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I am in complete agreement with Jennifer Shalinsky's views regarding four article on the Boat People arid Cana- dian Native people. _ Dear sir: Instead of expressing my own thoughts on this subject, I am sending to you a short article which appeared in the Na- tional Indian this summer. written by a native woman. It clearly outlines the problems the people of Canada's "Fourth World" encounter, (The Fourth World is Canada's native people community, the author of this letter says - Ed.) I would request you print these words. In my work I have become aware of the fact that old problems have little glamour, _ new challenges, new places. new people: these can quickly attract grassroot support. liar aid and research efforts For many people m Canada, IE Third World has more problems than the Canadian ounh World. The Third World problems do not belong to us. and are far away. and have people to blame for the problems. Carol S. Lukas Waterloo 1883 - Kamloops and West Coast, measles, 138 deaths 1883 - Kamloops and West Coast. measles. 138 deaths 1895 - Cowichan, small pox 1887 _ Shuswap, flu. many deaths 1892 - Fort Steel, flu, 70 deaths 1913 - throughout the province. measles _ 1917 - throughout the province. measles 191$ - nu. 3 percent of the total Indian population dead There are two theories about the cause for the alarming outbreaks of disease among North American Indians One theory largely accepted by the non-Indian medical profes- Sion. as well as the government agencies responsible for the delivery of health services to our people, follows the reason- Ing that Indians did not have the defences built up in their bodies to combat the new germs invading their land through European colonization It is safe to say that early health care sennces were prrr ded to only the most extreme cases and no preventive medicine was practiced in the days of the 18th and 19th cen- turv The other theory for the cause of the decline of the health of our people has been most recently articulated by Ray Obomsawin, Coordinator of the N l B Health Development Program He very thoroughly developed the idea, it is sup- ported by a number of medical experts that healthy people did not get sick. regardless of whether or not they had suf- fered from these diseases previously Mr Obomsawm maintained that our health suffered because we changed our lifestyle increasingly as our forefathers experienced more and more European contact, to rely on foods which were high in carbohydrates and sugar instead of the traditional Indian diet which was high in protein and vitamins and min- erals obtained through fresh roots and berries and natural game like buffalo. moose. deer and fish Thirld world problems not ours readers days 1892 1913 1917 1919 Letters to the editor Church and government combined to almost destroy In What's going on? The macho hunters release a scent to attract the females: but the female impersonators have been getting to the scene first, fluttering their wings and using all the coy body language the situa- tion calls for. The eager males. caught up in all of this Saturday night fever, tum over the gourmet delights to the female impersonators, who app'arently look like the real thing from a short distance. Several incidents involving female impersonators among' scorpion flies in the southern United States have been reported by Dr. Randy Thomhill. a biolo- gist at the University of New Mexico. The kinky pirates then fly off to join the ladies for a little candlelight and wine, and a bit of aerial boogey- ing. Dr. Thomhill claims the females discriminate among the male suitors. choosing the one with the big- gest bait. While the frustrated hunters are off gather- Hang onto your can of orange juice Anita Bryant. there's a new variation on the "birds and the bees' story that just came out of the bug norm _ According to a reliable source at the CBC, the straight members of the bug society are being vic- timized by a group of flaky flies impersonating their female counterparts during the mating season. The amourous males - having killed a tasty prey with which to seduce the ladies of their choice - are being conned out of a flying affair by the transvestites who fly by dipping their wings in a bug-style come on. According to Hoilii--, dian medicine which was a much more comprehensive sys- tem of health care than European medical practice. The lat- ter was probably the biggest blow to our health'because it cut to the very basis of the Indian way of life. Indian people were forced to rely on non Indian medical services. What can be said about the federal governments delivery of health care to Indian people from 1755 to the present is that the services provided have been alright as human beings. but the treament could be compared to that of a ve- terinarian caring for a sick. starving pup, too weak to re- cover. too strong to die . The most recent move by the federal government to cut back on health care delivery is like the veterinarian saying to the sick pup' “Pay up or I won't take care of you," We once had the power to keep ourselves healthy. we once had the power to cure disease; we once had the power to keep our mind and spirit strong. Non-Indian medicine has not helped us recover our health to its once exceptional state, nor will we ever become under non Indian care. It's time the pup bit the vet! My name is __ and I live on the ___- reserve I have lived here all my life except for two years that I lived in the city In a way it is nice to be home but really. there is not much here for a family man, . The followng story is an amalgamation of the health prob- lems that Indian people face daily. _ _ There are about 400 people living on my reserve. yet there IS not one place where a person can get full time permanent employment Not one place Last year I applied to the Department of Indian Affairs for funding for a job creation program We were gomg to develop a campsite on the outskirts of our reserve Aside from the Jobs it would have created in the planning and building stages. it would have provided at least eight full time jobs D LA rejected the plan because last years audit was late You know why the audit was late” Because Dl A didn't send their auditor down here until after the date the audit was supposed to be submitted This year they suggested that we get involved in an agri- cultural program What a laugh that Is Ever since that smelter was built across the river. all the trees within five miles have died and noone has had a successful garden since Makes you wonder what those fumes do to people if they kill trees lie tried to find out if the fumes are bad for the people living here but noone seems to have the informa- tion I have been worried about