Another solution proposed

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It's old news now, but the Reform Party of Canada released a 59-page report on how they would improve the collective lot of First Nations people by making us all happy Canadians. The report was unavailable to me, so I had to rely on the executive summary that was posted on the Reform Party's Internet site.

Mike Scott is the Aboriginal Affairs critic for the Reform Party and the author of this report. I don't doubt his good intentions. There are indeed many problems plaguing reserve communities - suicide, high unemployment and substance abuse are just a few.

First Nations people are also frustrated with their own elected band councils who can sometimes carry on like spoiled children fighting over toys. A quick glance shows sit-ins, calls for resignations, and demands for forensic audits on three Alberta reserves this month. (Part of me believes that this is the result of a conspiracy of chartered accountants who will earn hefty fees straightening out the books of these financially troubled reserves.)

Are there individuals exploiting the system?

Most definitely. This is not news to First Nations people. But what is the point of a cure that's going to kill the patient?

Point 12 of the Mr. Scott's plan states: The ultimate policy objective should be to replace existing federal programs for Aboriginals with the full range of federal and provincial/territorial programs enjoyed by all other Canadians. This would require a phasing-out period that would take as long as 20 years.

Call me cynical but that sounds like First Nations people are being phased out as well. The fact that we get to partake in the programs "enjoyed" by other Canadians hardly makes me leap for joy.

In fact, the goal of the Reform Party, as well as most other governments, has been the elimination of First Nations people as a political and cultural entity. The two are intimately tied. You can't lose one without the other.

First Nations people get wary whenever some politician offers his "solution to the Indian problem."

Gee Tsang is a Reform Party official from Saskatchewan who made the unfortunate remark that the solution to Native people's problems would be for them to join the Canadian mainstream.

He must have a good sense of humor because this can only be a joke. If Tsang or Scott take any of this seriously then they have ignored repeated statements from First Nations leaders as well as the grassroots people whom they've supposedly consulted.

We do not want to stop being Indians! And you cannot eliminate the collective rights of a people because it's merely inconvenient for you.

All we've ever asked is that the government of Canada honor the spirit and intent of the treaties (which the Supreme Court has repeatedly told it to do.)

We didn't ask for Indian Affairs. We didn't ask for our resources and land to be destroyed for other people to get wealthy and for us to become welfare dependent. We didn't ask for opportunistic Indian agents to give away our land at whim. We didn't ask for the slave labor and sexual abuse of residential schools that attempted to eradicate our culture.

This land is where we come from. Ten thousand years ago, Mr. Scott and Mr. Tsang, my ancestors watched the glaciers carve up this land. Do you have a clue what that means?

Mr. Tsang pronounces that our attempts to cling to the past is our weakness. Try to ignore the accomplishments and dreams of your ancestors, Mr. Tsang, and see how you feel.

Canada was not given to us and we did not come here from somewhere else. If you want us to go back to where we came from then you'd better pack because you're living on it.

Mr. Scott, I know you mean well, but there is much more to us than just welfare and tax breaks. If you truly want to take a stand for Aboriginal people, look deeper than you are now. Take the government to task for not honoring the treaties. Ask Jane Stewart why she refuses to apologize the for the generations of abuse at residential schools. Atten powwows and Métis festivals and talk to Elders. Visit the Inuit and see what it means for a young man to get his first polar bear. Hunt caribou with the Dene. Fish salmon with the Sto:lo. To borrow a really old cliché, Mr. Scott, walk a mile in our moccasins.