Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Human Rights
Issue 19 - Evidence, November 19, 2012 (evening meeting)
WINNIPEG, Monday, November 19, 2012
The Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights met this day at 7 p.m. to study issues pertaining to the human rights of First Nations band members who reside off reserve, with an emphasis on the current federal policy framework.
Senator Patrick Brazeau (Deputy Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Deputy Chair: Honourable senators, we have six panelists with us this evening. From the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres, we have Mr. Jack Park. From Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre, we have President Greg Fidler and Executive Director Anita Campbell. We also have with us, from the Indian and Metis Friendship Centre of Winnipeg, Mr. Jim Sinclair.
Mr. Park, you have the floor.
Jack Park, President, Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres: Thank you, Mr. Chair and senators, for the opportunity to come before you this evening and give you a presentation on the Friendship Centre Movement in Manitoba.
First, I want to thank you for coming to the first friendship centre in Canada, the IMFC of Winnipeg, which has offered 52 years of service to the community here in Winnipeg.
What we decided to do, if it is okay with you, Mr. Chair, is to go through a written report. I will share that responsibility with Adam Blanchard, my executive director, and Greg Fidler who serves as a second vice-president for our organization. I will start off with a brief introduction.
The Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres, otherwise known as MAC, appreciates the opportunity to speak to the Senate committee as you consider the issues related to human rights of Aboriginal people who reside off reserve, including residency, access to rights, participation in community-based decision-making processes, portability of rights, and existing remedies.
The Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres is a not-for-profit organization. The association was created in 1971 by a collective of 11 friendship centres in the province of Manitoba to unify the friendship centres into one voice, to address issues relevant to the betterment of Aboriginal people who migrate from rural and reserve settings to urban communities.
I will give you our purpose. There are five points I would like to raise with you. The first being to provide a central facilitating body through which communications and the exchange of ideas will be fostered; second, to promote a deeper understanding of the culture, the historical significance and service delivery role of friendship centres in Manitoba, and the unique heritage and contributions of Aboriginal people among all of Canadian citizens; third, to advocate on behalf of friendship centres on common issues affecting their communities and populations; four, to provide a central administrative body through which programs, services, policy and governance can be coordinated, enforced and delivered, ensuring fiscal responsibility, measurement and accountability in our outcomes; and, five, to create partnerships that provide opportunities for issues addressing urban aboriginal people.
For over 40 years the Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres has created and enforced rigorous, objective and well-documented administrative and analytical processes involving our clientele that are regularly monitored, reviewed and validated by the Province of Manitoba, our board of directors and the National Association of Friendship Centres. The Friendship Centres of Manitoba have become recognized leaders in employment, health, family, culture and education programs in Manitoba, exceeding outcomes in several provincially funded initiatives, and recently being selected by the Province of Manitoba as a Best Practice Organization meriting a reduction in red tape in provincial reporting.
The Friendship Centres of Manitoba collectively own an asset base of $17,908,349 in infrastructure and property according to audited financial statements ending March 31, 2012. The annual program funding generated by the 11 friendship centres in Manitoba and MAC amounts to be $17,233,301.93 in the same fiscal year.
I will now hand it over to Greg.
Greg Fidler, President, Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre: I am going to provide you with some background information regarding the friendship centre movement.
The formation of friendship centres over 50 years ago has unique historical significance in assertion, development and education of Aboriginal rights in Canada. Friendship centres were born from grassroots groups of Aboriginal people asserting their rights to migrate to urban settings from reserves and be given equality in access to opportunities. Their movement and actions prompted local Aboriginal people to realize that culture and traditions could be integrated into education, housing, programs and events.
At a time when the U.S. was experiencing civil rights issues for African American peoples, Aboriginal people were demonstrating their ability to stand up for their culture and ensure an equal place for themselves in Canadian society. This occurred through the formation of collective groups that advocated for control of their destinies and recognition of their ability to manage their own affairs.
While several organizations existed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, friendship centres were the only group to pursue asset acquisitions, service delivery, sustainability and non-representational advocacy for issues facing their urban communities, transitioning migrating people from reserves to urban settings in order to improve their quality of life. This pursuit has led to an unparalleled network of services, staff, infrastructure, policy and practice that has been sustained for more than three generations providing a trusted social environment that is psychologically comfortable and culturally appropriate. Individuals help each other cope with the problems and anxieties of discrimination, poverty and alienation experiences in urban settings. They receive assistance in education and career planning and participation in Canadian society while retaining their cultural integrity.
Since the early days, friendship centres have evolved and spawned generations of Aboriginal political, social and community leaders and organizations. Friendship centres today have numerous programs and services, many opportunities for Aboriginal people, and specifically Aboriginal youth and elders, and continue to operate on principles of accountability, culture and understanding. Today, friendship centres have evolved into educational and socioeconomic advocates, and remain committed to serving everyone regardless of race for a better community. Friendship centres today are among the oldest and most effective Aboriginal service delivery providers and remain the source and connection of Aboriginal culture and history, and for most Aboriginal people in Canada, as evidenced by numerous reports and evaluations. We believe that communities have inherent rights to exercise full control over any projects or programs in which they are involved.
While current on-reserve rights guarantee certain land annuities and hunting and fishing rights, the increasingly urban Aboriginal population migrating from on-reserve scenarios, enjoys the rights guaranteed to them by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and friendship centres assist in this self-determination, providing services that help people become familiar with, have access to, and assert these rights as citizens of Canada.
Expansions of urban Aboriginal populations, particularly urban Aboriginal youth, present many opportunities and challenges for Canada. Aboriginal youth in urban areas are reluctant to use mainstream services, preferring instead to use Aboriginal community organizations as primary service provider, and in some instances to act as intermediaries with mainstream services and government initiatives. Much of this reluctance stems from the historical legacy of discrimination towards Aboriginal people and the aversion to institutionalized facilities created by the lasting impacts of residential schools on the previous generations.
I will turn it over it Adam.
Adam Blanchard, Executive Director, Manitoba Association of Friendship Centres: I am the Executive Director for the Manitoba friendship centres. I will paraphrase my part here, I guess.
I think we are coming from more of a historical approach of recognition around the longevity of friendship centres and the policies and programs developed over that time. I have been able to find criteria and guidelines that exist from 1961 onward. When I look at the provincial or regional picture of friendship centres, we have an inherent trust among communities because of the generational aspect in that your grandmother probably founded the place and your mother was involved in programming, and now you are involved in the local friendship centre because of that trust. We have found that institutions that do specific Aboriginal programming have looked to us to partner, create a relationship, and learn culturally appropriate delivery.
We generally try to instill as much value and participation in Canadian society as we can through those programs and through education, and not necessarily claim representation of those people, but more help them assert those rights and learn about those rights. We feel that those values help them navigate the urban landscape a little bit better. We do have numerous partners. We have numerous networks that have been developed over time.
A lot of executive directors in this province have been around for about 40 years, 38 years. There is a historical, corporate memory there, and that helps with relationship building. With universities, we currently do a lot of research with the University of Manitoba. Most of our programming is very elaborate in terms of well thought out guidelines, heavy administrative measures, heavy accountability measures. I find that a lot of the reporting and stuff has been really onerous, for what it is, but at the same time, I appreciate the accountability aspect of public funds.
