In an attempt to compensate for the disparity between natives and non-natives, politicians and bureaucrats have produced volumes of preferential legislation, special exemptions and benefits for Aboriginals. The City of Winnipeg has written the latest chapter.

On September 2, the City of Winnipeg unveiled its "First Steps: Municipal Aboriginal Pathways" which proposes new approaches to the Aboriginal community on issues such as education, training and employment. The City wants to implement more education and training opportunities for Aboriginals to meet current employment standards. But such opportunities for educational advancement and training already exist at institutes of higher learning.

For example, the University of Manitoba has ACCESS programs, which provides university studies at the degree level to persons who have traditionally not had the opportunity for such experience because of social, economic, cultural reasons or lack of formal education. Specially, the policy for admission states, "Preferences will be given to persons who are Aboriginal (Status, Non-Status, Métis, Inuit)." ACCESS programs are also available at Brandon and Winnipeg Universities, and Keewatin and Red River Colleges.

Every level of government has affirmative action policies designed to favour Aboriginals with preferential hiring over non-Aboriginals. The City of Winnipeg will continue to encourage Aboriginal people to apply for positions and identify themselves as being Aboriginal in their cover letters. The City's website declares that the self disclosure won't be a factor in hiring - but one has to ask, why bother with identification

Such preferential policies might be barely acceptable - though no less discriminatory - if they actually produced results. Unfortunately, the result has been to make Aboriginals more - not less - dependent on government handouts and special treatment. Not only does this destroy the motivation and pride of Aboriginal people, but it creates resentment and tension in the rest of society.

Most native policies create new victims because they wrongly address group rights rather than individual rights. Thus, group-based laws can only be justified if one looks at the former and not the latter. In either case, it creates victims. For example, should a single mother who is non-native lose a possible job to a native male, just because of his ethnicity Unfairness can only ever be justified by looking at the group and not the individual. This is what Winnipeg Mayor Murray tends to forget.

If the City of Winnipeg wanted to make real and effective change, then they would be coming up with better ideas than pitting races against one another when it comes to a scarce job market. All the new Aboriginal strategy does, is tell Aboriginals that we don't believe you can make it on your own.

Canadians want what is just and equitable, and feel a tremendous amount of guilt for the third-world conditions in which many Aboriginals live. But, the current system of awarding special treatment to one group of people while discriminating against another, only results in hostility and even greater long-term inequality in our society.