In the Midst of (Hope)lessness
~ Darrell Day
The following are excerpts taken from the Toronto Sun, dated November 7, 2010 as quoted by the author of this article:
“Eabametoong First Nation -You can’t avoid the irony in the sign in the band office: Welcome to Eabametoong - sometimes known as Fort Hope. Right now, this embattled community on the mighty Albany River is more Fort Hopelessness. This tiny Oji-Cree reserve of 1,200 people north of Thunder Bay is gripped by a massive prescription drug problem - both Percocet and OxyContin.
In recent months, there have been two murders and an attempted murder, as well as 47 arsons and numerous assaults and break and enters, as well as animal mutilations. It’s so bad that Chief Lewis Nate declared a state of emergency on Oct. 21....Firebombings are commonplace. Many of the community’s 300 houses are scorched and gutted from past attacks. The local gospel church was torched. A singed Cree prayer book lies fluttering in the wintry wind outside the burned shell of what was once Rev. Charlie Shawinimash’s home...All hand sanitizer dispensers in the local health centre are empty. They can’t be filled until cages can be put around them so they can’t be broken into. In the past, patients at the centre have stolen the alcohol-based sanitizer, boiled it with warm water and drunk it for a high. The local water treatment plant has been broken into three times and equipment stolen by addicts looking to sell it to feed their habit....
Narcotics are smuggled into this isolated, fly-in community in many ways, says a police spokesman. They come in through the airstrip and air cargo. Sometimes electronic equipment is taken apart, drugs are hidden in it and it’s put back together again. Some drug dealers simply carry it in themselves. There is no screening at the tiny airport to stop them. In January and February, the drugs are brought in over the ice road. The stakes are high: One 80 mg of OxyContin can sell for anywhere between $350 and $500. People desperate for the drugs have sold their furniture to find cash....
'The money that’s going towards the drugs, it’s not going towards the community, it’s not going towards the community economy, it’s not feeding the children, so there is a huge residual effect from the sale of these prescription pills,’ said Sgt. Jackie George of the Nishnawbe-Aske Police Service [NAPS] that watches the reserve. Police on the reserve are simply overwhelmed by the scope of the crisis and don’t have the resources to staff the community around the clock, she said. 'We are not funded to be a 24-hour, seven-day a week police service.' Funding is allocated by both federal and provincial governments. 'This state of emergency, which we fully support, is quite established at this point and we have yet to hear from federal and provincial negotiators about any type of resources they can give us so that we can continue to police here,' George said. Between shift work and training, often there is just one officer to cope with both the day and night shift. 'We have five officers here and we need twice that to deal with it.'
'The parents are scared stiff. Some of the kids are out of control.' (said Sharon Johnston, wife of the new governor general, David Johnston). Part of the problem, she said, is that parents who grew up in residential schools grew up without empathy. Now they have difficulty teaching that to their own children....This isn’t the third world. This is Ontario. And it shames all of us.”
Wow! What a nightmare! Is this really going on? You bet it is! A state of emergency exists on Eabametoong First Nation. In Canada. In the 21st century. How about proclaiming a state of emergency all across North America for all First Nations peoples who are suffering the agony and humiliation of drug and alcohol addictions? I’ve been to many cities across Canada and the U.S. and from what I have seen, there is quite a pandemic happening involving drugs, alcohol, domestic violence and native people. What are we so-called “moderns” doing about it? I’m not sure. I’d like to say that right now, the federal and provincial governments are falling over themselves in a mad rush to make sure millions of much needed dollars are sent to this reserve and all reserves like it across Canada. I’d like to say that social programs and policies are being put into place to prevent further and future atrocities like this. I’d like to say that an overwhelming outpouring of emotion and heartfelt help is completely underway to save and teach these wayward natives who are merely lost and really can’t be completely blamed. I’d like to say these things, but I can’t.
I can’t because really, truthfully, in the end, Eabametoong and all reserves like it across North America (not just Canada) are the continuing signs of the colonists’ victory over the so called “ignorant savages.” The federal governments in the U.S. and Canada are prohibited by policy to acknowledge the ongoing suffering and dying of the native population because doing so would mean an admittance of a very great error committed centuries ago. And they just can’t have that. In any event, this is a rant for another time.
