| On November 25 the federal Liberals announced $5 billion aimed at substantially improving the standard of living for aboriginal people in Canada. The announcement was made after a two-day summit that included all the provinces and the territories as well as aboriginal leaders.
However, just days later, on November 28, the government was toppled by opposition parties after a non-confidence vote. It’s unclear whether the next government will display the same commitment to aboriginal issues or will follow through on the spending promises made.
But Carrie Neilson, aboriginal issues strategist with the City of Calgary, says regardless of what political party ends up in power, dramatic action is necessary.
"It’s just becoming a huge blight on Canada’s face," says Neilson. "The major issue remains poverty. That is the cornerstone of all the issues and poverty is a result of marginalization, poverty is a result of inadequate employment."
According to Statistics Canada, 42 per cent of urban aboriginals were classified as low-income compared to 17 per cent of non-aboriginals. In the 2004 Biennial Count of Homeless Persons in Calgary, 15 per cent of the homeless were aboriginal, although aboriginal people only make up about three per cent of Calgary’s population.
Neilson says she’s disappointed that the Liberal government fell because it was close to signing off on a deal to create a new residence in Calgary for disabled aboriginals who have been living on the street.
"We are going to lose ground big time in terms of getting our projects up and running under the Urban Aboriginal Strategy," she says.
Neilson says action is needed to create more affordable housing for urban aboriginals and to combat discrimination.
"I see the effects of (discrimination) in people trying to obtain housing, in that they’ll phone up a potential landlord and set up an appointment to see a place and everything is well and fine until they meet face to face and the potential landlord sees that it’s an aboriginal person – suddenly it’s rented, it’s gone. I see it in terms of some of the name-calling on the street, which is quite horrible."
Neilson says she’s also been amazed that some Calgarians have called the City of Calgary’s aboriginal services phone number and made racist remarks.
"It’s as though there are people out there that truly believe that if they’ve got a beef about aboriginal people that there’s a complaint line they can phone up at city hall," she says. "The biggest cause of discrimination I’ve found in Calgary is ignorance. They truly believe all the myths floating around out there."
Neilson says urban aboriginal issues often take a back seat to what are perceived as more pressing social problems on reserves. She says when aboriginal people arrive in the city, "people are just sort of seen as going into the melting pot," but the transition to urban life can be a big challenge.
She adds that there are still many aboriginal people struggling with the effects of "post-colonialism and residential schools."
"They are such a lost and hurt people that it isn’t getting any better for them."
However, Neilson says there are positive signs that life is starting to improve for some urban aboriginals.
"That’s the hopeful piece in that I am seeing more and more people doing better and better. There’s about 23,000 aboriginal in this city and those who are in the very worst circumstances are the most visible ones. That’s not a huge, huge group of people. There’s probably 20,000 aboriginal people out there living and working and contributing to their community that are doing OK…. There’s so many young people who are in post-secondary education and that’s the key," she says.
Prior to the election call, the Liberal government set a goal to bring the graduation rate for aboriginal students on par with non-aboriginals by 2016 and to reduce infant mortality, youth suicide, childhood obesity and diabetes by 20 per cent in five years and 50 per cent in 10 years. The Liberals also promised to reduce the housing shortage on reserves by 40 per cent over the next five years and by 80 per cent within 10 years, and to work with the provinces and territories to provide access to housing for 17,000 off-reserve aboriginal people. There were also targets to increase aboriginal employment levels by 30 per cent over the next five years and 50 per cent within 10 years.
"In terms of the promises the Liberals have made, I believe if they get back in power they will keep their promises…. I would be more fearful if we have a Conservative government coming in," says Neilson. |
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