To the Editor:

I view a lot of programs that attempt to enlighten the general public of the state of affairs in foreign countries such as Africa. We see many advertisements presented by sports figures, artist and Hollywood actors. They set the scene to entice us to give to help these folks survive, not knowing where the next meal is coming from. These are legitimate concerns for all of us, but who is concerned about the conditions faced by our first people, our aboriginal society?

I drive a semi as a profession, and I have the opportunity to deliver products to some of our First Nations communities in Northern Manitoba. The sites I see in these communities are deplorable conditions for human beings in the year 2010.

Has I put these concerns on paper, we are celebrating Canada’s 143rd birthday. The Queen is in Ottawa, enjoying this beautiful country where we are free and blessed in many ways. All these events are great and important to our society.

Then my thoughts return to what I witness in our own backyard of this great country, the conditions faced by our aboriginal people.

I arrive in the community, low on fuel, and there is a young lady setting on a box, by a gas pump that is leaning over due to poor or no maintenance. I pull up to the station and ask if I could get $40 worth of fuel. She pumps the gas, while some type of bag hangs on her shoulder.

Because I drive for a business, I require a receipt for the record. When I request a receipt, she told me that she doesn’t have that here. I got her a pen and she ripped off a piece of paper that she was using for all purchases by customers. She wrote the amount on the paper and gave it to me. I went and made my delivery, while leaving the community she was there on the box waiting for the next customer. No shelter to keep her away from the elements, such as bugs, rain and such.

When I arrived at the delivery point, there were young children, teenagers and adults setting on rails, drums, rocks, stairwells, it reminded me of a group waiting for some special event about happen like a parade. There are no recreational activities that can help them develop their skills. There are no employment opportunities. They have to put total dependence for their survival in the hands of the government.

The highways to the communities are death traps, because of the loose gravel and washboard conditions. Take a ride to the Manitoba Hydro projects and compare the conditions of the gravel roads; why can’t the governments of the day upgrade the roads for the safety of the people living in these communities? Also I have to ask the question, what are the transportation industries, the business that has to use their equipment to deliver goods to these communities by way of these deathtrap highways doing to get these roads improved?

While leaving the community, a little girl, maybe four years old was on the side of the road all alone; she waved as I went by. She was a beautiful little girl; the sadness I felt for her, how sad it is, then I thought about the roaming dogs I saw within a short distance of this little lonely child, and then I thought out loud what if these animals were hungry, and this child became the source of their next meal? What a horrible situation it would be. If you read the states, children are the most vulnerable. A study found that there were 28 who died from dog attaches, between 1990 and 2008, and 85 per cent of them were children under the age of 10. Remember, a dog is not a child’s best friend.

The federal government spent more than a billion; yes a billion dollars, for a three-day photo hop, while our First Nations live in Third World conditions in this great country of Canada.

I ask every aboriginal person who is eligible to vote, to tell Niki Ashton and Steve Ashton that if they are not going to improve your roads, employment opportunities, education and recreational needs you will be terminating their employment at the ballot box when the next election is called.

It’s time that Steven Harper, Niki Ashton, Steve Ashton and Greg Selinger purchase a Greyhound ticket and travel the Northern communities of this great land and experience these third world living conditions. You don’t need to visit a foreign country or watch CNN; you have them in this great country called Canada.

Addie Colbourne

Thompson

Addie Colbourne is the author of The Black Sheep of Northern Newfoundland. He is working on his second book.