And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Draft report counters native urban migration http://www.vancouversun.com/cgi-bin/newsite.pl?adcode=n-mm&modulename=nation al%20news&template=national&nkey=vs&filetype=fullstory&file=/cpfs/national/9 90721/n072179.html LEANNE YOHEMAS-HAYES, The Canadian Press Aboriginal people aren't moving off reserves as often as people think, suggests a document prepared for the federal government to be presented in Vancouver Thursday. That could actually be good news for overcrowded reserves lacking adequate water and sewer services if Ottawa provides more funding based on the draft report, obtained by The Canadian Press. A final report will be released in the fall. Authors used the most recent census figures to counter what's described as a "prevailing myth" of a mass exodus of registered Indians from reserves to cities. In fact, it concludes, there has been a consistent gain to reserves, although relatively small in relation to reserve population. >From 1991 to 1996, 13,640 more people moved to reserves than left them. Between 1986 and 1991, according to the report, 9,230 people moved to reserves. Forty years after his family went to the city to find work, author Brian Maracle moved back to Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ont. "It's the best thing I ever did," said Maracle, who wrote about his experience in Back on the Rez. "For people who care about things and want to live tradition and culture - this is the centre of our spiritual, cultural and political existence." The federal report argues that an apparent native population boom in cities really reflects changes made in 1985 to the Indian Act. Bill C-31 granted Indian status to those who had lost it through marriage to non-Indians. Since then, more than 120,000 people have been reinstated as registered Indians, says the report, boosting the off-reserve population to 42.5 per cent of the total in 1995 from 29 per cent in 1985. In the 1996 census, registered off-reserve aboriginals numbered 260,755 and 227,285 lived on reserves. Proof of increasing migration to reserves is certainly an argument for more spending, said a source in Indian Affairs. The data gives policymakers fresh insight into future reserve demands, from economic development to housing, employment and education needs. This year, Ottawa plans to spend $6.5 billion on programs for aboriginals, with the majority, nearly 90 per cent, going to reserves. Aboriginal people living off-reserve receive services and benefits similar to other people, with the exception of a few special programs like post-secondary student assistance. Some members of native advocacy organizations slammed the report as an excuse for the federal government to ignore First Nations people living off reserves, leaving it to provinces. "Where is the res ponsibility for the off-reserve people?" asked Harry Daniels, president of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples. "How are they going to be funded? How are they going to be serviced?" Many don't believe the report's conclusion, saying anecdotal evidence contradicts Ottawa's number crunchers. "When you look at the social reality of the Indian reservation of this country, most don't have the capacity to take more people, realistically," said Viola Thomas, Vancouver-based president of United Native Nations. The department's statistics say 45 per cent of housing on reserves is inadequate. For all his happiness about returning home, Maracle concurs. It's not easy to establish life back on the reservation, he said. "I know that more people would come back if there was more housing and more work." Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
