0:00:00 > 0:00:10Now on BBC News, it's time for HARDtalk
0:00:10 > 0:00:13NEWS REPORT: People on the remote First Nation of Attawapiskat said
0:00:13 > 0:00:16the spate of suicide attempts started last October with the death
0:00:16 > 0:00:23of a 13-year-old girl.
0:00:23 > 0:00:24DRUMS.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Since then, dozens of the community's 1,800 people have
0:00:28 > 0:00:37attempted suicide, culminating in 11 attempts in one night last week.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40I was being told I was a dirty Indian and that I wouldn't make
0:00:40 > 0:00:41it in life.
0:00:41 > 0:00:47I might as well not try because my people are weak.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50The policies that have got us there were definitely racist.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52Share this land fairly, that's what the original
0:00:52 > 0:00:57treaties were about.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59We've got to start fighting for our people.
0:00:59 > 0:01:05I'm tired of being belittled just because of who we are.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10My story today is all about the aboriginal people here,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13and their experience makes a mockery of Canada's reputation
0:01:13 > 0:01:13as a progressive, wealthy nation.
0:01:18 > 0:01:32Calgary - the business hub of oil-rich Alberta.
0:01:32 > 0:01:45Prosperous, diverse, seemingly at ease with itself.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48But, as in much of Canada, there is one community that appears
0:01:48 > 0:01:59to be falling through Calgary's cracks.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Early this summer, the body of a young aboriginal woman
0:02:02 > 0:02:04was found in this park.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06She was 25, a mother of three.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Her name, Joey English.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12She'd been brutally dismembered.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14Identifying Joey's remains wasn't easy.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18Even now, much of her body is still missing.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24It's a shocking case, but it was greeted here in Calgary,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26and across Canada, with weary resignation because Joey English
0:02:26 > 0:02:29is just the latest in thousands of indigenous women who have gone
0:02:29 > 0:02:46missing or been murdered in Canada over the last three decades.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Joey English's family and friends gather for a vigil
0:03:06 > 0:03:15to commemorate her life and mourn her death.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Also, to vent their anger at a system of policing,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20healthcare, social services, that they say is failing
0:03:20 > 0:03:25First Nations women.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27I'm really, really angry at the justice system.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Look at how we're being treated.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32Are we going to be treated like this for the rest of our lives?
0:03:32 > 0:03:35We've got to start fighting for ourselves, for our people.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37I'm tired of being belittled just because of who we are.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40I'm tired of it.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42I really want something to be done.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44I really think we need help.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46All our families, all our sisters out there, enough is enough.
0:03:46 > 0:03:47Please, hear my cry.
0:03:47 > 0:03:57Please help me.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Help me to fight this injustice and stand together.
0:04:00 > 0:04:14Justin Trudeau, if you see this and hear this, you can apologise
0:04:14 > 0:04:24to other countries, but you can't even look at us.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44No-one knows exactly how Joey English died.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47She had a mental health problems, she had served time in prison.
0:04:47 > 0:04:56But her family say she desperately needed help that never came.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59To lose a daughter in the way you have lost
0:04:59 > 0:05:01Joey, it's unimaginable.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03I feel so dishonoured by this...
0:05:03 > 0:05:16This unhuman being that has torn my world apart.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20So many women have gone missing, have been murdered in the indigenous
0:05:20 > 0:05:21community in this country.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Do you have any faith at all that this pattern can change,
0:05:24 > 0:05:34can be ended?
0:05:34 > 0:05:35I have hope.
0:05:35 > 0:05:35I do.
0:05:35 > 0:05:47I believe it can.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50I drove into the Calgary suburbs to better understand the alienation
0:05:50 > 0:05:51of First Nations women.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54This, the home of Sandra Manyfeathers, a teacher in Calgary.
0:05:54 > 0:06:00Sandra, I'm Stephen.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02She's a member of the Blackfoot tribe, an ardent defender
0:06:02 > 0:06:10of her people's language and culture.
0:06:10 > 0:06:11Is that your son?
