"Education, Faculty of"@en . "Educational Studies (EDST), Department of"@en . "DSpace"@en . "UBCV"@en . "Gilchrist, Laurette"@en . "2009-04-17T22:25:38Z"@en . "1995"@en . "Doctor of Philosophy - PhD"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "\u00E2\u0080\u009Ckap\u00C4\u00ABtipis \u00C4\u0093-pimohteyahk: Aboriginal Street youth in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal\u00E2\u0080\u009D\r\nseeks to gain insight into life on city streets for Aboriginal youth: why they go to the street, how they\r\nsurvive, what kinds of services they are more likely to use, what changes they envision for services\r\nprovided to them, and finally to recommend corresponding changes in service delivery and\r\npreventative measures. The primary interest is their perceptions of their experiences on the Street\r\n\u00E2\u0080\u0094 as Aboriginal people \u00E2\u0080\u0094 as much as possible in their own voice, and in such a way as to\r\ncontextualize their lives in Canadian structural colonial history and in modern urban terms.\r\nUtilizing a critical case study method, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine youth,\r\nages 14-20, currently involved in urban Street life and two people who have lived on the street in\r\nthe past. To contextualize their experiences, several parents of street youth and street services\r\npersonnel in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal were interviewed, although with less depth. Each\r\ncity has an Aboriginal population in excess of 35,000.\r\nThe literature on street youth in general is growing, but a paucity of information exists on\r\nAboriginal street youth experience in Canada, even though they are over-represented in the street\r\nyouth population in most cities. By placing Aboriginal street youth in the larger context of\r\nmainstream society and the urban environment, and by highlighting the role of current and historical\r\nstructural impacts, this research has been able to access a holistic view of their lives.\r\nThe interviews suggest that Aboriginal street youth run to the streets for many of the same\r\nreasons as any other street youth, and once they get there their methods of survival are also\r\nsomewhat the same as those of many runaways. Their cultural backgrounds, history, and structural\r\nconditions at point of origin are, however, different from non-Aboriginal street youth. These\r\nconditions make them subject to harsher conditions in state care situations (a common entry-point\r\nto street life) and on the street. Many experience overt racism, in addition to the stigmatization that\r\nstreet people encounter, in their everyday lives. The youth interviewed told of identity confusion\r\nand self hatred, dislocation from home and surrogate parent communities, difficulty in reunification,\r\nand ignorance about Aboriginal rights, history and culture.\r\nThe nature of the relationship between Aboriginality and being a young street person is\r\nclearly established in that ethnicity was a salient factor in the antecedents to street life and in the\r\nconditions once on the street. Interviews with former street persons suggest that race and culture\r\ncontinue to be salient in the process of leaving the street and in staying off the street."@en . "https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/7359?expand=metadata"@en . "5224557 bytes"@en . "application/pdf"@en . "kapitipis e-pimohteyahk: Aboriginal StreetYouth in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and MontrealByLaurette GilchristB.S.W., University of Regina, 1980M.S.W., Carleton University, 1 987A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYinTHE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIESDEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIESWe accept this thesis as conformingto the required standardTHE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIASeptember 1995\u00C2\u00A9 Laurette Gilchrist, 1995In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanceddegree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make itfreely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensivecopying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of mydepartment or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying orpublication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my writtenpermission.(Signature)Department of (\u00E2\u0080\u0098d OI dThe University of British ColumbiaVancouver, CanadaDate d077, /95DE.6 (2)88)Abstract\u00E2\u0080\u009Ckapitipis e-pimohteyahk: Aboriginal Street youth in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal\u00E2\u0080\u009Dseeks to gain insight into life on city streets for Aboriginal youth: why they go to the street, how theysurvive, what kinds of services they are more likely to use, what changes they envision for servicesprovided to them, and finally to recommend corresponding changes in service delivery andpreventative measures. The primary interest is their perceptions of their experiences on the Street\u00E2\u0080\u0094 as Aboriginal people \u00E2\u0080\u0094 as much as possible in their own voice, and in such a way as tocontextualize their lives in Canadian structural colonial history and in modern urban terms.Utilizing a critical case study method, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine youth,ages 14-20, currently involved in urban Street life and two people who have lived on the street inthe past. To contextualize their experiences, several parents of street youth and street servicespersonnel in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal were interviewed, although with less depth. Eachcity has an Aboriginal population in excess of 35,000.The literature on street youth in general is growing, but a paucity of information exists onAboriginal street youth experience in Canada, even though they are over-represented in the streetyouth population in most cities. By placing Aboriginal street youth in the larger context ofmainstream society and the urban environment, and by highlighting the role of current and historicalstructural impacts, this research has been able to access a holistic view of their lives.The interviews suggest that Aboriginal street youth run to the streets for many of the samereasons as any other street youth, and once they get there their methods of survival are alsosomewhat the same as those of many runaways. Their cultural backgrounds, history, and structuralconditions at point of origin are, however, different from non-Aboriginal street youth. Theseconditions make them subject to harsher conditions in state care situations (a common entry-pointto street life) and on the street. Many experience overt racism, in addition to the stigmatization thatstreet people encounter, in their everyday lives. The youth interviewed told of identity confusionand self hatred, dislocation from home and surrogate parent communities, difficulty in reunification,and ignorance about Aboriginal rights, history and culture.The nature of the relationship between Aboriginality and being a young street person isclearly established in that ethnicity was a salient factor in the antecedents to street life and in theconditions once on the street. Interviews with former street persons suggest that race and culturecontinue to be salient in the process of leaving the street and in staying off the street.IIIAbstract.Table of Contents ivList of Tables viiiList of Figures ixAcknowledgements xChapter 1. Introduction 1Terminology 3Urbanization and Aboriginal youth 4The context of the study 10Macro view: Colonial history 10Street youth 13Definitions and estimates 13ii. Antecedents to street life 15iii. Consequences of street life 18iv. Issues of service delivery to street youth 22Conclusions: Aboriginal street youth in the literature 24Overview of the thesis 27Chapter 3. VancouverReflections as an Aboriginal personCase studies 58ETAH 59History 60On the streets 62Racism 68Culture and identity 72Society 75KAREN 79History 80On the streets 81Racism 84Table of ContentsChapter 2. Research methodologyImpetus of the researchPlanning the researchResearch goalsCase study methodCarrying out the researchInterpretation of the dataReliability and validityConstraints2828313335404244465651ivTable of Contents, ContinuedEgCulture and identitySocietyJOANNEHistoryOn the streetsRacismCulture and identitySocietyMISSY: Former street person .HistoryOn the streetsBack from the abyssRacismCulture and identitySociety858686889599101104105106111113115119Chapter 4. WinnipegCase studiesNOELLAHistory\u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noella.TRAVISHistory\u00E2\u0080\u0094TravisSociety \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noella and TravisAXLEHistoryOn the streetsRacismCulture and identitySocietyJEAN-MARCHistoryOn the streetsRacismCulture and identitySocietyDALE: Former street personHistoryOn the streetsOut of DarknessRacismCulture and identitySociety88121125126127129On the streets\u00E2\u0080\u0094 NoellaOn the streets \u00E2\u0080\u0094 TravisRacism \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noella and TravisCulture and identity \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noella and Travis.130130133134136138140141142145146147149149152155157160160161162165167169173vTable of Contents, ContinuedChapter 5. MontrealCase studiesNATASHAHistoryOn theRacismCultureSocietyCHARNELLEHistoryOn theRacismCultureSocietystreetsand identitystreetsand identity176180180181183193194199201202203207211214Street culture and myths about Aboriginal street youth 224Street youth needs on the street 229Survival\u00E2\u0080\u0094 food, clothing, shelter 231Street family as safety net 233Services 235ii. Safety \u00E2\u0080\u0094 protection from institutions, caretakers, police, society 236iii. Self-esteem and intellectual integrity\u00E2\u0080\u0094 mental health, jobs, education, criticalhistory, tribal self-esteem 237Education 238Employment 239iv. Spiritual integrity \u00E2\u0080\u0094 cultural aspects, tradition, spiritual nurturance,healing 241Learning identity 242Chapter 7. Policy implicationsSurvivalAddictionsExploitationJusticeIn CareEducationRacismCultureConclusion245246250253255257261265267270Chapter 8. Conclusion 272References 276viChapter 6. Life on the streetThe guiding questionsResearch revisited218218221Table of Contents, ContinuedAPPENDIX A...APPENDIX B.APPENDIX C...APPENDIX DAPPENDIX EAPPENDIX FAPPENDIX GAPPENDIX HAPPENDIX IAPPENDIX285287290291293295296300305307VIIList of TablesTable I. Percentage of People Who Maintain the Use of Their Language 6Table II. Percentage of people (15+) Who Participate in Traditional Aboriginal Activities . . . . 7Table Ill. 1992 Welfare Incomes 233Table IV. Services for youth by type of service, duration of contact, intervention strategy andexample of service 247Table V. Cultural identity variations 269viiiList of FiguresFigure 1: The progression of a negative life process of ending up on the street for Aboriginalstreet youth in greater than average numbers. Beginning at the east door with amacro view of colonial history (vision); at the south door with antecedents ofdysfunctional relationships (relationship); at the west door with consequences in lossof respect (respect); and at the north door with inadequate street services(movement/action) 11Figure 2: Four need categories beginning at the east door with survival (physical); at thesouth door with protection (emotional); at the west door with intellectual integrity(mental); and at the north door with spiritual integrity (spirit) (Absolon, 1993).Additionally, there is the social safety net that, by nature of the fact that they are onthe street, has been ineffective in their lives 230ixAcknowledgementsThe research for this thesis would not have occurred except for the Royal Commission onAboriginal Peoples. I was asked by the Commission in January 1993 to undertake a study onAboriginal street youth at about the time that I was beginning research on my doctoral thesis at theUniversity of British Columbia on another topic. My strong interest as a professional social workerin the welfare of children and as an Aboriginal person in Aboriginal street youth made me verymuch want to accept the Royal Commission\u00E2\u0080\u0099s invitation. This became possible when the RoyalCommission released its policy on use of Commission research data for educational purposes. I hadpermission from the Commission to use the street youth study data for my thesis and from mysupervisory committee at the University of British Columbia to change my topic. I am very gratefulto both of them, for without the financial resources made available to me by the Royal Commission,research on this important but elusive topic would not have been possible.The pseudonyms of the street youth and former street youth who participated in this researchare as follows (in order of presentation): Vancouver \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Etah, Joanne, Karen, and Missy; Winnipeg\u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noella/Travis, Axle, Jean-Marc, and Dale; Montreal\u00E2\u0080\u0094 Natasha and Charnelle. Two sets ofparents were interviewed in Vancouver and Winnipeg. All the agency personnel are greatfullyacknowledged in each of the cities who took the time out of their busy schedules to assist us in ourendeavour. They are too numerous to list.The research assistants consisted of Tony Winchester, B.A., M.S.W., in Victoria; BeverleyDag-Lopez in Vancouver; Marie Baker in Winnipeg; and Alysa Pramsmaa in Montreal.Finally, the thesis committee consisted of Jo-ann Archibald, Ph.D. (abd), Director of the FirstNations House of Learning, U.B.C.; Dr. Jean Barman, Department of Educational Studies, U.B.C.;Dr. Deirdre Kelly, Department of Educational Studies, U.B.C.; and Dr. Celia Haig-Brown, Facultyof Education, S.F.U. I thank them for their extreme patience and their particular expertise. JeanBarman, who acted as my thesis supervisor, has been a source of great strength, motivation and verypractical assistance. Without her special type of supervision this thesis would have been far moredifficult. I have been gifted with excellent examples of exceptional supervision. Thank you all.xchildren walking the moonblind into oblivionlost with no excuse with no remorsebeating the daughters torture forcespeaking with ignorance and greedteachers screaming on their kneessubliminal messages on TVjesus loves you childpray child pray till you bleedshut up and take your placeof disgrace in the line of conservative voiceface it life is a bottomless daythe human race is a dead racewalking as zombies from nine to fiverotting away with society\u00E2\u0080\u0099s liessurrounded in concrete wallswith no will but to fallpaving over insanityreflected maize of vanitycold dark ways in the screams and world of lonely streetsday to day begging, preachinglife\u00E2\u0080\u0099s beseecha buskers quote of a sinking boatrejected from our homesand wanted from our stolen wombspushed to our door of dooma cold dark room of miserythe ministry is looking down at youyour unscrewed caged petwalking the circle of the moonetah 1993xi1Chapter 1. Introduction\u00E2\u0080\u009Ckapitipis e-pimohteyahk: Aboriginal streetyouth in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal\u00E2\u0080\u009D usescase studies to produce a critical descriptive interpretation of the experience of Aboriginal youth whohave chosen, for whatever reason, to embrace life on the streets of three major cities in Canada. Thetitle translates from Cree into \u00E2\u0080\u009CWe walk all night.\u00E2\u0080\u009D This title was chosen because the youth in thisstudy told us that during the day they could always find somewhere warm to sleep where they feltsafe. During the night, however, when the temperature fell and when they had nowhere to sleep,they had to walk all night in order to keep warm and safe. The allusion to night walking alsohonours Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s poem, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cchildren walking the moon,\u00E2\u0080\u009D at the beginning of the study.Utilizing a critical case study method, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine youth,ages 14-20, currently involved in urban street life and two people who have lived on the street inthe past. To contextualize their experience, several parents of street youth and street servicespersonnel in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal were interviewed, although with less depth. Eachcity has an Aboriginal population in excess of 35,000.Why does social science, in general, and Aboriginal governments, in particular, need asociological perspective on youth street life that is specific to Aboriginal youth? Social scienceshows a large gap in the literature on Aboriginal street youth experience and conditions. ForAboriginal people, the information is necessary because we are unique in Canada for at least threereasons. First, Aboriginal people are \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpeople of the land.\u00E2\u0080\u009D We have no other homeland to identifywith\u00E2\u0080\u0094 we have been dispossessed in our own homeland. This implies not only our generalizedsense of homelessness \u00E2\u0080\u0094 not only inherent alienation due to our collective dispossession\u00E2\u0080\u0094 but toinherent Indigenous rights associated with nation to nation treaties. This means our issues ought tobe paramount in Canada and certainly we ought to have information about our children.Secondly, we have a unique world view that permeates our varied cultures and shapes ourexperience. Marginalization of Aboriginal culture leaves consequences for youth identity \u00E2\u0080\u0094 they2must grow up in a world where there is little to look back on with pride, referring to our obscuredhistory and marginalized culture, and very little to look forward to in the future, when they are facedwith current poor socio-economic statistics reflected in many Aboriginal communities. Aboriginalyouth, then, many of whom have been brought up in two worlds, find it hard to understand thecontradictions presented to them in foster care, institutional practice and social service delivery, onor off the street.Thirdly, our experience, historically and presently, is mediated by colonial policy andpractice embedded in legislation which regulates and permeates our experience on a daily basis.The structural barriers embedded in colonial existence not only affect the colonized, they affect thecolonial society and how they behave toward the members of the colonized group, especially itsweakest members. The three conditions named above result in a perceived separateness from thenorm of multicultural Canadian society, both from within ourselves, our nations and from themainstream perspective. The remnants of colonialism, such as the Indian Act, the reservation system,and the over representation in social pathology statistics make us more visible, more overtly affectedby and more vulnerable to structural, cultural and attitudinal racism. Presumably, then, street lifewould have different impacts on Aboriginal youth than on non-Aboriginal youth. We need, then,to explore how these three unique conditions manifest in Aboriginal street youth existence.Children and youth who do not have the benefit of parental or extended familial protectionare society\u00E2\u0080\u0099s most vulnerable group. This applies to Aboriginal youth on the street. In a time ofcultural renewal and movement toward self determination it is necessary to identify voids in ourknowledge base about the conditions of those in need. We must also identify gaps in the socialservice delivery system. And finally, emancipatory treatment and prevention measures, expressedfrom an Aboriginal point of view, need to form the basis of solutions that address the roots of thepost-colonialist problems in the entire Aboriginal community.3TerminologyFirst some discussion is warranted on concepts used in the analyses of Aboriginal experience.Colonization and decolonization are terms frequently used in commentary. Since colonization isthe acquiring of lands which are governed by a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmother\u00E2\u0080\u009D country and where the colonizer\u00E2\u0080\u0099s culture,structures and attitudes are externally imposed, then decolonization is the reversal of the imposedgovernance along with reclamation of culture, structures and identity. Racism is another conceptwhich is important to explain our experience as Aboriginal peoples. Racism encompasses thestructural manifestation of the ideology that one race is superior to another (particularly based oncolour differentiation) expressed in repressive policy, legislation, and institutions. Further, racismmeans the entire spectrum of the impact of race ideology: from the intra-psychic superiority itbestows on one race and the internalized inferiority embraced by the marginalized group; to theconcomitant behaviours produced in both which result in the differential distribution of power, statusand material goods to the privileged and the oppressed. Racism awareness in this broad definitionis becoming aware of race ideology and its history, how it is manifest in the structures of modernsociety, the impacts on various groups, how it is upheld and perpetuated, and one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s personalposition in the continuum from privileged to oppressed.Culture and identity are terms that I use to explore self image as an Aboriginal person. Byculture I mean the entire expression of Aboriginal life produced by world view, environment, andcommunity. This definition encompasses distinct outward manifestations in food, clothing, ritual,and art, for instance, and the inward expression in thought, language, symbolism, relationship andspirituality. Aboriginal identity is the condition of linking one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s being with a world view and thecommunity it produces. For instance, a person may identify with an extended family concept, anidea that everything has a spirit, with distinct regionally prepared indigenous food items, orceremonies, clothing, music, and art, all of which might be based on an underlying philosophy ofthe medicine wheel or the long house (depending on the culture).4In this research the term \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet youth\u00E2\u0080\u009D is used (Marlene Webber (1991) uses the term \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreetkids\u00E2\u0080\u009D). The youth are differentiated from \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet people\u00E2\u0080\u009D or the homeless. The persons in thisresearch are young people who have come from various circumstances and have been on the streetsfor varying periods of time and who fall between the ages of 14 and 20. Street people, on the otherhand, would be persons over 20 years old and live in the downtown core, sometimes as homelessindividuals, but often they inhabit the cheap skid row housing sprinkled in between the bars. Streetpeople, then, would not be the concern of child welfare authorities or the young offenders\u00E2\u0080\u0099 act andwould not necessarily qualify for Street youth services. The persons shown in \u00E2\u0080\u009CLife Down Here\u00E2\u0080\u009D(Smith & Smith, 1994), a film about Vancouver\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Aboriginal street life, could be called street people.The \u00E2\u0080\u009Chomeless\u00E2\u0080\u009D again are differentiated by age and by the reasons some people find themselveswithout a home. Belcher and DiBlasio (1990) write about the difficulties in the definition andpopulation assessment of homeless persons. Many stay with friends or they are in jail or mentalhospitals. Many are simply economically unable to afford housing and some have made the backalleys their permanent home (similar to some street youth). The lines are blurred at the upper agerange which was used in this study because homelessness, mental disability or illness, and severeaddiction may be present (in any combination). For instance, there was an eighteen year old womanwho was severely alcohol (and other drugs?) addicted and who also lived with older street men inthe back alleys in the westend of Vancouver.Urbanization and Aboriginal youthUrbanization is the process of moving from a rural environment and adapting to an urbanmilieu. Most of the literature on urbanization includes migration under its umbrella. In 1900 13\u00C2\u00B0Iof the global population lived in urban centres, by the year 2000 this figure is expected to rise to48% (Smith, 1991). A Native Council of Canada Socio-demographic Project Report states that theCanada-wide off-reserve Aboriginal population percentage has increased to 80\u00C2\u00B0I (Valentine, 1993).Migration patterns vary and are affected by a number of variables including: the proximity of reserves5to urban centres, the size of the reserve community, multiple forms of mass media that are deliveredto the reserve and promote urban lifestyles, road access and the political and institutionaldevelopment of the reserve community (Gerber, 1980). Aboriginal people face the immensetransition to urban life for many reasons. Most often they seek resources such as employment,housing, education or health services that are not available in their home communities. Oftenpeople are leaving an economy unable to sustain them because of environmental degradation,underdevelopment and broken corporate promises. Sometimes women and children are forced offthe reservation because of family violence. Aboriginal people also migrate to the city simply tofollow a dream of joining in the prosperity of mainstream Canada.Many young children and youth enter the urban environment through the child welfaresystem, some as ex-foster children and ex-adoptees, and others as escapees from detention facilities.They gravitate to the city because their community ties have been broken or the city provides anexcellent hiding place. In any case it is the only place to go. Yet others are progeny of urbanreserves where an immense invisible gulf separates them from mainstream urban Canada. Ironically,the latter are underrepresented in the street youth population, according to street youth servicepersonnel.Historically, the urbanization push is promoted by the political agenda of assimilation whichhas been the \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccentral pillar to Canadian Indian policy\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Ponting, 1986:25; Armitage, 1995). Giventhat existing resources on the reserves are limited in their ability to employ, house and servicegrowing populations, significant numbers of Aboriginal people feel their only option is to move toan urban centre. The advocacy of mass urbanization was central to the Hawthorn report of 1966which pointed to the limited resource capabilities of the reserve communities and population growthas dominant factors in this trend. Frideres (1993) states that another significant catalyst was the postwar transition from an agriculture-based North American economy to industrialisation. This shift6forced Aboriginal people who depended on employment in agriculture to go to urban centres toseek employment.Beginning in the early sixties, then, migration to urban centres was significant; it thendeclined to levels comparable to non-Aboriginal populations by the mid-eighties (Siggner, 1986).The movement from the small towns and rural reservations to the large urban centres marks thedecline of special status and the erosion of traditional cultural and community ties. This point isillustrated when we examine statistics on language maintenance displayed in table I.Table I: Percentage of People Who Maintain the Use of Their Language (Aboriginal Peoples Survey,1993).Adults (15+) Children (>15)Inuit 75 % 67 0/North American Indian OnReserve or Settlements 65 0/ 44 0/North American Indian OffReserve 23 0/ 9 0/M\u00C3\u00A9tis 18 0/ 9 %The same comparison can be made with respect to people over 15 years old who participatein traditional Aboriginal activities. Again, it is clear that the move to urban centres is a potentialthreat to cultural maintenance. In short, if language and traditional activities are gauges to culturalmaintenance, these charts graphically depict the potential dissolution of culture and tradition thatresults from migration out of reserves and rural settlements. The practices of people in Inuitcommunities, which are generally more isolated northern communities, and North American Indiansliving on reserves or settlements are in sharp contrast to the practices of those living outside thesecultural enclaves.7Table II: Percentage of people (15+) Who Participate in Traditional Aboriginal Activities (AboriginalPeoples Survey, 1993).Inuit 74.1 %N.A.I. On Reserves or Settlements 65.2 0/N.A.I. Off Reserve 44.8 %M\u00C3\u00A9tis 39.8 0/Statistics on urban Aboriginal people are questionable for a number of different reasons,beginning with the definition of the membership of the Aboriginal population \u00E2\u0080\u0094 this definitionvaries depending on the sponsors of the study. For example, some studies use statistics for registeredIndians published by Indian and Northern Affairs and generalize to the population of all Aboriginalpeople. Additionally, in 1986 Statistics Canada made changes in their census taking procedures withrespect to Aboriginal people; though the new questions around ethnic origins and identity are moredescriptive, the procedural change does not allow for comparisons of years before and after theswitch so it is difficult to chart the changes in urban migration. A comparison of the 1986 and 1991census does show a consistent growth in urban populations of Aboriginal people in all three of thefocus cities for this study: Montreal, Winnipeg and Vancouver.One other statistic that is telling for the 1991 census year is the mobility rates; for Aboriginalpeople 15 per cent of the population (15 years and older) moved in the twelve month period beforethe census taking as compared to 16 per cent of the total Canadian population. Of the Aboriginalpeople who said they did move in the past year, half of them moved within the same community.For Aboriginal children ages ito 14, only 13 per cent had moved within the year leading up to thecensus. In short, Aboriginal people presently are no more mobile than the general population(Aboriginal Peoples Survey, 1993).Another difficulty with obtaining accurate demographic information concerns the range ofentrenchment within the urban centre. Frideres (1993) suggests that many Aboriginal people leave8their home community more as a result of necessity than out of an attraction to the city; in short,they seek to exploit urban centres for meeting their employment, housing and education needs butmaintain strong links with their home community. This observation is evident in Nagler (1971) andGurstein (1977). Both authors present continuums that reflect the variation in levels of integrationin, or commitment to, urban centres. For example, the transient or vagabond is at the low end ofthe commitment scale; people in this category are short term (one month) residents who areconstantly in transit. The migrant or seasonal worker is the next category; this person is a longerterm (six months) resident but maintains a high degree of social contact with people from their homecommunity. The resident or transitional (two years) is more likely to be employed or engaged inan education program. The urban settler is a person who was born in the city or has lived there formore than two years and is accordingly more entrenched in the urban environment in terms of socialcontacts, employment, housing and use of services. The settler\u00E2\u0080\u0099s ties to the reserve are minimal; theymay still feel committed but only visit their home community sporadically, possibly once or twicea year (Price, 1979).Successful urban adaptation is dependent on many socio-economic and cultural factors.These include appropriate job and housing location, and cultural adaptation, which in turn aredependent on urban societal receptivity to the Aboriginal person. In other words, the degree ofracial barriers present for the individual or family are significant factors for positive urbanization.In much of the research racism is not taken into consideration, instead Aboriginal people are blamedfor failed attempts. For example, Price (1979) writes:Successful urban adaptation depends on the personality and preparedness of theindividual for urban life and on the nature of the town or city that the individualmigrates to. Any poorly prepared individual from a rural background will undergocultural shock and trauma on migrating into a city, unless there is an excellent systemof institutions to receive and educate that person in urban culture. This individualpreparedness can be somewhat predicted according to the evolutionary level of thesocietal heritage of the individual Indian. There are, of course, widespread nonevolutionary elements that influence this preparedness as well, such as historicalelements (e.g., length of White contact); ecological elements (e.g., urban proximity);and the urbanization of reserve life through the incorporation of reserves in nation-9wide networks of transportation, communication, education, health services, and soforth (229).This study on Aboriginal street youth could easily focus on all of the categories as many ofthese youth are extremely transient, moving often between urban centres and reserve communitiesthroughout Canada and the United States. They are also not a homogenous group: apart from thefact that these young people come from a multitude of Aboriginal cultures, they vary with respectto the bond they have with their cultural identity. Many have been wards of the state from a veryyoung age so their ties to their home reserve were never established, others grew up in their reservecommunity and so their relationship is still very strong, as is their internalized experience of theircultural heritage.Beyond the length of time and the level of entrenchment in urban life, Aboriginal people facea multitude of challenges in making the transition to the city. Cultural differences exist betweenAboriginal and mainstream cultures