The Reality for First Nations in Canada

The Reality for First Nations in Canada





First Nations people in Canada…



Live in Third World conditions:

· First Nations living conditions or quality of life ranks 63rd, or amongst Third World conditions, according to an Indian and Northern Affairs Canada study that applied First Nations-specific statistics to the Human Development Index created by the United Nations.[1]

· Canada dropped from first to eighth as the best country in the world to live primarily due to housing and health conditions in First Nations communities.

· The First Nations’ infant mortality rate is 1.5 times higher than the Canadian infant mortality rate.[2]

· A study by Indian Affairs (the “Community Well-being Index”) assessed quality of life in 4,685 Canadian communities based on education, labour force activity, income and housing. There was only one First Nation community in the Top 100. There were 92 First Nations in the Bottom 100. Half of all First Nations communities score in the lower range of the index compared with 3% of other Canadian communities.



Die earlier than other Canadians:

· A First Nations man will die 7.4 years earlier than a non-Aboriginal Canadian. A First Nations woman will die 5.2 years earlier than her non-Aboriginal counterpart (life expectancy for First Nations citizens is estimated at 68.9 years for males and 76.6 years for females).[3]



Face increased rates of suicide, diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS:

· The First Nations suicide rate is more than twice the Canadian rate. Suicide is now among the leading causes of death among First Nations between the ages of 10 and 24, with the rate estimated to be five to six times higher than that of non-Aboriginal youth.[4]

· The prevalence of diabetes among First Nations is at least three times the national average, with high rates across all age groups.[5]

· Tuberculosis rates for First Nations populations on-reserve are 8 to 10 times higher than those for the Canadian population.[6]

· Aboriginal peoples make up only 5% of the total population in Canada but represent 16% of new HIV infections. Of these, 45% are women and 40% are under 30 years old. HIV/AIDS cases among Aboriginal peoples have increased steadily over the past decade.[7]


Face a crisis in housing and living conditions:

· Health Canada states that as of May 2003, 12% of First Nations communities had to boil their drinking water and approximately ¼ of water treatment systems on-reserve pose a high risk to human health.

· Almost 25% of First Nations water infrastructures are at high risk of contamination.[8]

· Housing density is twice that of the general population. Nearly 1 in 4 First Nations adults live in crowded homes.[9] 423,000 people live in 89,000 overcrowded, substandard and rapidly deteriorating housing units.

· Almost half of the existing housing stock requires renovations.[10]

· 5,486 of the 88,485 houses on-reserve are without sewage service.

· Mold contaminates almost half of First Nations households.[11]

· More than 100 First Nations communities are under a Boil Water Advisory for drinking water.[12]

· Core funding to support on-reserve housing has remained unchanged for 20 years.

· Almost half of First Nations people residing off-reserve live in poor quality housing that is below standard. Most First Nations homes off-reserve are crowded.

· First Nations have limited access to affordable housing: 73% are in core need, most are spending more than the standard of 30% of their income on rent.



Are not attaining education levels equal to other Canadians, even though most First Nations are under the age of 25 and represent the workforce of tomorrow:

· There has been literally no progress over the last four years in closing the gap in high school graduation rates between First Nations and other Canadians. At the current rate, it will take 28 years for First Nations to catch-up to the non-Aboriginal population.[13]

· About 70% of First Nations students on-reserve will never complete high school.[14] Graduation rates for the on-reserve population range from 28.9%-32.1% annually.

· 10,000 First Nations students who are eligible and looking to attend post-secondary education are on waiting lists because of under-funding.

· The number of post-secondary students has been declining in recent years. In 1998-99, participation rates of Registered Indians was at a high of 27,157 but dropped to 25,075 in 2002-03.

· About 27% of the First Nations population between 15 and 44 years of age hold a post-secondary certificate, diploma, or degree, compared with 46% of the Canadian population within the same age group.[15]



Lack jobs and economic opportunities:

· Unemployment rates for all Aboriginal groups continue to be at least double the rate of the non-Aboriginal population. Registered Indians have the highest unemployment rate of any Aboriginal group, at 27%.[16]

· Registered Indians have the lowest labour force participation rate of any Aboriginal group, with a rate of 54%.[17]



Yet First Nations receive less from all levels of government than non-Aboriginal Canadians:

· The average Canadian gets services from the federal, provincial and municipal governments at an amount that is almost two-and-a-half times greater than that received by First Nations citizens.

· In 1996, the federal government capped funding increases for Indian Affairs’ core programs at 2% a year, which does not keep pace with inflation or the growing First Nations population. A recent Indian Affairs study found that the gap in “quality of life” between First Nations and Canadians stopped narrowing in 1996.

Harsh reality

We are not worth anything if we cannot see our "white priviledge" in this world, and as a wise man once said commit white suicide.....

This country is built on genocide,colonization and slavery... first of the First Nations people... then on the African people.... and now on every person of color.
Prison is set up as a form of slavery continuing. The police are cruel and racist. most white people deny that they have more rights, opportunities, respect, options than people of color do..... but do they get stopped by the police and beaten just for walking down the street and having white skin? i think not.

OPEN YOUR eyes...... we have to stop being blind and just living our lives ... we have to force change to happen on a small and large scale....

When i look to find that which is only within myself
i fail
when i fail to find what i am looking for
i am desperate
when i am desperate to capture love and meaning
I am hopeless
When i am hopeless i fail to find anything of meaning anywhere...
.............................................................

there is so much to be found when looking into a persons eyes. There is so much to be lost when I focus on what others eyes tell me i am worth.