0:06:11 > 0:06:11Yes.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14As a child, Sandra Manyfeathers was one of the hundreds of thousands
0:06:14 > 0:06:17of First Nations people taken from their families and put
0:06:17 > 0:06:21into so-called residential schools, deprived of their culture
0:06:21 > 0:06:32and identity.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34It was a national trauma which ended just 20 years ago.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38I want you to explain to me a phrase I heard from many First Nations
0:06:38 > 0:06:49peoples here in Calgary, intergenerational trauma.
0:06:49 > 0:06:50What do they really mean?
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Over the last 100 years, Canada has essentially created
0:06:52 > 0:06:54a relationship that has separated First Nations
0:06:54 > 0:07:01people, categorised them.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03You make it sound a bit like apartheid in South Africa.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Yeah, well it is pretty similar.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08As pernicious as, many people would see it as evil as, that?
0:07:08 > 0:07:11I do believe that it is as evil, if not more evil.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Most Canadians are really ignorant to the issues that First Nations
0:07:13 > 0:07:24people have to go through on a daily basis.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Do you think most white or Euro-Canadians are racist?
0:07:26 > 0:07:27I do.
0:07:27 > 0:07:34I face racism every day.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37I walk into a department store, racism in my face, every single day
0:07:37 > 0:07:39of my life.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41You experience something which has been so fundamental
0:07:41 > 0:07:43to the experience of many First Nations people
0:07:43 > 0:07:46of your generation and older, and that is being forced into these
0:07:46 > 0:07:48so-called residential schools, where your own culture
0:07:48 > 0:07:49was denied to you?
0:07:49 > 0:07:56My parents had to surrender me to the Indian residential school.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59They had no choice, it was like a forcible thing?
0:07:59 > 0:07:59Yes, it was.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01I was about five years old.
0:08:01 > 0:08:07I did stay there for a number of years.
0:08:07 > 0:08:08What do you remember of it?
0:08:08 > 0:08:12I was being told that I was a dirty Indian and that I wouldn't
0:08:12 > 0:08:13make it in life.
0:08:13 > 0:08:21That I might as well not try, because my people are weak.
0:08:21 > 0:08:21It was daily.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25We were being told that we weren't going to make it in life,
0:08:25 > 0:08:26so we shouldn't try hard.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30We were only taught rudimentary skills.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32So, you are of a contemporary generation that has been forced
0:08:32 > 0:08:37through the most difficult experience as a child,
0:08:37 > 0:08:38alienated from your own community.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44Do you carry anger with you today?
0:08:44 > 0:08:47No, I don't think I'm angry towards them as much as I am wanting
0:08:47 > 0:08:48to make a difference.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50There's no anger towards the Canadian state.
0:08:50 > 0:08:58Colonisation still exists today in Canada.
0:08:58 > 0:08:59That has a lot to do...
0:08:59 > 0:09:02But this is supposed to be one of the most progressive,
0:09:02 > 0:09:03liberal countries in the world.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06And you're telling me there is still colonisation?
0:09:06 > 0:09:08You know, Canada will sell that to the world.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Canada will bring in refugees, as many as they possibly can,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13to shine this light that Canada is this great place to live.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16But you still have the issue of First Nation's people.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19And it used to be quiet, because we were taught to be quiet.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21And we're not going to be quiet any more.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25You're not going to kill us, you're not going to kick us and make
0:09:25 > 0:09:27us stay down, because we're going to say something
0:09:27 > 0:09:37about the plight of First Nations people.
0:09:39 > 0:09:40Every summer, Calgary stages The Stampede,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43a week-long party celebrating the pioneering days of old Canadian
0:09:43 > 0:10:07West.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09The Stampede looks and feels like a celebration of all things
0:10:09 > 0:10:23Canadian cowboy.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25But every year there is an effort to integrate the experience
0:10:25 > 0:10:27of the aboriginal peoples of this country.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29One area of the showground is always given over
0:10:30 > 0:10:31to the First Nations experience.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33But there's no effort to be politically correct -
0:10:33 > 0:10:37they call it the Indian Village.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39The highlight of a visit to the Indian Village
0:10:39 > 0:10:40is the pow-wow.
