Maggie Hodgson - Speaking My Truth

Notes
1 Leslie, J. and R. Maguire (ed.) (1978:115). The Historical Development of the Indian Act,
second edition. Ottawa, ON: Treaties and Historical Research Centre, Indian Affairs and
Northern Development.
2 Amendments to the Indian Act in 1884 prohibited the Potlatch and the Tamanawas dance
(see Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996), Volume 1: Looking Forward Looking
Back, Section 2, chapter 9.5).
3 IRSRC (Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada).
4 FSIN (Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations).
5 Tom Badger spoke these words at a training session for front line workers in 1981 at Nechi
Institute. The Elder has since passed on, but is remembered through his oral teachings.
6 Durkheim, E. (1951). Suicide: A Study in Sociology (J.A. Spaulding and G. Simpson, trans.).
New York, NY: The Free Press. (Original work published 1897.)
7 Kirmayer, Laurence J., Gregory M. Brass, Tara Holton, Ken Paul, Cori Simpson, and
Caroline Tait (2007:55). Suicide Among Aboriginal People in Canada. Ottawa, ON:
Aboriginal Healing Foundation. (Text cites Davenport, J.A. and J Davenport III (1987).
Native American Suicide: A Durkheimian Analysis. Social Casework 68(9):533–539.)
8 This began in the early nineties by courageous former students and later moved into
the class-action suit that has been agreed to by the courts with the four pillars of
commemoration, common experience payment, truth and reconciliation commission,
and the independent assessment process.
9 The exact number of Aboriginal people enrolled in post-secondary institutions over the
years is difficult to pin down. The Centre for Social Justice (http://www.socialjustice.org/
index.phppage=aboriginal-issues) reports, “In 1969, only 800 Aboriginal peoples had a
post-secondary education. By 1991, the number was 150,000.” The Department of Indian
Affairs reported the following: “In the mid-1960s, there were about 200 Status Indian
students enrolled at Canadian colleges and universities. By 1999, the number had soared
to more than 27,000” (“Post-Secondary Education for Status Indians and Inuit, December
2000, retrieved 1 November 2007 from http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/pr/info/info110_e.
html). Factors contributing to this discrepancy likely include whether or not numbers
refer to Aboriginal people or “status” Indians and whether or not part-time enrolment
numbers are also included.
10 The original National Native Alcohol Abuse Program (NNAAP) began in 1975 as a pilot
project and was run as a joint initiative between the departments of Indian Affairs and
Northern Development and Health and Welfare Canada (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fnihspni/pubs/ads/1998_rpt-nnadap-pnlaada/2_background-renseign_base_e.html#_2_3).
“The renamed and fully conceptualized, permanent National Native Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Program (NNADAP) was established in fiscal year 1982/83. Health Canada
assumed full responsibility for the program” (http://www.nnapf.org/english/partners/
nnadap/historical_milestones.php). First Nations and Inuit Health Branch reports
the following information: “NNADAP supports a national network of 52 residential
treatment centres, with some 700 treatment beds” and “Today, NNADAP provides over
550 prevention programs with over 700 workers - almost all employed by First Nations
and Inuit communities “(http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fnih-spni/substan/ads/nnadappnlaada_e.html).
11 I recall that there were sixty treatment programs funded by NNADAP, fifteen AADAC
with in situ treatment programs during those years, and mobile community-based
treatment programs operating during that time.
376 | Maggie Hodgson