Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Oct. 19th, 2016

[Will Landon]

A way in which we are included in the decision-making?

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

That the youth are being heard and actually can start to help develop the policy of what is good for the youth.

[Will Landon]

I think the best way to do that is to.... I'm new to all this, again. It would be nice to see how long it would take for our council, or even the AFN organization, to hear back and to see, once the report is written, how quickly we can get together again and start seeing what actions we can implement immediately, and then continue to meet to see what happens in the long term.

Again, it's just going to have to be coming together with all parties involved. That's going to be our youth council. That's going to be all our leaders, and it's going to be our elders.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thank you very much.

We have time for just one more question, and that question is coming from Don Rusnak, please.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Hi, Will. I believe I met you before in Treaty No. 3 territory. I've been around there a little bit. Our ancestors both signed the treaty with Canada, since I am from Lac des Milles Lacs first nation.

I've worked in the area quite a bit and have seen the problems regarding the youth, not only the youth, also problems with elders and people who are troubled right from young children to the elderly. People from our first nations around the area tend to go to either Kenora or Dryden as service centres. A lot of what they need in terms of health and other services are provided in those centres.

In terms of your upbringing, were you brought up on a reserve in the Treaty No. 3 territory near Kenora, or were you brought up in Kenora?

[Will Landon]

I was brought up on Rat Portage First Nation, which is just outside of Kenora. But yes, I grew up on a first nation.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Did you go to Beaver Brae high school?

[Will Landon]

Yes.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

One of the things we've been talking about.... That's how complex this issue is. You grew up on a first nation. You went to a high school that was in the adjoining community, and the provincial government and the school boards have authority over those schools.

I know my friend from the NDP often talks about underfunding of first nations schools, and I agree with him for the most part. A lot of first nations education, especially on reserve, has been chronically underfunded for far too long.

The education we're providing to our first nations youth—and all of our youth, I think, in this country in this day and age—is doing a great disservice in not teaching the whole history of Canada. Was that your experience, especially at Beaver Brae where there's a high percentage of first nations students? Were you learning about the history of the treaty?

I went out to where they were signing the treaty when I worked for Grand Council Treaty No. 3 on the lake. We did a feast ceremony. Are the students learning about that?

[Will Landon]

I think they're learning a bit of the basics as to what those treaties mean. Again, a lot has to do with the respect of our culture. In the Treaty No. 3 area especially, we're very sacred and very spiritual, and it's tough to give full teachings on the treaty because, to us, the treaty is of a spiritual nature and you only talk about what you know.

What I think needs to happen, and I always make this comment, is that the Canadian public school systems will have to teach the Canadian public youth what it means to be in a treaty relationship, because each and every one of us in this room is a treaty person. We're all treaty people, because we all live in a treaty area or on treaty land, unless you live in an unceded territory. However, young people still need to learn about the treaties. They never learned about them.

In fact, actually, I faced a lot of racism in Beaver Brae and in middle school. I was bullied a lot just for being an aboriginal person and in very brutal, violent ways. In fact, when I was in grade 8, even a teacher told me I wouldn't make it to university because I was aboriginal. When I was in grade 10, a teacher told me I didn't belong to that academic class because I was aboriginal.

It's different now, but we have to capitalize on what seems to be this more accepting nature of our schools, to start encouraging that incorporation into all aspects of education. Even in something as simple as a geography course, you can start mapping out where Treaty No. 3 is, where we live, part of that land, and maybe where Treaty No. 3 was signed, and how important that is. Even those classes that might not seem important to treaty dialogue can be if it's incorporated properly.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

In a community like Kenora, in the high school you went to and the community you grew up in, would it be more advantageous to have a separate school for first nations students coming from the nearby first nations or to turn Beaver Brae into an accepting school that really teaches the history and teaches the culture to all students in the district?

[Will Landon]

That's an interesting thing. It's something I talk about a lot with my mother, who works for the public school system. I think there is a benefit to both.

I think if there were a school separate from the public school system for the younger ages, to instill in them a pride in their identity and who they are, and to make sure they're ready, and then starting in public schools like Beaver Brae or middle schools or high schools they would be integrated to take grades 7 and 8, that would be really beneficial. Then you'd have kids going into these already-accepting schools with a strong sense of identify and who they are and the ability to absorb the realities of the country they're in and the ability to take in the skills they need to—I hate to say the word “function”—essentially benefit from the world that we live in today.

I think that would be a good area for compromise. That's a thought that just came into my head. Both of them have their strengths and their weaknesses. It's going to take a few years, and Kenora would be a really good case study to look at to see what would be more beneficial and what might be more disadvantageous.

[Don Rusnak, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Often at this committee when witnesses are here, I say that I see this as a long-term solution. Of course, we have to deal with the crises right away, and the government's doing that, sending in crisis teams that are hopefully appropriate. We're learning about that as we go along. The government's responding to these issues.

There's a long-term problem here. You said earlier that there shouldn't be a committee in 150 years studying the same thing, and I don't want to see that either. I don't want to see a committee in 10 years or five years studying suicide among indigenous people again, but we have to separate the immediate and the crisis from the long term. Through some of the long term, I believe that we can start communities and first nations people, indigenous people, down the right path.

In the Treaty No. 3 area have you seen any positive examples of communities taking a positive approach to their economy, their culture, and their society?

[Will Landon]

I think Rat Portage within its location, with the marina and all that stuff, they already have a bit of a base for economic development. They need to have the support to continue building on it.

There are quite a few communities that have their own businesses. In the past there were fisheries and there was a fur-making factory in Whitefish or something like that. These communities already have experience in building economies. They need to be able to adapt to the stronger things.

When it comes to the healing, I agree that there does need to be an immediate response. There is always this comparison that with mental health you don't see the wound. It's inside. It can still be treated the same way, because if someone faces a significant trauma you still have to stop the bleeding before you can start focusing on the long-term healing. That's what we really need to do if you think of it in that sort of way.

As to what some communities are doing, we see a lot of elders taking more of an active role. Gilbert Smith in Fort Frances is a prime example of an elder who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to continue to provide healing to a lot of people in their communities, with very specific programs that are really effective.

There needs to be more work within the service organizations, such as KCA and other things like that. The KCAs in the other territories and provinces have to start opening their dialogues and see which strengths they have and what they're doing right. A lot of communities are doing a lot of things right, but there's not a lot of communication as to what we're doing, and that needs to change.

[The Chair, Liberal, Andy Fillmore]

Thank you very much, Mr. Landon, for your remarkable testimony today. You've been a tremendous help to the committee.

Thank you also, Elder Annie St-Georges, for being with us as well. We are very grateful indeed.

We're going to take a very short suspend and come back for committee business.

[Proceedings continue in camera]