First Nations across northern Ontario facing a "crisis situation" of inadequate support
Aboriginal 'crisis' must be stopped - Bartleman urges Canadians to help
By Kristy Nease - September 25, 2011
Many First Nations communities in northern Ontario are facing a "crisis situation" that is quickly deteriorating and will continue to do so if Canadians don't take notice and help, says James Bartleman.
During a Saturday night talk at Parkdale United Church, Ontario's former lieutenant-governor pleaded with the audience of about 50 to attempt "to understand what's below the surface" when they see homeless or struggling First Nations people, or hear their stories.
Cycles of abuse which began with the first generation of residential school students continue even now, decades after their closing, he said, and have to be addressed if rampant youth suicide rates are ever going to be curbed.
And the lacklustre education system in most reserves isn't helping the situation, either.
Bartleman said Canada can't continue to call itself a moral or just nation while its aboriginal children are afforded only 80 per cent of the educational resources of white children living off reserves. He believes literacy can go a long way to help solve the problems facing First Nations children, especially in northern communities where suicide is rampant and the issues are largely overlooked by the majority of Canadians.
Too many communities don't have drinking water. Half of their homes are growing mould. Tuberculosis is coming back, and obesity rates are about triple the rate of offreserve communities, he said.
"And I say that they (First Nations peoples) are invisible because every day, or almost, a major story appears in the media about native living conditions, and nothing is done about it," he said. "The Canadian auditor general has sent more than two dozen reports to the House of Commons, calling for action on a whole range of issues, but these reports have been ignored."
His latest book, the novel As Long as the Rivers Flow published earlier this year, focuses on the lasting impact of the residential school system in Canada and the alarmingly high rates of youth suicide in Ontario.
Bartleman recalled being invited to northern communities where he sometimes heard that as many as three young people had killed themselves in quick succession. When he asked why he was often told, "Because they had no hope."
During question period, Algonquin elder Annie Smith St. Georges walked up to the podium.
"I was very moved," she said to Bartleman, then paused. Her eldest of four sons committed suicide years ago, she shared with the audience. "I lost generations and generations of my people," she said. "He has taken with him generations of my people away."