‘Elevate First Nations to where they belong’

Dear Editor:
Mention First Nations and most people conjure up impressions of drunkards, people who are a burden on white society, live in a welfare subculture and are not contributing anything. These impressions are reflected in “unacceptable Third World conditions” including “unsafe drinking water, crowded homes, high unemployment, high suicide rates, limited access to quality health care, and thousands of children being looked after by provincial child-welfare authorities” according to former Assembly of First Nations national chief Phil Fontaine. For Canada, a G8 country, this is a deep, dark double standard.
First Nations history includes government expropriation of their lands with which they have an intimate relationship. In the past, against their will, they were forced into residential schools while young children. They were physically, psychologically, and sexually abused and were taught that their culture was “inferior” and “not worth preserving.” They were not permitted to speak their native language. They were even punished for doing so. The result was that they were robbed of their sense of identity and self esteem.
Strip anyone of these qualities and they will develop a deep sense of hopelessness, rebellion, seething resentment and despair. This must find a release in some form. If no other way is found, the individual will resort to alcoholism, substance abuse, petty crime, prostitution, child and spousal abuse, homicide, and suicide.
First Nations are no exception to this.
Native people living close to the land realize that we are not aloof from the Earth, we are a part of it.
They are in a first hand position to observe what’s happening to our environment. For generations, they have been endeavouring to alert us to the effects of massive scale harvesting of our woodlands and changes in the global climate and natural world. Yet, we have remained largely indifferent to their admonitions.
Bill Toll, a former forest practices specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and now a science and information coordinator for the MNR in Ontario’s northwest, said that observers, as do residents of remote First Nation communities, have a more intimate relationship with nature than even native groups living close to civilization. Whereas the younger generations are impatient and eager to harvest in excess of 500 hectares (1,235,500 acres) of forest stands for profit each year. The Elders, however, want to restrict the annual harvest to 100 hectares (247,100 acres). They want to avoid road intrusion and allow natural evolution to take its course.
A convincing example of focused aboriginal forest management is the strategy of the Kuna natives of northeastern Panama to preserve a luxuriant, narrow strip of jungle stretching l82 kilometres along Panama’s Caribbean coast as a park.
Owners of their own territory, they have taken the initiative in protecting the land from the ravages of the slash-and-burn techniques used in Latin America to make way for coffee plantations. By safeguarding their own area, they have, in turn, saved high altitude lands from erosion and protected lowland farms. They have demonstrated that native people “can both safeguard and use their natural resources for long term human well being.”
This was no surprise to Michael R. Wright, a former vice president of the World Wildlife Fund in the United States. He said the Kuna have a tremendous sense of self-identity, have moved to control their own destiny, and protect their culture and resources. This is a lesson from the Kuna that Canada surely stands to learn.
Bridget Stutchberry, a biology professor at York University in Toronto, cites Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) of Ontario statistics on the decline of two bird species over her lifetime.
Canada’s warblers and olive-sided flycatchers have dropped by a “stunning” 50 and 75 per cent respectively. The decline of other species is also raising alarm bells.
Time is past due for Canada to reach its potential
The reason cited for this decline is that boreal forests are being cut at the rate of close to one million hectares (24,710,000 acres) every year. At the other end of their biannual migration where they winter in Latin America, bush lands are being felled at the rate of about 4 million hectares (98, 840,000 acres) annually. In between, where migrating songbirds stop to rest and refuel, forests are also being cleared at a phenomenal rate. Stutchberry writes that forests in Canada, the U.S., and the tropics are an enormous carbon storehouse and are “critical to the survival of the planet in this era of climate change.”
Jeffery Wells, director of science and policy of the Boreal Songbird Initiative, wonders why the northern boreal forest has to be sacrificed. He writes that its half billion acres represents fully a quarter of the world’s uncut forests and is home to massive numbers of birds. He writes further: “The products of clear cutting could well be catalogues and junk mail within a few months.”
What we are doing to our wildlife and our planet, we were ultimately doing to ourselves. Why does it have to be this way?
Phil Fontaine has said that First Nations people “want to be real contributors to Canada’s prosperity.”
Apparently, they are sending the following messages: they want to be heard and they want the chance to prove themselves.
Adding frustration to the situation, however, is the cancellation by the Harper government, when it took office, of the $5.1 billion Kelowna accord. Its purpose was to “improve the social and economic conditions of Aboriginal people” worked out by the previous Liberal government. From their culture comes the following First Nations environmental ethic. First, do no harm. Plan ahead seven generations. Take only what you need. If harm is done, remove the source of the harm and let the earth heal itself.
Such a concept is urgently needed in this time of climate change caused by large scale clearing of carbon dioxide-controlling forests according to scientists. Given their culture and intimate relationship with nature, we would be well advised to involve our native people in forest management. They could be educated and trained as professionals in forestry and related, as well as other fields. Once this is done, they could be hired as consultants and active participants in Canada’s economy.
But, what’s really happening? An obvious answer is this country is ignoring and wasting a valuable national resource. The time is past due for Canada to awaken to its potential, make use of all the help it can, and elevate First Nations to a level where they belong.
George E. Tester
Neebing, Ont.