I have made it a point to list All the comments here in the order they came in and did not leave any out, so you don’t think I am favouring on side or the other!
(One or two were irrelevant, so the final score was 13-6 for Don. Naturally, on a personal level, I would go with Olsen more than the Indians, but I want you, the reader, to see exactly what people sent in and how they feel!)
Aside from the occasional comment about how the Indians were mistreated and taken advantage of, (TRUE!) most people managed to stay on topic and discuss the culture itself, and what shape they were in BEFORE and AFTER the white man arrived on these shores.
Remember, I have said a few times in the past that if Europeans hadn’t arrived here in the “new world” the Indians would still be living in tents and hunting buffalo.
And they would be walking around to do it, since WE brought horses with us!!!!!!!

Educate white people to be modern citizens http://wp.me/p32DCv-3s
Submitted on 2013/03/30 at 11:54 AM | In reply to Ajidamoon Minogamon.
FACT tax payers pay into the non-insure medical benefit plan only available to First Nations which pays for all prescriptions, wheel chairs, dental, psychiatrist, over the counter meds plus medical benefits. Our seniors who live off of diddly squat have to figure out how to pay for heart medication. Oh that’s fare and equal.
Check it out http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/nihb-ssna/index-eng.php
Submitted on 2013/03/30 at 11:45 AM | In reply to m s.
How long does society have to pay for the wrongs? We are aware what our ancestors did but the past is the past our generation and our generations to come should not have to keep on paying for past historical events. First Nations weren’t and continue not to be the only ones who suffered historically lets look at the Holocaust, the Catholic Churches, and Rawanda only to name a few. History happens which is beyond our control what isn’t is the future. I honestly don’t believe First Nations really want change and equality as this would mean they would have to start contributing by paying taxes and being accountable for their own wrong doings. If you act like a victim you will always be a victim.
Submitted on 2013/03/30 at 11:36 AM | In reply to m s.
I applaud you Don you said what many of us think I know I am sick and tired of doing the same job as my First Nations colleague only to have taxes taken off at the end of the day and they don’t. I believe we should bring down the reservations let them own their houses on that, land let them look after if and make them pay taxes like the rest if us. I am by far a racist but I am as fed up as many other Canadians are with our taxes which keep going up only to find out that there is over a million First Nations in this country who don’t contribute. Now lets include them in everything so we can all be equals. I think it is funny Harper asks questions about where the money is going next thing you know there is a huge uproar there too. I say BS be accountable after all it is tax payers money and it is the tax payer who should be getting the expense reports to make sure the money is being spend appropriately and not to line the pockets of the chiefs.
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 7:50 PM
Mr Olsen is an interesting sort of man. He seems to be ultra conservative (applauds the Harper govt) and a tad of a conspiracy theorist). His final points make some sense, in that integration into Canadian society is an endpoint, but he has no tact and his arguments smack of such a dated and narrow euro- centric point of view. Who is he to denegrate the last “12,000″ years of varied and complex societies? Why does feel he can measure worth And value based on such an obtuse view of what comprises of success? How can he ignore the process that has created the plight of First People’s in Canada. I am a third generation Canadian, yet I can clearly understand the attempted genocide that was perpetrated by OUR ANCESTORS. We stole their land, accosted and abused their youth, criminalized their languages and cultures, emasculated them entirely. This is not the problem of the First Nations People- it is CANADA’S. if you think “cutting them off” and sending their kids to school is the answer, you are greatly unaware of the reality that there needs to be healing and that will take longer than we are all alive. Would we just expect Germany to forget the holocaust and tell the Jewish people to just get over it? I don’t have the answers, and I think Mr Olsen tries to be logical, but his litany of reasons to disparage Aboriginal “progress” shows him for what he is ( and I’m not name- calling for the sake of it): he is a redneck and he smacks of ignorance. Oh we’ll, nothing will change his mind; he too will pass….
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 3:53 PM
The only thing Mr Olsen’s letter did, was present stereotype, myth and generalizations. Had it been any other group…..blacks, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Italians….it never would have made it to print.
Fact is, First Nations pay taxes. Fact is, Reserves are ran off of transfer payments of trust moneys and resource revenues….not tax moneys. Fact is, Canada has a long, dark history of genocide that has never ended. Fact is, average Canadian doesn’t know the First thing about the history, the legislation or the politics involved…and ant be bothered to spend five minutes on the AANDC website to clear up their misconceptions…..like the ones Mr Olsen presented in his tired, inaccurate, ignorant rant.
It’s racist for the lone Fact that it would not be tolerated to speak about any other group like this….but spreading generalizations and disdain for aboriginals is as much as national past time as hockey and complaining about the weather.
