Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Elder Tony Cote Awarded SK Order of Merit

He helped create the Saskatchewan Indian Winter & Summer Games, kick-started the North American Indigenous Games (which Saskatchewan finished first in last summer), he's a war veteran and he can still be found every day from 6:30 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon at the First Nations University of Canada working tirelessly at the front desk.

Is it any wonder that Tony Cote is one of eight people who will be recieving the Saskatchewan Order of Merit on November 19th?
Not to those who know him.

As the former chief of Cote First Nation, Cote wanted to get the youth on his reserve involved in something so, as a former athlete himself, he helped create the SK Indian Winter & Summer Games where First Nations youth from all over the province get together to represent their tribal councils and compete in sports from volleyball to track to broomball.

He's also a war veteran from the Korean war and leading up to every Remembrance Day, you can find him visiting First Nations schools and accepting the endless invitations he recieves to attend events honoring our veterans.

The Order of Merit is the province's highest honor and recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the province and its people.

Congratulations to Mr. Cote!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Sigh... when can we get past the basics?

Sometimes writing this beat can get very frustrating. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the stories I get to tell and the people I get to talk to--that's all great. But every time I take on a more challenging story, like the one I'm working on now about the Post-Secondary Student Support Program for Status Indian and Inuit students, it seems like I spend all of my 500-800 words on just EXPLAINING what the program actually is or how the treaties come into play. I never get to take it further and examine the actual legal case for 'free' post-sec education for First Nations people or talk about all the practical challenges of being a student trying to live on PSSSP when our funding levels are even LOWER than the Student Loan Program.

Why do I have to do all this basic explaining? I'll tell you why. Because our Canadian education system is failing everyone. I mean it's 2008 and only NOW are we getting taught about the treaties in elementary schools? I can't believe the government even brags about finally doing something that should have been um, maybe right after the treaties were signed? Oh wait I forgot. They were too busy assimilating the crap out of us in residential schools--another story that went untold by the media for wayyyyy to long. 

Even in university, I am consistently disappointed and frustrated with the racist or ignorant comments that I have to sit through in class simply because people are not informed about the basic history of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people in Canada--in other words, CANADIAN history because it's not just our history, it's yours too because your non-Aboriginal ancestors signed onto the treaties too. HELLLOOOOO!

Yesterday in class, we had a discussion about the representative workforce practice; the idea that there should be more Aboriginal people, women and people with disabilities in the workforce and that hiring practices should reflect this. I was appalled when white males in class actually said they thought they were being discriminated against and couldn't get a job because of this practice. That's total crap. One person even argued the hiring practice was bad because "it makes other workers think oh maybe that person just got hired because of their race." Sigh... the problem there isn't the actual hiring practice, it's the idiots standing around at work talking about the new Indian. It's their ignorant, uninformed attitude towards the practice that is the problem, NOT the practice itself.

In this job, I am constantly--whether openly or more subtly--to speak on behalf of my race, defend my race, comment on my race as the only Aboriginal person in the classroom or the workplace or wherever I am. Why don't any of the non-Aboriginal people write these kinds of stories? Or pose their positions in the form of a question instead of stating it as fact or an assertion? 

Because they don't know better. And they never will if the schools and universities (U of R Journalism School included) don't start teaching journalists and the public what they need to know so I can start writing REAL stories instead of teaching your kids and students.