Native politicians ignoring people behind stats on inmates

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During a recent visit with one of my brothers who is incarcerated in a federal penitentiary, we talked about so-called rehabilitation programs. He told about a speaker from the University of Saskatchewan who spoke to the Native Brotherhood. And then, totally taking me by surprise, he said, "I was going to ask her is she knew you (since you teach there, too) but I thought you probably didn't want anyone to know that you have a relative in prison."

After he said that, I thought about all those very comfortably positioned scholars within the university or politicians in the political arena, both Native and non-Native, who too easily espouse theories of colonization and its effects. Yet few have the spiritual strength or emotional courage to get involved in meaningful ways.

How many times have you heard the rhetoric about Native inmates in Canada's federal penitentiaries, and youth detention centres? Every time I listen to Native leaders trading barbs with government, or tune in to an educator's discourse on colonization, I hear about the continually increasing Native inmate population. What distresses me is I seldom hear about Native leaders or educators actually going into prisons, setting up programs, or advocating on behalf of Native inmates.

When I teach classes, I often talk about colonization and the grim realities of prisons, and alcohol abuse that are too much a part of our lives. I tell my students almost all Native people have some familial connection to institutional incarceration, and abuse; those who pretend they don't have probably shamefully turned away from their relatives.

I look upon my own family as a microcosm of the Native population, - within my family we've known only too well the horrific effects of colonization.

I am extremely thankful that there are many Elders who are working tirelessly with the prisons; unfortunately, their work is often compromised by too few resources. Perhaps it's time that these politicians, educators, social workers and others who use prison statistics to acquire resources in order to keep themselves working do more than just talk about prison conditions!