In Memory of Alicja Rozanska
Many of our people are homeless in our own country now, our people are walking the streets jobless, hungry, depressed, looked at by many as a burdens in one of the richest places in the world. Our old elders know the facts and truth how the Niña, Pinta, Santa Maria and Mayflower arrived here on our shores 500 years ago, lost and starving until our ancestors gave them our healing ways and the indigenous people shared what was bountiful from Mother Earth in our once rich clean rivers, forests and farmland. There was plenty of work in the old days building our communities, scouting for wild game, fishing, farming, gathering natural medicines; herbs, wild rice were clean and the Maple Tree provided fresh healing Maple Syrup. Corn, beans and squash were full of vitamins, so tribes and nations were healthy. Those ocean-going ships that arrived had never known such cultures and peoples ready to share medicine and food and sustenance because it was their way of life. But it is that way of life that could be used to stop poverty and homelessness in Canada and the world. Our elders and healers have been using our culture in the prison system now for the past 30 or 40 years, trying to stop the trauma that was brought here on those first boats, which has turned into addictions, drugs, alcohol, family abuse and violence in all its forms. The residential school system has contributed to homeless crisis. It created culture shock because it killed the Indian in the Indian, but because of our ancestors, we have never buried our way of life. Now we are in a transition period because the world epidemic covid virus has given the conqueror a sacred wake up call, but because he cannot see this wake up call we have to continue to nurse him and ourselves back to good health along with our Sacred Mother Earth. One thing is for certain in Canada we all deserve a home and a place we can call home!
Born on June 7th, 1949 in Saskatchewan to Metis parents, Kenn Richards served as executive director for Native Child and Family Services from 1988 to 2018. Kenn says “Many Canadians want natives/indigenous people to have homes, but homelessness is about Canada sharing and it’s not happening, so homelessness will never stop.”
In Canada everything has to have a price tag on it, so the Canadian fabric is the same all over, homelessness is the Canadian fabric. It’s shocking what I have seen in my own country. It’s a nightmare, it’s a reality and I can’t stop thinking about what I know and can’t stop it from happening: people living on the streets, people living in trash, sleeping in trash, in parks, parking lots, alleys, laneways and hot air ventilators during winter months. It’s a Canadian disgrace and I dream about it. Homelessness is a symptom of capitalistic colonialism with multiple relationships. Capitalism is the ones who are privileged and significant numbers of indigenous people suffer from it. Indian people are suffering from one problem on top of another from the failed attempt to assimilate them all into this capitalistic nightmare. No housing for our people is a trauma, so that means getting housing is healing for our people and alcohol is only a symptom of the Indian problem. Nothing is easy for our people, our women, our children. We are under a police state, we are policed. We never had a police force before first contact, we never had insane asylums or hospitals, we never needed them. We never had the brutality that is everywhere from a society that cannot heal the trauma they created on top of past trauma.
Finland has become the first country to adopt a national housing first approach to homelessness. Finland calls it a principle, a service model or a philosophy. The main thing is treating homeless people like everybody else, people who have the same rights and see housing as a human right. So the housing first principle means that you give a homeless person a home, a flat, or a rental flat contract, without preconditions: you are not required to solve your problems or get sober, for example, to get a permanent home. And then when you have this home, you can get support to solve your issues. This is a simple basic principle of housing first in Finland. Affordability is a key issue for Finland’s homeless people, the government’s priority to create space for the needy and create programs and treatment for healing. Keeping people homeless all their life is more expensive for governments than creating homes. What is so successful in Finland is all parties agree homelessness is a national problem on the scale of a national disaster and immediate crisis on the scale of being an epidemic. In 2008 Finland recognized homelessness was such a serious problem it had to be solved by all levels of government. Action had to be taken immediately and the political parties began working together for human rights of their citizens.
Mohawk Elder David Beaver of Six Nations believes Canada can do more. He is asking the interfaith groups of Toronto to speak to Mayor Tory about the needs of homeless people who cannot find food programs at night after dark. There is nothing open for hungry people and we need something in downtown Toronto. There are no available shelters for those who miss curfews set up by shelters. There is no urgent place with beds and a place to get cleaned up. Then the worst thing now is Covid 19 and people need a place to wash and disinfect themselves because all libraries and restaurants are closed. Maybe the city has to put hand sanitizers on the street with portable toilets in every neighborhood till this virus is gone. Most of all, there needs to be a will or spirit of action by politicians and political parties like in Finland to take action now to give homeless people dignity, finally, and human rights. Elder Beaver says “If Canada does not act now or take the necessary steps to avoid a catastrophe, homeless people will be the ones to die first from Covid-19 on a possible large scale, but we who have homes will suffer grave consequences too. We need to act fast and we need politicians to create low income housing now.”
We need to get informed about Canada Prime Minister’s interest or the military’s interest to build billions of dollars on jet fighter planes while we are in a world pandemic virus. We need to spend resources on homelessness and affordable houses now. I urge you to contact your local MP and MPP, thanks. Our Sacred Thinking is our most important tool for creating justice and harmony.
