First Nations suffering needs to go mainstream [ column ]

The concept that first contact negatively affected First Nations is not a new one, but consider that a lack of education is really what is deficient.

All that has transpired can’t be ignored and should be taught in the mainstream educational system as an important part of Canada’s history.

The truth should be told as it is and not how the ones in power at the time wanted it to be.

I remember in 1977 the alphabet was taped to the wall with pictures of what the letter started with and ‘C’ was for cat, ‘T’ was for tepee and “I” was for Indian. How far have we really come after all that has happened?

There are still reservations with high rates of poverty and Third World living conditions where addictions have become more of an epidemic than ever before. Violence is prevalent and much more accepted by younger generations. We have only scratched the surface of ‘real’ history and healing and the truth needs to be taught in the mainstream. Education is knowledge and knowledge is power.

The ripple effects of colonization have affected every First Nations person in some way or another, some more devastatingly than others. Stereotypes are that Natives are alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, victims, abusers, helpless, and the unfortunate thing is that these stereotypes are sometimes what our people believe themselves.

These stereotypes and labels are what make it hard to take our rightful place in society. The barriers that Aboriginal people face impact Aboriginal people every day of our lives. Every First Nation man, woman, and child should have access to a good life, civil treatment and respect.

How simple that sounds and how simple it is to write on paper; it should ultimately be what transcends racism, but it will not without the truth about Canada’s history with First Nations being taught in mainstream schools and potentially mainstream society.

How many more people have to die from the sword of colonization, which I call any preventable death by addiction, suicide, and homicide, without fully understanding that they were never to blame? Watching First Nations people give up and go down the road of addictions shows me that true history has not been taught and true reconciliation has not been felt.

My mother went down the road of addictions and made many choices that doomed her to die an early death. A lot of our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, grandfathers went down that road because it was easier to die with their shame than it was to live with it and I understand.

I forgive my mother for leaving through addiction and early death and I am even surprised that she lasted 48 years considering the trauma she suffered. The horrors and the suffering she went through would never be made into a movie because there was no happy ending, but her story, my story, our stories need to be told.

Those barriers that we run into every day and the never-ending race to outrun racism exists in everything we do. With the passing of time, the wanting more for our children becomes stronger and we struggle our way through parenthood; some of us just doing the exact opposite of how we were raised and how we overcome these hardships in our lives is through humor. How else does one survive trauma?

Those men and women sitting in those doorways joking about the old days with their alcohol was wrapped in a paper bag have stories to tell, places they have been and they have chosen addiction because they believe they were fated to have a bad life and it is the only way they know how to deal with trauma.

They believed that they couldn’t and can’t change it because no one would listen and they were right.