Thousands of Aboriginal Canadians are living poverty today and little is being done to help this group. “Aboriginal Canadians, especially Inuit and Indians on reserves, live in poverty comparable to that found in developing nations.” That’s Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson writing in November 2005. The reality is this point could have been made 30, 40 or 50 years ago and would still be completely accurate. This shows that not many effective improvements have been made in the last 50 years. Living conditions for Canada’s Native people have been an embarrassment for many decades and there have been countless pledges to deal with the problem, however sadly none of these pledges have been very effective to improving the current situation. In addition,Canadian Aboriginals are often a misunderstood and underrepresented group within Canadian society. Currently, the poverty and social issues that impact Aboriginal communities is at an all time high, but still very little is being done to create long term solutions for this Canadian minority group. The largest barrier for aborignals is that many people think of aborignals as alcoholics and drug addicts that live in poverty. This may be a barrier when applying for jobs because the employer may still have this outlook on aboriginals. During a speech by First Nations Regional Chief Angus Toulouse, at the Make Poverty History campaign launch in 2006, he said; “The reality today for First Nations communities is ongoing poverty, and an increasing gap in living conditions with other Canadians…First Nations poverty is the single greatest social issue in Canada today. Poverty breeds helplessness and hopelessness, which results in far too many of our young men and women committing crimes of despair.” In conclusion, we need to make long-term plans with dealing with this issue, in order to improve the issue of ongoing poverty in aboriginal communities in Canada.
Remember it’s also a industry-if Natives came out of their condition- they would leave many Canadians jobless- it would certainly be a crisis during these tough economic times. Read: “Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry,” by Frances Widdowson.
Clay
I love your comment “poverty breeds helplessness and hopelessness”, as it is very true. Think about how one would feel if they were so poor that things like a house, job etc.. would seem so far out of reach, especially when surviving is paramount. Nice work!
So true, my cousins lived on a native reserve and did not have a lot of money since they were so far away from a town they couldn’t have a close job. Once they left and moved into a mainstream town they got on their feet. When people talk about aboriginals stereotypes arise which are not always true. Yes, some are alcoholics, but some caucasian people are alcoholics, but they don’t get stereotyped against.