There were some awesome celebrations for Canada 150. I hope everyone had a great day no matter what they were doing.
What caught my attention were the indigenous people protesting the failures of the government.
We all saw the teepee, the news conference, the highway demonstration, same old MO. We’ve seen it all before and are familiar with rants and raves. And now we see nothing, gone with the hype.
And this is what gets my shorts in a wrinkle about the whole thing: The media, the commenters, the Indians themselves, the listeners, radio and TV talkers, online bloggers, university staff, all lump us into one group, a 1.4-million-member group. It makes it look as though all the Indians throughout all the land are in an uproar.
Of the 1.4 million Indians, how many have moved off the reserve? Nationally, how many Indians live in rural centers? We know that answer, around 60 per cent and for some bands as many as 90 per cent of the people have moved off the reserve. Yet, the bands get funded on a per capita basis.
It seems Canadians view the protests as a collective effort of all indigenous peoples in Canada when that’s simply not the case. There were several comments from self-identified Indians that I read online from Canadian news sites, which expressed a desire for all of us just to get along. And there’s a point there, isn’t that core teaching of indigenous culture – to forgive?
I watched a CBC Interview with Tim Fontaine and all I kept thinking was what are they really talking about? The pain, the suffering and how we need to understand that. Okay, I can understand that. What I want the protesters to understand is that Canada has done a ton in the last 20 years to right a lot of the wrongs. Slowly I’ll admit, however, it’s the government - what do you expect, a horse race?
Moreover, not only have so many Indians contributed to our country, protests like these and others disrespect them all and all of their hard work it took to represent our people in a good way.
Now let me throw a twist that starts with a question. Show me one hero that all the Indians just love, one sports star, one person that has the hearts and minds of all the Indians? The Martin Luther King, the John Wayne, the real Indian hero of Canada. I’ve asked myself over the years, where are our heroes?
I’d like to point to the group of Indians that work hard, take care of themselves, raise their families, contribute positively to society and for most part mind their own business. It makes it tough for them because they put up with the stares and glares but they also see the smiles and respect.
I will say this though, when listening to the local and national radio or watching local and national TV, I don’t see a lot of Indians represented. It’s a lot better than it was 10 years ago yet not enough for me. Take this publication, it runs a Stoney story once a month depending on what happens, no news for two weeks then a few pages of news and then nothing. World Indigenous Games, no news, it gets numbing.
We need to be visible to Canada and we need people to help us. Call the producers, the editors, let them know that you want to see more Indians represented.
If you believe in the Canada I believe in, you will.
