Gustafsen Lake Standoff was a direct action campaign because of a dispute involving Secwepemc people and other people from the native groups in British Columbia (CBC, 2012). This dispute lasted for three months between June and September 1995. The secwepemc people and other native people started a sacred sun dance at Ts’Peten, which they referred to as Gustafsen Lake. Their occupation at Ts’Peten was followed by continued struggles to be recognized through legal processes. The direct action started when the former arrangements of holding sacred sun dances broke down after the threats of eviction (CBC, 2012). The natives constructed fences to prevent the cattle of Lyall James from interfering with their settlement in the land. This made Lyall James to respond with attacks referring to the occupants as red niggers. The conflict was first solved through mediators. There were also demands for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, which was made by the sun dancers. The sun dancers called for an investigation of the illegal leasing of their lands. They also said that there was a possibility for conflict if their territory was not rescued from the people who were evicting them. The goal of the direct action was to resist eviction from native lands. The Sun dancers wanted to sustain the inheritance of their original land and to ensure that they enjoyed their religious freedom (CBC, 2012). Sun dancers, Lyall James, and his cowboys were involved in the direct action.
During the direct action, the sun dancers refused to adhere to the press release, which was meant to act as an eviction notice from Lyall. Together with his ranch hands, Lyall brought riffles threatening to kill the sun dancers. The sun dancers did not accept the eviction making one of Lyall’s ranch hands to stick it to their sacred staff (CBC, 2012). Canadian government responded to the conflict by negotiating between the conflict parties. When the negotiations failed, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began operations in order to settle the conflict. Council chiefs were also involved in the negotiations in order to assist in solving the conflict. Media people were prevented from getting into the land under conflict. A number of natives and non-natives were charged following the direct action for mischief of property, causing danger to human beings, and possession of firearms among other mistakes (CBC, 2012). The sun dancers were made to leave the camp on the claims that their work was done. However, they promised not to leave the camp unless their security was guaranteed. Though the sun dancers lefts the camp when their spiritual leader, John Stevens, said their work was done, this final solution of the conflict cannot be justified because there is no genuine reason as to why they were forced out of their land.
Aboriginal Control of Health and Child Welfare
Shulus Community Gardens is one of the organizations, which have engaged in the control of Health and Child Welfare. The organization was started at the site of the Lower Nicola Indian Band’s Community. It is situated in a rocky plot of land where people plant different fruit trees. Shulus Community Gardens was begun in 2002 (Jade, 2012). This garden covers around one hectare of land, which is possessed by the Shulus Cattle Company, and it is well fenced to ensure that it is protected. A ceremony to mark ten years since the start of the gardens was held in May this year. The idea of the Shulus Community Gardens was conceived because there was a group of people who wanted to grow fruits and vegetables and this group invited the entire community. Different groups of people donated money to cater for the startup expenses. The garden was meant to act as a communal garden where people would grow home vegetables in exchange for their donations (Jade, 2012). Lack of enough vegetables was the health issue that led to the conception of the idea of the garden. Some of the vegetables raised in this garden include herbs, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and onions among others. Moreover, the board members of the Shulus Community Gardens held seminars to educate people on composting and worm farming. They also practice organic methods of farming which are free from pesticide use. Currently, the board members have plans of utilizing tall plants in order to break strong winds, which may affect the development of the vegetables (Jade, 2012). Moreover, they are also planning to practice crop rotation in order to enhance productivity. In this connection, Shulus Community Gardens have been useful for the production of vegetables to the people of Nicola Valley.
