. maybe some bad... but lets face the facts. when evil things happen in the world then men are always to blame. men are behind guns, strip mines, gas chambers, nuclear weapons, serial killings and commercial airliners aimed at tall buildings.

the situation in vancouver is monstrous and is as much deeply rooted in the infamous vancouver police dept old boys club. this dept, more than any other is in bad need of routing out. there needs to be much more representation by women in the force. not just in the public relations dept!

and as i have said many times... depts policing themselves is never adequate.

[Slavik44]

I got no problem supporting a program that woudl fix the problem. Unfortunatnely one hasn't been identified, infact the cause/causes haven't been Identified. The first step to fixing somethign is to understand the problem, we didn't get a man on the moon by trial and error (If I put 10 million tons of T&T under Mr.Armstrong will he walk on the moon?) No we first spent the time to study and understand what we were up against. Not only that but this involves humans it is a 1,000 times more complex because people react differently to the same stimulis, so an answer for person X may nto be the answer for person Y, we have a complex problem and throwing money at is not the answer, we may need moeny to achieve the final solution but it shouldn't be the forefront of our solution. So I will be a good christian and Be a good steward of my money just liek God told me to, it doesn't mena I am not loving my nieghbour, MS, it acutally means i am. Because I recognize that I need to understand before I fix, and we don't understand. being such it woudl be WRONG to try and help someone when I know nothing of how to help them.

[Argus]

the world would definitely be a different place with them equally represented. maybe some bad... but lets face the facts. when evil things happen in the world then men are always to blame. men are behind guns, strip mines, gas chambers, nuclear weapons, serial killings and commercial airliners aimed at tall buildings.

This is simplistic nonsense. The only reason men are "behind" evil things is because they are generally in charge. But when women ARE in charge I've seen no lessening of "evil", be it Pakistan, India or the UK. Women can be just as greedy, arrogant and power hungry as men. Give more power to more women and you'll see more females who are corrupt, vindicitive, self-serving, dishonest scum. Just look at the female politicians in Canada. They're every bit as self-serving and corrupt as their male colleagues.

[ferrethouse]

How short sighted. The US government brings in more revenue per capita than the Canadian government despite the fact that our resource base is comparable and yet distributed amongst 1/10 the population. They bring in more revenue per person because they encourage the creation of wealth and reward success. Our attitude in Canada is backwards. Our productivity has lagged that of the Americans because we punish success.

Your advocation of higher taxes is short sighted and will only lead to a further erosion of our revenue base in the future.

I give up HALF of my income to taxes. If the government can't fix the most dire problems in our country with that money then they need to reevaluted their priorities. When will people like you be satisfied? When I'm paying 99% of my income in taxes?!

Besides, our policies towards poverty should not be race based. A poor white person is just as deserving of assistance as a poor inuit woman.

[cgarrett]

How short sighted. The US government brings in more revenue per capita than the Canadian government despite the fact that our resource base is comparable and yet distributed amongst 1/10 the population. They bring in more revenue per person because they encourage the creation of wealth and reward success. Our attitude in Canada is backwards. Our productivity has lagged that of the Americans because we punish success.

ferret, i want you to consider that 99% of all u.s. natural resources are american owned and operated. the u.s. and britain put up with 2-3% foreign ownership.

we canadians have 35% foreign ownership in natural resources with our key sectors of strength being completely dominated by foreign ownership! and this number is growing! and existing policies continue to seek to "encourage" this by dropping taxation for these foreign investors. many of these entities don't pay any taxes at all!

[cgarrett]

the world would definitely be a different place with them equally represented. maybe some bad... but lets face the facts. when evil things happen in the world then men are always to blame. men are behind guns, strip mines, gas chambers, nuclear weapons, serial killings and commercial airliners aimed at tall buildings.

This is simplistic nonsense. The only reason men are "behind" evil things is because they are generally in charge. But when women ARE in charge I've seen no lessening of "evil", be it Pakistan, India or the UK. Women can be just as greedy, arrogant and power hungry as men. Give more power to more women and you'll see more females who are corrupt, vindicitive, self-serving, dishonest scum. Just look at the female politicians in Canada. They're every bit as self-serving and corrupt as their male colleagues.

not at all, argus.

are you arguing that if half of the police force in vancouver were women that the 70 missing women would still be an ignored issue? i really don't think so.

i'm not saying that women are also capable of extreme behavior but that behavior is different and women want an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.

[kimmy]

not at all, argus.

are you arguing that if half of the police force in vancouver were women that the 70 missing women would still be an ignored issue? i really don't think so.

i'm not saying that women are also capable of extreme behavior but that behavior is different and women want an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.

The vanished women were not ignored because they were women. They were ignored because they prostitutes and drug addicts. Most of them were probably considered "missing" long before they were taken.

-kimmy

[Slavik44]

not at all, argus.

are you arguing that if half of the police force in vancouver were women that the 70 missing women would still be an ignored issue? i really don't think so.

i'm not saying that women are also capable of extreme behavior but that behavior is different and women want an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives.

The vanished women were not ignored because they were women. They were ignored because they prostitutes and drug addicts. Most of them were probably considered "missing" long before they were taken.

-kimmy

well how about because it is hard to locate missing people. Especially missing people that vanished from society years before they were "missing". I am not trying to be disrespectfull, but it is tough enough to chase down a person that is involved in our society, that elaves traces. Even more so it woudl be hard to find someone who goes missing, and people don't even know, for a while. I realise they are someones loved one, but hear me out on this, if i went missing....People would know very quickly, not only that but the coudl trace my steps back to find out where and when I went missing and work up from their. You can't really do that for somone if you find out 2 weeks after the point, and their schedule is not traceable. I am not trying to be an ass and if I come off as one I am sorry it is not my intention.

[maplesyrup]

Get a grip guys.

What percentage of the Vancouver Police Force is women? Visible minorities? Aboriginals?

[Slavik44]

Get a grip guys.

What percentage of the Vancouver Police Force is women? Visible minorities? Aboriginals?

What are they MS, tell me?

[caesar]

You can't really do that for somone if you find out 2 weeks after the point

It is not even that easy; most were not reported for years after they were last seen. Until it became common knowledge that there were girls disappearing; it was often assumed they had simply left town.

[kimmy]

Get a grip guys.

What percentage of the Vancouver Police Force is women? Visible minorities? Aboriginals?

That doesn't prove the point you're trying to make.

The idea that only female police care about womens' safety is simply wrong.

-kimmy