Summary Of The Video 'Inequality In The Aboriginal Reserves'

LOOKBACK

The main topic of the video is Inequality in the Aboriginal Reserves. The video shows how the Aboriginal people who live in Northern Manitoba are struggling to get water to use, lack of proper flush toilets and shortage of healthcare staff .One of the victims affected by this is an 82-year-old Moyer Taylor who suffers from diabetes and requires dialysis a few days a week. To make matters worse there is no running water and no bathroom in his house. Adam Keno is one of the residents also affected by the lack of clean running water in the Reserve; his son chips a hole in the ice and to get water to use. As a new immigrant to Canada, l was shocked to learn that there are people in Canada who still live in these conditions.

Even most of the third world countries have better water systems and proper toilets as compared to what is happening in the Aboriginal Reserves in Canada. This should not happen in Canada and l believe the Government should do more to help the Aboriginal People to show that they value people’s lives.
• Values are enduring concepts of what is right and wrong and l value clean water, healthcare and human rights .(Beebe 2015,pg.32)
• Attitudes are learned predispositions to respond favorably or unfavorably towards something (Beebe 2015,pg. 32)
• Beliefs are the ways in which we structure reality (Beebe 2015,Page 32)

ELABORATE:
The main problem in this video is the lack of clean running water, the lack of proper toilets and inadequate healthcare. This shows that inequality still exists in Canada though it’s considered a developed country. The societal group which is going through this dilemma is the Aboriginal people who live in the Reserves in Northern Manitoba. This problem affects everyone in the community but the most vulnerable ones are the older adults ,sick and young children .There is no running water in the tapes and the truck that usually delivers water never came in weeks and people end up digging holes in lakes to try and get water to use like what their ancestors used to do. There is also a shortage of health care providers in the community to accommodate and visit the sick people in their homes. Without these basic needs, the lives and health of people of this community are at risk. According to UNICEF, water, and sanitation related diseases are one of the leading causes of death, and a lot of children die from preventable diseases caused by poor water, and a lack of sanitation and hygiene.(Unicef,2016).In addition, human feces carry very dangerous bacteria that can cause lot diseases like cholera, typhoid, infectious hepatitis, polio, and diarrhea. When waste is not handled well, it can come in touch with skin, water, insects that will transfer the bacteria into a person’s body and cause serious illness that can result in death. According to the article this is one of the reasons why this community was hit very badly by the H1N1 some few years ago
Charity is the voluntary giving of help, usually in the form of money, to the less fortunate.

In the video Charity is shown by the Mennonite Central Committee, the agency is known for its humanitarian work in assisting people getting clean water ,they visited the Reserve to see how the Aboriginal people are suffering and how they can facilitate their charity work them. Social action is shown when a postcard was created; it featured a photo of a young boy whose face was covered with a rash, his eyes dark and without a sparkle. The card was part of a campaign by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to raise awareness about the lack of safe and clean drinking water on many remote First Nations. It was addressed to Prime Minister Stephen

Harper.

ANALYSIS

The social justice problems in this video include poverty, health care, clean water, housing and flush toilets.

The social determinants of health in this video is Aboriginal Status, due to Colonization, relocation of families and residential schools has led to the adverse health outcomes for many Canadian Aboriginal people, overcrowding in homes ,food insecurity, and low income has caused increased rate of chronic illness and reduced life expectancy (Kozier ,2014) The broader social or political issue in Northern Manitoba Reserves is that the Government is not providing enough funding to develop these reserves. Once Aboriginal people were allowed off reserves, some of them relocated to larger cities for greener pastures. Instead of employment opportunities or even relief in the form of charity, many Aboriginal people were faced with racist attitudes that had already been long entrenched in Canadian society (Center for central justice 2016).Aboriginal people face a lot of racism in other communities and some people have stereotyped them as alcoholics who do not like to work. In addition, In many Aboriginal communities,basic commodities like fruit, vegetables, and milk must be transported long distances because of bad roads and this results in high costs of food and poor food

quality.

REVISION

The Aboriginal people live in terrible conditions that l could not imagine anybody lives in the 21st century in Canada. Lack of clean water and flush toilets can lead very serious health problem since most of the health problems are not caused by genetics there are caused by the social determinants of health that include housing, stress, bodies and illness, health services, food security, social exclusion. (Kozier 2014).l have learned that l value social justice and l have to advocate for it to help other communities

NEW PERSPECTIVE

As a beginning practical nursing student, the social justice action that l can take to help bring attention to the problem are e.g Housing, l will join the Aboriginal community advocacy groups, these groups advocate for the Aboriginal people to get better housing and flush toilets and all the basic necessities for healthy life, since overcrowding and inadequately maintained homes may lead to transmission of diseases.