FIRST NATIONS AND SOCIALISM, A WARNING FOR ALL OF CANADA

By Donovan Jacobs and ChristianWeek | October 8, 2020

Recently, Turning Point USA released a video titled “A Long Walk in Socialism”. It clearly tells the story of the Navajo nation and how a socialist governance model will impact individuals and communities over time. In both the past and present I have heard people on reserve calling for more money to improve social programs, more health services, more funding for schooling.

As a young man I also shared in this mindset of dependency. I had the expectation that someone else should solve my problems and take care of my needs because of past injustices, never seeing my own need to take responsibility and become independent (in as much as possible, to live a better life).

The story of the Navajo people in this portrayal is in many ways the story of First Nations in Canada who have currently lived under the Indian Act for 144 years. The Indian Act in its implementation is a socialist governance model that controls many parts of First Nations health care, social and children’s service programs and education through legislative means while also limiting the funding resources available to offer these services. It has been proven in court that the Canadian government, historically and present, provides less funding to First Nations communities than they provide to non-First Nation communities for the same types of services offered in both societies.

This policy in itself is a mechanism of control. Limiting financial resources along with other legislative parameters allows for First Nations to have some appearance of freedom but never allows these communities to grow to a point of self determination. This has resulted in shaping and keeping First Nations in wide spread dependency for as long as they have been under the Indian Act.

Socialism, not colonialism is the enemy of First Nations today. What was born out of manifest destiny, the idea that God was blessing European conquest around the globe, has now shifted to a practice of socialist centralized financial control reminiscent of the Soviet Union (only now with a lot less bloodshed). Too much power in the hands of the few, without proper checks and balances will always trample on freedoms. This is what happens when people and whole societies are conditioned to depend on government.

When asked about the issue I take with the current leaning of an ever-increasing number of Canadians looking to socialism, for example universal guaranteed income, my response is; if you want to experience socialism, go live on a First Nations reserve. The trade where people willingly give government a large measure of control over their lives for something like guaranteed income is not one any one should make. Spend a good length of time living on a reserve and this will become crystal clear. First Nations have had this forced upon them and the result has been drug addiction, alcoholism with further devastating impacts on the family unit in the areas of sex abuse, violence and absentee parents. At the 7:35 minute mark of the video a quote from Winston Churchill flashes onto the screen; “the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries”. This is the promise of socialism and the exact lived experience of generations of First Nations people.

Any citizen leaning toward universal guaranteed income is doing so short sightedly. Once people look to and develop dependency on government to take care of them it then becomes all to easy to force citizens into adopting certain values, beliefs and social regulations. Non-compliance with government direction then results in punishment of the individual and groups who justifiably stand up for their rights. You say that wouldn’t happen here. Simply look back into the not so distant past to see how Canada punished the Assembly of First Nations financially in the 1990’s for their justifiable stance toward Jean Chretiens’ Liberal government.

In short, you control the money and you can control the degree to which people can determine the direction they want for themselves and their future generations. This is the fruit of socialism under the Indian Act and it is a lesson all the rest of Canada should learn to steer far from if they have any hope for their own future generations. It is also a testament against a country that prides itself on its inclusiveness and fairness.

The message to the Church is; “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17). Canada’s treatment of First Nations has been nothing short of saying “resistance is futile”. I guess the Borg had a thing or two to learn from Canada’s oversight of First Nations.