that smelter as well as other health problems for a longtime now. but I just can't seem to get anywhere with my questions My Sister in-law has been trying for ten years to set up a health education program on the reserve but we just keep running into brick walls with the government We really need something like that The doctors they send us here are really not the best you know My wife and I have five kids One more on the way Last year she lost her baby before It was born She was four months gone when she went If Anita Bryant has a counterpart in the bug world she is probably flying around at this minute in a fren- zied fever trying to organize a state-wide campaign to keep transvestite bugs out of the air space over the Florida orange groves. But I figure the transvestite trend won't last long among the scorpion flies. At least some of macho hunters are bound to get tired of all work and no play. Between the liberated role of the female scorpion fly and the ridiculous situation the macho hunters have got themselves into, I'm sure there are some. very valuable sociological lessons to be learned. But I don't particularly want to hear the answers. I guess it stands to reason'that a system that could develop a species of insects capable of making mad, passionate love in mid flight would be equally capable of producing its own outrageous breed of high-f1yipg Craig Russells. Professor Thomhill finds the psycho- logy of the situation fascinating and says he plans to continue monitoring the activities of the main characters in this strange scenario. You can't help admiring the female impersonators for their ingenuity, but I hope the idea doesn't over- flow into the animal kingdom. Bull elephants in pink tights stealing peanuts from the rest of the male herd is more than Um ready for at the moment. ing more bait, the transvestites have hardly enough time for a short rest before repeating the cycle. Errol Flynn never had it so good. . . By Goof! Hoite When I think of all of these things l really wonder. What kind of place is this for my kids to grow up in? They can't even go to school here. The closest school is fifteen miles away in the town. My children are spending the most impor- tant years of their lives away from home. How can we ex- pect them to come back when they're grown? They can't even get a house here not to mention a job, My sister, her house burned down last winter Right now she is 25th on the band housing list We only got enough funding for 3 houses this year D I A says maybe next year So now she's staying with us That makes ll people staying m our house including her kids, Half the time noone ts working and our house only has three bedrooms and no running water, Can you imagine hauling water for ll people? We don't know what caused it but maybe if we had a health education program itwouldn’t have happened in the first place into labour. We couldn't get hold of the doctor to see her We just got a new sewage system last year When D] A came here to Install it we tried to tell them that the kind of system they were installing just wasn't suitable for this area Maybe in the city. but not here, They installed it any- way It broke down two months after we got it We haven't been able to get anywhere with DI A. about it since On top of having no sewage system. which is obviously a health hazard. the children just aren't eating properly Part of the reason for this is that the only store on the reserve makes all its money selling high priced junk food Also. our traditional diet was much different from the European diet It was the kind of food we needed Now we are faced with two problems One is that there is not much game left and the other is that most of our traditional methods of getting food and medicine are now illegal The white man is always telling us their way of living is so much better than ours, but what has It got us" Alcohol. white flour. tuberculosis and sugar There are so many things going on here that really bother me For example. We have no running water and the sewage system has broken down You know sometimes I Just can't help but think that we would be a lot better off if we weren't so dependant on DI A or the government or whatever We know what to do ttls just that the power to do those things has been taken away from us _ We have to teach these things to the children. just as In the old days Once again. the government won't let us teach in our own way How can we hope to survive the up and com- mg generation is only thinking about how fast they can leave this life behind" The way it is now can you blame them" When you walk down the main dirt road of my reserve and you see the drunks on the way home, don't ask me why they do it Just look what they have to swallow every day of their lives "'r"jiiiiiiiiriiii'itiiiiii;i/r ' By Bill Smiley . Well. here it is, Tuesday afternoon. time to write the comm. I could have written it last Friday, or St» day morning after church. or any day during the past three weeks of holidays. But I couldn‘t. I mite my column on Tuesday aftemoon. rush to the post office. plead with the clerk to squeeze it into the outgoing bag. Summer or winter, working or vacation. If I try to wiite it on a Thursday evening, a Monday morning, there's a complete block. Blank paper, INF. cuum mind. Especially in summer, when l have en- ough time to crank out a couple of volumes of the liht- cyclopedia Brittanica. ' - That's why the summer columns don't have one sin- gte, brilliant theme. lucidly expostulated. witty, strik- ing a single, singing note in a muddled world. they usually come out as a kind of shotgun effort. There are too many distractions. A couple of promiscuous bluebirds have proliferat- ed on our property. There are now five juveniles of the same species. shrieking bluebird imprecations from five different trees, driving out the song-birds of yes- teryear. . This morning, we had one of those real, old- fashioned summer storms. Darkness at noon. The gods bowling in the heavens with tremendous balls that rumbled, crashed, and reverberated down the empty halls of the black sky. Bolts of lightning straight from Zeus that hit,' you swear, twenty feet from your giant oak. Blinding rain, cars driving, lights on, as though Shey were fording the Ganges. T love Sgt-ms, ever since the one that put a pine treetop th ugh the root of our cottage, when I was seyen, and everybody calling, "Where's Billy?" and finding Billy standing against one of the remaining walls, scared speechless and grinning like an idiot. Or the one on the Lakes, when several ships went down. and the captain was puking in his second-best hat, and every dish in the galley was smashed. More distractions in summer. Rotten kids. 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