PATHWAYS TO HOMELESSNESS #1
 Written by,  Sharleen Cainer, BSW RSW
    The path to homelessness has many avenues. Sometimes the pathways are long and winding but they will all eventually come to an end. Like a plumber's nightmare, the paths flow like water to the lowest point. One of the lowest points in Canadian history is the "un-homing" of Indigenous people. In 1876 the Canadian government provided Indigenous people with a process by which they could become voting members of society. Until this time they were deemed as wards of the state, and incapable of caring for themselves. They were seen as unworthy and uncivilized.
 Historically the Canadian government based its laws on land ownership.  To have access to due process through the court system one must be a landowner. Canadian women did not have the right to legally protect themselves, as the laws supported the landowner. Women and children were chattel. The Women's Suffrage Movement in 1920 led to women being granted the vote. It was also in 1920 when the Indigenous Suffrage movement granted Indigenous people the right to participate in a discussion about voting. The 1st Nations man could participate in the democratic process of voting by surrendering his treaty rights, denounce himself as an Indigenous person, give up his home on his reservation while including his wife and children in the process. It was called enfranchisement, but what was enfranchising about all of this? By disenfranchising themselves from their own communities, family ties, and social networks, they were franchising themselves to the dominant society for the sole purpose of gaining permission to vote. No other demographic in Canada is required to give up anything of who they are or where they come from so as to be able to participate in the democratic process of voting. Women are still women; immigrants keep dual citizenship and so on.
So, let us just call it what it was, disenfranchisement. The agenda to disenfranchise the Indigenous people has been winding with many options and the presentation of it confusing. Until 1985, an Indigenous woman who married a non-Indigenous man, lost her treaty rights as an Indigenous woman, and lost her rights to her land. Her children also lost out. This process of disenfranchisement for Indigenous people has been an active agenda since the European arrived in Canada. The government has had no end to the proposals they want to make to Indigenous people.
In 1960 Native people were deemed to be able to participate in the dominant society and be recognized as contributing self-determining people. The other thing that happened in the 60's was the "big scoop", where all the Indigenous children went to residential schools, up for adoption, or into foster care. The agenda was assimilation into "white" culture. But many children died of illness, broken hearts, and depression. They were molested, raped, robbed of self worth, and tortured.  The residential schools first started in the late 1800's. the last residential school was closed in 1900. By the time, the 60's came about Native people were only habiting .2% of the lands in Canada. Many had been uprooted and relocated many times. Some of those Indigenous Bands were living on the side of a railroad track, in traditional tents, when the temperatures in the winter months would drop to 80 degrees below zero. These people had been removed from their traditional lands 60 years earlier, as their presence had impeded the logging industry Some had been moved to territories that did not fit with their historical culture, or were isolated into areas that were uninhabitable, and inaccessible depending on the seasons. Children were returned to places they did not know, siblings they did not know, and families they could not communicate with.
What happens when a culture becomes disorganized?  All social ills happen. Homelessness happens. Lawlessness happens, addictions happen. With a loss of culture children lose their history and their future. Who is present to guide and educate the upcoming generation? Who is present to care for the seniors when the children are grown? Anybody?  The enfranchisement agenda was created to un-home Indigenous people. The treaties were created to provide an agreement between the Europeans and Indigenous. The Indigenous, who historically did not believe in land ownership, received the short end of the land ownership stick, and have not been able to gain traction in housing their population since the arrival of the Europeans.
The Canadian government has historically and purposefully reigned a campaign of terror against the inhabitants of vulnerable Indigenous communities. Many of those who have been historically disenfranchised by engaging in the illustrious enfranchise programs, which have led the vulnerable to loss, homelessness, addictions, and other mental health issues.  An Indigenous person in this country is ten times more likely to commit suicide than a non-Indigenous Canadian, because what they see is a long road of hopelessness in front of them as they came from a long road of hopelessness behind them. The proud, regal Indian is a racist token and something of a distant past. It is difficult to resurrect a stoic icon in the midst of the fallout that has spanned just two hundred years.  Indigenous people suffer homelessness, lack of appropriate homes, as an agenda that was purposefully put forward by governing bodies.
Homeless numbers escalate, as government agendas continue to stand between the unsheltered and a home. There are many people who are vulnerable to becoming unsheltered. Stand together united, divided we fall.
Please consider the kind of community in which you would like to live, be understanding and ask for compassion for those who cannot ask for themselves.