A program that is meant to support Aboriginal education needs to address various issues. These issues may include attaining greater success for the students as well as integrating the culture of the Aboriginal students into their learning environment. There are various problems that can be addressed by a new program that is in support of aboriginal education needs. One of these problems is the lack of preparation of the aboriginal students for adult life. The program has to ensure that the aboriginal students are prepared for their adult lives, (Morgan, 2008). In addition, the program has to deal with problems of racism, mismanagement of funds and poor leadership. The problems experienced in the aboriginal education are because they schools use a deficit program. As a result, the new program will have to be comprehensive in order to ensure that it meets different needs of the students. For example, the new program will have new rules, which will help to ensure that the program solves the current school problems. Moreover, the new program will also have to meet the needs of all the students in order to ensure equality in learning, (Morgan, 2008). The new program will have the philosophy that a good education program must address the needs of diverse learners. This will enable the program to solve the needs of all the aboriginal students. However, the students will have to be hardworking, cooperative, wise, respectful and humble in order to allow their program to meet their needs. The teachers on the other hand will have to work hard and cooperate with one another in order to educate and instill discipline to the students (Morgan, 2008). Moreover, the teachers will need to have a thorough understanding of the new program in order to apply it effectively. The government will be involved in the funding of the program. In addition, the government, school heads and parents will be in charge of the new program. These groups will have to work hand in hand in order to ensure that the goals of the program are met. The new program will be an improvement over the currently offered program because it will be applied effectively to meet the needs of all the aboriginal students, (Morgan, 2008).
Alcohol and substance abuse in Reserve
Youth alcohol and substance abuse is high in the rural areas. The proposal will involve a multimedia awareness campaign that will reach out a youth group. This plan will be carried out in an aboriginal community living in the reserve. This community was selected because the youth in the aboriginal communities have been highly involved in alcohol and substance abuse due to lack of sensitization on the effects of alcohol and substance abuse (Pichler, 2011). The audience for the proposal will be a youth group.
There are various causes of youth alcohol and substance abuse in the reserve. One of the main causes of this issue is peer pressure. The youth engage in alcohol and substance abuse as a result of peer pressure. Lack of job opportunities is another cause of alcohol and substance abuse among the youth in rural areas (Pichler, 2011). Joblessness causes the youth to engage in unlawful activities such as alcohol and substance abuse. Another cause of youth alcohol and substance abuse is lack of awareness about the effects of substance and alcohol abuse. Most youth who engage in alcohol and substance abuse do not have an awareness of the different effects of substance abuse. Poor upbringing has also led to substance and alcohol abuse among the youth in the rural areas (Pichler, 2011). For example, the youth whose parents abuse alcohol and other substances also have high chances of being involved in alcohol and substance abuse. This shows that there are various causes of alcohol and substance abuse among the youth in the reserve.
The goals of this plan will be to provide awareness about the effects of alcohol and drug abuse among the youth in the reserve. The health community action plan will provide sufficient knowledge to the youth in the reserve about the various effects of drug abuse. For example, the plan will educate the youth on health effects of drug abuse. Another goal of the plan is to enact strict laws, which will ensure that the youth who engage in drug abuse will face serious punishments (Pichler, 2011). It will also have a goal of providing youth employment to ensure that the youth do not have time to engage in unlawful activities such as drug abuse. The other goal of this plan is to ensure that all parents are responsible for their children’s behavior. This will help to ensure that parents offer excellent guidance to their youth children in order to ensure that they do not engage in drug abuse.
The plan will be implemented in a rural setting where the youth are highly involved in drug abuse. The youth group will be taught the effects of drug abuse and they will be provided with occupational activities, which will help them to be busy all the time in order to prevent them from engaging in drug abuse. The plan will be implemented by the community leaders, health officers, the youth and the parents. The community leaders will offer employment opportunities to ensure that the youth do not engage in drug abuse. The health officers will provide information on the health effects of drug abuse among the youth while the youth and the parents will help to ensure that the youth do not get continue abusing drugs. This program will be funded by the government and it will run for one year. The plan will help the community to fight drug abuse among the youth.
References
CBC. CBC Digital Archives. 8th June 2012. Web. 2012. <http://www.cbc.ca/archives/>
Jade, S. LNIB Launches Community Garden in Shulus. 8th June 2012. Web. 2012. >http://www.merrittherald.com/community/151549715.html>
Morgan, O. Solutions for Aboriginal Education in crisis. 8th June 2012. Web. 2008. <http://firstnationsdrum.com/2008/07/solutions-for-aboriginal-education-in-crisis/>
Pichler, A. Alcohol & Drug Use among the Youth (Substance Abuse Assessment Intervention & Treatment). New York: Nova Science Publisher Inc, 2011.
