Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Sept. 23rd, 2016

[Maatalii Okalik]

Thank you for the question and clarification. We definitely identify children in care as being extremely problematic for Inuit in Canada. Many say that children in care is the new residential school experience by virtue of the sheer numbers, comparing the percentage of Inuit in Canada versus the percentage of Inuit children in care. I don't have the specific numbers at this time, but I am sure you can understand the picture.

I understand the reasons behind it being based on the assimilation policies of the past. When I speak of assimilation policies of the past, it could be as far back as the early 1900s right up to my mom's generation, which is just the generation before ours as we sit here today. The intergenerational effects that are a response to those federal policies, as well as those of other stakeholders that were involved in those processes, have very dire outcomes that require immediate reaction.

I don't put the onus only on government; the onus is on us as well. In terms of a potential solution, I definitely see on the side of the federal government—that's the audience today—the priority to eliminate the social and economic inequities that we face as being one of the overarching solutions, and that's across the board. You have heard from our youth leaders who are present about the regional realities as they sit here.

Something so simple that I shouldn't have to bring it up is the implementation of agreements that govern our day-to-day lives and that would implicate what happens in a home across Inuit Nunangat. The defined Inuit to crown relationship requires a cabinet-wide commitment and is also a nice example of an overarching solution that suits the fiduciary responsibility of the federal government.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Maatalii, both Alicia and Louisa have indicated they would like to add something. We have about two minutes left, if we can....

[Maatalii Okalik]

I'll quickly close.

Decolonization within our population by strengthening our language and culture and celebrating our practices would continue to instill pride as identified to address the identity crisis as we become parents, so that we can create healthy environments for our children; but the investment into early childhood education and K to 12 and beyond is also a requirement.

Qujannamiik.

[Alicia Aragutak]

All right, I just wanted to elaborate on one sentence that l had stated during my testimony. When we are modernizing as Inuit very drastically, then parenting, the basic, basic needs of parenting should be natural. It seems as though that is really not there anymore. I don't know if you were given the sad statistics of our region in Nunavik where seven children out of 10 are in the system right now. That gives you an impression of how many children are in the system, and probably half of those have no place to be taken, so a lot of them are being taken down south where the environment is very unfamiliar. Some are even claiming today that these events, the system we have in place, and our not being able to take care of it as Inuit are the result of our being detached from our roles and responsibilities before.

So I really wanted to just elaborate on that, and now I will give it to Louisa.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Briefly, please.

[Louisa Yeates]

I know. I'm going to try to be really quick, but I'd really like to state that the youth protection act that is in place is not culturally relevant.

I talk out of experience, because I sat on a youth advisory board. There were standards for foster homes that were totally ridiculous and were nothing like our reality. Decent foster homes had to have a certain square footage per room. They had to have a dresser that was five feet away from the window.

Unfortunately, these are not our standards. We're in overcrowded dwellings as it is. If we have an extra bed, a safe home, and food in our fridges, that should be okay. According to our cultural standards, that's fine, but because the youth protection act is not culturally relevant to our reality, we are displacing children out of our region.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thank you.

Before we go to the next question, I want to extend a sincere and warm welcome to the group of youths who have just come in and joined us. Thank you very much for making time to be here today.

[Voices]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

It's nice to see you.

The next question is coming from David Yurdiga, please.

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today. You have a passion to move this thing forward in terms of committing your whole life to making a difference. I really appreciate that, because we have to do something. The time for action is now.

During one of the sessions earlier in the week, I remember one young gentleman saying that he was trapped between two worlds: he can't go back and he can't move forward. What does that mean to you? How do we move forward?

If everyone could give their perspective on that statement, I'd appreciate it.

[Louisa Yeates]

How we can move forward? Is that the question?

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Yes. One gentleman was saying that he was stuck between two worlds: he can't move forward and he can't go back. I want to understand that statement and what that means to you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Alicia had her hand up, and then we'll have Nina, please.

[Alicia Aragutak]

I think the first step in terms of how I understand that, as the president of the Qarjuit Youth Council, is that currently we have an idea of who our ancestors are. When you say we can't go back, we really can't go back, because we're not going to be living the nomadic way, right? For me, I think the next step, and what we're aiming at, is to redefine who we are right now in balancing both worlds: balancing our foundation as Inuit with the modern society we're living in now.

I think the first thing we should do is identify our status and solidify where we really are. This involves a lot of education, a lot of parental resources and training, and a lot of consultations with the youth. As well, decolonization has a really big part in it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Nina, we have five minutes on the question.

[Nina Ford]

I'll make a quick remark on it.

To me, from what he said, it sounds like he's in the stage where he has lost his identity. For aboriginals that happens way too often. It's something that we really struggle with because we don't have education on our people. I had to learn from someone in the U.S. about aboriginal people. I was really struggling at a very hard part in my life, and when he said he was stuck between two worlds, it struck something in me. I was really desperate at that time, that's why it's so emotional, because I feel that he's so stuck right now, and I feel for him.

I was so desperate for help. I tried counselling, and it didn't quite work. It didn't do anything. It did, but it wasn't everything that I needed, so I was desperate. I tried everything. I come from a really close-knit family. You will find in aboriginal people that they're very closely knit. So I called the spiritual healer and said I needed some help, and she told me that aboriginal people are very, very intuitive. They have premonitions and they can feel what the person next to them is feeling, and things like that. So when you're in a troubled community and you are as intuitive as an aboriginal is, you feel their pain, and there is a lot of it. I'm sure you've heard it time and time again. It comes from residential schooling, relocations, and things like that.