in addition to the rural and urban contrast in lifestyle. Researchalso consistently shows that accessing employment, though one of the leading reasons for movingto the city, is highly difficult. Barriers of racism, lower education levels and lack of marketableemployment skills for the urban environment contribute significantly to this fact. As well,mainstream policy makers and analysts have assumed that Aboriginal peoples are a homogenousculture when in fact their cultural diversity is a major stumbling block to effective urban communitydevelopment. Without a sufficient level of cohesion within the urban Aboriginal community therehas been a lack of institutional development and ensuing service delivery to meet the needs of urbanAboriginal people (Frideres, 1993; Nagler, 1971; Zeitoun, 1969).A new trend in the 1 980s and 1 990s is the appearance of Aboriginal street youth in growingnumbers (based mostly on estimates of people who work with them). Street workers, in particularex-street persons, have experienced an incredible increase in the numbers of Aboriginal youth onthe street and correspondingly a worsening of conditions for those who must survive on the urbanstreet.10The urbanization literature addresses adult urban migration primarily and not the youngpeople whose principal identifying factors are: they are without consistent adult supervision, theylack sufficient shelter, they must fend for a living on the street and so, inevitably, they become a partof the street culture. This study looks, with some depth, into the experience of Aboriginal youth onthe streets of Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal.The context of the studyA brief treatment of colonial history and review of general street youth research provide themacro vision of the Aboriginal street youth phenomena. This is followed by some discussion ofantecedents to street life which in part describe street youth relationships with care givers andinstitutions (which precede or precipitate flight from supervised care). Thirdly, consequences of lifeon the street and fourthly services for street youth are summarily discussed. This discourse isillustrated in figure 1 to show a maldevelopment of a process circle that should be healthy. In ahealthy cycle the west direction would be represented by vision, the south direction by relationships,the west by respect (and self respect) and the north direction by movement and action or appropriatesolutions.i. Macro view: Colonial historyOral history indicates that in precontact times (and in more remote regions until quiterecently) Aboriginal childhood and youth were preparatory phases for adulthood and elder status.These phases were parts of a cycle of life where children and youth learned from observation andmentorship through extended family behaviour and elder\u00E2\u0080\u0099s teachings to become responsible andrespectful adults. The age range in this research (14-20) would have straddled the phases ofprepuberty preparation and early adulthood/parenthood. With the advent and impact of colonizationmany changes have taken place which have predisposed many Aboriginal families to becomenegative statistics in the collage of Canadian national shame.11NorthLOSS OF RESPECT MOVEMENT/ACTIONconsequences to inadequate servicesstreet life at the street levelWest EastMACRO VIEW ORDYSFUNCTIONAL VISIONRELATIONSHIPS colonial history andprior to street life street youth in generalSouthFigure 1: The progression of a negative life process of ending up on the street for Aboriginal streetyouth in greater than average numbers. Beginning at the east door with a macro view of colonialhistory (vision); at the south door with antecedents of dysfunctional relationships (relationship); atthe west door with consequences in loss of respect (respect); and at the north door with inadequatestreet services (movement/action) (Absolon, 1993).12Contrary to popular belief Aboriginal/European relations remained reciprocal at least untilthe end of the eighteenth century. Aboriginal society did not instantly become dysfunctional uponcontact with the European boat people. Although the force of the Christian vanguard has remainedstable until today (many reserve communities are wrought with evangelical hegemony) there werelong periods of interdependence produced by the fur trade and the French/British wars (Berger,1991). In fact, this mutually beneficial era lasted 300 years (1492-1 800 approximately), 100 yearsmore than the current state of siege. A third of the way through the nineteenth century became thedemarcating point for clear policy changes toward segregation. (I do not use the terms acculturation,assimilation or integration because authentic expression of these processes have been consistentlymade impossible as a result of racial discrimination.) We are now experiencing an interface betweena 200 year segregation era and the movement toward self-determination for Aboriginal people inCanada. Researchers (Frideres, 1993; Armitage, 1995; Bolaria & Li, 1988) breakdown eras ofpostcontact relations in many detailed ways. For the purpose of this discussion the broader eras ofprecontact traditional society, interdependence, segregation, and self determination are used. It isthe latter two eras respectively which have produced higher than average vulnerability for Aboriginalchildren and youth, and to which we look for the underlying causes and culturally appropriatesolutions.Armitage (1993 and 1995) gives an indepth historical and comparative analysis of colonialpolicy in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In the book Comraring the policy of Aboriginalassimilation: Australia, Canada and New Zealand he shows how child welfare and educationalassimilative policies have worked to the detriment of Aboriginal peoples and how Aboriginal selfdetermination in these fields is attempting to correct the impact.From the passage of the Indian Act of 1876 until the 1960s child welfare for FirstNations people in Canada was dominated by the policy of assimilation, which usededucational methods to change the culture and character of their children. Churchoperated residential schools were the central institution used in this strategy. Whenthe policy of assimilation was replaced by the policy of integration, the residentialschools were replaced by the child welfare strategy in a second attempt to ensure13that the next generation of Indian children was different from their parents. Childrenseparated from parents considered by child welfare authorities to be negligent orabusive were raised in foster care or adopted. In the current period of movementtoward self-government many First Nations communities are taking control of theirown child welfare programs to ensure that the next generation of Indian children isrased in their own communities and culture (Armitage, 1993:13 1).Street youthThe street youth literature, which is gaining momentum recently, focuses on issues such asabuse, shelter, delinquency, gangs, addictions, gender, and service delivery. There is very littleinformation on visible minority concerns in general and there is a remarkable void in research onissues specific to Aboriginal street youth.Brannigan and Caputo (1992) offer a model that is useful in organizing the street youthphenomenon; namely, they break the issues down into: definitions, antecedents, consequences, andinstitutional responses to the problem (31). This categorization is used to structure the review,beginning with the issues of definition and population estimation.Definitions and estimatesA report sponsored by the Children\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto is most helpful toconceptualize the heterogenous population of street youth and the issues that relate to their variouscategories. In this report McCullagh and Greco (1990) differentiate between five categories of youthunder the umbrella term of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet kids\u00E2\u0080\u009D (ii). The first and largest group is comprised of children whoare \u00E2\u0080\u009Crunning from.. .intolerable home situations\u00E2\u0080\u009D; for the most part they are running from differenttypes of abuse or neglect. The second and smallest group is said to \u00E2\u0080\u009Crun to ... adventureexcitement and/or independence\u00E2\u0080\u009D without the consent of their parents or caregiver. The thirdcategory of street kids are called \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthrowaways\u00E2\u0080\u009D in the report. They are on the street as a result ofparental rejection or their parents have consented to a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpremature exit from parental care.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The nextgroup is \u00E2\u0080\u009Coverwhelmingly represented\u00E2\u0080\u009D on the street; this group runs from government care facilities(children\u00E2\u0080\u0099s aid or young offenders). This group is labelled \u00E2\u0080\u009Cabsconders from care\u00E2\u0080\u009D in the report.Lastly, Greco and McCullagh identify a group of youth as \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccurb-kids\u00E2\u0080\u009D who still may live at home or14in a government care facility but are very much involved in the street culture, they are children \u00E2\u0080\u009Cofthe street\u00E2\u0080\u009D as opposed to \u00E2\u0080\u009Con the street\u00E2\u0080\u009D in the words of Blunt et. al. (1992). They may run forvarying lengths of time.Marjorie Robertson (1991) focuses on the issue of choice stating runaways \u00E2\u0080\u009Cchoose\u00E2\u0080\u009D to beon the street whereas homeless youth are \u00E2\u0080\u009Cperceived to lack access to either their original or analternative home\u00E2\u0080\u009D (33). Additionally, Kufeldt and Nimmo (1987 and 1987a) distinguish between\u00E2\u0080\u009Crunners\u00E2\u0080\u009D who leave home for extended periods of time with no intention of returning and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cin andouters\u00E2\u0080\u009D who run impulsively and for a shorter duration. Still another definition of street children isthe one adopted by UNICEF, namely, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthose for whom the street, in the widest sense of the word,including unoccupied buildings, and wasteland more than their family has become their real home,a situation in which there is no protection, supervision or direction from responsible adults\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Fyfe,1985 in Blunt et al., 1992:3). This last definition is useful in that it opens discussion to the conceptof a \u00E2\u0080\u009Chome\u00E2\u0080\u009D that implies an entity beyond mere shelter (Bass, 1992; Belcher & DiBlasio, 1990).Baxter (1991) emphasizes the same dichotomy between \u00E2\u0080\u009Cshelterlessness\u00E2\u0080\u009D and \u00E2\u0080\u009Chomelessness\u00E2\u0080\u009D; shepoints to basic needs such as security, safety and community as integral to the concept of a home.The population size of street youth eludes researchers because of the transient and diversestatus of these people. The youth often change their living conditions as a result of so many differentfactors ranging from climate to employment, poverty, incarceration, impulsive lifestyles or familydiscord. Another important confounding variable to consider when estimating street youthpopulations is that the age range of the youths in most studies is approximately twelve to twenty-oneyears. Mistrust of adults for various reasons, including abuse and mandatory reporting of a minorin potential danger, is consistently reported in the literature. Finally, the task of estimating the sizeof the population on a national scale is compounded when one considers that the major urbanpopulation centres represent only a segment of the youth who would fit the definitions in thisreview.15Rossi\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1989) research in Chicago and Burnam and Koegel\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1989) study in Los Angelesoffer different approaches to census taking among adult urban street people. Rossi divided inner citycore areas into census quadrants and conducted counts of each quadrant at a specific time. Burnamand Koegel estimated population proportions at different locations around the Los Angeles area andthen created a random sample that reflects the estimated proportions thus deriving a representativerandom sample. This latter method was used in the study of East Village in Calgary in order toensure a representative sample (McDonald and Peressini 1992). These strategies becomeproblematic when youth are involved for many of the reasons stated above. In Canadian youthstudies, McCarthy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1990) approach is most effective in youth populations; it involves contactingyouth at a number of service agencies as well as meeting them on the street at known congregatingareas and makeshift shelters throughout the city of Toronto. Few of the studies are able to claimrepresentativeness in their sample at this time. More importantly, no studies have isolatedinformation on the Aboriginal portion of their sample though some of the researchers have futureplans of this nature.Many questions need to be answered: Do Aboriginal adolescents experience differences incomparison to other youths living on the street? Are they treated worse by the people they come intocontact with? How do they react to street workers and other mainstream services that are availableto them? Are culturally appropriate services available? Reflecting on the dual research goals offinding specific information about life on the street and of analysis sensitive to the impact ofstructural forces, we must ask questions such as: How is the historical background and present newforms of colonization and racism socially manifest when compounded with street conditions? Wedon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know. This information is important at this time and has yet to be addressed in the literature.ii. Antecedents to street lifeGiven the grim picture of life on, or of, the street put forth by most accounts, from academicto media perspectives, it is baffling to think that some of the young inhabitants have chosen it as the16most attractive of different options. Using the definitions given by McCullagh and Greco (1990)above, it is clear that, with the exception of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthrowaways,\u00E2\u0080\u009D the youth may have chosen the streetover other possibilities for a place to call home. Throwaways are the only group in thisconfiguration that seem to be on the street by someone else\u00E2\u0080\u0099s will \u00E2\u0080\u0094 even this premise is debatablewhen one considers their \u00E2\u0080\u009Cchoice\u00E2\u0080\u009D is between living with a rejecting adult and the possibility offinding a more accepting peer group \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfamily\u00E2\u0080\u009D on the streets. Choice is particularly in question forAboriginal children caught up in another culture. Further discussion on cultural displacement andadoption breakdown is presented in chapter seven.There are a variety of analytic approaches to the street youth phenomena and eachperspective sheds light on the forces that precede and influence a young person\u00E2\u0080\u0099s flight toindependence of this nature. For example, McCarthy (1990) offers four different approaches toexplain runaway behaviour, beginning with the approach which focuses on individual pathology.The emphasis in this approach is on the psychological and behavioral disorders of the youth.Briefly, the authors adopting a psychoanalytic approach concentrate on finding dysfunction withinthe individual to account for their decision to live on their own. Critics fault this approach withblaming on the victim for structural inequity and social tragedy.Another perspective McCarthy examines is the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpathological family approach.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Under thisheading the studies consistently find that many of the youth are on the street because it is the bestoption available to them. For the most part McCarthy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s account filters down to \u00E2\u0080\u009Ca disturbed parentchild relationship\u00E2\u0080\u009D which is usually fuelled by one or more forms of abuse \u00E2\u0080\u0094 physical, mental,emotional or sexual \u00E2\u0080\u0094 and may be directed at the youth themselves or another parent or sibling intheir immediate environment (reflected by: Janus et al., 1987; Webber, 1991; Social PlanningCouncil of Winnipeg, 1990; Kufeldt and Nimmo, 1987 and 1987a; McCormack, Janus and Burgess,1986; Powers, Eckenrode and Jaklitsch, 1990; Fisher, 1989). It is this abusive or violent relationshipthat precipitates the youth\u00E2\u0080\u0099s decision to seek refuge. This approach can also be criticized for17blaming the family for societal problems. The corollaries to this metaphorical theorem is to blamethe tribe and then to blame the race.The third approach presented is what McCarthy (1 990) labels the \u00E2\u0080\u009Csociological approach.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe studies under this heading focus on antecedent factors that are \u00E2\u0080\u009Csocietal or environmental.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Adownturn in the economy is one example, another may examine socio-economic backgrounds ofrunaways. In this case parents cannot afford to keep a young person in their care and they areencouraged to leave.A final approach that is less prominent in the literature is called the \u00E2\u0080\u009Chealthy individualapproach\u00E2\u0080\u009D in McCarthy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s analysis. Here the youth is considered to be psychologically hardy enoughto leave a situation that is unhealthy for the sake of self-preservation. For instance, if a child is beingabused in a foster home or institution, the street may be their only alternative for escape.Of these four perspectives, the sociological is best suited for the examination of Aboriginalissues as it allows for a structural perspective which is capable of incorporating variables such asrace, history, economic marginalization and government policy in the analysis, thus avoidingblaming the victims. Of the remaining three frameworks the healthy individual and the focus onfamily breakdown are also of use, though less so, and finally the personal pathology approach is oflittle use as it fosters dissecting symptoms instead of focusing on the societal structures that are theroot of those symptoms. A similar caution about misdirecting research with homeless populationsis voiced by Gary L. Blasi (1990) and reflected by Marybeth Shinn and Beth C. Weitzman (1990)who state,By focusing on what is wrong with \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe homeless,\u00E2\u0080\u009D however, we risk following theclassic steps of blaming the victim: identifying a social problem, studying thoseafflicted to determine how they differ from the rest of us, defining the differences asthe cause of the problem, and setting up humanitarian programs to correct thedifferences (Ryan, 1 971: 8). Efforts to identify the health and social problems of thehomeless persons have distracted us from studying and countering the growth ofpoverty, the erosion of welfare benefits, the destruction of low-income housing, andother contributors to homelessness that are not characteristics of individual victims.The field has fallen prey to the risks of diverting attention from underlying causes andreinforcing stereotypes about the population group (2).18In an Aboriginal context, any analysis that does not account for the historical and present daystructural inequities that influence Aboriginal people is prey to a similar type of error \u00E2\u0080\u0094 sustaininginstead of deconstructing colonial attitudes and policies. Doubtlessly, there is a need for somecritical descriptive data on the exact nature of the lives of Aboriginal youth who are on the street.An analysis that relied solely on structural forces would obscure the reasons why these youth runand how they experience street life once they are there.iii. Consequences of street lifeThe literature varies as to the length of time that young people spend on the street thoughmost studies report that much of the homelessness is sporadic. McCarthy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1990) study revealedthat only 32.1 percent of his sample were on the street for six months or less and approximately 42percent were on the street for between six months and three years. In sharp contrast a Winnipegstudy reported 96 percent of their sample was on the run for six months or less in their last run.Fisher\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1989) study of runaways reported that 72 percent of the youths were away for less thanthree days. In the American literature there is an estimate that the average run was over six months(Kryder-Coe, Salamon and Molnar, 1991:39). Here again, Kufeldt and Nimmo\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1987; 1987a)division of the population between the runners of longer duration and the youths who aresporadically homeless or \u00E2\u0080\u009Con the run\u00E2\u0080\u009D may be useful to account for the variance in the estimates ofduration on the street.The consensus in the literature is that life on the streets is extremely harsh, and therepercussions of living there vary and are closely linked to the duration of one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s existence there(Brannigan and Caputo, 1993; Webber, 1991). Most consequences result from the attempt byminimally educated, inexperienced, vulnerable (in a multitude of ways) and desperate adolescentsto survive in a society that has dimensions which at once glorifies youth and then preys upon it.Needless to say, the prognosis is not good. The McCullagh and Greco study (1990) outlines a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreetlife profile\u00E2\u0080\u009D that includes the following nine points: lack of education, lack of conventional19employment skills, high incidence of transience, poor physical health, substance abuse, mentalhealth problems, conflict with the law, vulnerability to violent exploitation and a dominance of peerrelationships that seek to compensate for the lack of family and school relations that support mostadolescents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 needs for relationship (iii-iv). Though this profile has the potential to foster stereotyping\u00E2\u0080\u0094 glossing over the specific in favour of generic labels\u00E2\u0080\u0094 its intent is to convey an abbreviatedpicture of street life that can be used to give direction to a more indepth analysis of the issues.One can look at unemployment, resulting from insufficient education and experience, andthe ensuing poverty as fundamental to the reality of surviving the streets. Poverty is a force thatunderlies most of the other survival issues; it is also one of the prime antecedents to illegal acts suchas drug selling, theft and prostitution. Consequently, this powerless population is open to a barrageof abuse from so many different sources including adults and other youths (McCarthy and Hagan,1991; 1992a; 1992b; Webber, 1991; Kufeldt and Nimmo, 1987; Lau, 1989, McCullagh and Greco,1990).Studies consistently examine health issues with respect to homeless youth. Among the healthissues researched, the most prevalent are: physical and mental health, AIDS, substance abuse relatedinquiry and the interrelationships that exist between these and a host of other factors that affect one\u00E2\u0080\u0099swell-being. At the most basic level, surviving on the streets without proper nutrition, shelter andmedical services is in itself cause for poor health. The physical stresses of this environment arefurther compounded by the dangers of violent abuse perpetrated by adults and desperate youthpreying on vulnerable young people\u00E2\u0080\u0094 in total these phenomena inflict a heavy, and potentiallyfatal, toll on the physical well-being of young homeless people (Fisher, 1989; Webber, 1991).Though careful not to label homelessness as a mental health problem in itself, there aremental health impacts of being homeless or as a result of the traumas that precede leaving home.These impacts may include various forms of abuse, family breakdown or forced separation from theparental home, as well as the daily traumas associated with living on the street. For example, major20depression, post traumatic stress disorder and suicide attempts are all more pervasive in homelessadolescents (Robertson, 1991; Janus et al., 1987; Powers, Eckenrode and Jaklitsh, 1990; Blunt et al.,1992). Some of the potential roots and self-reported symptoms are articulated by the McCul lagh andGreco (1990) report:...the childhood histories of street youth are characteristically marred with physicaland sexual abuse, family dysfunction, and parental rejection. Such experiences are\u00E2\u0080\u0098invariably accompanied by emotional abuse\u00E2\u0080\u0099. Street youth report high levels of poorself-esteem, self-worth and feelings of powerlessness. This is evidenced by highincidents of self-mutilation and suicide attempts (iii).The threat of AIDS is a phenomenon that all sexually active adolescents must reckon with.Homeless youth are at greater risk as they have a higher prevalence of intravenous drug use andexploitation in the prostitution industry to varying degrees. Researchers also find that the threat ofcontracting AIDS amongst this population is further compounded by: poverty, lack of informationabout the nature of the disease, lower literacy rates, lack of access to sufficient health care, low self-esteem, and a low sense of self-efficacy with respect to taking steps to protect oneself whennecessary (Kaliski et al., 1990; Caswell and Green, 1988; Johnston, 1992). Policy makers andservice providers face the challenge of designing prevention strategies to accommodate the specialneeds of this high risk group.Finally, aside from the very serious threat of AIDS resulting from intravenous drug use, thehealth related information focuses specifically on substance abuse as it is considered to be rampantin this group. Webber\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1991) research highlights the use of drugs as a coping tool for kids on thestreet. She states that,More than typical adolescents, street kids are beset with oppressive problems, boththose they bring from home and those they acquire in the street. They have morethan the average need to escape. Killing the pain of their existence \u00E2\u0080\u0094 getting highas a get-away \u00E2\u0080\u0094 is the most compelling lure drugs offer. Addictions developnaturally out of the vulgar business of living in the street because some kids can copewith what is being done to their bodies only by being out of their minds. Drugsoffer the illusion of being off the street while you are still on it .... Not only are streetkids tied up in more complex psychological knots and practical conundrums than areaverage teenagers and therefore more susceptible to drugs, but they also live in anenvironment saturated with these hazardous substances. If alcohol and drugs21tantalize many \u00E2\u0080\u0098normal\u00E2\u0080\u0099 kids, they magnetize troubled kids chasing a magical escape(225).Webber goes on to outline some of the predisposing factors that foster youthful addictions including:\u00E2\u0080\u009Clow self-esteem, serious home or school problems, early use, a family history of addiction, parentalconflict, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and physical and sexual abuse \u00E2\u0080\u0094 in other words,the runaway mould\u00E2\u0080\u009D (225). In many Aboriginal communities escape through addiction is asignificant social problem which has been repeatedly studied by social scientists. The pervasivenessof addictions on the street and the profile of predisposing factors offered by Webber above arefactors to be examined in this study without simply dissecting symptoms but with the goal ofrevealing the underlying dynamic of those symptoms\u00E2\u0080\u0094 addictions or otherwise.Finally, there is research that has focused on the issues of delinquency and law-breaking ingeneral, and more specifically, on gang culture. To some extent gang literature elucidates issues thatmay be applicable to Aboriginal street youth because the analysis often includes some recognitionof structural dimensions of race, racism, class, and/or poverty in addition to the delinquencyperspective. For example, Short (1990) presents a lucid explanation of cultural and economicmarginalization, and its relationship to gang activity. Specifically, the gangs are an attempt by youngpeople to take part in the youth culture that is not accessible to them through the \u00E2\u0080\u009Clegitimate\u00E2\u0080\u009Dinstitutions of the dominant culture. Davis (1988) echoes this perspective, labelling it \u00E2\u0080\u009Ceconomicsurvivalism\u00E2\u0080\u009D (30), and highlights the \u00E2\u0080\u009CLos Angeles police\u00E2\u0080\u0099s racism and brutality\u00E2\u0080\u009D (28) against blackcommunities in their massive anti-gang campaign. Davis is critical of the clampdown on gangs asit skirts the deeper issues of racism and poverty that are at the root of gang phenomena. There isa growing body of literature that analyzes the attempts of culturally and economically marginalizedyouth to adapt to North American urban society through gang activity, the inter- and intra-communityimpacts and the institutional responses to the youths (Davis, 1988; Huff, 1989; Moore, 1985; Short,1990; Vigil, 1983; Zatz, 1985). In this body of research may lie some important tools for22understanding Aboriginal communities in the urban environment as they face barriers similar to thosefaced by the black, Chicano and other ethnic minority communities of the United States.iv. Issues of service delivery to street youthThere is no doubt that the population of street youth is replete with barriers to effectiveservice delivery. Consider, for example, that the client population is approximately twelve toseventeen years of age and that a high proportion of them are running from some type of abusivesituation, a care agency or perhaps a detainment facility\u00E2\u0080\u0094 thus, there is a general mistrust of adults(who are obligated to report underage youths who they feel may be vulnerable to danger). Forexample, in the proposed safehouse sponsored by the Children\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Aid Society of MetropolitanToronto, the policy states that \u00E2\u0080\u009CParents and/or guardians and/or police would be informed of theyouth\u00E2\u0080\u0099s admission in accordance with legislative guidelines\u00E2\u0080\u009D (McCullagh and Greco, 1990:vii).Given the knowledge that they will likely be sent back to where they ran from, it is doubtful thatyoung people would seek out such a service. Mainstream agencies which provide services that seekto provide a safe haven are criticized as often contributing to the problem of abuse. Zingaro (1987)asserts that conventional child care facilities are guilty of repeating the experience of violationthrough control and intrusion into the lives of the abused children they seek to help; this dynamicis compounded by practitioners \u00E2\u0080\u009Crequiring model kinds of behaviour and self-disclosure in return forservice\u00E2\u0080\u009D (70). A significant portion of the youth who find themselves on the street are \u00E2\u0080\u009Cabscondersfrom care\u00E2\u0080\u009D (McCullagh and Greco, 1990:ii). SpecifictoAboriginal runaways is the fact that servicesare simply not culturally sensitive to their needs and so many flee to the streets as preferable toinstitutional living (Native Women\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Transition Centre, 1991).Brannigan and Caputo (1993:83-84) offer a very useful continuum of services for street youththat characterizes the increasing levels of intrusiveness and length of contact for clients who usethem. The continuum begins with prevention services that have minimal contact with the youth andseek to educate them about the potential hazards of street, for example, in school presentations and23media campaigns. Crisis intervention, which is still generally short-term but more intrusive, seeksto stabilize clients who may be immersed in crisis, for instance, shelters or help lines. Of a moresustaining nature are the maintenance services which offer a place for clients to meet their basicdaily needs of food and shelter (hostels, needle exchanges, and soup kitchens). Next on thecontinuum are the transitional services which seek to help young people get off the street. Theseservices entail a longer-term commitment and a more intrusive relationship with the service providers\u00E2\u0080\u0094 for example, longer-term shelter, literacy programs and addictions counselling. The fifth categoryis labelled incapacitation, which is meant to encompass incarceration by law enforcement and healthofficials for the sake of preventing the individual from harming themselves or others\u00E2\u0080\u0094 i.e. youngoffenders\u00E2\u0080\u0099 facilities and psychiatric wards of hospitals. And finally, the authors point to therehabilitation type of services that are \u00E2\u0080\u009Caimed at re-integrating young people into the community\u00E2\u0080\u009D(84). These services are, for the most part, involuntary and provided by the corrections and criminaljustice system, for instance, probation services and life skills programs. Alongside the abovecontinuum the authors put forth another continuum of formality that can be applied to all of theservices outlined for further descriptive value. Both of these tools of analysis are helpful todifferentiate the many services that street youth can potentially come into contact with.More concretely, of the front-line, short-term, services that do work for meeting street youths\u00E2\u0080\u0099needs most have a necessary element of access and flexibility. Namely, the services have