There is a still a lot of work to do. We have had a lot of success, and I really encourage everybody to take a look at that historical success, the historical significance of friendship centres in a native civil rights movement context from the 1960s onward.
In terms of our work ahead, we have been seeing increasing urban Aboriginal populations. Most projections are saying that that figure is going to grow very soon. We do not have a lot of specific stuff for youth. Labour market stuff, we look at our provincial programming, and it very much is ahead of the federal context in that we have run provincial employment programming for the last 12 years that have exceeded most outcomes.
We do not have a lot of policy-based evidence or studies. Those are things we are pursuing now, with things like the Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network, universities, researchers, and academics. We are finally starting to realize there is a significant gap in policy with urban Aboriginal people.
We are looking at various other institutions, like the Vanier Institute across Canada. Everybody is projecting that the Aboriginal youth labour market will have 400,000 youth entering that labour force by 2020, so we are seeing a real need for youth participation in jobs or skill development.
There are a lot of things that friendship centres do need, that we feel would ease transition for people off reserve, allow them to participate in Canadian society, allow them to participate in community driven programming that is tailored for them. One of those things is our service delivery aspect in that there is a lot of responsibility, I guess on reserve, to service members. Then we look at things like the Corbière decision, where you are completely responsible for off reserve as well but do not have that infrastructure. Our infrastructure is there, our accountability piece is there. Just enhancing that, or supporting that, or at least recognizing the contribution of that, would help us.
We have big technology deficits. I am a younger guy and I like modernizing stuff. We have developed online reporting for the province that has been working out. Just ways of communicating without travel, saving costs because of things like Skype, and then easing people into things, teaching people. I have board members who are relatively older, and they do not know how to use computers, so educating people in technology would help us.
Our programs have not been adjusted for inflation for at least 10 years. It does have an impact when costs 10 years ago were relatively low compared to the funding allocations.
Our policy support, again big gaps in policy, is affected because not enough people are actually studying the issue, or looking at the issue from a historical context.
Then there is capital renewal. This movement has based sort of its backbone on asset acquisition and building up infrastructure to service people. That infrastructure is crumbling now. They are all 30 years old. In terms of buildings, we put a lot of costs into actually maintaining facilities like this across the province. Then there are aspects of the programs that we do get federally that should include it. They have just not been increased or looked at for at least a good 10 years.
We are seeing that there are increases in urban Aboriginal populations. When we do disparity measurements and labour market measurements, or disparity indices, we see the gaps. We see non-Aboriginal versus Aboriginal gaps, especially in the cities. The income levels, while urban Aboriginal levels are increasing we are still seeing them at less than $40,000 a year. We would like to create a very vibrant, healthy Aboriginal middle class. We are not seeing that right now. We believe we can help in that regard by giving people those opportunities.
I have a very strong race relations background with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. I very much see we are the native civil rights movement of Canada, without the representational part. If anything, we represent our services, and serve anybody who comes into a friendship centre, and we at least allow them the processes, and the education to drive the governance, participate in the governance, and direct their own programs specific to their communities. I like that I have worked for a lot of Aboriginal organizations. I very much appreciate the accountability aspect of what we do, the financial aspect of what we do and the enforcement of reporting, especially with the longevity that we have. We have a very strong network across Canada. While some regions do better than others, we generally support ourselves, in best practices, in identifying what works for certain communities, as well as the difficulties. I really believe we have a historical base, a historical trust, a psychological trust, the infrastructure and the people. We host just about everything. We have spawned most of the Aboriginal leadership in Canada over time, whether that is through chiefs being a youth member at this friendship centre or what have you. We just figure that there is a lot more significance in our history, and we are seeing now that it is starting to catch up with us. We are getting behind servicing people and asserting self-determination for them, or helping them with that.
In closing, I really believe we have the expertise, infrastructure, administration and accountability to deliver services to people to help them assert their own rights and be educated in that. I heard earlier there was discussions about for every $8 we fund on reserve, we fund one dollar off reserve. We tend to take that dollar and turn it into $8. We are very efficient at what we do. I really believe the installation of culture and tradition is like the cornerstone of our movement, and as long as that is there we will have that trust.
I will leave the conclusion of our paper to Jack, and I thank you for the opportunity.
Mr. Park: In conclusion, we encourage the Senate to make recommendations to the federal and provincial governments about the recommendations we have noted above, and about enhancing the role and resources to friendship centres across Canada, as well as recognizing the unique and historical contribution of the friendship centre movement to Canadian Human Rights. As the urban Aboriginal population is increasing, support for the broader social and economic issues that expansion will bring about must also be increased, the rights of Aboriginal people, their identity, access to services must be maintained and led by participation in their own processes.
Thank you.
Anita Campbell, Executive Director, Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre: Good evening. My name is Anita Campbell. I am Executive Director for the Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre in Thompson, Manitoba. I have held this position for little over 19 years. I have been asked to provide a brief overview of the Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre and the programs and services we provide to Aboriginal people, in particular off-reserve First Nations.
Since 1976, Ma-Mow-We-Tak has offered support to urban Aboriginal people who are making the transition from life on the reserve or community to urban life in the city of Thompson.
The Deputy Chair: Excuse me, Ms Campbell, but would you slow down for our interpreters?
Ms. Campbell: They told me I had five minutes. You have no idea how excited I am to tell you about my organization.
It operates as a non-profit charitable organization according to policy set by the board of directors. The Ma-Mow- We-Tak Friendship Centre provides programs and services to all age groups, from infants to elders, in a formal or informal setting. There are over 50-plus staff employed with the friendship centre. The volunteer board of directors is made up of individuals from the community who are elected at the annual general assembly, the majority of whom are Aboriginal, approximately 8 out of 11 seats.
Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre designs its programs and services to meet the needs of urban Aboriginal people, while maintaining an open door philosophy so all are welcome. Our organization is community-driven to meet the needs expressed by the community especially those at the grassroots level or who access our programs and services. The development and provision of programs and services delivered by the Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre are designed specifically to meet the educational, cultural, social, recreation and employment needs of Aboriginal people. Programs and services are developed based on identified needs or gaps in the community.
We have also successfully established many partnerships with other agencies, organizations and groups in the North to assist in the maintenance and delivery of programs and services. As part of our organizational plan, we completed construction of a 20,422 square foot new friendship centre facility on March 31, 2011, that houses all of our programs and services under one roof, thereby providing an efficient and effective direct service delivery system. The new friendship centre facility will help us meet the increased demand placed on us to offer additional programs and services needed within the city of Thompson and the outlying communities. Providing our programs and services under one roof will not only assist the Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre in its delivery mechanism but will provide Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community members a one-stop shop to access and receive support in meeting their express needs, especially those that are limited in their mobility, such as the elderly and or disabled persons.
In addition to the new friendship centre facility, Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre owns several other properties in the city of Thompson. Our main site, which used to be the previous site of the friendship centre which used to house our offices and hostel services operation, was renovated. We added 14 bedrooms for a total of 28 bedrooms, which occupies 44 beds. This accommodates the increased demand that was placed on our hostel operations.
