|
Participating in the economic development of the territory is not something we should feel fearful about entering. If we do not become the masters of our own house and develop the resources within our territory for the benefit of our own people, then we can certainly expect that the resources will be developed by others with little benefit coming to the Cree Nation. Our challenge is to lay the basis for economically healthy communities for the future.
The third pillar of the vision of Cree nation-building is building healthy communities. In recognition of the reality that there remains a significant legacy of the effects of a colonial past, substantial effort needs to be placed on addressing present and ongoing social, personal, and family difficulties. The communities have been bringing this to the attention of the Cree leadership for some time. We are now in a position, because of the recent milestone Health Agreement with the Province of Quebec, to seriously address these concerns, which include suicide and ongoing mental health and preventive initiatives as a priority.
We will now be in a position to put in place a wide range of social services in the communities which our Cree Health Board has never been in a position to do. We know our communities have for a long time been crying out for the need to do much more in the area of social services, and I can tell you now that we can and will make that a much greater priority than it has ever been.
We are now in a position to take genuine responsibility for putting into place the kinds of programs and services which are relevant and appropriate for our people. A new Strategic Regional Plan for the Cree Health Board will be developed, new Integrated Service Units will be established, special measures will be possible to address priority needs in the communities, and there will be stable funding to ensure that we can implement these initiatives.
The fourth pillar of our nation-building task is the continuing defence of Cree Rights. To ensure that there are never any efforts to whittle away, diminish or directly threaten Cree rights we will continue to place significant effort in the defence, preservation and promotion of Cree rights. This is true with respect to the Nation as a whole and also with respect to the aboriginal rights of Cree collectivities and individuals.
We will, for example, continue to take a leading role in defending the rights of the Washaw Sibi Eeyou. As we continue to make progress in having our aboriginal rights recognized by governments and ensuring that this recognition is translated into tangible benefits for our people, we also need to make sure that no one is left behind. We will continue to stand with the Washaw Sibi Eeyou.
In addition, aboriginal rights will continue to be promoted nationally within Canada and internationally through our ongoing work with other indigenous groups at various UN bodies.
This is the vision which has emerged over the last 30 years of our history and the four pillars represent the avenues of work we need to engage in to realize the vision.
The vision also demands that we each do some serious soul-searching and recognize that fulfilling a noble vision requires that we, as individuals need to take up the challenge and make the personal changes required to meet the challenge. We need to change the way we think about ourselves, the way we think about our communities, our Nation and the region we inhabit. In addition to being ambitious and visionary in our goals, we also need to be truthful about the realities we are experiencing.
The opportunities are clearly before us. The challenge we face is to decide if we will be responsible for charting the course of our own future or if we will be passive observers who allow things to happen to us, and then complain about it afterwards and look for someone to blame.
The reality is that we are no longer victims and we can no longer play that role. It is not useful for us to be stuck in a victim view of the world around us. We now enter this new era of nation-building not as victims of historical injustice, but as the self-confident and proud permanent residents of our territory who have overcome the negative impacts of a colonial past and who are ready to fully realize the potential which the future holds for
us.
Our future is truly in our own hands. We are no longer
powerless people mired in poverty, but rather, we are
the proud and confident products of our successes. We
have thrown off the yoke of colonialism through 30
years of struggle and we should now be setting our
sights on genuine nation-building.
1,
2, 3,
4, 5, 6
|
