Posts Tagged ‘Indigenous’
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Government spies on advocate for native children
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
Nov 15 2011
When does a life-long advocate for aboriginal children become an enemy of the state? The answer, it would seem, is when you file a human rights complaint accusing your government of willfully underfunding child welfare services to First Nations children on reserves. Accusing your government, in other words, of racial discrimination.
Tags: Indigenous, multiculturalism, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | 4 Comments »
Canada must address the crisis faced by aboriginal children
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
November 07, 2011
… the council of advocates and UNICEF Canada support another report done by the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children. Key among its recommendations are: developing a rights-based lens for reviewing and amending provincial and federal legislation; establishing systematic monitoring of legislation and programs; abandoning proposed changes to the juvenile justice act. The justice act changes will have their greatest effect on aboriginal youth. Shockingly, as the advocates note, an aboriginal youth is more likely to be sentenced to youth custody than to graduate from high school.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates, Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Largest-ever study on aboriginals in Toronto finds divided community, racism
Saturday, October 29th, 2011
Oct 28 2011
The largest study of aboriginal people ever conducted in Toronto has found a need for a seniors’ long-term care facility, priority child care spaces and awareness campaigns to correct systemic racism within the justice system. The Toronto Aboriginal Research Project found a divide between the city’s thriving aboriginal middle class and an underclass plagued by poverty and related social challenges… “For the middle class, there aren’t enough institutions for them to connect with aboriginal culture and identity”… For other urban aboriginals, meeting basic daily needs for housing and health remains a challenge.
Tags: child care, Indigenous, multiculturalism, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | 1 Comment »
Urban Natives plagued by poverty
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
Oct. 24, 2011
Aboriginal people make up a significant portion of those depending on social assistance. One in four Ontario Native families live below the poverty line and 53% of single Aboriginals living in urban areas fall into the same income bracket… most resources and services geared towards Aboriginals can only be accessed on reserve. When Aboriginals move to urban centres, they often find the legacy of colonialism, racism and residential schools is ignored by the welfare bureaucracy.
Tags: Indigenous, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Native people forge municipal links
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
Oct 23 2011
… while much ink has been spilled about the lack of significant aboriginal policy reform at the federal and provincial levels, important changes in the aboriginal-non-aboriginal relationship are occurring at the local level… Indeed, over the last several decades, municipalities and aboriginal governments across Canada have signed a variety of intergovernmental agreements. These agreements, which number in the thousands, address a variety of important issues for both communities.
Tags: Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Crime bill unfairly targets women, aboriginals, critics say
Friday, October 21st, 2011
Oct. 20, 2011
The majority of women in jail are mothers, and they are usually the primary caregivers in their families… Elements of the new bill will result in more women being held behind bars… “It’s going to increase criminalization and marginalization, and this will certainly have a very negative impact on children,” Booth said. “No one’s really speaking about the impact (on) children when mom and dad are in jail, particularly for aboriginal people and for women… The crime bill means “taxes will need to be raised in order to care for children”…
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, Indigenous, rights, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Canadians are living in an age of deep diversity
Sunday, October 16th, 2011
Oct. 14, 2011
… visible minorities are a very heterogeneous group, and… other demographic markers – such as religion and class – can more accurately predict discrimination and other barriers that certain groups face… Two-thirds of respondents in the study view relations between Muslims and non-Muslims negatively. And 60 per cent view relations between aboriginals and non-aboriginals negatively… there is deep diversity, with newcomers living very different realities, and facing very different challenges.
Tags: immigration, Indigenous, multiculturalism
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
It’s time to reset the relationship between First Nations and Canada
Monday, October 10th, 2011
Oct. 10, 2011
… we need to move forward in new ways. The original treaties signed between First Nations and Canada speak to partnership and sharing. This is our shared heritage – both First Nations and all newcomers. We are all treaty people… In 2010, Canada endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, representing another important step forward in realizing what was always intended: partnership and mutual respect in all aspects of the relationship… the overarching [recommendation] is for Canada and First Nations to work together.
Tags: ideology, Indigenous, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
New attitudes change health [First Nations]
Thursday, August 18th, 2011
August 18, 2011
In 2010, the Health Council of Canada began a multi-year project to learn about programs and strategies that have the potential to reduce these unacceptable health disparities between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians… On Aug. 9, we released a report about what we heard for Canadians and governments, titled Understanding and Improving Aboriginal Maternal and Child Health in Canada… We heard about the importance of offering health care services that integrate mainstream Western medicine with traditional and culturally relevant aboriginal practices…
Tags: Health, Indigenous, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Dropout chiefs imperil a generation of kids
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
Aug. 17, 2011
Chiefs representing about 230 first nations in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan have decided to boycott a three-person panel charged with finding fixes for the broken first nations education system. Native children will pay the price for this stiff-necked opposition, based on ancient animosities and petty political ambition. Right now, the federal government sends education grants to reserves, with chiefs using the money as they see fit. Some build and staff schools; some don’t. Only 40 per cent of on-reserve students graduate from high school, half the rate of the general population.
Tags: budget, Indigenous, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »