Sunday, August 19, 2007

Leaders predict more tragic deaths unless governments fix aboriginal poverty

from Yahoo News Canada

By Steve Lambert

WINNIPEG (CP) - There will be more deaths like the recent drowning of a boy on a Manitoba reserve by three youngsters unless something is done about the social ills rampant on many native reserves, the head of an aboriginal child welfare agency warns.

"We allow kids to grow up in extreme poverty," says Elsie Flett, head of the First Nations of Southern Manitoba Child and Family Services Authority. "Why are we then surprised when these kids become violent? Society has really been very violent towards them."

The agency is one of four authorities in Manitoba assigned to protect children at risk of abuse or neglect. It covers a large area including the Pauingassi First Nation, 300 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, where Adam Keeper, 6, died on Aug. 7.

"Who is interviewing Stephen Harper and his government?" Flett asked in an interview. "Who is saying, 'What are you doing about Pauingassi'?"

RCMP have said Keeper, who could not swim, was bullied into taking off his clothes and pushed into a lake by three boys, who are 7, 8 and 9 years old. His body was found hours later.

Aboriginal leaders have pointed to Pauingassi's high rate of alcoholism, broken families, poor housing and grinding poverty as the root of violence in the community. Flett is prevented by law from revealing details about the drowning, which her agency is investigating, but news reports have suggested one of the boys involved suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome and another has been raised by his grandparents while his siblings have been in foster care.

Flett points to the 1996 report from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which warned that high rates of crime, suicide, addiction and violence will plague native communities until governments address native poverty.

"We have kids that go hungry. Up in Pauingassi ... food is just not affordable. Do we care about that? Do we do anything about that?"

Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, who took over the portfolio as part of last week's federal cabinet shuffle, was unavailable to comment. His predecessor, Jim Prentice, had promised that Ottawa would take concrete steps to improve living conditions on reserves.

The numbers of children coming through Flett's agency and other native-run bodies is startling. Aboriginals make up 15 per cent of Manitoba's population, yet account for 70 per cent of the province's 7,000 children in the child-welfare system.

What remains unclear about Keeper's death is how long the four boys, all under 10, were left to wander around without adult supervision.

Keeper is believed to have drowned sometime in the late afternoon. His father found his body after a community search was organized in the evening.

It's not unusual for young children to be left to their own devices, said Pauingassi Chief Harold Crow.

"Kids are kids. Kids have the freedom to move around," he said.

"The community is a remote area and we have all kinds of surrounding bush and the lake, and I guess (Keeper and the other boys) were far out into the covered area."

Children have died or been injured while on their own on other reserves. Last January, a five-year-old boy from the Cumberland House First Nation in northeastern Saskatchewan was killed by a pack of dogs near his home. His body was found lying on the road sometime later.

Last November, a five-year-old boy died in a similar dog attack on the North Tallcree reserve in northern Alberta. His body was also found on the road.

Last September, an 11-year-old girl from the Chemawawin Cree Nation in central Manitoba was severely burned when she and some other kids were engaged in a dangerous game involving bug spray and a lighter.

Child protection laws vary from province to province. Manitoba requires adult supervision for any child under 12.

Flett is quick to point out that poor parenting is not exclusive to reserves, but adds that life in a disadvantage, remote community can be a strain for the best of parents.

"If you're a single parent ... and you're living in a community like Pauingassi where there is no bus, there is no taxi, doing your laundry and getting groceries becomes a major, major issue," she said.

"How do you then say to that mom, 'You should know where every single one of your kids is all the time'?"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since when does doing laundry and shopping for groceries prevent a single mom (or any other mom) from knowing where her children are every single minute to keep them safe?
Pioneers raised kids safely while Mom hand scrubbed laundry and fetched food by berry picking, gardening, going to town for groceries.
Conscientious, sober Moms keep their kids within eyesight most if not all of the time. They take their kids with them.
In Pauingassi no one seems to care what the kids are up to for hours at a time. Only the people themselves can keep their children safe. Government dollars can't do the job.

Anonymous said...

Since when does doing laundry and shopping for groceries prevent a single mom (or any other mom) from knowing where her children are every single minute to keep them safe?
Pioneers raised kids safely while Mom hand scrubbed laundry and fetched food by berry picking, gardening, going to town for groceries.
Conscientious, sober Moms keep their kids within eyesight most if not all of the time. They take their kids with them.
In Pauingassi no one seems to care what the kids are up to for hours at a time. Only the people themselves can keep their children safe. Government dollars can't do the job.

Anonymous said...

u can tell the bitch above is white as fuck, shut ur fuckin trap and grow up in our community and see how hard it is. you would be a drunk too. we dont got cells to call our kids bitch.

Anonymous said...

don't the aboriginals get enough of our tax money to take care of themselves or their children? aboriginal youth have no leadership, but rather pathetic parasites that they have to call their parents.

while i'm at WORK, and they are laying around asleep on the street, i am funding their pathetic lives and existence. i hope Canada cuts the cord, and makes the aboriginal population fend for themselves. stop asking people for money! that is not a job! have pride in yourself and start living a meaningful existance!

Anonymous said...

It's disappointing to see prejudice is alive and well in Canada. I am white and have had an incredible amount of privelege in my life. It is astounding to me that other Canadians are so ignorant of Canada's colonial history. Equally astounding is the inability of those with the privelege of living without prejudice to use their imaginations. Perhaps it is time for the government to stand by the money it spent on the RCAP and actually implement its recommendations. Spreading hate while cloaked in the anonymity of the internet is cowardly. I hope that Canadians can enter into conversations about these important matters and reach some understandings.