In addition to providing the short-term room and meal services to Aboriginal people coming from outlying communities to receive medical attention or attend appointments, et cetera, this renovation project also addressed long-term transitional needs of people coming into our community for various reasons such as employment or education. The renovations were completed June 1, 2011. The property located at 23 Station Road, which was an office building, was sold June 1. We did have a vision of creating a 55-plus elderly housing, but we could not get the funding in place to complete that project and we had to sell the property. The proceeds from this sale have been placed in a high interest-bearing account until such time as a plan can be presented and accepted by the board of directors and the community.
The property located at 23 Beaver Crescent is presently being renovated into a licensed daycare facility called the Mini Muks Daycare. Capital funding was sought and approved both by the provincial government and the Thompson Urban Aboriginal Strategy. In addition to the renovations, we have begun the process of developing our policies and procedures which will accommodate 50 children in total — 4 infants, 32 preschool and 14 school age children. This is planned to be opened by March 31, 2013.
We also have housing that we call the Fox Bay Dens which houses students and their families. The lack of affordable, adequate and accessible housing still exists in Thompson, but we believe these units have been able to provide a small measure of relief for students who want to pursue post-secondary education within the city of Thompson.
We recently had a visit to our new friendship centre from an assistant deputy minister in the federal government who indicated how impressed she was with our friendship centre and how we did not forget our original intent of providing front-line services to people. We continue to provide services and programs such as New Beginnings, A Connection For Aboriginal Children, The Northern Circle of Youth, Partners for Careers, employment assistance services, adult basic education, Northern Youth Council, Parent Child Centre, youth employment services, elders programs, sharing healing circles, referral services, advocacy, housing supports, income tax returns, fine option and community service orders, and these are just to name a few. We now have room to offer additional programs and services down the road.
Last year from the 13 programs, we delivered programs to 4,374 Aboriginal people of whom 3,616 were First Nations, 403 were Metis, 146 were non-status, and 190 did not want to indicate. In addition, we provided 50,664 points of contact for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
To provide a snapshot of our community, the city of Thompson is located in the Burntwood Region in remote northern Manitoba and is the fifth largest city in Manitoba with a population of approximately 12,829 people. Thompson is located 750 kilometers north of the next largest city, which is Winnipeg. It is commonly referred to as the "Hub of the North," and because of this, the people from the outlying northern communities, mainly Aboriginal, rely on accessing services in Thompson such as medical, dental, education, employment, legal, training, financial, insurance and shopping. In 2006, the city of Thompson, with 4,930 Aboriginal people, had the largest proportion of Aboriginal people of any city in Canada — 36 percent. Of the total Aboriginal population, 57 percent are youth under the age of 25.
First Nations are the largest Aboriginal group in Thompson. In 2006, 3,300 persons living in Thompson identified as First Nations, accounting for two thirds, or 67 percent of the city's Aboriginal population. Of those who identified as First Nations people in 2006, a large majority, 93 percent, reported being a treaty Indian or registered Indian as defined by the Indian Act of Canada. The First Nation population of Thompson grew by 13 percent over this time period, while the Metis population grew by 10 percent.
The needs of urban Aboriginal people within the city of Thompson and surrounding area are significantly higher than most other regions or communities in Manitoba. Statistics indicate higher percentages of low-income and single- parent families among urban Aboriginal families. This in itself presents the potential for serious implications as living in poverty reduces opportunity for education, recreation and can mean that basic needs are not always met accordingly.
Over the years, Ma-Mow-We-Tak Friendship Centre has grown significantly and established itself as a leader in the community through respect, responsibility and accountability. This has been achieved through the hard work of our volunteer board of directors, the staff and the tremendous community support that we are able to attain.
I want to thank you for the opportunity. I hope I have given you a good snapshot. I have tried to be selective in terms of the information and the topic tonight. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you, Ms. Campbell. Your presentation was precise and concise, that is for sure.
Last but not least, we will now hear from our host for tonight, Mr. Jim Sinclair, executive director of this friendship centre.
Jim Sinclair, Executive Director, Indian and Metis Friendship Centre of Winnipeg: Thank you very much. Welcome. I think it is a historic occasion to have senators come into any friendship centre, but for ours to be the first is a very honoured experience.
The Winnipeg Friendship Centre is the oldest, arguably, along with the Vancouver Friendship Centre, in Canada. It is one of the first Native organizations that started out of the needs of people migrating to the cities. When we look at a concept of a friendship centre, my idea, in spite of all of the words that are here, is to help native people to adjust to urban society while still retaining pride in their culture and heritage. That is what friendship centres do, while retaining the fact they are non-political, non-sectarian and autonomous organizations. That creates difficulties for us in regard to how we fight for people when we are non-political?
Interestingly, when I look back at a couple of comments made in regard to the civil rights movement, I was a boy when my mother first got the right to vote in 1960. I think the difference between the civil rights of the United States and the civil rights effort in Canada is the fact that we met and we met, and the groups got excited about meeting. There was no violence; nobody was shot and killed. We were not burning down cities, but we were getting somewhere.
I remember my mother coming home once. People were looking for meetings, and this was just after the friendship centres were formed and were being thought of. My mother came home and said somebody said there is a meeting at the Lord Selkirk Hotel. She said, "It is an Indian meeting, so I am going down there." She went down there, she came home, and I said, "What was the meeting about, mom?" She says, "I don't know; it was sort of funny Indian. They told me if the red man was ever spiritually enlightened, he would illuminate the earth." "What kind of meeting is that?" "I think they are Baha'i Indians." It was a different kind of Indian, not Canadian Indians. However, we went to meetings all over to try to get things going.
I was involved in an organization called the St. Peter's Boys Club, and it became the beginning of the friendship centre. I went to work for the friendship centre later on in my working career. It just grew with leaps and bounds. I remember going to Thompson, different places helping them get started. It grew out of a need, and they fulfilled that need very well.
We talk about dollars, and there is no better dollar value that the government will ever get out of any organization than they get out of the friendship centre. They talk about for every $8 the Indians get, $1 goes to off reserve, but for every dollar that gets put into a friendship centre, they probably get $10 worth because that is the kind of hard work that goes into them, and it speaks to the kind of work that they do for all kinds of people.
Everybody has explained the different things that they do. We do the emergency assistance, referral services, social, educational, and recreational programs, cultural awareness, and community development. As well, we get good dollar value for the buildings we put up, the buildings that we get into, and the value that we bring to a neighborhood and all of the representation that we have is hard to measure.
In Winnipeg there are 80 organizations competing for the dollar that goes toward dealing with some of the Native problems. I looked at the bottom line for what the friendship centre got 14 years ago, and we actually get less funding than we got 14 years ago. When you take into account the cost of living indexes and everything else, we do not even get that. We are lucky if we get a 1 per cent a year increase. The funding is the same and yet our populations are growing like crazy.
I was listening to one of the speakers this afternoon from Aboriginal and Northern Affairs. He was talking about 54 per cent of treaty Indians being in Winnipeg, or something, and it certainly seems like a lot. Even at 54 percent, you are looking at 60,000 people or more, and that is just treaty Indians. If you look at the Aboriginal, Metis, non-status, and I think it is like 120 some-odd thousand Aboriginal people who live in Winnipeg. So trying to deal with these people in a meaningful way becomes difficult when our funding has been frozen for a long, long time and seeing the money that goes to others.
