Opinion – RezXtra Blog: Stephen Harper’s Diabolical Evil Master Plan for Aboriginal Youth

Not everyone has given Harper the thumbs up on his First Nations Education Act

When Prime-Minister Stephen Harper announced $1.9 billion dollars in new funding to improve First Nations Education as per the renamed FNCFNEA (First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act) he may have thought First Nations people across Canada would take to the streets and celebrate with flash mob round dances in every city like they won the lottery or won some kind of political war.

Instead what it only did was create more controversy for Harper’s unpopular Conservative government among Canada’s tax payers, since this is how it was sold that they will be paying for it (First Nations people pay tax too, thought I should throw that in there). But for First Nations people, what it also did was create more divisions among those who approved it versus those who didn’t.

Those that approved it were lobby groups like FSIN (Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations), AFN (Assembly of First Nations) and other Aboriginal organizations that have been pushing for such changes to the Act when it was first introduced last year as draft legislation.

Those who didn’t approve it, were unsurprisingly, people of the grassroots movement and organizations like Idle No More (INM) who viewed it as political strategy considering the funding wouldn’t kick in until 2015 – an election year.

So regardless if you agree or disagree, it is important to take note of some of the things Harper said during his announcement speech that was held in front of Chiefs, elected officials and Aboriginal youth on the Kainai Nation. If you can read between the lines of what he said, you will begin to understand that Stephen Harper has a Diabolical Evil Master Plan for Aboriginal Youth and this is where he announced it.

What Harper said: “Aboriginal Youth represent the fastest segment of the population. Over the next decade, hundreds of thousands of young aboriginal people will be of age to enter a work force that will need them as never before…there talents and ambition will be a critical part of the solution to Canada’s looming labour shortage…but without an education and the kind of system we envision too many of them will be unemployed or under employed…

What he really meant to say was: “Aboriginal people have been making babies at alarming rates, over the next decade these babies will grow into teenagers and soon they will be ready to work…their talents of hoop dancing and singing will do them no good for getting them a job on the rez, unless there is a round dance gig, but that doesn’t pay much…and their ambition to hoop dance and sing can be replaced with ambitions to build pipelines. But without a basic education, they will be left with no other options but to work at the store or band office and if your family is not in power, then you’re kind of screwed!”

And here’s another one…

What Harper said: “We have with us today in the crowd, a number of employers who have been leading the way in understanding this…and in extending job opportunities to First Nations, they are eager to work with First Nations communities across the country to create the job and economic opportunities that benefit us all..they are ready to hire and train First Nations for steady and well paying jobs, but the key to such jobs is a basic education.”

What Harper really meant to say was: “We have with us today in the crowd, a number of employers who have also come today with pay checks post dated for 2016 that will be handed out to all the Aboriginal youth in attendance today, thus starting the first regulation of the Education Act of good attendance. But the youth can only cash them if they finish their grade twelve and apply for the jobs these executives are offering…good paying jobs, not careers, jobs!” (notice he never once said careers?).

Harper’s Diabolic Evil Master Plan for Aboriginal Youth is Fragile Rock

Aboriginal Youth could soon look like those little workers from Fragile Rock, nothing to do but work and build things

Aboriginal Youth could soon look like those little workers from Fragile Rock, with nothing to do but work and build things

According to Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, between 2001 and 2026, 600,000 aboriginal youth will enter the labour market. For Harper and his industry partners, this means two things; 1) a solution to Canada’s looming labour shortage and 2) votes galore! (But I wont get into the politics of buying votes, that’s for another blog)

So perhaps Harper’s FNCFNA was only the beginning of one big diabolical evil master plan to make Aboriginal youth the new industry slaves by throwing money into education to prepare them for one reason only – building Canada’s next industrial revolution? Holy shit, that’s evil.

So evil, that Aboriginal youth could end up living like the Doozers from the 80’s TV show Fragile Rock. Now if you don’t remember Fragile Rock, there were these characters called the Doozers who were a race of little builders who just loved to work, but unfortunately had nothing else to do, so that’s what they did every day. – see video below.

