And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Tuesday 21 September 1999 Onus falls on 'white' society for First Nations' devastation http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/stories/990921/2887188.html It's time to do something that will make a difference Catherine Ford, Calgary Herald Somewhere between the myth of the mighty savage and the stereotype of the drunken Indian lies the reality and the fate of Canada's aboriginal peoples. I don't presume to have any answers, but I will presume, as should all Canadians, that at the heart of the sorry state of too many First Nations reserves lies the attitude of non-aboriginal Canadians, the paternalism of the federal government and the intransigence of the provinces. No one will accept blame. No one will actually do anything that might make a difference. It's not that research and recommendations are missing. The pile of papers and reports on the "state" of aboriginal communities would fill a good-sized warehouse -- which is where most of them are gathering dust, including it seems, the 1996 final massive report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People. Last week's devastating report by Alberta Judge John Reilly on the suicide of a teenage aboriginal boy, and a new book by Trent University's John S. Milloy on the residential school system, entitled A National Crime, are only the latest. How weighty does the pile become before every Canadian with a heart and a conscience is embarrassed into action? Or can we continue to plead ignorance of the devastation in aboriginal communities? How can anyone deny the elephant in the living room? Reilly's report blames the teen's death on "vested interests" in the Stoney Reserve west of Calgary who diverted money meant for social programs in order to control their people. The boy's death was caused, said Reilly, by a serious of institutional failures that left him with no place to go for help. And so he killed himself. He's not the first. The list is embarrassingly long. What would our reaction have been if 120 residents of the small town of Claresholm had died in drug- and alcohol-related deaths in the past decade? Yet 120 did die in a similar-sized Stoney community of just over 3,000. Our outrage has been conspicuous in its absence. We didn't set out to destroy the people who were here before us. But we nearly succeeded through paternalism, ignorance and abuse. Complicit in the destruction were residential schools whose systemic pattern of abuse -- physical, emotional and sexual -- left a legacy of bitterness that has never been resolved. The residential schools tried to "kill the Indian" in the Indian child and just about succeeded. Period. Yet it was all meant benignly: a process of good intentions, writes Milloy, rooted in the need for education among aboriginal peoples. What they got instead was a nightmare. The system meant to civilize First Nations was, says Milloy, "the most damaging of the many elements of Canada's colonization of this land's original people." We can only surmise the situation is so overwhelming -- the reality of poverty, starvation and despair in the midst of the plenty that is this country, so alien -- and the "cure" so expensive no one will take responsibility for what is necessary. Maybe we don't even know what is necessary, although a host of studies has clearly shown that the template of "white" society laid over an aboriginal one has spawned a disaster of epic proportions. Natives must dance a gavotte between the present and the past, between needing to be members of a larger society in which we all share and the tribal society of which they are rightful members. It's not a choice many of us want or need to make. Multiculturalism permits a citizen to do both -- be Canadian and something else, claim all the rights and privileges of citizenship and celebrate another heritage, be protected from discrimination based on ethnic background and participate fully in the life of the larger Canadian community. Such rights apply to every Canadian except, it seems, the first Canadians. We begrudge them the rights and abilities to do what every other Canadian believes to be a birthright. On the door of my office is a sign: Stay Calm. Be Brave. Wait for the Signs. It's the sign-off for the scathingly ironic -- and deeply funny -- series of radio sketches from the pen of Thomas King called The Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour. It's a great recipe for dealing with life's vicissitudes. Certainly Canada's natives have, for the large part, stayed calm. They've been brave in the face of racism and discrimination that puts them on the bottom rung of urban society. And the signs? Courts have identified native rights as among the chief issues we face in the next century. Only a cynic would believe we would continue to ignore the obvious. Catherine Ford can be reached by e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
