Thank you.
Greetings, distinguished members of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. It is an honour and privilege to appear before you today. I thank you for this opportunity to share with you the work of the friendship centre movement and the National Association of Friendship Centres relative to the issues of indigenous veterans.
Before I begin, I wish to acknowledge and thank the Algonquin nation, upon whose unceded and traditional territories we are gathered today.
My name, as stated, is Walter Sinclair. I never use Junior—that's my late father. I am a member of the Sawridge First Nation.
I'm going to talk briefly about my experience, because it's important with regard to the travels that I do and where I work with identifying and finding out that the veterans are there and they've never acknowledged themselves because of the history and where they're from in that area.
I have quite a bit of experience working within the federal and provincial governments, first nations and Métis, as stated here. I was a department program specialist. I managed indigenous issues and provided political and cultural advice to ministers and senior government officials. I did this on the basis of being hired by the province at the time. People were always wondering why I was working for four or five different provinces. It's not just the knowledge—what I learned from each one, I come forward to share. A lot of what we found lacking was within the veterans part of it, a very small portion.
I ensured that services for all indigenous communities were appropriate for their political, cultural, spiritual and social heritage by consulting and collaborating with all stakeholders. That's what we call “protocol”, making sure that everybody's respected in our community and introducing people. I always mention the fact that we are not paper people. We're people people. We shake hands and acknowledge each and every one. We know on the government side we need paper trails.
I volunteered for a number of local causes and served on a number of provincial and local boards, including the friendship centres as an adviser, as I'm sitting here today.
I served with the Canadian Armed Forces for 10-plus years and the Royal Canadian Signal Corps as a lineman, 052 trade. This experience gave shape to the person I am today. I'm also 35 years sober, and that makes a significant difference in my life today as I sit here.
As a young person growing up with my late uncle Sam Sinclair, a World War II vet, we were coached as kids in sports in Slave Lake, Alberta. He used the military approach of discipline and respect with us. It was the same with my grandmother, who understands Cree only, no English. I was the interpreter from a young age. I could speak Cree before English. As I went along, I learned a lot of the good things that she knew, and one of the things was respect. I always share that with our young people today, and people of all walks of life, not just young people, because that attitude today, it's up and down.
Basic training in Kingston was a real eye-opener for me. I was posted to 731 Communication Squadron in Shilo and was responsible for all basic communications. I was in the line trade. I earned my paratrooper wings in Rivers, Manitoba. Then I was asked to go to officer training in Chilliwack. I had a good talk with myself and my wife at the time. She was in university; she's a teacher. I said I wanted to learn what's on the ground first before I become a leader. I'd like to walk the walk before I go to that school. That's a learning curve that I took at the time. Then I went to Europe for four years, posted at Fort Henry, Soest, Germany, which was another eye-opener for me.
I was posted to 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Lahr, in the Black Forest. After three years I came home to 742 Comm Squadron, in Cold Lake. At the time I was posted, I think I was drafted because of my sports ability. I played basketball, hockey, football, everything. I don't think I was posted, but drafted, I always tell the commanders, but that's my humour with them.
If you have a healthy mind, body, soul and spirit, the confidence you build from that lets your actions speak for you, not your words. We say this in our language.
In the military, you step forward and volunteer. That's why I still volunteer today. I have the utmost respect for those who are serving today. I call them heroes, just like my late uncles and mentors. I've always been proud to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. I enjoyed those years and have used those experiences to meet the demands of my professional and day-to-day lives.
With our time together, I'd like to give you a brief overview of the friendship centre movement and the NAFC. I'd like to share some of the program support. Of course, time permitting, I'll do my best to respond to your questions.
I would like to share some facts to set the context for the work of the friendship centres movement.
They began in the 1950s. That's where I was helped, raised and born, where I worked—volunteered—as a young person: at the friendship centre in Slave Lake.
Friendship centres help urban indigenous people access the vital services that they need to succeed in urban settings across Canada. Friendship centres understand the challenges facing our communities are unique. I don't know if there is a picture in front of you of the 122 friendship centres in Canada and the north. Why we share this, that big picture, is that when we look at gaps in services, these small centres have that information, but who do they go to with it? An example would be when somebody knocks on the door and says, “I would like help.” We notice in the food banks they'll come forward.
