Racism doesn't just hurt our feelings - racism kills. The
two senseless deaths of First Nations children in a house fire in Makwa
Sahgaiehcan First Nation in Saskatchewan from an unpaid bill of less than
$4,000 has sparked outrage across Canada. In no other place in Canada would an
ambulance, fire fighter or police officer ask a provincial resident if they had
paid their taxes before answering an emergency call for help. Canada has a
deep-seated racism problem which is killing our people. But to truly understand
Indigenous outrage and sadness, one must understand both the context and true
depth of this problem in Canada.
In
the mid-1700’s, colonial governments in what is now Nova Scotia considered the
Mi’kmaw Nation to be “rebels” because we refused to give up our land. As a
result, Governor Cornwallis issued a scalping proclamation that decimated the
Mi’kmaw Nation by as much as 80%. In 1971, Donald Marshall Jr., was sentenced
to life in prison for murder and spent 11 years in jail before his wrongful
prosecution was exposed. A subsequent Royal Commission found the reason for his
imprisonment was racism against Mi’kmaw people by all levels of the justice
system.
In
1999, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that the Mi’kmaw right to fish and
trade it commercially was protected in our constitutionally-protected treaties.
The result? Canada sent in law enforcement to beat, pepper spray and run over
our fishing boats – in addition to legal charges. In 2013, Elsipogtog First
Nation and other members of the Mi’kmaw Nation who supported their
anti-fracking stance in Mi’kmaw territory were labeled “terrorists”,
“militants” and “bad Indians”. The scalping law was not used but our people
were beaten and imprisoned.
From
small pox blankets and scalping bounties to imprisonment and neglect – Canada
is killing our people and Canadians will be next if nothing is done to change
the value (or lack thereof) that we collectively put on human life – all human
life. This dictatorial, police state is not what newcomers to Canada had in mind
when they came to Canada. A territory shared with Indigenous Nations based on
formal agreements (treaties) and information agreement (alliances) were founded
on three principles: (1) mutual respect, (2) mutual prosperity and (3) mutual
protection. Indigenous peoples, their families, communities and Nations
protected and cared for newcomers. Our people fought in Canada’s world wars to
protect our shared territory and people. Now it’s time for Canadians to stand
up for Indigenous peoples.
In
1971, Helen Betty Osborne was kidnapped and murdered in The Pas, Manitoba. Her
grieving friends and family were treated like criminals while the accused men
were given the royal treatment by law enforcement and left to walk free for
years. This wasn’t the first time our Indigenous women and little girls have
been victims of a racist Canada, but no action was taken. Today, Canadians
are well aware of the thousands of Indigenous women and little girls have gone
murdered and/or missing in Canada. Yet, there is no sense of alarm in
Parliament, nor has the Canadian state taken any steps to work with First
Nations to embark on an inquiry or implement an emergency action plan.
By
1996, the last residential school had closed which was supposed to mark an end
to the theft of Indigenous children from our Indigenous families, communities
and Nations. Literally thousands of Indigenous children were victims of
murders, rapes, tortures and medical experiments – and upwards of 40% never made it out of some of those schools alive. The legacy of thousands of our children who died as a
matter of state law and policy should at least have included a promise to stop
stealing our children. Today, we have more than 30,000 Indigenous children in
care and growing. The problems have not stopped – they are getting worse.
The
use of small pox blankets on our people to try to kill us off faster has been
described by medical doctors as the first example of “biological warfare”
during non-war times. Indigenous women and little girls were forcibly
sterilized without their knowledge and consent for decades in an effort to stop
us from reproducing. The Canadian state does not need to use such blatant
policies to reduce our populations anymore – willful neglect has the same
lethal effect. Federal, provincial and municipal governments are standing by
while our people die. This is not an “Indian problem” – this is a Canadian
problem that impacts every single Canadian and our collective future.
In
2005, Jordan River Anderson, a little
boy from Norway House Cree Nation with many medical issues, died in hospital at
5 years old never having seen his home because the federal and provincial
governments couldn’t stop arguing over who would pay. In 2008, Brian Sinclair,
a double amputee, whose family had roots in Berens River and Fort Alexander
First Nations, died after waiting 34 hours in a hospital waiting room waiting
for treatment for a bladder infection – while nearly 200 people passed him by –
including staff who wrongly assumed he was “sleeping it off”.
The
former Auditor General for Canada raised the alarms about discriminatory
funding and the failure by Indian Affairs to take action on programs that would
significantly impact the lives of First Nations. The Office of the Correctional
Investigator has called the increasing over-representation of Indigenous
peoples a crisis that needs to be addressed. The United Nations Special Rapporteur
has made numerous recommendations on how Canada can address this multi-faceted
crisis in First Nations. But Canada fails to take action.
Despite
Canada’s failure to act, First Nations continue to try to raise the alarm bells
on this lethal situation. A failure to address the chronic underfunding has led
to First Nations being 10 times more likely to die in a house fire than
Canadians. Indian affairs own report done in 2011 indicated that a minimum of
$28 million dollars was needed to prevent deadly fires in Manitoba alone – yet
all 633 First Nations in Canada only get $26 million.
Canada
sits back and watches our people die needless deaths while we struggle to heal
our families and communities, to rebuild after the theft of our lands and
resources and to resist ongoing attempts to assimilate and eliminate us. The
herculean effort at the grassroots level to protect our people is made more
difficult by state propaganda that would blame us for our own misery, or
deflect media attention by vilifying our leaders. Now Bill C-51 will make those
of us who speak out against such inhumanity all “terrorists”. Then who will
defend this territory?
The
Chief Coroner for Ontario released an especially rare and powerful report in
2011 on the child suicide epidemic in Pikangikum First Nation which had
declared a state of emergency – a desperate call for help that went unanswered
by Canada. Within a two year period between 2006 and 2008, 16 children between
the ages of 10-19 committed suicide. 16 children died – not from accidental car
crashes or unpreventable diseases but because the “basic necessities of life
are absent” in Pikangikum who struggles to heal and survive amidst the
“backdrop of colonialism, racism and social exclusion” and government neglect.
16
little First Nation children committed suicide because the Canadian state
creates and maintains the conditions of life that will either kill them or make
them so hopeless they will kill themselves. That’s the UN definition of
genocide.
In
the words of the coroner, this “was not a story of capitulation to death, but
rather, a story of stamina, endurance, tolerance, and resiliency stretched
beyond human limits until finally, they simply could take no more.”
In
what vision of Canada are the ongoing deaths of our people ok? We need
Canadians to stand beside First Nations and support us as we defend the health
of our lands and waters as well as the rights and freedoms of Canadians. This should
not be our burden to bear alone anymore. Help us turn this ship around before
we lose any more precious children.
P. Palmater, Genocide, Indian Policy and legislated Elimination of Indians In Canada (2014) vol.3, no.3, Aboriginal Policy Studies 27-54.
http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/aps/article/view/22225/pdf_22
P. Palmater, Stretched Beyond Human Limits: Death by Poverty in First Nations (2011) No.65/66, Can. Rev. of Social Policy 112-127.
http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/crsp/article/viewFile/35220/32057
