Monday, April 11, 2016

Attawapiskat, again

There can be no more searing an indictment of any generation in any culture, in any era, than when the next generation, our children, prefer killing themselves to making their way in the world we have brought them into. Yet that seems to be what is happening in Attawapiskat, the Northern Ontario Indian community that seems to lurch from crisis to crisis and headline to headline.

There's more than enough blame to go around, so there's no point even starting the blame game. Attawapiskat's state of perpetual crisis doesn't leave anyone looking like a hero. Sure, all the politicians in Ottawa and Toronto are saying all the right things. The various First Nations leaders are all saying the right things. Attawapiskat will make the headlines for a few days or a few weeks.

Extra counsellors and therapists will be air-dropped into the community. Things will calm down. The help from the South will go home. The headlines will fade away.

Till next time.


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