Aboriginal Perspectives

Representatives of the five national Aboriginal organizations were involved during the development of this report: The Assembly of First Nations, the Congress of Aboriginal People, The Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, the Métis National Council and the Native Women's Association of Canada.

Just as Canada's disability community is diverse, so too is the Aboriginal disability community. The experience of First Nations people living on reserve is not identical to that faced by Inuit people, Aboriginal people living off reserve or Métis people. However, there are many issues on which the organizations representing Canada's Aboriginal people have similar views.

Following the release of In Unison in 1998, Aboriginal organizations issued discussion or position papers outlining their positions on disability issues affecting Aboriginal people. These included the documents One Voice, produced by the Aboriginal Reference Group on Disability Issues, First Perspective, produced by The Assembly of First Nations, and Empowerment — The Key to Better Living for Métis People with Disabilities, produced by the Métis National Council. Although these documents presented varying viewpoints, they consistently suggested that unique frameworks are needed to address the situation and needs of Aboriginal people.

One Voice, for example, emphasizes a holistic approach with the four key principles of the Medicine Wheel: emotional, spiritual, mental, physical. The Métis National Council model emphasizes the principles of programs and services that are community-based, clientcentred and evaluated, and Métis-specific in approach. The First Nations vision, expressed in First Perspective, sets out a model comprising (East) capacity building; (South) jurisdiction; (West) self-sufficiency; and (North) sharing.

Aboriginal persons with disabilities consider it vital to stay connected to their families, communities and culture. But traditional First Nations, Inuit and Métis health and healing services are not necessarily recognized and supported. Coupled with a shortage of trained professionals in Aboriginal communities, this means that Aboriginal persons with disabilities must often leave their communities for care in urban areas, including institutional settings. There, they often experience isolation and cultural alienation.

Aboriginal persons with disabilities place a priority on programs and services that are designed, developed and provided by Aboriginal people, in a manner that respects the principles of their cultural frameworks. As First Nations, Inuit and Métis people take on more responsibility for services to people in their own communities, it is important to address these inequalities by working in partnership to find common solutions to common problems, regardless of jurisdiction.

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