Veterans, especially our indigenous veterans, sometimes don't want to speak about their past. They don't want to come in and talk about it. I'm going to jump the gun and just go on straight. My past work here recently is as the director of a treatment centre. I didn't know that I had two veterans. There's no sign that says, “Are you a veteran?” From a health perspective, all applications today should have that on them. We know that right away in the justice system because that's part of the history that goes with it, but with regard to the health and wellness and that, there's nothing that asks if someone is a veteran, be they indigenous or non-indigenous.
As the director of a treatment centre, I found that, through conversations and going through different holistic...whatever we're sharing, something will trigger him or her, and it will come out, “Guess what. I was there.” It puts us back focusing where we should be. I've lived this, I've survived this and we know about this from the communications and everything that's in the papers today.
The last one that I'll share openly is with regard to the jails, the halfway homes. I'm finding out later in my travels that there were people in there who never shared, and they're back on the streets. Two I met recently, one in Vancouver and one here.
I also do accreditation. I follow up accreditation programs and do evaluating and that. I asked the young man sitting there if he was veteran, and he said, “Who are you, a cop or a social worker?” I said, “You have to respect me, and just listen to me for two seconds.” “Why don't they build something right where we're sitting here? There are eight of us. Why can't they put a temporary residence here? We like this. It's where we grew up.” I said, “You'll have to talk to the city”, but who can I get to support and share this with? This is in Vancouver. I come to Edmonton, and it's the same thing over again. It's repetitive. I have to trust someone with what I'm doing, where I'm going and the decision I'm making within that, building that conversation as I go.
Across the country, friendship centres provide culturally appropriate services for indigenous people living in urban centres and have become a place for indigenous and non-indigenous people to come together and share traditions.
That's the other thing. We're all blessed with a skill. The Creator has given us some gifts. We've never really challenged people to find that gift, whatever it may be. It could be art. It could be singing. It could be music. You start building that relationship with people from the front lines. If they can survive there, they can survive anywhere. They've been through the whole process and how it's written and how it's looked at.
Friendship centres are a significant part of Canada's social infrastructure backbone, with more than two million client contacts. We do keep track of our traffic across Canada and in the north, of the people coming through our doors, and it's amazing the numbers that we get. We're supposed to be providing services for this, and at times we are lacking the resources ourselves, but we'll go out of our way beyond what we have and visit extra groups and parties.
We are a non-profit, rather than a politically representative organization, and we enjoy a productive relationship with many other indigenous organizations. We're not in competition here with our indigenous veterans in Alberta, in Saskatchewan. They're all over. I've just come back from Wainwright. This is my sixth year participating in a parade with the lieutenant-governors of Saskatchewan and Alberta. We're not in competition. We have to start working together. We have to come together for the betterment of all, not just the different organizations.
Many indigenous people prefer cultural and heritage-based services that are offered outside the mainstream medical system. This often includes harbouring a more holistic view of mental health and its treatments. We speak of mental health when we do an assessment, which I've just done not too long ago, and there is help needed. Right now, we're studying the psychological part of our indigenous way of getting our elders—they've been doing this for years—speaking in a cultural, holistic manner when it comes to psychology. We just have to do a little more work in doing that.
With Health Canada and Alberta Health we'll be presenting this again. I've been doing some presentations to Alberta. I'm a co-chair with another colleague from Treaty 6. I sit on the Alberta Health—it's a wellness group—elders group for Treaties 6, 7 and 8. I just went through a process with two other doctors of interviewing six doctors, for a doctor for northern Alberta to serve in that capacity.
In interviewing these doctors from all over the world who are coming in to understand our communities in the north, I'm not questioning all their learning, all their qualifications. “Do you understand the community, what it's all about? What do you have as resources?”
We have found that our people are sent out from treatment or anything else to go to see a psychologist and so on. That psychologist is 180 miles away. Who can afford it? We're building different capacities in our community now. This is where the friendship centre comes in. We're going to start doing this and we have started in many areas.
Quebec has a model up north that's awesome. We're trying to take off. Halifax will be working on their new facility and this will be part of it.
Many indigenous people prefer cultural- and heritage-based services offered outside of the mainstream medical system. Friendship centres support culturally safe delivery of these much-needed services in innovative ways.
