Imagine if we abolished the Indian Act and removed special legal status for indigenous peoples.Then, treaties were terminated, and federal responsibility for indigenous affairs was transferred to the provinces.What if we eliminated "Indian Status” and assimilated indigenous peoples into mainstream Canadian society as equal citizens?How about converting reserve land by turning it into private property that could be sold?Then we could dissolve the Indian Affairs Department and close all federal departments responsible for indigenous issues. Do these proposals sound extreme? Unreasonable? Unworkable? They all come from a policy document called the White Paper, created in 1969 by none other than Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien.Unfortunately, while Trudeau stood strong with most of the terrible policies he imposed upon Canada, he folded like a cheap suit with the White Paper, and now we are all paying the price..If the policies proposed in the White Paper had been implemented 56 years ago, Canada would be a stronger, more united country. Instead, indigenous people live in misery on reserves in a form of racial apartheid while constant pandering to the indigenous industry is cratering the Canadian economy.To be a truly modern, democratic nation is to eschew all race-based policies forever. We must take a step back and look at the primitive absurdity of thinking that we can have a functional nation when we have different sets of laws and policies that apply to different people based on the colour of their skin. Nations fought wars to end race-based policies, yet Canada entrenches them further and decries opponents of racial policies as being racists. It’s a rather gross irony.How far must we go with this ludicrous system before admitting it can never succeed?We must measure policies by outcome rather than intent, and the outcomes of every race-based policy in Canada are failing.Canada set up separate sentencing guidelines for indigenous offenders along with alternative means of incarceration. As a result, crime rates among the indigenous have continued to grow, as have the number of indigenous victims of crime.Funds have been poured into indigenous business ventures. As a result, indigenous businesses have a terrible success rate, and those that succeed usually only do so through specializing in government contracts.We have set up separate educational systems and set different bars for indigenous people to acquire degrees and diplomas. As a result, the education level of indigenous people lags well below non-indigenous people and is sinking.Extra funding has been poured into healthcare measures for indigenous people. As a result, indigenous people suffer far more chronic health issues and die much younger than non-indigenous people on average. In Alberta, for example, indigenous men die 19 years younger than non-indigenous men. That stat alone should make people understand how broken this system is..Grants have been given to reserves to take care of child services. Despite this, foster and emergency childcare services are disproportionately populated by indigenous kids. Countless programs in both the public and private sectors have been formed to offer preferential hiring to indigenous people. Despite this, indigenous people are among the most chronically unemployed in Canada. There just aren’t enough government jobs to cut into the numbers.Due to there being no written language for indigenous people, the courts have enshrined oral history as being credible when it’s anything but. This has led to some of the insane rulings on land claims and fostered the Kamloops Residential School child burial hoax that led to the burning and vandalism of over a hundred churches.Canada is now fast becoming a total economic basket case as the Eastern manufacturing industries are collapsing if they don’t get massive subsidies, while resource-based industries are hamstrung by a false veto authority held by indigenous bands. The nation is becoming an investment pariah while BC is castrating its real estate industry through potentially violating property rights with land settlements offered to indigenous bands.In short, nobody is winning.Indigenous people are being held back and infantilized with Canada’s race-based system. It has taken great people and led them into a socioeconomic catastrophe of dependency and dysfunction. Meanwhile, those who must pay all the bills are running out of ways to make money to do so.The solution is simple yet difficult. All race-based policies must end. No modern nation can function effectively when people hold different statuses under the law due to their bloodlines.The only question is time. How long will Canada wait, and how bad will things become before being forced to realize that race-based policies are always wrong and must end?Let’s follow Pierre Trudeau’s advice and make everybody equal under the law at last.
