Aboriginal People In Canada

Currently, Aboriginal peoples in Canada live in conditions of extraordinary poverty in a land of riches and wealth. Their are substandard and overcrowded, water often unsanitary and contaminated, population and in particular Aboriginal youth face staggering unemployment and rates of suicide, levels of health, income and education fall far below that of the rest of the country. With this being said after long years of oppression and discrimination, the Canadian government has made valiant efforts in the reconciliation of Aboriginal relations, however the resources and funds provided have proven to be insufficient, thus causing detrimental consequences.

Aboriginal people are struggling to improve their lives while re-discovering their traditional

values after years of oppression..
Aboriginal peoples have limited resources.

Only a small proportion of Canada's resource income has come back to Aboriginal people, most in the form of transfer payments such as social assistance. This has never been, and is not now, the choice of Aboriginal people. They want to free themselves from the destructive burden of welfare and dependency. But to do this they need to have back some of what was taken away. From forced relocations to the isolation of reserves, current Aboriginal people are rampantly struggling to fight for the life conditions they deserve. Current reserves do not only undermine the growing Indigenous populations but present housing conditions has caused unnecessary overcrowding, growth of mold and fungi; adding other detrimental risks of health conditions underlying Aboriginal peoples. According to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) a process of building a dwelling consisting of three bedrooms is given a maximum of $296, 000. Rates varying by province, it can be suggested that this is simply not enough to build an adequate home. In addition within the restricted budget from government control, upon the delivery of wood and other production items, this does not include contracted workers or labour specialists that provide a faster rate of production and renovation of said funded housing. “There are never enough money to renovate houses, and the renovation itself takes long time because we don’t have very many skilled

carpenters”
Subsequently, with various evidence of insufficient funding and coverage, improper construction and structural damage of current houses are very lenient to the growing mold and fungi affecting all aspects of air and respiratory quality within Aboriginal reserves. A recent study of a reserve at Lac Brochet states that: 34% of the houses had visible mould in the crawlspaces and 44% had mould on the malls, ceilings or floors of the rooms on the main floor of the house. This is just an example out of many houses that contain underlying health risks towards Aboriginal people adding to their stellar prevalent rates of Tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases. As an environmental determinant of Tuberculosis transmission, poor quantity and quality housing not only facilitates the spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis but also the growth of mold and fungi.
Apart from deficient infrastructures and detrimental living conditions, another focus of attention is the lack of clean water; a necessity and basic human right that plagues the current state of Aboriginal reserves.

As of December 2017, prime minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to eradicate all drinking water advisories in First Nations communities by March 2021. He restates his belief that every person in Canada should be able to drink the water that comes out of their tap, but many communities are still waiting. With three years left and more than 60 communities still turning to alternative water sources for drinking, bathing and cooking, critics are weary about the pace and scope of work left to be done. As of Dec. 21, 2017 there were 67 long-term drinking water advisories in effect for public water systems managed by the federal government. These drinking water warnings have been in place for over a year. There are an additional 18 communities that are currently at risk of developing long-term drinking water advisories, meaning they’ve had water issues for between two and 12 months. Since forming government, the Liberals have lifted 32 drinking water advisories. However, 22 new advisories have been added in that time, according to the Indigenous and Northern Affairs department. Although the government has made some valid efforts, seemingly the amount of work that has been resolved does not take upon advancement of their project but instead it furthers them from

advancement and display their ignorance towards standard Aboriginal issues. False promises reiterated by the government is no stranger to Aboriginal peoples. In addition, in a recent report found by the he Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has found that the money provided for this project will not be enough and is seemingly a billion dollar short. Depending on population growth, what they’ve planned to spend will only end up covering between 54 and 70 per cent of the cost needed. The issues with water in First Nations communities are complex, and different depending on where the communities are located and where they source the water from. For some, the water treatment plants aren’t sufficient to meet the needs of the community. In others there’s a lack of training to keep the plants humming, and sometimes, when little fixes are needed the federal government is slow to step in.
Lastly, another prevalent issue that resurfaces around leading generation of Aboriginal youth is underfunded social work and low rates of completed education. Although Canada prides itself with the funded excellency of it’s public education, the disparity of education between Canada’s Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal people, displays significant evidence of casts a shadow over the country's otherwise excellent record. There are three kinds of First Nations education in Canada delivered to Aboriginal students. Federal schools that are controlled by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC), provincial schools, and local schools operated by First Nations communities. Sixty-five percent of the 120,000 eligible on-reserve First Nations students attend the latter. The issue with the majority of these schools is that they are grossly underfunded. Paul Martin, a previous prime minister of Canada has states to the Toronto Star that “the per capita funding for a First Nations child going to elementary or high school is anywhere from 20 to 40 percent lower than what non-native kids get on a per capita basis.” Many of these schools aren't able to recruit and retain qualified teachers to work on remote and rural reservations, even though teachers can teach without a Bachelors of Education