This is the most intelligent and insightful article I've read in a long time. I applaud Mr. Pete's courage to say this and for you, Tara, to publish this.
There are a lot of hands in the government subsidy cookie jar. NGO’s , non profits etc and sadly some mentioned in the essay. It makes me sad bc prosperity is not a zero sum game. Political correctness is an instrument of theft.
Aaron Pete x Lean Out, what could be better? Lots of food here for thought. For me, rhetoric and the appearance of acting to solve a problem, without actually, pragmatically doing so, is one of the deepest acts of cynicism. It is politics, not leadership. Aaron—as always it is encouraging to see your courage and leadership. Thanks Tara for publishing this article.
Mr. Pete hits the nail on the head. I watched in the 2000's & 2010's as "evidence based policies" became a slogan that was applied to whatever the lasted fad ideas were. As someone who collected data on these issues, I came to the realization that they actually did not want to know what the evidence actually was.
For instance, I was tracking deaths on the streets in Calgary. I was working for an NGO, and did not have access to high level information (Coroners Office, Alberta Health Services, etc.) and had to rely on reports being given to me by street people. I knew in 2011 that under "Housing First" deaths were increasing on the streets. I could not prove it because I did not have access to the information. The agencies that did, had no interest in collecting the information.
Fundamentally, this is an issue of what happens when Governments implement policies, because the Bureaucrats implementing the policies don't want to report that the policies they championed were duds. If you don't collect the information at a high level, no one can say the policy is not working.
I need to add, the same is true of all Funders as I would put the United Way & the Calgary Foundation in the same box of not really wanting to know.
I volunteered for many years in the past, to visit inmates who are incarcerated in local jails and remand centres. I was horrified at the number of Indigenous men inside. I understand the idea of considering the upbringing and social contexts of criminal behaviour, even if my understanding is in a limited way. It was mentioned again in this article. One one I notice though is that the moral issues of criminality are seldom mentioned. I wonder if it is considered at all, given its short shrift. I would think that criminality would be first thought of as a moral failure and only secondly a social failure. Am I wrong to think so?
"Yet, the federal and provincial governments are making financial investments not based on evidence, but based on the whims of Indigenous political lobbying organizations, like the Assembly of First Nations, that aren’t required to prove how they’re actually solving the problem or provide concrete evidence on the impact of their initiatives. Add to this the fact that these organizations only demand things from government, rather than demanding Indigenous nations actually deliver essential services to their communities."
This is the heart of the issue. Politicians throw other people's money at problems with no accountability. It's pure virtue signalling. During my working life, we ran trades training programs at First Nations across Alberta that enabled a not-insignificant number of students to gain trade certifications and even their Red Seals. But I also recall an instance when we were called to a meeting with a newly elected band council to be told that the education budget was gone. The parking lot was full of brand new pickup trucks. The programs there died that night. Vast amounts of money spent without accountability does nothing except enable to morally vacuous politicians to virtue signal. The FN's are victims of this and so are almost all Canadians.
A well thought out piece, thanks for this. I wholeheartedly agree that our collective failure has revolved around the inability to provide basic essentials to indigenous and other people in our population. Housing, sanitation, 2 parent households, food and jobs are the starting point. And we have not accomplished that collectively that at this point in time.
I have recently heard that the rise in Indigenous population in prisons has to do with ever larger number of offenders identifying as indigenous. People believe that first nations get better treatment so they self-identify. Can anyone confirm this?
A strong and startling start: "Indigenous people in Canada have overcome a lot of adversity over the past 150 years, in large part due to government initiatives like the Indian Act, Indian Residential Schools, and the Sixties Scoop."
I'm pretty sure you meant adversity caused by government initiatives, etc. and not adversity overcome thanks to government initiatives, etc.
This is the most intelligent and insightful article I've read in a long time. I applaud Mr. Pete's courage to say this and for you, Tara, to publish this.
There are a lot of hands in the government subsidy cookie jar. NGO’s , non profits etc and sadly some mentioned in the essay. It makes me sad bc prosperity is not a zero sum game. Political correctness is an instrument of theft.
Aaron Pete x Lean Out, what could be better? Lots of food here for thought. For me, rhetoric and the appearance of acting to solve a problem, without actually, pragmatically doing so, is one of the deepest acts of cynicism. It is politics, not leadership. Aaron—as always it is encouraging to see your courage and leadership. Thanks Tara for publishing this article.
Mr. Pete hits the nail on the head. I watched in the 2000's & 2010's as "evidence based policies" became a slogan that was applied to whatever the lasted fad ideas were. As someone who collected data on these issues, I came to the realization that they actually did not want to know what the evidence actually was.
For instance, I was tracking deaths on the streets in Calgary. I was working for an NGO, and did not have access to high level information (Coroners Office, Alberta Health Services, etc.) and had to rely on reports being given to me by street people. I knew in 2011 that under "Housing First" deaths were increasing on the streets. I could not prove it because I did not have access to the information. The agencies that did, had no interest in collecting the information.
Fundamentally, this is an issue of what happens when Governments implement policies, because the Bureaucrats implementing the policies don't want to report that the policies they championed were duds. If you don't collect the information at a high level, no one can say the policy is not working.
I need to add, the same is true of all Funders as I would put the United Way & the Calgary Foundation in the same box of not really wanting to know.
I volunteered for many years in the past, to visit inmates who are incarcerated in local jails and remand centres. I was horrified at the number of Indigenous men inside. I understand the idea of considering the upbringing and social contexts of criminal behaviour, even if my understanding is in a limited way. It was mentioned again in this article. One one I notice though is that the moral issues of criminality are seldom mentioned. I wonder if it is considered at all, given its short shrift. I would think that criminality would be first thought of as a moral failure and only secondly a social failure. Am I wrong to think so?
33 percent? wow that's worse than I thought...
"Yet, the federal and provincial governments are making financial investments not based on evidence, but based on the whims of Indigenous political lobbying organizations, like the Assembly of First Nations, that aren’t required to prove how they’re actually solving the problem or provide concrete evidence on the impact of their initiatives. Add to this the fact that these organizations only demand things from government, rather than demanding Indigenous nations actually deliver essential services to their communities."
This is the heart of the issue. Politicians throw other people's money at problems with no accountability. It's pure virtue signalling. During my working life, we ran trades training programs at First Nations across Alberta that enabled a not-insignificant number of students to gain trade certifications and even their Red Seals. But I also recall an instance when we were called to a meeting with a newly elected band council to be told that the education budget was gone. The parking lot was full of brand new pickup trucks. The programs there died that night. Vast amounts of money spent without accountability does nothing except enable to morally vacuous politicians to virtue signal. The FN's are victims of this and so are almost all Canadians.
A well thought out piece, thanks for this. I wholeheartedly agree that our collective failure has revolved around the inability to provide basic essentials to indigenous and other people in our population. Housing, sanitation, 2 parent households, food and jobs are the starting point. And we have not accomplished that collectively that at this point in time.
I have recently heard that the rise in Indigenous population in prisons has to do with ever larger number of offenders identifying as indigenous. People believe that first nations get better treatment so they self-identify. Can anyone confirm this?
A strong and startling start: "Indigenous people in Canada have overcome a lot of adversity over the past 150 years, in large part due to government initiatives like the Indian Act, Indian Residential Schools, and the Sixties Scoop."
I'm pretty sure you meant adversity caused by government initiatives, etc. and not adversity overcome thanks to government initiatives, etc.
Too bad. That is something that needs saying.
You voted for this, and now you're getting it good and hard. Quit complaining.
This can't be fixed. It a DNA problem that no one wants to admit and this is as good as it gets.