Canada

London Free Press and First Nations Youth

Aboriginal youth, Canada, colonialism, Criminal Code of Canada, Culture, identity, Inter-generational problems, London Free Press, London ON, Off-reserve, Poverty, Prison, Residential Schools, Society View all 2 comments

This post is in response to an article titled Siblings Jailed After Fatal Stabbing..

When I first read this article, I was thinking to myself, “Why would a news source announce that these youth were First Nations?” Then I read the readers’ comments, and it made more sense to me now.

A bit of background information (This information is available through the LF press news articles): This occurred last year in August. Both offenders are First Nations. One is a 22 year old mother of three, the other is 18 years old. Both pretty young. One received 2 years (the mother) and the other sentenced to 17 months.

In the Criminal Code of Canada, Section 718.2(e) states the following:


718.2 A court that imposes a sentence shall also take into consideration the following principles:

(e) all available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders.

The interpretation of this section was conducted during an Appeal to the decision made in R. v. Gladue. That decision can be read HERE.

It must be highlighted that this section of the Criminal Code of Canada does not give special consideration to Aboriginal peoples but in reality acknowledges the fact that many of them occupy prison systems. Harper’s Truth in Sentencing Act was seen as a step back because it failed to acknowledge this state of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. This Act removed the 2-4-1 sentencing, where time already served would not be acknowledged in final sentencing. Further exacerbating the rate at which Aboriginals populate prison systems.

Now, I won’t comment on the sentencing and the length that they received but it must be highlighted some of the factors that court’s consider when sentencing.

Some of these include:

  • First Time Offender?
  • Present Situation: education, family, employment
  • Social background: family life, childhood, etc.

In the case of these two individuals, they were both young, one was obviously drinking underage, and one already had three children before reaching the age of 25. This is what life is like in Canada for most Aboriginals. There is alcohol abuse, young parenthood, violent environments (Wasn’t one already carrying a knife…who carries a knife around if they are in a “safe” environment).

I am not promoting bad behaviour or violent behaviour among Aboriginal youth in any way. I am just attempting to address the comments some of the readers had in the article which can be read HERE.

They ask why was the term First Nations used? Why did that have to be mentioned? And one even states that using this term contributes to stereotypes in society. I thought the same thing.

But then I read a comment that said:

Look at the bright side, if you’re a white male, you’ll get at least 15 years for the same crime.

Hmmm, but race is not the case here. What is the case is that Aboriginals are over-represented in the Criminal Court system, including prisons. You say that still is dealing with race. No, it is dealing with the social situation that Aboriginals presently face. The decision in the appeal in R. v. Gladue highlights this.

Within this decision, it states:

  1. This section does not mean that judges should pay more attention to Aboriginal offenders, but attention to their unique characteristics.
  2. That Aboriginals are over-represented in prison systems.
  3. “The unbalanced ratio of imprisonment for aboriginal offenders flows from a number of sources, including poverty, substance abuse, lack of education, and the lack of employment opportunities for Aboriginal people. quoted @ para. 65.
  4. “It arises also from bias against Aboriginal people and from an unfortunate institutional approach that is more inclined to refuse bail and to impose more and longer prison terms for Aboriginal offenders.” quoted @ para. 65.
  5. Aboriginal people who suffer from systemic and direct discrimination are then both offenders to society and fall victim to society.

With the above, I tried my best to grasp the most important points, although this case is significantly important in every which way as it pertains to Aboriginals who enter the criminal court system. I guess by mentioning that the two offenders were First Nations, the news source may have been acknowledging the fact that Aboriginal people still face great disparities when it comes to society.

Relating to this LFpress article, this situation is nothing new to Aboriginal people in Canadian Society–violence amongst its young or its young going to jail, leaving behind futures and children. The thing that I am most annoyed with in this article is the fact that the comments just focus on “First Nations” and fails to acknowledge that some Aboriginal people face huge disparities in comparison to other groups within Canada. Not one comment, showed concern for the 3 children left behind or showed concern for young person who chose to throw their life away.