to beoffered in an accessible part of the downtown core, open twenty-four hours and offer clients achance to meet their basic needs of shelter, food and clothing with a minimum of intrusivequestioning. Also, some agencies offer counselling, support, information and referral (for issues ofabuse, shelter, substance abuse, education, health, medical or legal) for those who need it. Inaddition to these short-term and emergency types of services, street youth also express a need forlonger term services such as job training, stable housing and alternative education programs (Zingaro,1987; Native Women\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Transition Centre, 1991; McCullagh and Greco, 1990; Social Planningy24Council of Winnipeg, 1990; McDonald and Peressini, 1992; White, 1992; Bermingham, 1992;Truscott, 1992 and 1993).Conclusions: Aboriginal street youth in the literatureSocial scientists are at an early stage in the evolution of research conducted on street youth.Overall one can see a progression in attempts to derive more sophisticated and thorough studies thatwill suitably address the needs of this population. To date all of the research has been conductedon the population of street youth in general \u00E2\u0080\u0094 none of the studies located has singled out Aboriginalyouth. Accordingly, there is no information on population size, issues of racism or cultural identity,or service agency utilization by Aboriginal youth. There remains any number of significant foci forfuture study with Aboriginal street youth. In fact, for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples\u00E2\u0080\u0099study that provided the impetus for this thesis the literature search encompassed refereed academicand popular literature, data networks (such as dissertation, sociology, psychology and social workabstracts, ERIC \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Education Resources Information Centres \u00E2\u0080\u0094 and the American Indian Institute),and word of mouth networking with key informants in the areas of academic and professionalservice delivery to Aboriginal populations, streetyouth, and homeless people in general. There wereabsolutely no studies found on Aboriginal street youth specifically. Only one video documentary,made by the National Film Board in 1988 entitled No address, which focused on homelessAboriginal people in Montreal, was found (Obomsawin, 1988). There are other movies anddocumentaries based on street youth in general but nothing with an Aboriginal focus.Other documentation of Aboriginal youth can be found by culling information from majorstudies. For example, in the Marlene Webber (1991) book, Street kids, there are a number ofanecdotal references and verbatim personal accounts of young Aboriginal peoples lives on the street.Similarly, personal accounts can be found in Without reserve by Lynda Shorten (1991), and Insideout: An autobiography by a Native Canadian, by James Tyman (1989). These sources give the readersome insight into the pertinent issues that separate Aboriginal people from other populations. There25are sometimes graphic personal portrayals of the effects of racism, colonial government policy,destructively short-sighted child welfare policy and practice, the repercussions of the residentialschool system, poverty, recovery and renewal. But these accounts, though growing in theirnumbers, are still few and they are limited by lack of focus on the issue of homelessness or life onthe street.In the Winnipeg (Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, 1990) and Calgary (McDonald andPeressini, 1992) studies on homeless populations there is a division that identifies ethnic origin butthe authors\u00E2\u0080\u0099 analyses stop with a small chart that outlines the type of ethnicity and the proportionof the total sample. This information does not break-down Aboriginal populations by culturalgroups. In the Winnipeg study the authors go as far as to say that Aboriginal youth areoverrepresented based on national population figures (two percent of national population versus fourpercent in their study). But even this information is not reliable as the study did not have arepresentative sample \u00E2\u0080\u0094 few studies do. Brannigan and Caputo (1993) give a cursory account ofthe unique nature of the issues facing Aboriginal youth in their literature review section but theyoffer no studies to back up their remarks. These authors have future plans to focus research onAboriginal youth populations.One document that has emerged partly from the information in the Winnipeg study is aproposal for a safe house called Ni Tin Away Ma Gun Antat (My relative\u00E2\u0080\u0099s house) for Aboriginalchildren and youth in the inner city (Native Women\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Transition Centre, 1991). This safe houseopened in 1994. This is a good example of a culturally relevant service targeting Aboriginal youth.Other sources of information that focus on homeless Aboriginal people in general (implyingadults more than youth) can be found in the form of reports and conference proceedings \u00E2\u0080\u0094 forexample, A place to call home: A conference on homelessness in British Columbia (Fallick, 1987),the Canadian Council on Social Development\u00E2\u0080\u0099s report entitled Homelessness in Canada: The reortof the national inQuiry (McLaughlin, 1987), and finally New Dartnershis \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Building for the future26(Lang-Runtz & Ahern, 1988). Though these reports offer a marginal focus on the needs of Aboriginalpeople, they are important for their structural perspective. They emphasize the role of issues suchas poverty, self-government, and cultural differences that must be addressed by any program thatseeks some form of amelioration for Aboriginal people. Specifically, the University of BritishColumbia conference (cited above) offers a skeletal, point form examination of some issues thatcontribute to homelessness. The Social Development report and the New Partnerships conferencealso point to structural barriers but much of the focus is on adult and rural populations as well ashousing and shelter \u00E2\u0080\u0094 issues less immediate to the lives of urban youth.From all of these accounts one must attempt to glean information that offers insight into thelives of Aboriginal youth who are living on the urban streets. The question remains, in an effort todeconstruct colonial interpretations and attitudes, what in past studies is useful for an Aboriginalperspective? All of the research to date is clearly insufficient to accommodate the specific needs ofAboriginal street youth and so our approach must reflect this great lack, but also build on it. It isuseful to know, firstly, that there are no other studies so this research, for the most part, must beginat the beginning. It is also useful to know that there are many Aboriginal youth living on the streetsand it is very important to understand the level of desperation that brings these youth to the pointof exploiting themselves, in a variety of ways, to survive. One other significant finding is that theseyouth are most often running \u00E2\u0080\u0098from\u00E2\u0080\u009D something to the street \u00E2\u0080\u0094 we need to clearly articulate whatyoung Aboriginal people run from. In the Ni Tin Away Ma Gun Antat (1991) proposal the authorsstate that a proportionally higher number of Aboriginal youth are in the child welfare system andthere is a shortage of culturally appropriate services; thus, many of the Aboriginal street youth maybe running from the mainstream institutions that are unable to provide services sensitive to theirneeds. We also know that analysis that leaves out issues of race, poverty, colonization or thatoverlooks the experience of life on reserves or in urban ghettos is, at best, minimally suited to ourneeds.27Overview of the thesisThe next chapter describes the research process. I also reflect on the methodology withemphasis on what it was like as an Aboriginal person doing ethnographic research on this difficultsubject. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 form the heart of the thesis. The case studies introduce us to nine(two of them are treated as a couple in one case study) Aboriginal youth who currently live on thestreet in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal, and two former street youth who are street survivorsfrom Vancouver and Winnipeg. The sixth chapter examines the patterns and themes that emergeout of these ten case studies about life on the streets. Chapter seven focuses on policy implicationsand the last chapter concludes the thesis.28Chapter 2. Research methodologyChapter two describes how this study was conceptualized and lays out the methodology usedto research Aboriginal street youth in the urban environment in Canada. The emphasis in thischapter is on the process by which the research received its impetus, was carried out and theninterpreted. I also talk about the research\u00E2\u0080\u0099s reliability and validity and about the constraints to thestudy. Finally, I reflect on how the research affected me as an Aboriginal person.The conceptualization, the way which this study came about, and how it came to be done,is inextricably linked with my values as an Aboriginal person and my life experience as part of anoppressed group in Canada. Therefore, as a critical researcher, I begin a scholarly discussion onmethodology with something as personal as my socialization as an Aboriginal person. Again at theend of the chapter I will come full circle and reflect on this person in this research.Impetus of the researchAn image from my childhood, which has stayed with me all of my life, explicitly places mewithin the framework of Aboriginality, of colonial oppression, and of the multitude of negativestatistics and images that abound about Aboriginal people. Therefore, entering the world ofAboriginal street youth was for me a true case of \u00E2\u0080\u009CBut for the grace of the Creator, there go I.\u00E2\u0080\u009DI am approximately eight years old, sitting in the back of a horse drawn wagon with sevenof my siblings and cousins. My grandfather is in charge of the reins. My father is sitting next tohim. It is a clear dark night and the stars are out in full force. I had watched with interest earlierthat day as the moose carcass was cut up and carefully laid at the bottom of the wagon box andmeticulously covered with pine branches, then with cardboard boxes, and finally with blankets.Now we are on our way back home from a hunting expedition under the cover of night. As I sithuddled in a blanket up behind the adults, my grandfather began to discuss, in Cree, with a distincttinge of bitterness (this was uncharacteristic of my grandfather) that it was a crime that children hadto be used to hide the game \u00E2\u0080\u009Cillegally\u00E2\u0080\u009D killed in order that we could survive.29I learned that night of the confiscation of land, the laws that prohibited leaving the reserveto hunt for food, the residential schools that took away the children, the police function of socialcontrol through brutality, and the encroaching cultural values that would threaten to destroy us. Ilearned simple logic in the statement, \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey came to my country, they should speak my language.\u00E2\u0080\u009DI learned that our collective condition was because of some inherently unfair philosophy andbehaviour, and not at all the way things had always been. And most importantly I learned that thiswas not a fault that existed within us. In forty years I have not seen evidence that any part of therevelation of that night was wrong. A critical analyst was born that night.The term critical, Thomas (1993) states,describes both an activity and an ideology. As social activity, critical thinkingimplies a call to action that may range from modest rethinking of comfortablethoughts to more direct engagement that includes political activity (17).Thomas\u00E2\u0080\u0099s definition fits the sense of accountability that remains with me now. My experience onthe reserve of watching my grandfather interact with a world that denied naturally accessible andcommon sense human rights \u00E2\u0080\u0094 without English or any \u00E2\u0080\u009Crecognized education\u00E2\u0080\u009D\u00E2\u0080\u0094 with a stoicdetermination and dignity instilled in me the principle of systematically including a critical analysison colonization or to at least make certain that it be allowed to emerge out of research withAboriginal people.The impact of my grandfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s teachings (and after that night I asked many questions formany years) have also reinforced the importance of oral transmission of holistic information,particularly in the language of the people. Hence I have insisted on leaving in as much text of theyouths\u00E2\u0080\u0099 stories as possible (in their way of speaking) and their centrality in this research.The research process began inadvertently when in early January 1993 I received a call fromone of the research directors of the urban perspectives sector of the Royal Commission on AboriginalPeoples inquiring if I would be interested in applying to do research on Aboriginal street youth inmajor urban centres in Canada. My immediate and emphatic response was, \u00E2\u0080\u009CNo.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The picture that30came to mind was quantitative research, looking for numbers of youth on the street andadministering a questionnaire, collating data, inputting it onto computer and placing the results intotables. This type of research on Aboriginal street youth, in my view, could not access the pain ofseparation and loss due to institutional intervention, of the traumatic impact of racism, of identityconfusion (which most of us experience off the Street) ifl addition to life and death survival issues.Some research, the media and a common sense visual count tells us that Aboriginal youth areoverrepresented at least in the skid row prostitution industry in Canada and I saw no point inconfirming that statistic. On further discussion it became evident to me that perhaps what theywanted was not incompatible with what I might be willing to do. I did, however, qualify that Iwould not go in and rape these children again, not even under the guise of research, and that if Idid anything at all it would have to include assisting the youth to tell their own stories.A preliminary proposal to do qualitative research on Aboriginal street youth in Vancouver,Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal was accepted by the Commission after I had been selected froma competition. (Subsequently Toronto was dropped from the study because the research assistantbecame ill. I also believe the emotional impact of the research process became overwhelming inthis case.) My function would be to oversee the entire study from figuring out which paradigm andmode of research would be most suitable, to the design of the study and any instruments used inthe research, to designing and carrying out the training of assistants, to interpreting, reporting thedata, and formulating the recommendations.Funding was provided for a principal researcher/project manager, and later because of timeconstraints, for a research assistant to carry out library searches and policy examination, and for four(which later became three) research assistants to conduct the interviews with the street youth in eachof the major city sites in the study. It was decided that this arrangement was necessary because thistype of study could potentially be a full time job for one person for at least two years and I wasemployed in a tenure track faculty position with the School of Social Work, University of Victoria,31at the time the study was initiated. All persons on the research team were directly contractedthrough the Royal Commission. Therefore we were, each of us, private contractors. (This aspectof the study was later to have an impact on the question of researcher safety and participant selectionalluded to later in the chapter).Planning the researchThe first task was to write out a budget for a study which would gather data from differentconstituencies on the street level, for training and travel, and for the extended time needed forwriting the report. It was decided that the participants would receive a one time allowance of onehundred dollars in recognition of their need and their work with us. No notices to attractparticipants on the basis of this allowance were used and the subsidy was given to the youth at theclosure of interviews. For practical reasons related to time constraints and to my teaching load atthe University of Victoria, the decision was made to hire Aboriginal research assistants to conductthe interviewing in each of the cities and another on site in Victoria to assist with library searches.During the planning phase I read Street kids: The tragedy of Canada\u00E2\u0080\u0099s runaways (Webber,1991) and the format of case study research was solidified. The story telling format would providea way to assist Aboriginal youth to voice their own concerns. I decided that a training session wasneeded in order to combat the isolation of the research assistants, to uniformly distribute therationale for the study and the ethical principles established by the Royal Commission, and to getto know the assistants (two of whom were not known to me before the research began). In orderto minimize the possible segmenting effect that a diverse team might produce, and with a nearcompleted literature review in hand, I led an intensive three day training session with all teammembers. This included senior research co-ordinators from the Commission. This took place afterthe design issues had been identified and the guiding questions had been formulated. I made everyeffort to ensure that the research method would be uniformly conveyed to the research team so thatdifferences could emerge from the text of the interviews and not through varied process. The32training period facilitated team interaction and communication, sharing of strategies for interviewingdistrustful youth, and the maintenance of cultural integrity.In addition I visited the research sites once in the contextual information gathering stage andtwice again in the interviewing stage. Telephone contact was ongoing and as needed. I stayedextensively involved with all parts of the information searches and the conceptualization of ideas forany part of the Royal Commission study to be drafted by anyone else. My main concern was tokeep cultural and sociological integrity in the study. I explicitly wanted one point of view \u00E2\u0080\u0094 withthe exception of any research used for comparison purposes. The non-Aboriginal team memberexamined the literature from the perspective of a Canadian mainstream society. Subsequently Ireconceptualized and edited his work from an Aboriginal perspective. All materials have beenreconceptualized for the thesis.Four sets of participants were targeted in the study.* The main corroborators are Aboriginal youth in the 14-20 age group who by definition liveon the streets. That is to say they see street culture as a major reference point in their lives.* Ex-street people who were at one point \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet youth\u00E2\u0080\u009D were interviewed in order to makecomparisons of conditions for street youth \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthen\u00E2\u0080\u009D and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnow,\u00E2\u0080\u009D and to see the similarities anddifferences of experience.* For contextual information We interviewed two sets of parents whose children had gone tothe streets. This gave us some insight as to the reasons for running from these parents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 pointof view, and views on strategies for repatriation and prevention.* Advocates in street specific agencies and programs (for example, needle exchange, streetworkers, sexually transmitted disease clinics, special police units, Aboriginal specific streetyouth programs) were interviewed for contextual information about Aboriginal utilization ofservices, percentage of Aboriginal youth using agency services, approximate numbers of33Aboriginal street youth in various cities, culturally appropriate services and numbers ofAboriginal street workers, and major issues for Aboriginal youth as they perceive them.The emotional impact of reading the literature on homeless street youth, poverty, violence,and the terrible statistics of damaged and abused Aboriginal youth (in general) influenced me toinclude a debriefing period to take place at the end of the interviewing phase. This was plannedfor the beginning of July 1993 in Vancouver, British Columbia. I also asked the research assistantsto keep a field journal (appendix F). I did this for two reasons: first to provide an outlet for theemotional impact of the research endeavour itself; and secondly to provide recorded details of thestreet environment, interview circumstances and indepth description of the participants. I felt thatboth the debriefing session and the journals were necessary to place the collective experience of theresearchers into the research process and to bring closure to the data gathering phase. This wouldalso be the beginning of the interpretation of the data.Research goalsHow to approach a study of Aboriginal youth on the urban streets given literature that hadlittle information on this population was the focal question at the beginning of the study process.Therefore, the decision was made to construct a body of information out of a broadly basedperspective from the point of view of the youth. The existing literature became a backdrop to themissing pieces of the puzzle. The definitions and the major characteristics of running behaviourwere utilized as comparison to the experience which Aboriginal youth shared.In this study a main goal was to contextualize Aboriginal street youth within the colonialstructural environment. Many social scientists have written about the unequal social status ofAboriginal people in Canada (Frideres, 1993; Bolaria & Li, 1988; Engelstad & Bird, 1992;Wotherspoon & Satzewich, 1993, for instance) and many more have written about the impact of thisinequity (Ryan, 1971; Manuel & Posluns, 1974; Cardinal, 1977; Djao, 1983; McKague, 1991).34Freire (1974) also reminds us of the oppressor/oppressed dialectic and the social and psychologicalimpacts of this contradiction. The opening for colonial contextualization from the case studies wasfacilitated by open ended questions on perceptions of marginality and questions about history andculture. I believe that Aboriginal persons facilitating the process also widened that opening. Manyof the youth would say, in the interviews, that they felt more comfortable sharing with an Aboriginalperson because they felt that their backgrounds and culture would be more clearly understood.Another goal was to set carefully the course for future research endeavours and policydevelopment with Aboriginal street youth: therefore the following overriding sociological questionsguided the process:* What are the most significant life experiences that have impacted on the current situation ofstreet youth?* What are the greatest challenges facing street youth today?* What are the most critical forces/institutions that influence the thinking and behaviour ofstreet youth?* In what terms do street youth define their social, cultural and spiritual needs and how dothey perceive the effectiveness of services available to meet those needs?* What or who do the street youth of today model themselves after, and what factors shapeand influence this process?To build a broad picture of the experience of youth in the study, therefore background face sheets(appendices D and E) were used to gain information as well as current living situations.In order to access information that spoke to treaty status, M\u00C3\u00A9tis and Inuit street youth issues,the decision was made to try to interview status and non-status youth in Vancouver, M\u00C3\u00A9tis youth inWinnipeg and Inuit youth in Montreal. The goal of accessing fairly distinct Aboriginal representationin each of the cities was, for the most part, successful. This type of sampling was necessary becausewe wanted to know more about the physical, intra-psychic and \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccultural\u00E2\u0080\u009D conditions of each of the35distinguished categories in one of the cities. In some instances we were unable to access thepreconceived formula because we were dependent on street workers to select participants.Nevertheless the first criterion for selection was group identification (within a specified age range).Every effort was also made to get a fair gender balance; an age range representation; participantswho were homeless versus those using shelters and other facilities; and examples of various typesof running and street behaviour. It was only after the ideal combination of representation (for RoyalCommission purposes) was set out in theory that the street workers were contacted. The anxietycaused by the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cideal sample is discussed later in the chapter.Another goal was to access information on street workers and street service utilization. Didthe youth access services? If not, why not? What kinds of services were preferred and why?Questions were asked about whether the youth had contact with Aboriginal street workers. Howdid they feel about this topic? In this endeavour we hoped to get information on availability ofAboriginal services and whether the youth felt these were a necessity.Finally, the goal that was foremost in mind was to impart respect for the youth in sharingknowledge about the research process, and through language, research terminology (\u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet youth\u00E2\u0080\u009Dinstead of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet kids\u00E2\u0080\u009D), and behaviour. Chrisjohn and Young (1993) write about the importance ofAboriginal persons\u00E2\u0080\u0099 rights to participation in authentic research and of access to technical knowledgein the research process. In the effort to proceed with respect in the entire research process I oftenrefer to \u00E2\u0080\u009Cwe\u00E2\u0080\u009D as a team of researchers through the text of this thesis, although I take full responsibilityfor its content.Case study methodSocial science has been criticized for its wont of producing irrelevant and conceptuallyflawed research in the Aboriginal community (Chrisjohn, 1986; Hampton, 1988). There is, however,a more practical and radical summation of this sentiment in the simple statement written by amainstream social scientist,36in a conversation with Art Solomon, a Native Elder, who asked, somewhatrhetorically, whether I would tolerate my own methods, or passively accept myinterpretations, if I were a member of a Native community (Warry, 1990:61).Art Solomon\u00E2\u0080\u0099s question is a sign of the times in the Aboriginal community. The social scienceresearch industry is being held accountable as it has not been in the past. Therefore research mustnot only be accountable for scientific standards, it must be culturally appropriate, practical, andemanci patory.After deciding that orality, youth telling their own stories, street culture and Aboriginalculture, and history and oppression were important and necessary components to be supported inthe research, I decided to use qualitative critical case study methodology (Leenders & Erskine, 1989)incorporating an ethnographic stance (DeCastell & Walker, 1991; Thomas, 1993). Criticalethnography not only provides description of a culture (as most conventional ethnography does) butallows for a particular kind of analysis and interpretation. \u00E2\u0080\u009CCritical ethnography,\u00E2\u0080\u009D also, Thomas(1993) says,is grounded empirically in explicit prior evidence of a variety of debilitating socialconditions that provide the departure point for research (33).As stated before there is an abundance of research on the degraded social conditions, unequaltreatment and marginal ization of Aboriginal people in Canada. There is ample reason to believe thatAboriginal youth would suffer the consequences of generations of abuse in the present. Criticalethnography is, therefore, useful as a potential way to analyze Aboriginal street youth behaviour, notas successive acts of individualized deviance, but as a response to society\u00E2\u0080\u0099s violence upon them \u00E2\u0080\u0094as an act of resistance (Thomas, 1993:51).Thomas (1993) gives a list of six \u00E2\u0080\u009Cguideposts for continual examination of research andreflection on purpose\u00E2\u0080\u009D of the research. They include ontology, topic selection, method, data analysisand interpretation, discourse and reflection (33). Ontologically, as stated above, there are structuraland cultural arrangements which oppress some people but are not ordinarily visible (for example,gender, race, sexual orientation). Topic selection in this case came about by a one time opportunity37from the Royal Commission; however, it was my special interest in the field (I now work inAboriginal child welfare research and development) which induced me to accept the opportunity.The discussion on method follows, and the data analysis and interpretation, discourse and reflectionwill be discussed presently.The model most suited to the needs of the situation was a critical case study approach usingdescriptive/interpretive design. This method of research is characterized by specificity of focus withrespect to the phenomenon or case under study, and by depth of description combined withinterpretation of the data from various sources. The method is holistic and exploratory in nature andit is capable of incorporating a variety of disciplines, using a range of techniques for collection. Itis \u00E2\u0080\u0098heuristic\u00E2\u0080\u009D as it seeks the illumination of otherwise unknown or little understood dynamics to thereader (Merriam, 1988; Reinharz, 1992; Leenders and Erskine, 1989). All of these traits make thismodel suitable to the needs of this study.Specifically, qualitative case study methodology and critical ethnography are based ininterpretation, which is particularly significant to the study of homeless Aboriginal youth as their livesexpress, in many ways, symptoms of structural barriers such as racism, poverty, and the impact ofcolonization. All these conditions are integral to any interpretation of their reality. (A structuralexamination would look to the structures of society, for instance, the Indian Act, the Child WelfareAct, the school system, the reserve system, and social marginalization for explanations ofoverrepresentation in social pathology statistics, rather than in the individual personal weakness ofthose involved.) That is to say that Aboriginal children are more at risk because of the way whichthe entire Canadian society is arranged. Blasi (1990), Shinn and Weitzman (1990) and Webber(1991) echo the need for a structural perspective to avoid blaming the survivors of marginalizationand oppression.Case study research is a method of studying social phenomena though the thorough analysisof an individual case(s). The case may be a person, a group, an episode, a process, a community,38a society or any other unit of social life. All data relevant to the case is gathered from varioussources, and all available data is organized in terms of the case.In this study the research team interviewed street youth, ex-street youth, parents of streetyouth, street services personnel and I have included the perceptions and recommendations of theresearch team in various ways. I have also taken into account street youth literature and policy thatimpacts on street youth. The case study method gives a unitary character to the data being studiedby interrelating a variety of facts to a single case. It also provides an opportunity for the intensiveanalysis of many specific details that are often overlooked with other methods. A criticalethnographic stance allows for a conceptual treatment of the data that goes beyond a positivistand/or liberal ideological stance. DeCastell and Walker (1 991:18) call this getting a brain and notjust an eye. For instance, by asking open-ended questions on fear, shame and anger, we were ableto access information about cultural identity and the impact of racism. These dimensions are seldomsought by researchers nor are they easily quantifiable.The case study approach offers a method that is able to focus on the complex reasons forending up on the street and the conditions (culture) once youth are introduced into street culture.We wanted to gain insight into availability and utilization of mainstream and Aboriginal specificstreet services that provide on-going services and could potentially facilitate repatriation into homecommunities and implement prevention strategies for future generations of troubled youth.Case study research is more complementary to the oral traditions of Aboriginal people andit offers a particularly disadvantaged population of Aboriginal youth an opportunity to give voice totheir experiences and to give us insight into their lives before apprehension, experience in care orin custody, life on the run, and finally making a home on the street. We will see that some youthgo into great detail about city life, reserve life, and about cultural involvement or lack thereof. Theytell about positive close relationships with functional grandparents (and extended family) and theyshare the horrors of exploitation by adult care givers. In other words the case study offers voice to39a most powerless group. It is, then, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cinterpretation in context\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Merriam, 1988:10), within whichthe participant has the opportunity to direct the process through sharing their story.Case study method is capable of drawing from many disciplines (Yin, 1984). As well ascritical ethnography (\u00E2\u0080\u0098in their own voices,\u00E2\u0080\u009D Thomas, 1993; Hammersley and