The late ‘Malcom X’ said that education is the passport to the future and that tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Over a decade ago, a 1996 Census found that approximately 60 percent of First Nations on-reserve residents aged 20 to 24 had not completed high school or obtained an alternative diploma or certificate. In 2006, a Census showed once again that some 60 percent of First Nations on-reserve resident’s aged 20 to 24 reported not completing high school. With these statics it’s obvious we have a huge problem in our native communities when it comes to education. Yet despite this reality the federal government continues to blame our educational failures squarely on the backs of our people. The real truth is government is principally responsible for our dismal success rate when it comes to education by failing to fund our teachers, schools and resource people appropriately. 

Most of us would agree that a quality level of education is the key to improving our social and economic conditions here on the reserve. What we need is an acceptable course of action in addressing our educational insufficiencies if we want to succeed in the modern world economy. An acceptable education in my opinion is more than high school graduation – a post-secondary diploma or degree, or a trade certificate. High school graduation or a GED is the door through which most students must pass to go on to post-secondary schooling. There are no shortcuts when it comes to quality education and in the end it costs the federal government more money in not providing our people with adequate funding.

From a federal policy perspective, the continuing failure of education for residents of First Nations reserves is confounding. Interestingly, many Canadians rated education as the number one issue on which government should concentrate its efforts on behalf of our native youth. Additionally, most Canadians found that there is a widely shared perception that present government policy is failing. My question is, if the majority of the public gets it, why can’t its government?

Improving educational outcomes on our reserve will not be an easy task with some simple, instant solution. Our education system faces some daunting challenges. This combined with underfunding and lack of native teachers is a system set up for continual failure. While I will be the first to admit that real progress has been made in this area of education in our community, more work still needs to be done to improve our graduation rates.

It was said by the late ‘Malcom X’ said that education is the passport to the future and that tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. “I couldn’t agree with this statement more.”  Without an education we are twice defeated in life. We have to be educated. We have to continue to fight for our children because each of them deserves access to a quality of education that the rest of Canada already enjoys. By working together collectively, we can come up with solutions. Proven solutions, which will eventually, increase our graduation rates both at the High School and Post Secondary level.  

“In order to set a good example you have to be a good example.”

My beautiful daughter Shaya and me enjoying a nice summers day.

As with everything in life, change is constant. This is no different for native politics. When I announced my bid for office this past November, I did so with the full understanding of what I was getting myself into. I knew my decision meant that there would be some long nights and days ahead. I also knew I would be subjecting myself to questions concerning my character, my values and so forth. But, I also wanted to make sure that I could live up to the very values and principles that I believe our people should have, if they want to become public servants. 

Interestingly enough, being a positive role model has been one of the easiest things for me to do because it’s something I spent a lifetime learning, practicing and ultimately becoming. We need more positive role models in our native communities if we are to move forward. We need to define and recognize those who are setting positive examples and encourage them to continue, so others can follow. I believe this is a role politics can play. 

Friendship is held to be the severest test of character. It is easy, we think, to be loyal to a family and clan, whose blood is in your own veins.

Ohiyesa

The other day I received a package from a good friend of mine from the Millbrook First Nation who now lives in Lancaster Massachusetts. Upon my opening, I was a little surprised that the package contained a small book titled “The Soul Of An Indian.” Inside the book was a simple messge that read "Blessings." At the time I didn’t understand the connotation of the book or her message until I dove in and started reading it.

Written by Charles Alexander Eastman or Ohiyesa as I prefer to call him out of respect for our culture, is a great read and a must for those of us who are still trying to make sense of things as we move along life's journey. Born in 1858 Hakadah, later named Ohiyesa was a Native American physician, writer, national lecturer, and reformer. He is considered the first Native American author to write American history from the native point of view. Remembered as the author of numerous writings through which he sought to educate whites about Native American spirituality, morality, and mythology.

His best-known works—among the first such Native American records to have been written rather than dictated by their subject—are the autobiographies Indian Boyhood, in which he recounts the events of his youth, and From the Deep Woods to Civilization, which chronicles his experiences as a Native American living in the United States. The son of a Santee Sioux father Ohiyesa lived the life of a traditional Santee Sioux until the age of fifteen. His mother died shortly after his birth, and his father disappeared and was believed to have been killed in the Minnesota Massacre of 1862. Raised in Manitoba Canada by his paternal grandmother and uncle, he was beginning his quest to become a Sioux warrior when his father unexpectedly returned. His father strongly supported his getting an education in European-American style schools. Ohiyesa and his older brother attended mission and preparatory schools, and college. Ohiyesa’s education among whites took place in an era of "Indian reform," during which the U.S. government and many academic institutions were dedicated to "civilizing" Native Americans through schooling and Christian teachings. An accomplished student who attended Dartmouth College and earned his medical degree from Boston University, Ohiyesa represented the ideal Indian to many Indian reformers, including the woman he married, Elaine Goodale, who was a dedicated assimilationist.

Ohiyesa was one of the physicians who attended to the injured and dying after the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, and he was a well-known advocate for better treatment of Native Americans. He became a sought-after lecturer and public speaker and, with the help and encouragement of his wife, began publishing works in which he sought to bridge the chasm between white society and the native way of life. As Ohiyesa found himself increasingly drawn back to the values of his boyhood, he reluctantly concluded that white society would never truly accept the wisdom of native ways.  His marriage—which has been called his wife's ultimate experiment in assimilation—eventually failed, and his writing career, so dependent upon his wife's involvement, also ended. Weary of the strain of being "the model Indian," Ohiyesa gradually withdrew from public life and lived alone until shortly before his death in 1939.

While many of Ohiyesa’s works evidence ambivalent and sometimes contradictory feelings about his Native American heritage, critics note that Ohiyesa never rejected his culture. Nonetheless, his works are praised for promoting respect for nature and the accomplishments of First Nations while revealing the pain and confusion associated with assimilation.