Conclusion and Next Steps
It is evident and well recognized that there are multiple gaps in public policies, programs and services available for Aboriginal people with disabilities in Canada. Aboriginal people with disabilities clearly fall through the cracks of international, national and provincial and territorial policy. They are silenced not once but multiple times. This is compounded by the lack of research and reliable and valid statistical data available regarding the experiences of this population.
The programs and services that are currently available are not on par with those available to non-Aboriginal Canadians with disabilities, and access and eligibility to each program or policy can change depending upon the sources of funding for services, whether or not the Aboriginal person has status, whether they live on or off reserve, and other factors. Accessibility to and eligibility for programmes is confusing and problematic at best (Durst, Bluechardt, Morin & Rezansoff, 2001).
Jurisdictional disputes also caused major barriers to access and these may be seen as the principal cause of the current public policy vacuum, wherein no national or provincial strategy or action plan exists to address these challenges. And last but certainly not least, public services provided to Aboriginal people with disabilities are often not provided in a way that is culturally appropriate or culturally relevant to the very people they serve.
9. Next Steps
This brief review of the literature reveals several important recommendations that have been made by the authors of the work cited.
For instance, in order to improve the living conditions and to protect and promote the human rights of Aboriginal Canadians with disabilities, the following concrete practical recommendations are made by Doreen Demass (1993):
- provide communities with more information about how to access funding and services
- ensure that the existing programs and infrastructure on reserve (including schools and recreation centres, for example) are accessible to all community members – including those with disabilities)
- decentralize disability services and ensure that disability-specific supports are available on reserve, and that they are designed and implemented in a culturally-appropriate manner
- educate First Nations communities about the needs of their members with disabilities
- encourage non-Aboriginal organizations and service providers to include Aboriginal people with disabilities and to provide culturally-appropriate programming
Joyce Green (2003) focuses on the systemic barriers impacted by the strained relationship between Canada’s Aboriginal population and the Canadian government, and she recommends:
establishing an intergovernmental review team to complete a comprehensive review of the existing jurisdictional issues and to propose a realistic system to adequately resolve these, and
Creating an intergovernmental office and include the major stakeholders; First Nations, provincial and federal governments and Aboriginal persons with disabilities. This intergovernmental effort would establish Advocacy Offices for each province, with a director whose primary responsibility is to ensure that Aboriginal and First Nation persons with disabilities and their families receive the basic services and programs they are entitled to receive
In addition to these strategies, the funding inequities within the system and the marginalization of Aboriginal people with disabilities within all levels of decision making and planning are two major barriers that will certainly need to be addressed. A central theme that binds the next steps is that partnerships with Aboriginal peoples living in Canada will depend on embracing Aboriginal values, respecting Aboriginal spirituality and promoting self-determination in service design and delivery. Aboriginal people with disabilities are part of Aboriginal communities and to access their human rights they have to be part of the planning and implementation process.
Furthermore, Professor McNab argues that “we need to carry on our ‘Expanding the Circle’ project despite (and because) of the federal government approach. To date, except for Indigenous people in their communities, no one else is doing it.”
This snapshot will conclude with the recognition that healing must include spiritual connections, participation in ceremonies and connection to nature, culture, family and community. The Western practice of documenting and evaluating therapeutic approaches and publishing the results of studies can also complement traditional healing practices by providing an alternative means of knowledge transmission. This is especially effective when the researchers and authors are Indigenous people.
- Given the current track record of the Canada’s federal government, things will definitely not improve for Indigenous people with disabilities now or in the future. For Indigenous people with disabilities, Canada is like a third world country.
- Disabled First Nations people in Canada are at the bottom as Canadian citizens in terms of health and education despite their rights as proclaimed by the United Nations Declaration as Indigenous people.
- There is no real linkage between the UN Declaration and rights of Indigenous people with disabilities.
- In Canada, there is no national or even a provincial plan to address issues of concern to Indigenous Peoples with disabilities. Should such a national plan be developed at the Indigenous community levels who know the situation best? In the interim, should a community partnership model of such a plan be developed? There is a gap in Canada in this process (Dr. David T. McNab, June 14th, 2013).