I'd like to emphasize something that has already been said, but that is along the same lines as the question. I want to emphasize the importance of addressing the problems comprehensively. I spent time with social workers in communities who told me they no longer knew where to start, because a “band-aid policy” is often pursued. Little band-aids are put on injuries, but the open wound is ultimately much too big. So the band-aids will never be enough to cover the entire wound. It will still be there.
When we talk about young people who enter this circle of violence—there are drugs and alcohol—it's related to the fact that they themselves have seen and experienced violence. We can't treat that in small stages, or else we waste a lot of energy. I remember doing a project in a community of 350 persons where we simply surveyed a number of health services programs. There were more than 25 programs. There were programs for virtually everything and anything. As a result, since the programs operated separately, a woman might have an appointment on Thursday from 10 to 11 o'clock if she had a child under one year of age, and in the afternoon if she had children from one to three years old. That's ridiculous because, in any case, they are the mothers and have a number of children, so there's no point in separating the groups. This is one example to show you that there should really be a much more comprehensive model.
I also realized, during a quite recent research project that I did on the passage to adulthood among young people, that those youths has assimilated a number of negative ideas about being aboriginal. In particular, they engaged in high-risk behaviour. They might think, for example, that if you're a young aboriginal and haven't had any drinking problems or serious problems, you're not as aboriginal as the others. There's a reproduction of violence as well, because they have assimilated the idea of the model they have known, that of the very tough guy who does stupid things. They often become aware of this around the age of 25 or 30 because they have really engaged in very high-risk behaviour and have nearly died. Sometimes there's an epiphany, but when that epiphany doesn't occur, there are cases that are not always surveyed as suicides, but that are suicides all the same. These young people have really done everything possible to die younger.
The entire problem of embodying negative images about being aboriginal is extremely serious, and I would say that addressing these problems in a comprehensive manner also means making aboriginal people proud of being aboriginal. I've seen young people crying during pow-wows, for example, because they thought it was beautiful; they were proud. They found it beautiful to see people dancing and taking charge of their lives. Often being a dancer at a pow-wow means supporting sobriety, healing, and so on. I've seen young people, little tough guys who never show their feelings, dissolve into tears because they were so proud to be aboriginal. That's really striking, when you see this pride in these young people. I remind them that I crossed the Atlantic to come and understand their cultures. Those cultures are worth it, they are interesting, their society is worth it, and they don't always know it. So that's also part of this dynamic and of violence they have known through their lives.