Having said that, I think that right now we are doing a pretty good job. We do have to subsidize the government funding and the cost of the building by running three bingos a week, which takes its toll in itself. It is a lot of work that has to be done.
That is what we are doing, and we are doing quite a bit. We are not able to do everything that we think we could do because we provide these services of helping Native people adjust, but we do not get any money for it.
In looking at your terms of reference in regard to the human rights, paragraphs (a) to (e), the rights relating to residency, access to rights, I have made quite a few notes. I looked at it and thought that we do not, as off-reserve people, band members, whatever, get any of these rights once we take one step off the reserve.
I am a Peguis band member and was born a treaty Indian, and any of the benefits I had I did not like. One of the benefits I had is they took me and sent me to residential school for seven years. That was not a benefit at all. So then when you go try to get housing it is not available, nothing off reserve. With regard to education, you are at the bottom of the list if you do not have a big family that stays on the reserve and votes.
Participation: You know, there is practically no participation in reserve events. They only count you when they want you for the treaty land entitlement. The Peguis reserve, which is the largest reserve in Manitoba, has 10,000 band members, 7,000 of whom live away from home, non-resident band members. When we had treaty land entitlement, because they stole our land back in 1907, they gave us $126 million for the loss of use of the land. They gave us $54 million for the land they never paid us for. They counted us then, but not one penny came to any non-resident band member, even though we tried. We do have parcels of land, but we did not get anything. That has been the sort of thing that we have wrestled with as friendship centre workers, band members.
I worked at the Selkirk Friendship Centre for 25 years and left to go work with the Assembly of Chiefs as their coordinator of urban strategy. I have seen things from both sides — the treaty side and the friendship centre side. When they honoured me when I left back in 1998, I said I would always be part of the friendship centre because I had "Friendship Centre" tattooed on my backside. As one of the people said, "You went on a holiday for a while and I am glad you are back; get back to work." It was like I never left.
In looking at these human rights issues as a band member and as a worker in a friendship centre, we and the people who come in do not have any rights in a lot of these areas: housing, education, participation.
With respect to remedies, the fact that 70 percent of us are living off reserve and are not allowed to be represented in any way needs to be remedied. How do we do that? I mean, we have a democratic society. Certainly, the chiefs have all of the clout and all of the power. There is nothing that is treaty specific in the city of Winnipeg that goes to the people. I think people look at it and say that is not true, but it is true. Nobody has any housing. There are groups like the Dakota Ojibway that provide rental housing for their people. Sagkeeng has apartment housing, but you do not own it and you do not exercise any of your treaty rights.
There is also no representation by population for the people who live here. I wish we could have a mandate to provide services and the funding to go with it because friendship centres are picking up all of the slack, and we are the least funded organization of all. If you look at the core funding for most friendship centres, it is $170,000. That is not much money in this day and age. I think they still have in their documents that you sign that you are supposed to be able to provide six jobs with that $170,000, plus phone and everything else that goes with it. It is not realistic, and like I say, it is a non-political organization. We do not have a great deal of clout.
I like the fact that the National Association of Friendship Centres is our funder, but it creates some problems because we are not going to fight our brother and sister, our other friendship centres, for a dollar. We are in a sort of a difficult situation.
Anyway, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this subject. I hope you will come back again because I look upon this as just the start of a dialogue with the governing bodies, the Senate, and our agencies that have to deal with the people. I would like to extend an invitation to you to come back once this report is done, and let us take it to the next step.
Thank you.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you. I will reserve comment for later because I agree with a lot of what you said. You are right that this is the first step to an ongoing dialogue with respect to these issues. As I have mentioned time and again, a lot of our own people like to sweep these issues under the rug as if they do not exist. Obviously, they do exist.
I say this time and again as well: We have to be truthful about what is happening and about the needs of our people with respect to access to rights, not just access, but also the exercise of those rights, wherever they live. So we are here to listen. This is a first step.
Senator Zimmer: Sorry, I have got a bad cold.
First of all, thank you for your presentations.
Second, it is nice to see old friends. Jim, make sure you say hello to the judge.
Anita Volker Beckman, I can see Stan in the back. That is what it is called, friendship, and our friendship goes back 30 to 40 years, and it is never forgotten.
You talk about service delivery, technology, inflation, policy, portability and capital renewal. Does that application extend into actual partnerships of business? The reason I ask that is: When I went to the University of Saskatoon many years ago, Sutherland was a suburb of Saskatoon, but now it has grown together. One of the most successful businesses is an urban reserve. They have a gas station, a truck stop and restaurants. It is one of the most efficient, polite enterprises and partnerships that I have ever seen. There are some non-Aboriginals who could learn some lessons from that. What do you do? Does your application extend beyond to actually creating partnerships in business?
Mr. Blanchard: That is a very good question, senator. In terms of technology and inflation adjustments, it is about capacity building for the centres to keep up to modernity or to be able to compete with certain partners. The technology needs to catch up so we have opportunities for youth to actually go and create businesses, to educate them about opportunities in technology, new pursuits, or new and developing technologies. What is our capacity in terms of inflation? It just allows us to actually be more efficient in what we do and to build those partnerships without the stress of managing. We do try to stretch $1 to about $8 in terms of reporting. It just gives us that extra capacity to actually go out there and build meaningful relationships, without worrying about spending all of our resources just getting reports done or not having the capacity to be out there.
Senator Zimmer: This really is a training ground so that they can go out there and do things like the Sutherland urban reserve. It is really more of a training area so they can form these partnerships to do that; is that correct?
Mr. Blanchard: Very much so, senator. We look at things from an educational perspective. If we can educate people coming from off reserve or migrating from an on-reserve context to an urban setting it helps them navigate. We help them assert their rights. We do not claim representation of their rights, but we will help them get educated to actually better participate in Canadian society, which is part of our mandate.
That can switch. I had 10 elders from Swan River come and tell me that back in the 1960s they opened up a house in Swan River. One Aboriginal woman opened up this house. A lot of people were coming off reserve at that time. What was significant to me in their story telling was that she would say, "Go to that farmer because he will hire Indians, and do not go to that farmer because he does not hire Indians. Go to this hardware store because they will sell nails and flour to Indians, whereas this hardware store will not." She was actually navigating urban landscape back in the 1960s against racism and against bigger things.
We try to teach people values like altruism and giving and governance mechanisms that are just as complicated as some of yours in terms of Roberts Rules of Order and how to participate in a community driven context. We do not believe on doing research on people; we believe in doing research with people and helping people in the communities, but we have never had that angle of claiming representation, much like the AROs do.
We have a lot of encumbrances because of that but also a lot of opportunities because we do not have those limitations. I think that helps grow people. We do not want to give you a business, but we want to teach you how to start a business, pay taxes and be a productive citizen. That is part of citizenship to us. I do not think anybody wants a handout. They just need that extra knowledge because we are coming from a place on reserve, where sometimes you do not understand the way the modern world works. I understand that perspective coming from small towns and a rural atmosphere. I had to learn and fight for my education and learn and fight to assert what I could be. We help people in that way or we soften the edge for them, which helps them be better people and create more opportunity.
