The Media's Responsibilities

The following is a letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail:

As an aspiring journalist myself, I was and continue to be deeply troubled by the way your paper, and much of the media in Canada, have been portraying the tragic events surrounding the death of Christopher Pauchay’s two young girls, and the question of how to deal with such a horrific situation. What troubles me most is the shallow, callous, and ill defined way in which the Canadian media provide the most basic of facts without the slightest background or context. Short, poorly written articles about the night of the children’s death, and subsequent court proceedings leave much to the imagination of readers and views. For example, simply stating that the courts have decided to grant Mr Pauchay’s wish for an aboriginal sentencing circle, while providing no explanation of what a sentencing circle is or how it would function makes it very easy for the layman to assume that Pauchay is ‘getting let off the hook’. Given Canada’s history when it comes to aboriginal people, this is a very dangerous and irresponsible thing.

A hugely disproportionate number of aboriginal people in this country live in abject poverty, dealing with living conditions that you’d only find paralleled in sub-Saharan Africa or the jungles of impoverished South American dictatorships. This third world exists along side a main stream Canadian society that has one of the highest standards of living in the world. That disturbing and shameful fact is closely linked to the Pauchay case, despite what many might argue. Generations ago, our Euro-Canadian forefathers set the foundation for one of the most abusive and destructive relationships to have existed between a colonizing empire and the original inhabitants. The norms established at the time blazed the trail for future misuses of power, and led ultimately to the now well-known strategy of assimilation; the reserves and residential school systems. This was such a powerful tool of manipulation and control that it was used as the basis for South Africa’s Apartheid system. The abuse suffered by aboriginal people and the damage to their culture was immense, and its aftershocks are still being felt today as evidenced by epidemics of substance abuse, suicide and other social problems that are the hallmarks of a broken society.

‘Stop right there,’ you say. ‘What does this have to do with a guy getting drunk and losing his daughters in a snowstorm?’ The answer is everything. Past generations of Euro-Canadians attempted to destroy a culture and a society. For that, they must shoulder an enormous shame, but this generation shares in that shame for its failure to make amends. Instead, we have simply let this severely damaged society struggle on along side our own, paying lip service to it but doing hardly anything else. We refuse aboriginal requests to negotiate meaningful self-government; we abuse the treaties that were signed and attempt to pressure them into giving up what little land they have so it can be taken advantage of by the forestry and mining sectors. And when they cry out for help as Christopher did, we shun them as second-class citizens. Instead of stepping up and accepting responsibility for the damage done, our politicians treat aboriginal people as though their situation were of their own making, neatly washing the government’s hands of any responsibility to help.

While the current government has done nothing but shirk its responsibilities, and avoid dealing with the plethora of issues facing aboriginal people, positive steps are being made. Negotiations are taking place to finally put into action the kind of self-government practices that aboriginal people have long pleaded for. Fostering this kind of independence and empowerment has the potential to undo some of the massive damage to aboriginal self esteem and confidence that was lost through the degradation of past injustices. Things like sentencing circles are a key part of that process. The problem is, the media is ignoring it. Many Canadians lack even the most basic knowledge of the problems facing aboriginal people, and therefore also of the possible solutions. When the average Canadian reads stories about foreign ideas like sentencing circles and self government, it is all to easy to fall back on old prejudices and cry foul. The media has a responsibility to do more than provide vague sketches of situations like those affecting Mr Pauchay. The media has a responsibility to help Canadians understand exactly what is at stake, and how we can all do something about it. Instead, your paper and many others seem content to provide the same shallow lip service that has sidelined aboriginal people for so long.

Mr Pauchay is not a criminal; he is a symptom of a broken symptom. He is also much more than that; he is a grieving father, a man struggling like so many others with the daemons of alcoholism, and he is a human being. If there is to be a bright future for Canada’s aboriginal citizens, the government needs to be taken to task and forced to live up to its commitments, especially those outlined in the Kelowna Accord. Mr Pauchay’s case provides exactly the kind of opportunity for public pressure that aboriginal movements in Canada desperately need, but that won’t happen until the media decide to put aside the flashy, five-minute stories about Parliamentary squabbles and gas prices and focus on real, meaningful journalism.