Debate partially sponsored by @FullTimeGeek
Please visit the debate frequently as we need voters!
Also note the rule change regarding rewards for the debate.
The debate from last week had a 7 way tie with 4 votes each. It was a tough decision to break the tie, but I have awarded the SBD from the post to 
In an effort to encourage more voting for the participants, I have decided to change the rules of the debate. Instead of me keeping the steem, I will now award the steem from the debate post to the individual who voted for the winner and who's avatar name appears at the bottom of the vote list for the winning debate argument. I hope this encourages people to vote as the authors are putting in a lot of effort in these debates. I pray this encourages more participation as well and gets more steem to those who are starting out in the platform.
Week 5 debate topic - Indigenous Reconciliation
Over the past few years the Federal Government in Canada has made several apologies to the indigenous peoples in regards to their treatment in the past and especially for the residential school system. However, actions and behaviours continue to push forward a program of cultural assimilation which was viewed by Supreme Court Chief Justice as cultural genocide.
This weeks Debate Forum question:
If you were Prime Minister or President of your region, how would you approach reconciling your relationship as representative of your country with the indigenous peoples?
The rules of this debate:
- Keep comments on topic.
- No personal attacks, name calling or yelling.
- Be respectful, thoughtful and articulate with your thoughts and views.
- Participants can ask questions but lets limit the discussion threads to three deep. That means the individual can respond to the question posed and then the thread must stop.
- The post with the highest vote count will win the debate. Highest value will not be used to determine the winner but will naturally reward commenters who make excellent points. That way everyone's vote counts the same when it comes to the final prize. I will break any ties.
- Debate deadline is 10pm MST December 30, 2017. At which point I will then tabulate the results and send the prize to the winner.
- Curators are encourage to vote as well, giving higher percentage upvotes for well thought out and written responses, lower or no vote for anybody who breaks the rules or fails to articulate their position.
- Winner will receive all the SBD that I receive from this post, complements of the curators who are participating and partially sponsored by @FullTimeGeek.
- Out of the winning post, the voter on the bottom of the list with 100% upvote will receive all the Steem from the debate post, to encourage more voting!
- I am the moderator and as such I disqualify myself from winning. My decisions are final. I will not tolerate covert or overt violence in this debate. Please keep it respectful and on topic.
The goal of this contest is to engage the readers with thoughtful debate and to explore ideas that are not commonly made available to the average Jane and Joe. I also want to see if this is a good way to get low steem users participating and being rewarded with steem to help them build influence on this platform. Readers are reminded that all comments are the opinions of those who are posting and as such it is your responsibility to do your own research and make up your own mind on these topics. There is no write or wrong answer. Let us debate this issue with respect, honour, dignity, heart and intelligence.