A Canadian federal election is looming, and this class has put my mind on the role that Indigenous public health has to play in deciding the next government. This is thanks in no small part to the article I’m reading: Indigenous Health from the British medical journal Lancet (2009; 374: 65–75). The article paints a very grim picture of Indigenous public health across the world. everything from fundamental problems (higher infant/mother morbidity and mortality) to lifestyle diseases such as obesity and preventable diabetes are impacting Indigenous peoples from Canada to Australia. The article paints a picture of a public health disaster – one whose solution, the authors argue, is education. Indigenous people, often rural, remote, and even marginalized, do not benefit from the same standard as the urban and non-Indigenous populations of their countries. To make matters worse, the traditional practices that sustained these populations for millennia have often been eroded or even eradicated by attempts at cultural homogenity, sometimes brutal ones, like Canada’s monstrous residential schools.
There is a federal election looming; one that, polling thus far indicates, has an increased turnout of Indigenous voters in ridings that are in very many cases Conservative ridings. Many of these ridings are a close game, where strategic voting could cost the Conservatives the election. As a result, all the parties are romancing the Indigenous vote. The winner will undoubtedly “thank” the Indigenous voters for their apparent support, and Canada will attempt to crawl back into dignity on the subject of Indigenous social and health issues. But it strikes me just how much we’re going to have to get our own house in order for that to happen.
True, it seems like a lost cause for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party, which has long suffered an acrimonious relationship with Indigenous peoples of Canada, but there are still a few days left to release an aggressive platform promise on Indigenous issues. Reputation aside, Harper has surprised us before with shrewd political sea-change.
Trudeau and Mulcair are making bigger and bigger promises, respectively – both vow to launch the inquiry into violence against Aboriginal women in response to public outcry. Both ask to ramp up support in cold hard dollars to try and alleviate the poor standard of living on many rural reserves and communities. Mulcair even promises to massively increase First Nations oversight on all public policy in an attempt to never overstep treaty rights with any new legislation. If actually implemented, this would change the narrative, possibly even the power structure, of legislation in Canada. The NDP, relatively ardent in their advocacy for the environment, would still need to reckon their support for pipeline projects which, invariably, find their ways through treaty claims and on Indigenous lands as they pump crude to foreign markets.
Despite more unequivocal rhetoric on the subject, Mulcair and the NDP haven’t exactly nailed down what they intend to do exactly. On the quantitative side, it’s Trudeau and the Liberals that shine; they promise to implement every single conclusion made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. What’s more, they are coming out in front of the question of First Nations education (offering to massively enrich the support for FN students at university and college – presumably through the Indian Act, though) and a massive upsurge in infrastructure spending to try and bring rural Indigenous communities to the standards of clean water and public services that the rest of Canada enjoys.
In my view, all three parties give First Nations issues the merit they deserve based only on the percentage of votes they stand to gain, from Indigenous voters and non-Indigenous allies, rather than addressing the state of rural communities, the legacy of residential schools, and missing and murdered women as the collective social crisis and international shame that they are. Certainly, the Green Party – for whom I have voted on almost every occasion, full disclosure – enjoy the freedom to speak the most unequivocally about these crises, and make the biggest promises and speaking from a place of blunt honesty. But all parties, sooner or later encroach the ability to actually take power in Parliament, and run the risk of this brutal economy taking over their conscience.
To sum up: there is no one single government that will give First Nations issues the attention and moral urgency that they deserve without more incentive than just an election. They need to react like it’s a national state of emergency, not simply the values of a left-wing, big-state government. The Conservative government have made their priorities abundantly clear, but may in the coming days realize their apathy will cost them power and change their tack. The ability to dethrone a decade-only government with Indigenous votes would be a powerful message, to be sure. I only hope we (Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples who want to see real change on Indigenous issues) won’t let it lie after Prime Minister Trudeau and opposition leader Mulcair take the lead.
The kind of national programs and inquiries that the NDP and Liberals are proposing, while ostensibly well-intentioned, are subject to a million tiny travesties in their implementation. They cost a lot of money, a lot of time, and often dredge up the most bitter and dark of our Canadian past in their attempts to set things right. If the inquiry into murdered and missing women just kowtows to the RCMP: if the Liberals claim private enterprise is the solution to remote communities’ woes; if the NDP tries to convince you without rolling out an actual platform (you know, with numbers on/in it): it’ll be time to remind our new government the conditions under which they were elected. Conversely, any government committed to solving the crises facing Indigenous communities can potentially have my vote.
Two-Eyed Seeing for Health 