To the editor:
Re: "Idle no more could be watershed moment," Jan. 4.
The problems of our native peoples are clearly insoluble under the present structures of government, and the structures are almost impossible to change. The only way forward is to depopulate the structures and leave them to rot empty.
The First Nations complain, correctly, that the residential schools damaged their cultures, and the pressures of modern life have eroded what remained. First Nations now differ less from other Canadians, on average than do immigrants from Asia. They should be encouraged to give up their special status and the uncertain protection of the federal government and take their place as equal members of society. They need idle no more.
Exceptions should of course be made for First Nations who still preserve a large part of their traditional ways: who speak their native language and live still from the land. Their number is however small.
Maurice Graham, Vancouver