Atkinson, 1983/1 990))this study incorporates elements of psychological methods (the study of individual human behaviour(Merriam, 1988:25)); and sociological methods (\u00E2\u0080\u009C...attend to the constructs of society andsocialization\u00E2\u0080\u009D (26)). The major strength of critical case study research in this context is the combinedmeaning of the experience for the youth, the researcher\u00E2\u0080\u0099s interpretation and the fieldwork (16-19).The street youth project, then, has the potential of shedding light on the little known phenomenaof Aboriginal street youth culture and identity.Appendices A, B, and C contain a complete list of the questions that served as guidelines forthe interviews. These questions were formulated after the research on methodology and much ofthe contextual/background reading was completed. They are broadly broken down into four areas:1. Demographic information\u00E2\u0080\u0094 from face sheets and from disclosed material during interviews;2. History \u00E2\u0080\u0094 personal experience at home, in care and in institutions and their impact;3. Street life \u00E2\u0080\u0094 history and present conditions, and street services utilization;4. Future aspirations and hopes for improving present conditions.Within these broad categories, section three guides the participant to talk about why they ran, theemotional impact of their history and present conditions on the street. The questions are open-endedso that within the context of sharing on the topics of shame, grief, and fear the participant had theopportunity to speak openly about a wide range of topics. They were able to identify abuse,exploitation, special or differential treatment on the street, racism, emotional issues such as loss, andidentity and cultural issues without being directly confronted with specific questions on subjectswhich are hard to place into context if a direct question is asked.40Carrying out the researchThe chronology of events in the research process were as follows:* Design of the study and literature review, preparation for training and formulating questionareas;* Training, and site visits before the interviews were to take place;* Contextual information gathering \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the researchers went out into the field and visited youthstreet services personnel\u00E2\u0080\u0094 exploring the city, participating in needle vans, riding with youthdetail, visiting and interviewing street workers and co-ordinators of services;* Interviewing \u00E2\u0080\u0094 contact with the participants, street youth, ex-street youth, parents of streetyouth and street services workers:* Debriefing \u00E2\u0080\u0094 healing circle and talks;* Writing the research report\u00E2\u0080\u0094 data analysis and interpretation from transcribed interviews,use of tapes, extensive consultation with research assistants, and use of contextual material;* Reconceptualization of report into a thesis.Many of these elements are discussed further in subsequent sections of this chapter.As a group of Aboriginal researchers the team needed to be cognizant of the precariousposition that we occupied in this study. We were inquiring into issues that were very close to eachof us as individuals and as Aboriginal people. At the same time we needed to avoid particular trapsof social science research that can predispose the interpretation of the data. For instance, anoveremphasis on the psychological characteristics could take us into a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cblaming the victim\u00E2\u0080\u009D trap(Ryan, 1971), and solutions resulting from this perspective could further individualize the youth andalienate them from their reality, peers, culture and communities. Therefore a macro analysis thatwould take into consideration individual characteristics, history, culture and the society which hasspawned street youth was critical. This approach might be expressed in the following manner:41* To place street youth, including behaviour patterns and individual motivations, within alarger context (social structures of society);* To contextualize street youth personal situations within the larger socio-economic frameworkof urban society;* To stress that the institutions, agencies, legislation, government policy, etc. impact on andconstrain the behaviour, motivations and social interactions/relationships of street youth.That is, people never act in a vacuum, and rarely do anything solely out of individualmotivation;* And to use historical developments (Indian Act, Indian Affairs, urban migration, the reservesystem and lack of educational and employment opportunities, other government policy [i.e.residential schools etc.]) to form the context/background of street youth behaviour.The time lines were set as follows:* January - April 1993 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Design of study, library search, and training development;* May - June 1993 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Contextual information gathering, site visits and interviewingparticipants;* July 1993 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Debriefing;* September - March 1994 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Data analysis and interpretation, additional site visits in somecases, and writing the research report;* December 1994 - January 1995 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Revision of the research report.* January - August 1995 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Reconceptualization of the report as a thesis.During the entire time from the training session in April 1993 until well into theinterpretation of data, there were many telephone contacts with all of the research assistants. Firstthere was on-going support for the research assistants while they were engaged in the interviews withthe youth. On one occasion I had to stay on the phone with a research assistant as a participant wastrying to forcibly enter her apartment. She had been dealing with stalking behaviour (this interview42and the person\u00E2\u0080\u0099s participation in the study had to be discontinued because of extreme intoxicationand threatening behaviour). On many occasions the research assistants just needed to vent feelingsof despair and anguish at the conditions on the street. Secondly, there were many times when I hadto check and recheck incidents reported by the youth on the tapes and to ground my interpretations.Interpretation of the dataPerceptual description of Aboriginal youth on the street was not the goal in this research.DeCastell and Walker (1991) state that this type of recounting of culture \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnaturalizes, dehistoricizes,and renders seemingly unalterable, the situation that the ethnographer reports\u00E2\u0080\u009D (18). We werelooking for the underlying causes for the overrepresentation of Aboriginal youth on the street andthe strengths present in street culture with which to build recommendations for the prevention offurther suffering. The task was to conceptualize Aboriginal street youth behaviour taking intoaccount personal histories, attitudes reflected in service utilization, racial oppression and culturalstrengths (Thomas, 1993:5 1).Jim Thomas (1993), for example, reveals the role of \u00E2\u0080\u009Csymbolic identities\u00E2\u0080\u009D in his study onprisoners\u00E2\u0080\u0094 with race as the indicator.Racism in prisons occurs not only because of discriminatory practices, but alsobecause one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s race connotes and denotes sets of meanings that define how one \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdoestime.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The label nigger is more than just a hostile epithet. It also carries connotativeconceptual baggage and implications for social interpretation and policy. Racebecomes a metaphor that conveys pictures about how prisoners should act in dealingwith the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cniggers\u00E2\u0080\u009D to whom the images pertain. Racially imbued images take on thecharacter of social myths by creating accounts, normative judgments, and actionsdirected toward a subordinate culture. The myths reproduce power relations bycreating and consolidating icons that reinforce stigma, define societal responses, andestablish the boundaries between the sacred dominant groups and profanesubordinate ones (52).Race as a concept results in the differential distribution of power and privilege and mediates howAboriginal youth live on the street. This became evident time and again in the case studies.In the data analysis and interpretation in this research there was always the danger of glossingover Aboriginal street youth issues by the constant comparison to mainstream street youth.43Secondly, the danger of romanticizing their uniqueness was inhibiting. The greatest obstacle,however, was the fear of descending into the extreme depths of despair, depression, hopelessnessand helplessness with them. For all of these reasons the risk remains of underestimating the depthof Aboriginal street youth loss and pain, the urgency of their searching, and their craving for peace.The analysis of street youth responses to the guiding questions was a complex task becauseat times there were contradictions that surfaced. Thomas (1993) states that \u00E2\u0080\u009Csometimes the gapbetween what the accounts described is sufficiently interesting that the accounts themselves canbecome the focus of analysis\u00E2\u0080\u009D (38). For example, why does Noella (Winnipeg) consistently avoidreferences to differential treatment? She reports that she does not perceive any differential treatmentof herself in any context, in other words there is no racism (answer to direct question). Then shegoes on to describe overt racist behaviour toward herself (and other Aboriginal people) in differentcontexts. The avoidance and denial, on the one hand, and the eventual disclosure of overtdifferential treatment, on the other, is a discrepancy which is of interest in this case study. Her lifecircumstances are very similar to the other youth in this study.After the data collection was completed, there was, as mentioned earlier, a three daydebriefing period so that the research assistants could share their experiences and perceptions.Categories, themes, similarities, differences and unique circumstances, particularly with differencesin the demographics and sociology of the urban centres in question, were identified and noted.Since we were dealing with different municipal and provincial regulations, our debriefing washelpful and the sharing was integral to the analytical task.The analysis then took shape through the use of field journals, extensive telephone contactand visits to research assistants, feedback from research assistants on drafts of the case studies andthe final draft of the research report, tapes, transcripts, a literature review on street youth, newspaperarticles, videos, contextual information (interviews with street services personnel), a review of policyand social work practice which involves Aboriginal street youth, and multiple visits to each city with44tours of frequented areas with research assistants and street workers in needle vans and mobileemergency services.Primarily, the narratives spoke for themselves. There had been one common expectationbetween myself and those who interviewed the youth. This was before the interviews but after thetraining and much reading on the subject of Street youth. Upon entering the research process, weas researchers each began to have our own agendas (stuff we wanted to make sure got said), andan urgency and distrust that the youth would be able to articulate what we had come to know,through our own experience or by entering the underground of street life, were urgent needs. Asthe interviews were completed, and the transcripts and tapes were reviewed, we realized that no onecould have articulated the complexities of street life and the needs of Aboriginal street youth betterthan they could. They had surpassed our naive and secret presumptions about their intelligence andultimately their needs. We unanimously agreed that their experience and maturity deserves itsprimacy in this study and that they deserve our respect for their tenacity and survival skills. Theydemonstrated pride in their survival skills and revelled in the knowledge that most of us wouldperish faced with their daily challenges.Reliability and validityIn the Aboriginal street youth case study research the goal was to ensure that the findingscould be recognized by the participants wherever possible by getting feedback from them. Becauseof street youth transient lifestyle and running behaviour, however, this was extremely difficult toobtain. In lieu of youth feedback the research assistants were repeatedly consulted on therecognizability of the youth participants in the case studies. They were satisfied that the participantswere accurately described and that the youth experience, as told to them, was authenticallyportrayed.Reliability is enhanced by several methods. The first is triangulation, which is using 11multiplemethods of data collection and analysis ... (Kirby and McKenna, 1989:172).\u00E2\u0080\u009D This research used45contextual information, open-ended interviewing of parents and advocates, indepth case studies andelements of participant observation. Anthropological, psychological and sociological analyticalapproaches were combined in the analysis. Detailed discussion of the underlying elements of thestudy, explanations of the context of the data collection, any identifiable biases toward the peoplebeing studied, and the basis for selecting participants (172) are included in the study. Finally adetailed description of the decision-making process, exactly how the study was done, how the datawas collected, and the choosing of themes all become integral parts of the study (173).Longitudinal or repeated study, or participatory methods (where the participant is involvedin the research from beginning to end) used for enhancing validity were not possible because ofstreet youth transience and monetary and time constraints. So far as possible to allow for aparticipant-driven process an introductory interview was included to facilitate trust building.Participant rights and our responsibilities were laid out and the research process was explained inas much detail as possible. The youth were given the opportunity to review the type of questionsthey would be expected to respond to and in some cases the participants took the questions awaywith them prior to the first taped interview. The interviewers went to the participant\u00E2\u0080\u0099s environmentand interviewed them in places where they felt comfortable. For instance, Etah refused to leave thestreet environment and reviewed the questions over several days. Dale similarly invited theinterviewer into his home after the second interview. And others went to the interviewer\u00E2\u0080\u0099s homeafter introductory interviews. The youth were offered the opportunity to review their input and aquestion was asked if there was anything they wanted to add which had not been directly asked orindirectly been given opportunity for. The youth were informed and offered the opportunity toreview the contents of the study when a draft was completed: however, none were available whenthat time came.Triangulation was used once again by utilizing three separate interviewers and more than onemethod of confirming data (Merriam, 1988:169). The debriefing session (which was taped)46facilitated a collective approach to creating themes and detailed feedback was sought. More thanone level of peer review were in place for feedback of a technical nature. And the researcher\u00E2\u0080\u0099sbiases are explicitly accounted for in the last section in this chapter.A multicase analysis, predetermined sampling (for example, the attempt to get predominantlyM\u00C3\u00A9tis representation from Winnipeg) and question areas, and collective determination of themeswere used in order to ensure that if similar experiences began to emerge this was a result ofparticipant dialogue and not a result of process inconsistencies. In the present critical case studyanalysis of Aboriginal street youth the initial purpose was to tell their stories and the more practicalbusiness of evaluating, assessing, and information gathering with respect to the concrete conditionsand services for them. The ethnographic narratives were intended to be the substance for affectingpolicy and subsequently appropriate service delivery. Upon repeated examination of the transcriptsof the tapes, the contextual information (from all sources), and the research assistant journals, therewas no reason to believe that the youth were telling anything except what had actually happenedto them. The narratives did not show significant inconsistencies in the outcome. The indepth \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthickdescription0 nature of case study analysis allowed for exploration of difficult topics such as therelationship of Aboriginality and street youth experiences.ConstraintsAs well as the strengths of case study research listed here, this study has weaknesses thatrequire acknowledgement. A drawback, in working with the data, of having three separate assistantsto conduct the interviews with the participants with significantly different interpersonalcommunication styles, was noted. This condition may have resulted in a wide range of responsepatterns due to different abilities to gain trust and establish a comfort zone with the youth within ashort time period. For instance, one interviewer encouraged uninterrupted story like sessions whileguiding the story with short quietly stated question areas, whereas another interviewer activelybecame engaged in a question and answer periods (with frequent interruptions). The different styles47made compiling the case studies difficult and demanded the full use of taped interviews as well astranscriptions. However, the information gleaned by the process was not significantly different incontent.Another difficulty with the diversity which the team presented was the different ways ofworking with written materials, recorded reactions and documenting interviews with agencypersonnel. This ranged from extremely comprehensive, meticulous, and organized to sparse,undated, and disorganized. For instance, one research assistant interviewed (and recorded) anexhaustive list of street-related personnel and had all of them sign consent forms, while the othersinterviewed fewer workers with little or no documentation. (Consent forms for agency personnelwere not required.) Needless to say, when one is working with thousands of pieces of information,an organized, well documented data pooi is very helpful.Sensitivity in the introductory period of the interviewing process was a critical stage in theresearch (Leenders & Erskine, 1989). Webber (1991), in her book Street kids: The tragedy ofCanada\u00E2\u0080\u0099s runaways, discusses distrust of social workers as a major obstacle to be overcome inentering into a collaborative relationship with street youth. In training the research assistants Iconcentrated on the interviewing process, on trust building and on developing an information baseabout street life from the literature review and from interviews with street services personnel.Although sensitivity is clearly an asset, and it also helped that all of the research assistants who wereinterviewing at the street level were Aboriginal people, we still needed people at the community(street) level who already had the trust of the youth. Potentially it could take several months or yearsto enter the trusted circle of people who have been repeatedly betrayed.The distrust of authority figures (especially anyone involved with the government) byalienated street youth is well known and understandable. The interviewer first had to becomesomewhat comfortable with the street and its culture, secondly to gain the trust of street agencyworkers, and finally to begin the near impossible task of establishing a transitory but stable48relationship with the youth themselves (who are very transient in the summer). Each depended onthe other.Street workers, (some of them) themselves street survivors, who had seen occasions of futileand personal gain exploitation of street people by researchers, were reluctant to see the charadecontinue. They were extremely cautious about referrals. In more than one case the worker refusedto allow a second researcher (myself) to meet the participant. It was decided that I would notattempt to \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccome along\u00E2\u0080\u009D since I was not involved in the entire interview process. Perhaps, due tothis caution, we may have been referred to youth who could \u00E2\u0080\u009Chandle it\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u0094 so to speak. Althoughthere was no evidence that Etah (Vancouver) was referred by workers to other researchers, sheindicated previous experience with interviews.In addition to the primary obstacle of distrust from participants and street workers, asecondary drawback was having to depend exclusively on the street workers for referral ofparticipants. This meant that we could not say for sure how or why particular persons were chosenfor participation in the study and this aspect was not discussed in the interviews. Nor could wemake sure that we did not have all the same type of street youth in each city, for example alloutgoing, relatively self-assured youth who were perceived as easy to interview, or conversely toughenough to withstand a probing endeavour. It also meant that we were unable to fulfil the idyllicrepresentational scheme that we had begun with. For instance, we could not demand four peopleof M\u00C3\u00A9tis ancestry from Winnipeg and four people of Inuit background from Montreal. While everyeffort was made to fulfil this goal we had to take whomever street workers provided. Male/femalerepresentation in individual cities was skewed; however, overall a close to proportionalrepresentation was achieved.A more practical reason for choosing to go with the more conservative method of participantreferral was concern for the research assistants\u00E2\u0080\u0099 physical safety. The street is not an inviting placeto be, even in the daytime. At night the scene is treacherous. At the best of times the street is49depressing; at its worst it is dangerous. The research assistants put themselves at considerable riskin order to become familiar with the street, to accompany street agency workers on their rounds, andto meet potential collaborators. Since private contractors are not insured under Royal Commissionbenefits they could not be asked to place themselves in jeopardy. As noted earlier, we had at leastone instance of stalking by a would-be participant of the project.Agency staff were, at times, reluctant to discuss their involvement, or lack thereof, withAboriginal street youth. These agency representatives became defensive on any mention ofunderutilization of their service by Aboriginal youth or racism within the street youth industry.Overall, however, agency workers were co-operative and gave us great insight into youth street lifeand utilization of street services.There was a problem with the original age range chosen as parameters for the research.Although we raised the age of the participants from 12 to 18 to 14 to 20 (with Travis in Winnipegas an exception because he and Noella are treated as a couple), most are under 18 years which isunder the legal age of consent in all of the provinces. This presented a problem with respect toinformed consent and legal guardianship. We were informed that the participants could giveconsent to participate in the study (with the younger participants we also requested parentalconsent). Laws are in effect, however, that mandate social workers, teachers and other public andsocial service workers to report the abuse of a minor to criminal justice or child protectionauthorities.In Manitoba, for example, The Child and Family Services Act (1985-86, c.8 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Chapter C80)statutory reporting requirements state:Duty to report: 18(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Act, subsection(1) applies when where the person has acquired the information through thedischarge of professional duties or within a confidential relationship, but nothing inthis subsection abrogates any privilege that may exist because of the relationshipbetween a solicitor and the solicitor\u00E2\u0080\u0099s client (22.1)50Since abuse is probable in the lives of street youth, we had to inform participants that anyunreported abuse of a minor would be reported to appropriate authorities and that a child at large,known to the research assistant, would have to be reported (and in one instance it became necessaryto report a runaway youth). Therefore youth may have been afraid of the repercussions of disclosureof abuse, may have been protecting a significant adult person who was abusing, or may have beenafraid of pimps or drug dealers. They would ostensibly be resistant then to discussing current andon-going abuse and of being on the run. This appears to be the case particularly with the youngerparticipants.A drawback of a technical nature occurred because the Commission hired the persons thattranscribed the taped interviews, and while this meant that I did not have to worry about this aspectof the study, a problem with this arrangement occurred. Considerable time was required to read andreread the transcripts and to check them against the tapes, because large pieces of the interviewswere left out of the transcripts. Transcribers, for instance, might leave a note on the transcript,\u00E2\u0080\u009CNote: skipped part \u00E2\u0080\u0094 rambles on\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Jean-Marc, p.24, transcript 2). Other times no note was left.This made the interpretation of the interviews difficult.Other obstacles originate from monetary and time constraints which are common drawbacksin research. The writing stage, which involved ten case studies from lengthy transcriptions and hoursof interview audio-tape, was a lengthy and arduous process. I decided that as much detail aspossible would be left in the case study report and that every effort would be made to make thevoice of the participants the focus of the study. In keeping with this goal only those issues, policiesand services that were directly mentioned in the case studies were analyzed. For the report to theRoyal Commission I resisted the urge to intellectualize or to treat Aboriginal street youth experiencelike an academic subject in favour of insisting on the primacy of Aboriginal street youth voices. Thethesis incorporates a mainstream academic context into the study.51The two and a half months allotted for research assistants to do data collection in the fieldwas insufficient for the type of agencies and quality of contact with participants required in the study.Rather six months was needed for them to gain the trust of alienated youth, to meet the challengeof exploring the terrain of the street youth, and to get interviews with street workers who areundervalued, overworked, underpaid, and who are at the same time protective of their children.The numerous agencies and government departments that touch the lives of street youth arecomplex, competitive and overextended \u00E2\u0080\u0094 without exception. In many instances it took manytelephone calls and missed appointments to get in to see a busy counsellor or co-ordinator. Thetime constraints were more noticeable in the relationship building and termination stages of theinterviews.Corresponding to the constraints caused by the short timeframe was the project budget. Anextended budget would have afforded more time for contextual information gathering, choosing ourown collaborators, extended timeframes for interviews, relationship building and closure time.Secondly, the issue of researchers spending extended periods of time with extremely destitute youthwith no means to recover expenses could have been avoided. Thirdly, more large urban centres,such as Calgary and the maritime city of Halifax, could have been added.Reflections as an Aboriginal personA second instance from my childhood is salient in reflecting on the research process thattouches on Aboriginal culture and identity. I had the opportunity to closely observe two distinctlydifferent manifestations of cultural self-esteem within my extended family. I was raised by myparents in very close proximity (although not in the same house) to my grandparents; therefore, I haddaily access to both generations. First I must add that geographically my reserve is situated too farnorth for the early agricultural contact with White people, and too far south to be very affected bythe fur trade. Because of this location, and because of extensive racism in the area, we were prettymuch left alone for a long time. My grandparents did not speak English nor had they gone to52mainstream schools. They were, however, respected pillars in the community. My mother, on theother hand, had been taken to the residential school from ages 10-16.I began to observe, early in life, the difference in personal and cultural pride between thetwo generations. My grandparents exhibited a strength of character and cultural pride (in any setting)which was exemplary and nearly absent in my mother. She would instead make statements to us(children) which indicated she did not like our Indianness. Her self-esteem was poor particularlyaround White people. She felt inadequate. This became a constant source of pain and curiosity.Although I resolved that I must look to my grandparents for strength and simply tolerate my mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099sdifference, I did not know until much later in life that my mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s resocialization in residentialschool and subsequent domestic and very punitive, hard labour with a White family were theprobable cause for our suffering. Nevertheless, observing and analyzing colonial impact vis-\u00C3\u00A1-visAboriginal culture and identity became an early passion.Thomas (1993) states that there is a fine line between \u00E2\u0080\u009Cgoing native\u00E2\u0080\u009D and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cgoing over to theother side.\u00E2\u0080\u009D This was an ever present caution in the research process. \u00E2\u0080\u009CGoing native\u00E2\u0080\u009D means to loseone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s identity in the culture under study; \u00E2\u0080\u009Cgoing over to the other side\u00E2\u0080\u009D means to \u00E2\u0080\u009Cto give up ourscientific persona and substitute the norms of the new culture for the canons of science\u00E2\u0080\u009D (48). SinceI was an Aboriginal social worker in the process of research with Aboriginal street youth there wasa triple affinity. First, I am professionally involved in social change primarily with Aboriginalchildren. Secondly, I am of the same cultural background, and thirdly I have the same societalmarginal status. It helped that research assistants conducted the actual interviews and that I havealways been distanced from street life.There was, however, an interesting phenomena with my explicitly political stance. For thelast twenty years of my work and studies in working directly with racism and the impact ofcolonization, and having been covertly (and sometimes overtly) ostracized by both mainstream andAboriginal institutions for being critical, I was now hired because of my personal and political53perspective. I had explored the impact of research on my community. And I was cynical. Whenthe research had begun in earnest I became frightened that, after all my intellectual and emotionalexploration of Aboriginal issues (particularly with children) and critique of research paradigms, Icould not do these children justice. This made an already emotionally difficult proposition nearimpossible. My fear was very disconcerting, after all, I was tough as nails in my own resistanceto (things like) being treated like a \u00E2\u0080\u009Ctoken Indian\u00E2\u0080\u009D in academia. For instance, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cafter I had acquiredmy graduate degree\u00E2\u0080\u009D I received a call from a sociologist to come to a class to come and tell themabout the \u00E2\u0080\u009Ctraditional Aboriginal family.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Assuming this would be the sum total of Aboriginalcontent in this course, I answered curtly, \u00E2\u0080\u009CYou must have the wrong number, I can only discuss howit was destroyed.