[NOS2Go4Me]

At least the discussion has been kept civil. Thanks guys :)

I didn't want to come off as a racist, but I truly believe all this secular crap needs to stop. It doesn't matter if it happens in Canada, the US, or anywhere else in the world. It makes for more tension and hostility than understand and acceptance do.

You can't force me to like the fact that our tax dollars are supporting how many reserves all over Canada? I can't remember if it's in The Last Word article or not, but the issue with the reserve that had everyone airlifted out wasn't the quality of the water but rather the fact that the equipment was put in place and noone knew how to run it.

Incompetence isn't ignored simply because the offenders are native. No, incompetence at all levels should be treated the same regardless of your last name or genetic heritage.

We don't need the Jewish secular court that already exists in this country, for that puts religion ahead of justice at the cost of the respect of the rest of Canada. I don't know about you, but my opinions of the Jewish faith in general aren't that lofty when they're allowed to sidestep the Canadian judicial system - no matter how trivial the matter.

I have no love for Sharia law. This is Canada, not the Middle East. We're a democratically-governed society that places equal emphasis on the values of women and the importance of women in society. If you can't hack that, leave. I saw Muslim women being made, in Toronto, to walk behind the men and take care of the children so the father could be able to say he went for a walk with his kids. Rather, he went for a walk and dragged his wife and kids along with him. And that wasn't a one-time occurance, either. If you've ever lived in Weston amongst other places in Toronto, you know what I am talking about.

And this brings me back to North Bay of all places. We have a HUGE, kickass Native Friendship Center of all things. It's ginormous compared to the rest of the buildings on the street. It's an all-in-one tool for the natives in the area to use as they see fit. What does it do most days? Serve lunch and supper to those who just don't think they need to cook for themselves. They have activities there to keep native youth occupied. So does the YMCA. They have sporting days. The YMCA has an entire weight gym, huge pools (yes, plural), and 4-5 sports fields.

The friendship center might cater to the older members of the community, but it has nothing going for it besides fostering the image of divisiveness that the natives in the area embrace so eagerly. I'm not even going into where all the cash came from that built it.

It's one thing to embrace your heritage, and another again to keep the old ways going at home. It's something else entirely to be rubbing your culture in the face of other Canadians each and every day, expect preferential treatment and tax exemptions, and still cry the blues about racial inequality.

My answer to all of that? Get OSAP like the rest of the world whose parents can't afford to send them to college / university, get a higher education after actually making it through high school, and make the world a better place in your own way with the earned respect of your peers.

I've met more than a few very well educated and rather eloquent natives over my time in the north. The common trait? A complete lack of arrogance or standoffishness and a general desire to improve things rationally for "their own people". I can respect that.

Here's the kicker, though. The dark side to the whole "furthering the native cause":

When they were soliciting funds from the communities at large to pay for our new hospital, I saw NO public mention of any contribution being made by any native groups or communities towards the new Regional Health Center. As I'm typing this I'm going to verify that statement, but until I disprove it (or someone else does), that strikes me as rather rude and arrogant. They'll criticize the "white man" all day but they won't invest in a hospital they'll most obviously have no problem using.

My opinion? We're ALL Canadians. The sooner we all start acting like Canadians and less like spoiled brats, the better off we are.