Everybody has heard of Attawapiskat. And for good reason. The tiny First Nation community in a remote corner of northern Ontario has become emblematic of dysfunctional native communities.
How many people have heard of Sagamok?
I've often written about Attawapiskat. I've never mentioned Sagamok, even though I've actually been there a few times but have never been to Attawapiskat.
Sagamok is just one of the many native communities in Canada that is never going to make the news because it's not newsworthy. There are many First Nations without scandals of mismanagement or epidemics of suicide or drug addiction or homelessness or child abuse.
A drive through the Sagamok First Nation reveals an ordinary community of tidy homes that will never be featured in the crisis oriented reporting that is the life-blood of the news business. In fact, the community looks more prosperous than some of the white communities in the area. On Sunday afternoon the locals were tending their gardens, sitting on porches, going boating.
Such ordinariness will never be newsworthy, while stories of addiction and dysfunction and failure inevitably are.
And so the stereotypes live on, while the success stories are ignored.
Showing posts with label First Nations in Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First Nations in Canada. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The never-ending tragedy of Canada's First Nations
If you listen to the likes of Baird, Toews, Kenney, et al, Canada is a light unto the nations, a shining exemplar of human rights and human decency and justice for all, etc. ad nauseam.
The most virtuous by far of the Nations of Virtue.
But here's another manifestation of Canada's dirty secret.
First Nation children make up half of all Canadian children in foster care, even though native Canadians make up scarcely four percent of the overall population.
That's one of the revelations revealed by the latest "census" that wasn't actually a census, but merely a "voluntary questionnaire."
Obviously there's something wrong with those people...
Indeed there is. They are on the dirty end of four hundred years of systemic racism, institutionalized racism, casual racism, legalized racism, formal and informal racism, and just plain redneck in-your-face I-hate-you-because-you're-a-lazy-Indian racism.
Did I mention the racism?
The do-gooders and the hand-wringers will seize on this report as proof that we need more studies and reports and royal commissions and perhaps another "truth and reconciliation" dog-and-pony show.
We don't.
We need to give "those people" back enough of the resources that we swindled them out of so that they can rebuild their society on their terms, and the fewer white "experts" involved in the process, the better.
The most virtuous by far of the Nations of Virtue.
But here's another manifestation of Canada's dirty secret.
First Nation children make up half of all Canadian children in foster care, even though native Canadians make up scarcely four percent of the overall population.
That's one of the revelations revealed by the latest "census" that wasn't actually a census, but merely a "voluntary questionnaire."
Obviously there's something wrong with those people...
Indeed there is. They are on the dirty end of four hundred years of systemic racism, institutionalized racism, casual racism, legalized racism, formal and informal racism, and just plain redneck in-your-face I-hate-you-because-you're-a-lazy-Indian racism.
Did I mention the racism?
The do-gooders and the hand-wringers will seize on this report as proof that we need more studies and reports and royal commissions and perhaps another "truth and reconciliation" dog-and-pony show.
We don't.
We need to give "those people" back enough of the resources that we swindled them out of so that they can rebuild their society on their terms, and the fewer white "experts" involved in the process, the better.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Joe Clark idle no more
You'd have to go back over thirty years to rediscover Joe Clark's moment in the spotlight. That's when he was briefly the Progressive Conservative Prime Minister of Canada. He was widely seen as a well-meaning doofus not cut out for the rough and tumble of federal politics.
He was also widely seen as being done in by the much more politically savvy Brian Mulroney.
Clark went on to serve in Mulroney's cabinet for a few years before fading into a gentle twilight of university teaching posts.
But now he's back!
Former PM Clark has dared to go where the current PM fears to tread; all the way to the Ottawa River to meet with Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.
Chief Spence is in the third week of a hunger strike to draw attention to First Nations grievances with the Harper gang. Clark came away praising Spence's vision as "humble and achievable."
Good for you, Mr. Clark! What a refreshing change from the macho posturing of the current administration.
Is it too late for a political comeback?
He was also widely seen as being done in by the much more politically savvy Brian Mulroney.
Clark went on to serve in Mulroney's cabinet for a few years before fading into a gentle twilight of university teaching posts.
But now he's back!
Former PM Clark has dared to go where the current PM fears to tread; all the way to the Ottawa River to meet with Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.
Chief Spence is in the third week of a hunger strike to draw attention to First Nations grievances with the Harper gang. Clark came away praising Spence's vision as "humble and achievable."
Good for you, Mr. Clark! What a refreshing change from the macho posturing of the current administration.
Is it too late for a political comeback?
