The mess found on many native communities in this country will not go away quickly or without dedication.
Violence, poverty, inferior housing, inadequate water supplies, malnutrition, and below-average educational and employment opportunities are not problems that can be solved with ease nor speed.
They are systemic, deeply rooted and horribly crippling problems for many First Nations communities in Canada.
In Hobbema, gang violence and drug use flourish despite relative wealth and the potential it represents. The oil rich community of four bands rewards members with thousands of dollars held in trust until they turn 18. The money, often, is squandered on drugs and alcohol. And it creates a market for drug dealers. According to police, at least six loosely-organized gangs now flourish in the community.
This week, the five-year-old grandson of the chief of the Samson Cree Nation in Hobbema was shot and killed while he slept. A woman in the home was also hit by a bullet fired from outside. It was the second shooting in the early morning hours Monday in the community.
Police won’t say if the shooting was gang-related, but the community is devastated and angry — and intent on turning the tide on violence.
“Although we have suffered a tragic setback with the death of a five-year-old, we shall continue to oppose and eliminate the gangs that plague us,” said Chief Marvin Yellowbird.
Concerns are now being expressed by police about the potential for violent retaliation, and the situation could get worse before it improves.
But strides have been made in recent years, after gang violence and lawlessness escalated in the region north of Ponoka. In 2008, Asia Saddleback, just two at the time, was similarly shot while in her Hobbema home. She has recovered but the bullet will remain lodged in her body for the rest of her life. By 2010, there were just two killings on the reserve. The death this week of the five-year-old is the first in 2011.
Youth programs, among other things, have been credited with diverting youngsters from drugs and giving them positive role models. Policing numbers have been increased (it is, however, an immensely difficult job and post-traumatic stress disorder has been diagnosed in Mounties working in Hobbema).
However, much work remains to be done, in Hobbema and elsewhere.
Shawn Atleo, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, advocates a complete overhaul of the way the federal government deals with the aboriginal population in this country.
This week at his group’s annual general meeting, Atleo proposed that the federal Department of Aboriginal Affairs be scrapped. In its place, he suggests, should be a body that provides services to the native population and another that deals with the framework that ties the federal government to native communities.
Essentially, Atleo proposes in his brief Pursuing First Nation Self-Determination that the aboriginal community be granted the ability to self-govern from the federal government, and continue to receive funding for services provided within First Nations communities.
But Canadians should always demand that federal money be accountable. Far too often, waste and abuse have been found at the heart of native communities in this country. Creating self-determination must come with checks and balances, not just cheques.
Nor do we want mini-states popping up around the country, enclaves where laws and expectations are inconsistent with those of the rest of the nation, cultural differences aside.
But we do want peace, prosperity and potential realized in every community in the country. And we want an end to the violence and the deaths.
If Atleo and the federal government can build a new framework that will be a means to those ends, then they should do so with all haste.
John Stewart is the Advocate’s managing editor.