Highway of Tears
Life is often likened to a Vale of Sorrows, from ancient writings to the present, acknowledging the many difficulties facing humans as they find their place in life within their communities and the struggle to make a place for themselves. We deal with life, injury, disease, death and loss. The conundrums of existence, the ongoing efforts to 'fit' into a social structure, the confusions of rejection and the difficulties that life often throws in the faces of those whose existence is less than ideal confound us all.
But none more so than indigenous communities in any country who historically faced the fall-out of an intruder community's ideas of social, moral and ethical superiority over the indigenous culture. Not only is the original habitant at a disadvantage because the newcomers bring along with them attitudes of conquest and entitlement, but that they also have to live as disentitled supplicants in their home land.
Nowhere is this more true than in Canada, where we celebrate our intermingling of cultures and traditions through the mosaic of immigration-settlement representing all the countries of the world. While the original inhabitants of the land remain marginalized, ill-regarded and their children's lives echo and re-echo the dire straits the entire group lives in; endemic poverty, disease, social disequalibrium, neglect.
It's true that as a group Canadians are fairly unified in feeling we have an obligation to our aboriginal populations, and we're agreeable to seeing a hefty proportion of public funds handed over to tribal leaders for the administration of reserves. The government, in our collective name, has enacted additional benefits through lifting of taxation levied against reserves and recognizing through the laws of the land the special place of our first-settlers.
Somehow, though, old habits of society still die hard. On both sides. Assimilation isn't an agreeable option for aboriginal groups, insistent on maintaining as much of their culture and 'traditional way of life' as possible. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to maintain culture and tradition and still thrive economically in this type of society that is Canada's.
And because the structural/social/cultural divide remains, and aboriginals fall prey to all the detrimental effects of not taking their own futures into their own capable hands, they remain marginalized, depressed, incapacitated, facing futile futures. Living lives of quiet despair within the larger community they remain a critically unsolved problem.
But the problem is also that of the wider Canadian community. And nowhere can our guilt in this untenable nightmare of existence be more readily seen than in the plight of the young: adrift, valueless, desperate and suicidal. There's also the casual indifference with which disappearances of young aboriginal women are treated.
The 724-kilometre stretch of highway from Prince Rupert to Prince George in British Columbia is a case in point. Young women often hitch-hike along that stretch of highway, looking for a casual lift and finding instead deadly assault. Local police respond differently to accounts of young women from reserves who are missing than those of other communities.
Now community activists have succeeded in persuading Prince George city council to erect a series of billboards to be placed along the highway warning young women of dire dangers awaiting them. As a stark reminder of what has occurred to other young women reported missing, and others discovered murdered, the billboards titled "ain't worth the risk sister" are compelling in and of themselves.
The billboards are based on a painting by artist Tom McHarg, showing a young woman waiting by the side of the road, a car oncoming, with two wraiths of young women pleading with her to avoid the disasters that befell them in their innocent trust of strangers. Activists say that public transit and highway telephones are also needed.
Police in the area will admit to 'only' 9 women missing, that no serial killer is involved, but human rights activist Gladys Radek says her personal research has documented at least 19 women missing, while another woman, family member of one of the vanished women, is sending on the results of her research to the RCMP that places the number of missing or murdered women at 28.
Is this our Canada? Don't we care?
But none more so than indigenous communities in any country who historically faced the fall-out of an intruder community's ideas of social, moral and ethical superiority over the indigenous culture. Not only is the original habitant at a disadvantage because the newcomers bring along with them attitudes of conquest and entitlement, but that they also have to live as disentitled supplicants in their home land.
Nowhere is this more true than in Canada, where we celebrate our intermingling of cultures and traditions through the mosaic of immigration-settlement representing all the countries of the world. While the original inhabitants of the land remain marginalized, ill-regarded and their children's lives echo and re-echo the dire straits the entire group lives in; endemic poverty, disease, social disequalibrium, neglect.
It's true that as a group Canadians are fairly unified in feeling we have an obligation to our aboriginal populations, and we're agreeable to seeing a hefty proportion of public funds handed over to tribal leaders for the administration of reserves. The government, in our collective name, has enacted additional benefits through lifting of taxation levied against reserves and recognizing through the laws of the land the special place of our first-settlers.
Somehow, though, old habits of society still die hard. On both sides. Assimilation isn't an agreeable option for aboriginal groups, insistent on maintaining as much of their culture and 'traditional way of life' as possible. Unfortunately, it isn't possible to maintain culture and tradition and still thrive economically in this type of society that is Canada's.
And because the structural/social/cultural divide remains, and aboriginals fall prey to all the detrimental effects of not taking their own futures into their own capable hands, they remain marginalized, depressed, incapacitated, facing futile futures. Living lives of quiet despair within the larger community they remain a critically unsolved problem.
But the problem is also that of the wider Canadian community. And nowhere can our guilt in this untenable nightmare of existence be more readily seen than in the plight of the young: adrift, valueless, desperate and suicidal. There's also the casual indifference with which disappearances of young aboriginal women are treated.
The 724-kilometre stretch of highway from Prince Rupert to Prince George in British Columbia is a case in point. Young women often hitch-hike along that stretch of highway, looking for a casual lift and finding instead deadly assault. Local police respond differently to accounts of young women from reserves who are missing than those of other communities.
Now community activists have succeeded in persuading Prince George city council to erect a series of billboards to be placed along the highway warning young women of dire dangers awaiting them. As a stark reminder of what has occurred to other young women reported missing, and others discovered murdered, the billboards titled "ain't worth the risk sister" are compelling in and of themselves.
The billboards are based on a painting by artist Tom McHarg, showing a young woman waiting by the side of the road, a car oncoming, with two wraiths of young women pleading with her to avoid the disasters that befell them in their innocent trust of strangers. Activists say that public transit and highway telephones are also needed.
Police in the area will admit to 'only' 9 women missing, that no serial killer is involved, but human rights activist Gladys Radek says her personal research has documented at least 19 women missing, while another woman, family member of one of the vanished women, is sending on the results of her research to the RCMP that places the number of missing or murdered women at 28.
Is this our Canada? Don't we care?
Labels: Canada
posted by Pieface | 1:18 PM
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