Self-government for indigenous people would help stop the drain on the federal treasury and help stop welfare dependence, according to a visiting Canadian expert.
Professor Thomas Courchene, who has spent a lot of time in the past two years helping the 14 First Nations of Canada’s Yukon draw up self-government agreements, said yesterday that neither Canada nor Australia could be proud of its treatment of their first peoples.
In Canada per capita spending on Indians resident on reserves was roughly $10,000 per person.
“”Something must be very wrong at the policy level when spending of this magnitude does not achieve meaningful results,” he said. The policy failure was a major reason why Canadians were sympathetic to First Nations self-government.
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