JH, wasisname is right though, it's a not a question of racism, it's not a generalisation either... It's factual. the First Nations are a dying people and "generally" they have a lot of trouble adapting to our Western mode of living. I'm not being racist by saying this, I'm being a factist, same way a black person usually has curlier hair than me, darker skin, and let's not talk about the big package down there. That's not racist, it's a fact-ist view of things. You stipulate things for what they are.
And honestly, why should the rest of Canada care about First Nations and Quebec... No, Quebec needs to assert itself, either 'in' federalism, or 'out' of federalism. But, when Quebecers tried to assert themselves "IN" federalism with the lake Meech accord (Hello, a Quebecer came up with the accord: Mulroney [but with the help of the Premier of Ontario David Peterson ofcourse]) they were thwarted by a Cree and a bunch of Scarecrow Trudeauists. Must I remind you that Canada was willing to accept this accord. It isn't Canada who voted against it, but these two-three people who managed to stop it in its tracks with threats, attacks on Mulroney and his government, and scarecrows yes (I'll call it scarecrow feathers haha): (1) one of the people who stood in it's path is a Cree Canadian by the name of Elijah Harper who sought to take advantage of the situation in Manitoba; (2) the (2-3) others are Clyde Wells and McKenna who were Pro-Trudeauists, hence anti-Mulroney, and with Trudeau himself waving scare-crows about the Balkanisation of Canada and other terrifying theories about the destruction of the Constitution forced the Meech's fall to an early grave. But if you look at the Canadians opinion overall, they were pretty much for it I'd say.
So in the end, the fall of Meech was because of Trudeauists, and a Cree.
I don't think anyone here is anti-first nation, we're just fed-up to hear about their complaints, same way we're fed up to hear about Quebec's complaints, and I'm a Quebecer by the way... See, I even know that Quebec is so fed up with it's old provincial political parties that with Legault joining the ADQ, the ADQ will win the next election. It will be a funny picture. Quebec voted in majority towards the left federally, but will vote in majority towards the right provincially. LOL. (Sinbad is right, it's a classic protest vote: They didn't trust Harper, didn't life Ignatieff, Wouldn't vote for a dumb bitch like May, had enough of Duceppe's screeching, so there was only one man who seemed charismatic, but close enough to the Bloc leftist beliefs to be a viable anti-Harper option federally: the NDP.)
Quebec will stay in the federal system in the end, and it will prevail towards certain changed to keep it's history and heritage alive, that is also a fact.
But since we're talking about first nations, the reason there's no thought associated towards them is because they're not part of the two founding nations of Canada historically; they're a conquered people. So was Quebec, but at least Quebec has a historical constitutional claim, or some form of a historical interpretation of that claim that makes it malleable and argumentative towards a cause. After all, they retained their own laws, their own religion, their own culture and were permitted to have a role in the building of this country.
Something which the Amerindians did not have, with the exception of Riel (who got strung by the neck for High Treason, and who by amerindian standards is not even an Indian at all). Indians were considered a savage people that were colonized and decimated. It's a sad fate, and it's an irreversible one... very sad fate. After all, their religion was taken away (since Christianity was forced upon them), they retain some of their own laws but the laws of Canada prime over theirs anyways, and their culture is a ghost of what it was in the past, they are ultimately corrupted by our own Western culture. Very sad fate.... very very sad. What they get now (as wasisname pointed out) is thanks to their ancestral rights given to them by various treaties with the Colonizers (us) and eventually by the Constitution, but it's all been done for pity's sake and nothing else. In return, they get many more rights and privileges than any other people in this Country, and those are good privileges.. but as such, I fail to see their purpose in this discussion about Quebec. If the indians have claims to make, let them make them on their own without dirtying the Quebec issue. The Quebec issue is only about Quebec and should only be addressed in that scope.
