How Being Tied To A Culture Can Be Detrimental To Person
Being tied to a culture can be detrimental to a person. An example of this is the Attawapiskat reserve. It is located five thousand kilometres north of Timmins, Ontario. Due to the housing shortage, they had to declare being in a state of emergency. The First Nations community is now forced to house people in uninsulated sheds. Some live in wooden framed tents having to be heated by wood stoves. There is no water hookup, and no hydro hookup. This inhumane way of living is caused due to being tied to a culture.
Canada has 3,117 reserves, containing around half a million people. Many do not have indoor plumbing. Around a quarter of them are forced to rely on various water systems that have risks towards the environment and their health. The unfortunate infrastructure problems have even caused mold infestations that lead towards rashes. Quite a few of the reserves are currently under water advisories.
There is a huge gap between Indigenous people and the rest of Canadians. Is it caused by the lack of knowledge that we have? Or the fact that the government is not doing enough? The Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo said “The images of communities where there's slop pails, no running water, no reliable power … Perhaps the underlying reasons, particularly, the policy reasons [are] the fact that we've all inherited an Indian Act that's 125 years old now that isn't serving anybody".
Many reserves, such as Attawapiskat, are in horrible conditions. It is not a way of living, and they should not be treated that way. After the residential schools, I would think we would try harder to fix the way Indigenous people are treated. The only reason they are trapped in the reserves are due to their culture, because of the way Canada sees them, they are not treated the same as you and me.
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| A wood-frame tent where a family of six is being housed in Attawapiskat, a Cree community near James Bay in northern Ontario. The tent is heated by a wood stove. (Courtesy of Charlie Angus) |
Tomson Highway’s play The Rez Sisters, is about seven indigenous women living on a reserve in Canada. Their big dream is to win the bingo in order to fulfill their desires. One of the women named Pelajia wants to go to Toronto. She feels the need to escape the horrible living conditions on the reserve. It lies on an island, isolated from the rest of the world. There are no jobs, and the government has completely disregarded them. Their culture tied them to a stigma from the government and others. The women are not treated with respect to themselves or their culture. Pelajia’s sister, Philomena, and their sister in law, Veronique, wants to buy a toilet and a stove if they win the bingo. This shows the lack of basic resources that they have. There is no other way for them to get money beside the bingo. The bingo is a way for them to escape for the poverty they live in. The harsh reality is that if they weren't tied to a culture, they most likely wouldn’t be in the situation they are in. There would be no reason they couldn’t have jobs.
I believe that due to the nature of the government and others, people tied to a culture are suffering. We need to ask ourselves why there isn’t enough done to provide people of all ages a basic home and needs. I don’t think we would want to live in those conditions, so why should they?
I believe that due to the nature of the government and others, people tied to a culture are suffering. We need to ask ourselves why there isn’t enough done to provide people of all ages a basic home and needs. I don’t think we would want to live in those conditions, so why should they?
Works Cited
Angus, Charlie. A wood-frame tent where a family of six is being housed in Attawapiskat, a Cree community near James Bay in northern Ontario. The tent is heated by a wood stove. CBC, Kazi Stastna, 26 Nov. 2011, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/shacks-and-slop-pails-infrastructure-crisis-on-native-reserves-1.1004957. Accessed 9 June 2018.
Highway, Tomson. The Rez Sisters. Fifth House Publishers, 1988.
Stastna, Kazi. “Shacks and slop pails: infrastructure crisis on native reserves.” CBC, 26 Nov. 2011, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/shacks-and-slop-pails-infrastructure-crisis-on-native-reserves-1.1004957. Accessed 8 June 2018.
I agree with what you said about how being tied their culture causes Natives in Canada to be treated poorly. It is upsetting that these Native Canadian are still being treated in such a disrespectful way. They do not deserve to be forced to live on reserves, of which land is in such poor condition. They are given land noone wants, or can use, which is completely unfair to them. You mentioned that Pelajia wants to leave the reserve to escape to Toronto, how Philomena wants a new toilet, and how bingo is a way for the sisters to achieve all of their dreams. I found there to be a lot of implicit messages in the dialogue of the play of the struggles Natives living on reserves went through; I found it to be simple yet impactful. I find that these symbols you mentioned, along with many others, emphasize what you said about how horrible their living conditions were. Comparing what Thomas Highway wrote in his play about the condition of reserves back in 1988 to what it is like today really shows how little progress has been made in regards to improving the living conditions on Canadian reserves. It is disappointing to see that the First Nations are still experiencing the same problems 30 years later after the play was written. Why do you think it is taking so long to fix the problems on the reserves today? What do you think has to happen to start major changes and improvement on the reserves in Canada? It seems that events, like the Attawapiskat housing crisis you mentioned, are not impactful enough long term to solve these problems on the reserve. It seems people don’t care to change anything for them because they don’t want to help fix the problem they have caused. I think part of the problem comes from years of discrimination, isolation, and neglect towards Natives; which Canadians want to forget. Do you think funding is the problem, or possibly discrimination against First Nations that is causing the lack of support towards them and poor conditions of the reserves? It really shows how detrimental it can be for these Natives to be tied to their culture that has been discriminated against and treated poorly for so many years.
ReplyDeleteI agree that being Indigenous in Canada can be very detrimental, as illustrated in the play. I like the point that you made about how the sisters likely would not be living with the same harsh struggles and conditions if they were not affiliated with Indian culture. No other ethnic group in this country faces the type of hardships they do. It is unfortunate that Indigenous people suffer from the strained relationship between themselves and the government. Mostly, they are not the ones responsible for the conflicts between the two sides, yet they are the ones who are facing the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what you said about a stigma surrounding Indigenous people. It's not like we aren't aware of the situations on reserves in Canada, but we seem hesitant to do anything about it. Until Canada actually steps up, reservations will continue to live in poverty and unemployment. Relying on bingo and welfare is no way to live. The unemployment is especially harmful when it leads to habits such as alcoholism, such as people in The Rez Sisters experienced.
The fact that the situation for Indigenous people is still so bad raises questions. What needs to happen in order for us to put an end to these issues, especially when events like the Oka crsis and Attawapiskat have only seemed to offer short term awareness?