An article published this week on Macleans magazine’s website draws the conclusion that the problems faced by remote northern communities can be solved by giving the people who live in them a viable option to leave.
Flin Flon-born Scott Gilmore authored the article, published under the headline “La Loche shows us it’s time to help people escape the North.”
Niki Ashton, MP for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, called the article unhelpful and offensive.
“Unfortunately, I find Mr. Gilmore’s piece off the mark and frankly unhelpful when it comes to the conversation we’re having with Canadians in the south about what our communities need in the north.”
Ashton pointed to the example of Tadoule Lake to show that relocations in the region have a “very dark history.”
The Dene community at Duck Lake was relocated to Churchill in 1956, in part due to reports from Manitoba officials who believed the traditional hunting practices of the Dene were contributing to a perceived decline of area caribou herds.
The Manitoba government issued an apology in 2010 for the forced relocation.
“After the relocation it was determined there was no crisis and the caribou herd which the Sayisi Dene had relied upon for generations was in fact healthy,” stated the government press release. “Subsequent Manitoba decisions further compounded the suffering of the Dene living in deplorable conditions near Churchill until community members relocated to their traditional area at Tadoule Lake in 1973. In less than two decades, nearly one-third of the Sayisi Dene had died as a result of violence, poverty and racism experienced on the outskirts of Churchill.”
Ashton said Gilmore’s argument isn’t far off comments she hears from people living in the south, comments like: “Why would you live up there anyway given the challenges that you face?”
“The answer isn’t move,” Ashton said. “The answer is: how can we make life better?”
Ashton said there is a double standard when it comes to services in the north, particularly among First Nations.
“There is a double standard in terms of funding; there’s inadequate funding. We know that to be the case in terms of education, in terms of housing, in terms of health care.”
In his article, Gilmore agrees that a lack of social services contributes to the problems in La Loche, a tiny Saskatchewan community 500 km northwest of Prince Albert.
“When you look closer at La Loche, with the highest suicide rate in the region, in a region with the highest crime rate in the country, the immediate explanations are insufficient,” Gilmore writes. “It is true: the available social services are insufficient. The schools are underfunded. The police could use more resources. The gang problem is intense. Unemployment is high and opportunities are few. But even this is not enough to explain the constant violence, or how it is possible that one of the victim’s brothers was himself killed last year in a drive-by shooting.”
Gilmore goes on to say that violence is a condition of remote communities regardless of location, drawing parallels between Canada’s North and Australia’s Northern Territory, remote regions of Papua New Guinea, Russia’s Siberia and the state of Pará in Brazil.
Gilmore writes that the only thing these communities have in common is isolation.
“They are disconnected from the economy, from the government and from society. In each, efforts have been made to change this … It all failed. To everyone’s dismay, remote regions remained remote.”
He speculates that similar efforts in La Loche will have similar results.
“Why do we keep doing it?” Gilmore wrote. “Why do we keep pretending that somehow we can make the reserve system, and communities like La Loche, work?”
His solution is to help northern Canadians move south.
“The only way we can ever truly help the people of La Loche and hundreds of other remote communities like it, is to give those who want it a viable option to leave, to build lives in southern Canada, integrated into one of the world’s healthiest, safest, most rewarding societies.”
Ashton said there’s no question that some people choose to leave northern communities, whether for schooling or to pursue other opportunities.
“So that’s always part of our experience,” she said.
“But the idea of encouraging people to leave because we don’t think things can be better is off the mark, and … it certainly doesn’t contribute to finding solutions for La Loche.
“I think it’s actually offensive to bring up something like this and make this the conversation within days of this national tragedy. We should be listening to the voices of people in that community and what I’m hearing is the need for supports and services within the community rather than telling people that they should leave.”
Gilmore writes for Macleans on international affairs and public policy. He is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada and is married to Catherine McKenna, the minister of the environment and climate change.
His full article can be found at www.macleans.ca/news/canada/la-loche-shows-us-its-time-to-help-people-escape.
The Reminder was unable to reach Georgina Jolibois, MP for Desnethé-Missinipi-Churchill River before press time. Jolibois is also the former mayor of La Loche.
