Paving the way
Dear Editors,
The July 21-23 Assembly of First Nations (AFN) election will be an important political event in Canada this year. New leadership will involve new energy and new direction. National Chief Phil Fontaine has left a compelling legacy, with the recent residential school’s apology as a high note.
The danger remains that it may go largely unnoticed among most Canadians.
But we should take notice. This opportunity for renewed leadership presents us with the potential for continued strengthening of relations between Canadians, Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals.
Aboriginal poverty remains stubbornly pervasive. Aboriginal children are neglected and vastly overrepresented in welfare agencies. Crime rates are astonishingly high. Too many young Aboriginal Canadians are denied education or choose not to pursue it.
There is some truth to the idea that these problems are the responsibility of the community in which they develop. But it’s important to note that struggle is not racially defined. It occurs in any human community, First Nations or not, that must come to grips with our innate capacity for wrongdoing that is as old as humanity itself.
As non-Aboriginal Canadians, we can’t ignore the fact that these problems result directly from policies governments have imposed on Aboriginal communities. Some have existed since Confederation. They are upheld by parliaments and legislatures whose members are largely non-Aboriginal.
The residential school system did much to undermine the strength of the First Nations family, tearing children from their families. Thankfully, the schools are gone, but their legacy lives on. Yet, the Confederation-era “Indian Act” still exists. What’s more, many on-reserve social services remain inadequately funded by federal and provincial governments.
These policies have a direct negative impact on the lives of Aboriginal Canadians. Did you know that in many cases Aboriginal families remain unable to privately own their own house or property? Did you know that many northern Aboriginal communities don’t have a decent school where children can learn or hospitals to provide basic care?
Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, we should all be concerned. Yet the refusal to do so is most endemic in the non-Aboriginal community.
It represents our failure to understand that we are partly responsible for the problem. We are responsible when we refuse to demand better from our federal and provincial governments. We are responsible when we tacitly support barriers that impede the expression of First Nations initiative, entrepreneurship and community building upheld by the state apparatus whose governments we elect.
The best thing the new chief can do is continue to call the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community to account for our collective moral failure. The best Canadians can do is show the First Nations community that we are listening and are willing to take a seat at the table.
Last summer’s residential school’s apology was a step in the right direction. As neighbours and fellow Canadians, we need to start talking to each other. For the sake of reconciliation, let’s have the courage to wash old structures away.
Eric Dalke
ArtSci ’09
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