0:10:40 > 0:10:41Dancers from indigenous communities all over Canada,
0:10:41 > 0:10:45and the US as well, bring their best outfits and dance moves.
0:10:45 > 0:11:10Visitors to The Stampede lap it up.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11There are roughly 1.4 million indigenous Canadians,
0:11:11 > 0:11:124% of the national population.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15White Canada sees them, but very often doesn't listen.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17What I'm trying to find out is whether white
0:11:17 > 0:11:24Canada, frankly, cares.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25Oh, yes.
0:11:25 > 0:11:25They care.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27It's up to them, I guess.
0:11:27 > 0:11:33They get lots.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35You mean the government gives them plenty of support?
0:11:35 > 0:11:37They get lots of money.
0:11:37 > 0:11:37They get lots.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39And you think they squander it?
0:11:39 > 0:11:42No, they get their treaty money, and they got a lot.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45And if it's only the chief who's getting it and it doesn't trickle
0:11:45 > 0:11:46down to the rest of it...
0:11:46 > 0:11:48That's right, the chief's got lots of money.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51While big cities like Calgary have become home to many First Nations
0:11:51 > 0:11:54people, many more live in remote reserves on ancestral land.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56I'm heading to Attawapiskat, in a remote corner of northern
0:11:56 > 0:12:30Ontario.
0:12:30 > 0:12:48This is a community of 2000 Cree people.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50It's come to symbolise the despair and alienation felt
0:12:50 > 0:12:51by many indigenous Canadians.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53My guide is Jackie Hookimaw, a teacher and writer
0:12:54 > 0:12:55born and raised here.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58So, this is our water plant, this is where we get our drinking water.
0:12:58 > 0:13:10Every day, people come in the mornings, till late evening.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Most people have to come every day to get the water?
0:13:13 > 0:13:14Yes, for drinking, for eating.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Even just to take a shower.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Sometimes you'll see people have some outbreaks from their skin once
0:13:18 > 0:13:30in a while.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32What's missing in Attawapiskat isn't just basic infrastructure.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33There's an absence of hope.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Over the past 18 months, more than 100 residents have tried
0:13:36 > 0:13:56to kill themselves here, many of them children.
0:13:56 > 0:13:57Jackie took me to the sports hall.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00A makeshift gym in a corner room is where some of
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Attawapiskat's boys hang out.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05We've heard about the problems in this community and the numbers
0:14:05 > 0:14:07of young people who try to take their own lives.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Can you explain to me what is going on?
0:14:10 > 0:14:12Why is this happening?
0:14:12 > 0:14:12I don't know.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Sometimes I think it's family problems, drugs and alcohol
0:14:15 > 0:14:15getting to them.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Since the family are too busy with drugs and alcohol,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20they're not focusing on their kids any more.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22The kids feel like they're being left alone.
0:14:22 > 0:14:32To them, they don't even matter to the family.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35You're 19 years old, have you known any of the young
0:14:35 > 0:14:37people who've tried to take their own lives?
0:14:37 > 0:14:38I lost a sister to suicide.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41It's been ten months.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Your own sister killed herself? Yeah, Sheridan.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47How old was Sheridan? She was 13.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51What drove her to it? Bullying.
0:14:51 > 0:14:57She was getting tired of being sick.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00What's the impact been on you, and your family?
0:15:00 > 0:15:03It doesn't even feel real, still.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Feels like it's just a dream.
0:15:05 > 0:15:06Like it didn't even happen.
0:15:06 > 0:15:07But it did.
0:15:07 > 0:15:14It just happened right away.
0:15:15 > 0:15:27Do you feel optimistic, do you feel hopeful for the future?
