Can Hilary and I become pen pals?

Letter - The Regional

December 23, 2008

One of the risks that you run by putting your thoughts down on paper is that the reader will take something other than your intended meaning from it. Since I appear to have drawn some "thumbs down" responses of late, I feel obliged to clarify some points.

Mr. Crawford: My letter was based on an article that ran in the "Teka". Three quarters of the complaint file was on local issues that occurred recently. There was brief mention of the larger issues. If the main topic of discussion was "The elimination of discrimination against women" then the article was very misleading (that's so unlike the "Teka").

You mention my "Degrading opinion of Natives in residential schools." On Nov. 19 I wrote, "Undoubtedly there were abuses… any survivors, if there is sufficient evidence that they were abused, should be compensated fairly." On Dec. 3, "I feel bad (not guilty) for the people that were genuinely abused." If you consider that degrading then your dictionary differs from mine.

Mr. Styres: I can't. I just can't.

Ms. Serblan: I was not offended by your letter. Actually I enjoyed it. I should however point out that I did not suggest that residential schools "weren't all that bad." Nov. 19: "The residential school Saga is not all bad." That is an accurate statement. That doesn't mean that they were a good idea. (The government has been consistent. When it comes to the Indians they've had a long run of bad ideas).

You suggest that the Indians have never asked for my pity or my guilt. Well, not in as many words but I've been called "Squatter" (By a group that was illegally occupying a parcel of land – the irony of it), and "colonialist" and told to "go back to Europe." (I responded with "go back to Asia" and the conversation became decidedly uncivil).

If the government is unwilling to acknowledge or address land claims then the Indians need to take the government to court.

You suggest that there is nothing wrong with Native culture. As I write, a series of articles is running in the "Toronto Sun." Some stats:

• The suicide rate among aboriginal people is three to four times greater than the non-aboriginal population.
• Among First-Nations women 75% are victims of family violence.
• The percentage of populations that is overweight: First nations 63%, Canada 30%.
• The prevalence of diabetes in First Nations people is three times higher than non-First Nations people and particularly higher among women and youth.
• Mortality rates for First Nations males aged 35 to 49 are nearly four times that of non-First Nation males, with motor vehicle accidents the leading cause of death.
• Aboriginal youth are six times more likely to have alcohol-related problems, with aboriginal boys more likely to abuse alcohol and aboriginal girls to abuse drugs.

I'd suggest that their culture is destroying them.

I don't want a divide between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people. I want equality. I want Canadians.

Doug Fleming

p.s. I think that Hilary and I can become pen pals.