In the end, some people might respond to this post and say, “Well, who cares? That is their fault.” No, this isn’t their fault. Some Aboriginal people lag behind in education, employment, and some even live in poverty… despite having social supports. These are the inter-generational effects of colonialism, displacement of culture, loss of identity, and most importantly the effects of the Residential School system.

I hope more people begin to understand that Aboriginal people do not have it the best in Canada, and that we don’t get everything “for free.”

Read my post titled I get everything for free! and also my post titled Tax Exemption.

I hope this post changes one individual after reading it. Not everyone. I am content with one 🙂

My hometown is just like your hometown….

Aboriginals, Canada, Relative Deprivation Leave a comment

I write the post below after remembering an incident at an old workplace of mine. I remembered this incident after reading a journal article on “relative depravation” & Aboriginal peoples. In this incident, someone asked me at work what it was like to live on a reserve. Before I could answer, a co-worker replied, “Oh, that’s silly… it’s just like any other community.” I wanted to reply, “Except that it’s not…” (but decided just to let it slide–it was only a temporary job).

My hometown
You say, my hometown is just like your hometown… except that it is not.

My hometown is a reserve. It is a First Nation. I was lucky though. My hometown was on the edges of a tiny city. I was able to go to an elementary school and high school, off my reserve yet still close to my home.

My elementary school wasn’t a part of my hometown though. It was your hometown. It was in “town” and it was “off the reserve.” My teachers called my friends “bad,” but she didn’t call your friends anything…but good. My teachers called my friends “stupid,” but she called your friends “smart.”

My high school was the same as yours. It was in the same town, and off the reserve. Except now, my teachers were better than the last. The only difference was your friends called me “stupid” and a “slut,” and your friends made fun of my friends.

My hometown is a reserve. It is not like your hometown. I was lucky though. My hometown had clean running water, not like some of the other reserves my friends were from. My friends were flown in and out of their hometown, so they could earn their education. Your friends were flown down south for family vacation. My friends didn’t try to kill themselves….but I did. My hometown is not like yours. I live on a reserve. You live in a town, a city…My hometown is not like yours.

Thrifty Gene

Aboriginals, Canada, Diabetes, Globe and Mail, Thrifty Gene Leave a comment

Here is an article from the Globe and Mail that discusses the Thrifty Gene hypothesis. This article is titled How The Diabetes Linked Thrifty Gene Triumphed with prejudice over proof.

I remember someone telling me about this supposed gene when I was younger. I believed this person. However, hearing this didn’t cause me any pain or stigmatization. What it did do rather was that it instilled fear in me that if I became obese that I could get this type of diabetes. I knew that obesity was high amongst Aboriginal people. I just didn’t know why it was higher when compared to the rest of the population. This worried me.

Hearing this rather led me to believe that I had no way in chance in avoiding diabetes if I were to become obese, overweight, fat, whatever you want to call it. This led to self-esteem issues and body image issues. Already living in a society that places body image and looks as a priority for females in society, I felt that I had to do something to stop obesity from happening to me.

This stress and these worries later led me to struggle with almost ten years of battling with an eating disorder. I hid this from my family and friends. Not only did I have to deal with the fear of getting fat and not being able to escape it, I had to deal with the fear of someone finding out my dark secret.

Today, after much reading and education from doctors and other health professionals, I obviously learned that obesity can be avoided in a much healthier way. Fortunately, I realize today that I can eat anything I want as long as it is in moderation.

I believe that proper education on healthy life styles choices and learning to cook with foods in a healthy manner could help. All I can say is that changes in lifestyles do not just include being more active and eating fresh foods, it means allowing those types of foods to be available to all across Canada and not just those who can afford. Trust me, fresh foods and healthy foods are not cheap.

Is this the effects of Globalization?

Aboriginal women, Canada, Feminism, Globalization, Manitoba, Michael Moore, Thompson Leave a comment

Read Michael Moore’s post titled Why I Support the People of Thompson, Canada — And You Should Too.

Read my recent post titled Have women benefited from globalization?

