Evidence of meeting #95 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was centres.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
What about in the storytelling?
Mr. Sinclair talked about the experiences and that sometimes don't compare one to the other. An important part of your needs assessment would be.... It's general. Certainly each community is different, but it's trying to do some generalities so that we see some common ground there.
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
Some of the areas we look at are also the stories you talk about. One of them is Tommy Prince. Everybody in our Legion has a big picture of him.
I did have a few beers with him one time, but that's another story.
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
Yes, many years ago.
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
The area of communicating and how this is set up is important, because right across Canada everybody has something to share. We've not captured that. We haven't even touched close to it. For some reason, that's always been inner, but now it's coming out and it's open.
I mentioned trust. In the past, when you brought out a pen and paper and you were going to write something, it was either for the police or a social worker, because it was going to be used against you in court. That's one thing I learned from a young age.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Thank you, Mr. Sinclair.
On that, in terms of the first one, the needs assessment, how can we as a committee, and certainly as a government, help you, so that as the information is being collected—and not being insensitive—we try to make that comparable so that we can help you put it into policy?
After listening to you, part of the challenge that I foresee is that you have a wealth of experience and stories amongst all first nations, and we want to make sure that's reflected in terms of putting that into policy. What do you see in your role...?
National Association of Friendship Centres
Having people put those into their own languages, using their own languages, would be one way to have people be able to tell their stories properly.
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
At the friendship centres right now, we have youth groups interviewing people in this capacity, elders and we just added veterans.
On the same question that you're asking, in Alberta, we're doing this. The youth are going around now. I'm hoping to get it accredited in school as part of the program. They could be using this, but that's a whole other agenda.
That's what we're doing now. That history and story, we're bringing that together, and they can send it through us. They're going to bring it here to the national. That's one of my roles as rep. Once we meet, we can then get back to this table here somehow.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Mr. Sinclair, I know that you're one of a kind, but are there many people similar to you?
I really commend you for going back to your community, back to your roots, because I think that's where the connection of trust is in building that relationship. How can we help you, or how can you help us, understand how to encourage that more deeply?
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
History always tells me when you feed people they all show up, but you never feed them until you're done speaking. That's what we do—we celebrate. There's a celebration for something in sharing this. We start in our schools. November 11 is coming up and I have five communities, before I go play ball, that I have to visit. I've been doing this for many years for Remembrance Day, and now I've tied in the indigenous part of our war heroes, the past and the present.
In Edmonton we have a good group there and we work very closely. I'm part of the health committee and that gap is there. That starts the conversation, as you converse and realize there's another person over there who needs your help, so that's the connection.
Liberal
Karen Ludwig Liberal New Brunswick Southwest, NB
Are you seeing from your work, Mr. Sinclair, that the amount of engagement you have is actually encouraging more people, like Mr. MacLeod and others, to get involved as young reservists?
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
I believe it is. I believe it, because the staff are important. I'll turn back to the them. Like today, I had 110 questions but we only had 10 minutes because I just came in last night.
The communication is so important in this, in what we're doing, but it's how it's written and how it's presented, and how—I'm going to use this word—the government would help us in its way. In our words....
That's where that partnership and celebration comes in. As veterans, we do celebrate. We come together in uniform and acknowledge. That's been passed on to us for years, the respect within that.
Liberal
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, all, for coming.
Thank you for your continuing service in this and what you do. It's quite valuable, and thank you for also.... It's often forgotten, when you mentioned all of the different services, sometimes the RCMP isn't mentioned. It was nice to hear you mention that.
I'm a RCMP brat, and I watched my dad dealing with some issues with Veterans Affairs. I actually lived in a detachment with my family until I was five years old.
As I say, giving back the way you do, after giving so much service and then continuing to give, it's important. It sounds like there's a great need for people who do what you do. Do you have any strategies as to how you can recruit more people who have done what you do, in your position, to keep doing what you're doing? It sounds like you're doing a lot and you're going to need some help.
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
This is my fifth time on retirement, but we were told there's no such thing as retirement in our lifetime because what you learned back there has to be moved forward to the people behind you. I don't use the word “recruitment”. We find other ways.... It's [Witness speaks in Cree] in Cree. Come and sit down. We're going to talk. We're going to share.
Maybe I can do that. At first I said, the gift that you have here is what you're going to be paid. It's going to come back to life. All of that other stuff will come around. It's out there. I've done my soul-searching and I've had an opportunity to go across Canada. Just recently, I'm a member of the K Division in the RCMP. I'm an adviser for the commander who just retired. I just went to his dinner. I was just in Ottawa at the friendship centre, and we had all of the RCMP with the youth here. From that, I'm also building connections. I'm coaching. There are young 19- to 25-year-olds who are in their first and second year of college or university where I go share and say, come on over and do what we're doing.
There are so many opportunities, but they'll come forward. If you start forcing people at home, you won't see them again. You have to have incentive, some feel-good relationship to community within that. They're out there. We just have to do a little bit more door knocking, walking, round dances, powwowing, jigging and karaoke—that's a good one. That's my other job. I karaoke at the senior centre, so everybody gets to sing along with me. I give them shakers, because it's exercise. Anyway, I'm sorry to get carried away. That's another avenue all the same.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
That's okay.
It turns out we're soulmates on the karaoke thing.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
This next question might be a really difficult question. It's kind of broad. With your experiences with the armed forces, if you were to pick the top three issues that are unique to indigenous people who are in the armed forces, that affect their experiences, could you pick the three that are the biggest?
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
I don't know if this is negative or.... I hate the word “cross-cultural”. It's been overused at times.
The non-indigenous people understanding us when we're in military and civilian life, I'd like to.... When we come in as the military, we're one unit. Somebody has to teach them to understand us and some of our past history. What has that got to do with being a soldier? It has a lot to do with being a soldier, big time. That's not on paper. That's one area.
Then, this is in basic training. The RCMP do a lot of this, that interaction amongst each other and building the team. It depends where you come from and what your family background is.
I've done this. I've asked a member of the RCMP, I think it was. I said, “When you shut your door at night, is it perfect?" We as Indian or Métis people, as soon as we do something wrong and we're veterans, we're headlines in the paper. I'm serious. This is our conversation. Maybe we have to work on something. I said, “Yes, how you communicate. Communication is vital”. Again, I mentioned the different languages not being the same.
Your topic is the very question out there now, as we speak, in different capacities and communities. At the Legion we even spoke about it briefly.
My thought is, how far were you going with this with regard to that? Maybe we're there already; we don't know.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Thank you.
It was an interesting comment about making sure other people understood your people. You made an interesting comment at the beginning when you said you heard the term "wagon burner" and you thought maybe they were being racist, and that's right. Everyone should have known that's racist. That's the kind of understanding we have to get to people. They need to understand each other. That was a great point.
I believe I'm out of time.
Conservative
Robert Gordon Kitchen Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Sinclair, you impress the heck out of me. I'm honoured to have met you.
Board Member, National Association of Friendship Centres
We have the same haircut.
