International pressure will help plight of Canada's First Nations

International pressure will help plight of Canada's First Nations
By Chinta Puxley, THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINNIPEG - International pressure from Canada's allies should help lift the country's First Nations out of the crippling poverty plaguing its communities, National Chief Phil Fontaine said Thursday.

In a speech to an aboriginal youth justice conference in Winnipeg, Fontaine said Canada has been facing some tough questions at the United Nations about the sorry state of many First Nation communities.

"Actually, it was Canada's allies that were raising these questions and pointing out the problems," said Fontaine, who heads the Assembly of First Nations. "That gave us some hope. We're encouraged by the fact that so many other countries are concerned about our situation. Canada has been exposed now."

Canada is seen around the world as a "great protector and defender of human rights," he said.

"The true story is that Canada has violated the human rights of the First Peoples here indiscriminately for years and years," Fontaine said. "We are now in a much better position to advance our position."

While the most recent federal budget promised more than $1.4 billion for aboriginal schools, infrastructure and housing, Fontaine said systemic poverty is still the greatest challenge facing First Nations.

Aboriginal communities are suffering from a housing crisis, he said. The deteriorating state of houses and overcrowding has tragic consequences, Fontaine said, pointing to the recent death of a nine-year-old girl in a house fire on a Manitoba reserve.

Many First Nation reserves also don't have access to health care or clean drinking water, he added. In some communities, women have to be flown out to give birth, Fontaine said. About 103 communities in Canada now have boil-water advisories, he added.

"It isn't chief and council or the communities that caused their water source to be contaminated. It was someone else," Fontaine said. "But the responsibility is imposed on our leadership to change that, to fix that."

More importantly, young people are being short-changed when it comes to child welfare and education funding, Fontaine said. Aboriginal students that attend schools on reserves receive $2,000 less per capita than students in mainstream public schools, he said.

Some 42 aboriginal communities don't even have a school while other children learn in buildings that are falling apart, he added.

Canada has tried to defend itself before the United Nations by saying it is doing all it can to support First Nations but Fontaine said that's not good enough.

"It's pretty sad that we have this situation in a country that is as wealthy as Canada," Fontaine said.

The Assembly of First Nations started a national day of action several years ago to draw attention to the plight of aboriginals, he said. That annual event will continue until all Canadians unite behind First Nations, he said.

"We will know we won this fight when thousands upon thousands of non-aboriginal people join us at these marches," Fontaine said. "If we can't do that, then we will still be on our own. We will continue to fight the good fight by ourselves."

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