Posts from — March 2009

Every once in a while I go to Chapters and look at magazines. If one catches my interest I sit by the window and flip through it. A few days ago The Futurist was the magazine of choice. It had the headline “ Technology Timeline to 2040” and given that many of us hope that technology will solve the world’s problems more quickly than we humans, destroy it, I thought I would spend a little time reading.

Well as luck would have it the article that caught my eye was not the one about the future of Technology but one called “What I have Learned” by Edward Cornish. He founded the World Future Society in 1966 and served as its president until 2004.

What caught me off guard was the statement “I believe that social technologies will be even more important than physical, chemical or biological technologies.” He mentioned the Canadian, Stuart Conger, who wrote about social inventions and their importance. “Think of marriage, language, government, laws, schools, hospitals, income taxes, the United Nations. There was a time when they did not exist. Somebody (or, more likely, somebodies) had to invent them.

I had never thought of social changes being classified as social inventions. Calling it such makes social change much more manageable and possible for me. With inventions, one expects to make mistakes and to have break throughs on the way to finding successes. It’s more of a process.

In another vain I just finished reading Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards. It was one of the five books in this year’s CBCs Canada Reads. What an awful book! A page turner yes! It read like a John Grisham novel but was dreadfully sad and depressing. I almost stopped reading it at one point but was quickly drawn back in just to find out what was going to happen to the poor sods. It was the first book dropped off the Canada Reads round robin and I can understand why. Warning! Read it at your peril.

I wrote this political musing after spending a day at Steven Paikin and the TVO crew’s Agenda Camp.

The TVO Agenda Camp was basically a series of discussions on The Aboriginal Economy. It took place at the Fort William Band’s Community Centre. No speakers, no lectures (except by impassioned small group members) and no goals or outcomes. TVO just wanted us to talk about the first nation’s economy and explore what is and what might be.

I sat in on three sessions. One titled ‘What is the Aboriginal Economy’ another ‘Partnerships - how do we begin to engage industry and government to seriously sit down and discuss issues?’ The third was learning about the technology used during the day.

Here’s what stood out for me. Leadership in First Nations communities is really important. The Pic River spokesperson I heard was energized and enthusiastic about his community. “You have to have grade twelve if you want to work for the community and if you don’t have it we will help you go to school to get it.” I got excited when I heard him. I asked if the band was afraid of losing their culture. I had heard that some aboriginals worry that this kind of success will jeopardize their traditional culture. He said that their success has allowed them more opportunity to focus on aboriginal culture.

I asked others why they thought Pic River was such a success. One person said that embracing education was important. Another said that Pic River has had the same chief for many years and that that has provided continuity. She continued that too often when band chiefs change the new chief brings his or her friends and relatives into positions of power. This creates two major problems for the community. There is very limited consistency and ability doesn’t play as important a role as it should. It makes it very difficult to establish guidelines or policies that carry over from one chief to the next.

Land and territorial rights was another area of discussion. There was lots of talk about the interference of government. Michael Gravelle and John Rafferty were both there and they had their work cut out for them. Some comments I heard, “If only the government would stay out of the way and let us negotiate agreements with the mining companies”, and “If we could get the go ahead to build dams on the rivers in the north we could help our communities.” I thought I would play the devil’s advocate. I asked the question “Who is going to look after my rights, as a white guy, if it isn’t the government?” Which brought the response, “What makes you think that the aboriginal government isn’t capable of looking after your needs?” There are a lot of plusses to the Aboriginal way of doing things. Their decision making processes seem to be more inclusive, gentler and less adversarial than ours.

A number of people spoke about the need for the native community to take responsibility for its well being. That blaming and depending on the non aboriginal community hasn’t been successful. Being equal partners in business and in relations with government is key to building a healthy society. We all need to have something we can be proud of. Something that motivates us and gives us a reason to get up in the morning. Moving from a state of dependence to a state of strength and independence is hard but it is happening and can be done.

There are 11 million people in Ontario who have a stake in what happens in the north and while most may not be actively involved you can bet there are those who are watching closely. Politicians on both sides need to remember this if much needed change is to happen successfully.

The healing and success of the Aboriginal people will depend on tough negotiations, thoughtful agreements and give and take on both sides.

Building a solid economic base will go a long way to supporting native communities. Having responsibility for the success of those businesses will build pride. The mining act is being revised and agreements are being made with companies. There is a lot to be positive about.

For my money there should be Agenda Camps every six months with a different focus each session. I learned a lot and valued the experience.