Thank you.
Evidence of meeting #44 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was community.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #44 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was community.
A video is available from Parliament.
9:15 a.m.
Chief, Ojibways of Onigaming
—where there were benefits and where they were allowed opportunities for disclosure and healing to take place. That's a major gap.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
Thank you. That's a good point.
The question goes now over to MP Arnold Viersen.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
To our guests, thank you for your passionate testimony today.
We have been dealing with this study now for several months. There are two aspects that always come up. There is the need for an immediate response, and then there's the need for a rebuilding of culture so that we move away from this crisis-to-crisis situation.
I am going to start with more of an immediate response question for Kendall in particular.
Kendall, would you say that within your communities, most specifically with the youth, that almost everybody is on Facebook? Would you say that's correct?
9:15 a.m.
Kendall Robinson Youth Councillor, Pimicikamak Okimawin
Yes, that is correct. They're always on Facebook.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Yes. We've heard from other witnesses that sometimes there are some issues around that. Would you say that's correct as well?
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
9:15 a.m.
Youth Councillor, Pimicikamak Okimawin
Online bullying and lateral violence.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Are you aware that Facebook has an algorithm that predicts that you may be leaning toward suicide or something like that?
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Do you think that an algorithm that would say...? I know that Facebook will send you a message saying, “Hey, we think that you should be looking for some help. You're in a bad place right now.” Do you think that would be helpful, seeing as everybody is on Facebook, for them to say, “Hey, reach out to so-and-so. They can help you.”? Would that be helpful?
9:15 a.m.
Youth Councillor, Pimicikamak Okimawin
Yes, that would really help because the youth are always on Facebook. If they had a Facebook page where they could get help, where somebody could talk to them and help them....
9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Does the chat feature work fairly well on Facebook? Can you communicate? I know that within the communities in my riding, everybody seems to be on Facebook. However, the Internet connectivity is sometimes a bit of a challenge. Would you say that's a correct assessment as well?
9:20 a.m.
Youth Councillor, Pimicikamak Okimawin
In our community, the connection is not very good. It would take a while to get a message, sometimes even a couple of hours.
9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Okay. Another witness has talked to us about the lack of addresses on reserves. Where you come from, is that the case? There are no house numbers and there are no street numbers. Is that the case?
9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
So they said, if we have a response, a medical emergency, and we send out responders, they sometimes can't find the place because it says, “It's John's house.” or “It's at Joe's house.” And they say, “Well, who's John? Where's Joe's house?” Is that the case in your experience, as well?
9:20 a.m.
Youth Councillor, Pimicikamak Okimawin
Yes. It would help if we had house numbers, a street address. That way we'd know where they're at.
9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
You can't find them because there's not a physical location.
9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Moving on to “renewing culture”—I guess I'm going to use that terminology—I think we would all agree that education is probably the area that most needs to be impacted in order to renew culture. Would you agree with that assessment?
9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Wikipedia, which I know is the be-all and end-all source of everything, talks about how education is the passing on of knowledge, values, systems of living, and these kinds of things. Would you agree with that kind of definition?
9:20 a.m.
Youth Councillor, Pimicikamak Okimawin
Well, I wouldn't agree, because I think the curriculum that was given for aboriginal people, for aboriginal schools, is a curriculum that will lead them to fail. We need our own curriculum and our own education in aboriginal communities.