\u00E2\u0080\u009D (In any event, I went and gave a history of colonization and racism and its impacton the family.) This and many other instances of resistance were and are valued parts of my identityas an Aboriginal person. Now I was to be on the same side of the struggle and it meant maybenothing would change. I would rather be a street worker than engage in an act of futility.The tension between actively working for social change and remaining \u00E2\u0080\u009Cscientificallyobjective\u00E2\u0080\u009D was a cultural as well as a political and academic dilemma. Culturally, for me, to remainobjective in an encounter is to come without spirit \u00E2\u0080\u0094 without substance. You cannot be trusted.This contradiction needed to be resolved. Critical case study analysis is the reporting of thesubjective experience of participants through specificity of description, and is no less \u00E2\u0080\u009Cscientific\u00E2\u0080\u009D or\u00E2\u0080\u009Cobjective\u00E2\u0080\u009D with the explicit inclusion of the researcher\u00E2\u0080\u0099s perspective or bias \u00E2\u0080\u0094 politically orculturally. \u00E2\u0080\u009CObjectivity,\u00E2\u0080\u009D in this sense, \u00E2\u0080\u009Csimply means taking the intellectual risk of being provendemonstrably wrong\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Thomas, 1993:1 7). I was less afraid of the intellectual risk.Because of the paucity of relevant information in the social sciences, the great distancesbetween sites, and the part-time nature of the research, I found the process very isolating andemotionally arduous. The compilation of the case studies, which took countless hours of working54with tapes and transcripts, was extremely painful. I cannot say how many times I cried everytimeI approached further work on the case studies. It was never easy.As a team of Aboriginal researchers the process was equally difficult. We had to cope withthe grim reality that unfolded before us in the field. This was extremely difficult emotionally. Wewere faced with the culmination of abuse and oppression in our own image \u00E2\u0080\u0094 in our children. Formany of us this experience brought back images of our own abuse and oppression in the city \u00E2\u0080\u0094 inour own country. At the end of the data collection phase, we gathered in Vancouver in order toshare our experiences. We first conducted a traditional healing circle with all of the research teampresent, we needed to debrief the sorrow, pain and helplessness that we were feeling.We told our stories, we cried, and we supported each other. All of us experienced anguishat entering the lives of destitute Aboriginal street youth and leaving, not knowing if anything wouldbe done in time to alleviate the suffering in the lives we had touched. One researcher stated thatshe simply sat down on the curb and cried a number of times. Others wrote messages of despairin their field journal. Others yet came face to face, in the voice of the youth, with their own identityand cultural issues. Some interviewers were called derogatory names by the youth which indicatedtheir distrust in Aboriginal people who appeared to have sold out to mainstream society; that hurtdeeply. Others needed to express the extreme disgust upon entering the world of the exploiter ofAboriginal children. In the end, we gained extreme respect for the survivors of Canadian society\u00E2\u0080\u0099scollective abuse. Our lives were profoundly changed by our experience.Having begun our process of healing we set upon the task of descrambling our data.Categories, differences, similarities, and trends were identified. Cities were closely scrutinized.Where were the major hot spots and why? Where were the Aboriginal ghettos? What difficultieswere experienced in the field? All became a part of the final product.Another indicator of self-identification in the research process is shown in a paper entitled\u00E2\u0080\u009CAboriginal communities and social science research: Voyeurism in transition\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Gilchrist, 1994)55which I presented at an international conference for WUNSKA (a national network of Aboriginalsocial work educators). There I examine research methods vis-\u00C3\u00A1-vis cultural values and history andthe obstacles the practice of research presents to the Aboriginal community. In this process I hadto analyze classical social science methods and juxtapose these with my values as an Aboriginalperson.Some of these cautions were taken into consideration in the street youth research context.The value free objective underlying conventional research method indicates (in an Aboriginalcontext) that a researcher does not show respect by acknowledging the possible sources ofprejudgment or imposition of interpretation. Everyone is socialized in context and comes withattitudes and symbolism that are mediated by race, class, culture, sexual orientation, ability andgender. It is a matter of respect, integrity and accountability to identify oneself and one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s positionin the greater scheme of things. Ahistoricity engendered by most research does not pay homage tothe ancestors or orality and obscures the totality of life experience. Individualization of subjectsdisregards the Aboriginal cultural value of the collective, therefore, cultural relevance iscompromised. In this research I am accountable for these values. \u00E2\u0080\u009Ckapitipis e-pimohteyahk:Aboriginal street youth in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal\u00E2\u0080\u009D was conceptualized and carried outfrom the beginning with respect for the participants, for the research assistants, for myself, for theprocess itself, and for those who provided this opportunity.How did this research process affect me as an Aboriginal person? It has concretized someof my cultural and political theoretical ravings about research. I know what I will and will not do,and I know why. I am further resolved to create social change, not only out there where the needis most obvious, but in our knowledge production.Among us, traditionally, the scholars are the servants of the people. The \u00E2\u0080\u0098People\u00E2\u0080\u0099reign supreme, by virtue of their right to approve or disapprove actions in all areasof life, and by reason of their prerogative to protect individual and tribal rights. Andlet the scholars spend \u00E2\u0080\u0098their very lives\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and energies to the service of the people(Costa, 1970 in La Framboise & Plake (1983)).56Chapter 3. VancouverThe city of Vancouver is the third largest in Canada and currently has the highest real estatesvalue in North America. It is on a peninsula, located in the southwest corner of mainland BritishColumbia, surrounded by Burrard Inlet, the Strait of Georgia and the Fraser River. MetropolitanVancouver has an area of 2787 square kilometres while the city of Vancouver itself is only 114square kilometres. The populations of Vancouver and Metropolitan Vancouver are 477,872 and1,602,500 respectively.The climate in Vancouver is quite mild, the summers are warm and dry and the winters arequite rainy with annual precipitation of approximately 1257.7 mm, which is mostly rain in thewinter. The temperatures range from an average of 2.8 degrees celsius (27 degrees fahrenheit) inJanuary to July temperatures that average 17.2 degrees celsius (63 fahrenheit). Vancouver attractsmany people because of its mild climate and natural beauty and diversity \u00E2\u0080\u0094 for transient people theclimate allows them to live in relative comfort with minimal shelter (The Canadian Encyclopedia,1988).Major industries include: tourism, the port, natural resources (logging, mining, agriculture,fishing), manufacturing, services, finance (international banking centre and head offices for provincialindustries, banks, government, and other financial institutions) and film making. It is also a majorNorth American port so it has extensive economic ties with the other countries of the Pacific Rim(Vancouver Board of Trade).Cox (1993) stated that the total population of people reporting Aboriginal origin in BritishColumbia has risen by 33% since 1986 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 from 126,625 to 169,036 in 1991. Just under 80% ofthose people live off-reserve (Valentine, 1993). In 1991 the population of Aboriginal people wasapproximately 2 per cent or about 25,000 people in the city of Vancouver (Aboriginal Peoples\u00E2\u0080\u0099Survey, 1991). Now there are 42,795 people of Aboriginal decent in the city, the third highestAboriginal urban population in the country (Valentine, 1993). There is a high density of reserves57and Aboriginal communities in and around Vancouver. The area along the mainland coast to thenorthwest and interior regions, up through the Fraser River valley and much of Vancouver Island isheavily populated by Aboriginal people, who have relatively easy access to the city.The Executive Director of the Urban Representative Body of Aboriginal Nations Society(usually called URBAN Society) of Vancouver, Tim Michel stated that they represent 38 Aboriginalorganizations and he estimates there are 90 organizations altogether (provincial, federal andgrassroots) in Greater Vancouver area (70 in Vancouver alone). Michel believes that the Aboriginalpopulation census statistics are incorrect and that approximately 120,000 - 150,000 live inVancouver, North Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond and other surrounding areas (including reserves).In Vancouver the eastside is heavily populated by Aboriginal people and other minorities.Poverty, unemployment, housing shortage, crime and high welfare tolls are concentrated in this area.Forty-eight women have died violently in the Vancouver downtown eastside in the last 11 years,seventy-five percent of whom were Aboriginal women (Huaka, 1993 a & b). A 1990 city healthreport stated that women in the area can expect to live nine years less than women in the wholemetropolitan area (Gram, 1993).Although the Granville Mall area of Vancouver gets most of the media attention because itis a gentrified area, and it is where the stereotypical street youth (i.e. punks and skinheads) hang out,mostly White street youth frequent the Mall. Most Aboriginal youth are situated on the eastside.\u00E2\u0080\u009CKids in the eastside are more poverty stricken and destitute\u00E2\u0080\u009D said a director of a street youth facility.Vancouver has an estimated 400-450 street youth, approximately 60 percent of whom areAboriginal youth. The Social Planning Council estimated 300-400 in 1990 (Social Planning Council,Vancouver, 1990). If you add all categories it is more like 1200 (part time, entrenched, yuppieweekenders and curb kids) street youth that reside in Vancouver, particularly in the summer. Streetyouth in general come from everywhere in Canada (27% from lower mainland; 30% rest of B.C.;39% elsewhere in Canada; 6\u00C2\u00B0I Vancouver homes according to the Social Planning Council of58Vancouver, 1990) and very few come from within the city. Missy, a former street youth fromVancouver, stated that there are a number of Aboriginal youth who are intergenerational streetpeople. In some instances the daughter is on one Street corner and the mother is on the other.Three other areas that street youth hang out at are: Downtown south consisting of several blocksaround Seymour and Davie Street, Seymour Street and Richards Street (\u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe stroll\u00E2\u0080\u009D); Downtowneastside consisting of Hastings Avenue and Main Street, Hastings up to Victoria Street; and MountPleasant consisting of Broadway Avenue on either side of Fraser Street.Case studiesThe street youth in Vancouver who participated in the study were selected with the assistanceof a street youth worker at Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society (DEYAS) which is situatednear the intersection of Hastings and Main in Vancouver. This district is where the skid row barsstand like worn out soldiers all in a row, and where most of hard core street people of Aboriginalancestry spend much of their time.Etah, Joanne, and Karen, perhaps, each present an atypical image of what we think of asstreet youth. They each are unique in their background circumstance, their journey into streetculture, and in their current situation and levels of development. There is no evidence that theyouth represented in this study from Vancouver know each other.Etah and Joanne seem to hang out in roughly the same areas which range from the GranvilleMall, the westend and less so in the eastend of Vancouver. They are highly transient and move fromcity to city, and they both have an exterior punk style. This is where the similarity ends. Etah is anine year street resident who is dedicated to her lifestyle with protest determination. Serious andcautious, she more closely resembles the stereotype of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet kid,\u00E2\u0080\u009D the one who has embraced themind in perpetual survival mode\u00E2\u0080\u0094 one who would find it a compromise to submit to easy streetin a society that is dying of greed. Joanne, on the other hand, is a happy-go-lucky young person,a more immature two year visitor on the street, a young woman who hangs out in the downtown59Granville area with a group of teenagers and who is in transition into an independent livingsituation. Joanne laughs easily and does not exhibit the fatalistic outlook that is evident with Etah.Karen is another story. She is removed from much of the youth peer related activity. Sheis flirting with hard core skid row life. Karen\u00E2\u0080\u0099s older siblings are veterans of Vancouver\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Hastingsand Main district and her street peer group are older (skid row bar waiters and waitresses). Karenoften \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstays\u00E2\u0080\u009D at downtown hotel dwellings with friends. She disappears for weeks into the void ofurban downtown poverty. Etah and Joanne do not describe this phenomenon as a main referencepoint. They have chosen to join a street family consisting of non-relatives who are also street youth.They are highly transient and can look after themselves. Karen who is two years younger, as far aswe know, has not left Vancouver.ETAHIt\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like an instinct to a child when they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re born. They get born into a world ofwrath and to protect that child instinct of themselves, the innocence of themselves,they start building their walls so that all the hatred will bounce right off them andso they become very arrogant and everything becomes really lonely (p.1 5, transcript2).Etah is a 17 year old young woman born on a reserve near Calgary, Alberta. She is of TsuuTina ancestry and a nine year very street wise, highly transient veteran of the streets in various citiesin the United States and Canada. She had just arrived from New Orleans, Louisiana, the week wemade first contact. In early June 1993, when the first interviews took place, Etah was \u00E2\u0080\u009Csquatting\u00E2\u0080\u009Din an abandoned house near Stanley Park in Vancouver, by the end of our dialogue she had movedto another squat, by herself, in the downtown area. She survives by dumpster diving, tablescrapping and panhandling and she receives an independent living allowance from welfare.As the street youth worker had described, Etah arrived for the first interview looking like whatmight be described as a typical young \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpunk\u00E2\u0080\u009D type person of the streets. She had pierced rings inher nose, eyebrows and several in each ear, and she wore many rings on her fingers, which weretopped off with numerous bracelets and necklaces. She was carrying an army knapsack and her60clothes were very tattered and very dirty. Her long dyed green hair was shaved on the top of herhead. This style, she related later, reflects her distinctiveness.Etah is highly intelligent and needs very badly to stay in total control of her complicated life.She demands to have the guiding questions a couple of days before the actual interview so that shecan think about her response. Even then, she insists that the interviewer not ask anything that is noton the sheet in front of her. In her likable and courteous manner she tells the interviewer not to putwords in her mouth as she recites, in a semi-monotone but melodious voice, the events of her life.Even though Etah was nervous and spoke quite fast at the onset of the interview she becametalkative, however, there remains a distinct feeling that she is not telling you everything. Perhapsshe did not want to implicate those close to her.Characteristically, she declined an invitation to go to the interviewer\u00E2\u0080\u0099s house in favour ofstaying on her \u00E2\u0080\u009Cown ground.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The interviews took place in parks that she frequented andMcDonald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s restaurant on the Granville Mall. In this environment she seems fearless and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cat home.\u00E2\u0080\u009DShe elegantly places her knife (her protection) on the table as she eats voraciously with her fingersand ends the feast by stocking up on the condiments available in the restaurant. During the contactfor this research, however, Etah would betray a very real vulnerability. For instance, she reveals,When I do things like this [referring to interviews with researchers], I have a way ofgoing through things without showing much emotion, just trying to deal with theproblem and then all the feelings will come out a lot later from now. So it usuallyworks out (p.5, transcript 2).Later on in the interview she lets slip that she uses a medical clinic for \u00E2\u0080\u009Canxiety attacks\u00E2\u0080\u009D among otherthings.Historywell so I pretty much thought that I was a factory child with nineteen brothersand sisters, but I know none of them (p.7, transcript 1).Etah is the eldest of nineteen half brothers and sisters from various combinations of blendedfamilies. She doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say where her mother (also Aboriginal) is from, only just that her mom had61\u00E2\u0080\u009Cjust run away and ended up on the reservation with my father ... and here I am.\u00E2\u0080\u009D (She is referringto her status Aboriginal biological father.)Then my mother took off a while after that and I have about 19 brothers and sistersfrom there on. My father got married to several different wives on his side andended up just having them, and my mother ended up on one side with another manand just ended up having a whole bunch of kids. I have about three brothers andsisters on my mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s side and about 16 brothers and sisters on my father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s side.I am kind of in the middle and I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any brothers or sisters that have beenborn of the same mother and father (p.1\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 1).Etah and her mother left the reserve when Etah was five years old. After four(ish) tumultuousand mobile years (the reserve, Richmond, Maple Ridge, Edmonton, Burnaby, Vancouver) with hermother Etah, having quit school in grade six, moved into the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cchild in care\u00E2\u0080\u009D system for a briefperiod, and then onto the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfreedom\u00E2\u0080\u009D of the street. There has been no contact with her mother andmaternal siblings in a few years, nor has she met most of her paternal half siblings.Etah met her father in the last two years, still a resident of the reserve. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t usually callhim father,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she qualifies her salutation, \u00E2\u0080\u009CIf I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t doing this report ....\u00E2\u0080\u009C Her meetings with himare half remembered hazes of alcohol delirium. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhenever I met him I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d get drunk for a coupleof days and wake up in a different city.\u00E2\u0080\u009DOn her trips to the reserve Etah has met an array of relatives on her father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s side. An uncle,her grandmother and a new half sister (born May 25, 1993) are named as significant people in herlife. Although the reserve does not enter as a possible place for a future home, Etah never indicateda distaste for the reserve setting or the people there, nor did she glorify them.I know my uncle on my father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s side \u00E2\u0080\u0094 my father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s brother, I know my grandmother,I know a lot of the uncles and aunts but I have a really hard time remembering themcause I just been to the reservation a couple of times and when I was there, therewas a big full room of people. A whole bunch of people came out to me andbasically said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Oh, I knew you when you were a baby,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 she stopped and gave mea big hug and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t remember their names. Supposedly I met about 50 people onmy father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s side that I was really related to and don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know any of my mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099sbrothers or sisters or grandparents or any people like that except her. I know one ofmy sisters [on mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s side] (p. 10, transcript 1).62Although the contact with her \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s\u00E2\u0080\u009D family is fairly tentative, Etah will return to the reserve tosee the new baby. This seems like a scene that will be repeated again and again until she doesremember everybody\u00E2\u0080\u0099s name.On the streetsSurvival is a pretty easy thing physically. Mentally, survival is pretty hard but yougo it on a day by day basis, if you are patient (p.3, transcript 3).Etah relates that the first time she ran she was five years old. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI ran all the way to the frontbush ... The first time I was on the streets was when my mother left my father and she lived on thestreets for a while and I was pretty lost.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Etah describes her journey toward confirmed street lifebeginning at the age of nine with an incident in her single parent Vancouver home.When I was about 9 years old, it was Christmas Eve and a lot of things were addingup to my anger and I had said something and a lot of things were adding up tomother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s anger. I had said something and it really offended her, so my motherand that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s basically how I got on the street. I ended up getting picked up by thepolice and being put back into the [foster] home for about a period of 4 weeks. Afterthat, I got into a fight with my mother about going to school because I was really sickand so we got into a fight and I got really angry. It ended up where she phoned thepolice and on my way to school I got picked up by about 3 cop cars. I got put intoa group home where I ran from .... The third group home a was very manipulatinggroup home. I felt pretty much boxed in and really used because their childrenthat they were supporting them a lot more than they were supporting us which isunderstandable because it was their own flesh and blood. But what wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tunderstandable was the fact that they were taking on the responsibility of other livesand using the money that they got from us to support their own children. And inthat way it really made me angry so I would do things to the point where it wouldpiss them off so that they would kick me out, so that I would have to be runningfrom the police so I can just live without being chased. They kicked me outexpecting me to run back to my mother and I ended up not running back to mymother and going downtown .... (p.3, transcript 1).The interim between arriving on the street and meeting her mentor \u00E2\u0080\u009Cwho brought me back to a squat\u00E2\u0080\u009Cwas described like this:When I got on the streets I went pretty much from building to building, living inlaundromats and eating what I could and then I met a girl and I went out to adifferent part of the street where I cleaned up peoples\u00E2\u0080\u0099 houses because I thought itwould be nice because they were letting me live with them. And I slept betweenthere and China Creek Park on Broadway. And I lived with them for a long time andthen ended up downtown and from downtown I ended up squatting and have beensquatting ever since (p.1, transcript 1).63Although Etah states that she was not running from anything in particular, except that:I did not like where I was before and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the cages that I was put in fromschool, I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the levels that I was categorized to be, the judgement that I wasgiven. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like having the lifestyle that I had and the streets seem a little bitmore free than the place that I was (p.3, transcript 1).Etah was disillusioned with society\u00E2\u0080\u0099s norms and she needed freedom. Etah does not explicitly statewhy she did not return to her mom. A statement later in the interview, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI had a great fear of oldermen,\u00E2\u0080\u009D may or may not indicate a possible exacerbating factor in problems between mother anddaughter.Etah has been highly transient (or should we say, well travelled) and has experienced life onthe streets in Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia; Toronto, and Snake Island, in Ontario;Montreal, Val D\u00E2\u0080\u0099or (group home), and Amos in Quebec; from Seattle, Washington to New Orleans,Louisiana, and all points in between. Much of this travel is with friends from the street andsometimes she travels alone. She makes the method of travel sound so simple, \u00E2\u0080\u009Chitchhiking andriding the rails.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Her travel wise method of keeping her head about her and relating to people ona person to person level has kept her safe.Survival on the streets, Etah says, is not a physical matter so much as survival of the mind,as she nonchalantly describes physical survival.Well, I dumpster dive a lot, which means that I go into dumpsters and rummagearound \u00E2\u0080\u0094 find what I can, leave what I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t use. I go into establishments and drinkcoffee and whenever somebody finishes and leaves, and they leave a little bit of foodbehind, I kind of swipe it, eat it, do that till I finish with my hunger. Either that orsomebody will come downtown with a little bit extra money and buy me somethingto eat ... or I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll panhandle until I can make enough, sometimes I go down to drugstreet ... and get meal tickets ... I go out and get food that way ... I basically wear thesame clothes for about a year and then once they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve disintegrated off my body I\u00E2\u0080\u0099llfind a new set of clothes somewhere \u00E2\u0080\u0094 rummaging around in different dumpsters,different squats, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll find something \u00E2\u0080\u0094 wear that for another year, until theydisintegrate (p.1 1, transcript 1).Physical safety and warmth are a never ending preoccupation with homeless people. Thecity offers some refuge from the weather at strategic orifices, from which the city exhales its warm64stale exhaust, and in its decayed cavities. Etah describes the squat and some of the conditions theyencounter in them in this way:The squat is basically an abandoned building that nobody is really using, so we useit. Cause we have really pretty much no where else to go. It shelters from the rain.On the odd chance you run into a lot of people\u00E2\u0080\u0094 you run into a lot of weirdmistakes. But after a while you get pretty much cautious and you take precautions.Basically squat lice ... there are a lot of things going on right now at squats, like squatrats and stuff like that. I remember somebody asking me saying like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Somebodyowns that, somebody pays money for that.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Pretty much money to me is just toiletpaper so, then nobody really owns anything ... only what they got inside their headsyou know. If there is something that you need you have to pay money for it. Imean there are a lot of kids out there that are on the streets that need a place to goand sleep and if it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s there they are not going to do it [pay for lodging] because it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s notprovided for them, you know (p.6, transcript 1). I basically go between ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gonebetween more than two squats because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve travelled a lot and run into a lot ofdifferent squats and basically going to abandoned buildings, live there secure, getelectricity by getting candles, getting water from jugs and bringing them back to thesquat and securing it .... Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s see, in the United States, when I was travelling I slepta lot by the railroad tracks in a cardboard box. I went also to Arizona ... lived in acardboard condominium which is put together with cardboard and wood, and youcan basically make it into a tree house. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve slept on moving trains, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve slept on theside of the road, just basically surviving, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll sleep in the forest like on the island. Iwill usually sleep by the camp fire \u00E2\u0080\u0094 get a tree or a tire just put it over amongst thetrees. Basically I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been into some really neat squats. They were fourteen storieshigh, we had keys to get in, they were so well put together \u00E2\u0080\u0094 a lot of people livedthere. If they tore that place down they took a lot of peoples\u00E2\u0080\u0099 homes away. Squatsare kind of a lot more, of a person on the street\u00E2\u0080\u0099s, home than I think anybody else\u00E2\u0080\u0099shome because it has a lot more emotions and a lot more feeling in a squat than anyother (p.1 1, transcript 1). I remember one time in the winter I was living in a squatand it was really cold and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any blankets. Well, I had this bag that aplace called S.K.I.D. gave to me and it had kind of a blanket in it but it wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t reallythat big and I got really cold. I went out to the mall and it was opened and I walkedin and I was just going in there to warm up and I got kicked out. I was really upsetbecause I was so cold and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any money. A lot of things like that havehappened and not much you can do about it except you try to do as much as youcan (p.3, transcript 3).Etah is knowledgable about AIDS and birth control. Since leaving a two year relationship(some time ago) she says she has been celibate and she has tested negative for AIDS. In thatrelationship \u00E2\u0080\u009Cwho I was married to \u00E2\u0080\u0094 not under the law\u00E2\u0080\u009D Etah became pregnant with twins. Shedescribes the relationship and her ordeal:He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s practically the last person I got together with. A significant person I shared agreat deal of my life with him and I ended up getting pregnant with him to the pointwhere I was 5 months pregnant. I was in a town that was really alien to me and65didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any ID so I was also in a town called Amos where they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really haveany services for people on the street. I ended up having to live off of dry bread thatwe got out of the garbage and dried donuts from Tim Horton\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (that they threw out)and I got really sick and lost one of the children in my stomach. The city, well theprovince of Quebec, decided that it would biodegrade inside my stomach so theyweren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t going to take it out and that really didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t make me feel comfortable and asthe days passed on I knew that I would have a very hard time taking care of a child,so I moved back to Vancouver for a period of a month and gave my child awayfiguring that it wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t ready to come in into this world, but it was still ... the childthe two children that were inside my stomach were a great significance in my life aswell, cause they were there, they were alive. Also, Edward took care of me whenI couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t take care of myself, didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t ask for anything in return, he didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do anythingthat I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want him to do. And we shared a lot of life together and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why hewas a significant person in my life (p.8, transcript 1).Etah indicates a cautionary attitude towards drugs and addiction, although she uses alcohol.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m pretty much drug wise ... I see a lot of people getting into drugs because it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s adifferent reality from the reality they live in \u00E2\u0080\u0094 it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s kind of like a fake happiness tillthey can find their happiness\u00E2\u0080\u0094 if they ever find their happiness (p.2, transcript 3).In her travels Etah encounters an enormous amount of drug abuse and has herself used many drugs\u00E2\u0080\u009Cwhen I was younger.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Upon returning from her last trip to the United States (early June, 1993) sheheard that three people she knew had died of heroin overdoses and five other friends had seriouslyoverdosed. Death and dying, from drug overdose, suicide, violence and abuse related causes, areno stranger to Etah. She laments that her friend was \u00E2\u0080\u009Creally sad and really angry\u00E2\u0080\u009D and relates hisexperience to many others on the street who don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know where to direct their rage. Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s commenton her friend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s passing goes deeper than the hopeless statement about happiness being \u00E2\u0080\u009Cat least\u00E2\u0080\u009Dpossible in death, she completes her thoughts by extending her scathing criticism to the entirehuman race.If they are dead at least they might have a chance at happiness because, you know,it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really hard to get happiness in a world as rotten as this and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not even theworld that is rotten. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to say it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s white trash, but I know it isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t just white trash.I think its just basically that the human race is the most dangerous species on thisplanet (p.14, transcript 2).66It is very likely that Etah is in the early stages of mourning for the people whom she calls her \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreetfamily.\u00E2\u0080\u009D And it is also likely that a similar scenario is too familiar to Aboriginal people, far abovethe average of any other ethnic group, in Canada.The massive assaults on the dignity of Street youth in general, and Aboriginal street youth inparticular, are but the precursors to the inevitable magnetic force of the drug addiction and suicidalbehaviour on the street alluded to in Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s story. Etah relates examples of how she is ridiculed fortrying to sing for money on the streets, where catching a ride is taken to mean you are willing to sellyourself, where she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s been asked to help recruit \u00E2\u0080\u009Clittle Aboriginal runaways\u00E2\u0080\u009D (girls) into prostitution,and about an Aboriginal male friend who became a prostitute at age 11.We cannot appreciate the cutting edge of being pushed out of a truck in the middle of theGolden Gate Bridge, being denied a place to sleep (in a squat), or being laughed at for trying tomake an honest dollar in favour of the ever forceful demand for sex.I almost got ran over and then these other people picked me up and gave me a rideacross [the bridge] because I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t give him a blow job ... \u00E2\u0080\u0098This is the UnitedStates girl, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going to have to suck me off before you get money out of mypockets\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (p.3, transcript 3).is the reply to almost any attempt to satisfy street youth needs for survival in some legitimatemanner. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey just can be so fake, lustful and greedy, they just turn into these little bugs,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she statesabout her tormentors.Prostitution, although Etah thought about it once and it still plays a part in her life in that sheknows many people who are working in the industry, does not hold the attraction for her that it doesfor others. She is \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnot materialistic\u00E2\u0080\u009D and she sees through the promises of love and protection. Toresist prostitution in a lifestyle where hooking is one ready means of survival \u00E2\u0080\u0094 on a continentwhere the society is predatory towards young beautiful Aboriginal females\u00E2\u0080\u0094 is a sign of mostadmirable courage. Etah evokes a sense of extreme sadness when she talks about the souldeadening effects of prostitution on the women and men she knows who are involved in the sex67industry. She describes her work in watching out for little girls, of taking them under her wing (backto her squat), with determination.basically [they were] asking me to be an apprentice pimp. I was really pissed offand basically I kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t doing this. But you can\u00E2\u0080\u0099tkeep an eye on every single person on the street and he ended up doing it. I endedup sheltering little girls that ran away from him....(p.1, transcript 3).She says that she has been exploited \u00E2\u0080\u009Conly\u00E2\u0080\u009D in that at times she has panhandled for someone, \u00E2\u0080\u009CwhenI was younger ... but I always got something out of it.\u00E2\u0080\u009DEtah does not refer much to contact with the criminal justice system, although she relates thatshe landed in jail in Louisiana for vagrancy for a couple of weeks. And she describes being beatenby the cops and being protected by a Street worker, however, she does not refer to on going criminalactivity or charges.Extended street family and a sense of \u00E2\u0080\u009Chome\u00E2\u0080\u009D on the street is everything to Etah. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI guess astreet family is about the most loved family I think a person can have because there is understandingand there is friendship.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She names sisters, brothers, a daughter, street workers, an older street(Aboriginal male) person, and her dog among her extended street family. About extended familyand street culture surrounding \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe family\u00E2\u0080\u009D on the street, she says:I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never really even known them very well [her biological family] ... When I goton the street I met people that I would consider family because they were more ofmy family than the family that I ever had (and they were real). They were somebodythat I could depend on (although I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t) ... somebody that I could understandsomebody that could understand me, somebody that could depend on me. Wepretty much have been together for the last couple of years and we lived together,travelled together, ate together, slept together, did things ... just about everything thatwe do, we do together. And this is kind of like a family \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the kind of family thatnone of us have ever really had. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re people that I pretty much know that I amgoing to know for the rest of my life and I would consider them more of my familythan any other family that I ever had so, in that way, I call them my sister and mybrother. I also have a daughter who got on the street when she was really reallyyoung \u00E2\u0080\u0094 too young to take care of herself and a young girl brought her down hereshe didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know me very well but she knew that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d squatted and she asked meif I could take of her [the little girl]. I accepted the responsibility and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve had theresponsibility for a year and a half now \u00E2\u0080\u0094 taking care of her \u00E2\u0080\u0094 making sure that sheknows how to survive, live on the street. She basically calls me mom. I basicallycall her my daughter ... because she met me before I knew her, she used to watchme skate when she was really young (p.7, transcript 1).68Etah is philosophically simultaneously attached to and detached from her street family,probably because she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s never sure if she\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll see them again and this is an extension of her cautiousattitude. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI never really say goodbye \u00E2\u0080\u0094 just see you later\u00E2\u0080\u0094 cannot really say forever, cannot reallysay never.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s stoicism is expressed in the statement:I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve seen a lot of people commit suicide. When I was young I use to try to commitsuicide a lot. I found the good ways to die and the bad ways to die and now suicideto me just seems like an easy way out \u00E2\u0080\u0094 giving up to what I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been fighting all mylife \u00E2\u0080\u0094 [I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m] trying to succeed in a life not death. You know if I die [this way] in thislife, what am I going to do in the next? Or I mean if I die what good am I? Whatgood am I going to do? ... to try to change the things that I hate, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just giving up(p.14, transcript 2).Learning to survive on the street has taught Etah many lessons.When I hit the street I had a fear of being beat up. I had a fear of the unknownbut those things I pretty much learned. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t fear violence anymore ... pretty muchdriven off the unknown. I do it cautiously. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have much fear, but I haveparanoia and as I kept saying\u00E2\u0080\u0094 \u00E2\u0080\u0098paranoia will destroy you, but until then it willkeep you safe.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I see a lot of other people that are really scared around me (p.1,transcript 3).RacismI see a lot of racism against Natives but nobody is really racist against me [amongfriends on the street] unless I tell them that I am Native (p.4, transcript 2). Iexperience a lot of racism ... Yeah, it includes a lot of violence (p.12, transcript 2).The two above, seemingly paradoxical, statements from Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s interview are the parameterswith which she relates a mixture of rage at the overt racism she experiences, awareness of theignorance in mainstream intolerance for difference, a partial recognition of the dynamics ofinternalized racism in oppressed people, and a mature outlook on making a difference with opencommunication. What she is saying is that she must hide her Aboriginal background or suffer theconsequences. Etah, however, being who she is does not have the luxury of self denial and henceavoidance of violent episodes is difficult. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhen I see racism on the street I feel so much hatredand I usually end up confronting them on it and most likely violent things happen. How do I copewith it? That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s how I cope with it.\u00E2\u0080\u009D69Etah describes a street world, at least the terrain that she chooses to occupy, where racistNazi youth are ever present. Skinheads and punks do not get along very well (as Joanne will latertell us). In Vancouver the Granville strip is shared by the two opposing forces. Etah describes manyconfrontations when she has to stand up for herself against White supremacist youth groups. Buteven some close non-Aboriginal friends with whom she travels, upon discovery that she isAboriginal, express the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnormal\u00E2\u0080\u009D hatred of Aboriginal people. They suddenly see her differently.Then there are the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cordinary\u00E2\u0080\u009D White power groups.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t necessarily get a lot of racism but I have to deal with a lot of racism. Forinstance, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s groups that come out from suburban places and come downtownand promote their hatred and go around and point people out and beat them up forno reason. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just a game, it kind of intimidates and maybe that person [Aboriginalstreet youth] will turn into a Nazi. Because if you can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t beat them you might as welljoin them (p.2, transcript 2).The intimidation and resignation (and joining the White power groups) expressed in theabove passage actually happened to Etah herself. She describes the shame she now feels when shegoes to certain squats in Vancouver and she is faced with racist writings on the walls which sheauthored at the age of twelve.It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just that my brother was White power \u00E2\u0080\u0094 he was half Indian so it already madesense to me too. So I was shameful about that, when I was twelve, I was promotinghatred in very small ways like saying I was \u00E2\u0080\u0098White power\u00E2\u0080\u0099... one of the squats thatI go to still has writing of this on the walls (p. 17, transcript 2).It appears that many Aboriginal youth are seduced into White power movements. Etah and otherAboriginal street youth in our case studies corroborate the recruitment of Aboriginal youth intoWhite power groups. Membership in these racist youth groups demands the denial of Aboriginalheritage and culture and fosters self-hatred of Aboriginal identity.I was categorized as a \u00E2\u0080\u0098White parallel\u00E2\u0080\u0099 .... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve seen a lot of people that are like me,as in, half Native/half White and some of them have popped out Native and somepopped out White (definition of White parallel). A lot of my friends, a long time ago,were Nazis although they were Native, and they just denied the fact that they wereNative....(p.3, transcript 2).Then there are those Aboriginal youth that cannot be mistaken for any other ethnic.70I have a friend named Rick who is Native-Indian and I guess after dealing with thisnumerous times plus everything else, he just became so angry that he just beat upeverybody around him and now he is in jail (which would be good for him becausehe was drinking a lot during that time) (p.6, transcript 2).The victimization and criminalization of Aboriginal youth, when they try to defendthemselves or they explode past the boundaries of tolerance as a result of racist assaults, is the 1 980sand 1 990s version of the removal of Aboriginal children and youth from their place in the Aboriginalcommunity. The Criminal Justice Inquiries in Manitoba (1991) and Saskatchewan (1992) remind usthat racism in the schools and on the street are complemented by the racism embedded in thecriminal justice system. Criminalization and delinquentization of Aboriginal youth is a systematicform of cultural genocide in Canada. It is difficult to imagine how an obviously Aboriginal childwould escape racist victimization in the public school system. Fisher and Echols (1989) corroboratethat racism in Vancouver schools is rampant and that multicultural solutions do not work. It isequally difficult to imagine an Aboriginal child who would passively accept, that is without rage orhopeless resignation, this racial harassment, except those who can hide their identity (an equallydestructive psychological coping mechanism). It is, therefore, understandable that in some regionsof Canada 7 out of 10 Aboriginal male youth between the ages of 12 and 17 will be incarceratedat least once before they are 20.This type of institutionalization (which inevitably leads into involvement with the childwelfare and criminal justice system) is the equivalent of residential schooling and the 1960s scoopby ministries of social service. The public school remains the number one breeding ground for earlyracist attacks on Aboriginal children. Etah recalls verbal abuse and injustice to both herself and hersister.I got verbal abuse in a lot of ways and a lot of manipulating ways. I got asked if Ineeded a psychiatrist because a little boy ripped up my shoes and pissed on themand I went to school the next day in barefeet because I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any shoes andbecause my mother didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have enough money to buy me any shoes ... and therewas no justice for that but I got told I was mentally disabled and the principal wasgoing to help me with this everyday after school with talks. There was another timewhere a class was laughing and I got picked up by my hair and dragged across the71room because I was laughing .... My sister got slapped across the face for notreading the right words and giggling about it. Just basically unjust ... (p.11, transcript3).The usual response was to blame the victim. Etah punctuates her stories with \u00E2\u0080\u009Cand nothingwas done about that.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Etah ends the dialogue on education by being thankful for the littleknowledge that she has been able to use. However, she says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CBut what I had to go through to getit ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m really pissed off about that.\u00E2\u0080\u009DEtah talks about the racism in Quebec where she experienced racism for being an Englishspeaker.I was living in Montreal for a period of two years and I was also living in Val d\u00E2\u0080\u0099Orand because I spoke English I got a lot of racism ... a lot of stores upped their priceson me ... and a lot of neighbours used to throw things at me and curse at me inFrench. Edward wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t let me go outside because he thought that I would get beatup or raped because I was English and later on that day I heard that somebody gotburnt alive because they were English (p.15, transcript 2),Then she goes on to describe violent racist incidents against Black people, \u00E2\u0080\u009C... they got moved outbecause they were black.\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009CLes cristes d\u00E2\u0080\u0099anglais.\u00E2\u0080\u009DIn comparing the United States and Canada, Etah relates, \u00E2\u0080\u009CYou get a lot more racism causepeople haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t accepted as much (Aboriginal people) as they have in the States.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Closer to home\u00E2\u0080\u0094 referring to her father she says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CMy father was a very angry person, he hated White people\u00E2\u0080\u009D andit is this debilitating anger she is referring to as she goes on.I remember I was in Winnipeg and I went into a washroom and it had all thesethings against Natives. Like, you know, Natives are just rubbing alcoholic drunks,you know blah, blah ... And I guess if a Native looks at that and looks down onthemselves, maybe they might start drinking because of it (p.4, transcript 2). I thinka lot of Native-Indians ... when they do drink too much ... they drink because we arehuman garbage cans to society, and there is a lot of stress, and a lot of nonunderstanding, a lot of ignorance which suppresses all of us .... Native Indians yeah,I think there is a lot of racism against them because I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think people understandthem (p.6, transcript 2).An incident at the very onset of the interview \u00E2\u0080\u0094 an old man walked by the interviewer andEtah and remarked that they should \u00E2\u0080\u009Cgo get their cheque\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u0094 disturbed the interviewer a great deal.72Yet Etah calmly indicated this happened to her \u00E2\u0080\u009Ca couple times a day.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She replies to the question\u00E2\u0080\u009CHow did that affect you when he said that rather horrible remark?\u00E2\u0080\u009DWell, pretty much, it would have bothered me a great deal a long time ago, but nowit does not affect me too much. Because I can see that he doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really understandme or understand where I am coming from. What I think he meant by saying thatwas basically that I should go and get a welfare cheque, clean up my act and get ajob, clean my hair, get new clothes, live like him, be like him, be who he is \u00E2\u0080\u0094because I am not up to standards in his world, up to standards with who he is.Because I am who I am, I am a disgrace to him. It doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t make that much of a bigimpression on me, as it would have done a long time ago, because I like who I amand I have clothes, I have food, I have shelter. I can walk my ground in a lot ofways that he couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t. A long time ago I would have probably spit on him andstarted cursing at him but not now I just ignore him ... in the same way he ignoresme (p.1, transcript 1).Etah has joined and participated in anti-racism groups and demonstrations. She has a clearperspective that \u00E2\u0080\u009CRacism seems like pure ignorance and fear,\u00E2\u0080\u009D and has become a vocal activist. Herwisdom and critical knowledge allow her to transcend the daily assaults to her psyche (because sheis Aboriginal and a street person).Culture and identityI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m very proud to be an Aboriginal person, because that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s basically who I am. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mproud of who I am. I am a Native woman (p.4, transcript 3).\u00E2\u0080\u009CI mean Aboriginal culture has to do with the life in you. Just a whole world into itself,\u00E2\u0080\u009D Etahastutely surmises, as she refutes her paternal uncle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s statement that to be Indian one must practicethe culture.There is something my uncle said, you know, \u00E2\u0080\u0098You are not a true Indian unless youare Indian.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Like you follow the culture then you are an Indian. Even a Whiteperson can do that. To be an Indian, you have to be a true Indian. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not a statusthing, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not a piece of paper, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a spiritual thing, an emotional thing, a mentalthing, a physical thing (p.7, transcript 3).When asked if she practised any Aboriginal culture, she again confidently replied,Well, I practice my own and if it corresponds with Aboriginal culture then I guessyes. A lot of things that I was told about some of the medicines that the Aboriginalpeople use in some ways are respected because of my great grandfather. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve heardof his ways, sometimes I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll use some of his ways and sometimes I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll use some of myown. But if I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m in his house then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll use his [way] out of respect of him. [What didyou do when you were at home?] Well, I at home so I guess so. [Would you73practice if any kind of ceremony or service were available?] Well, if I wanted yes.And if I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t, then I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gone to drummings, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gone to summerdances, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gone to a lot of them, a lot of gatherings (p.4, transcript 3).Etah demands to assert her Aboriginal identity in her own way and she is confident that sheknows what that is, although that identity is clouded by circumstances in her life.When my mother took me away from my father, I was just a baby, and she gotmarried to a trucker who is White and they had another child. I believed that hewas my father. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know that I was Indian and he lied to me, my mother liedto me. I was lied to for about 5 years of my life. All the gifts that my [biological]father sent to my mother to give to me \u00E2\u0080\u0094 when I was old enough to handle them\u00E2\u0080\u0094 were all burnt and thrown in the garbage or pawned off. There was a big cordof his hair that was really sacred but was just thrown into the garbage as if it wasgarbage. There is a necklace that my mom seemingly held on to, for some oddreason, to give to me. There is necklaces, there is jewellery (of the Indian art), thereis feathers, there is beads and they were all thrown out or pawned out. And the onlytime that I actually knew that I was actually Native-Indian was when my father cameto visit me one day. They just couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t keep it back any longer because I lookedkind of different from the rest of them .... I was uncomfortable and I was reallypissed off because I was uncomfortable and because I shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be made to feeluncomfortable around my natural born family. I was really pissed off at those peoplethat lied to me (p.14, transcript 3).In the interview it became evident that Etah continues to feel the loss of the opportunity of culturalexposure through her paternal side of her family. They actively practice Aboriginal culture.The effects of the estrangement from her father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s side of the family is compounded by thefact that her mother did not practice any Aboriginal culture. \u00E2\u0080\u009CShe distanced me in a lot of ways, shewouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get in the Aboriginal things but would try to push me into it ....\u00E2\u0080\u009C Yet Etah, in fact, exhibitsmany of the core characteristics of Aboriginal values. For instance, she talks about respect for theland, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnobody owns anything,\u00E2\u0080\u009D spiritual inclinations of Aboriginal people, love of nature, and respectfor elders as tangible values that are missing in mainstream Canadian society. Etah also reveals acomfortable sophistication, in knowing not readily known intricacies of deeply cultural knowledgeand behaviour, in simply stating \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll go to a sweat ceremony, if it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s there, but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go too oftenbecause you have to be ready to go to one.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Only a person who has an authentic connection withthe values and intent of the sweat ceremony would show the respect and understanding reflected74in Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s simple statement. Etah also expresses the need for Aboriginal street youth to have accessto their history and culture in city schools.Going to school, we need a little bit more on Aboriginal street youth and I mean thisis a bilingual country, right? It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s between French and English, and Aboriginal doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tcome in anywhere in there. I mean a little bit of the knowledge of who they are andwhere their places are .... So I think they need to talk a little bit more about theAboriginal culture (p.7, transcript 3).A strong Aboriginal identity would be hard to maintain with the daily reminders of Aboriginalconditions in the city, at least those available to Etah. She has not met any Aboriginal street workersin her travels.I see a lot of Natives on Hastings Street, usually drunk or using heroin. Up on theGranville Mall I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t usually see very many Native street youth. I see theoccasional straight youth down there, males occasionally. Females I see a lot moreoften, they usually work in the street prostituting. I run into a lot of M\u00C3\u00A9tis, a lot ofhalf Indians and they are usually are really, really cool and some of them maybe not.There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s usually a balance between them (p. 14, transcript 3).Even so, Etah takes heart from seeing \u00E2\u0080\u009CAboriginal people who are very proud looking\u00E2\u0080\u009D but alsoacknowledges the effects of internalized racism reflected in her past.I can picture a lot of Aboriginal people disliking being Indian in school. Just becausewhen I was younger I looked Indian, I felt disliked, you know. People used to askme if I was Italian or Chinese. I was never really Native and Natives just seemedrather distant to the rest of the world, not really there at all. It depends on whatculture they follow. If they try to be like every other person in the world then youknow for sure (not liking to be Indians) (p.5, transcript 3).It is evident that Etah is at times confused about her identity and culture. She has had littleexposure to Aboriginal culture in the city, and most of her street companions are non-Aboriginal.Somehow, however, through her own personal integrity, through reflective survival of racism, andthrough personal memory and discovery, she has remained true to her Aboriginal persona. In asense she takes that part of herself for granted. \u00E2\u0080\u009CA lot of people on the reserve just forget it, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m justlike that,\u00E2\u0080\u009D When asked about who she would like to be like, Etah answered:Someone I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to be like? I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to be anybody but myself. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s onething that another school said, they said I could be anybody and I kind of wonderedwhy they had a problem with me being me ... What\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the problem with just beingme (p.11, transcript 3).75SocietyI just want to say that society just thrives off of stealing goodness out of thingsI can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even understand it because they are so blind (p.4, transcript 3).Throughout the interview sessions Etah was entirely coherent and consistent with her critiqueof western societal values. \u00E2\u0080\u009CEveryone is so lonely,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she laments. She vehemently rejects mainstreamconsumer madness: the sexual predatory male culture; the spiritual emptiness driven by the concreteenvironment and the \u00E2\u0080\u009C9 to 5\u00E2\u0080\u009D machine-like behaviour expressive of consummate greed; and aboveall of the school function of enforced socialization into this culture. She expresses sadness andshame for being part of a society that she rejects. \u00E2\u0080\u009CBeing human is shameful in itself.\u00E2\u0080\u009DWe\u00E2\u0080\u0099re already unkind, untruthful, we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re living in a world of lies, a world of concrete,we contradict ourselves everyday, everyone seems really destitute to what they reallyneed, the desire of need and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not even a need for materialistic things. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a needfor the mental, because we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re basically deprived of life. We just live in our cagesday to day. The sadness that I see on the streets with every single child that comesto the streets alone, trying to keep the happiness \u00E2\u0080\u0094 just trying to get through anotherday of chemical waste, wasting another day instead of actually going out and tryingto learn something and it takes him a long time before they actually come to thatconclusion and accept that awareness of what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s going on (p.13, transcript 2).Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s distrust of mainstream avenues of \u00E2\u0080\u009Chelp\u00E2\u0080\u009D in handling psychological problems showsin the statement:The people I do talk to about it \u00E2\u0080\u0094 it won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be a parent, it won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be a priest, it won\u00E2\u0080\u0099tbe a teacher, won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be social workers \u00E2\u0080\u0094 won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be a priest (I just wanted to make thatclear) (giggle) ... it might be an elder (p.16, transcript 2).When asked if she uses employment services she whips back, \u00E2\u0080\u009CEmployment services, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t usebecause I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think I should be a slave ... but I think I do a lot more work on the streets by myself,for other people on the street and for myself, than I do in any kind of employment ....\u00E2\u0080\u009C Etah believesthat the compulsively structured work requirement in society is \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe government\u00E2\u0080\u0099s\u00E2\u0080\u009D way ofcontrolling people. It is deadening spiritually. It is little wonder why Etah refuses educational andemployment counselling. She profoundly disagrees with the ideological foundations of both. Sheinstead would like a system of trading \u00E2\u0080\u009Csomething for something.\u00E2\u0080\u009D76It doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t seem right, you work, and work, and work, and then you pay taxes, andmore taxes, not doing anything that I like to do. Working 9 to 5 not really doinganything except for being a machine to society (p.1, transcript 2).Etah is self-taught. She goes to libraries and is knowledgeable about current societal andenvironmental issues. Would she consider going back to school? Etah replies that, \u00E2\u0080\u009CEducationalservices, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t use because I can usually go to the library and educate myself a lot more than aschool can probably educate me.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Her answer shows how irrelevant curriculum appears to thosechildren whose background, culture and lifestyle are not represented in school material.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got my grade six education ... I hated grade five and I went to many differentschools, repeated the same grades. I did correspondence but it didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t work out. Iwas really pissed off ... I was sick of being taught like a machine, I was treated likeshit. They didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have anything to teach me except for a conservative world and aconservative place which I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really think that I really need any knowledge of(p.1\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 3).Etah says that Aboriginal street youth need education with regard to survival on the street andespecially, \u00E2\u0080\u009CHow to fight the law.