First Nations Youth Analysis

Imagine you’re just going about your daily life and it’s been the same peaceful way for as long as you can remember then all of a sudden a tree falls down in your backyard and destroys your home. This is similar to what happened to the First Nations. I believe that the First Nations were the least unified to Confederation than the other colonies due to the facts that others made decisions for them, they were given as much importance as animals, and that the other colonie’s changes affected them even though their changes didn’t affect the other colonies.

Canada is a nation of opportunity and freedom. People from all around the world immigrate to Canada to start a new life, to get away from war or poverty. Canada opens their arms to them and accepts them, and gives them money to get them started. But how about those who were here from the very beginning, before anyone else landed in Canada; the ones that are called First Nation people, or Aboriginals? What is the government doing for them? Why are First Nations people suffering the worst in Canada? “55.6% of the poor are aboriginals and a lot of them live in reserves around Canada that Canadian government have put them in. For those who leave the reserves to get a better living the suffer from racism from Canadian society” (“Aboriginal”).

Aboriginal youth living on reservations today, are living with the controls and limitations that may be detrimental for their further or current success in education, as in a comparison to the rest of Canadian youth who have access to a wide array of resources provided to them. This may include more teachers, which have a higher standards of testing, “the teachers who are trained exclusively in provincially accredited teachers colleges aren’t trained properly…to teach in our schools and our kids have been suffering for way too long as a result” (Barrera, J. ATPN National News, para. 21). There seems to be multiple sub-categories that Aboriginal youth within Canada today are confronted with; isolation, depression, suicide, racism, bulling, hate crimes, poverty, substance abuse, crime, and mistrust of the education system due to colonialism, lack of a support systems and a lack of confidence to further their education with the absence of empowerment in their current environment. This is a systemic cycle that has certainly not been resolved and continues to be a hardship for the First Nations society. Considering these multifaceted elements that add to First Nations adolescent barriers of the non-equal educational opportunities or privileges as other adolescents in Canada. Therefore what are the next steps to prevail for the Aboriginal peoples, is there anything that can be held accountable or done?

Did you know that in 2006, the number of aboriginal people in Canada surpassed one million? This means that the aboriginals represented 3.8% of the total population in Canada. Even though this number is much smaller than the non-aboriginal population, they have an impact on Canada, in the north and south. Unfortunately, some of the aboriginal groups do not have a stable way of living and the Canadian government is very selective when helping them. Overall, I want to be able to help the First Nation people receive the funding they need to have a thriving economic workforce.

Aboriginal people represent less than 3% of the total population in BC. Yet, they account for more than 9% of all suicides in BC (Chandler). The numbers of suicides amongst aboriginal youth are even more alarming – nearly one-fourth of all youth suicides in BC are committed by aboriginals and more than half of all aboriginal suicides are committed by youth (Chandler). The fact that indigenous communities in Canada have the highest rate of suicide of any culturally identifiable group in the world implies that these alarming statistics may not solely be a result of aboriginal communities belonging to a minority cultural group. I will attempt to build a speculative hypothesis behind the significantly high suicide rates amongst aboriginal

The ambition of the Canadian government in regard to First Nations People was to assimilate them into European culture and erase their culture from the country. Separation and education of young First Nations children was the major means to achieve their objective. With substantial involvement from the Christian churches, the residential school system was created and schools were built throughout the entire country. The Kamloops Indian Residential School was attended by students from the nations surrounding Kamloops including children from the Secwepemc Nation who occupied the much of the southern-interior of British Columbia. The school was ran by the Roman Catholic Church. The Secwepemc children were no exception to the abominable conditions in the residential school systems facilities and the effects of these schools can last a lifetime. The students who attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School were cut off from their communities and families; stripped of their language and culture; and subjected to abuse and severe labour, hunger, and abuse.

