by Mimiges Brownroad, MMNN Contributor

One of our subjects around Indigenous country is talking about alleviating poverty.

Some of us grew up in an era when there was even more wide-spread economic poverty. The times when most of us lived in shacks, shared shoes in a large family, wore old clothes and were taunted racist remarks in town (whether you lived on or outside of a reserve). Although there have been many families to climb out of that kind of poverty, we see some of our First Nation brothers and sisters still struggling and we want to stand up for them.

Although that’s a good talk, that’s not the kind of poverty that I need to focus on today.

Even though some of us lived in shacks, our brothers could still walk down to the river and catch fish for the family supper each day. Our mothers could trust the spring water. Our medicine people could trust the plants to not be contaminated with toxins. Our sisters could trust the berries and feed us with them. The poverty of my grandchildren will be the loss of those things: the ability to provide for yourself and live within Creation. Perhaps the greatest threat looming in the shadows of industry’s tailpipes is the loss of our basic livelihoods.

I’m less worried about how much catch the commercial fishing vessel in the community brings in, because I’m most worried about the fishers who can’t feed their families healthy fish. I’m less worried about if our community can sustain a tax-free gas station but most worried abou ...

To view the full story, you must be a subscriber. Click here for information on how to subscribe.

 

Tags: