Former Progressive Conservative MLA Mike Allen, a man who’s been the subject of some interesting stories in recent Alberta political history, announced Tuesday he plans to run for mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which in practical terms means mayor of Fort McMurray. Nowadays, the former music store
Continue readingTag: Fort McMurray
Alberta Politics: Happy New Year! What’s Brian Jean up to? Is the former Wildrose leader plotting a comeback?
Happy New Year! So, now that it’s 2019, what’s Brian Jean up to? Maybe it’s just me, but he’s sure acting like a guy who’s thinking about being a political candidate again! You remember Brian Jean, don’t you? He used to be the leader of the Wildrose Party. Indeed, he
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brian Jean, former Opposition leader and unsuccessful contender to lead United Conservative Party, quits Alberta politics
PHOTOS: Brian Jean, when he was still running for the leadership of the United Conservative Party in 2017. Below: Mr. Jean feeling the love during the race to lead the UCP, and as he would probably like his political career to be remembered. (The second and third photos were grabbed
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose shadow shuffle leaves Derek Fildebrandt in finance; Brian Jean rumoured eyeing shuffle off to Wood Buffalo
PHOTOS: Yon Fildebrandt has that lean and hungry look … Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, right, and his finance critic, still, Derek Fildebrandt, in happier times. Below: Wildrose MLAs Drew Barnes, Leela Aheer and Tany Yao. Seemingly flying beneath the radar, Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean has completed a significant reshuffle
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Clown costumes verboten today in Fort Mac schools … but are Canadians safe when costumed mimes can walk our streets?
PHOTOS: Mump and Smoot, Edmonton’s clowns of horror. They’re not welcome in Fort McMurray’s public schools today. Below: Something new to worry about … the New York subway’s Mime of Horror! Another photo of Mump and Smoot, from their Facebook page just like the one above, no doubt reacting the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brian Jean’s crack about beating Rachel Notley may have ended his hopes to lead Alberta’s right
PHOTOS: Opposition Leader Brian Jean, haunted by the radicalism of his own rural-dominated party, now looks like he’s stumbled into the same snake pit of anger and misogyny. (Photo from Wildrose.ca.) Below: Premier Rachel Notley, the subject of Mr. J…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A spectre is haunting Alberta, and Wildrose Leader Brian Jean wants to assure you it’s not him!
PHOTOS: The plot thickens … like the gravy at a certain truck stop restaurant. The spectral presences of Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper eating breakfast are not quite visible in the booth. Below: Mr. Jean, plus the real Mr. Kenney and the real Mr. H…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Neil MacDonald discusses the unfairness in allowing a wealthy class of individuals to set up its own rules, while Jeffrey Sachs notes that the U.S. and U.K. are among the worst offenders in allowing for systema…
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: The tale of two communities in crisis: Fort McMurray and Attawapiskat
Crisis situations are shaking two Canadian communities to their very core – the terrifying wildfires that destroyed Fort McMurray, and the epidemic of attempted youth suicides on the Attawapiskat First Nations reserve.The question arises: Why are bil…
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: The tale of two communities in crisis: Fort McMurray and Attawapiskat
Crisis situations are shaking two Canadian communities to their very core – the terrifying wildfires that destroyed Fort McMurray, and the epidemic of attempted youth suicides on the Attawapiskat First Nations reserve.
The question arises: Why are billions of dollars being pumped in to deal with one crisis while the other is all but being ignored.
By the time Fort McMurray is rebuilt, it’s likely that governments will have spent $2-billion or more. Donations from Canadians will reach into the millions. And a representative of one of the big insurance companies estimated they will be required to pay as much as $9-billion to restore homes and businesses.
Justin Trudeau receives a gift of sweetgrass and a canoe from National Chief Perry Bellegarde after addressing the Assembly of First Nations. |
I have no quarrel with anything that is being done to help the people and community of Fort McMurray. The destruction and emotional distress suffered by residents is taking a heavy toll. Like thousands of other folks, I have made a financial contribution.
