Right in the centre - Changes needed

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Published on Thursday, January 28, 2016

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

There is a mounting pile of evidence that the federal government and the province of Manitoba have been screwing up for decades. Many people will not be happy to see this in print, but in many ways, the two levels of government have done just about everything wrong in relation to aboriginal or First Nations people.

Yes, I know, I fully realize that many billions of dollars have gone into various projects and programs, many of which aren’t available to non-aboriginal people. But the bigger problem is that not enough money has  been spent where it should have been spent and too much money has gone into things that should never have been embraced.

Governments spend considerably less on education in aboriginal schools on a per student basis than non-aboriginal schools. Countless observations, tests and studies show that educational outcomes are much lower on average in aboriginal community schools. That alone should wake people up to the fact that they need more money and attention, not less. More First Nations communities have bad drinking water than other communities. The same goes for roads and many other services. In just about every realm of government programming, the aboriginal portion has been screwed up. Child and Family Services, health care, education, you name it, it’s sadly deficient in aboriginal communities.

All the while, as this deep seated neglect has been going on, governments have spent wildly on non-essential (albeit nice) stuff. Combining government and private money, in Manitoba, we have spent $200 million on the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. While it sends a touching architectural message on the outside and a poignant message inside its walls, it’s doubtful if even one aboriginal child has benefited from it. Maybe a few aboriginal parents have jobs there, but that would be about it. Similarly, the Winnipeg stadium at $200 million and climbing is a disgrace to both public funding and decision making. A few years ago, a pile of money was sunk into the MTS Centre, but at least the roof isn’t reported to be leaking and it appears to be creating some employment and entertainment. 

In more recent times and with an election looming, the NDP have found money, or at least promises, to fund millions of community projects. With all due respect to a community like Lorette, one has to debate whether $4 million should be put into a sports arena by the province in a town of 2,400 people. The NDP are planning to budget for a huge grant to an arts centre in Steinbach. They built a good chunk of the medical clinic in Swan River, all the while Neepawa built its own and Minnedosa is faced with the same issue. Come on folks, seriously, millions of dollars to two or three towns?

The basic problem is a lack of equality. With all the evidence and all the concern shown today, it’s difficult to understand why this has happened. If a government has a certain budget for arenas or care homes or museums or whatever, it should be doled out on an equal basis for all communities across the board.

If everyone, every community had been treated equally for the past 100 years, our demographics and community development would have been quite different. The current system sets up winners and losers, all the while creating adverse competition among communities for scarce tax dollars.

It’s very doubtful if it will be remedied, but governments at all levels need to treat everyone equally and without bias. If we spend $7,000 per student on education, then it needs to be across the whole province. There would have to be allowances for remote communities due to travelling and living costs.

To rectify 100 years of basically bad government, we need to re-jig our thinking. Communities need to be self-sufficient. Some communities have died off, unfortunately some communities are not viable. The Shoal lake Community in Ontario, where Winnipeg’s water comes from, has been abused for years by the whole aqueduct/road situation. The community is far from viable, but maybe it would have been if Winnipeg had paid the proper price for its water. 

A lot of tough questions need to be asked, but the biggest one is, do we continue on this road of inequality where governments treat some peoples and some communities with open disdain and others with a feigned appearance of benevolence? Under the current system, many communities, and even whole cultural groups aren’t going to be sustainable. A new model is needed, but some hard questions have to be asked.

Our province is going to look much different in 50 years, it’s a matter of whether it’s by default or design.