Name:_________________________________ Date:____________________________ Block:_______

Indigenous Communities: Surviving Canada

A Televised Debate

Debate topic:​ The Canadian government is purposefully keeping Indigenous communities in crisis.
Pro​: Professor Suzanne Stewart; Linda D’basaguay, former Chief of First Nation on Manitoulin Island
Against​: Professor Tom Flannagan; Author Francis Widdowson

Water Boiling Advisories

Linda​: “Significant investments need to be made on First Nations land when it comes to water. Compared
to provincial standards, most First Nations reservations’ water quality would fall under a
____________________________________________________________________.

Widdowson​: The “aboriginal industry” is

“____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________.”

There is a serious lack of adequate services that exist in Indigenous communities, but the government
and legal costs get in the way of progress.

Professor Flannagan​ discusses his research and lists what he believes to be “traits of the most effective
reserves.” Two of these are:
-Indigenous groups “taking control of local affairs”
-Indigenous groups “taking advantage of economic opportunities”

Professor Stewart:
“When we try to measure Indigenous well-being and Indigenous health, education, or life [...] on a
reserve, and we’re looking at measuring that from non-Indigenous perspectives and worldviews, it’s not
really going to make sense from ____________________________________________________.”

We will not progress if we continue with a “non-Indigenous way of looking at I​ ndigenous problems.​”

The way the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women inquiry is being done should be determined by
Indigenous people, as opposed to the __________________________________________________​.

Linda:​ Indigenous progress is dependent on each First Nation.

Moderator: If we can’t agree on how to measure success and/or failure, how are we going to make
any progress at all?

Widdowson​: We can find common ground in what makes people fulfilled:

-High quality of education

-Healthcare services
-Housing “which is not mouldy, which will allow water to be clean and to be drinkable”

“Some reserves are in areas with no resources or services;” the government needs to supply those
communities with resources.

Linda:​ ”In order to progress, the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the government of Canada
needs to be repaired.

Western research is “biased” and “one-sided.” “Anything we do to get out of our poverty has to be
____________________________________________________________________________.

In order to work together, the damaged relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians
needs to be addressed, and that is through what is commonly referred to nowadays as
________________________________________

“Reconciliation really means addressing the harms that have been perpetrated on Indigenous Peoples by
the systems in which we currently live and work. And for Indigenous people, reconciliation is about
____________________________________________​from our own trauma that’s been inflicted by the
policies that have affected each of us.

Widdowson​: Aboriginal traditions and consulting Elders will ​not​ benefit the Indigenous youth who are
actively living in unlivable conditions. Instead, those youth need resources in order to make their
communities livable.

Linda:​ “Identity​ i​ s what we need for our youth.”

Widdowson​: “Just because they are ​Indigenous​, why would we assume that [participating in traditional
ceremonies, listening to elders, would] be the path forward for them?”

Professor Flannagan​: Progress will be “about coming together, rather than being on separate tracks.”

Professor Stewart:​ “Research suggests that Indigenous youth desire to take part in Indigenous culture
and ceremony, and language […the reason] this is important in a way that’s different from other
identities in Canada is that Indigenous culture was made ______________________ by the Indian Act.

“Because of this oppression, Indigenous people need the ability to reclaim their identity.”