You can be stuck between both worlds when you're at that age where you've lived in your community and you've grown up there and then it's time for you to go to university. It's a whole different world. It's kind of like you don't want to go because it's so hard to go to that university and live that way of life compared to what you're used to living, but you have to go because you have to get educated so that you can make a better life at home. You can't stay here because you need something better. That's what it's like to be stuck between both worlds.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

We have two minutes left. A minute, perhaps, for Maatalii, and a minute for Louisa.

[Maatalii Okalik]

Qujannamiik. I'll rush this answer.

If you can't move back and can't move forward, where is it that you go? That might be the reason why suicide is so prevalent, because there is nowhere else to go.

I can confidently say the interest of youth is to continue to become more proud of being Inuk. That is entrenched in our language, our culture, and our practices. As Alicia mentioned, our realities are different today, so there is no real opportunity to be at your level of self-determination pre-contact. However, I see reconciliation as being the day before assimilation policies were influenced on our people across Inuit Nunaat. So having that pride and ability to have control over your day-to-day life and decision-making over your day-to-day life in the Inuk way is a solution.

I believe that we can harness the strength, resilience, and beauty of our culture pre-assimilation into today so that we have Inuit educated about their history, the communities educated about that history, Inuit having access to that information when it comes to our language, culture, and practices on a day-to-day basis through education and in the home, and thereafter Inuit becoming educated also in western high school and post-secondary education so that they can be fully on the front lines within our communities in the way that makes sense to us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Okay.

All right, we're well over time now on that question. We'll move on.

The next question is from Romeo Saganash, please.

[Romeo Saganash, NDP, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There's a lot to be said on this issue. I can feel it from the panel, so I'll continue on with that. I feel that if there's one topic that elders, leaders, and youth have touched upon on an equal basis and in the same manner, it's the need to balance both worlds. It's this very question that we're talking about.

I mentioned earlier to a previous panel that I sort of grew up in three worlds, being born in the bush, raised in the bush, sent to a residential school, and then went on to university in an urban setting. I didn't say that to brag about it. I was saying that because I may look normal but I'm not normal, because of all those things, and part of that was not of my choosing.

I'd like to hear more about your own personal experiences. How did you achieve the balance between your culture, identity, and language, and the modern world in which we all live today? How did you achieve that balance? Was there something missing in that challenge? It's a question to all four of you. Was there something missing in all of that, in this challenge?

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Louisa, please, followed by Alicia and then Maatalii.

[Louisa Yeates]

Getting a little bit personal here, I can tell you right away, I was born in the city to a mother who went to residential school and who had never seen her first white person until she was eight years old. She had this background, coming into the city and kind of being foreign to it and everything. I'd like to say, when I moved back into my community, it was really hard for me to assimilate back into my own culture. It was really difficult. I rebelled. I can be completely honest with you right now. The person who I am now is definitely not the person I was when I was a teenager. I had no coping mechanism. I had no idea how to deal with it. This is how a lot of the youth are right now. They're simply trying to figure out how to cope with something that's missing that they don't know.

How did I get out of it personally? I have no idea. I fluked out. A lot of youth don't have that privilege of finding a fluke somewhere along the way.

Since this is going to be on the public record and I have a bunch of youth behind me, I'm going to say to you all right now, don't give up. I was there, too. I was at the end of that. I was being kicked out of school. I was pregnant, and I was able to get where I am. So don't ever give up.

Thank you.

[Alicia Aragutak]

When I was looking for who I was as a modern Inuit girl, I saw that my grandmother, my mom's mom, was never settled in her life. She was following the herd. She was not settled anywhere. Then my mother was sent to Winnipeg for education. When she came back, she was not the same person as she was when she left. My grandmother was very traditional, my mom was right in the middle, and I was part of the modern world. I was very fortunate to have been surrounded by my family, which is very close-knit. I am very proud, very fluent in Inuktitut. I exposed myself to as much culture as I could. When I was looking for who I was, I said I was going to get involved. I went straight to elections, the municipality, the government, the school system, what was happening. Why wasn't I educated? My mom didn't educate me about who we are. We weren't really cultural. She didn't bring me out on the land. I did not get it first-hand.

I was on the verge of just giving up. Inuits don't want to go to work every day. The education system is not working. The basic needs of parenting are not being met. Why are we in this situation? I don't want to go to healing. We can't go back. Let's not open that can of worms. I just want to go forward. I was a stubborn girl who got exposed to politics, and I wanted to move forward. These are a lot of the same feelings I have today.

One day when we attended the Hona Conference, all of the youth were gathering in workshops and everything like that. Mary Joanne Kaukai was there, and I went to her. She was delivering decolonization sessions for the youth. I said, “Mary Joanne, our people don't want to go to work every day. Our parents are not educating. They are not feeding their children.” She gave me that missing link of understanding. She said, “Wow, you still have your language. They tried taking that away from you. Look, you have your traditional wear right now, and they didn't want you to expose that.” She gave me that flip side—that I should be proud in spite of the unfortunate events that happened to our people.

I think that's what I want to deliver to the youth that I am advocating for, but it's difficult to get at when there is not much in the way of resources.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thanks, Alicia.

Maatalii.

[Maatalii Okalik]

My answer will require a few minutes, and I seek consent to go beyond the time allotted to answer this question.