Seize your own Destiny!

Sep 26, 2009

Aboriginal Leader Phil Fontaine was interviewed by the Globe and Mail on September 25th.

VIEW VIDEO: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-rules/phil-fontaine/article1300157/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-rules/find-your-true-potential/article1297088/

Phil Fontaine

“People are angry for a reason,” says Phil Fontaine, 64, the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. “Poverty is an onerous burden.”

Recent examples of what triggers that anger are easily found, such as Health Canada's shipment of dozens of body bags to remote Manitoba reserves hit by swine flu earlier this year. Native leaders had requested funding to organize their fight against H1N1 and to ensure preventive kits and medicine were at hand.

“Regardless of the inclusion of body bags sent to first nation communities and whether they may be part of normal medical supplies sent to nursing stations, the fact is that more effective planning is required. The minister has known for months that first nation peoples are at high risk due to unacceptable levels of poverty. First nations require full and immediate disclosure of the pandemic plan as this will reassure our people that our communities will be prepared to combat H1N1 this flu season,” Mr. Fontaine says.

Impoverished conditions and lack of opportunity continue to exist in many of the 663 aboriginal communities, he adds.

“The anger and frustration are most evident in our young people,” Mr. Fontaine says. “We have a young population – 50 per cent of our population is under the age of 25 – so we're looking at an incredible resource here with huge potential. The responsibility that we have together with government and the private sector is to harness this incredible energy into something positive.”

However, despite the latest controversy over body bags, Mr. Fontaine is encouraged by what he's witnessed in the past five years. He says that whenever native people have been given a fair chance to make a life for themselves, the results have been impressive, so he's optimistic that higher education will bring about change.

“Fifty years ago we might have had, at most, 10 first nations students in university in all of Canada. Today there are close to 30,000,” Mr. Fontaine says. “That speaks to the incredible talent, intelligence and genius that exists in our communities. It's important that they take every opportunity to make a life for themselves free from the burdens of poverty. It's a big challenge – not just for first nations youth but for all young people.”


Posted by activist under Activism in Action

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