Senator Zimmer: It is the old adage: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach him how to fish, he will eat forever. Whoever, whatever friendship centre trained them in the Sutherland area did a fine job.
Senator Jaffer: Mr. Fidler, you mentioned the reluctance of urban Aboriginal youth to use mainstream services. Could you elaborate why it is important for First Nations and Aboriginal people to be able access services delivered by Aboriginal service providers with Aboriginal staff?
Mr. Fidler: Sure, I can. That is a good question. I am just going to speak from my own personal experiences as opposed to wearing the hat of a friendship centre.
When you grow up institutionalized and not involved in a family, you become reluctant to approach people who have authority over you. You want to withdraw from that kind of structure. When our youth approaches people who have authority over them who are not Aboriginal, they tend to become very passive in terms of what it is they are seeking. For instance, working in a First Nation community and having a psychologist come in to do a 20-minute assessment on an individual, children especially tend to stare at the floor, not look or answer any of the questions because they are scared of what kind of the implications their answer might have. After the 20 minutes, the session is over and they become labelled as having schizophrenia, being bipolar or some kind of other psychotic labelling, and they have not said two words throughout that whole session. That label gets carried on with them through life, and every time they enter a different system, they are dealt with according to that one label. I do believe that growing up in the school system — having chalk thrown at you, being told to sit in the corner, and being told to shut up constantly — also contributes to the reluctance to seek help in a non-Aboriginal environment. People are more comfortable, let us say, coming into an Aboriginal organization to seek services and help because they are dealing with people who have similar experiences they had growing up.
For myself, my grandfather moved our family off our land scrips years and years ago and into a white settlement. We grew up in a racist environment, a racist society where every day we were spat at, called vicious names and beat up. It divided our family in two, from the very White looking family members to the very Aboriginal family members. My White brothers would see us being bullied and beat up, and they would turn and walk away because they feared that if they came and intervened on our part, they would get beat up and sworn at. This created a division in our family.
When we went to complain to authorities about what was happening as a child growing up, it was always turned around; that you are the cause of it, you are the reason this is happening to you, which again creates reluctance to come and seek help and assistance from somebody who is not within your own culture for fear that you are going to be rejected or stigmatized and discriminated against. That is the reason why that is in here.
Senator Jaffer: How do you anticipate the role of friendship centres evolving as the population of First Nations and Aboriginal people grows? Will it simply be a matter of serving more people, or will your role have to change to reflect the changes in population?
Mr. Park: That is a good question, senator, and there are a lot of different scenarios we have to look at to answer it. Realistically we have been there for years already. The population has increased so much over these past 10 years alone that our services are being requested more and more on a daily basis. However, we are able to accommodate the requests that are coming into our offices across the province and across Canada, for that matter, in the 117 friendship centres across the country.
Here, in Manitoba, we are finding the demands on our services more significant especially in the larger cities of Thompson, Brandon, Winnipeg where the influx of people coming into the urban settings is really becoming quite cumbersome. That is why you heard Mr. Sinclair speak about the funding difficulties we face as friendship centres. We are not able to bring in the staff to accommodate the large numbers. At the same time, we do the best we can.
I would like to address what Mr. Fidler was speaking about, the servicing of Aboriginal people off reserve, especially our youth. Our youth are in troubled times — there is no doubt about that — in the Aboriginal movement all across Canada. Our youth have been traumatized by mainstream society, in our opinion. That is why they are so receptive to the friendship centre movement, to a place to go, where they can feel that they are going to get the services, the counselling and the adaptation to urban life in a more respectful manner. I wanted to touch on that.
Back to your question, senator: I believe that the numbers are only going to get greater. There is no doubt in my mind. I am seeing it all across Canada, especially here in Manitoba. Can we continue that service? Absolutely we can, and we are more than prepared to take on that responsibility as long as we become a bigger picture within the Aboriginal movement and within the Government of Canada's plans moving forward.
The Deputy Chair: Well, I would like to thank you all for coming here and presenting your case tonight. I think you all did a wonderful job.
If I may, I will leave you with this personal free piece of advice. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that there is migration out of reserves into urban centers, because there are more opportunities there. Our people, especially our young people, are seeking those opportunities. I certainly see a role for friendship centres across the country because you have the infrastructure in place to be able to assist them.
I am going to leave you with this thought: I have had the privilege and the experience of working from both ends, the Aboriginal side and non-Aboriginal side now, so I know how it works a little bit. I know the friendship centre movement, in general, has always taken a stand of not being too political. Perhaps it is not a case of being political, but a case in presenting your case and being more vocal about it. I know many parliamentarians where I work are not aware of what the friendship centre does or offers Aboriginal people. I think you can collectively build a case for the needs, and the fact that, as Mr. Sinclair mentioned, many First Nations people who live off-reserve do not have rights. They park them at the reserve boundaries. Why is that? This is the purpose of this study. We need you to give us recommendations so we, in turn, can make recommendations to the powers that be to make substantive changes.
I leave you with that because it is not about being political, it is about being more vocal about it. If you can build a case on the needs of off-reserve Aboriginal people, I think that you will be in a very good position in the future.
Mr. Sinclair said that many First Nations communities do offer services to their off-reserve people, but many of them do not, and that is a reality. Perhaps they have the clout. Like you said, this is not about infighting with our own, but more about being vocal about the needs of our own so they do not fall between the cracks. That is my view.
On behalf of all committee members this evening, kitchi meegwetch.
Ladies and gentleman, we will now open the floor for members of the public to make presentations to the committee. Some of you may have registered by completing a form with committee secretariat at the back. I will call your name and invite you to speak for three minutes on the subject of rights of First Nations members living off reserve.
Unfortunately because of time constraints, I would ask that you limit your remarks to three minutes because senators individually do have other engagements shortly after we adjourn, so we are on a schedule. I apologize for that, but like I have said throughout the day, it does not preclude anybody from providing a written submission to the clerk of committee, which we will be taking into account.
For those of you who have not registered and wish to speak, you can do so now, and we will call on you when it is time for you to do. Information on the registration form is for the official record of the committee.
Please note that this is a public meeting and your words will be transcribed and published.
Without further ado, I now call, in no particular order, on Ms. Cynthia Beardy.
Cynthia Beardy, as an individual: Hello, my name is Cynthia Beardy. I am a treaty member of Lake Saint Martin First Nation, which is in the Interlake district. I do not live there, so I am off reserve. We purchased our own house.
I am a little confused with the purpose of the meeting. It seems like we are talking about human rights, we are talking about treaty rights, we are talking about urbanization, but we are not talking about rural off-reserve Indians either. You keep talking about the portability of our rights as soon as we leave the reserve.
The one thing I was going to make a comment, and I have not heard anybody talk about it, is some kind of appeal process. When I was finished my schooling I had to wait on a waiting list for three years to go for my nursing degree. I worked before that. I could not make enough working as a clerk on the reserve to ever get to school. I went through periods where my pay would be deducted if my husband went back to work because he was a seasonal worker. I would go through periods of no support, things like I could not get my stethoscope and my university kicked me out of class because my tuition was not paid by the band.