Are these the effects of the supposed concept of Globalization? Striking resemblance. A big corporation going into a remote community, whether Aboriginal or not. FYI: Oh Thompson, Manitoba’s population is 17% Aboriginal (Manitoba Consensus 2000).

Why not you be the judge? Do you like the effects of globalization? Do you even like globalization? What IS globalization?

I get everything for free!

Aboriginal Rights, Canada, First Nations, Government, tax exemption, taxpayers Leave a comment

NOT! I don’t get everything for free. It comes with a price. Not even a real price. Read my post titled Tax Exemption.

In that post, I discuss some of my shopping adventures and the best place to shop in London, Ontario if you want to declare tax exemption for all my fellow Aboriginal readers.

There is this misconception that Natives “get everything for free” or that we “don’t pay taxes… ever.” Who ever is spreading these misconceptions I would like to speak with them, whether they are Native or not. Don’t believe them! Stop right now. Get those ideas and misconceptions out of your head.

I pay taxes and I am a full-blooded aka status Native. Yes, I receive tax-exemption benefits, but only on products and services located off the reserve, and only because I have my status–which some Natives don’t have. I only receive this right when I have my reserve address for some businesses too–hmmm just another reason to keeping Indians on the reserve.

If you have a problem with this tax-exemption status, then maybe you can write to the government that Natives shouldn’t be allowed to have tax-exemption status. You say the government will never listen, don’t worry most Natives come across this problem to when they fight to maintain their rights. So maybe you should ask yourself, what are you fighting for? That you don’t agree with our rights? Time to re-think that argument of yours.

Hmmm, next time you think that Natives “get everything for free” or that “we don’t pay taxes”… Think again. I dread tax season just like you. I get a GST/HST/what-ST cheque too! That means I PAY TAXES TOO!

Intelligence & Aboriginals

Aboriginals, Assimilation, Canada, Cultural Assimilation, Intelligence, Multiculturalism Leave a comment

This post is in response to my previous post titled “Intelligence and Cultural Assimilation.”

Maybe the gap between intelligence score tests isn’t with one particular ethnic group being cultural assimilated into any one dominant society, but rather it is the main-stream education system.

One issue that Canadian Aboriginals face is that they still continue to lag in education and employment numbers in comparison to the rest of Canada. I don’t say this to highlight the worse but I say this to make a point. If you measure education success as purely having a certain number of degrees, then yes maybe Aboriginals do lag. However, I beg to differ that there are a great number of Aboriginals that lag in its entirety in comparison to the rest of Canadian society. I have met and know of many bright, intelligent, inquisitive, creative, Aboriginals both young and old who have not gone onto post-secondary education. These people have chosen to not go into main-stream society education yet they still possess the ability to “blend into” any type of topic up for grabs in conversation. I also know of many Aboriginals who were considered “intellectually gifted” but never gone onto post-secondary education. Maybe it was because they were not being challenged enough? Maybe it was because their abilities were not fully appreciated? Maybe they felt that further education had little to no use to them since they were not being fully challenged or their abilities being fully appreciated? I am not sure of the answer, but I do know that these individuals are just as bright as someone in post-secondary education. These people own businesses, participate in their community, and most importantly contribute to main-stream Canadian Society just not in the rigid ways set out for measuring the rest of main-stream society. Most definitely, when we calculate intelligence, we need to look at other factors and not just the number of degrees one has under his/her belt.

Note: This post is to not say that one ethnic group is better than another or that one system is better than another. It is acknowledging the fact that different groups have different needs and those different needs should be acknowledged if all ethnic groups, not just one group, are to be considered successful. I also write this post not to further oppress the actual problems that Canadian Aboriginals face in current Canadian Society, but highlight the fact that there are some current success. The problems that some communities and individuals face should never be displaced because of one community or one individual’s lone success. That is to say, there are problems and successes within Aboriginal groups, but the factors to define the problems and success between various groups should be changed to address the needs/differences amongst these groups.

