BILL’S RIGHT ON BLOG: How Voting Can Determine Your Future

I’ve been an urban indigenous person most of my life. I left the Cowessess First Nation when I turned 18 and moved to Regina Sk where I would spend the next 20 years making a life I could call my own. From my initial homelessness to living in the basement of a church to renting my first apartment. I loved my new city life. Urban life was different than living on the rez, in many ways shockingly so, from the people I would come to know, to the issues I would understand as affecting us – as both indigenous and non-indigenous people life was never the same to me.

I had family living in the city who had to survive however they could and employment opportunities, education, transportation, healthcare were all tied to their residency in the urban centre. While true many times they were told they’d have to apply to their own First Nation for certain medical programs, scholarships or funding for post-secondary many of my indigenous family and friends chose to stay in Regina. Yet even though many programs seemed to exclude indigenous participation many issues in the city still impacted us.

For example for many youth growing up in the city, it isn’t a First Nation school, it’s a community school that they attend. Health issues aren’t dealt with through a community health centre but a medi-centre or the emergency ward of a hospital. Starting your employment journey doesn’t come through a farmer or the band office but 7/11 jobs, volunteer exposure at community organizations, big block stores like Canadian Tire or Wal-Mart, construction and trades etc.

Of course with these differences there are differences in how taxes are collected. For example, even if you rent your home, part of your rent is used by your landlord to go towards the payment of city property taxes or if you live and work off your first nation you must pay provincial and federal taxes on monies earned and yearly you have to pony up and get your federal taxes in order. This isn’t to add in either the Provincial Sales Tax we all pay or the federal Goods and Services Tax that is added to many of our purchases.

All this money we pay in taxes is used to fund the many programs and services we use and as such monies are allocated for health care services, schools, post-secondary institutions, roads, aboriginal affairs, by the various levels of government that use your tax dollars. And since politics isn’t just about power but also about the ability to spend money it makes sense that I would want the best possible steward watching over both the money that my family and I pay but also how programs and services are administered.

This sounds awfully assimilated but I’m not denying my indigenous sovereignty by voting but rather continuing to look after my own interests and that of my urban families and friends. If I feel one party is going to take more money out of my pocket by increasing my taxes it’s likely I will not support them, nor is it likely that I will vote for a party that is openly hostile to indigenous concerns. It is true that our sovereignty isn’t based on which party or MP is in power over at the House of Commons and it is true that many agreements, commissions and plans have been set aside by a change in the incoming governments after elections but rather in us know our identity. First Nations have a Nation to Nation relationship with the Crown as protected by Canada’s constitution giving us a unique relationship in regards to other interest groups.  

It is this relationship we must take seriously, regardless of who obtains power because just like the #idlenomore protests against Harper’s Bill C-31, the resistance to Brian Mulroney’s Buffalo Jump task force paper or Pierre Trudeau’s White Paper, that we as indigenous people must always be on guard watching for the erosion of our Treaty Rights. I don’t believe voting to take away from these rights. Case in point, Quebec continually argues it’s a separate nation from Canada and operates as independently as it can from the rest of the country but still takes the transfer payments and votes for federal parties come election time. Catalonia is also a country that demands nationalism from Spain had developed political autonomy, Nuevo León, a Mexican state also claims sovereignty from the nation of Mexico but still shares a similar relationship with the government as other provinces, finally Tibet is perhaps the most famous autonomous region claiming sovereignty while being ruled by another nation.

Moving towards sovereignty is going to be a long process but as indigenous people we have a solid basis for taking further steps down that path – our treaty relationship with the crown. This relationship isn’t with any political party but if Quebec can use Canadian election law to elect a sovereignist party to become her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition on the heels of a failed national referendum for Quebec sovereignty perhaps we need to consider national parties that sympathize with our cause. Currently in Canada there are various examples of treaties and agreements that allow for multiple levels of indigenous sovereignty from James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement to the Nisga’a Final Agreement in BC. Currently in Ontario an agreement has been signed by the Quebec Liberal Government and the Chiefs of Ontario to affirm the indigenous inherent right of self-government, a commitment to work together for mutual benefit, and set a path for further reconciliation.

Canadian politics can be dark and murky waters to transverse if you’re unaware of the intricacies of the various parties, the interactions of our different levels of governments and as indigenous people we must also understand the intrigue of First Nations politics and our various tribal councils, provincial representative organizations such as the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians Nations and also federal agencies like the Assembly of First Nations. Its no wonder voting can be such a daunting task, but regardless ignorance must never be used as an excuse to vote for it’s up to each of us to be educated and aware of how our future is affected by our relationship with the Crown. I’m not here to tell you who to vote for in these elections but rather to ask you to be involved in determining our future.

– Bill Stevenson, Bill’s Right On Blog! 

RezX Political Blogger, Bill Stevenson, Bill’s Right On Blog