Once again we are witnessing the level of poverty of First Nations across Canada, this time the Attawapiskat Reserve. The attitude of Prime Minister Harper appears to be to spend billions more on prisons and incarceration to house our Canadian improverished First Nations’ youth rather than creating the conditions for social justice. In Canada there is a high incarceration rate for aboriginal youth. The Conservative approach seems to be, why spend money on aboriginal youths’ health, housing and education when it’s much easier to build more prisons and leave First Nations’ communities in squalor. Harper fails to understand, once we invest in social justice we do not have to build more prisons; in fact we could even dismantle some. The Conservative approach is dead wrong for First Nations and all Canadians. We need social justice not more prisons.
Paul Connolly
Victoria