What I do object to is that, in comparison, the federal and Ontario governments are doing practically nothing and spending a pittance to alleviate the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat, a poverty-stricken, isolated community of 2,000 located 720 km north of Sudbury.
The youth crisis reached epidemic proportions just days before the fire outbreak in Fort McMurray. Eleven Attawapiskat young people attempted suicide during the same night. Local hospital staff, unable to deal with the situation, became frantic.
Following an urgent appeal for help, the federal and Ontario government sent a handful of medical specialists to comfort the young people.
The support didn’t help much.
Last week, on the second day of the fires in Fort McMurray, Attawapiskat experienced nine suicide or overdoses attempts.
Chief Bruce Shisheesh of Attawapiskat urgently contacted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and asked for a second meeting. He told Trudeau it was now “a matter of life and death” in his community.
“While the efforts of your ministers is appreciated to date, it falls short [of] finding Attawapiskat has been under a state of emergency since early April, with chief and council saying it has been overwhelmed by ongoing suicide attempts.”
The Prime Minister’s Office replied that Prime Minister Trudeau could meet with native leaders in Ottawa when it was convenient to both parties.
Earlier, Trudeau charmed native leaders and reserve folks with vague promises and double-talk:
“I don’t want to pretend that any of us have the answers to the challenges facing indigenous peoples in Canada, but what I will tell you that as a country, we can build those answers.”
Clearly, compared to the human touch extended to the victims of Fort McMurray, governments are being callous in their responses to the Attawapiskat crisis.
- In April, federal Minister of Indigenous Affairs Carolyn Bennett made a trip to Attawapiskat and promised funding for a new youth centre and some programming for young people. In addition, a youth delegation from the region will be invited to visit Ottawa.
- The Ontario government has pledged $2 million over the next two years for health support and a youth centre for the community.
Where is the empathy
in those kinds of promises?
A lack of money is not the problem. The federal government is sitting on about $4-billion to be used to improve lives, particularly education facilities, on reserves. http://communica.ca/summary-the-2016-federal-budget-and-aboriginal-programs/
What is hard to understand is why the federal government isn’t dipping into its stashed away billions to assist First Nations communities such as Attawapiskat.
If respect for human life is a factor, surely the greatest threat is at Attawapiskat. In Fort McMurray, luckily, only two people lost their lives, due to a vehicle accident. In Attawapiskat a 13-year-old girl committed suicide last October. Since last fall, others have died and there have been more than 100 suicide attempts in the community.
Children – kids who should be growing up bright and enthusiastic – are trying to kill themselves.
The federal government could use one of those giant aircraft being used at Fort McMurray to airlift gifts to the depressed children into Attawapiskat. It would be great if they were given all kinds of things they’d love to have – from computers, to new bicycles, to dolls, etc.
Instead of loaning psychiatrists and medical support to the sad little hospital on the reserve, staff levels should be doubled or tripled until well after the suicide crisis is over.
Much of the housing on the reserve is uninhabitable and contributes to suicidal feelings and other problems. The same military planes that were used to help Fort McMurray should be deployed to air-lift new pre-fabricated houses and community buildings to Attawapiskat.
I contend that the decades of poverty, the murder of more than1,000 women, the many youth suicides, and the general degradation of a race of people deserve equal attention to the aid and love being bestowed on Fort McMurray.
So, why is one crisis receiving massive support, while another, perhaps more serious in some ways, is getting little attention?
Governments and the public reacted so positively and so quickly to the Fort McMurray situation because the fire was so immediate and horrific. Now millions will be spent to allow the energy companies to get back to scraping up oil sands.
While I don’t have a lot of faith in Liberal governments, I am surprised that, given the strong stand Trudeau has taken concerning aboriginal issues, he hasn’t taken more action more quickly.
