Government's view overly optimistic

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The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has denounced an information package released by teh Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.

The department's Demographic Improvements in Reserve Life is full of incorrect information, ssaid asssembly Grand Chief Phil Fontaine.

"The package presents a disfigured view of life on reserves and urbann ghettos in Canada and Manitoba," he said. "This is a classic case of statistical manipulation by a federal cabinet minister trying to justify the existence of a redundant bureacracy."

The document, which was released last February, outline seveal ways in which "substantial progress has been achieved in living conditions onCanadian Indian reserves over the past several years."

The most glaring example of Indian Affairs deception, Fontaine said, were the figures on suicide rates.

The release reports suicide rates for status Indians fell from 43 to 34.6 per 100,000 bvetwwen 1982 and 1986.

"Suicide by First Nations people are consistely six times the Canadian average and Tom Siddon is telling Canadians the ratge has dropped," Fontaine said.

"In Manitoba alone, there were 160 First Nations suicides between 1988 and 1992 and the majority of those were young men and women between the ages of 15 and 24. In a country like Canada, such morbidity is unacceptable."

The purpose of the document, however, was to give Native youth a more positive outlook, said Jane Hagey, Director General of Management, Information and Analysis for Indian Affairs.

"It was to balance the picture," she said. "In part for the public, but in part for Native youth."

If Natives only hear negative reports about reserve life, they are more inclined to adopt a negative view of themselves, Hagey said. And while the numbers are out of date, the report itself must be viewed in a historial context.

"Things are getting better," she said. "They're not as good as anyone around here wants it to be, but it's getting better."

The assembly was also concerned that housing figures reported by Indian Affairs were overly optimistic. AMC figures show a 2,000 housing backlog in Manitoba alone.

The chiefs also quoted a 1992 report by MP Larry Schneider, head of Parliament's Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, which show housing funds remain at 1983 levels. The report also said that of the 70,000 houses on reserves, one half are adequate and suitable for living in and almost one-third of them are without clean water or sewage disposal.

Indian Affairs reported, howver, that more than 3,000 new homes were being buiklt every year and that 4,000 existing homes were being renovated "as quickly as possible."

"I feel confident with the numbers," said Hagey. "Certainly there is a gap between Indians on reserves and the general population. But we're trying to look at the big picture."