Five ideas to help indigenous people,
Education and literacy initiatives combined with a more-active role in the political process
Many of the problems facing Canada’s indigenous people are longstanding, serious and seemingly intractable. Still, almost two-thirds of Canadians want the country to help its First Nations, shows an IpsosReid poll for Postmedia News last week. So, what can be done?
Here are five ideas to help provoke discussion on aboriginal issues. Each has its backers — and its critics: 1. A First Nations school on every reserve
This was on the wish-list aboriginal leaders brought to their Jan. 11 meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Canadians might be surprised to learn there aren’t already schools on all reserves.
Paul Martin, the former prime minister who has dedicated much of his post-political life to aboriginal education, thinks this is part of the answer to aboriginal problems but is only possible with adequate federal funding.
Students on-reserve receive on average 20 per cent to 30 per cent less funding per capita than students off-reserve who attend provincially funded schools, he says.
“The answer isn’t only money,” Martin told Postmedia News. “There’s a multi-pronged approach that has to be taken. But none of it is possible unless there’s adequate funding.”
Sixty per cent of aboriginal students on-reserve, and 43 per cent off-reserve, drop out of high school, shows the 2006 census. The dropout rate is less than 10 per cent among non-aboriginals. Children who don’t learn to read and write by Grade 3 will be playing catch-up for most of their lives, Martin said.
“Every day’s delay in dealing with that issue is stealing the future away from the most vulnerable members of our society,” he said. 2. Summer literacy camps on every reserve
James Bartleman, Ontario’s lieutenant-governor from 2002 to 2007 and the first indigenous person to hold the post, thinks improving education of aboriginal children goes beyond formal schooling.
In 2005, Bartleman helped launch five literacy-based summer camps in northern Ontario aboriginal communities, in partnership with literacy organization Frontier College. There are now almost 70 such camps nationwide, and data show most children who attend become more avid readers.
“I’d love to see a summer camp in every First Nation across Canada,” Bartleman said.
There’s also a creative writing award named after Bartleman for aboriginal youth in Ontario. Each year up to six youths receive an award of $2,500 for their submissions. Bartleman said the stories and poems, which cover topics such as family breakdown, suicide and drug use, are “of the greatest distress and sorrow that you can imagine.”
“The children are the ones being affected more than anyone else.” 3. House of Commons seats for indigenous people
If the House of Commons seat makeup were in direct proportion to Canadian demographics, there would be at least 10 aboriginal MPs. Currently, there are seven, five of them Conservative.
Aboriginals, who comprise four per cent of the country’s population, are spread thinly across Canada, meaning there are few constituencies in which their votes are decisive, said Carleton University’s Paul Adams, assistant professor of journalism and communication. So why not set aside a certain number of seats for them?
“If native voices were heard more directly and in a process that was more clearly constitutionally repre- sentative of aboriginal people, that might be helpful,” Adams said.
Ten reserved seats could potentially affect things such as the makeup of a minority government, he contended. “It would certainly create a different type of political discussion and introduce the concerns of aboriginal people earlier on in the process.”
The notion has detractors, but it’s not unprecedented. In New Zealand, seven MPs out of 120 are elected by indigenous people (in this case, Maoris). Maori voters can choose to vote in that constituency or in a general one.
Royal commissions in Canada have considered the idea, but critics say such a bloc of MPs might only influence issues directly pertinent to aboriginals.
“It could result in a marginalization of that perspective in the House of Commons, because the numbers would be too small to make a difference in other key issues,” said Queen’s University Prof. Kathy Brock, who studies aboriginal selfgovernance.
“If those seats are within some of the existing parties, which have generally proven to be ineffective on advocating for aboriginal people, I don’t know that it would change anything,” added Daniel Justice, professor and chair of the First Nations studies program at the University of British Columbia.
“I think an indigenous party in the House of Commons makes more sense.” 4. Getting out the vote, generally
Voter turnout on reserves was 45 per cent in the 2011 federal election, compared with 61 per cent among the overall population, shows Elections Canada.
“It’s easy to understand why there’s been a lack of awareness about the importance of voting, because it certainly has not produced a lot for the aboriginal community,” said Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Elections Canada’s chief electoral officer from 1990 to 2007.
Yet aboriginal voters, if mobilized, could hold sway over some 25 ridings, Kingsley said. They have the numbers, with higher turnout, to make a difference.
Kingsley, now a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s school of public and international affairs, said voter outreach campaigns before the 2006 general election, helped lead to an eight-per-cent increase in aboriginal turnout over the previous election. (Overall turnout was up four per cent that year.)
Today, groups such as Apathy is Boring and the Native Women’s Association of Canada are trying to help raise awareness among aboriginals about why it’s important to vote. 5. A “special envoy” for aboriginal affairs
Since many aboriginal Canadians are frustrated with the federal government, some observers have discussed the notion of a “special envoy” dedicated to aboriginal affairs. That person could be a bridge between First Nations and government representatives and institutions.
The appointee could be one of Canada’s former prime ministers, said Ken Coates, Canada research chair in regional innovation at the University of Saskatchewan. He researches economic development on reserves.
“We don’t take advantage of our (former) prime ministers very often. There’s an opportunity,” he said, adding that Paul Martin, especially, has enormous credibility on aboriginal issues.
Were former prime ministers to meet with First Nations leaders, it would change the nature of the conversation, he said. “The logic here is changing the nature of the symbolism.”