Ten Years After; those of you who were into rock music in the 70s, like me, would remember the band, Ten Years After, who rocked their way into fame back then. But let me put that phrase into today’s context, more accurately in the Oct. 20, 2009 edition of the GLOBE AND MAIL. The headline read, “Ten years after its creation, Nunavut gets failing grade.”
It should read, “….federal government gets a failing grade.”
Some of you may remember the creation of and celebration of Nunavut, a land-claim agreement between the federal government and the Inuit of the central and eastern Arctic. Ten years after, a report card outlines, “…territory plagued by same problems – insufficient education, grinding poverty, overcrowding – faced at inception.”
Some of you may also remember the pictorial book entitled, “The Inuit, Life As It Was” authored by a Richard Harrington. As a photographer, it is one of my favorite books as “a picture speaks a thousand words.” It depicts a people who had their language and culture intact; were healthy beings hunting, fishing, gathering, singing, dancing but also faced hardships such as hunger and frostbite. If I had the choice I would have preferred to live “life as it was.” No bills, no mortgage, no insecurity, no insignificant, lots of respect, able to speak the language and practice my culture.
The federal government too should have left “life as it was.” Instead, they saw all Aboriginal people including the Inuit as “ a problem.” In an effort to solve the problem, they established the residential school system and funded the churches to operate them. In doing so, they created more problems. All across Canada, Aboriginal people live in poverty, have insufficient education, live in over-crowded housing, high unemployment, lack significance and security, and lack mental health treatment and rehabilitation facilities. The Premier of Nunavut, Eva Aariak, says, “For the most part, these problems aren’t getting better.”
The path to the future is uncertain for the people of Nunavut but the past should have been maintained for the present. The federal government should have respected our language and culture and left us alone. Instead they chose to interfere and they are the ones who should get the failing grade…120 years after.
