Relocation of remote First Nation from traditional lands is not the answer
Counterpoint: Native assimilation is not the answer - Waubageshig (Harvey McCue) - National Post - Nov 16, 2006
In a recent editorial, this newspaper praised former Ontario cabinet minister Alan Pope for his proposal to relocate the Cree residents of the troubled Kashechewan First Nation from their reserve near James Bay to the outskirts of Timmins, Ont.
But Mr. Pope and his media admirers are merely reiterating what many Canadians have argued for generations is the salvation for First Nations: "Get off the reserve and get a life!" In fact, this sentiment began in earnest with Duncan Campbell Scott who, as the deputy minister for Indian Affairs in the 1800s, officially commented numerous times that the only good Indian was an extinct one, or words to that effect.
If the residents of Kashechewan agree to it, the relocation proposed by Mr. Pope will result in their assimilation. The same would be true of any other isolated First Nations communities that accept this route.
Elsewhere, other First Nations, such as the Cree on the Quebec side of James Bay, are actively pursuing economic and social progress, and rejecting the conventional wisdom that says success for First Nations lies in assimilation. The principal difference between the communities on the two sides of the bay is that the Quebec Cree have acquired authority over their lives.
That authority has enabled the Quebec Cree to fashion a growing regional economy, a quality of life that combines ancient Cree traditions with Western modernization and a cultural confidence that is the bane of Quebec separatists. They have found a successful course that does not involve assimilation. Life is not perfect for the Quebec Cree, but they do have the tools to work at resolving their problems.
The Ontario Cree, by contrast, have been virtually ignored. The communities there have been left to subsist on federal government handouts rather than developing policies for their own benefit. That subsistence has led to what some might call a culture of dependence.
The condition stems from the views of an army of officials, who have been unwilling to see northern Indian communities as self-reliant. And so Ottawa continues to provide a minimal level of services, which ensures that a wholesale social collapse will be avoided but ignores any meaningful consideration of how these communities might become successful. Consequently, the residents lack the tools, i.e., the infrastructure, the institutions, the fiscal resources and, more importantly, the self-determination to do much more than make do with handouts.
Indeed, the federal government doesn't really know what "self-government" means for First Nations. If the Quebec Cree had relied on Ottawa to achieve their local and regional governments, their nation would now be in tatters. Moreover, the process to achieve Indian self-government -- as Ottawa defines it -- is mired in bureaucracy with little guarantee for success.
Relocating northern residents is the easy way out, the quick fix. The slow strangulation by the umbilical cord of government handouts is not a viable option either. Instead, we should support Kashechewan and similarly situated First Nations in creating a northern economy, and ensuring that they have the power necessary to take control of their land and resources.
For two centuries, officials and politicians have been trying to figure out how to get rid of Indians. As their strategic roles as key players in the early economy of the fur trade and as military allies waned, the preferred strategy came to be moving them as far as possible from developing areas onto remote, isolated patches of land. Duncan Campbell Scott predicted that residential schools would possibly be the final step in the process. Failing that, the Indian Act was used as an instrument of the state to get rid of Indians through the loss of Indian status.
Mr. Pope's suggested urban relocation of an entire community is just another step in that desperate process. Assimilation is simply not a justifiable or worthy goal for this country to pursue.
- Waubageshig (Harvey McCue) consults on a variety of First Nations issues