What are we facing in a situation such as this? It seems like a giant mess w/no feasible solution. Yet, wouldn’t the obvious step toward a solution be to acknowledge the problem, nationally and even, internationally? The chief of Eabametoong First Nation said, “Ownership has got to come from the community...We talk about unity, not just as First Nations, but as Canada. This is very important to remember: No matter who you are or what race you are, it’s important that we get together as one.” And isn’t that the message that’s been playing in the back of our minds all along, anyway? This is something I’ve always considered about people. We have several similar qualities and characteristics that bind us always and endlessly as humans. But, then how many times have you heard this in your life? I just wonder when it will sink in.
How does such a state of crisis emerge in the face of such plenitude and luxury? The easy answer is the unequal distribution of wealth (Sociology 101). The not so easy answer is dishearteningly multiple, in dimension and root. Well, then, let’s ask this: How does it create a momentum to such a degree that an entire community is frozen in fear and utter complacency? Well, there is no real easy answer for this. My own personal horror at all of this is my own peoples’ preference for the high over the sanctity and safety of our children. It is, in fact, enough to make one throw one’s hands up in the air and just say, “Fuck it! I’m going somewhere else.” Yet, no matter where you go, there it is. I moved from Calgary, Alberta all the way across Canada to Toronto, Ontario to get away from racism but still there was the rampant and unadulterated drug and alcohol abuse by own people. The racial stigma of natives being drunk or crackheads might be unfair but its foundation in some truth is still obvious. And what can we answer to an accusation such as this? It is a shame in one’s own culture. It is a fear to simply stand up and say “I won’t follow the crowd into the morass of mindless drug and alcohol consumption.” It is total disregard of one’s ancestors and offspring. Now, I don’t exactly follow any particular formula of cultural spiritualism per se. Yet, at the same time, I never waver from the fact that I am Cree and I am alive in modern day 2010. How can I be otherwise? I have to get up in the morning and make sure I and my son are fed, clothed, bathed, sheltered and educated. These are basic elements of living, no matter what year or country it is.
I don’t know how to say it any other way than how many countless ways it has been said already. Brothers and sisters, we need to stick together. Otherwise, kiss any and all value in stating you are native good bye. It won’t matter that you’re native in about 20 years, if things continue the way they are. By then, we will just be a mongrel of humanity which has been absorbed into the Gedron. And it will of no political, social, economic or other importance at all ever to be of native American descent. Does anyone want that? I don’t. Solving the problems of drugs on reserves like Eabametoong must begin by first acknowledging the problem and then, by everyone doing their part to confront and do away with the issue.
The tragedy of Eabametoong is and always was a preventable one. Yet, the inevitability of it all is unavoidably apparent. We were set up for it. And we took the bait - hook, line and sinker. The challenge, then, is regaining our self respect and dignity. Eabametoong needs help quite badly, but, it is not the only reserve in its situation. Not only that, it is not the only location where a large native population exists where a state of crisis should be declared. How else are we to get national and international attention to what is happening in our communities? I mean, think about it. Corporations and government each have policies in place to set off alarm bells when finances or infrastructure might be in trouble. They are looking out for their best interests. When public schools are threatened by something like an arsonist or something worse like a lurking pedophile in the local communities, alarm bells go off in the media like wild fire. Everyone is suddenly alert and the culprit or culprits are almost always soon caught and locked up. And then, the community is safe again. It seems to me that such programs, policies and strictures of attitude should be put into place in each and every native community. It takes a bold step on part of community members, to be sure, but such a thing is not unthinkable. It’s all about unity as Chief Lewis Nate mentioned in the Toronto Sun article. This, however, would not be enough.
There needs to be alot of petitioning done of our governments. We need federally, provincially and state backed programs and policies in place which would help insure that the evils of drugs and alcohol never infect our communities ever again. We need national and international respect of our cultures and communities. For that matter, why don’t we have native towns in major cities like the Asians have Chinatowns? It’s a matter of unity.
Let me feed the banter one more time. Unite people. Unite or be defeated and never say I didn’t warn ya.