0:15:27 > 0:15:30With all the things that's going on, people sending donations
0:15:30 > 0:15:35and letters of hope, I feel like there's hope
0:15:35 > 0:15:37being restored to Attawapiskat.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41There's a lot of people helping us out.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Attawapiskat is a community in trauma.
0:15:50 > 0:15:57The local chief doesn't even live here.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01The government in Ottawa has for decades looked the other way.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Late last year, Canada's newly elected premier,
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Justin Trudeau, promised a new beginning in Canada's relationship
0:16:11 > 0:16:17with its indigenous people.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19It is time for a renewed nation-to-nation relationship
0:16:19 > 0:16:20with First Nations people.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22One that understands that the constitutionally guaranteed
0:16:22 > 0:16:24rights of First Nations in Canada are not an inconvenience,
0:16:24 > 0:16:29but a sacred obligation.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41He set up an inquiry into the murdered and missing women.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43He promised new resources for mental health services.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45But it'll take an extraordinary effort to undo the
0:16:45 > 0:16:51damage of centuries.
0:16:56 > 0:17:02Do you think that the condition of the roughly 1.4 million
0:17:02 > 0:17:05people of First Nations, indigenous people of Canada,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08do you think the condition they live in country represents
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Canada's shame?
0:17:12 > 0:17:14Absolutely.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18It's Third World conditions for way too many First Nations,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20Inuit and Metis.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23It's unacceptable.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Is that down to pure racism?
0:17:25 > 0:17:30I think that the policies that have got us there were
0:17:30 > 0:17:31definitely racist.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Yes.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37The original deal in this country was to share this land fairly.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39That's what the original treaties were about.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44I'm very struck by your frankness, your honesty.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47I'm just wondering how on earth you are going to deliver.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50Well, the good thing is that the Prime Minister put it
0:17:50 > 0:17:52in the mandate letters of all the ministers.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55And so that most important relationship, to him and to Canada,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59is in the mandate letter of all the ministers.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02You mean across everything, from economy, to health care,
0:18:02 > 0:18:02prisons, everything?
0:18:02 > 0:18:02Everything.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07Every minister knows that is the most important...
0:18:07 > 0:18:09But look at what the indigenous people have seen from
0:18:09 > 0:18:10politicians of late.
0:18:10 > 0:18:11For example, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14which will set up to investigate the aftermath of the scandal
0:18:14 > 0:18:19with the residential schools, which damaged so many indigenous
0:18:19 > 0:18:22children over many years, that commissions sat,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26I believe, for seven years.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28It came out with a 94 recommendations.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30I understand why people feel, indigenous people in Canada
0:18:30 > 0:18:34feel they have been let down for generations.
0:18:34 > 0:18:35Because they have been?
0:18:35 > 0:18:38But the good thing is that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has
0:18:38 > 0:18:41given us a very clear road map on both on closing the gap,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44but also on the healing that needs to take place.
0:18:44 > 0:18:51The problem is, and again, I'm just quoting one activist
0:18:51 > 0:18:55who said this just the other day, setting up commissions of inquiry,
0:18:55 > 0:19:00procedure can be an excuse for not taking action.
0:19:00 > 0:19:08I think that perhaps in the past people have desperately worried that
0:19:08 > 0:19:11you get a commission and some recommendations and then
0:19:11 > 0:19:13they sit on the shelf and nothing happens.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16We, I think, have been warned about that.
0:19:19 > 0:19:25What on earth is behind the thousands of women,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27over a 30-year period, who have disappeared
0:19:27 > 0:19:28and many have been murdered?
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Certain lives seem to be valued less.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35But there also seems to be something very different when an indigenous
0:19:35 > 0:19:38woman goes missing or is found murdered,
0:19:38 > 0:19:44in terms of whether it is the quality of the search,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48the quality of the investigation, whether it's even deemed a murder,
0:19:48 > 0:19:53whether it's deemed a suicide or an overdose, or an accident.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57The charges that are laid out the plea bargaining,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00the sentencing, the time served, all of that seems to be a very
0:20:00 > 0:20:01uneven application of justice.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06I spoke just the other day to the family of a young woman,
0:20:06 > 0:20:10Joey English, whose body was found in a park only a few miles
0:20:10 > 0:20:12from here, severely brutalised and dismembered.