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 1:43 PM | In reply to Nmalm.
Same answer as m s. By the way, Indians belong to First Nations.
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 1:40 PM | In reply to Trish H.
“there ARE First Nations!”
Working man… If you had been there the protest was at lunch time. Sure Don can have his opinion, but the Daily News has printed quite a few letters that Don has written about First Nations (not Indians). This one is very close to crossing the line.. especially with this comment “Have a history that is notable only for underachievement ” He could have worded this letter in a different way and got his point across. Also.. there are more Caucasians on welfare than there is First Nations.
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 12:03 PM | In reply to m s.
MS needs to read a few books and look at other modern cultures who would die to have the benefits Canadian aboriginals have given to them.
Don Olson is a bit rough but I agree with him and so do a lot of other Canadians. Time to join the 21st century, give up on hunger strikes, get jobs, shoulder the same responsibilities the rest of have to, and have some accountability for the tax money we give them.
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 11:24 AM | In reply to m s.
Although this post doesn’t comment on the letter, it makes very VALID and purposeful points!!
Maybe u should get ur names right first off its not INDIAN better educate yourselves on that FACT, next my boyfriend is FIRST NATIONS, I am not… he pays taxes, is not on welfare, doesn’t drink, goes to university, owns his truck and home all of which he has worked very hard to get, with absolutely NO handouts… And there are plenty of other ppl OF ALL RACES on welfare, drunks, druggies, mooches…You people need to get ur facts straight before pointing fingers, just as this don Olson should, has he invented anything? Created a language? And who is he to say they didn’t discover medicine, they used various roots, herbs and other natural substances that many ppl still use today… Don Olson and anybody who agrees with this nonsense should spend a little time and do some research because as far as I can tell and wake up!
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 11:23 AM | In reply to m s.
I agree with you. We are all equal. We should all pay our share of taxes, and not live off the government tit.
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 9:45 AM
Tasteless? Yes. Lack of tact? Yes. Racist? NO. I see more racial nonsense from the likes of people like “m s” and the idle movement than from people who dare to ask questions and comment honestly. And for the record, he is factually correct plus has suggested a solution, which many aboriginal Canadians agree with.
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 9:24 AM
Sure was nice of the employers to give the protestors the time off work to express their thoughts…
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 8:12 AM | In reply to marc heibey.
By Indians, I assume you mean East-Indians!
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 5:01 AM
You are quite the pompous retard aren’t you. You don’t even know the history of how the first nations people. They were burned, murdered, raped, forcibly sterilized, forcibly assimilated into the christianity…. children were taken from them, experimented on, sterilized, abused, sexually assaulted, murdered… all in a school and church setting. Don’t you know that any history of the first nation people that is written by the invading race is all falsified like EVERY other aboriginal culture in EVERY continent??? Get your facts straight. Your race is not better than the first nations. Everyone is the same. It’s is rants like your’s that hurt human kind. It is unfourtunate that things have to always cater to the lowest denominator. Wake up please, and fill your heart with love.
WHAT DO YOUR COMMENTS HAVE TO DO WITH WHAT DON OLSEN WROTE ABOUT IN HIS LETTER? THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS! YOU SEEM TO BE A LITTLE SHORT ON CRITICAL THINKING! -ED.
Submitted on 2013/03/29 at 2:09 AM
Truth, is avoided by natives and politicians.
I have been met with many wonderful native folk here, and in northern B.C.
And we, in Vancouver Island south, benefit greatly by the low-cost gas pipeline installed by native employees due to their income-tax exemption.
Canada has not served our native brethren well. Far, far too much paternalisation. On the other hand, natives do not have to accept it.
I think Mr. Olsen was a little too brutal, but not far off the mark. Racist, – no. Nanaimo newspaper, – chickenshit moneygrubbers, – yes.
Many years ago, (and I don’t think this applies today) in Williams Lake, an Indian Affairs federal bureaucrat came to us, and asked us why we did not hire more aboriginals. One of us arose to reply that he would hire the first to ask for a job. The bureaucrat was dumbstruck.
I am sick and tired of these “Oh poor me.” minority groups, surviving off the largesse of hard-working Canadians.
These, demand rights for their traditional standard of living, confronting anybody standing still, in their cowboy boots and stetsons.
You want a piece of Canada, jump in, as the Chinese, Indians, Italians, etc., etc., have done
Give me a break!
I agree fully about Don Olsen’s letter to the editor about the ” FIRST NATIONS”…. Get them off welfare and the reservations and treat them like any other Canadian……