Dan Green

The elders and chiefs that run the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) finally found a flimsy reason to get revenge on their chairperson Guy Lonechild by firing him for allegedly covering up a drinking and driving charge in 2009. Troubling though this may be, the real reason appears to be pay-back for the fact that Lonechild uncovered a financial mess at the First Nations University in Regina and fired the board, embarrasing many of the same incompetant people who run the Federation. Lonechild took his case to court, where a judge overturned their attempt to cashier him, but when Lonechild returned to work he found that the keys to his office had been changed and he couldn’t get in. Several days later he accepted a $500,000.00 severance package and walked. Who knows what threats may have been uttered behind closed doors. It’s also shocking how these guys just throw taxpayers’ money around, as if they’d earned it themselves.

The chiefs of Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec have recently also refused to work with a panel set up by AFN chief Shaun Atleo and John Duncan, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs which will recommend ways to improve the nation’s 500 on-reserve schools. Why would they refuse to even work with the panel to find solutions to a 60% drop out rate? Because it serves them fine when most aboriginal youth are illiterate and unable to challenge their self serving ways. Here’s hoping guys like Shaun Atleo and Guy Lonechild find support within the larger aboriginal community becauase they are the ones who are trying to arrive at realistic solutions for aboriginal youth rather than just feathering their own nests.http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/john-ibbitson/dropout-chiefs-imperil-a-generation-of-kids/article2131931/?service=mobile

Recent studies have shown an appalling aboriginal high school dropout rate approaching sixty percent. Obviously more must be done to bring these numbers into line with Canadian averages. In the meantime, aboriginal leaders must provide encouragment and financial opportunities to the deserving forty percent who have made the grade. Instead of handing out royalty payments to eighteen year olds who have done nothing to deserve them, substantial monies should be earmarked to assist the high achievers in pursuing their educational goals. Generous scholarship incentives should be available to be “earned” by the best and brightest for both university and technical education and the success of these students should be widely publicized and rewarded to encourage up and comers to follow in their footsteps. If this can be done in the poverty zone of rural India, it surely can be done in Canadian aboriginal communities on an even more widespread basis.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/one-room-schoolhouse-fanatical-teacher-committed-students-freedom-from-a-life-of-poverty/article2105765/

The St. Eugene Hotel and Resort http://www.steugene.ca/resort and other similar well postioned aboriginal owned businesses could provide excellent academic and on-the-job educational experiences for deserving aboriginal youth. Competitive scholarship opportunities funded by the Assembly of First Nations and other aboriginal organizations should be made available to the most qualified candidates from all over North America. A one or two year program operated in association with post-secondary institutions would allow these young people to become proficient in areas like accounting, hotel management and other operations associated with the hospitality industry rather than just being relegated to jobs such as housekeeping and security which is now often the case.

This is an example where practical educational opportunities can be made available today for the kids who make the effort to qualify and who deserve the opportunity. They will have the great experience of learning along with others with similar backgrounds from all over North America and will reap the benefits of challenging and rewarding careers that will last them for a lifetime.

It’s a question that I’m often asked and at times during the book’s six year gestation, I sometimes wondered myself. There were many reasons, including being raised and educated within a Catholic environment where although fortunate to never have faced the abuse experienced by Blue, I was shocked by the revelations that began to surface concerning people I had been taught to trust and revere.

Everything on this subject that I read or watched on television was reported in a formal documentary fashion and although vivid and factual, the stories didn’t really have that much effect on me because like most white Canadians, I didn’t personally know any Indian/Aboriginal/First Nations people which made it difficult to internalize the issue. 

I felt that a gripping story about an empathetic protagonist with whom readers of all backgrounds could identify, would be a more effective means of raising public awareness and understanding about what actually happened to “real people” within the Indian Residential School System for almost a hundred years.

This is exactly what is happening. More and more readers are telling me that they have come to care about the book’s main character, Blue Saltwater, and that they found themselves wincing for him when things went bad and routing for him as he fought to overcome the challenges he faced. Some have said they felt sad for Blue and others have said they immediately think of him whenever there is something in the news about First Nations and the residential schools. This is what I call building awareness!

As an increasing number of Canadians begin to know and care about Blue the person, a more informed dialogue will emerge that will allow us to heal the wounds of the past and build a positive future for all our children.

Companies who are profiting from their operations in the Canadian oil patch must now take the lead and not wait for slow moving government programs before making significant investments in aboriginal youth employment, entrepreneurship and education. With the massive oil sands projects currently underway, this is an exceptional moment for social responsibility and a wonderful opportunity to help soften their oily image. With a youth unemployment level approaching twenty percent, private sector ingenuity that is inclusive to this rapidly growing youth population will insure that these long-term investments remain secure for years to come. Doing anything less will surely put them in jeopardy.