Rebuild or Relocate?
Another one of those tragic situations that simply will not go away. Kashechewan is just that. It is a misery of a place, a place called home by 1,500 Cree whose lives could hardly be more nasty, wanting in 20th century human amenities, with scant hope for the future of their young. The reserve has been neglected, the needs of its people overlooked, and it is largely poor administration on the part of its band council and chief.
Desires versus practicality. Last fall an enquiry was conducted on behalf of the federal government by federal advisor Alan Pope. After extensive discussions with people living on the reserve, in the wake of a number of truly disquieting events requiring airlifting part of the population out of the reserve for months as a result of health and safety concerns relating to an uncertain potable water supply, it appeared that the majority would welcome a wholesale move south.
Mr. Pope and his staff claim to have "knocked on literally every door in Kashechewan" to obtain a fair and honest opinion of each resident with respect to the future disposition of the reserve. Its placement alongside the flood-prone Albany River left it vulnerable to regular flooding events, the housing on the reserve needs to be refurbished, the water supply has become tainted on occasion.
There are problems with drug and alcohol addiction, school attendance, and regular suicide episodes among the young people of the reserve. The reserve has been poorly administered, with a lack of accountability. When solutions have been recommended by government agencies to specific problems such as lack of a fire station, the one provided was rejected out of hand as not being sufficiently suitable.
Now the new Kashechewan chief has presented a new report to Indian Affairs, one that indicates a complete turn-around to the original Pope report where residents opted for a move to Timmins or Smooth Rock Falls. It would now appear that the reserve majority would prefer to remain on their traditional land - with a move to higher ground on James Bay.
Jonathan Solomon the new Kashechewan chief, unable to explain the shift in opinion, offered his view that those who backed a reserve within traditional boundaries wished to remain because of their attachment to the land. "It's mostly to do with their connection to the land, their way of life, their culture", he explained. Which, taken at face value, bespeaks the emotional attachment of a people to their past, their traditions.
But times have changed, offering new opportunities. Moving further up to an isolated forest area will not solve the existential problems the residents have been facing. New housing would improve their living conditions over the present squalid situation, but they still require the know-how and assistance to produce potable water, they will be no further ahead with respect to education and employment opportunities, their abuse of drugs and alcohol will not be solved, nor will the despair of their children.
Moreover, while they will retain their connection to the land, their way of life is now an artificial one, since it is not self-sustaining as it once was, and their culture has been undermined with substance abuse, child neglect, and no mode of useful employment. At a conservative estimate of a half-billion dollars to effect the move upriver and infrastructure-enabling, the solution will only be a short-term one, until everyone becomes bored with their isolation and lack of opportunity once again.
The Canadian public, like the government, wants to solve the intractable problems facing our First Nations people. We don't enjoy the thought of any Canadians living in hopelessly substandard conditions. The suffering of our native Canadians is an affront to the dignity of the nation, a constant reminder to all Canadians that much has still to be done. But spending a quarter-million dollars for each representative of the reserve to fund the move is not the way to go.
People are easily persuaded that one solution may work better for them than another, particularly when their emotions, and the pull of the past are evoked. There must come a time, however, when all people make the determination that it is past time that they too become a part of the answer, not just the problem itself. Kashechewan's residents must become responsible for their own well being by taking into consideration their obligations to themselves.
They need to carefully consider all alternatives, not be content with placidly deciding that the federal government turn over a huge sum of money to transfer them to another, hopefully-preferential location which promises them no real future. They cannot be self-reliant there, they can only begin to once again stagnate into a pool of misery of their own making.
It's time to grow up and become fully functional as an integral part of Canadian society, with pride in their determination to produce a life for their children.
Desires versus practicality. Last fall an enquiry was conducted on behalf of the federal government by federal advisor Alan Pope. After extensive discussions with people living on the reserve, in the wake of a number of truly disquieting events requiring airlifting part of the population out of the reserve for months as a result of health and safety concerns relating to an uncertain potable water supply, it appeared that the majority would welcome a wholesale move south.
Mr. Pope and his staff claim to have "knocked on literally every door in Kashechewan" to obtain a fair and honest opinion of each resident with respect to the future disposition of the reserve. Its placement alongside the flood-prone Albany River left it vulnerable to regular flooding events, the housing on the reserve needs to be refurbished, the water supply has become tainted on occasion.
There are problems with drug and alcohol addiction, school attendance, and regular suicide episodes among the young people of the reserve. The reserve has been poorly administered, with a lack of accountability. When solutions have been recommended by government agencies to specific problems such as lack of a fire station, the one provided was rejected out of hand as not being sufficiently suitable.
Now the new Kashechewan chief has presented a new report to Indian Affairs, one that indicates a complete turn-around to the original Pope report where residents opted for a move to Timmins or Smooth Rock Falls. It would now appear that the reserve majority would prefer to remain on their traditional land - with a move to higher ground on James Bay.