Then again, maybe this education act and work reform is a different kind of diabolical evil master plan to get Aboriginal youth educated so they could work in industry and trades to help them get off social assistance to make a decent living and contribute to Canada’s tax base, and if that’s the case, then that’s just horrible!

Already we’re seeing initiatives taking place that will soon replace social assistance programs with employment programs with trades being the first and only options available. Which means no more laying around on the couch playing Grand Theft Auto or Candy Crush.

WHO IS AT FAULT FOR LACK OF EMPLOYMENT ON THE REZ?

So as much as you hate Darth Harper and the Conservative Empire and whether you’re a Jedi activist or Pro Industry Sith, one thing we can all agree on is when it comes to finding jobs on the rez, being an aboriginal youth truly sucks! And who is at fault for that?

Is it a lack of jobs or employment initiatives on the rez? Is it a lack of after school programs and organized sports to keep youth motivated enough to aim higher? Is your leader spending most of their time playing politics protecting their own job every election term instead of creating jobs for youth? Or all the above?

So when the government steps in and takes away social assistance and replaces that with their own job initiatives, suddenly we all want to blame the white man (government). I would rather blame the white man for his liquor, drugs, musicals and small pox, but not so much employment opportunities. A lot of First Nations communities had years to implement employment opportunities for their youth but did nothing, now it’s cone to this.

The point I am trying to make is, things have remained the same for many years on many reserves. After high school, many youth have nothing to do if they can’t get into university or find employment. So what happens next?

Poverty continues to flourish, some youth become parents who live with their own parents in run down houses that create poor health. Since there are a lack of jobs, many youth have no choice but to rely on social assistance, and in some cases, boredom leads to suicides and gangs start to run rampant because of the demand for drugs and alcohol due to social problems.

For those who actually left the rez and made it, coming home to a situation like this can make you wonder, “what the the hell happened? Did Scar and his Hyena’s from the Lion King get into office? We need Simba, we need Simba now!”

But enough with the poverty porn, I’m not some white saviour from mainstream media trying to tell a story to sell newspapers or magazines, because not every rez is that bad. Even the ones doing economically well have already signed on to push this agenda and some have had positive impacts for their youth, which has caused a decline in crime, gangs, suicides and so on.

So I’m not saying all is bad with industry and trades, because you have to remember, not every Aboriginal youth wants to save the planet or protect Mother Earth like what their older generation of activists want them to do. It’s just unfortunate, that these are the first and only options available, but that could change over the years.

HARPER – THE WHITE SAVIOUR OF ABORIGINAL YOUTH?

Although if there is one white saviour who thinks he is coming to solve the problems of Aboriginal youth and poverty and low education, then you could argue it is Stephen Harper, or so he thinks. Like a bad parent who hasn’t seen his kids in years, Harper thinks he can just throw money at the problem. Yet that might be the problem right there, him viewing Aboriginal youth as a bunch of little charity cases with a lot of “talent and ambition” who could make good “doozers”.

So if your an Aboriginal youth living on the rez who is also a social environmentalist activist but can’t find work and has no choice but to rely on social assistance in order to survive, then Harper has a plan for you – you’re going to help build Canada’s next industrial revolution and you will do it not because you want to, you will do it because you have to.

Or if you’re an Aboriginal youth who wants to work in the trades and make a lot of money, the industry is ready to welcome you with open arms. You will be the first to benefit regardless of how it impacts mother earth or the land you once called home. As long as you graduate from grade twelve, you can skip university or college and go straight into the trades and make more money in four years as opposed to being poor and sitting in a classroom that long.

So even if you disagree with my argument, one thing we can all agree on is; with a huge labour shortage already looming, especially with industry and trades, Aboriginal youth will be the solution and will be the ones to build Canada’s next industrial revolution. Stephen Harper’s Diabolical Evil Master Plan is already in motion.