Okay...first time posting so be gentle.
I deal with natural resources and first nations daily. I'm white, was raised in the north around Cree and Dene'thai comunities and have worked with Ojibiway, Cree, Stoney, Chipewayean, Beaver, Dene'thai, Sioux and Slavey reserves along with the numerous Metis communities around. I've also was educated at university in a couple of major centers so have seen a lot of Canada. What I find interesting here is the education all sides are learning and I still learn myself.
For those that want to learn all I can provide is some advice:
1) The cultures and tranditions of each cultural First Nation are vastly different. Confusing Iroquis for Sioux for Cree customs gets you in a lot of trouble at times and may permanantly damage your credibility if you are trying to build a relationship.
2) Understand the history of those first nations locally and (if) a treaty was signed. There is a big difference between the lifestyles of folks in the Robinson-Superior treaty versus Treaty 8 due to both first nation and european goverment objectives of the time. Also..no treaty is 100% accepted. Where I currently work we are dealing with 5 VALID land claims as those communities did NOT sign Treaty 8 even though their neighbors did.
3) The role of family. This was something that I did not understand until working overseas but family is key. Unless the family and community support a proposal (name the subject) you have a very tough battle.
4) While many natives argue the white man does not respect natives I've had many terrible experiences with the reverse. My family is tied to the land and follows many of the same customs as the first nations. However...treat the experience as dealing with an individual and not the family or first nation or race. I made this mistake in my youth and took many years to recognize it and change.
5) Wealth is a relative thing. You can say that people on reserves are poor or underfunded but I would argue that it is more a reflection of local wealth. Many northern communities (wealth aside) are in rough shape and face the same local cultural pressures first nations do. Likewise many near more prosperous communities seem to much better.
6) Relationships can be frusterating. In many regards I prefer dealing with those communities undergoing the land claim process as the roles of the "little government" or province and the "big government" or feds is much cleaner than those who work through applying federal legislation on a provincial mandate (education?) with differing levels of funding.
7) as mentioned in a earlier posting it's about perspective. 95% of people you don't hear about but you do hear about extremetists in any field whether they are enviromentalists, politicians, non-government organizations and those are who shape our experiences.
8) knowledge is key. Education of both yourself and the client is crucial. However you must commit to the process to build the trust needed. Meeting an illiterate elder who does some trapping, handing him a cheque and some paper in a foreign language gets you no where and only builds resentment. Meeting him and arranging a pre planning meeting through the community (to arrange for a translator) at a location of his choice to find out what you may be impacting in advance of operations and his/her concerns is a much differnt story.
9) Don't split hairs and try to debate laws or rights. Concentrate on issues and leave the laws to the lawyers. You don't get respect for spewing regulations. This is why bringing OPP (as per the original article) or the military in sours relations so much. You may not like it but spewing laws and trying to intimidate a party doesn't resolve the solution. In Caldonia...both parties are guilty of this flaw in my opinion.
10) Money doesn't normally provide the "hand up" as refered to. However having the patience to understand the differences in culture and work towards the strengths of those backgrounds gives people the bosot they need. We deal often with illiterate fire crew leaders who know the buisness inside and out..but are hampered by their education. So partner them with a young kid that doesn't know anything about the fireline, make him do the paperwork with the leader, and both gain respect - the elder gets the formal recognition of his leadership and you are acknowledging a potential future leader. Think the Sgt. and OC or 2nd Lt. relationship...if both work together the troops do well.
You and I can't change the world or history of Aboriginal people today. But trying to follow these basic guidelines sure has made my life much easier and helped put many "conflict", "media events", "land claims" into perspective.
Hope it helps.
