Canadians must all help fight 'poverty and exclusion,' says governor general

from Canoe

By JAMES STEVENSON

CALGARY (CP) - Canadians have a collective responsibility to combat the problems of "poverty and exclusion" and not simply rely on government help, the Governor General said Saturday.

Wrapping up a three-day tour of southern Alberta with a graduating class of Aboriginal teachers, Michaelle Jean said all Canadians must help the less fortunate in society.

"The more we are indifferent, the more we will fail some of our fellow citizens and we can't set an example to the world - and the world is looking at us as a country," Jean said Saturday in Calgary.

"I think that sometimes we actually could do more, but if we are indifferent, this will not happen."

Promoting and praising action on native and social issues was a key theme during the Governor General's second official visit to Alberta.

She spent nearly three hours Saturday afternoon listening to the stories of 11 teachers from the Siksika Nation, one hour east of Calgary, who had graduated from a University of Calgary program last year.

Unique to Canada, the Master of Teaching program combines aboriginal language, culture and teaching with mainstream educational practices.

"It's always wonderful to celebrate a good success story," Jean said afterwards.

"It's one thing to be aware of difficulties, of situations that are very troubling, but it is also so important to acknowledge the solutions brought to the problems by the people themselves."

Jean's message reverberates in Alberta where years of soaring oil and gas prices have brought both unprecedented wealth and soaring social problems including homelessness and spousal abuse.

But Jean said social problems that come from poverty and exclusion were not unique to Alberta, and Canadians had a shared responsibility to fix them.

Within hours of arriving in Calgary last Thursday, Jean told a packed room of young engineers gearing up to help promote development around the world that Canadians can no longer ignore the impoverished conditions in their own aboriginal communities.

"Let us admit, once and for all, that the developing world is closer than we think," she said.

The next day, she visited a family shelter on the Stoney-Nakoda First Nation west of Calgary, noting that Alberta had the worst record of violence against women in the entire country.

But again, rather than pointing fingers, Jean said she needed to celebrate the success of the "courageous" women living in the shelter within their own small community.

"They're really making sure that something is happening against that terrible situation of violence against women," she said.

Jean told teachers and leaders of the Siksika Nation on Saturday that she would use her position to "advise, inform and warn" the federal government of their situation.

Siksika Chief Adrian Stimson said Jean's visit was a very historical moment, noting there is a great need for visits like the one the Governor General made to the successful graduates.

"I think it's a very great thing that's happened here today."