Saskatchewan takes step back

Page 4

Dear Editor:

This viewpoint is in response to recent incidents that highlight why Americans refer to Saskatchewan as the "Mississippi of the North."

The primary incident occurred on Jan. 28 in Saskatoon. An Aboriginal man was picked up by police, deprived of his jacket and abandoned in sub-zero temperature at an isolated location outside the city. Around the same time, the frozen corpses of two other Aboriginal men were found in the same area.

The secondary incident happened outside a courthouse after the appearance of two police officers who are charged with unlawful confinement and assault in connection with the Darrell Night abandonment matter. A heated exchange took place between a self-described supporter of the policemen involved, and a vigil organizer for the Aboriginal men. The police supporter complained loudly about beer drinking, bingo playing Indians, and shouting that the whole case was being blown out of proportion. This person claimed that she was not a racist.

We believe that these incident have done considerable damage to our working relationships with white people in this province. During the past 22 years, many of us have toiled long in the trenches, trying to improve relations between Aboriginal and white people. Just when we think headway is being made, things like this happen. It's a kick in the teeth, and it seems as though all our work in combating racism has been for naught.

There are different kinds of racism. There is institutionalized, or systemic, racism; there is economic and political racism; and there is cultural racism. All are ugly, dangerous forms of beliefs and behaviors, of which, unfortunately, Canada is not yet free. It is a form of hatred that is incited by one group against another as a political and economic weapon. It is used to belittle, demean and oppress people.

In the mid 1970s, James Wuh-Shee, leader of the Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories, defined racism this way:

"A racist society is known by its works. The poor housing, health and economic situation of Canada's Indians is as good an indication of a racist society as is an openly avowed policy, or racial supremacism on the part of the federal government might be."

Back to the incidents in Saskatoon, the police supporter's stereotyping of Aboriginal people is racist, even if she really believes that all Aboriginal people are drunks, too lazy to work, and only want to breed and play bingo. These comments are not new - we have heard them a thousand times before. The scary part is, what she said in defense of those cops is believed by a vast number of people.

What the police supporter and others of her ilk fail to see is that many First Nations and Metis people are contributing, productive members of society. Many of us are well educated and have been known to hold a job every now and then. We pay our fair share of taxes. We are doctors, lawyers, teachers, police officers, economists, computer specialists, trades people and, sadly, politicians. Some of us can even manage a decent game of golf. Many of us forgo alcohol and drugs because we have seen the devastation these [influences] have caused in our communities. Many of us actually can't stand bingo, and instead buy lottery tickets or go to the casino or don't gamble at all, just like regular white people.

To categorize all Aboriginal people as beer-swilling, bingo-dabbing welfare bums is as racist and ridiculous as saying all Japanese are smart, all Polish are stubborn, or all white people are superior by virtue of their skin color alone.

In closing, we would like to applaud the stellar work of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations in building the bridges that bring all Aboriginal and white people together in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect. As the recent incidents in Saskatoon so clearly show, their work is of vital importance if we are ever to learn to live peacefully together.

John Dorian, B.Ed

Prince Albert

Gordon R. Dumnt,

journeyman tradesperson

Prince Albert