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Preferably this education ought to be done by Aboriginal peoplewith street experience.Etah is almost arrogant as she answers the question: How would you prevent more Aboriginalyouth from coming on to the street?I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not going to answer that one. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve no problem on the street. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think thatstreet youth are bad, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not the street youth. What I do think is bad is the levelsbetween the rich, the working class, the conservatives and the poor .... What I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099tget is something in the mind, and I can get a lot more of that than any other richperson that has money to thrive off in their destitution [of spirit], but they swimaround. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that there is a problem with street youth or any kind of street.If there is it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a problem that they create within their heads that they are poor, andthat they need something, and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s true that they do need something, but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t thinkthat they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going to get it from food, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going to get fromclothing, and I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going to get from shelter. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a possibilitythat they might get it from the culture of the Aboriginal people or the understandingof themselves in the world around them. But I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that there is a problemwith street youth. I think that a lot of people look at them and want them off thestreet so that they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to deal with them daily, so that they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to walkdown the Street and see them, so that they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to go on the buses and smellthem, or they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to look at them. If they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to feel their guilt withit in their heads that it actually happening or that it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s actually an issue in this world.That there are actually people on the streets that have to live out of garbage or liveoff their scraps of things that they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t eat, the things that they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t wear, the77things that they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t need, the things that they throw out. I think that those are thepeople that don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want the people on the streets. I think that a lot of people that areon the streets just live and if they want to get off the streets, then they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll get off thestreets. If they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t, then they won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t (p.8, transcript 3).In other words she is saying that the presence of street youth is a societal problem and that theyshouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to comply with being made invisible just to satisfy middle-class guilt. She wants theproblem, beginning with Canadian societal values, to be solved instead of applying the band aid ofmore government services.Etah consistently, as do most of the youth in this study, refused to (even indirectly throughus) advise or communicate with \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe government.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She indicated that she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to discussanything about government people, and that she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really believe that they would or could doanything to relieve conditions on the street. At one point Etah, quite simply says that she wouldonly talk to a government person face to face, and only \u00E2\u0080\u009Cabout themselves.\u00E2\u0080\u009DEtah is consistently defiant when asked if she would consider returning home. She starts andends this question with \u00E2\u0080\u009CWell, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m already at home here ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m pretty much at home here.\u00E2\u0080\u009DI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t consider myself poor, I pretty much consider myself the richest person on thisplanet because I get what I need when I want it (p.8 transcript 3).The only time Etah shows any sense of peace is when she is talking about being with nature\u00E2\u0080\u0094 mid-thought she changes her aura. When asked what would make her life easier, she says, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnobuildings, just land, not so many tricks (johns), manipulations, grief, no god, no hierarchy, no class,no racism.\u00E2\u0080\u009DI once felt really alone, when I was really young and I felt so alone sometimes. Ithought it was my own loneliness but I came to the conclusion that everyone wastoo scared to actually get together and do things ... but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel lonely anymoreI\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got the trees and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got animals that I can talk to and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot better thingthan to talk to a human being (p.15, transcript 2). But the idea that I have a spiritualconnection with the trees and the animals and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really depressing that I have totravel so long to get to that (p.11, transcript 2).She is referring to the month long travel to return from Louisiana to Vancouver, more specificallyto Denman Island where her soul is free.78Etah is a complex young woman: who on the one hand is a hardened street person and onthe other is a brilliant critic of a society whose values she refuses to comply with; who cynicallychooses a pseudonym that spells the word HATE backwards (she insisted on the spelling), and yetultimately exhibits the unmistakable spirit of a sensitive nature loving writer in the bud. Immediatesurvival of the body, soul and psyche are always at the forefront of priorities for street youth.Aboriginal street youth like Etah must face the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnormal\u00E2\u0080\u009D challenges of survival on the street as wellas the barriers of racism and cultural starvation. It is no wonder that planning turns only to moredisappointment and a fantasy of escape to some utopian existence.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like planning something that hasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t happened yet. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like looking intosomething that hasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t happened yet. I can only work with day by day basis, like youknow, if I want a better world, I have to be a better person and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m doing that rightnow as I live for a day to day lifestyle ... experiencing and being aware of thingsaround me. In the future I would hope that I would be living where there is nosociety, where there is no government, where I could just be with the land and liveoff the land and the land live off me\u00E2\u0080\u0094 cause I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m getting really tired of the rest of it(p.12, transcript 3).Etah, the seventeen year old young woman who is just beginning her adult life, and whorepeats the phrase \u00E2\u0080\u009Cwhen I was younger,\u00E2\u0080\u009D is an old soul trapped in a young body and into a life-eroding lifestyle. With her superior survival skills, spiritual inclinations, critical societal analysis, andconsiderable poetic abilities, Etah is a potential asset to her street family as an advocate and streetworker. It appears, however, that Etah will someday migrate permanently to her beloved islandssomewhere off the coast of British Columbia \u00E2\u0080\u0094 to live as a reclusive artist. In the meantime, theimmediate is pressing on her mind, \u00E2\u0080\u009CRight now I have a home wherever I go.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The idealism fadeswith,I have a home and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a squat and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s going to be blown up at the end of the month.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been living there for the last four years (on and off). I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m the only person thatlives there. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got a lot of sentimental value in that place. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get to [give] anyconsent, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just going to put a big bulldozer through my front door (p.10,transcript 3).79KARENThe reason why I ain\u00E2\u0080\u0099t on the streets no more is because I found out for myself thatI have people at home that care for me and love me and don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to see me gethurt. So, I decided to stay home (p.1, transcript 1).Karen is a fifteen year old non-status young woman of Nis\u00E2\u0080\u0099ga/Haisla heritage, who has beenon the street for two years. She is a person who spends most of her time on the streets, she spendsshort periods of time at home and then returns to the street. Karen\u00E2\u0080\u0099s last jaunt onto the street lastedthree months. She is under her parents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 care but has just recently (one month ago) gone to stay with(to babysit for) an adult female friend. According to the woman she stays with it is highly probablethat she will go back to the streets as soon as she is no longer in danger of being caught and broughtback to parental custody. The interviewer explained the process and Karen took a couple of daysto think about whether or not she would participate in the study. Karen was very hard to interview.Karen is of small build, has long brown hair, doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t wear make-up and is wearingreasonably clean jeans and a plain sweat shirt. Her mother told us that five out of her ten kids sufferfrom Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Although not formally diagnosed, Karen is thought to be one of them.She talks slow and quiet and she is very shy, even with her shyness she seems vulnerable andintrospective, she fidgeted and seemed very uncomfortable. Her mother relates that somethingprofound has happened to Karen that she is not disclosing.[Mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s statement] Two months ago Karen disappeared for three weeks. No onesaw her. Adolescent Street Unit hadn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t seen her for weeks, either ... not sure butsomething happened to her because Karen doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to go to Granville streetanymore. She ran for a while and then finally came home after that ... someone triedto \u00E2\u0080\u0098suck\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Karen into prostitution or did some trick because she was picked up drunkand put into detox (p.1, parent transcript).Since she has been home she has been very withdrawn and scared. She is a possible survivor ofgang-related abduction and a forced sex industry statistic.The interview was held in a quiet room at the DEYAS office, the fact sheet was filled in andthe interview began. Karen is extremely nervous and had a difficult time answering the open endedquestions, at first she simply answered yes or no. She is definitely a person of few words. Karen80asked for breaks frequently, and a half hour into the interview, she asked if the interview could becontinued on another day. Even then Karen said it was difficult for her to talk because she is a quietperson and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdoesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like to tell really personal things to people she doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The finalinterview was done at the interviewer\u00E2\u0080\u0099s house. Karen was tired and depressed, she tried very hardto complete the process.HistoryI tried to get some attention from my own mom, my brothers, some of my unclesand my sisters. I tried to get enough attention from them, but they won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even giveme attention, so, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d run ... that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s it ... I have flashbacks of what my cousin hasdone to me, and I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk to no one about it, so I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d run (p.1, transcript 1).Karen was born in the north coastal region of British Columbia, to a Nis\u00E2\u0080\u0099ga mother and aHaisla father, who have been married for twenty-five years. Her family moved to Vancouver whenKaren was two weeks old. Therefore she identifies with Vancouver as her home. The familyconstellation consists of mother, father, three brothers and six sisters.But, sometimes they [my parents] go [up North] to go visit some of their cousins orwhatever up there and my mom calls up there, so ... My mom would talk to herbrothers or sisters and my dad would talk to his brothers or sisters (p.6, transcript 1).Well, my family, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s 10 kids in the family, and I got three younger ones (p.3,transcript 1).Five children and two grandchildren remain at home with the parents. Three of Karen\u00E2\u0080\u0099s sisters havealso been on the street for various lengths of time.All of Karen\u00E2\u0080\u0099s schooling was taken, to grade eight, in Vancouver. After being out of schoolfor over two years, she plans to return to school in the fall of 1993.I just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want them [siblings] to end up like I did and my three other sisters. Ihope they can do their best in school because I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do very good in school. Idropped out and I been out of school for almost three year now. I went to threeschools. I went to Gladstone... Hastings. I graduated from elementary...and Van Tech.And that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s it (p.3, transcript 1).Karen retells the story of abuse at the hands of a male cousin, who was the favourite nephewof her parents and who lived with them, while she was living at home. This, she says was the eventthat resulted in her escape from home.81He\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go out during the daytime and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d come back at night time real drunk andwait until everyone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gone to bed. Me and my two other sisters, Lois and Sarah [notreal names], were sharing a room at that time, and I had a king-size bed. And Loisand them were scared of the dark that time, so they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d sleep with me and theythought they were safe that way. And when everyone was in bed, he would comeupstairs and start to fondle me. He\u00E2\u0080\u0099d play with my hair first, then he wanted me tolay on top of him and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d try and take off my pyjamas and all that. My pyjamaswas a one-piece suit and he would kiss me on the cheek and all that. And when Itold him ... he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d ask me if I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d tell anyone this. At the time, I said no, and I thoughtit was okay for him to do it. When I was 11, he was still doing it and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go outevery night and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d get drunk. He\u00E2\u0080\u0099d wait until everyone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s in bed, he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d wait for ahalf-hour or so and then he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d come upstairs and try and get into my room and Ialways had a butter knife in the door, like wedged into the door, so he couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t getin. Then he went into my brother Donald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s room, climbed out the window, then hewent onto the roof, he went around and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d try to get into my side, bedroom,through the window. One night I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t sleep so I stayed up until four and finally,I realized that he was hurting me and so, when I was 13, I finally told my mom andmy mom said that was not okay for him to do it, that he was hurting me. I knew at13, it wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t okay for him to do it. Then he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go off to his friend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s place to hidethere. At the time when I was 10, I thought it was all my fault. I went to court forthis and I haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t gone back to court for awhile, because I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t ready and I stillain\u00E2\u0080\u0099t ready yet. So....l brought it to court a long time ago. And that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s it. And I getflashbacks on it, and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why I run away (p.8-9, transcript 1).Karen did not only run from home she had people to run to, people who would protect her. Shewas familiar with the street through her sisters.On the streetsI just kill time, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d walk around. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go to Carnegie and all that. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go on Hastingsand then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go to Granville and walk around there ... and see all my friendsaround Granville. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s about it (p.1, transcript 1).Karen describes herself as a person who has been on the street off and on for two years. Thelongest time she spent on the street continuously was three months.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been on the streets for two years. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go home, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d stay on ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go to the streetsfor a week or so, then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go home (p.1, transcript 1) ... for food, I went down toASU [Adolescent Street Unit] and got meal tickets, and when I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a placeto stay, my friends would offer me a place to stay, so I went with my friends. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099sit (p.1, transcript 1).Karen tells how she managed to get to the downtown Vancouver streets. She makes it sound sosimple.Well, my mom and them gave me spending money and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d save it up, then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d waittill everybody\u00E2\u0080\u0099s sleeping and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d take the bus to the SkyTrain and get off the bus and82go onto the SkyTrain and take it down to Granville or Main Street station ... I stayedin hotels with my friends (p.2, transcript 1).Sexual abuse from her cousin was only partly instrumental in making her run, according to hermother. Alcohol abuse was also a factor. Karen however says she does not use alcohol. Karenspent time at the Youth Detention Centre for seven days at a time (2-3 times) for shoplifting.Karen lists her sisters, friends and a male waiter at the Balmoral as significant people to heron the street. \u00E2\u0080\u009CHe gave me money whenever I needed it and he gave me food. Well, he said, if I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mever in trouble, if I ever need a place to stay, he gave me his home phone number and his pager,\u00E2\u0080\u009Dshe says of her odd couple relationship with the much older protector. She describes an aimlessexistence on the streets mixed with dodging youth street workers.Well, I would spend more time on the streets than at home [during the two years onand off the street]. Then one day, Barbara, the street worker, met me at onerestaurant and she told me to phone home and tell my mom and them that I wasokay, that I was still alive because they were worried ... I called home. Yes, mysisters were older than me. They were allowed in the bars because they were oldenough ...one of my sisters were working in the Bal moral serving up beer. [So, yourtwo older sisters were also down in the street at one time?] Yes, they were. [Andyou said that you used to just sort of hang around the Balmoral?] Yes, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d wait untilWilliam [not real name of male friend] got off work and we\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go out for dinner orsomething. When I was on probation, Dave Dixon [street worker] would come toGranville and try to find me. He found me once and he brought me home and mymom called Dave Dixon to bring me straight out to the Youth Detention Centre (p.3,transcript 1). Barbara, she\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go up to Granville and try and find me, but shecouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t. She couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t find me because I was in my friend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hotel. And the secondtime, Barbara went up Granville, she waited until I got out of my friend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hotel roomand she sent me on a cab to go home (p.3, transcript 1). ... well, actually my momcalled Dave Dixon and told Dave Dixon that my sisters went home. They weredown Hastings and she told Dave Dixon, if he saw my sisters down there, to drivethem home and one of my sisters were really restless, so Dave Dixon put my sisterin handcuffs to bring her home. My sister didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to come home .... My friendswere on welfare and they rent their rooms, hotels, for three or four months andwhenever I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a place for stay, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d offer me a place to stay (p.3, transcript1).Karen exclusively uses the Adolescent Street Unit. She says she knows all the workers there.They would help her.What they did for me was, they gave me meal tickets and they gave me bus tickets.They had clothes there that people donated to Adolescent Street Unit and I can domy washing there for free. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d talk to my social worker. I had a social worker then,83her name was Sandy Jay and she was the one I would talk to about my problems andwhy I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to go home...(p.4, transcript 1).Karen relates the last encounter with her favourite Aboriginal street worker where the workerchanged tactics on her. She was now going to be free to decide on her own what to do with herlife. \u00E2\u0080\u009CStreet worker said, she wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t find me and send me home because she said I was oldenough and she said that I need my friends ... and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll go home when I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m ready.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Her motherappears to have followed suit where school was concerned. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWell, I now go Outreach and AriesJob Training, but I just didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to go back to school. And my mom said whenever I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m ready Ican go back to school, but I know I will be going to school in September.\u00E2\u0080\u009D This tactic seems to haveworked as Karen says she will return to school. Karen is still too young to get welfare and to useemployment services.Karen, who has been sexually active since she was fourteen (excluding sexual abuseexperience), is somewhat knowledgable about sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.About AIDS, the only one I know is, the way you can get AIDS is by sharing needlesand .... I saw commercials on TV and when I was going to Hastings Elementary, wewent into some sort of class and we were talking about AIDS and pregnancy andstuff. Well, my boyfriend used condoms [for birth control] (p.4, transcript 1).On the topic of alcohol and drugs, Karen\u00E2\u0080\u0099s story differs from that of her mother. Her motherreports that alcohol is a problem in her extended family and that she has been sober for five and ahalf years. She believes that Karen may be involved with alcohol. Karen\u00E2\u0080\u0099s version is:Well, I never did touch drugs or alcohol, although my parents did try offering it tome. I kept on saying no to it, and I never will touch drugs or alcohol. I know it\u00E2\u0080\u0099sno good for you. And they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll do a lot of damage to your brain. [What about drugs,alcohol and sniffing?] Well, I never did touch drugs. I never did touch alcohol andI never will sniff glue or whatever (p.5, transcript 1).Karen appears to have people who protect her in different ways. This protection may befrom people who know her sisters and are partial to her through them (as their younger sister).Another seems to be a fellow street youth. Again, perhaps because she has family on the street,Karen does not mention a close connection with a street youth network. Many other youth84mentioned how important mutual care giving was between what they called their street family.Well, whenever I came down here, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go over to my friend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s place and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d tell himI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m going to walk around and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d tell me to wait, because he wants to watch myback, to make sure I won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get hurt. He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s only 18 (p.5, transcript 1). I fearednothing [on the street]. There was nothing to fear on the streets, because, as I saidearlier, I had my back watched and whenever I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have my back watched, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099dlook over my shoulder and nothing ... there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s no one there (p.8, transcript 1).Although Karen says that no one has tried to exploit her on the streets, \u00E2\u0080\u009CNo one did try to takeadvantage of me or nothing,\u00E2\u0080\u009D and that she has not been involved in prostitution, she relates that sheknows the people who work with the two Kiddy Cars in Vancouver. It is possible that the peopleshe describes as protectors really do not ask for anything in return. This, however, is questionablewhen she stays for three months at a time in an environment that is, in another street youth\u00E2\u0080\u0099s words,\u00E2\u0080\u009Cpredatory toward Aboriginal youth.\u00E2\u0080\u009DRacism\u00E2\u0080\u0098Ooh, look at that ugly squaw.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I was just about ready to turn back and going toslap him in the face for saying that to me (p.6, transcript 1).When Karen was asked if she thought she received differential treatment from her workersshe indicated that she did, but in a positive sense.My social worker, she sort of treated me different than the other street kids. Onewinter, I went into her office and I say, I need a jacket, so she gave me a Raider\u00E2\u0080\u0099swinter jacket and she said, if I ever needed anything else, just come back and askher. Well, I felt real comfortable using Adolescent Street Unit because I kneweveryone in the office and two kiddie cars went there ... I knew them too ... Yeah,I knew one Aboriginal street worker. Her name was Barbara [not her real name] andI felt real comfortable talking to her (p.5, transcript 1).Karen reports that people look at her strangely and she seems to have an awareness of stigmaattached to street youth status, especially punk style youth. Her awareness about ethnic stereotypes,however, stops there. She simply doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to discuss this aspect of her life. Outside of herschool experience her only reference point is her time on the street where she knows everybody.Yes, they did [look at me strangely], because whenever I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go into a restaurant,they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d look at me like I was a street kid and they thought I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d had my head shavedand all that, because my hair was real long ... and they thought I shaved the sides ofmy head, but I ... like I wanted to put my hair up in a ponytail and they realized that85I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t a punk kid on the street type. The way people look at kids that have theirheads shaved, and I was eating in one restaurant ... I knew the people that workedthere ... and whenever I go into a restaurant, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t look at me real funny (p.6,transcript 1).Karen only vaguely alludes to racism from \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpeople in general\u00E2\u0080\u009D but gives no examples. She reportsno violent incidents with reference to her ethnicity on the street or otherwise.It was people in general. I really didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get any from street people, because I knewall the street people. Well, at first, it really made me mad, for what that guy saidto me, and I really didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say anything to him....(p.7, transcript 1).Although Karen didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to discuss racism, her mother said that Karen couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get alongwith White kids in \u00E2\u0080\u009Cordinary\u00E2\u0080\u009D school. The following comments seem to corroborate her mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099sstatement. \u00E2\u0080\u009CElementary was easy for me, because I had a lot of friends there. Then during highschool, it was hard for me, because the first week or so, I had enemies.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Then at Van Tech four girlsbeat up on her. Even though this incident was reported to the principal and the police, Karen didnot disclose any details. She still insisted that, outside of the name calling incident, ordinarily shedid not experience racism.Culture and identityI feel quite okay about it [being an Aboriginal person]. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just when people callme squaw and all that, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel very comfortable. (p.9, transcript 1).Karen says that she doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know anything about the history of Aboriginal people in Canadaor the Aboriginal people in her home reserve area. She didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t learn anything in school. \u00E2\u0080\u009CNo, notreally. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t learn it in school, not at all.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Her mother indicates that her daughters wanted toattend a school with Aboriginal teachers, but even the Outreach school had no Aboriginal teachers.Karen would like to have contact with her extended family on the reserve. At the moment contactis all but non-existent. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go up there...and I hardly talk to them.\u00E2\u0080\u009DKaren\u00E2\u0080\u0099s mother says that she does not speak her language nor did she teach her childrenanything about Aboriginal culture. Karen\u00E2\u0080\u0099s only contact with Aboriginal culture is through urban86pow-wows in the city of Vancouver, which tend to be prairie Aboriginal culture, and from culturalactivities on the street.I just go to the Pow Wows. Like, this year, I went to the one down at Trout Lakeand I learned more about my other people\u00E2\u0080\u0099s culture and all. Like, I sing a lot, andI like dancing to the drum. When I was running away, I went to one down atCarnegie Centre [to the drum group] (p.9, transcript 1).She would become more involved Aboriginal culture \u00E2\u0080\u009Cif there was one near where we live.