Last week’s tragedy at Yellow Quill is the focus of separate editorials today by columnists Bob Hughes (Regina Leader-Post) and Doug Cuthand (Saskatoon Star Phoenix).

Both find common cause in lamenting the dismal living conditions on reserves with Hughes observing, “there are too many people in this province, our city who live in rot…….They turn out to be drunks because that is all they know.  Don’t judge them by our values.  Judge them by their values.”

In calling for immedate action to improve conditions, Hughes partly blames First Nations leaders saying “in some cases, they have failed their people miserably.”

For Cuthand, there is plenty of blame to go around.  He argues that “government policy over the years has been to warehouse Indian people rather than spend serious money to improve conditions.”  He adds however that “it’s fashionable to blame people on reserves for all the problems that face First Nations people. All too often, it is the aboriginal victims who get the blame.”

The obstacle according to Cuthand remains the “neo-colonial attitude of the Department of Indian Affairs” but in the end he argues, “we must take responsibility for ourselves.  The blame game has got us nowhere.”