Letter to MPs RE: Attawapiskat First Nation

Undoubtedly, you will likely have heard of the plight of one of our communities, living in worse than Third World conditions and ignored by the Canadian and Ontario governments for years. I decided not to be idle. Among other things, I wrote a letter to all the MPs to pressure them to action.

Below is a copy of my letter and below that, the emails I sent it to. Each party has one email that will automatically send your email letter to every member of that party. I hope you will join me in flooding their inboxes on this issue.

Dear MPs,

I recently read the article regarding the State of Emergency in Attawapiskat First Nation and the complete failure of governments and aid agencies to respond (www.huffingtonpost.ca/charlie-angus/attawapiskat-emergency_b_1104370.html#s487209).

Admittedly, the article greatly angered and distressed me. I cannot begin to express how shameful it is for a 1st world country that prides itself on Human Rights to then turn around and deny the basic human rights of an entire community of people.

The people of Attawapiskat First Nation are denied proper housing, electricity, heating, water, plumbing. Many are living in mere tents in a nation whose temperature plummets well below 0, to temperatures that cause illness and death.

Canada gives billions of dollars in foreign aid to nations that are not even experiencing half of the horrendous conditions as the people of Attawapiskat First Nation, and even offers aid to wealthier nations like China, yet turns a blind eye domestically.

I implore you to lay aside your political differences and agendas to do what's right. Take action with appropriate responsive measures and aid. If it means redirecting foreign aid budgets to do this, then so be it. Please make this a priority. It should not come from AANDC budgets. This is a Human Rights issue, not a First Nation issue.

If this were suburban Toronto, I am certain your response would be swift with a budget determined by need rather than by artifical caps. Please act with the same level of dedication and commitment.

Thank you,

Ken Sanderson


Here are the emails (feel free to comment and add to the list):

• libmem@parl.gc.ca (Liberal MPs)
• cpcmem@parl.gc.ca (Conservative MPs)
• ndpmem@parl.gc.ca (NDP MPs)
• elizabeth.may@parl.gc.ca

Last few pieces of advice. MPs are most likely to read your letter if they are well thought out and rant free. This can be the most challenging part. Make sure you take the time to process your emotions first, then write several drafts and get feedback from firends, mentors, etc. Since it is email, delivery is instant, so you can afford to take the few days to get your message right.

Happy activism!

Ken

Moving Beyond Economic Survival

If you are like me, you probably keep somewhat up to date with news reports, research etc. Specifically, I am going to talk about Indigenous socio-economic status.

In many ways, our peoples are standing at the brink, pushed for hundreds of years to very edge of the cliff. Aside from some pockets of success, we have so many of our communities struggling with everyday life: lack of access to clean water, shoddy housing, mould & mildew, encroaching corporations draining the land's resources and leaving behind toxic waste, Federal Government policies that do not respect the treaties nor the right to be consulted, completely inadequate and unequal funding for virtually every social program that general Canadians enjoy and take for granted, etc.

Even in urban centres, our people are facing a persistent income gap as this report clearly demonstrates.

Despite all of these challenges, our people are growing in number and we survive yet. I have posted the report in a previous blog that calculated over th next 10 years 1 in every 3 new entrant to the Manitoba labour force will be Aboriginal. I have also shared that there will be a net gain of a half trillion dollars in GDP and social program savings if Aboriginal people were to reach a higher education and employment level.

The possibilities and the hope is there. At least abstractly. On the ground, in the communities, how do we move from survival to success? From success to significance?

To echo our national chief, we need education. That's one part of it. We need to gain experience and knowledge from those who have skills we need. We need to build greater connections and partnerships.

We must also not lose our connection to the community - both in the figural sense and in the literal sense. In the past we would leave the community to hunt, then return with provisions for the community. Today, we must do the same thing, but the game we hunt now is education, experience, connections with sincere and willing partners (for projects, business, etc.).

This is a short post today, but it echos what I have been really feeling in my heart. Somehow, we need to begin diverting resources back to the communities, be they financial, knowledge, or skills.

Aboriginal Education Investment

As we look at the current recession and to the future, it is apparant that the economy in Canada is in peril unless some wisdom is adhered to. The status quo of the labour force and business world will no longer suffice.

Currently, one quarter of Manitoba’s youth under 20 is Aboriginal and projections predict that 1 in 3 new additions to the workforce over the next 10 years will be Aboriginal – even with the assumption of high immigration[1].

The Centre for the Study of Living Standards[2] calculated that the 2026 GDP would increase by 36.5 billion if Aboriginal Canadians achieved the same 2001 level of education and employment as non-Aboriginal Canadians.

Cumulatively, over the next 25 years, this would add a staggering $401 billion to the Canadian economy. Of that $179 billion would be a direct result of increased educational attainment. In addition, there would be a cumulative $77 billion in savings on social programs.

These impacts do not factor in the difficult to measure positive multi-generational impacts of increased socio-economic status on families.

Considering the economic advantage this represents (half a trillion dollars), it astounds me that very little is being done to address this. As we speak First Nations schools are receiving as little as half that of non-Aboriginal schools. As we speak First Nations daycares and family programs receive only a fracion of non-Aboriginal funding support. As we speak, INAC blocks every effort by First Nations schools to partner with provinces and offer vocational programs in secondary school.

I may be slightly pessimistic in saying this, but it seems to me our government is either ignorant beyond words or they are intentionally oppressing First Nations people. How else can we explain the illogical nature of the approach to the potenial mega benefit that can be realized with some sincere attention paid to the well-being of Aboriginal people?

There are so many statistics about lower graduation rates of Aboriginal people and we often wonder why. Nationally, the graduation rate is less than 40% for First Nations on-reserve (article). High school graduation is critical to gaining higher levels of income and breaking free of a dismal socio-economic status. The Government refuses to properly fund education for First Nations people so that the quality is too poor to be able to offer all of the extra amenities and educational offerings that make school fun and exciting.

The Government refuses to even pay for adequate infrastructure to house students and many communities do not even have a high school. What do they do? They are forced to send their teenage children to the city, without parental supervision, where they undergo culture shock, separation from family and friends in order to attend high school. All of this with the fact that due to under funding on-reserve, most kids enter high school several grade levels behind, being set-up for failure. This makes them excellent targets for gangs, sexual predators, drug pushers, etc.

How many non-Aboriginal sub-urban families would be comfortable sending their teenage children to a big city like Toronto - ALONE - for high school education? Yet this is what thousands upon thousands of First Nation families go through every year.

The Government knows about this and has for a long time, yet nothing is done to change it. Even after they have recently endorsed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, they have repeatedly said nothing new will be done in their approach.

That`s a half trillion dollar statement!

[1] C.D. Howe Institute. “Manitoba’s Demographic Challenge: Why Improving Aboriginal Education Outcomes Is Vital for Economic Prosperity.” 2010.

[2] Sharpe, Andrew and Arsenault, Jean-Francois. Investing in Aboriginal Education in Canada: An Economic Perspective. 2009.

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