I keep hearing here that one of the health determinants is education and that is what we should be focusing on. When I was trying to go back for my master's degree, trying to complete it — I am only working one day a week because people are evacuated — I found I was put on another waiting list. It seems like getting your education is very political.
When I asked INAC or Indian Affairs to go for further education, they told me I have to talk to the band. Well, if I am on this side of the fence, they are on that side and they are not going to meet me halfway to get me on a list. I can keep applying and applying, but I am not going to get anywhere. I do not think there should be any jurisdiction issues when people go off reserve. That happens to us too much. What you can get off reserve should be offered on reserve. If federal and provincial governments are giving dollars on our behalf, you said that today, then why are not people aware of it? Where is the education to tell us that the province is getting this on your behalf? Can I not access that then?
Also, rural people off reserve do not have a sense of community. I have noticed that a lot from working with the evacuees in Winnipeg. They are really scattered; they have no sense of community. When we try to get together, the bands are tight on their budget. They cannot get all of their people all together. They had a whole bunch of forums here in the friendship centre, which was good, but you lose your sense of community as soon as you leave off reserve. I have heard it a lot from my people. The ones I work for are amazed some of the services we can access for them off reserve. Why can we not get them back home? Things like occupational therapy and physiotherapy.
What is my timing?
The Deputy Chair: It is unfortunately done.
Ms. Beardy: I heard lots of talk today about things like growing up in residential schools, all the problems, socialization, socio-economic factors. I had to leave Dauphin River, which is my home community, when I was 11 years old. I turned 12 that November. Because I was smart, I got promoted left and right. I got put in a residential school in Teulon. I never got any compensation for that because it was Frontier put me there and Teulon is not recognized.
I thought, "Okay, good, I went to school." I went right through. I had to; it was good for me, but it seems like everybody says it is a negative. Yes, there is a lot of negativity with the abuse that I went through, but we can overcome. That is all I keep thinking. Maybe if I did not get to school, I would not have my degree and I would not have my house and I would not have my job. That is why I keep pushing my nephews. I am always preaching education.
There is another thing. For education today, I had to take one of them to a band office to go to school in Lake St. Martin, because their school is not up; they were relocated because of flooding. What do we do for them? I am pushing him and getting him to go. I do not want to go and sit in an office, but what can I do? I am here; I am preaching at them for education, and that is the main part to get us out of these positions.
Thank you.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you.
I know we are pressured for time, but do not think that your comments and your interventions are going to fall on deaf ears. They will be part of the public record. Our next person on the list is Mr. Albert McLeod. Welcome, sir.
Albert McLeod, as an individual: My presentation is about the rights of Aboriginal people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
There is a term we use today, the "two-spirited" term, which has been adopted in many sectors and is sort of an attempt to describe an indigenous way of looking at gender diversity as well as sexual orientation. Our organization is The Two-Spirited People of Manitoba. We are part of an international network of indigenous gay and lesbian people who advocate for human rights, for our friends and peers and as well, for GLBT youth in the United States and Canada. Our liberation movement has been going for the last 25 years. We have an International Two-Spirit gathering which will be held next year in Long Island, New York. It is our twenty-fifth gathering.
In terms of the social determinants of health, political representation is one of those determinants. Through our advocacy, we have tried to reach the First Nations political representatives to look at human rights in terms of GLBT people on and off reserve.
In 2010, I wrote a letter to National Chief Shawn Atleo asking him how he would be addressing the repeal of section 67, which was the exemption from the Human Rights Code. That was 2010. There was not an answer.
This summer, in the national election for the national chief, I wrote a letter to each of the eight candidates asking them how they would champion the rights of gays and lesbians and transgender people if they became national chief, and there was no answer.
As we look at individual and collective rights in terms of First Nations jurisdiction on and off reserve, we need to look at the reality that many GLBT people migrate to the cities because of discrimination, abuse and violence. They end up in large urban centers in Canada where a lot of them struggle because of homophobia, trans-phobia, unemployment, poor housing. A lot of times there are no services.
A lot of the Aboriginal organizations off reserve do not collect data that really identifies what proportion of their clients are GLBT, so a lot of times there are no services for GLBT in off-reserve environments.
There are chiefs and band councillors across Canada who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, so it is not something that is unknown in our community, but politically very few of our leaders will stand up and address this issue. A lot of the leaders talk about treaty rights, but from this perspective we need to begin with basic human rights in order to get to that type of dialogue.
Recently, we submitted a proposal to the Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative that identified gay and lesbian people, people living with HIV as a group for assistance to meet their needs, and our proposal was not funded.
I have a package for you as well.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you.
I call on Ashok.
Ashok Salwan, as an individual: Most people in North America call me Ashok.
The Deputy Chair: Welcome, sir.
Mr. Salwan: How many people here are representatives of the Canadian Senate?
The Deputy Chair: This evening, four.
Mr. Salwan: Could you stand up? This is a formality in a real tribal society. Welcome to the Allied Territories of the United Tribes of the World as hosted by the Anishinabe people.
I am a member of the White Buffalo Calf Society as well as the Ogichida, the Rainbow Warriors, the Shaolin and the clans of Japan. I have been honoured by the Tribes of the World to stand here with you and to honour you with a song of my people to welcome you properly to our land. In the superseding jurisdiction, as has been appointed to me by the head men and clan mothers, I know my clan is the Bear Clan, and I am a member of the White Mud River Band, and my people have not signed a treaty to disempower my people on the issue of rights. I am an American Indian world citizen.
[The witness played a song on a pipe.]
Thank you for hearing my song. Today, I am glad to be here. I have been at this for quite some time. I have addressed a few of you already. I told you that I am the man who has been hired by my people to look after them in relation to the protection of our women and children, and the victimization and murder and theft of our children. I have been doing this for 15 years.
I have met with the highest levels of your government, your military, and your underground counterintelligence agencies. I have faced all of them. I have directly faced them, and I have not backed down. I have protected my people the best way that I know how. I have loved them, I have nurtured them, and I have raised our children with love.
My people have not signed any treaties that are valid. If your treaties do not have the valid marking of a Bear Clan Mother, they are not legitimate.
I have already talked to the United Nations in relation to the violations by the RCMP, the Winnipeg Police Service and other agencies hosted within North America who have killed and murdered our women for their pleasure and their exploitation. I would not allow that for my mother, my sisters or my children, and the people who walk with me on this earth will not either.
Every single person here comes from a treaty that has been addressed on an international level of sovereign nations. I am an accepted member of that nation.
I do believe Canada has had its sovereignty put into jeopardy on more than one occasion through issues addressed at the United Nations and possibly losing your seat at the council of the United Nations. There are nations around the world that support us and love the work we have done to protect our people.
The undermining of the authority of our people has been demonstrated here. To the tribal members of our nations who sit here, no one person has identified their citizenship properly, their tribe and their clan. I did today. Everybody wants to identify with corporations and at a subhuman level address of who they are and who their family is. I love my family and I protect them. I am a guardian of the earth as it has been known and appointed at the world council level.
