Aboriginals SECOND OF SIX
My first personal encounter with aboriginal people came when we opened a drug store in Sudbury in the 1960’s. I was used to getting requests for rubbing alcohol from the poor in Toronto. It was a cheap way to get drunk after the liquid was distilled. In Sudbury the request usually came from natives.
I work on a very simple premise. All races, religions, ethnic groupings and nationalities are equally able to succeed, given the right conditions. After the white Europeans arrived, the right conditions were never made available. The Indians were placed on less desirable land, which, in the end, turned out to be of immense value due to population growth and the discovery of natural resources.
The government of Canada conducts its relationship with the individual bands under the aegis of the 130 year old Indian Act. Every acre of land on the reserves is owned by the crown. First Nations cannot sell their real estate. They cannot fund development by using land as collateral. All their business transactions must be cleared through appointed officials set up by the Act. Even something as simple as constructing a building for a super market remains tied up in red tape for years before action is taken. The Act ends up as a make-work project for hundreds of civil servants and it is not beyond belief that these same officials put roadblocks on the way of success in order to ensure that their jobs are secure.
Conditions are deplorable. Native people are almost four times as likely as the rest of the population to live in overcrowded conditions. More than 50% of natives now live off the reserves and their numbers are growing rapidly. Over the past decade their population has grown by 45%, about six times faster than the rest of Canada. 3.8% of the Canadian population is aboriginal and the median age of native people is 27, compared with 40 for non-natives.
Through the Indian Act the federal government is responsible for the health and welfare of the native population but the provincial government has to enforce the law. There are many land claims that have lain dormant for many years adding to the frustration of the bands, and leads to a situation such as the one in Caledon, Ontario. Canadians who bought land in good faith are being told that their title is not valid, and the fact that the province does nothing adds credence to the aboriginal claims.
I have never read an in-depth analysis of the reserve system, why it developed the way it did, but the residential schools may give an insight into the thinking at the time of government civil servants. Take the children from their parents, teach them English and separate them from aboriginal life and culture. Hopefully they would never return to the reserve and over time, with the death of the elders, the system could be abandoned. The scheme failed. The schools were a major disaster. It lead to sexual, verbal and physical violence against some students and the churches involved in the operation of the schools were required to pay millions of dollars in damages.
In the past few years economic conditions have changed. In the northern areas, the lands occupied by the natives have become very valuable because of the discovery of oil and other minerals. An anomaly in the law has allowed certain bands to partner in gambling casinos which, if run well, provide income and many jobs. But the problem of social and economic justice for the natives is very complicated due to the fact that there are many bands situated over vast areas of Canada. Native people must be allowed to manage their own local affairs, if done democratically, which I believe are the wishes of the general population.
What should be done now? The land ownership problems must be resolved at once.Lawlessness on the reserves must be stopped by training native police to enforce Canadian laws.Possibly they should become a part of the Ontario Provincial Police It is intolerable for illegal cigarettes to be sold from reserve land with impunity. The answer is more freedom for natives to run their own financial affairs and pay the price as other Canadians do for success or failure.
The maltreatment of indigenous peoples is a worldwide problem. In the USA many people are unaware of the issues our indigenous people face. And of course the same old rhetoric of “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” is always touted. You’re right something does need to change. As individuals, I think we can start by interacting more with indigenous peoples and understanding their needs and point of view. Then together we can work to change the government. Canada and the USA have nasty histories that both countries love to deny. Keep calling a spade a spade and telling the truth!
I know a bit about the problem in Canada but the answer is education and jobs. Not easy to change the lifestyle of indigenous people
murray
Education and job is correct. “change the lifestyle”? Their lifestyle was forced to change starting in 1492. Forced off their lands and onto reservations, put into schools to whitewash them, denied access to jobs, denied education. I too believe it starts with the rest of us. We have to stop acting like indigenous people are some fantasy or myth. You can’t enforce Canadian laws on their land because it’s sovereign land. Canada, like the USA, should pay what they owe indigenous peoples.
Olivia I cannot agree with you more. We have to make a deal with them that pays off for the injustice we created, but is a permanent deal. We cannot go on into the ever lasting future to pay for the mistakes made by our ancestors. There are problems which I would like to list. 1. With so many aboriginal tribes how do you make a deal that encompasses all of them. They are not united. 2. How do we get jobs and education to so many different areas when they are isolated 3. They can have their own laws but what happens when their life style breaks our lives. ie counterfeited cigarettes 4. What happens when the aboriginal intermarries. Can the white person go onto their land. It is all difficult and complicated