Members of Ottawa’s Indigenous community say they’re worried about the impact Canada-U.S. relations could have on friends and family who live on reserves near or severed by the American border.
CBC went to the Odawa Native Friendship Centre to find out what voters there are thinking about ahead of the federal election. In several conversations, border mobility came up as a pressing concern.
Michele Bourque is a retired federal public servant who was taking part in a quilting class at the non-profit Odawa centre, which provides a variety of programming for Ottawa’s urban Indigenous population.
She’s from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in southwestern Ontario, which sits just across the border from Port Huron, Mich.
“I worry about people going back and forth, and I know a lot of people have stopped going back and forth because of the fear of problems [of] being searched,” Bourque said.
Border mobility
It’s a concern shared by many Indigenous families, according to Gabriel Pangowish, the general manager at Odawa, who pointed to the example of Akwesasne, a territory that is severed by the Canada-U.S. border.
“The reserve is on both sides of the border and those people, they just need to show a status card to be able to get across. Will this change now because of the government down there?” he questioned.
Pangowish said the uncertainty is especially hard on families who live and work on different sides of the border.
“It’s a huge issue,” he said, adding that Indigenous people, such as the Ojibway, historically lived on both sides of the border.
“So a lot of the families there, they would travel back and forth, not even thinking about this [as a] border, because before colonization that was their territory,” he explained.
Cost of living
Anita Armstrong, Odawa’s executive director, said while border issues do come up in discussion, concerns around cost of living are also top of mind for people in Ottawa’s Indigenous community.
She said Odawa’s food bank has grown to serve nearly 90 families, up from about 45 families just two years ago.
“We have even staff members who are utilizing the food bank at times. So it’s definitely top of mind, and it affects everybody,” she said.
Odawa is preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and Armstrong said it will be a wonderful celebration. Sadly, she said, the centre is still dealing with the same issues it was decades ago.
“But we can’t give up. We just have to keep ensuring that we honour our children,” Armstrong said. “Our children are gifts from the creator, and we have to remind our community members and clientele that those little ones are our future leaders.”
She’s hoping for a “fair government” that recognizes the needs of the local Indigenous community.
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“We just need to make sure that we can support them and continue doing so. All of our programs are vital to the healing and of our community members,” Armstrong said, adding that she would like to hear more talk on the campaign trail of issues affecting Indigenous communities.
“Obviously we recognize the agenda is huge, but we just want to make sure that we … are represented. It’s been rather quiet,” she said.
The Assembly of First Nations has released its election priorities and is seeking commitments from party leaders on economic reconciliation, Canada-U.S. trade and border mobility, calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.