Aboriginal communities are increasingly advocating interest-based negotiations as a critical tool in processes designed to reconcile differences and achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Seven core concepts are critical to effective interest-based negotiations including relationships, communication, interests, options, legitimacy, alternatives and commitment.
Indigenous leaders today are faced with the daunting task of balancing the socio-economic needs and priorities of their people with the finite resources passed on from government and their own source revenues. So, what is the answer to closing these socio-economic gaps and creating a more promising future?
As a medical student, I learn plenty about complex management of disease once it's started -- but rarely do we learn about what keeps people well in the first place. Aaron Antonovsky was a medical sociologist with a similar curiosity. Based on three components, his research provides a valuable framework for how we should approach public policy making in the area of health and wellness in Canada.
Effective approaches to leadership now goes beyond the specific qualities of an individual -- a set of objective characteristics, a formal position, or a status the individual possesses -- and into building relational practices and activities which invite sharing. In the 21st century, it's all about building interconnected communities.
What happens to kids who authorities determine can't live safely with their own parents or caregivers? Thousands of Canadian children are in this situation right now. Many go into foster homes, while others go into other types of out-of-home care on behalf of child welfare agencies. But we don't know how many, nor do we know how well they are doing.
The election of Justin Trudeau has been variously described as historic. And it was. Another less talked about historic moment was the election of 10 First Nations MPs. Add to this that a record-breaking 54 Aboriginal candidates put their names forward during the election. Each of these candidates ran in one of the 51 swing ridings identified by Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Chief Perry Bellegarde. Bellegrade was blunt and clear that the Aboriginal vote could make a difference between a majority and minority government.
While some political parties are more responsible for instances of blatant racism than others, no political party has committed to action on combating racism in Canada. Aboriginal and racialized realities of being heavily surveilled, unfairly carded in the streets, and higher rates of violence remain fringe issues.
I recently attended a mental health first aid course in order to further educate myself on the various mental illness disorders, the consequences of their severity and their overall prevalence in the population -- My eyes were opened to an entire population of our Canadian people whose rate of suicide was too horrifying to further ignore. As statistics related to aboriginal suicides were listed, I realized that this war being waged against the stigma of mental illness is but one of the many battles that will need to be addressed honestly in order to understand the magnitude of the affliction our mentally ill population is facing. As communities of aboriginals are fighting an invisible disease, society can dismiss the reality of the stigma by citing drugs and alcohol as the weak link in this people's history.
Seven years ago today, the Prime Minister stood in the House of Commons and delivered a poignant apology to the survivors of residential schools. The apology means nothing if all Canadians do not understand the history behind it. The Prime Minister has refused to deal with appalling gaps in health, education and economic outcomes, nor the deplorable living conditions in many aboriginal communities.
As Cree youngsters in the north, we are taught the tradition of how to walk on the land and in the bush -- with each foot fall carefully and quietly placed so as not to disturb the food sources that have always meant the difference between thriving and starvation. When young people began returning from residential schools, it is fascinating that what struck those who lived off the land the most is that these "students" had to be taught how to walk all over again. Not with the harsh heel strike they had learned in the towns and cities but with the gentle foot fall of their early childhoods.
Idle No More is not gone. Far from it. This most unusual of movements -- lacking formal structure, operating without money, and without a clear strategy -- had transformed the country and aboriginal public affairs in myriad ways. It was a game-changer in Canadian public life. Its founders urged indigenous people to find and exercise their voice. And they did. Idle No More was not a failure and has not disappeared.