I am convinced that there is such a deep need in all of us to be heard and understood. even though i don't really understand myself sometimes.

lately i have been contemplating why i live the way i do. feel the way i do. think the way i do. I realize the past ALWAYS forms the way we live in the present... and it takes years of dedication to undo damage done to me and that i have done to myself because of the damage done to me or around me.

You cannot make a pretty picture if you are only given poop to work with. ya know.

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people."
-Martin Luther King


Why am i surrounded by people that are in a constant state of denial about most things that are happening in the world and happening in the minds and hearts of those around them and around the world. They only see through their own lens and cannot seem to feel what others feel and see through others' eyes.

This new year is calling for me to not back down from what i believe. Most people in my life say i am too extreme but i believe i am truly passionate and it is the best thing about me. i have been told most of my growing up that there is something wrong with the way i look at the world and the way that i look at people and i used to believe that. I know now that i am just different... in a good way. There is not many people like me.. i think i have only met one so far, but they have past on to the great unknown( i miss you).......

I love deeply and am jealous of the ones i love.... because i have shared my heart with them and have given pieces of myself to them that i can never get back...
i cherish my dear ones, and i cherish the oppressed, overlooked and misunderstood. I care for those who have not received the love they deserved and needed.




REALITY IS HARD TO LOOK AT, BUT MAKES US BETTER, STRONGER PEOPLE

where do i go?

where do i go when i have run out of options....

where do i find a place to lay my head...
it seems i have been searching for so long and cannot find
true love, real relationships... lasting friendships...
i wish i had my mommy to talk to... to ask for help and guidance in a world full of such oppression and sadness..

you say you see the bright side of this life
i say ... YOU MUST NOT BE LOOKING.....

denial is such a deceiver... it disguises itself with happy/safe feelings
but all it does is hide reality from our souls.

i feel so lost. i want to fly away or run away
what is this all for?



..........i do not celebrate the mass genocide of the beautiful native indigenous peoples... but i will give thanks for what i am truly grateful for.....



THANKSGIVING SEASON:
To my heart... my naya.... who reminds me there is still beauty in the world. you are my second chance.... i love love love you...

the only thing/person that i know understands and gets me is my precious spiritual reggae music.. thank you reggae for all that you have given me...truly you have saved me from jumping out a window.... and have held me when i am sad.


and thank you aaron for loving me soo even when i push away you are here...
you are my love. thank you for not giving up!
thankyou tamzen for all that you are to me and to naya... i love you sooo deeply...

Continuum Concept

" the god of my childhood wears black robes, has horns
on his head and carries an ax in his hand. how in the world
was I still able to slip past him?
all my life I have been creeping stealthily through
my landscape, under my arm the little bit of life I keep
thinking I have stolen."
-Mariella Mehr, (Stone Age)







I am reading a book right now called, "Thou shalt not be aware: Society's betrayal of the child". It is quite interesting and mind/ heart opening.
The first chapter starts out with describing moments after a child's birth to going home for the first time, but all from the child's perspective.... it is quite haunting really....

"She brings him home for the first time, thinking to herself, she wants to do everything right. She places him gently in the crib, which is decorated with yellow ducklings and matches his whole room. She has worked hard to furnish it with fluffy curtains, a giant panda rug, white dresser, and and a changing table equipped with all the essentials and much more. There are pictures on the walls of baby animals dressed as people. She straightens the baby's undershirt and and covers him with an embroidered sheet and blanket bearing his initials. She notes them with satisfaction.She bends to kiss the infants silky cheek and she moves towards the door as the first agonized shriek shakes his body.
She closes the door. She has declared war upon him. Her will must prevail over his. Through the door she hears what sounds like someone being tortured. Her continuum recognizes it as such. Nature does not make clear signals that someone is being tortured unless it is the case. It is precisely as serious as it sounds.
She hesitates, her heart pulled toward him, but resists and goes on her way.She lets him weep until he is exhausted.
He awakens and cries again. His mother looks at at the door to ascertain that he is in place;softly, as not to awaken in him any false hope of attention, she shuts the door again. She hurries to the kitchen, where she is working, and leaves the door open in case "anything happens to him."

The infants screams fade to quivering wales. As no response is forthcoming, the motive power of the signal(crying) loses itself in the confusion of barren emptiness where the relief ought, long since, to have arrived. He looks about. There is a wall beyond the bars of his crib. The light is dim. He cannot turn himself over. He sees only the bars, immobile, and the wall. He hears meaningless sounds in a distant world. There is no sound near him. He looks at the wall until his eyes close. When they open again, the bars and the wall are exactly as before, but the light is dimmer."
-Jean Liedloff, "THE CONTINUUM CONCEPT"

Losing who you love....

To lose that which you hardly believed you had anyway
seems to be a greater loss.... than losing that which you know you have for sure...


I made a decision last night that the only relationships i can put time, effort and love into are the relationships with people that love me and naya and are dedicated to having a deep and lasting relationship with us both.... because naya is my world and to have people around me that don't view her as the important soul she is are damaging to her and to me. Children should be surrounded by people that are consistent and stable....

When i love someone i love completely and take seriously every word between those whom i love and myself. When a relationship is over...it is over.
And i have to say that if you don't love those who are most important in your life.. you have nothing.

With every year I grow older, I am shocked by the amount of friends that leave relatiosnhips with people they have known for so long. True friends are hard to find... and to find them is priceless.



I am...
We are...
such a delicate people
fragile and hard.... I am
We are afraid and fearless....

We run towards false comfort and hold it with all our might

What hurts the most is when people don't understand.... when they are defensive.. when they abandon you......


Wind,
please take away my fears and blow away my pain so that i can find truth and love and justice. Heal me. heal me. heal me.