| B. | Innu Education and Health |
The second issue relates to the question of whether the Government’s assumption of its responsibilities has led to any improvement in the lives of the Innu. In 1993, outside the area of health, there were few federal officials dealing with issues affecting the Innu or with any experience of the communities of Sheshatshiu and Davis Inlet. Today the situation is remarkably different. There are officials in Ottawa in DIAND and Health Canada and in the DIAND regional office in Amherst who are dealing directly with Innu issues and who have spent time in the communities. There are DIAND and Health Canada officials located in Goose Bay. There also appears to be a marked change of attitude on the part of many government officials, who appear to be much more knowledgeable about Aboriginal claims, traditions and culture than their predecessors. By comparison with 1993, there is now substantial federal activity on Innu issues. The number of "main tables" and "side tables" for negotiating issues relating to registration, land claims, health and relocation seems to be growing exponentially. Much appears to be happening. But what does it all lead to? Have things really changed? Two issues will be considered — education and health. Back to top Education At the time that the 1993 Report was completed the state of education in the Innu communities was little short of disastrous. Attendance at schools was irregular, the drop-out rate was high and few Innu ever completed high school. Today the situation is generally regarded as the same, if not worse. Attendance at the high school level can be as low as 10% — and not always the same 10%. Students who do stay in school suspect that their educational level is not the same as those at the same grade in other schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. Remuneration of teachers in the provincial system is structured in such a way that the Innu schools are unlikely to attract experienced teachers, and once they gain experience, they are likely to leave. Some years, it is difficult even to obtain a full complement of teachers. Recently, the school in Davis Inlet was unable to open at the beginning of the school year because of a lack of teachers. The schools in both Sheshatshiu and Davis Inlet are in extremely poor physical condition. The school in Davis Inlet has had to be closed on at least one occasion because leaking oil had caused an environmental hazard. There is agreement that it is necessary to construct a new school in Sheshatshiu, but there is no consensus as to who will fund the construction, nor whether the new school will be built to federal or provincial standards. No one claims that the schools provide any kind of effective mechanism for conserving and revitalizing Innu language and culture. Some Innu parents have lost faith in the capacity of the schools to offer education either in the Innu language and culture or in the basic skills offered under the provincial curriculum. A number of Sheshatshiu parents have responded by sending their children across the bridge to the school in North West River. Education remains in the hands of the Province, and discussions between the federal and provincial governments appear to contemplate that even after registration the Province will continue to provide education services to the Innu under an agreement with the Government. In short, the financial arrangement will change but there will be no fundamental change in what is being delivered. The inability to control education in their communities has been an issue for the Innu for many years. They express frustration with the fact they have no control over curriculum and that Innu language and culture, generally provided by teaching assistants and not fully qualified teachers, lose out if anything has to be sacrificed. Given that the preservation of Innu-aimun is at a critical juncture, Innu control over Innu education becomes increasingly urgent. Nor have the schools been sympathetic to Innu who wish to take their children into the country for extended periods. Alternate educational programs initiated by the Innu, one of the most promising of which was conceived in the fall of 2001, tend to fall through complex bureaucratic regulations and priority funding limitations.53 The Innu consider that they should be in a position to manage education, to engage teachers and to have a say in the curriculum. In Innu hands, the schools would give priority to Innu-aimun and would give central focus to culturally appropriate education. At the same time, the Innu are not unrealistic about the growing connections between their community and the outside world. They recognize that their children are being educated in a broader provincial and national context. They wish to offer a curriculum that would make their children’s education portable, so they could move to other schools within the Newfoundland and Labrador school system. The situation in Conne River is often cited as an example in which the band is responsible for schooling in accordance with provincial standards. Paragraph 2 of the 24 November 1999 Agreement in Principle provided that "Canada and the Province will work together with the Innu to transfer control for [education] programs to the Innu." This has not happened. Federal officials say that discussions on devolution of control over education can take place when the Innu come up with a plan, an odd requirement given that there is no alternative governmental plan except to continue a system that patently does not work. In fact, there is a widespread view among federal and provincial officials that the Innu do not have the capacity to manage education in their communities. Some officials suggest that the Innu will not be able to take responsibility for education until they can provide that education themselves. If it is expected that the Innu are to come up with a plan to solve the problems of Innu education — something that the Government and the Province have been unable to do — before they are given responsibility for Innu education, then this is tantamount to a refusal to devolve education to the Innu. In the immediate term, after the Innu are registered as status Indians, the schools in the Innu communities will continue under the Newfoundland schooling system. Thus, although relocation will provide the Mushuau Innu with excellent physical facilities for schooling, the delivery and content of education will not change in either community as a result of registration. It is difficult to see how the continuation of a system that clearly does not work will improve education in the Innu communities. And it is difficult to understand why giving the Innu the opportunity to take responsibility for the education of their children could make anything worse. Back to top Health The situation in respect of health is more complex. There is a longer history of federal involvement in health issues in the two communities. Yet some parallels can be drawn with education. At the time of the 1993 Report there was a crisis of children gas sniffing in Davis Inlet that drew national and international attention. Some children were taken away from the community for treatment and then returned. Later there were reports that several of those children had returned to gas sniffing. In November 2000, there was a crisis of gas sniffing by children in both Sheshatshiu and Davis Inlet that received national and international attention. Children were removed from both communities and provided with treatment. Subsequently there were reports that children who had received treatment had returned to their communities and had continued gas sniffing. There are, of course, many differences between these two incidents, but the overall impression remains the same. Notwithstanding the substantial efforts that have been made to deal with health and social issues in the Innu communities, on the surface it appears that fundamentally little has changed. In fact, much has changed. In the incident in November 2000 it was the Innu leadership in Sheshatshiu that took the initiative