Originally Posted by jamawani
Why would you avoid Hobbema? Perhaps, rather, it should be a place to go. First Nations and Metis do have higher rates of alcoholism and violence - but that is true of most poor. marginalized groups. I seem to remember there was a shoot-out at a trailer park in Edmonton last summer while I was biking thru Alberta.
And here's some info:
"The icy, impassive City of Edmonton, which is a little more than one-quarter the size of Toronto, had 37 homicides in 2005."
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:...s&ct=clnk&cd=3
The point is that people like the Oklahoma State University basketball coach can wreck a car with a blood alcohol level nearly 3 times the legal limit and go to the Betty Ford Clinic. Native peoples get picked up for public intox and thrown in jail.
I've spent time with native/ First Nations peoples from the Southwest to the Mackenzie. From North Carolina to the BC coast. I have always been treated well.
Well ... Hobbema isn't exactly a great tourist spot, and while you
may be well treated there, I don't think I would have stayed overnight there last summer. They are working on the situation and it definitely hasn't been as bad as it was. I was going to say it had settled right down recently, but the very last link I posted indicates it hasn't. I really think it is sad when a community goes to pieces like that, and I hope that they can do something to heal the situation.
The first two articles tell about the worst week there over the summer, and the article I quoted gives an overview of the situation.
http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/009332.asp
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-11-24/34944.html
http://www.youthone.com/speak/readst...m?story_ID=994
"Hobbema is the community center of four aboriginal reserves located approximately 45 minutes south of Edmonton. It is has a total population of around 11,500 and, like many other native communities, though traditionally rich in oil money, Hobbema suffers from very high rates of poverty, unemployment, and family problems. While crime and violence of all kinds has always been high in this small community, recently, however, the situation has gotten much, much worse.
Within this small rural community, five different gangs currently operate, three of which could be called the major players. Though these gangs are by no means a new phenomenon, never before has their activity and violence been so disruptive. The cause of this recent bloodshed has been a turf war over drugs, especially cocaine. Hobbema is a major supplier of cocaine for much of central Alberta, and the recent battles has made violence a cold fact of reserve life and caused violent crime rates to reach unprecedented levels. Beatings, assaults, murders, and other violent offences have all occurred with alarming frequency. Between the months of May and October 2005, 16 drive-by shootings took place or, to put it simpler, there has been a shooting every week and a half. And the response of Edmonton’s media to this nearby eruption of gang violence and conflict? Almost nothing."
http://pipestoneflyer.com/police.html
BTW - Hobbema is just 70 kms north of where I live, so it's basically in my neighborhood.