There are many different cultures in the aboriginal society and also so many different languages, They all have different lifestyles and perspectives. (Laurence Kirmayer, 2008) After the closing of the last couple residential schools in 1995, Some aboriginal people took it upon their self to start drinking to help cope with the pain of either being in the schools or losing family and/or persons close to them who were in the schools. After this time of losing children and their own culture many of the people wanted to re-build their traditions and culture, They did so by having more children, and traditionally teaching the kids the ways of their culture. Although drinking while you are pregnant is not good for a child and causes fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) which causes many defects and the potential of a mental illness when the child is born. So when all these children were being born with mental illness or server defects such as brain damage being unable to learn or physical defects. Aboriginals soon acquired the stigma of being "stupid" or "unwilling to learn" which wasn't true, theses people just had FAS which caused them to have birth defects or a mental illness.
The people living out in the reserves didn't have great access to health care, or the ability to come to the cities and make use of the health care that was provided here. It also didn't help that when a mentally ill indigenous person came to the city to try and get help for themselves then ended up not being able to or weren't "eligible", then having no more money, forcing them to stay in the city and go on welfare to support themselves, which then led to the stereo type that all indigenous people live on welfare, or that it's their fault they don't have jobs etc.
I think it's not fair that these people living in the reserves don't have access to the health care that we do here in the city, or I think they should at least have a service that goes out there to either bring them medical supplies and services and also offers transportation to the city for more specialized care if needed. Anyone can have a mental illness, with all people it's not their fault. So I don't think we should treat indigenous people like it's their fault, with most other people we get special treatment like, special parking passes, reduced waiting times for hospitals and other sorts of things. So I think indigenous people deserve the same.
Alicia B
References
Mullaly, B. (2007). The New Structural Social Work (3rd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press Canada
Canadian Mental Health Association.(2011)
https://faculty.washington.edu/dianm/KirmeyerSimpsonMentalHealth.pdf
Great Post Alicia! I agree that everyone should be equal and receive the right health care. Also there should be no stereotypes put on people in our society.
ReplyDeleteSara
Hi Alicia,
ReplyDeleteI think your post is on the right track; though I would be causious stating that Aboriginals "took it upon themselves" to start drinking after being in residential schools. It sort of makes it sound like Aboriginals chose to use alcohol to cope, which I can tell from the rest of your post was not your intention.
-Julianna
Good post Alicia! I agree with you that everyone should recieve equal health care and treatment. In some cases I know some reserves have nursing stations and visiting medical teams including mental health specialists. You raised a good issue that non Aboriginal peoples have lots of benefits such as special parking and in some cases reduced waiting times. This is something that is sometimes taken for granted.
ReplyDeleteLori
I agree!
ReplyDeleteI think that it is a sad cycle. The fact that people on reserves don't receive much help from the government and how their lives have been affected in so many ways. First Nation's people should be allowed to have just as many rights as everyone else!
Brenda
Good post Alicia! I agree, it is sad how a past of hardship sometimes leads to things like mental illness. Also, how people with mental illnesses incounter discrimination from people who are not aware of the illness, or even from people who are. I do think that there should be more health care equality between urban and rural areas, especially in reserves.
ReplyDeleteJenn S
I agree also that every one should have equal access to health care. I am wondering why those on reserves do not have the same access to health care and resources that we have access too? Why does the government not think that this is a priority? I also can not fathom why the government thought cultural assimilation was the best choice of action to take with aboriginal persons. When I read about residential schools it makes me feel sick that our Canadian government was not only apart of something like that, but created it.
ReplyDelete- Morgan
I think we have to look at funding issues and analyze who’s in power currently – the conservatives (in order for us to arrive at some sort of answer). Their neo-conservative ideology is not line with others, as we have already learned in the course – different from liberalism and social democracy. We can see this with the current Harper government cutting many programs to First Nation’s reserves. One example can be seen with the Kelowna accord in 2005, where First Nation’s people were promised billions to deal with poverty issues, social issues, and health issues from the liberal gov't. That funding was cut by Harpers government, as soon as Harper came into power shortly after the accord. It’s all in relation to their ideologies, based on what we’ve already learned in the course.
ReplyDeleteDara
Everyone does deserve equal rights, just because a person may have a mental illness does not mean that they should be treated as less of a person than anyone else. Although you may need to work on the wording of when you were talking about Aboriginals and drinking. Good post though Alicia your off to a good start.
ReplyDelete-Chandra B
I agree that having access to travel to and from cities would help get them some access to health care. But also putting something to help with addictions and mental health would help to.
ReplyDeleteLiving up north in Thompson, there was nothing that disgusted me more then seeing an indigenous person passed out on elemetary school yards in the middle of winter. But it also upset me. Knowing that if they had a chance to get help they probably would, but they don't get the chance.
~Joelle