On the other hand, the problems on reserves such as Attawapiskat have been with us for generations. While there have been improvements in the attitudes of many Canadians toward indigenous people, many others still don’t think they should be helped.
If there were overwhelming pressure on the government to help Attawapiskat, it would be happening. Of course if a non-aboriginal community were threatened by dozens of children trying to commit suicide, government and public response would be overwhelming.
A Different Point of View....: The tale of two communities in crisis: Fort McMurray and Attawapiskat
Crisis situations are shaking two Canadian communities to their very core – the terrifying wildfires that destroyed Fort McMurray, and the epidemic of attempted youth suicides on the Attawapiskat First Nations reserve. The question arises: Why are billions of dollars being pumped in to deal with one crisis while the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Fort McMurray provides a humanizing break from hyper-partisan politics in Alberta
One year ago, the Edmonton Journal published a letter written by Greg Stevens, in which the former cabinet minister sent Alberta’s newly elected New Democratic Party best wishes at the start of its term as government. Mr. Stevens, who served in …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: One year ago today the NDP won in Alberta. The next day hell froze over.
The attention of most Albertans this week is rightfully focused on the wildfires that are raging through northern Alberta and the more than 80,000 residents of Fort McMurray who have fled to safer ground in the south. It is a… Continue Reading →
Continue readingTrashy's World: Fort McMurray fires
I don’t know about you, but I am blown away by the images I am seeing out of northern Alberta. Keep in mind that Fort Mac is a city of about 90,000 and much of it could go up in flames. If you are able, please donate to the Red Cross relief effor…
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: In Alberta, First Nations engage in a complex dance of resistance to and cooperation with Big Oil
In this illuminating piece, Seattle journalist Erika Lundahl examines how, in Alberta, First Nations are forced to “engage in a complex dance of resistance to and cooperation with” Big Oil “in order to survive.”
The post In Alberta, First Nations engag…
Alberta Diary: Climate change divestment movement gains ground in church – but not in Canadian media or political circles
Ho-hum… Some typical Canadian reporters, hard at work … Actual Canadian newsrooms may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Is he more influential than we imagined in Alberta? CALGARY When retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu visited Alberta’s Tarpatch capital of Fort McMurray last month and called
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: NEP what? Trudeau Liberals dominate Oil Capital Fort McMurray
TweetPreliminary results from last week’s Fort McMurray-Athabasca by-election show that federal Liberal candidate Kyle Harrietha dominated in the industrial capital of Canada’s oil economy. According to an initial breakdown of the results by polling station, Mr. Harrietha earned 46% of the votes cast (2,560 votes) in the northern region the riding on June 30, 2014, which includes
Continue readingTHE CANADIAN PROGRESSIVE: Alberta tar sands a “war on the earth”: Brigette DePape
For Canadian activist Brigette DePape, participating in last weekend’s final tar sands Healing Walk in Fort McMurray, Alberta, was akin to “witnessing a war on the earth, and being part of a growing movement to stop it.” The post Alberta tar sands a “war on the earth”: Brigette DePape appeared
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Happy Canada Day from the prime minister of Canada and the premier of Alberta, channeled by Perfesser Dave
Oooooh! Happy Canada Day, Canadians. Enjoy yourselves. Prime Minister Steve Harper and Premier Dave Hancock wish they could be here with you and Perfesser Dave. Below: Mr. Hancock and Mr. Harper … Happy-Happy! Happy Canada Day! Perfesser Dave, here, the political predictions guy, speaking on behalf of my friends Stephen
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Big by-election in Fort McMurray? Never mind that! As goes Macleod, so goes Alberta…
Fort McMurray, before the Bitumen Boom. Things have changed. Below: Conservative Fort McMurray-Athabasca candidate David Yurdiga, Liberal candidate Kyle Harrietha, NDP candidate Lori McDaniel, former Conservative MP Brian Jean. If the good people of Fort McMurray climb out of bed this morning and decide to elect a Liberal to represent
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