thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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 Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:50 am Post subject: We have to expose the dirty little secret |
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Canadians wouldn't stand for it if they knew. It's this country's dirty little secret. Poverty among Canada's first nations peoples rivals Third World conditions.
While most children in this country sleep one to a bed every night, many first nations children share a two-bedroom house with 10 or more people.
While graduating from high school is assumed of most young people, 70 per cent of first nations youth will not finish high school.
While most teenagers play hockey, shoot hoops or have hope for a part-time job, and maybe university or college, our teenagers are committing suicide at record rates.
While it is normal in most of Canada to take a sip of water straight from the tap, boil-water advisories are the norm for many of our people on reserve.
And while the national unemployment rate flirts with record lows, the unemployment rate among first nations people - those actively looking for work - is 27 per cent.
As long as these facts remain secret, governments are free to ignore them because Canadians won't demand action for equality of opportunity, or even basic human compassion.
That is why we have chosen next Friday, June 29, as a national day of action. We want to issue a call to all Canadians to support us. Governments may not listen to us: We have no power, no money, and few votes - nothing they need. But they will listen if the rest of the country stands with us.
What do we want? Nothing more than anybody else has. We want the basics: a good education, quality health care, a shot at a job to support ourselves and our families.
How can we bring this about?
Speeding up the excruciatingly slow pace of land-claims settlements would be a good start. These negotiations - over land that various first nations bands are legally and contractually entitled to - have gone on without end for so many years that one can only conclude we are not being negotiated with in good faith. With land, first nations can develop an economic base, create job opportunities, and begin the move away from dependency. Ottawa recently announced a process to speed up small land-claims settlements. We commend the government on this and hope it generates results.
On other issues, however, there is less to commend the government on. First nations want to believe in the Canadian political process and we have tried to work within it. Some of our people, frustrated and angry by years of inaction and worsening conditions, say politics will never work for us. Increasingly, the evidence suggests they may be right.
The latest example of Canadian political failure may be the cruellest. In 2004, a process called the aboriginal round tables was launched. It was to produce a plan for reducing poverty among first nations people. For two years, we worked with all levels of government. The process resulted in a federal-provincial agreement, a real plan for improving education, health care, and economic opportunity. It even had funding behind it.
After the last federal election, the government changed. With that change, our hope for change went out the window because the new government rejected the federal-provincial accord and has refused to fund or implement it. We don't think it is right for a government to walk away from a commitment of this kind, especially after years of hard work resulted in an agreement that would bring real improvements. We don't think it is right after centuries of broken agreements and understandings. We don't think it is right to make our people live in these conditions any longer.
We think the accord reached by the federal and provincial governments was a good one. But if the new government has some elements it wants to revisit or some new ideas it wants to try, let's hear them. After all, we would never outright oppose or reject ideas or suggestions that would make this plan even better. But the accord has not been replaced with different ideas. It has been replaced with nothing. Out of sight, out of mind.
That is why we are asking Canadians to join with us on June 29. Take a stand. Governments are betting you don't care about us. I'm betting you do. Find some way on that day - sign a petition, go to a rally, honk your horn - to show Ottawa that you want to help us on our drive toward self-sufficiency, and in making Canada a better experience for all.
Phil Fontaine is National chief, Assembly of First Nations
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com
I fully agree with the diagnosis and fully disagree with most of the suggested solutions. Certainly, this should be one of our number 1 policy concerns. Any honest discussion must extend past the tired "transfer" paradigm and towards one that focuses on empowerment. |
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