I NEED A HERO: November 14, 2008

Well just one more day and we will find out who will be working on City Council for the next three years. I’m finding this year’s slate of candidates for Council very interesting. But the question looming out there for me is what it’s going to take to get more of our urban Aboriginal people to run for public office, let alone vote.
Now you all know this part; the last I heard our community population was around 12,000 people now for arguments sake I’ll say our aboriginal population is forty percent. Quick math then says that forty percent is 4800. Now that’s a conservative number now how many of that 4800 is of voting age? It is our hope that we can get at least fifty percent of the aboriginal population out to vote we can make a difference. When you go to vote tomorrow make sure to bring your identification and bring a friend, it’ll take you at the most ten minutes out of your day.
One rationale explained to me was that our peoples lack of trust in the system. I have heard that one too but the other side of that is how long do you as an urban aboriginal person want to be on the outside looking in. Others would say racism and others would say apathy limit our participation to get involved with the elections that happen. For many of us it’s time to stop with the excuses and lets stand up and be counted. I guess this is where some of us come in and we start to educate our people and show them that the only walls that we put up that prevent us from running for public office and voting is the walls we as individuals put up. And if you want to be taken seriously and getting tired of being ignored then do something about it. The first step in that journey could be with you going out on Saturday and exercising your right to vote. Let the community know that you want to be a part of this society our home our native land. (I couldn’t resist)
During the last Federal Election I do appreciate the City having a silent auction in the hallways of the Jim Ciccone Civic Center it gave many of us a chance to look for a bargain but also encourages some interaction and socialize. I brought my daughters and they had a bunch of questions about the election, they certainly felt comfortable being a part of the process. Just to remind you that the Prince Rupert Community Arts Council Annual Craft Fair—Nov 15 in the Russell Gamble Gymnasium
On another note, you need to check out this; Joseph Boyden of Metis heritage was recently named winner of the Giller Prize Canada’s fiction for his latest novel, Through Black Spruce, about a Cree woman’s search for her missing sister, as well as an account of how drugs and violence plague life on a Northern Ontario reserve.”
As reported the City still has not put up sign to encourage young women not to hitchhike similar to what they have in Terrace. Isn’t that amazing, we’ll see how much longer it takes, I’m not sure what the problem is but I think we should all be putting a call into City Hall and asking them what the delay is? If it’s a matter of money let’s find out how much it costs to put it up ourselves and let’s do it. Can we do it… yes we can.
Peace and don’t forget to vote.