With the recent events unfolding at the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, I felt it was time for me to share my thoughts on the state of aboriginal affairs in Canada.
What does the average non-native or non-aboriginal person think of when they hear the word aboriginal or native or even Indian? I would have to say without doing a formal poll that would take time and money, the average person in B.C. generally has negative thoughts come to mind first before anything positive.
What are these thoughts?
They can range from simple dislike to outright discrimination. In my lifetime I have encountered many people who have verbally discriminated me or aboriginal people in general.
The type of discrimination varies depending on the context of the situation and who is involved in the conversation. Here is a list of some examples of discrimination behaviour and language I have been exposed to:
• Natives are lazy.
• They are drug addicts or alcoholics.
• They are uneducated.
• They get too many free things like schooling, don’t have to pay taxes (property or sales), and free housing are just some of the examples.
• They are freeloaders – too much government (federal) money is spent on aboriginals who waste the money.
I, too, think of many aboriginal people in this light, but it is because I have an inside look at the daily life of aboriginal people, as I have lived most of my life on reserve and for the past 11 years off reserve.
I am disappointed and embarrassed by what I have seen in many aboriginal people across B.C. and Canada. I look at aboriginal people and see them as “handout Indians.”
What I mean is they always want someone to do something for them, give them something or take care of them. I don’t see them being proactive and taking care of themselves. This is not just a personal thing it also is a mindset by many aboriginal band councils and organizations.
How has this happened?
In part it can be traced to the colonization of Canada and the residential school system and the Potlatch Prohibition laws, and the attempted assimilation of native people; (with many other policies over the years designed to negatively affect aboriginal people).
Residential schools and the colonization/assimilation policies had drastic negative consequences for aboriginal people. These policies have directly affected many generations of aboriginal families and individuals; and indirectly affected many more. I myself am a child of a mother who attended an Indian residential school.
Many aboriginal people are suffering from similar affects to people who are addicts (be it gambling, drugs, alcohol, or other forms); they will not be able to change their environment or situation until they choose to stop being a victim and make the change for themselves and do it by themselves.
I am proud of who I am and of my heritage. What I am not proud of is what we (First Nation people) have become.
Going back to my thoughts of how people perceive native people, far too often they are quick to think of all the negative images that proliferate in the media. Be it selling “food fish” in B.C., the perceived increase in violent crimes by First Nation people in Winnipeg that caused Air Canada to move their staff from hotels in the downtown areas where they had been staying for years, or smuggling cigarettes in Ontario/Quebec.
When was the last time anyone heard of a positive news story about a First Nation group or person?
Too many aboriginal people in this country are still saying that they are the victims of government-sanctioned and archaic policies. They feel that the government “owes” them and that they are “entitled” to be taken care of. This type of selfish attitude will not enable people to move forward and grow as a person (regardless of race) and escape whatever obstacles they have in life.
It is that very attitude that, in my opinion, puts people into a category similar to a person with addiction issues.
They have to want to change and do it for themselves. There cannot be a “give it to me because I am a victim” or else the circle of destructive behaviour will continue.
Native people in these situations are very similar to people with addictions. For generations, they have been systematically trained to be “taken care of” by the federal government.
I realize that because of the policies of the Canadian government in the early formations of the county played a huge role in how the current Indian Act was established but it also has created a vast amount of people who are now dependent on someone else to provide for them.
• • •
Most reserves across Canada function in similar ways but each reserve can change things depending on their individual needs and what they feel is right for their situation. This is where the inequalities come in.
Most First Nation groups give their members tuition, books and living allowances for post-secondary education, but there are different levels of support given to each First Nation, which is decided on by the band and its individual agreement with Ottawa.
First Nation students have great differences in their living allowances. This is something that the general public resents about First Nation people, as they see it as freeloading rather than an agreement with Ottawa to provide quality education to correct the sins of past government policies.
Additionally, and what people see more often through firsthand experience or in the media, is the providing of housing for individuals and families on reserves.
Here again, things are vastly different across Canada. Some reserves, like mine, will give a person a one-time grant of approximately $24,000 to build or buy a house; while other reserves provide social housing where the people are paying low rents for houses already built, or they will build social housing for them. This is where the public perception of “free” housing comes in.
People who do not take pride in themselves or are given things (like a free/low-cost house) typically do not look after their belongings. So when their houses are infested with mould, garbage, disrepair, etc. and become unlivable they will simply ask the band for another house. In most cases they get one.