Jonathan Solomon the new Kashechewan chief, unable to explain the shift in opinion, offered his view that those who backed a reserve within traditional boundaries wished to remain because of their attachment to the land. "It's mostly to do with their connection to the land, their way of life, their culture", he explained. Which, taken at face value, bespeaks the emotional attachment of a people to their past, their traditions.
But times have changed, offering new opportunities. Moving further up to an isolated forest area will not solve the existential problems the residents have been facing. New housing would improve their living conditions over the present squalid situation, but they still require the know-how and assistance to produce potable water, they will be no further ahead with respect to education and employment opportunities, their abuse of drugs and alcohol will not be solved, nor will the despair of their children.
Moreover, while they will retain their connection to the land, their way of life is now an artificial one, since it is not self-sustaining as it once was, and their culture has been undermined with substance abuse, child neglect, and no mode of useful employment. At a conservative estimate of a half-billion dollars to effect the move upriver and infrastructure-enabling, the solution will only be a short-term one, until everyone becomes bored with their isolation and lack of opportunity once again.
The Canadian public, like the government, wants to solve the intractable problems facing our First Nations people. We don't enjoy the thought of any Canadians living in hopelessly substandard conditions. The suffering of our native Canadians is an affront to the dignity of the nation, a constant reminder to all Canadians that much has still to be done. But spending a quarter-million dollars for each representative of the reserve to fund the move is not the way to go.
People are easily persuaded that one solution may work better for them than another, particularly when their emotions, and the pull of the past are evoked. There must come a time, however, when all people make the determination that it is past time that they too become a part of the answer, not just the problem itself. Kashechewan's residents must become responsible for their own well being by taking into consideration their obligations to themselves.
They need to carefully consider all alternatives, not be content with placidly deciding that the federal government turn over a huge sum of money to transfer them to another, hopefully-preferential location which promises them no real future. They cannot be self-reliant there, they can only begin to once again stagnate into a pool of misery of their own making.
It's time to grow up and become fully functional as an integral part of Canadian society, with pride in their determination to produce a life for their children.
Labels: Crisis Politics
posted by Pieface | 5:49 PM
2 Comments:
Although you make some good points about practicality - having lived there and seen how important the community and land is to the people there - I would argue that you discount the importance of that connection too quickly. Nor have you given voice the the problems which come with relocating people born and raised in an isolated community to the border of Timmins where access to drugs, alcohol and trouble is as improved as the access to hospitals and colleges. I don't think that it would be an easy readjustment, especially with the loss of traditional lands. I'm not saying that there wouldn't be a lot of good things possible if the community was moved to a less isolated place, but I think you place too little value on what the people would lose. I don't think it would be a choice made lightly by anyone.
As a side note, the land and the albany river has its own haunting beauty - and bears no resemblance to Timmins boreal landscape. It would take more than a generation to have the new place feel like home.
Jennith,
Thank you for sharing your experience and your thoughts with me. What I would like to convey to you is my belief that loving nostalgia of a time long past, and the fear that comes with separating from one's cherished landscape/community cannot replace the reality of adjusting to the world as it now is. Intangibles like tradition and custom and history are important to human beings, but the need to adjust to a different world is paramount to being able to live sensibly within that world. It is never an easy readjustment as you say, to relocate whether it is within the boundaries of a country or removing from one country to another, by necessity. People do that for the very simple reason that they must, whether because they are refugees as a result of war conditions, or simply seeking a better life for their families.
First Nations people have long ago compromised the purity of their lifestyle as it once was, when they accepted so many of the aspects of modern society which have proven to be deleterious to their health and their future aspirations.
No people, as a group or even singularly, can feel themselves having fulfilled their destiny on this earth without some kind of usefulness to themselves.
Removal to another remote area, however beautiful it may be will not permit First Nations people to be self-reliant. While they remain dedicated to the land, the homes within which they dwell which are provided for them have no value to them because they have invested nothing of their own labours in obtaining them, and have no incentive to ensure their soundness. There are no traditions to hand on to their children as the traditional way of life is gone; what remains is a hollow gesture, a shrine to what once was in the collective memory.
With responsibility to self and to one's family expressed through the determination to secure one's wherewithal through one's own effort comes a restoration of pride. Boredom, is the enemy of hope and of the future; children can see nothing to look forward to. You have to look beyond what "people have to lose" by leaving their traditional communities; their heritage is still there, but to continue to believe that the original way of life can still be recaptured is to dream a vacuous and unfulfillable dream. There is truth to that old saying that you can't go home again. Realities change. People are inherently adaptable, however much we don't want to alter our way of life.
Don't you think European and Asian immigrants to Canada had to encounter a massive change in their lives to fulfill the need of their expectations of a decent life? I feel Canada's native Canadians have suffered more than enough, but the solution to their intractable problem will be found within themselves, when they resolve to make a difference for themselves by their own efforts.
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