0:20:12 > 0:20:13Her family are furious.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15They feel that her death can directly be ascribed to neglect.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18And you're the minister who is supposed to be taking
0:20:18 > 0:20:23care of these people.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27I've heard a lot of those stories.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30The families are rightfully upset that the lives of their loved ones
0:20:30 > 0:20:34didn't seem to be valued.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35But they need action now.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Guess what, I agree with them.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38I agree with them totally.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40We can't wait for two years until the commission
0:20:40 > 0:20:41comes up with a report.
0:20:41 > 0:20:48We knew we have to do way better on housing, and shelters.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Let me talk to you about one specific case.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Again, one we are looking into.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56That is the small settlement of Attawapiskat, in Ontario.
0:20:56 > 0:21:02Since October 2015, there have been more than 100 suicide attempts.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04What are you going to do about that?
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Listen to the youth.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14The youth there know what they need.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19They want back their language and culture, they want
0:21:19 > 0:21:22to be out on the land, they want to be competent.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Right now, frankly, many of them just want to disappear.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27They want to end their lives because they're so miserable.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30This week, I was at a conference with a number of the kids
0:21:30 > 0:21:32from Attawapiskat, at this Feathers of Hope Conference.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35They are inspiring in terms of what they know has happened
0:21:35 > 0:21:38to their colleagues that feel that way and what it will take to get
0:21:38 > 0:21:42them back, to feel that they can be successful.
0:21:42 > 0:21:43To do what?
0:21:43 > 0:21:45There are no jobs.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48More than 40% unemployment for young First Nations people.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51The imprisonment rate is so high.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55For many of them, there does not appear to be a viable future.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00That's the opposite of what I'm hearing.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03We have a country where all our natural resources are in the north.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07All of our natural resources, or a lot of them, are in that big,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09huge part of Canada where First Nations,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13Inuit and Metis people live.
0:22:13 > 0:22:19We need mining engineers and forestry technicians,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and we are going to need people who want to live there.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24But your predecessor as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs,
0:22:24 > 0:22:29Bernard Valcourt, he said repeatedly these people have
0:22:29 > 0:22:30to step up themselves.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Maybe that's not politically correct, but maybe
0:22:32 > 0:22:33there's some truth in it?
0:22:33 > 0:22:36We want the focus also to be put on the successful communities.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40I want people to start talking about the number of PhDs, the number
0:22:40 > 0:22:42of MAs, the number of doctors.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44What I'm seeing is this huge opportunity for us
0:22:44 > 0:22:47to change this around.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50What happened to me differently, maybe because I'm a dreamer,
0:22:50 > 0:22:57I have new friends, more than most Canadians,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01and I don't think you should have to be an MP to have fabulous friends
0:23:01 > 0:23:04that happen to be First Nations, Inuit and Metis, who
0:23:04 > 0:23:07inspire me every day.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Canada's treatment of its indigenous communities is a stain
0:23:22 > 0:23:26on the country's reputation.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Our native people are developing programmes to revitalise our
0:23:29 > 0:23:30languages, our culture, activities.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35I see hope there.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40And you saw that this winter, when we had the crisis,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42the youth took the initiative to do a healing walk.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46So, they crossed the Attawapiskat River when it was frozen.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49They walked up to Fort Albany.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51For me to see young people doing this, fighting
0:23:51 > 0:23:55for their lives, that gives me hope because they are very resilient.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Let's hope so. Yes.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00I hope so!
0:24:09 > 0:24:11The wounds inflicted on Canada's First Nations people run deep.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14They'll take many decades to heal.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Hello once again.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Over the next couple of days, I don't doubt the temperatures
0:24:47 > 0:24:49will make both national weather and national news headlines,
0:24:49 > 0:24:54for it will turn hotter for many parts of the British Isles.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57But it won't be like that for all.