The $66 million spent on aboriginal meetings and consultations concerning the “governance of Aboriginal children”, performed exactly as it was intended to do, give the impression of actuating services to Canada’s most vulnerable population.
The fact that then Premier Gordon Campbell, hired an apartheid expert as deputy minister is no coincidence. It’s their smoke and mirrors attempt to keep the native population confused and divided into which direction they should take. It’s working perfectly for the government, they have the Sto:lo bands divided, 11 to eight.
The real truth of the matter is, if the government was serious about dealing with native issues such as parental addiction, poverty, neglect, special needs, and the dreaded mental illness, it would cost many times more than the $66 million will hide.
Talk about denial, there’s is so much avoidance of the real issues, they keep offering these micro bandage amounts, like the $8 million offered for even more consultations. I was under the impression that talk therapy was cheaper.
As opposition leaders have pointed out, it’s a total waste, to spend millions of dollars chatting, while there’s a eight month wait for their youth to obtain mental health services.
It has really become time to deal with this mental health file, not just for our native population, but for all British Columbians. There’s a mental health epidemic in this province that has to be acknowledged.
It’s time we deal with the Riverview mental hospital, either fix it, or sell it and build a new one elsewhere. As it is, for most, there’s no where to go.
Art Green,
Hope BC