Have you ever watched news stories on the poor Northern
Ontario Native Reserves, showing them living in sad houses, with no money, and
no food? If you are like me, then you have seen these things on the news or on
youtube (google: Attawapaskat or Eabametoong First Nation),
and thought to yourself “hmm it can’t really be that bad... no one really lives
like that!” Well, apparently people do live that way, and I have seen and heard
many things since arriving in Battleford.
The Battlefords are surrounded I believe by five First
Nations reserves and therefore many residents bear witness to things we rarely
see living in the GTA.
About a week ago, I had the chance to go on a drive with my
employer (who is an RCMP) in his police truck and saw up close and personal the
very different life of a Native reserve. I saw cars that had never been cared
for, houses with garbage outside the windows, garbage on the roads, and two
completely burned to the ground houses. The amount of dogs that were wandering
around too was incredible. Many dogs are not taken care of on the reserve, and
are sometimes taken in by the RCMPs to give them a good home. All of the
messiness was on the most expensive piece of land imaginable, beautiful rolling
hills, million dollar view, a gorgeous lake, with expensive cottages and homes
on the other side.
The whole time driving through here, I could not understand
how people could live such a drastically different life than my own, and live
so close by. There are stories I have now heard about the adults on the reserve
breaking into cottages on the other side of the lake and stealing the liquor or
the children breaking in so they can have something to eat, and it just
fascinates me that people live this way. It makes me sad because they have not
known any other way their entire lives. It makes me sad for the children that
are fresh slates, ready to learn anything, but doomed to follow in the
footsteps of their parents.
Now, before I get angry people telling me that not everyone
is the same, I must say, as we drove through the reserve, among all the sad,
neglected homes, there were a few “diamonds in the rough” if you will. Some homes
looked as though the family cared very much and respected themselves and their
house. But it must be difficult to go against what you have grown up knowing,
for the very same reason we all tend to grow up with similar ambitions as our
parents, because it is what we know.
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On a small change of subject, I feel the need to mention
that on the same evening I went up to see the reserves, I got to have a tour of
the RCMP Detachment in North Battleford, and got to see the jail cells where
they hold people overnight; the drunktank – which is an oversized cell where
they put all the drunks to cool off; interview rooms – which reminded me of law
and order; and coolest of all, I got to see the evidence room – and the stuff
really does go in those clear evidence bags like on TV.
After this adventure, I would like to say that the most
important thing I learned was how different people’s lives can be from my own,
but I think the TRUE important lesson was that police trucks are freaking cool
to get to drive around in!
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