April 17: I have tried to stay away from commentary on politics or news events. Instead, other than a couple of personal observations about Rob Ford, I’ve tried to provide some diversion or “entertainment” and left the pondering of weighty matters to you. But with the revelations of the crisis in Attawapiskat earlier this week, I feel obliged to say a few things.
I’m aware that there is a long and chequered history of relationships between our peoples and there is some “blame” for the current situation on both sides. That said, our treatment of the First Nations is a travesty. We have tolerated Aboriginal communities with no running water, no sanitary services, no schools, poor housing, lack of access to health care and social services for many decades. It’s complete hypocrisy that we continue to abide third-world conditions in First Nations communities while criticising other countries for their human rights failures.
We stumble from crisis to crisis, apparently lacking a national strategy for making meaningful improvements to the lives of our first citizens. Prime Minister Trudeau has promised a more thorough and considered approach to the situation, and I hope he will deliver, yet I’m cynical enough to feel that we will again be caught in the morass of history and politics and that nothing much will be accomplished. Why does it have to be this way?
Through our elected government we (the taxpayers) are about to spend significant amounts of our money on infrastructure and other measures in an effort to get the economy moving, and I suspect that a majority of Canadians would support spending a large portion of that money to rectify the long-standing issues in aboriginal communities.
If we’re going to be spending billions on infrastructure, why not build sanitary sewers and water systems, roads and air/rail connections to native communities as a priority? Why not train First Nations to build them and housing and schools? They would learn portable skills, and become employed and employable. Why are we not using First Nations communities to model non-carbon energy generation? Surely there’s an opportunity to wean these communities off diesel-generated power in favour of small-scale hydro, geothermal, wind and solar power installations. It might be a showcase for Canadian technology and a good example of what we should all be trying to accomplish.
Why are we not looking for creative ways to support these communities with health care and social services professionals when they are obviously so critically needed? At the moment, many communities lack basic shelter for health care workers, and the pay is not great, so there’s no incentive to go north. The opportunity of meaningful service needs to be cast in a way that overcomes the potential isolation and makes it more appealing than other alternatives in the south. What about refocusing Katimavik or creating similar opportunities for young Canadians to go north and be of service for a year between high school and university? It would benefit them, the communities they attend, and build bridges for the next generation of leaders.
We also need to find a way to deal comprehensively with the fallout from the residential schools fiasco, including teaching it as part of Canadian history classes and providing appropriate and meaningful social services and addictions supports.
Easy to say. Hard to do. Much of what I say is naïve and devoid of any real understanding of the situation, but I don’t feel that I am alone in wanting to see meaningful progress to address the horrendous state of affairs we see in First Nations communities. I can only hope that the crisis in Attawapiskat marks a new beginning, rather than another failed opportunity.
