Bruce_the_vii wrote:
Jeff the place is totally isolated. It's waiting for the ice road to open at this moment. Unfortunately people choose to live there.
I assume they are legally allowed to trap, They also have government money coming in regularly to offset the cash that would be sent out, it would go a long way to getting cash in the hands of the people living there. Towns located in the far north seem to be doing alright.
andyt wrote:
It's not the size, it's the location. Those small towns probably serve farmers and maybe oil? workers. This reserve is fly in, with winter roads only acessible 4 months of the year. Can't grow anything there, there's just no reason for it to exist except it's traditional land. There is that diamond mine about 60 km away tho. Apparently a lot of the natives would work there for a day or so, then not show up. But the mine says the reserve has taken in about 300 million in contracts etc since the mine started being built. Wonder where that money went.
But in the long run there's just no economic justification for that reserve to exist, and so we're just keeping natives there in welfare. We should stop that, help them move and get education so they can participate in the regular economy.
Actually a number of smaller towns are alive for no reason at all, they have grocery stores, bars, some have hotels, etc. I can name a couple that at 3/4 people on welfare and 1/4 the business based on just those guys. Even in those cases there is never a house without heat, water, or basic necessities. You don't need a ton of money to create a micro economy, just people actually willing to work for the cash, (hell, people on welfare sometimes make cash under the table by doing simple repair work).
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