To the Editor;
With the recent movement “Idle No More”, the court ruling that has identified descendants of native families (Metis) as having equal rights as Indians, plus all the other rulings surrounding Indian people, we now have another movement from the non-native community to discredit First Nations people based on what they have heard. These come in the form of e-mails, posts on Facebook, etc.
Well, I admit we haven’t done a very good job of informing the general public on the whys and why-nots that make up the reasons for our unrest and mistrust.
Our concerns here locally are now focused on land use and environmental issues ranging from water to wildlife, plus many things in between.
On the national level there is this hunger strike in Ottawa, “Idle no More” across the country, and many other issues that the media has finally picked up on.
Like every other disagreement, we natives here have been trying to improve our situation by voicing our concerns and supporting other First Nation movements that do now or may in the future affect us directly.
While all this is going on, our non-native neighbors, some family members, and others within the community are listening and being totally confused because they either know nothing personally, or had not been informed that there is a problem, and react to the rumors that keep popping up. Most have no idea of what the difference between reserve land and public land is except that the native land has no taxes attached, the Indians get free housing, these Indians are lazy and don’t work, and the non-native tax dollar is what is supporting all of it.
An easy solution would be to cut the Indians off, tell them to go out and earn the required money each needs to live, and to stop being a burden on those who do pay the taxes. Problem is, what the Indians receive and can do with their lands and recourses is controlled by the Federal Government who are trying to abandon their committments and dodge the bullet by down loading it all to each province, then abstaining from any debate surrounding the issues.
Let’s look at how we got to total disagreement in the first place before we weigh in our personal opinions to either support or oppose what is being said and actually happening.
Rolling the clock back a couple hundred years or so, the Indians were the only occupants of this area, fishing, hunting, trapping. Food sources, timber, minerals, and everything else belonged to our people.
Now enters the European forces who believe they have found a “new world,” and by doing so gives them some right to occupy, rule, and control all others who do or wish to live here.
Not detailing any part of this the short version, most western native nations welcomed these new people and saw no real problem living, sharing, and trading with them.
The self appointed government (federal) who now claimed the land decided that the only way they could carry out their mandates and start building communities across this new land was to was to get the Indian people out of the way.
This government convinced the natives that if they were to move onto reserve land that had been identified and located, then the federal government would support and take care of them. All natives would be exempt taxes and other such levies, in short become the native providers. (sounds like a good deal.)
Fast forward to today and we have a federal government who has passed laws affecting us that we were never consulted about, openly reneged on promises that got us onto reserves in the first place, and have never purchased or paid rent on all of the land base and resources they are collecting taxes from, including water, timber and minerals.
If you think seriously about this, you will have to agree that if we never sold it, never rented it, and never gave up control, then it must still belong to us and any revenue being collected from it should be ours plus the back payments over the past couple hundred years.
Looking at things using this logic you can see just why we, the First Nations people are a little bit ticked off and objecting to further such abuse and stalling by government to dealing with all of the issues.
Like many others have said, I too believe it is time to stop complaining and start acting in a responsible and professional manner by educating ourselves then using the tools available to fight back. The Law Courts, the legal system, and the laws that govern what it and is not fair must now be our path to resolution and the bickering has to stop.
We are all aware that our native people are not about to give up the present way of life and move back into teepees, make our own clothing, avoid grocery stores, abstain from driving automobiles and go back to moccasin and horse power, live without electricity and inside plumbing. Could you see our youth without computers, cell phones, Ipods, radio, stereo, or any of the modern tools and gadgets that support our communication system. “It’s time for us all to get real.”
Change must be made on reserves that prevent our youth from graduating school only to go on S/A (welfare), being responsible and going to work on a daily basis has and will never harm anyone and healthy people who don’t put in should not expect the system to keep them going because they choose not to work.
I do not offer a quick solution to the problems because there are many things not mentioned that would factor in, what I am saying is it is important that the non-native community (our neighbors) who purchased land in this area and do pay taxes should be properly informed so they to can have an opinion based on reality and truths.
I am a full member of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band and do not live on reserve by choice. I do pay taxes and live on property that has been in my family for more than one hundred (100) years.
Regards, Darryl R. Brewer,