Dan Green

A totally apolitical, Youth Community Service Corps should be established to train the thousands of under-served and unemployed aboriginal youth in attainable, practical occupations such as community health care, building construction and maintenance, that will bring immediate tangible benefits to the living conditions within their communities while at the same time providing the participants with both financial and personal incentives that go far beyond what they now receive for hanging around, being depressed and receiving welfare cheques.

For being committed and actively involved in the program, meaningful incentives, public acknowledgement and support by aboriginal leaders and government bureaucrats would provide a public stage whereby participants could become role models for  younger individuals to emulate.

To be successful in the long term and to be respected as real and genuine by the youth peer group, the program must avoid the mistakes of the past and not be allowed to be co-opted by groups or individuals with political agendas to advance. It must be designed to provide community driven down-to-earth services, that provide attainable jobs skills which can accomplish attainable goals. 

Under the Indian Act, the Federal government is responsible for funding health, education, police services and child welfare on all reserves in Canada including those with small populations in the north. New research cited by the Assembly of First Nations indicates that children living on these reserves receive less in services than those living off reserves. Why is this? The main reason would seem to be that it is cost prohibitive to provide a variety of comprehensive services to such small populations in such isolated locations. It may be a romantic dream to live off the land as the ancestors did in olden times but those days are past my friends. People living on these reserves suffer from chronic unemployment which leads to all the social ills that plaque these communities today.

There are now three times as many First Nations children being removed from their dysfunctional families than there was at the peak of the residential school system in 1949. There are now 27,500 children in foster care compared to the 8900 who were placed in the schools. This is heartbreaking and it needs to change for the sake of the children.

The AFN, Chief Shawn Atleo and the Federal government  must work together to encourage members of these communities to relocate to centers where services can be provided to allow their children to grow and thrive rather than condemning them to live in these desolate depressing outposts, which are literally patches of hell on earth, leading so many young people to snuff out their lives as the only way out.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools released its interim report on February 24, entitled They Came for the Children. The basic conclusions were that the residential school system had been an assault on aboriginal children, culture, families and that the impact of the system was immediate and ongoing. Lastly, the commission concluded that Canadians have been denied full and proper education about this sad chapter in our history.

Even though the Canadian government and the various religious denominations who were involved in operating the system have apologized for the assaults on the aboriginal community and are providing monetary compensation to the survivors, it will never be enough.

However when it comes to the the Canadian public being denied full and proper education on the matter, there is a degree of self serving rhetoric on the part of the TRC, the AFN and other First Nations Organizations who seem to more interested in perpetuating their own beaurocratic agendas for continued funding by acting as gatekeepers regarding just what information will be provided to the public,  particularly young Canadians of high school age who have so many other media distractions vying for their attention.

A journalistic report like this is really just another expensive example of the many that have preceeded it, pretty well saying all the same things. It will be read only by a few academics and maybe by some high school students who will cough back a few answers to pass their exams. The Canadian public will not be any the wiser and it will shortly end up in the dustbin of history.

Yet when given the opportunity to lever a story like Blue Saltwater to engage Canadians on an emotional level and thereby raise awareness about the schools and the sytemic dysfunction they generated within the aboriginal community, the gatekeepers inexplicably remain silent and unsupportive. Why is that?

Asemmbly of First Nations Chief Shawn Atleo’s interview with George Strombolopolous on CBC television revealed a man with a sharp intellect and clear vision for what will be a brighter future for First Nations people in Canada.http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/canada/shawn-atleo-the-complete-interview.html With a Conservative government majority, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chief Atleo have the perfect opportunity to dismantle the antiquated Indian Act, replacing it with a new legislative agreement which will provide the framework for First Nations to grow, prosper and become an integral partner in the social fabric of Canada.

Both Assembly of First Nations Chief Shawn Atleo and Herb George, president of the National Centre for First Nations Governance are calling for a “smashing” of the status quo by replacing the Federal Indian Act which has governed aboriginals in Canada since 1876. Herb George says the act is punitive, restrictive, regulatory and an assault on the language and culture of First Nations communities.http://www.thestar.com/article/1121475–aboriginal-crises-are-symptoms-of-a-deep-rooted-problem 

There is no question that a piece of legislation drafted in 1876 must be in need of some serious updating to reflect the changing reality of First Nations affairs in this country. However, with almost 2000 independent First Nations bands in British Columbia alone, all with different priorities and needs, the idea of just smashing the Indian Act seems a little naive without a solid vision about what is to replace it.

Would getting rid of the Act provide more transparent and democratic governance then what now exists under the hereditary chief system where aboriginal people’s lives are controlled by individuals and their relatives who benefit in many ways by an accident of birth? If so, lets put all the cards on the table and get on with it. Until Shawn Atleo and Herb George do more than just complain about the status quo without putting forward any concrete proposals regarding more accountable and responsible self-sustaining forms of governance, the Indian Act will be here for a long time to come.