Reserves Are Only Good For Some People

Abstract

Affirming that which differentiates Aboriginal from non-Aboriginal culture has become the dominant response among many Aboriginal leaders to the humiliation of past colonialism. At the core of any satisfactory reconciliation, they conclude, must be reserves and “nation to nation” treaties that preserve and promote cultural distinctness. In this article, John Richards surveys a sample of recent writing about Aboriginal policy, and criticizes it as utopian. Reserves face severe problems of unemployment and welfare dependency, and will not be able to generate sufficient employment for their members. Much contemporary writing ignores the extent to which Aboriginal peoples have themselves come to this conclusion, and have chosen to live off-reserve and increasingly in cities. A small urban Aboriginal middle class is emerging, but Canadian cities are also creating “ghettos” in which Aboriginal peoples are overrepresented. The danger in pursuing present policy is to ignore the pragmatic needs of those Aboriginal peoples who migrate.