Criminal Pardons

Aboriginals, Canada, Criminal Pardons Leave a comment

A recent article in the Globe and Mail, titled Tories to hike price of criminal pardons, made me think of my political science essay I wrote last term.

I wrote about the Gladue Court. I also wrote about the over-representation of Aboriginals in the prison system. If the Tories hike the price of pardons, in my opinion, this is just another way to further stigmatize/marginalize Aboriginals in Canada. I say that and I believe that because there is an over-representation of Aboriginals in the prison system.

Perhaps the Canadian Government can issue another apology to Aboriginals in Canada in about 20 years. Why not? They already have one apology expected for 2011 (see post titled Aboriginals: past insurgents?). And, they already previously issued another apology regarding the residential schools.

The issue is obviously with the administration process if they let people like that mentioned in the Globe and Mail article “slip through the cracks.”

In my opinion…

Canadian History

Aboriginal, Canada, Canadian History Leave a comment

Not too long ago, I met someone from an European Country. They talked about how much they loved Canada and they exclaimed to me “how awesome it must be to be part of the ‘First Persons’ of Canada.”

The person further stated how Canada is such an awesome, free, loving country.

I informed them that this isn’t how Canada always was. The person asked what I meant by that statement. I went on to also tell them about Residential Schools and the origins of the Indian Act and what this piece of legislation was really meant to do–assimilate Natives into Canadian Society. After sharing this story with that person, they said, “Wow, that’s not what they teach us over in Europe.”

I replied, “That’s not what they teach us in Canadian either.”

That’s part of Canadian history, why is it not taught in history courses at the high school level, or even elementary level. I get that there are specific courses at the post-secondary level. However, we can’t censor stories about our own Countries history and only speak about the horrors of another country’s history–meaning I learned about WWI and the Holocaust in High school, why didn’t I learn about true Canadian History then?

I wonder what they learn in history today. Are textbooks still the same?

Education

Canada, Education, First Nations Leave a comment

On my campus there is a Blue Chair Campaign.

This campaign I fully support and appreciate.

Unfortunately, because of this campaign I am reminded of the issues that Aboriginals face regarding education (which the campaign strives to bring attention to as mentioned on their site).

One of the misconceptions that people have about Aboriginals and education is that “we get everything for free.” No. It’s not like that. For my reservation, it works like a scholarship, and we can only take education in a forward fashion (meaning I can’t go to university and then decide to go to college). Some reservations, don’t even receive adequate funding to help with post-secondary pursuits. So, no, education is not free.

This also reminds me of the fact that many other young Aboriginals do not even have access to high school education IN CANADA! At my high school every year, there were a group of Aboriginal students that were “shipped down” from their reserve to attend high school in a “urbanized centre.” My hometown isn’t all that big, but to go from a town of only a few hundred, surrounded by your family since birth and then “shipped” to another region by a train and/or a plane ride away can be quite traumatizing (culture shock) for some. This is what goes on in Canada for Aboriginal students at the high-school level. They don’t even have access to high school education in their community. They have to live with a strange family in a strange community for four years, and some only for one year because they never return after the first. So, no, Aboriginals don’t get education for free.

This also reminds me of the stories I would hear when I was younger about northern community schools lacking heating and water systems. Some of these schools had to be shut down for a periods of time because of the lack of safety for students in the community (gas leaks, bad/leaky roof tops, no heat). This makes me sad when I think about this. Those children experienced elementary education with enough interruptions to cause delays in learning/education. So, no, Aboriginals don’t get everything for free.

I hope that when people see this blue chair campaign that it is not just post-secondary education that can’t be accessed in Canada. For some it was high school. For others it was a warm elementary school.

Sign here: _____X____

Canada, First Nations, History Leave a comment

I am going to start signing all my legal documents to the government with an “x”. If some of the past Aboriginal chiefs did it when signing treaties with the government, why can’t I do it today? Oh wait, signing an “x” means the government won’t be able actual know it was ME who signed it (you know, they care about my identity and the possibility of it being stolen… yeah, right) and it also tells the government that I don’t have “literacy” skills.

So, why was an “x” sufficient back then?