I was living in the UK last year when Chief Theresa Spence declared a state of emergency in Attawapiskat. Being so far away, I felt I was limited in what I could do to show my support. I wrote emails to politicians and added my name to online petitions, but I wanted to do more… so I wrote about it. Those thoughts have been sitting idle on my desktop ever since. The #IdleNoMore movement and Chief Spence’s hunger strike have caused me to go back and re-read what I wrote.

I’ve decided it’s time to animate those idle thoughts!

This first part of this post is what I wrote last year, and then I’ll follow up with my thoughts on what’s happening now. I know, I know… it’s going to be long… if you want indulge my thoughts in 140 characters or less, you can follow me on twitter – @ChrisNotWrong (I tweet a lot of great posts from other people too… promise!)

DECEMBER 2011 

The average non-Indigenous person has a sense of what it means to be an Indigenous person in their country; unfortunately the image of “Indigenous” is too often informed by a self-perpetuating combination of racism and ignorance. Even more insidious, it seems that the majority of the people who hold these images have no idea that the images are racist. The general population tends to absorb their knowledge on Indigenous issues via self-referencing popular media. Media gets its message out to the masses by using categories that already exist within the minds of its target audience. In short, stereotypes help people digest the message quickly. The media-constructed image of Indigenous is then delivered within a story where they are either the “good guy” or “bad guy”. They are either a “Cowboy”, or they are an “Indian”, if you will. This is perhaps a cheeky statement, but it contains some truth. The memes of “civilized” versus “savage”, and “us” versus “them” are still very much alive. The image of an Indigenous person becomes a category that is easily subjected to judgment using either “compassion” and “empathy” or “callousness” and “indifference”.

I was guilty of deferring to these easily digestible categories as well, until I took the steps to educate myself… which was mainly just opening my mind to other perspectives. Upon confronting the extremely complex and daunting gauntlet of Indigenous-European engagement history, it became apparent that the average person does not have the time or resources to educate themselves in the area of Indigenous-European history. Even if they tried, many of the books are filled with one-dimensional, state-centered narratives in which Indigenous peoples are both footnotes and frozen in time.

When it comes to the topic of Indigenous history, I would argue that the majority of Canadians would claim to have “general” or “basic” knowledge. OK… but whose knowledge is it? Where did it come from? How confident are you in that knowledge? Generally, people do not form strong opinions and/or draw conclusions on a historical topic without more than casual/basic/general knowledge on said topic. However, there is no shortage of strong opinions when the media run stories that focus on Indigenous peoples. Indigenous histories in Canada are polarizing.

The news media have chosen to highlight the conditions in which the people of the Attawapiskat First Nation community in northern Ontario are living. Many people are living in tents that have no electricity or water, and the source of heat is often a makeshift wood fire stove, made from any available metal container. This is in an area of the country where winter temperatures routinely dip below -20°C. Their conditions are not a result of a sudden catastrophe, rather a complex combination of policies and events that have prevented the community from achieving and maintaining even the most basic standards of living for many of its members. As a result, on October 28, 2011 Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat First Nations called a state of emergency for the third time in as many years. Red Cross International offered aid, the United Nations served up some harsh criticism in a human rights council report, and aid volunteers called from across the globe to offer assistance. Even Haiti offered to send help to Canada. Haiti. Offered aid to Canada… that’s dire.

As the news gained international attention, many Canadians sought answers. The Aboriginal Affairs Minister, John Duncan, rejected criticism and denied any knowledge of the conditions the people of Attawapiskat First Nations were living under. Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, publically wondered what happened to the $90 million the federal government had spent in Attawapiskat since 2006, concluding “Obviously we’re not very happy that the results do not seem to have been achieved for that. We’re concerned about that, we have officials looking into it and taking action.”

With that statement the case was closed for many Canadians. The living conditions in Attawapiskat were their own fault. The comments sections of online news stories were rife with accusations and finger pointing, legitimized by Stephen Harper’s statement. Much of the public jumped on this opportunity to cast themselves, and the government, as “good cowboys” and the people of Attawapiskat, and Chief Spence, as “bad indians”.  The messaging was: The government is to be trusted and Indigenous peoples are not.

It did not seem to matter that the independently verified financial statements of Attawapiskat First Nation, dating back to 2005, are readily available online. The general, non-Indigenous public’s suspicions that Indigenous peoples are corrupt, lazy and incapable of surviving in a modern, civilized world were already reinforced. There were some attempts to educate people how monies are released. Chelsea Vowel’s blog did an amazing job at breaking down First Nations’ financial relationship with the Federal Government, putting it in easy to understand terms… in fact it went viral, and was re-published by national media (find it here). But too many minds were already made up for any of this to sink in.