I have sat quietly amongst my people to listen to the heart of every single nation. I have listened to the tears of many women, of what has happened to them, and the pain of losing their children. I have battled against every level of your government who has tried to attack me physically, and I am still here.
In that honour of protecting my people, nations from all over the world have listened to us and have an alliance with my people. Bolivia, I do believe, in support of our nation has nationalized Canadian resource mining in their country. I know that because I have addressed it. I have created electronic records of everything even though you have tried to suppress me.
December 12 and February 13, are decision days in relationship to the murdered and missing women issue. I know that because I am a part of that. It is amazing how the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and AFN did not know, but I did. The 80 percent reduction of their funding was a recommendation by me because of their inability to fulfill their role and responsibility to speak and be a chief and council.
I walk with nothing and I am attacked constantly, but I live by the hand of my people. When I play my music, they give me money to help me; you call it busking. I have washed windows in this city with nearly next to nothing for ten years. I have not had a home for eight years, have not had a job in your country for five. You have tried to victimize me and assassinate our elders. I have protected them, I have qualified as a royal body guard and I have qualified as a royal physician. As it was my qualification came from one of the assistants of the Dalai Lama. So at the level of professionalism in relationship to international business and law, and medicine, and the protection rights of my people, I have qualified. I am very qualified to speak on every level of what I am addressing here today.
Within this territory, we have not signed it away, unless I see paperwork by an Indian where the City of Winnipeg has signed it away. I have not seen it, so it is not possible for you to assume jurisdiction within this territory.
I have been well raised by Wapapiasu, who is a head man and spokesman for the clan mothers. I spent seven years working with this man to be clear about my education and understanding the human rights violations that continue daily within this land. I have met with the chief of police on two occasions to address the issue of murdered and missing women. He did not fulfill his role. He had to stand down, and I addressed him in that way too. If you do not do your job in our territory, stand down. I will not, because I did my job.
I have a list of men, their addresses, and where they live, where they party. I have been from coast to coast hitchhiking, and I know exactly where these men took these women and what they did to them.
The Deputy Chair: Excuse me, would you wrap up, please? It is not out of any disrespect to you, but out of respect for those who also want to speak.
Mr. Salwan: My suggestions for some of the issues that need to be addressed is the upholding of the tribal custom and reinstatement of American Indian citizenship, the protection and restoration of tribal land title in all of North America, proper representation of all tribes and clans in matters of business locally, and international designation of reservation to tribal territory. That is first step is us being restored as citizens. This is our land. We fought for you in every way, and we would like the respect to be able to represent in every way, at every level of government and business. We are fully qualified professional people to do so.
Thank you for your time.
The Deputy Chair: I call on Rainey Gaywish.
Rainy Gaywish, as an individual: Greetings to those of you who I consider to be my relatives. My spirit name is Silver Swan Woman. Rainey Gaywish is my colonial name. My clan is Martin and I am third degree Midewiwin of the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge, the Midewiwin being the traditional spiritual way of Anishinabe people of this part of the world.
I did not plan to speak, but I thought it was important to come and offer to you a reminder that the issues that friendship centres are engaged in addressing throughout Canada all stem from our basic rights as indigenous people that are very clearly outlined in the International Declaration of Indigenous Rights. The right that is of critical importance to the work of friendship centres is the right for us to be indigenous people and to maintain our languages and our cultural identity.
I know there is a great movement in Canada politically a great push to look at the economy and how people are contributing to the economy. Definitely, in my whole life as a Muskego Anishinabe woman, I was raised up to know how to work. Even with that great ethic, that comes out of being taught by my own family, by my mother, the opportunities for me to actually attain the education that I have and the employment that I sought to be able, from a societal view, to be a productive member of society, those opportunities were not always made available to me.
One of the most important organizations that kind of helped me to move from a state of being a single mom living in poverty to a place where I could find the resources to upgrade my education was actually the friendship centre here in Winnipeg. Back in the day when I was a young woman, I came to the centre and was quite at a loss about how to make my way around the city. It was the friendship centre and the Native Club at that time that offered resources for me to get a foundation and a grounding, not only in terms of the resources I needed for an education, but actually in terms of the resources I needed to be able to address the never ending, consistent, subtle and overt incidences of racism that Aboriginal people continue to experience every day in the city and around the country.
Winnipeg is interesting in the context of the analyses of how Winnipeg is constructed. In this place Aboriginal people continue to experience the worst incidences of racism of any people here. This is quite a multicultural community, but the color line of racism is deeply entrenched. If you look at some of the current information about how Aboriginal people are treated, you will find that new immigrants to Canada are availing themselves of more resources than the average Aboriginal person here in the province. Those are some things to consider, because if you look at solutions to address that, the foundation of the friendship centres in Canada is well documented and well supported by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I urge you to look at how you can support what friendship centres do, in whatever way that you are able to, to provide the kind of supports friendship centres need. If you do not have these organizations in place, you are not going to see the kind of success of achievement that you want to see in the Aboriginal community, which is to be able to take care of our families, to make sure as we move into the future we are able to raise children, and grow families and descendents who are fully capable of providing for their families in a good way and in a way that has not come at the expense of our culture, languages or identities. Aho,meegwetch.
The Deputy Chair: Next on my list is Lori Mainville.
Lori Mainville, as an individual: I come from Treaty 3, Ontario, and I am a third generation off-reserve member. Out of due respect really to our chiefs in Ontario who in 2011 asked Patrick Brazeau not to speak on our behalf, so I would like to address my comment to the rest of the Senate here. As well as, if possible, if Mobina wants to respond, that is totally fine. I respect the words that you shared.
Senator Jaffer: Thank you very much. I really appreciate you being here and taking the time to speak to us, but we very much respect the work of Senator Brazeau. It is because of him that we are here, and if you are not able to address him, with the greatest of respect, then you will not be able to address us. We are a team; we work as a team.
Ms. Mainville: Then you do not speak for me; none of the Senate members speak for me. I am related to people before there was ever a border between provinces. I had relatives all over. The Anishinabe span right across Canada. You do not speak for me or my daughter or my granddaughter. Meegwetch.
Jo Redsky, as an individual: I have a few words to say, and I will address Patrick.
I am grassroots. I am from —
The Deputy Chair: Could we have your name?
Ms. Redsky: It is Jo Redsky.
Senator Jaffer: For this event, it is Senator Brazeau you are addressing.
Ms. Redsky: I am speaking to him. I guess I need to say a few words because it seems to me like this is a consultation to our people, and a lot of our people do not agree with Bill C-45 or with the divide and conquer tactics of the reserve and the urban setting. For us as Anishinabe people, there are no boundaries. We live in a territory. We find that this is another tactic to divide and conquer our people, and we are sick and tired of the abuse that happens with our people. We are here because the Creator put us here, and we will always defend this land.
This whole thing that is coming before our people is about the resources and the greed and what the Government of Canada has done to our people — so much greed. I cannot understand how you can sit there and speak on behalf of them. You are Anishinabe, are you not? Are you not Anishinabe?
The Deputy Chair: Yes, I am.