and called on the provincial authorities to apprehend the children in that community under relevant child welfare laws. In Davis Inlet the leadership took the matter to Health Canada and the children were dealt with under voluntary care arrangements. The children from Sheshatshiu were treated in Goose Bay and the children from Davis Inlet were sent to Grace Hospital in St. John’s.54 Some children remain in treatment. The November 2000 incident demonstrates the jurisdictional nightmare that exists in respect of Innu health. The differing arrangements with the two communities led to serious difficulties over which level of government should be paying for which service. Health is a provincial responsibility, exercised in respect of the Innu through the provincial Health Labrador Corporation. Health Canada nevertheless funds health care programs and DIAND provides funding for health as well. The Innu manage health issues through health commissions in each of the communities. Coordination between these groups is a major problem. Within the Government an interdepartmental committee was established at the behest of the Chief Federal Negotiator for Labrador Innu Files to try to bring some coordination at the federal level. This has resulted in better communication but it has not prevented each department from carrying out its mandate as it sees fit, and friction between DIAND and Health Canada continues. The problem between the two departments is described by officials as a "national problem." Back to top There is no doubt that the resources devoted by the Government to issues of health in the Innu communities are significantly greater today than in 1993. The Innu themselves speak favourably of the role played by Health Canada. Yet there is still the concern that this has not resulted in a corresponding improvement in health in the communities. As Innu Nation President Peter Penashue observed at a circumpolar health conference in 1994:,"The arrival of an elaborate health care system among the Innu has coincided with a rapid worsening of Innu health." President Penashue did not see this as a matter of cause and effect. Rather he considered that Innu health and ill-health were determined largely by factors such as social and economic considerations, rather than the health care system itself. He suggested that improvement in Innu health could only occur alongside the development of healthy socio-economic and cultural systems. Under this view, control of the Innu over their own lives becomes critical to Innu health. The view expressed by President Penashue is widely shared among the Innu, who see experts with experience with problems in other communities, including other Aboriginal communities, being brought in to consider Innu problems. What is lacking, from the Innu perspective, is experience with the Innu themselves. There seems widespread consensus among the Innu that the programs that work best for them are the family healing programs, in which families go to the country and seek to come to terms with alcohol, gas sniffing and other problems of social dysfunction. However, on the return to the communities many of the problems resurface, and at the present there is little to provide the essential in-community follow-up. Proposals to link cultural awareness and health, like the outposts program, tend to fall through the funding gaps. The Innu also express concern that even after they become registered they will not gain any further autonomy over health care. Discussions between the federal and provincial governments over the role to be assigned to the Health Labrador Corporation after the Innu are registered, and the belief among federal and provincial officials that the Innu do not have the capacity to manage health care, suggest that the Innu are correct in their perception. In November 2001, the DIAND regional office confirmed to the Chiefs of Sheshatshiu and Davis Inlet that the Government would enter into an agreement with the Province and the Health Labrador Corporation for the provision of child and family services to the Innu by the Health Labrador Corporation.55 Federal officials also express concern over accountability in the management of funds. As mentioned earlier, Innu finances are currently under third-party management. As in the case of education, it is difficult to see how the Government can justify continuation of the present arrangements. They are currently managing crises in Innu health but have not been successful in addressing the underlying problems. They are not responding to Innu requests that the Innu be allowed to take more responsibility for their health. This is not to suggest that one should ignore the substantial efforts by both levels of government on matters relating to Innu health or to question the well-meaning intentions of those involved in providing programs and funding. It is simply to say that in light of the history of health in the communities, a point has been reached where the request of the Innu to take responsibility themselves for health care — and to be able to make their own mistakes — becomes compelling. Back to top During our discussions we heard much talk of "capacity building" but saw little evidence of real training, which is what the term "capacity building" denotes. The role of the federal and provincial governments should be to provide training that will allow the Innu to exercise their responsibilities in respect of education and health effectively. The assumption that the Innu do not have the capacity to manage education and health in their communities, and that if they were granted that responsibility they would fail, is easy to make given the educational, health and management experience of the Innu compared with the vast resources of the federal and provincial governments. But, as the Innu point out, the incentive for them not to fail is enormous. It is the education and health of their own people that are at stake. And, at least in the education field, failure is what already exists. The bar for measuring success could hardly be lower. What is needed, therefore, is a reversal of relationship. Instead of the Government and the Province taking responsibility for education and health in cooperation and consultation with the Innu, the Innu need to take responsibility for education and health in cooperation and consultation with federal and provincial authorities. This is not a fundamental change in direction, but simply a shift in the allocation of control. Furthermore, as with the need for a time-line on negotiations for self-government, there is a parallel need to impose deadlines on the process of devolution of responsibility for education and health. The Government and the Province have begun to move in the right direction, but nine years after the 1993 Report, there is insufficient progress to show for it. It should take no more than another two years to complete negotiations to devolve responsibility to the Innu. RECOMMENDATION 2 That the Government enter into negotiations with the Innu with a view to enabling them, following registration, to take responsibility for education and health in their communities. The devolution of such responsibility to the Innu should be completed within two years. |
Back to top This responsibility should be exercised in close cooperation with the federal and provincial governments, who should make it a high priority to provide training that will enable the Innu to exercise their responsibilities effectively. With the successful resolution of self-government and devolution of responsibility for education and health, the Innu will regain control and autonomy over their own affairs. In the interim, as such negotiations proceed, time remains of the essence in terms of the preservation of Innu language, traditional skills and culture. RECOMMENDATION 3 That the Government provide full and continuous funding for the outposts program and similar Innu-directed initiatives to enhance health and education through the preservation of Innu language, traditional skills and culture. |
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