“Nationally, one out of seven children lives in poverty. That goes up to one out of three in the Alberni Valley. That is not acceptable.” ~NDP MP Gord Johns
Port Alberni--Nuu-chah-nulth members spoke up and they spoke loudly when the presenters opened up for floor for discussion at the Poverty Forum held Nov. 24 at the Port Alberni Friendship Centre.
Hazel Jack was unable to hide her anger, blasting a government system she said has conspired to withhold benefits and destroy her health. Citing the many statistics provided by the presenters, Jack said those numbers can be misused.
“You point to the government and say, ‘Data. Data. Data.’ But sometimes the Data. Data. Data. is going the other way.”
Jack said that, despite being well-educated and able to fill out the endless bureaucratic forms, she has routinely been disentitled for medical benefits.
“I am tired of being sick, and being in poverty, and having the government taking money out of my pocket. I am in debt because of government workers.
“Who is ‘The Poor’? We are. Who is stealing from the poor? The government is.”
Tla-o-qui-aht member Louise Martin said she was surprised at the composition of the crowd, which had fewer aboriginal participants than she expected. Martin said she hoped to impress on non-aboriginal people the entrenched racism that continues to cause First Nations people difficulties in finding housing and employment.
“Right now, I’m talking about the conditions First Nations people face,” she said.
Martin said the generation of aboriginal people just moving into the workforce face all the same issues of underemployment and low-wage jobs as cited by Dr. Paul Hasselback, Chief Medical Officer for Island Health, whose presentation was called “Determinants of Health.” See our story here: http://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2015-11-30/unemployment-and-low-incomes-part-bleak-picture-alberni-valley-part-one
But there is another social barrier faced by aboriginal people. That of racism.
“It makes me sad because this is our ancestral home, and a lot of our intrinsic rights, like hunting and fishing, were taken away,” she said. “I am asking right now that you understand – we have a right to speak out about our living conditions.”
Martin’s cousin, Alice George, thanked Fraser for organizing the event, and for MP Gord Johns, Mayor Mike Ruttan and Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District Chair Josie Osborne for attending the forum.
“I’m glad that you guys are listening to us. I know it’s hard,” she acknowledged. George said she was continuously employed up to 2006, but was then forced to go on disability.
“It seems like no one helps people on disability. We are treated like we’re on welfare. It is hard to live like that,” she said.
It is especially hard for people who lived through “the residential school horror,” George noted. Even accepting kindness from outsiders is stressful, she explained. Living on-reserve poses challenges; living off-reserve is even worse.
Port Alberni resident Dan Cebuliak agreed that the statistics are deceptive.
“That 10.4 per cent unemployment rate is just those on [Employment Insurance],” Cebuliak told Ha-Shilth-Sa. “That figure doesn’t include people who are currently on income assistance or disability.”
Even the “people figures” are deceptive when it comes to aboriginal people, Ruben Thomas advised.
“We have many people from our communities that end up drifting down to Victoria and becoming homeless,” Thomas said. “There are a lot of people from here, living on the streets, unable to find a job that pays a living wage.”
Those people fall off the ledger and become the invisible poor unless they are able to maintain a connection with their community, he said.
“So thank you for sharing those figures. That’s some scary shit,” Thomas told the presenters, before turning his attention to the politicians. “I would like to encourage you leaders, who are getting paid to do this, to sharpen your skills up, because we need to find some solutions.”
Ray Samuel touched on a number of issues raised in the presentations.
Samuel said he entered the local forest industry workforce in the prosperous 1960s. The work was demanding, the employer was demanding as were the working conditions, but the pay and benefits were good.
That did not guarantee that a family could afford all the necessities of life, however.
“A lot of us were not living in poverty, but we decided we needed something more,” he said. “That’s where we could fall into it.”
If that new car or that bigger house resulted in an unsustainable debt load, it created a form of poverty all its own, he explained.
“Now I feel sorry for any young person trying to find a full-time job like I had,” he said. “Now it’s all contract employment, part-time, low-wage...”
Samuel also echoed Jack’s concerns about over-enthusiastic bureaucrats.
“When we applied for [supported] senior’s housing, we were told our combined income was $38 over the limit. They told us that even if we were one dollar over, we were ineligible.”
Jason Titian encouraged the politicians and community leaders to listen and to take action.
“There are a lot of people here who have the same aspirations and the same goals,” he said. Titian said the sheer volume of information he had received was daunting, but manageable.
“There are a lot of things I do not understand. But I am here to learn,” he concluded.
Of the elected officials, MP Gord Johns appeared especially energized.
“We have to be political. If we stand together, they will listen,” he said.
Johns suggested immediately striking up a Poverty Reduction Task Force, adding, “And I’m in. I’m really excited about being part of this community. Kleco.”
Prior to the opening, Johns said he put a special emphasis on poverty during his election campaign and he is currently meeting with mayors and First Nations leaders in the riding in order to bring local concerns to Ottawa this week.
“Nationally, one out of seven children lives in poverty. That goes up to one out of three in the Alberni Valley. That is not acceptable,” he said.
“We [the NDP] ran on a platform of early childhood education and affordable housing, and to increase wages so that we have a Living Wage, as well as supporting mental health supports for youth and closing the gap for aboriginal funding.”
John pointed out that the Harper Government’s advertised “budget surplus” was based on withholding $1 billion in promised spending on First Nations programs and another $1 billion promised to veterans. While his party was unsuccessful in the recent federal election, he believes Canada is heading into a new (and better) era for relations between First Nations and government.