Ms. Redsky: I do not understand that. Your ancestry is here, so how can you sit there and support things that are going to hurt Mother Earth? My name is part of the earth, so when I speak, I speak on behalf of the earth. I am not afraid to speak up for her. We are sick and tired of the abuse that is happening. We are the caretakers of this land, and the women are standing up now and we are sick and tired of the abuse that is happening.
Missing and murdered women is one of the genocides, and our youth are committing suicide. Colonization has done this to our people. Now the land will defend itself; Mother Earth will defend herself.
It is pretty scary that we need to speak the truth — and that is the truth. We do not acknowledge what is happening in here. We do not acknowledge that because you guys are basing decisions on what you think is right for us. We know what is right for us, and that is defending her and protecting the waters. Those are important issues to us. I know the mind- thinking today is greed and fast money. That is what it is all about, but not to us. We are the original people of this land, and we will always speak up for her.
I am not afraid to direct this to the government because the government does not — you guys do not really care about what we think or what we feel. If you did, you would be addressing the issue of missing and murdered men and women. You would be addressing the water issues. The oil that is being extracted from this earth is another genocide to her. I do not know if you guys understand that.
Senator Jaffer: With respect, you and I came to know each other well today. You asked me to do some things, and I did them right away. I will share with you that Senator Brazeau is leading the issue in the Senate of murdered women. He is pushing for a national inquiry, so there has to be respect from both sides.
We have listened all day. We have come here because we respect your ideas. We have come to listen, but the first step about listening to dialogue is to pay respect to each other and listen. When you come here and say "We do not understand" and especially address my colleague as you have, it is difficult for me because I know — I sit day in and day out — we are here because of his hard work. He comes to you and says, "You matter to me." He comes to you and says, "Your issue is important to me." He sits in the Senate and talks about the importance of a missing women's inquiry. I have to, as his colleague, tell you that he is really representing you well.
Ms. Redsky: I am sorry, ma'am. I do not feel that. I do not feel that that is right. This issue is not only about the missing and murdered women. It is also about the land issue.
Senator Jaffer: Your three minutes are over. I respect your opinion but let us agree to disagree.
Ms. Redsky: It is okay if you disagree. We needed to voice our opinion and our people need to do that. We are not going to be quiet anymore.
The Deputy Chair: The next speaker on the list is Nina Wilson.
Nina Wilson, as an individual: My name is Nina, and I am a mother and a grandmother. I am also a student. I have worn many hats, but today I am here because I feel it is very important to speak. We have been, like she said, silenced for a long time. I am here to talk about protection and defending the generations to come. This is right here for me; I live this every day. I am here to speak on behalf of people who are too scared to talk, and they have asked me to come.
I have had a crash course in learning about some of these bills that are going through. One of these bills that is going through, if it goes through, will drastically change things for our daily lives, and we had no way to even be participants in that consultation. This is not consultation. There is a thing called duty to consult in relation to Bill C-45 and also Bill C-428, a private member's bill. It took me a long time to read these things. I have a Bachelor of Education, and I struggled with this. I had to refer to lawyer friends to understand the jargon and the way certain components were embedded in that bill.
The last time our Indian Act was changed this drastically was when our ceremonies were forced to be illegal. We had to do our ceremonies covertly. This is happening again, and I cannot let this happen without saying something because this is my life. This is the lives of my children and grandchildren.
This is also affecting the grassroots people because the protection of navigable waters is being reduced to 1 per cent. How can you reduce protecting water to 1 per cent? Where is that 1 per cent located? It is interesting to know where that 1 per cent is located — all along the area where Conservatives ridings are located. Does water not move? If you pollute water over here, is it not going to affect you over here? You should talk to the Athabasca Cree about that. They will tell you about water and how the pollution is leaking into our community and how people are getting very, very sick.
The violation and the compromising of basic human rights have been happening for a long time. Our basic inherent treaty rights are being violated and compromised each and every day. The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights is being violated. This has not only been documented. The violations also go against basic democracy, a democracy that our people did not make.
We are still questioning why are having to come forward with these arguments still today. It does not make sense. The changes to the Indian Act need to have our participation fully, nation to nation, not us coming and begging for three minutes. We need to have nation-to-nation talks because this is not just affecting Indians with treaty rights, and treaty rights are not status rights. Status rights and treaty rights are very different things. They need to be investigated if you do not understand that.
I come from Treaty 4 territory, but I can go anywhere I want. I can be treated well by other treaty members. It is not about the Indian Act, per se. This is about how come we are not consulted and how come we have to fight so hard to defend for our children and our grandchildren. That is what I want to know. That is what I am here to do: act as a protector and a defender. This means a lot to me.
These bills that are coming up, that are being proposed, are contrary to our inherent treaty rights. They are contrary to the democracy that our people never even built, but we participated in. We have become all treaty people. Treaty and status are very different things, and that needs to be looked at. There needs to be time where our people have appropriate space and time to learn and to come together and not feel scared.
Do you know how I feel inside here? Do you know how it feels to talk to you? How come we feel like that? This is real. We hear all this talk about Indians leaving the reserve because there is more opportunity. Do you know how deplorable it is on the reserves sometimes? Do you know that? I can go anywhere. I live on the reserve; I live off reserve. We leave because lots of times there are things that go wrong that we cannot control. So if enough of us leave that reserve, and nobody is left there, then what? Who has say over where that land goes?
There are always ulterior motives; this is what we have come to know. Study the last time the Indian Act was changed, study and find out what truly happened after that change.
I have relatives that can tell you of the direct impacts that it made. Hiding, having to go behind, having to utilize people to be runners, to understand when somebody was coming to discover what was being done. That is called cultural genocide. What is happening with the water protection and the land? If Bill C-45 passes through Parliament, what is going to happen is our lands are going to be open and free territory for anyone to come in, including big oil corporations and nuclear waste corporations. That is bad news.
You do not know what nuclear waste can do. I know some specialists who are educating me. I do not know anything about these things. I am learning, and the things they are telling me are scaring me because what they have are findings that are already published by scientists and doctors. This is stuff that is not from a comic book; this is real — and they are proposing to put this stuff in my backyard? Your backyard? What is the difference if I am brown and someone is white? What happens if those things go wrong? What is going to happen if another Japan happens? It is not going to matter what color you are once the land is compromised that way. We are all in big trouble.
We need to start talking to each other in those ways, nation to nation, not just being given three minutes. We need to be afforded that opportunity. These things can happen. I believe that these things can happen. I know they can happen. I have seen them happen.
I just wanted to say that I come from a beautiful place, a beautiful land. I do not know about that anymore. What is happening to our land and our water? When you say people are leaving our reserves for opportunities, you better think about that because that is not 100 per cent true. I do not care. I will be a reserve Indian and I will be a city Indian. You are never going to take that spirit inside that tells me who I am.
The Deputy Chair: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the evening portion of our deliberations. I would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of you who took the time to come here, albeit on a short timeframe, but at least we got the opportunity to hear your views. Again, it will be on the public record.
Like I mentioned, there are other opportunities to share your views on other issues, whether it is with this Senate committee or your members of Parliament and other parliamentarians.
I wish you all a good evening.
(The committee adjourned.)