Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality

by Bob Joseph

titled Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future.

Indigenous community, you may lack essential understanding of how integral cultural competency is to reconciliation.

Anishinaabe, Métis, Coastal Salish, Cree, Cherokee.

In Canada, there are three distinct groups of Aboriginal Peoples: First Nation(s) (sometimes referred to as “Indian”), Métis, and

Inuit.2

More than 1,673,785 of the almost 37 million people in Canada identify as...

First Nations. There are over 600 nations and over 2,000 reserves,4 each with a distinct history that shaped i...

In British Columbia alone, there is an amazing diversity of First Nations culture and languages. There are over 200 First Nations communities in the province, each with its unique culture, traditions, and history. These 200-plus communities represent 60 per cent of the First Nations languages spoken in Canada.

which represents 4.9 per cent of the Canadian population.

Aboriginal Peoples are the fastest-growing segment of the Canadian population. Funding is increasing, but it is not keeping up with the pace of demand.

government. Many status people who have moved to the city believe they are disadvantaged because they are not eligible to receive all the services to which they had access on-reserve. Métis people have little access to federal programs because the federal government has been unwilling to acknowledge its Constitutional responsibility for them.

Here are five common threads found in Indigenous worldviews: Holistic perspective

Unified vision All life is sacred All forms of life are interconnected Humans are not above or below others All living things, including plants and animals, and their spirits are connected or related—law, kinship, and spirituality reinforce this connectedness. Our actions and decisions affect all else in the circle of life. All individuals are responsible for themselves in relation to all others. The well-being of the earth is central to traditional teachings and practices and is essential for survival. Time is fluid, non-linear, and measured in relation to cyclical events—the seasons. Indigenous cultures are guided by tradition and collected wisdom, yet are dynamic, adaptive, and not relegated to the past. Adaptation has been and continues to be necessary for survival.

POORER HEALTH The World Health Organization’s investigation into health determinants now recognizes European colonization as a common and fundamental underlying determinant of Indigenous health.

Indigenous Peoples continue to experience higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and many other diseases.

33.65 per cent of those who identified as an Aboriginal person have no secondary (high) school or equivalency certificate, compared to 18.3 per cent of the rest of the Canadian population.5

First Nations people living on-reserve, 44.2 per cent lived in a dwelling that was in need of major repairs, compared to 6 per cent of the non-Indigenous population living in such a dwelling.

The average total income of Indigenous Peoples was 75 per cent that of non-Indigenous people in 2015—that’s a 25 per cent income gap. It is a slight improvement from the 27 per cent gap ten years before in 2005.7

Suicide rates are five to seven times higher for First Nations youth than for non-Aboriginal youth, and for Inuit youth, the rate is among the highest in the world—eleven times the national average.

“Suicide and self-inflicted injuries are the leading causes of death for First Nations youth and adults up to 44 years of age.”9

Literacy and education: Among young First Nations adults living off-reserve, the high school completion rate is 75 per cent. But among those living on-reserve, only 48 per cent—less than half—have completed high school. If the on-reserve high school completion rate rises six points every five years, then in thirty-five years it will match the rate for non-Indigenous young adults.

A key way to improve your Indigenous relations is to understand the governance structure within the community and the plans that may be in place to move toward a model emphasizing self-determination, self-reliance, and self-government.

Replace traditional governing and decision-making systems with simple majority-elected, all-male band councils Ban cultural events such as the potlatch Limit the Indigenous land base from vast traditional territories to small reserves Eliminate economic development by prohibiting Indians from selling land, agricultural goods, or farm animals Prohibit Indians from investing moneys earned by their communities Prevent, until recently (1960), Indians from voting provincially or federally Limit the ability of Indians to leave the reserve (written permission authorized by an Indian agent was required)

Prohibit Indians from retaining a lawyer or raising funds with the intention of hiring a lawyer Remove Indian children from their homes and families to attend distant government-funded and church-run Indian Residential Schools Eliminate diverse Indigenous identities by creating categories of “Indian-ness”—i.e., status Indians, non-status Indians, Inuit, and Métis

it very difficult for a status Indian to borrow funds to build a house—or start a business—on-reserve.

Inuit, Métis, and non-status Indians are under the same tax regime as other taxpayers in Canada

It may seem as though they belong to a dim past, due to the horrific conditions the 150,000 children (of whom 6,000 died or disappeared) were subjected to, but the last one closed in 1996. That’s not ancient history.

Children as young as six were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to residential schools. From the moment they crossed the threshold of the school, they were thrust into a harsh, unforgiving, linguistically and culturally alien world.

Recognition, Respect, and Reconciliation.

The Indigenous community, in contrast, will likely not consider any issue in isolation, and they likely won’t call it a “valley”—Indigenous Peoples will think “territory.” Before deciding on an issue, they will think about that cut block plus all the other cut blocks in their territory, and the cumulative effects of oil and gas, mining, and logging operations on hunting and fishing throughout the territory.

relocated. Some communities may not reach out to off-reserve members; that could be at their peril and yours, if it’s your project.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, it likely would have unfolded quite differently. UNDRIP is an international declaration that sets out “the minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of Indigenous Peoples of the world” (article 43).

of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination, equality, protection of their respective cultures, a collective identity, and economic and social development.

One good way to deal with timeline issues is to have project managers build additional time into business planning processes and policies to accommodate the Indigenous community. Another is to provide capacity funding.

The Indian Act is actually a study in contradictions. Its purpose was to assimilate, but in practice it segregated and marginalized Aboriginal Peoples; restricted their ability to be part of the local economy; forced children to attend separate schools, often far away from their families; outlawed their traditions, language, and culture; and restricted their ability to mingle with mainstream Euro-settlers. There is no equality in the standard of living for people living on-reserve. More often than not, those who live on-reserve have to contend with poor housing and unsafe water, both of which contribute to poorer health; lower levels of education, which leads to lower rates of employment; and higher rates of incarceration.

In 2016, the Government of Canada launched an independent National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The inquiry wrapped up in December 2018, and its final report is due by April 2019. The vulnerability of Indigenous women in Canada and the violence against them drew the attention of the United Nations.

Read Our Women and Girls Are Sacred: Interim Report; The National Inquiry into Missing

and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (available at mmiwg-ffada.ca). Read Restoring the Balance: First Nations Women, Community, and Culture, edited by Gail Guthrie Valaskakis, Madeline Dion Stout, and Eric Guimond (University of Manitoba Press, 2009).

rampant. Art is the conduit that keeps a culture strong: it connects the present with the past and is an important aspect of identity. It is also an important source of income for communities where economic opportunities can be limited. As the older Indigenous generation ages and passes on, and as economic pressures force more Indigenous Peoples to relocate to urban centres, there is a great responsibility for communities to ensure their culture and art is protected and kept alive by the younger generations.