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Aboriginal Issues
5-03-2017
In the last column, we explored the Canadian tragedy of the hundreds of Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or are missing. The idea that our society is not doing more to address the underlying causes dismays many of us. How can this happen here? Canada is a first world country known for welcoming newcomers from all over the world. How do we turn a blind eye to the suffering of our own citizens – the original inhabitants of this beautiful land?
As we’ve learnt, the paternalistic and demeaning “Indian Act”, in effect since 1876, has left painful scars on individuals personally involved such as survivors of residential schools or victims of forced relocations. But it has also decimated entire communities and eroded a rich and powerful culture. Decades of discrimination have resulted in an incredibly complex web of social issues trapping not only the Aboriginal community, but all Canadians
Lower levels of education: a particularly insidious legacy of the residential schools is that Indigenous people continue to distrust the education system and do not feel valued in school. The gap in high school graduation rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students is well known 84% of the general population. In BC 63% of Aboriginal students graduate compared to. Slightly less than one-third, 31%, of the Aboriginal adults who live on-reserves have a basic high school education. The lack of a solid education severely restricts career opportunities and generally limits lifetime earnings, leading to further problems.
Higher unemployment: Aboriginal adults are significantly more likely to be unemployed than non-Indigenous people. In BC, during the first quarter of 2017, the general unemployment rate was 5.4%, with the unemployment rate for Indigenous people nearly three-times as high at 13.7%. Although the government does not track on-reserve unemployment, it is consistently estimated that the rate is a staggering 25% of job seekers not able to find employment.
Poverty: it is only logically that high unemployment will lead to high poverty rates. In 2010, the median income in Canada was $30,195, with the median income for Aboriginal people nearly one-third less at $20,701. A 2016 study showed that Indigenous children in Canada are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than non-Aboriginal kids. Status First Nations children suffer the most with 51 % of them knowing nothing but poverty.
Substandard living conditions: affordable housing is an issue facing many Canadians, with First Nations people among the hardest hit. For Aboriginal people living off-reserve, low incomes make it difficult to find suitable housing. One-fifth of Indigenous people who live off-reserve are homeless. On-reserve housing has its own problems too with overcrowded, mould or asbestos filled, homes in need of repair. In the North, the housing problem is worsened by both the extreme weather conditions and the cost of food, which limits how much money can be spent on housing. For example, residents in Nunavut spend twice as much as the national average on food yearly and the average price of a house in Whitehorse has nearly doubled in the past decade.
Lack of clean water: unbelievably many Indigenous communities in Canada do not have access to running water or sewage systems. Currently, over 100 First Nations municipalities are under boil water advisories because their water is not safe to drink. You may have heard about Hasan Syed, a young Pakistan born nursing graduate, who was shocked to learn about the conditions on reserve and decided to run from Vancouver to Ottawa to raise awareness. Al Ameen featured his story in the April 12th edition. You can follow his progress at https://www.a2cw.org.
Poorer health: inferior living conditions and ongoing stress will have a negative effect on health. Diabetes, tuberculosis, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases occur in Aboriginal people at much higher rates than in the general public. Infant mortality for Aboriginal babies is approximately 1.5 times higher than the national average and children have a higher rate of unintentional injuries and early deaths from accidental causes such as drowning. Drug and alcohol addiction compound health problems and lack of access to medical services is an ongoing problem for rural communities across Canada.
Higher rates of suicide: tragically, suicide rates are seven times higher among Aboriginal youth than the national average with suicide the leading cause of death for First Nations youth and adults under 45 years of age. Far too many Indigenous people have given up hope.
Indeed, the situation of Aboriginal people is dire. It’s easy to view the issues as “their” problems. But really they are Canadian problems belonging to each of us.
Zainab Dhanani can be reached at z_dhanani@yahoo.ca
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