The politics of race are a Canadian scourge that should be forever abolished. Our paternalistic aboriginal policies turn Indians into second-class citizens and forbid them from owning their own homes on reserves.

Across Canada, Indians live under corrupt and often repressive band regimes that spend tax money with reckless abandon, ensuring lavish lifestyles for Indian politicians while common band members languish in third world conditions.

Whether it's smoking bans, fishing rights, logging practices or street crime, natives and non-natives are brought into conflict by laws which treat people differently according to race.

The entire Indian system is a slow-motion train wreck that costs taxpayers billions each year while most politicians sit idly by and pretend the problem doesn't exist.

It's supremely ironic that some very progressive policy ideas have risen out of the ashes of the Indian Act, which is ultimately responsible for Canadian race inequities.

There was the proposal from the Muskeg Lake Cree to build a private MRI clinic on an urban reserve in Saskatchewan. The archaic Canada Health Act forbids Canadians from building health facilities and charging a fee for their use. Thumbing their noses at the liberal establishment, the Muskeg Lake Cree is moving ahead while our hand-wringing provincial government and status-quo federal politicians watch it all happen.

The reaction, particularly that of our befuddled Prime Minister, is a perfect illustration of the two sets of rules in this country. During the federal election when Ralph Klein emitted his usual rumblings about health reform, Paul Martin vowed to look Ralph in the eye and say "no" without even seeing details of the mysterious plan.

And what of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation's plan, and their lineup of willing investors Paul Martin will be looking in the eyes of the folks at Muskeg Lake only if he dons a ceremonial head dress at his next aboriginal photo-op in Saskatchewan. You can call the Muskeg Lake proposal "politically correct private medicine."

Another interesting proposal comes from the Piapot First Nation where angry parents are calling for a school voucher system after they learned their high school students were learning elementary-level math, leading to a bizarre and unproductive 30-day sit-in at the band-run school last fall. A voucher system would enable aboriginal parents to direct government funding to a private or public school of their choice.

Sounds like a reasonable proposal, and apparently our federal government and Indian lobby groups are looking into the merits of parental choice in education - but only for status Indians.

In a story by the Regina Leader Post, NDP battleaxe, Regina school trustee and Sociology Professor John Conway offered a grim assessment of the voucher proposal: "I just see this as a potential way of really undermining Indian government and Indian control of education on reserves, the same way as it would undermine public education in the cities if we allowed this to go forward."

It's unclear what aspects of the status quo Conway wishes to preserve. If Conway is referring to the fact that excellent teachers are paid the same as mediocre ones, or that school taxes are sky-rocketing with little or no justification from school boards, or the cookie-cutter approach to education currently embraced, we cast our lot with the choice advocates at Piapot.

What a voucher system offers is competition and empowerment. It forces schools to provide competitive services at competitive prices. Shopping around for education alternatives would empower parents to become active in their children's education. It requires school trustees like Conway to account for how money is spent and work to find ways to reduce costs and improve service.

The Muskeg Lake Cree and the Piapot First Nation are on to something big with their health and education reform proposals. It's too bad that such innovative thinking can only arise out of race inequalities in our society.