I understand the situation. Sure, it's sad that a nice area is attracting bad people, but calling a whole race "a problem" seems completely out of line. I'm sure it was a bad idea for the government to build free things in a park because shady people will congregate around it. What were they thinking? I guess the only way to drive them out is require something they don't have: money!
Well, like I said in my first post on this thread, I support the skate park. It's unfortunate that problems are rising.
Frankly, I'm surprised that you are acting like this is exclusive to Winnipeg, or Canada. Even the US has bad areas, and crime (much more then Canada), and people still get on with their life. It's not a big deal, it doesn't necessarily require any sort of drastic "action" against a race of people just because of some statistics.
Frankly, you'd have to live in Winnipeg to understand the problem. While I have nothing against natives as a race, they're stuck in a vicious cycle which I am pretty sure is much worse in Winnipeg than anywhere else (at least, anywhere else that I've been). I don't know of a single native person who has a good job in Winnipeg, nor do I know of any that aren't alcoholics or drug addicts or whatever. Not a single one. When you see somebody passed out on the side of the road in Winnipeg, it's going to be a native. That totally sucks, but it's true.
The problem is largely historical. The government of Manitoba gives them way too much money for nothing, and even more money for every kid they have. So they typically have large families and don't work. Most of them end up addicted to alcohol, gasoline, glue, or whatever. And kids learn addictive behaviour, and kids get into trouble when their parents are passed out. As such, the kids grow up the same as their parents. I'm sure it's like that in other parts of the world, like you said, but in Winnipeg that's largely the native population.
Because the kids screw up like their parents, nothing is changing.
Winnipeg is a fairly peaceful city, and there's very little crime. However, Winnipeg has the highest per-capita murder rate of any Canadian city. The majority of those murders are natives beating up other natives, or people that hang out with them. My uncle's corpse was barely recognizable when he was beat up by a native (not that he was a good person -- he was living the same kind of lifestyle as them).
The cycle is also self-reinforcing. Because of this type of behaviour, which has been going on for a long time, there is widespread racism against the natives (as you see in this thread). This racism causes people to alienate them. As a result, there is very little potential for change to happen. I imagine it's a lot like black people in certain places.
And actually, I lied, I do know of one native with a decent job. The place I used to work hired a native guy as a Web developer. Unfortunately, I've been told he's one of the laziest people working there. Why? Because the government pays 50% of his salary, and the owner would get in big trouble for firing him, so he's able to sit around and do absolutely nothing. This isn't meant to reflect badly on him, it's meant to show why the government's policies suck.
Does that clear up the problem a bit? Yes, there is widespread racism in Winnipeg. And yes, it's understandable. But nothing is changing.....
