I come from a community where the population is about 400, mainly aboriginal--90%, I think. We have abuse problems. It's not only alcohol, but there are hard drugs out there. I think the change I see is that in my young days growing up I didn't see alcohol. I didn't know what alcohol was until I was a teenager. Then it became worse later on. Now there is much more addiction.
Any time you have those problems associated with residential school impacts and the rest of it, people react in a different way. Any time a person drinks, they don't act like they do when they're sober. Some of these people are the best people when they're sober, but when they're drinking they have different problems.
My worry is for the younger generation nowadays, because they're growing up witnessing all this violence. There are also all the other distractions in their lives. Whether it's TV or all these games they're playing, there's nothing but violence out there. You see it. You see it on TV. Some people see it in their homes. Some people see it in their communities. That's what they're growing up with.
I'm really worried about the future generations. At least in my young days I didn't see alcohol or any of that abuse. Some of the young generation who are growing up now can't say that, because alcohol is all over. It's not just in my community. So they can't even compare the good times to how it is now. That's my worry, especially in a small community where they don't have any resources to go any place.
In the summertime, when I go to Ottawa and see sessions there, I think it would be great for young people to witness what there is out there. There are good things out there too, but there's no funding for the youth to get out of their community at all, except for games. There's life besides sports too.
That's where my worry is for the younger generation, future generations.