• • •
In B.C., we have too many chiefs, and not enough harmony between them.
In B.C., we have a dysfunctional system — because of the large amount of First Nation groups in our province and their different outlooks they cannot get along with each other and provide a unified front when dealing with political issues.
So we get organizations like the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, the First Nation Summit, BC Friendship Centres, and the Native Brotherhood of BC. There are many other organizations that I don’t have the space to mention here.
They are fighting each other for funding and political gains when they should be working together in a united front to get what they want.
• • •
Addressing the present problems in northern Ontario, do I wish this community to be put under a state of emergency? No, I do not. Let’s take a brief look at the situation.
This community has been governed under the Indian Act and Ottawa provides funds every year based on their population. These funds are supposed to go to basic infrastructures needed for daily life.
Now when a person reads that up to $90 million dollars has been issued to them and yet a state of emergency still was needed to be implemented, what went wrong?
It is wrong to just point the finger at Ottawa and its policies. Sure, they do not have a great track record with Aboriginal Affairs over the years but they are still providing funding every year.
The problem lies with the dysfunctional and often-corrupt First Nation leaders who are receiving those funds. If proper use of funds were put into basic infrastructures in the first place, maybe this community would not be in this mess.
Additionally, if the band were to think of themselves like a municipality and look to the future when spending current funds, thing could turn out differently.
Some responsibility lies with the individual people who are in the state of emergency. Just because they are living on a reserve doesn’t mean they are imprisoned there.
If there are no jobs for them to support themselves and their families’ maybe they should move and find economic stability elsewhere. Sure, it would mean leaving their traditional lands but living in a state of emergency has not gotten them anywhere.
The people have been living in such dysfunction they are not sure what to do. They have been trained to be dependent on the band to provide for them and for the band to get all the funds from Ottawa.
I think often of how the Osoyoos First Nation operates.
They have a very successful business plan that brings prosperity to every member. Each year the band issues dividend cheques to its members but in order for the members to collect they must not be on welfare.
The band provides all members with the opportunity for employment and if they chose not to work for the band, they cannot reap its benefits. I think this is great fiscal responsibility and it also provides leadership and instills a work ethic instead of a welfare state of mind.
When First Nations people stand up and say, “I will no longer depend on others,” then things will change in a positive way. But they first have to admit they have to do it themselves.
• • •
I remember my father telling me a story that most of the logging companies in the early half of the 1900s wanting to hire First Nation workers because they had a great work ethic, showed up on time and worked hard.
I have to say that this image has been long forgotten and replaced by the images we see today. It is unfortunate, but we can change if we set our minds to it.
One of the biggest problems First Nations people/groups have when it comes to financial prosperity is that they are always looking for grants to provide them with income. Sooner or later the grants will dry up, especially when B.C. First Nations settle their treaties.
Economic prosperity should be sustainable income without having to rely on yearly grants which may or may not come through.
We need to provide long-term financial freedom from dependency, whether it is an individual or a band.
• • •
Not all non-native people share this negative view of First Nation people.
Many sympathize with the current conditions and for the atrocities that many First Nations people experienced since colonization of the continent. These are probably the same people who give to the needy around the world.
For them I am grateful, but for things to change in the current situation of First Nations in Canada, we need other people to step up and voice their concerns, not just the First Nation people themselves.
In conclusion, I feel that First Nation people in general need to change the perceptions that society has on them.
When First Nation people find themselves in difficult situations they generally are there because of their own making. I think that it is due to the colonial systems put in place by the Canadian government but to continue to use that as a crutch is no longer an excuse.
It is time First Nations people stood up for themselves and admitted they have to break free of the dependency of others. Being this dependent is like an addiction, one that is very hard to break.
First Nation people need to stop blaming others for their predicaments and take responsibility for their own actions and situations.
I want people to know that I am simply not trying to slam First Nations people. I generally want all of them to succeed in life and make their individual and group situations better; but without changing themselves asking for others to do it for them is the wrong approach to take.
For thousands of years First Nations people in what is now Canada prospered. We need to make changes in ourselves before we can again reach those pre-contact levels of success and prosperity. Finally, I want to make it clear that this is my opinion, and not one that is meant to cause people harm or to hurt their feelings. I want things to change, but to do that some hard work is in store first.
Frank Assu, also known as Tlakwatsi, is a member of the We Wai Kai First Nation of Quadra Island. He lives in Comox.
