Our National Shame

The Toronto Star has another story about absolutely appalling conditions on a reserve, in this case a police station has to be shut down because it "lacks running water, uses 'medieval locks' and relies on a wood fire in a 170-litre drum." Elsewhere the article mentions police officers living in motel rooms due to a lack of housing.

Canada likes the label "tolerant" and frankly we're a bit smug about how we never had Jim Crow laws or apartheid - we're not conquerers with designs on an imperial system. Sometimes I'm guilty of thinking this way too. Until we decide to do something meaningful about the way we've cached too many first nations groups on economically useless land with little in the way opportunity, we really should wonder why we feel so proud about ourselves.