“Thousands of Canada’s Aboriginal children died in Residential Schools that failed to keep them safe from fires, protected from abusers, and healthy from deadly disease” (Kennedy). “Residential Schools were government-sponsored religious schools established to assimilate Aboriginal Children into Euro-Canadian culture” (Miller). There were approximately 130 schools in every province and territory with the exception of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick all with an estimated 150,000 attendees, segregated by gender (CBC News). Residential schooling caused tension as well as intergenerational suffering among native communities in Canada. Acts of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse support the tragedies in Canadian

In order for SASOYP to reach these goal and objectives, the program will employ one intake specialist to conduct biopsychosocial assessments, collect pertinent documentation to the program, and assist the outreach coordinators recruit youths into the program. Intake specialist will also be responsible for HMIS data collection and other administrative duties assigned by the Salvation Army executive management team. Two case managers/outreach coordinators will responsible for their assigned caseloads – up to 30 clients each, create individualized for each client, coordinate referrals, and link clients to community resources. Both case managers/outreach coordinators and intake specialist will be training volunteers/interns about the program and how to properly adhere to the SASOYP’s policies and building expectations.

This situation relates to anthropology as La Loche has a high rate of youth suicide, and they are unable to access many government services (ie. health care). La Loche is a tiny, close-knit community mostly consisting of Dene aboriginals. The community is isolated in the northern areas of Saskatchewan where jobs and other opportunities are extremely scarce. An anthropologist will look at how the social and physical environments in La Loche influences how the perpetrator lives, thinks, communicates, and interacts with others in the community. A possible conclusion could be that the remoteness of La Loche and the historically prevalent depression rates amongst the Dene culture provoked the actions of the perpetrator. Thus, the anthropology questions were created with the objective to explore the link between the secluded Aboriginal community and the violent actions of the perpetrator.

Chief Logan Scout Reservation is my home away from home; I grew up attending Chief Logan, earning plenty of merit badges and bonding with my friends in the troop. Starting fires and tying knots have consumed over 2000 hours of my life in the span of 3 years. After my friend and I completed NYLT, he came to me and said we should do Chief Logan’s Counselor In Training program. After coming back to Chief Logan a second week the following summer, our eyes were opened to the making of the “camp magic”. I never had a counselor who I looked at as my hero, but once I got on staff the year after CIT, I finally understood how our camp was

The local non-profit organization "Partners Mentoring Youth" welcomed its first AmeriCorps Vista member on Monday, February 22nd. "Partners Mentoring Youth's" mission is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships between positive adult role models and youth facing challenges in their personal, social and academic lives, here in Greeley. Year in and year out the non-profit helps to lower rates of juvenile delinquency, increase the self-esteem and self-confidence, and decrease the intent to use drugs throughout its youth community.

The difference in suicide rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians exists because of the stereotypical treatment towards aboriginals. Since the early ages of the British settlements Aboriginals have been enslaved and treated as the lower class. This has changed as there is no more slavery however the non-indigenous attitudes towards the indigenous is still bad and this can lead to depression and then suicide

Throughout Canadian history, Indigenous children, families and communities have been aggressively assimilated through Canadian government policies (Baskin, 2011). The combination of colonization, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop and other discriminating tactics has damaged Indigenous cultures, weakened parenting capacity, and challenged economic self-sufficiency. Many Aboriginal people live in communities that experience high levels of poverty, alcohol and substance abuse, suicides, incarceration rates, unemployment rates, and other social problems. Today, Indigenous child are disproportionately represented in the Child Welfare System. The National Household Survey (2011) indicated that 48% of 30,000 children and youth in foster care

urrently in the news, Alexandra Sifferlin from Time Magazine has released a new health issue article on, “Suicide Rates High among Young American Indians” (2015). The article discusses how suicide rates are high in American Indian and Alaskan Native, between the ages of 18-24, than any other demographic groups. In addition, research done by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, has revealed that young adult males are more likely to commit suicide than females. Leaders from the National Congress of American Indian are in the process on creating a Tribal Behavioral Health Agenda approach in order to prevent and reduce the number of deaths by suicide in their population.

There are three theories that apply to First Nations population aging and the argument presented in the paper, the first being continuity theory. According to David Wister and Barry McPherson, “as people age, they strive to maintain continuity in their lifestyle. . . people adapt more easily to aging if they maintain a lifestyle similar to that developed in the early and middle years” (2014, p. 138). Within many First Nations communities, the elders wish to stay in their homes and live their final years in familiarity. Their communities reflect the traditions and values held strongly by many First Nations elders; something they don’t wish to lose again. Being taken away from their families to go to residential school has caused many Native