Aboriginal - Girls Action Foundation

the most patient people I have ever known; we juggle careers, raising sons and daughters,
hobbies, and personal time everyday, not to mention our partners. Multi tasking is a
favorable quality in a leader.
It is important to have knowledge of today’s society, and knowledge of our history.
Learning First Nations heritage is different than just simply reading about it in the
library, because much of our heritage has not been documented. A leader needs to
be historically educated and as an Aboriginal leader you have to seek out and hear
the stories from our elders. Learning your language and traditions is important for an
Aboriginal leader, because with these teachings and lifestyle, comes a sense of identity.
Another quality benefited from being educated, would be a sense of understanding
important issues, such as the issues of our First Nations youth.
There are many distractions available to today’s youth, but also a chain reaction of
confusion and addiction stretching all of the way back to the days of assimilation and
colonalization. As an Aboriginal leader, responsibility is apparent. Living a drug and
alcohol free lifestyle and breaking that chain within your own family, is a good start.
Excelling and demonstrating how great life can be without the weight of alcoholism,
living by example is almost essential to make a good Aboriginal leader.
Some areas of responsibility I feel needs to be addressed would be a welcome to
the new comers to Canada. I have done cross-cultural training with members from
Kenya, Philippines, and Nepal with The Youth Work Experience Initiative in Winnipeg,
Manitoba. The multicultural group had no idea of the history the First Nations people
and some of the tragedies they endured. The group sadly only knew native stereotypes,
and generalizations. When we asked them how they felt when approached from an
Aboriginal street person, they said they were frightened, and they felt when here in
Canada they needed to avoid the Aboriginal people. These misconceptions are very
common. I decided to explain to them some of the effects of sending generations
of First Nations children to residential schools. When you subject entire generations
of children to assimilation through abuse, neglect, abduction, and cruelty, you can’t
expect these children to grow up knowing how to properly raise families, or deal with
emotional scarring. Many if not all of these street people are results of such generational
36 Jasmine Orchid Anderson