The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Each year, thousands of First Nations people travel to Flin Flon from remote reservations. They come to see their optometrist, buy their groceries, seek employment and attend school, among a host of other reasons. Their numbers are so vast Ð and growing even more quickly than Flin Flon has been shrinking Ð that their importance to our community cannot be overstated. Would we, for example, enjoy access to the same volume and variety of medical services without that huge influx of individuals crossing the border from places like Pelican Narrows and Sandy Bay? Just think of our maternity ward. I recall one individual from the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority telling me that at least six out of 10 babies born there are to mothers from a reserve. What about commerce? One downtown business owner told me that 90 per cent of his business comes from customers off the reserves. Ninety per cent! Another credited the reserves for half of his income. Those are just two businesses, sampled at random, that would not exist in their present form Ð if at all Ð if not for the reserves. It is largely thanks to this added traffic that Flin Flon can sustain what I consider to be a pretty stellar selection of goods and services, particularly considering our size. The reserve population also brings residents more post-secondary educational opportunities. With many students from the reserves, Creighton's Northlands College can feasibly offer aboriginals and non-aboriginals alike solid, invaluable training opportunities. This not only gives young people a gateway to good employment, but also helps fill the shortage of skilled workers that is particularly acute in remote areas like Flin Flon. People from the reserves are reliant on Flin Flon for their way of life, and to a large degree, the vice-versa is true. Yet for a pair of populations so intertwined by circumstance, there is a surprising amount of work to be done to foster a stronger two-way relationship. There's no reason Flin Flon City Hall could not invite regional band councillors to a public forum to discuss issues and worries of common concern. There's no reason our major employers could not do more to reach out to young aboriginal men and women on the reserves who want nothing more than a chance to improve their lives. There's no reason more can't be done aesthetically within our public facilities and businesses to pay homage to the aboriginal culture that surrounds us. No single step will bridge the distinct culture gap that exists, but single steps have a way of snowballing into something tremendous. Even if people from the reserves were to stop coming to Flin Flon tomorrow, steps along these lines make perfect sense. The last census showed that while the overall population of Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach shrunk by nearly 500 people between 2001 and 2006, the aboriginal population grew by 20 per cent, or 245 people. Almost one in five area residents is now aboriginal or Mtis. Based on their high birth rates and the overcrowded, often dire conditions on the reserves, that percentage is undoubtedly headed upward in the coming years. Now is the time to come together more and work together more for everyone's sake. Local Angle runs Fridays.
