Layton restored faith in politicians

I woke to some sad news Aug 22. Instead of an alarm clock I woke to the friendly voices at CBC Sudbury. However, this morning they had bad news for all of us here in the north and in particular Aboriginal people. They were talking about the passing of Jack Layton.
Having been raised in the remote community of Attawapiskat along the James Bay coast I never had much exposure to politicians and the structure and process of politics. It was difficult to merely survive in those days in a place where my people lived in poverty in third world conditions. At school we did not learn much about Native or non-Native politics.
When I came south to further my education and then to make a living I became educated about how government and politics works. As I learned more about politics I focused on First Nation government at the national, provincial, regional and local levels. Many of my people have very little knowledge of how these political systems work so I did some writing on this subject to share what I learned.
One thing that surprised me was the way most people saw politicians. Most people I spoke to did not trust or believe in many of the leaders involved in politics. Over the years I became familiar with many of the First Nation leaders, as I have interviewed some of them. I also came to know many non-Native politicians. Surprisingly, for the most part, I discovered they were really just fine. Most of them were well-educated, interested in helping people, dedicated to making a difference and willing to put up with the kind of abuse that people in public life must get accustomed to.
Sure these people are driven by some need to be recognized and they thrive on the competition of the election process. Most also have very healthy egos and they like to keep insanely busy. Politics, I discovered, is not for everyone. However, I was amazed at the quality of people I met in the political field and they really impressed me.
Take for instance Stan Beardy, grand chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN). Stan is one of those guys that just wants to do as much as possible for Native people and he is very humble and always has a warm smile and friendly greeting for everyone. He is a nice guy.
So are Stan Loutitt, grand chief of Mushkegowuk Council on the James Bay coast, Deputy Grand Chief Terry Waboose at NAN, former NAN grand chief and Elder Ben Cheechoo and Shawn Batise, executive director at Wabun Tribal Council.
I have also come to know and respect local non-Native leaders like Charlie Angus MP for Timmins area and his counterpart Gilles Bisson at the provincial level as well as David Ramsay an MPP in northern Ontario. I have been at events where I saw all these leaders greet each other much like old friends so I know they are not always nasty to one another.
Getting to know all these political leaders made me realize that somehow we have become jaded and have lost respect for them. It is a weird situation because we are the ones that end up electing these people yet they don’t have our respect. I think this is mainly due to the sometimes nasty election campaigns that are run, in particular with the non-Native federal and provincial governments. Also I think most of us have figured out that it has become a money game where much of the time the party that can put together the most funds and do the most advertising wins the election. Actually, that part of the system I think is very rotten and needs to be fixed.
I found it really refreshing when Jack Layton came on the political scene. He had the courage to stand up for some issues I felt strongly about. He was a strong advocate for peace and he was the only politician I saw stand up and really step forward to support our troops and men and women in uniform by having the nerve to question why we were putting them in harms way in wars Canada had decided to follow the United States into. He did this with a real interest in making sure that we were doing the best thing for our troops and for the reputation of our country.
He paid the price for this and was scorned by many in campaigns driven by the far right and those who had much to gain by going to war. I remember people branding him as Taliban Jack and trying to ridicule him for his stand on questioning war. That made me very proud of Jack Layton and at the same time I felt very sad at all the abuse he had to endure for making that stand.
So today I want to make an apology to Jack Layton and his family from myself and many First Nation people for the violent way he was treated for standing up for peace and questioning war.
Meegwetch to Jack Layton for helping to restore our faith in politicians. www.underthenorthernsky.com