I Don't Remember Writing...

...this column:

A ‘dream palace’ built on gas and gold won’t solve aboriginal poverty

Sounds like I could have, though. Almost.

"After being immersed in the euphoric coverage surrounding the Idle No More movement, it is refreshing to see that a rational assessment of it is beginning to emerge. Jeffrey Simpson’s recent column, which alerted readers to the “dream palace” mentality of the movement, was insightful.

The column correctly points out that aboriginal groups are too small, isolated and unproductive to ever achieve what the movement is demanding – sovereignty. It points out that a return to aboriginal traditions can only result in a life of poverty in the modern context. Finally, it recognizes the mythology of assertions about an indigenous environmental consciousness. The lack of environmental degradation before contact was obviously due to the primitive technology and subsistence economies of hunter gatherers and horticulturalists, not some kind of “sacred l ink” to the land."