by Daniel N. Paul June 17 1994 Halifax Herald

When MP Herb Grubel recently delivered his outrageous lazy Natives speech, in the protective atmosphere of the House of Commons, he was spouting the stereotypical image of our people now afoot in the minds of a multitude of Canadians.

In my mind, the words of Mr. Grubel reflect the fact that he, like so many of his compatriots, will make every effort to shift the blame to Canada’s Native American citizens for the mess that has resulted from the less-than-honourable conduct of his European ancestors towards these Nations. This statement is backed up by a recent study released by the C.D. Howe Institute, which shows that a majority of Canadians believe minorities are to blame for the disadvantages they suffer, and that discrimination isn’t.

In formulating their debasing opinions, Mr. Grubel and his ilk will studiously ignore the fact that the White man – by enacting racist laws and setting outlandish policies which were designed specifically for the degradation of Canada’s First Nations citizens and the destruction of their cultures – is the architect of the bind that the People are in today. He and his followers will not acknowledge that the modern day dependence of our peoples upon handouts from governments for survival is caused by the fact that they were effectively excluded, by negative racist attitudes, from participating in the economic life of the country for the past three centuries.

Why have these reprehensible attitudes in wh ...

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