There are many, interconnected reasons the people of Attawapiskat First Nation live in third world conditions, despite the inordinate amount of attention politicians and the news media gave to finances. However, politicians will not be compelled to take action, unless they feel like inaction will cost them votes. Stephen Harper’s subtle, indirect accusation of corruption was arguably a pre-emptive strike that would help to discredit concerns raised by Chief Spence moving forward. The Federal Government first questioned Chief Spence’s salary of $71,000 per year, implying it was exorbitant when her people were living in such conditions.  They then followed up with a declaration that they were placing Attawapiskat First Nation under third party management, at a cost of $1300 per day, to be paid by Attawapiskat First Nation. The same kind of people who were crying out for “financial responsibility/accountability”, as exampled by online comments (I’m not linking to any of those morsels of ignorance – they always ruin my day), and criticizing a band leader who paid themselves around $70,000 per year, were in full support of third party management imposed by the Federal Government that would cost the band the equivalent of around $312,000 per year. Stephen Harper had already established in the public’s minds that the Feds were dealing in good faith, while Indigenous peoples were seemingly rife with corruption and deceit.

On November 23, 2011, less than a month after Chief Spence called a state of emergency in Attawapiskat, the Federal Government introduced the First Nations Financial Transparency Act in Parliament. An earlier version, bill C-575, had been introduced in 2010, but it died on the Order Paper with the dissolution of Parliament. The government’s backgrounder on the Act opens with: “Complaints from community members and recent media attention have highlighted the lack of availability of financial information in some First Nations, particularly in regards to the salaries and expenses of chiefs and councillors.” This Act was introduced just five days before Stephen Harper publically wondered where the $90 million he gave to Attawapiskat went.

Too often it seems the real-life consequences of partisan politicking are forgotten. The Federal Government capitalizes on the general public’s ignorance of the complex issues facing Indigenous communities, both those living on and off reserve, and over simplifies them into small, actionable items. A kernel of truth is plucked from the bigger picture, massaged into a discrete issue, and then dealt with. Yet, real people like Lisa Linklater and her two sons Kellyn and Drisdyn, elder William Welsley and his son, and former band councilor Gabriel Fireman and his family, face the prospect of trying to live through another brutal northern Ontario winter in the Cree community of Attawapiskat.  I’m not including the names of people impacted to be trite, mellow dramatic, or to partake in vicarious “disaster tourism” – those motivations are well covered by the popular media – I’m acknowledging that there are PEOPLE impacted by racism, ignorance, and partisan politicking. Even a small snippet of the situation in Attawapiskat exemplifies how difficult it is for people to grasp the deep-rooted impacts colonialism on Indigenous peoples.

(good job getting this far… give yourself a cookie!)

DECEMBER 2012

SO… what’s happening now? Has a year made any difference? No. Not yet.

The federal courts, in fact, found that the Harper Government’s (aka the Federal Government) move to place Attawapiskat under third party management was “unreasonable”. Has Harper changed the way he engages with Indigenous peoples?     No. Not yet.

Chief Theresa Spence is currently in day 10 of a hunger strike. She wants Harper to recognize Indigenous ways of life, and to respect Indigenous culture… “… it’s not anger, it’s pain” – listen to her words here. She will continue her hunger strike until she is granted a meeting with Harper, the Governor General, and Provincial leaders. Has Harper agreed to a good-faith meeting? No. Not yet.

The only peep from the PMO that I’m aware of is when Harper said he already met with Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo about a month ago… oh, and he agreed to last January’s Crown-First Nations gathering… sheesh, isn’t that enough?! Obviously not, Atleo has demanded Harper meet with Spence. The beyond-useless John Duncan has offered to meet with Spence instead, and have his parliamentary secretary tour the reserve. They are politely waiting for a response from Chief Spence before they do anything else. When a CBC reporter asked Duncan what he thought of #IdleNoMore a couple weeks ago he responded, “It’s social media, we’ll just have to see where that goes.”… I wonder what he’d say now. #IdleNoMore has made my heart sing… and has the movement peaked? No. Not yet.

#IdleNoMore is for everyone. You know why? We’re ALL treaty people. Canadians have an obligation to uphold OUR end of the agreements. That’s right, they’re agreements, not surrenders. The foundations of these agreements are super-duper radical… concepts like sharing, unity, friendship, and mutual respect. Seriously, though… these are foundational concepts for all of us, they’re among the first lessons we teach our children. The Harper Government IS very concerned about mutual respect and diversity… when it comes to the “politically correct dilution” of the true meaning of Christmas, as exampled by Nina Grewal’s statement in the House of Commons on December 12, 2012. Let’s see, what’s the “true meaning of Christmas”? Aside from the religious overtones, it’s “to give up one’s very self – to think only of others – how to bring the greatest happiness to others – that is the true meaning of Christmas” Does the Harper Government see the irony in delivering this statement a couple hundred metres away from hunger-striking Chief Spence? No. Not yet.

Have Canadians moved to compel their elected officials, the people who work for them, to uphold the Crown’s end of the treaty agreements? No. Not yet… BUT on this point I’m hopeful, because if you live in Canada, and you’re reading this, you’re a treaty person… which means you CAN do something. Read, write letters, speak to friends, ask questions, seek out multiple perspectives, take part in a Round Dance flash mob… be #IdleNoMore! Join the vast number of people who #NeverWereIdle… it’s in everyone’s best interest.