. . .  Continued

It is hard to see how these two patterns can be merged.  If Native communities have control over services like Education and Health, you have to be one or the other.  Is a Native person living in a predominantly non-Native community treated as a member of that community?  Is a non-Native person living in a predominantly Native community treated as a member of that community?  At the moment, Native community leaders have the right to decide who is or is not a member of their communities.  Will they be willing to give up this right in favour of deciding by mere residency?

We are reaping the problems sown by the racism of dividing Canada more than a century ago into racially-based communities.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it does not fit with how all other members of the multi-ethnic Canadian community relate to one another.  It does not work for either Native or non-Native communities.

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