Monday, April 16, 2012
Looming Oxycontin travesty just the latest chapter in Canada's genocidal war on Native peoples
The Harper gang has figured out how to solve the wave of Oxycontin addiction that has become a major issue in poor communities across Canada.
It's really simple.
Just take away the Oxy.
Hundreds of thousands of addicts will have no choice but to straighten up and fly right.
Overnight.
Or tap into the vast underground Oxy supply network.
In other words, the federal government intends to solve the Oxy problem by driving addicts into the arms of criminal networks.
At least this approach is consistent with Harper's stance at Cartagena last week.
There's no problem with the war on drugs or drug laws; the problem is the addicts!
Let's solve the drugs problem by coming down really hard on addicts!
Let's get serious about punishing people who are addicted to drugs!
After all, why make addiction a health issue when you can just shovel more souls into for-profit prisons?
No sector of Canadian society has been more brutally impacted by Oxy addiction than the Native community.
Chronic poverty with no way out, a culture of dependency fostered by the federal government, and a four hundred year tradition of being exploited by the dominant white culture have left Canada's Native community ripe for addiction epidemics.
By all accounts the Oxy epidemic is more virulent and more destructive of Native society than anything that has gone before.
Addiction means dependency. Native communities have succumbed to Oxy addiction for many reasons, all of which are readily fathomable to anyone who makes the effort to understand Indian disenfranchisement in Canada.
To "solve" the problem by simply taking out the Oxy, without any plan to deal with the inevitable fallout, is cruel, inhumane, stupid, and counterproductive.
This policy will further enslave the Native population and further empower the criminal networks.
It is a gigantic step backwards.
It's really simple.
Just take away the Oxy.
Hundreds of thousands of addicts will have no choice but to straighten up and fly right.
Overnight.
Or tap into the vast underground Oxy supply network.
In other words, the federal government intends to solve the Oxy problem by driving addicts into the arms of criminal networks.
At least this approach is consistent with Harper's stance at Cartagena last week.
There's no problem with the war on drugs or drug laws; the problem is the addicts!
Let's solve the drugs problem by coming down really hard on addicts!
Let's get serious about punishing people who are addicted to drugs!
After all, why make addiction a health issue when you can just shovel more souls into for-profit prisons?
No sector of Canadian society has been more brutally impacted by Oxy addiction than the Native community.
Chronic poverty with no way out, a culture of dependency fostered by the federal government, and a four hundred year tradition of being exploited by the dominant white culture have left Canada's Native community ripe for addiction epidemics.
By all accounts the Oxy epidemic is more virulent and more destructive of Native society than anything that has gone before.
Addiction means dependency. Native communities have succumbed to Oxy addiction for many reasons, all of which are readily fathomable to anyone who makes the effort to understand Indian disenfranchisement in Canada.
To "solve" the problem by simply taking out the Oxy, without any plan to deal with the inevitable fallout, is cruel, inhumane, stupid, and counterproductive.
This policy will further enslave the Native population and further empower the criminal networks.
It is a gigantic step backwards.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
It's all sweet grass and feathers at Chief Harper's invitation-only Loya Jurga
Big Chief Harper summoned the lesser chiefs to a pow-wow today. They came in their hundreds. Grand Chiefs, Regional Chiefs, hereditary Chiefs, Band Chiefs, you name it.
Most of the morning was taken up with prayers and tributes to the sleeping Gods that haven't done their First Nations supplicants much good the last five hundred years or so. Why not take a page out of whitey's book and try for a bit of separation between church and state, native brothers? The white folks are just patronizing you when they indulge this stuff. Let sleeping Gods lie already!
In the afternoon Big Chief Harper had to duck out early to meet up with some serious folks in Davos, but not before delivering one of the most hackneyed speeches of his career.
Referring to the Indian Act, the 1876 legislation that codified native apartheid in Canada, Harper said "that tree has deep roots. Blowing up the stump would just leave a big hole."
And with that Harper was off to Switzerland, and the Chiefs were off to their impoverished communities, no more empowered and no wiser than they were before.
Most of the morning was taken up with prayers and tributes to the sleeping Gods that haven't done their First Nations supplicants much good the last five hundred years or so. Why not take a page out of whitey's book and try for a bit of separation between church and state, native brothers? The white folks are just patronizing you when they indulge this stuff. Let sleeping Gods lie already!
In the afternoon Big Chief Harper had to duck out early to meet up with some serious folks in Davos, but not before delivering one of the most hackneyed speeches of his career.
Referring to the Indian Act, the 1876 legislation that codified native apartheid in Canada, Harper said "that tree has deep roots. Blowing up the stump would just leave a big hole."
And with that Harper was off to Switzerland, and the Chiefs were off to their impoverished communities, no more empowered and no wiser than they were before.
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