\u00E2\u0080\u009D In theend Karen has little awareness of Aboriginal culture and her identity reflects this hole in herexperience. It is most probable that what she sees on the Street is her only reference point.SocietyWe need to know about who are dealing drugs and we need to know ... we needto know about the people ... the danger down there and how easy it is to getsucked into drugs and needles and alcohol and all that (p.10, transcript 1).Karen does not have an identification with any other locale as home except for Vancouver.And she does not have a vision about how the society, in which she lives, could be any differentthan it is. Her point of reference remains the Vancouver downtown eastside where she feelscomfortable. Karen simply answers \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know\u00E2\u0080\u009D when asked what she would advise governmentpolicy makers as to what to do to prevent more Aboriginal kids from going to the Street. Later shevolunteers that \u00E2\u0080\u009CDrop-in centres for Native people and a safe house\u00E2\u0080\u009D are needed for Aboriginal streetyouth in Vancouver.Karen seems earnest in her resolve to stay away from the downtown core of Vancouver. Shebelieves this action will make her life better. \u00E2\u0080\u009CTrying to stay away from downtown and trying tospend more time with my sisters and my nephews ... and stay at home as much as I can.\u00E2\u0080\u009D To closethe interview the interviewer asked Karen, \u00E2\u0080\u009CDo you have any further comments? She answers, \u00E2\u0080\u009CTryto keep the kids away from needles, drugs and alcohol. But that\u00E2\u0080\u0099Il be kind of hard for the kids.\u00E2\u0080\u009DJOANNEWhen I hit the streets I was street wise, I found things by myself pretty easy, butthere\u00E2\u0080\u0099s people out there who can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t, they just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re very naive, very87vulnerable. Like you tell them big whoppers of lies and then they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll believe you,just because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know (p.1 3, transcript 2).Joanne is a 17 year old who has been on the streets of Vancouver for two years. In the twoyears that she has been on the street, she has been in Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Victoria,and at the time of the interviews in Vancouver. By the time the report was written, however, Joannewas rumoured to be somewhere in the northwestern United States. In 1992 Joanne came toVancouver from Calgary with some street friends because the weather and the environment was\u00E2\u0080\u009Creally nice and because Calgary really has nothing to offer me.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Now she hangs out primarily inthe Granville area of Vancouver.Fairly easy going, Joanne agrees, after a couple of no-shows, to be interviewed at the homeof the interviewer. She arrived on her skate board casually dressed. Her clothes were ragged andfairly dirty. Her beautiful face was framed in a green punker style haircut. She wears no make-up.Like Etah she is talkative, however there was more of an aura of authenticity or a child like qualityabout her \u00E2\u0080\u0094 she is less defensive and cautious. Joanne laughs easily. She didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t seem to be holdingback in her responses, in fact she talked at length about the general topics in the interview. We geta good idea about what street life is for her. As with a couple of the other youth participants, it isnot necessary to add extensive commentary to her analysis. Joanne is very articulate incommunicating her ideas and she has many.On the day of the first interview the interviewer accompanied Joanne to her court appearanceat the Vancouver Youth Court. She had been charged with assault and had been given a sentenceof three months\u00E2\u0080\u0099 probation and thirty hours of community work. Joanne now lives on incomeassistance and shares a rented house with six other teenage girls in the eastend of Vancouver. Muchof her time is spent on the street. Survival for her means dumpster diving, table scrapping,panhandling, soup kitchens, food from friends and \u00E2\u0080\u009Csome food from stores.\u00E2\u0080\u009D88HistoryI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not really running from anything. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m on the street because we didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t grow upwith a lot of money and I really like my mother and I just kind of wanted her tohave a bit of freedom rather than have to worry about kids all the time ... myfather was an alcoholic ... the abuse never came towards us, it was directed at mymother ... the excuse she was giving us was \u00E2\u0080\u0098I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m going to wait cause I have kids,until they grow up and then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll leave\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... I kind of figured if I leave home...(p.1,transcript 1).Joanne is a status Cree/Saulteaux young woman who was born in Calgary, Alberta. Herfather and mother, from two different reserves in southern Saskatchewan, have lived in Calgary sincebefore her birth. She has two siblings, a brother and a sister. Both appear to be living at home.Joanne goes back home to visit her parents every so often and calls her mom approximately everytwo weeks. Although she is close to aunts and cousins, contact with extended family is lessfrequent; however, talking with her kohkom (grandmother) is very important to her.Joanne relates that poverty, alcoholism and family violence have been factors in familydysfunction. Although her father is \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdry\u00E2\u0080\u009D now Joanne would not go to live with her family again.She likes being independent. Aside from the frequent contact with her parents and siblings bytelephone, she says very little about her history, except that she did complete grade ten in Calgary.Perhaps being city people has made them more a nuclear type family with little contact withextended family.On the streetsSome people will tell you to go home and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a very hard thing to tell people whyare they on the street in the first place? A lot of times the kids are a lot safer onthe street than they are at home right. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s going to be abuse, physically,mentally, sexually or whatever ... just something that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not very healthy for them.So, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099d rather stick around to get friends on the street and take care of eachother rather than go home and be treated like shit (p.6, transcript 2).Joanne started using alcohol experimentally at the age of eleven. An older friend would haveher brother buy alcohol. By junior high school Joanne was drinking before school occasionally.This escalated to every weekend and eventually when she went onto the streets, at the age of fifteen,alcohol became an everyday companion. \u00E2\u0080\u009CMy only purpose in life was to panhandle and drink and89it was my quest for everyday.\u00E2\u0080\u009D During this period Joanne was highly transient as shown by herstatement about her journey on the street.When I first ran away from home I went in the downtown core of Calgary. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s goodif you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re more conservative and not really on the street but ... I came to Vancouverfor a couple of weeks, went back to Calgary, then I went to Victoria. Calgary\u00E2\u0080\u0099salways been kind of like ... [always] back to Calgary ... from Vancouver I hitchhiked,all my travelling\u00E2\u0080\u0099s been done by hitchhiking, I went to Calgary with this girl ... fromthere I hitchhiked to Ottawa by myself and it was pretty cool ... I stayed in Ottawafor only like not even a week and then I met this girl and she lived in the States andshe was going up through Montreal to Vermont so she gave me a ride up toMontreal. I lived in Montreal ... and from Montreal I went to Toronto and then Iwent back and forth in between Montreal and Toronto a couple of times and thenin Toronto I caught a plane into Calgary again to see my parents, that was after abouta year and something of living on the street. Then I went back and I stayed with myparents for about a month or so and then I moved here (p.5-6, transcript 1).Joanne hitchhiked everywhere with friends she met on the street. Some of her adventures wereprecarious; however, she says most of her experience on the road was adventuresome.I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really afraid of hitchhiking, the first I did it I was kind of queasy about it butI was with a friend that had done it before and I said, like ok that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s cool ... my firstcouple of times hitchhiking were really good experiences because the people that didpick us up were really nice ... except one kind of really ... the guy that was sleazyhe offered me like $200 and $300 if I would sleep with him and like he asked mehow much money I was travelling with. He thought if 1 slept with him and he gaveme this $200-$300 I should be grateful towards him because it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s money right ... Hewas in the mentality that money can buy anything ... and you know I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not amaterialistic person as I said, and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want his money right. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d rather have mydignity and feel, you know, good about myself. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not saying prostitution foreveryone is bad, right, for me I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do it but ... but it was really cool becausehe didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get physical about it. Because if he did actually get physical about it hecould be charged right? ... they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not suppose to really because they can getcharged with picking you up ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say all of them will be perverted and saying\u00E2\u0080\u0098Oh yeah, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got nice tits and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got a nice ass\u00E2\u0080\u0099 type thing, but they won\u00E2\u0080\u0099ttouch you because they are working for this trucking firm and if they get chargedthen they can lose their job. Like a lot of the stuff about how you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna get rapedor something, a lot of it is not true because a lot of people do think about theconsequences of what happens when they do something to you. The hitchhikingpart was not too bad, I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t mind it at all. Just some places, like you go nuts, stuckin the middle of Saskatchewan, on the highway, nobody\u00E2\u0080\u0099s picking you up, gettingeaten by mosquitoes, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got no one to talk to and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just like ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got to talkto someone (p.6-8, transcript 1).Joanne gives graphic descriptions of her survival techniques. One can understand why shewould prefer Vancouver because the weather is far more palatable than other places that are90available for youth on the street. She gives an extensive description of circumstances, conditionsand interpersonal relationships on the street in different cities in Canada.When I was in Vancouver the first time, I was living on the street, I was just sleepingduring the day out in the sun and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s how I stayed alive. Then from there I wentto Montreal and I stayed with people that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d met on the street. That was pretty cool,but then I had a squat of my own because ... I always met a lot of really fucked uppeople just because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been on so many drugs for a while that they didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t knowwhat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s up from down really. Some of the people I encountered were like ... \u00E2\u0080\u0098I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m aWhite power anarchist, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a nazi anarchist.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really trust any of those people.So I squatted there, then I met a guy there too that was really nice and he was alwayshelping me out by helping me find places to stay. Then I moved to Toronto. I paid$75 to live in a closet in a warehouse. Now that was cool (giggle) ... the $75 I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d getfrom panhandling all month. Save up whatever couple bucks here, a couple bucksthere, pay my rent ... but you know I could sleep on their couch in the living roomor like wherever the kitchen floor. I went back to Calgary ... I stayed with my parentsor I stayed with my sister. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really have to sleep on the street there becauseI knew people that always had apartments and they always invited me over. InVancouver I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve lived in two or three squats ... and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re really pretty cool. Like wenever got charged with anything ... by staying in abandoned buildings ... likebusinesses around this one squat we stayed in. They didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t mind our sleeping inthere because we weren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t rude to anybody, we weren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t into screwing anybody\u00E2\u0080\u0099swork. We were just there and we\u00E2\u0080\u0099d leave in the morning and do the sun dance(giggle) we would climb off the roof. It was cool. Vancouver here too. I squattedand just lived with people. In Calgary ... I slept in a newspaper recycling bin too fora little while, cause of the warm papers you climb in and cover yourself with papersand fall asleep (p.5, transcript 2). How they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re living on the street is always different,it always varies, cause it just depends on if you have a place to live for you mayhave a place to crash when you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re on the street. But you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have places to hangout really cause a lot of places you crash are bins and abandoned cars andabandoned buildings, alleys, dumpsters. Whatever you can find that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s out of thewind and out of the rain ... doorways. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve crashed in front of the like the Orpheum.We\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve crashed in many different places ... in Stanley Park, in the trees. We crashedon the trees, benches and on the beach. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s where you can find us like out of thewind out of the rain. And if it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nice out, a lot of the time, when you live on thestreet, what I did was I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d stay awake all night because night time was the coldesttime. You can keep walking so you can keep warm and then when the sun comesup during the day you sleep in the sun because you finally warm up and you cancrash out and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s warm and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s people around so you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to worry aboutsomeone coming up and whatever ... that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what I do because remember that timeit was just too cold and I tried to pull up a slab of concrete and crash. Like I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve alsoslept right in the sky train, in Montreal ... you can do this too probably on the metroand on the subways. When it starts in the morning and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re really tired you canget on to the sky train, subway or wherever you are and you bum a transfer, you geton and you go and you go to sleep right. Because it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s warm and you know youdon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have too many people harassing you. Then if you get up and if your transfer\u00E2\u0080\u0099sexpired you can go bum another one and if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re still tired you can go back tosleep. The transfers are good for about an hour and a half so that gives you aboutan hour and a half ... you can sit there and you can probably crash out most of the91day. Just depends on if this guy picks on you and kicks you off or charges you orwhatever they want to do with you (p.8, transcript 1).Joanne is able to give a comparison of street life in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Shetellsus that, in her experience, there are few Aboriginal street youth in Montreal.The time I was in Montreal was about three and half to four months and in the timeI was there I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t run into very many Aboriginal street youth. The majority of thepeople that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve seen that were Aboriginal street people were older ... guys in their30s, 40s, 50s bumming around. The street youth there are mostly White kids fromMontreal, from Quebec, from the suburbs (p.7, transcript 1) .... my travels inMontreal and Toronto I went to Montreal first and that was in late summer ... thepeople that I encountered in Montreal, first street people, the majority of them wereWhite French speaking Canadians. (In Montreal and Toronto) you encounter coolpeople along with really like asshole type people who tell you to sell whatever youown like shoes or whatever things that you need but ... I enjoyed myself ... I learneda lot about people and the attitudes towards others .... In Montreal there was a lotof kids that were strung out on PCP and alcohol and a lot of them were addicted toneedles like they would shoot anything like the beer because it would get themdrunk quicker ... a lot cheaper or they would shoot LSD like microdots ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tknow, it was kind of insane and then a lot of their beliefs in politics got fucked upby that... a lot of them would stab you in the back because they wanted their fix ordrugs, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, kind of fucked (p.lB, transcript 2).Joanne also gives some insight into the social stratification of street youth, according to theirdefinition. She sees different interest groups that engage in street survival and then there are thosewho dabble in street life for short periods of time, usually on weekends or in the summer.Different kinds of street youth ... from my knowledge there is a lot of social standardstoo that go on ... like different creeps and like different levels of street people likeas ... how long you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been on the street and ... if you sell drugs, if you prostitute.That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what they do, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s their thing and the prostitutes sort of hang out with otherprostitutes, the punks hang out with just everyone I think, but there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s weekend kids,summer kids. Kids that think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s cool to be living on the street because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099thave to be home at 10 o\u00E2\u0080\u0099clock, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to make their bed .... A lot of peopledon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know how it is, they think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all fun and games. Like you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got a place togo and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got food to eat. They just kind of assume that happens (getting foodand shelter) when they get on the street (p.1, transcript 1).Joanne has experienced much death on the street. Death is a subject that comes up as sheis talking about her street family, which is extremely important to her. She laughs inappropriatelyas she begins to describe how many of her street family have died in the last two years. Joannementions several male friends, some of them Aboriginal, one of them her boyfriend, who have died92in various ways. The common denominator, according to Joanne, was the stress related to life onthe street, or perhaps the stressful conditions that brought them to the street.The most significant people in my life on the street at this point are my friends andas you\u00E2\u0080\u0099d say like street family, street brothers and sisters. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a couple of guyswe call grandpa and dad \u00E2\u0080\u0094 because we all like stick together ... if someone gets introuble then everyone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s there to make sure that nobody gets hurt or damaged ... ifyou need a place to crash and someone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s got a stair wall that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got then youcan go with them ... if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re hungry, we all help each other out. If someone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gotmeal tickets and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not hungry or they ate already then you know you give themaway. If you got a little bit of money you give it away ... making sure thateveryone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s eaten and people are rested and ... everyone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s pretty much got it togethermentally. Like this is my family... my street family it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s, some of it it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s kind of dying,cause people are dying (laugh) ... The people I live with now are really cool andthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re significant in my life because we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re there for each other to help each otherout, give each other support, talk to each other whenever you know you gotta talkabout something. You can talk about anything with your street family, causeeveryone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like going through the same shit they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gone through (p.10, transcript 1).They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re all my brothers and a couple of them were like in their mid-20s. One ofthem ... just turned 25 a couple of weeks before he died. He might have died of aheroin overdose but he was not a junkie. He tried it a few times before in his lifeand there was just one point when he was just really stressed and he wantedsomething to pick him up, to take it all away right and he did it. His last wordswere: \u00E2\u0080\u0098Is it good?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and then he did \u00E2\u0080\u0098the nod\u00E2\u0080\u0099, and when you do the nod, sometimesyou don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t pull out of it. He didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t pull out of it and he died. My other friend hewas about 21, that was a couple of years ago, he hung himself cause like he had justbeen going through a lot of stress. He was also a Native guy, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know .... Hejust didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to deal with life any more and died \u00E2\u0080\u0094 hung himself. I had a friendhe was probably the same age as the first guy 25, 26 and he ended up shootinghimself in the head with a crossbow. We had seen him about three weeks beforethis happened cause he was living in Victoria and he came in to Vancouver andpartied with us ... he just didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to live on any more. My other friend Sean, hewas probably about 20, he died in a fire that had started in the squat because he hadgone drinking and then they went back to the squat and his buddy had left him atthe squat when he had passed out with candles on. The candles started the curtainson fire and his body didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t burn at all but it was just all the smoke that he inhaledand he died from that. It was pretty sad because a lot of these guys were still young.But you know you go through a lot of stress, a lot of bullshit, had bad trips and thinkabout a lot of weird things (laugh) the drugs helps too (p.11, transcript 1).Joanne expresses profound sadness about helplessness in just watching while \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfriends aregoing down.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She is aware of the characteristics of advanced drug addition and still she tries to bea support system. She sees the pain expressed by the acts that result in death for her friends.I feel very sad inside because my friends are dying and a lot of them are gettingcaught up in heroin and needles and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s kind of hard to pull them out of it ... unlessthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re willing to stop ... that makes me sad a lot of time because you sit there and93you talk with them right and you can see how they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve changed. A lot of the timeslike since they started doing it, all they want all they talk about is money, money anda fix, where they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna get their fix, how they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna get their money to gettheir fix and you know stuff like that, how high they are, and you know, I hope Idon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go in a knot or something like that .... Your friends are going down and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099snothing you can do and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just standing there and you feel sad ... There is justa lot of confusion everywhere like a lot of people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know what to do and wherethey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going (p.3, transcript 2).Joanne is knowledgable about birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS. Muchof her awareness came through a job training course that she was involved in. Part of thecurriculum included speakers from AIDS Vancouver. Close contact with street nurses and youthSexually Transmitted Disease (STD) clinics have also given Joanne a broad knowledge which sheneeds to protect herself. She says that she is not very sexually active and her boyfriend usescondoms.As stated above Joanne has had a problem with alcohol abuse, the severity of which she talksabout in explicit detail. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve ended up in hospital probably four or five times from alcohol.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She\u00E2\u0080\u0099stried many drugs but managed to stop at heroin. In the last while, she says, she still uses alcoholbut has begun the process of involving an alcohol counsellor and using restraint that has come fromwatching people die of drug and alcohol abuse. Joanne describes her addiction at its height, shegoes on to discuss why she discontinued using some drugs, her awareness of the disease ofaddiction, and her efforts to come to terms with her addictions.You\u00E2\u0080\u0099d get up in the morning, right, and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099d saved enough the night before so youcan get a couple of beers in the morning and get rid of your shakes and you feel alittle bit more calm then you\u00E2\u0080\u0099d be panhandling and drink all day (p.8, transcript 2).[On use of solvents] Not any glue or any solvents ... I seen too many people huffedout and it just doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t look like too much fun. When I did rush a few times inMontreal ... you get like a really weird out buzz for a while, but you just the biggestheadache afterwards. So that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do it because it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s useless paying moneyfor like a two-minute stone just to feel like shit afterwards. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t doheroin or anything because ... you pay lots of money to puke, you feel good for alittle while and then \u00E2\u0080\u0098jones\u00E2\u0080\u0099 afterwards. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s something I have no desire to do (p.9,transcript 2). Yeah, um... once you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve had a problem with alcohol you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re alwaysgoing to have a problem with it whether you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re dry or you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re drunk right, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099realways gonna be an alcoholic and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll always gonna have the problem with it, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099sjust whether or not you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna deal with it ... I still drink and I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t drink as muchas I used to, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just like it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not my main goal every day, now I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m starting doing stuff94with myself now. I am afraid to drink though because of what you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re capable ofdoing when you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re drunk, you know... courage the can type thing. You go out youdrink you know you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re having a good time, you wake in the morning you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re allboozed and bashed up ... ah, there was a party and you can kind of laugh at it, butI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m really fucking myself up right regular. People that go out and drink socially don\u00E2\u0080\u0099treally do this (p.8, transcript 2). I have a drug and alcohol counsellor now and she\u00E2\u0080\u0099sreally cool cause she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not gonna call you down for drinking, she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just gonna askwhy you drink and make you think about why you do it and what kind of feelingsyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099re trying to hold back or whatever right. But she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really supportive in helpingme try to find out things to do and helping me try to overcome the addiction (p.9,transcript 2).Joanne ends discussion on the topic of drugs by saying, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really get into anything too heavybecause of the fear of addiction. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s something I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really want to deal with ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t drinkeveryday any more.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Among other astute observations and recommendations, Joanne would liketo see a recovery centre where youth could be taught to \u00E2\u0080\u009CLook within and bring the power fromthemselves ... live life day to day ... [instead of] using drugs and alcohol as their crutch.\u00E2\u0080\u009DJoanne knows many people in the sex industry; however, she is not directly involved inprostitution. Again, her understanding of the reasons people are in the industry is far beyond heryears. She shows compassion for the women who are trapped by circumstances. Joanne is not,however, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmaterialistic\u00E2\u0080\u009D and she prefers her dignity to the empty promises she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s been approachedwith. Joanne comments on the percentage of Aboriginal youth prostitutes on the eastside and in\u00E2\u0080\u009CBoystown\u00E2\u0080\u009D (the area where male prostitutes work) in Vancouver.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been approached once by a pimp, but he didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t push it upon me, and he didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tforce me to do anything but I turned him down because I was happy with what I wasdoing on the street corner begging for money. Because it was kind of promises of alavish lifestyle, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll have clothes ... and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nothing that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve ever really wanted.So it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just like \u00E2\u0080\u0098No\u00E2\u0080\u0099! He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Okay, whatever,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and he walks away but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve metquite a few people that do prostitute. A lot of the boys down there are Aboriginalsand like ... boys that work Boystown, the majority of them are Aboriginals. The girlsthat work in right downtown are mostly White and when you get down Hastingsmore Native females. Some of the reasons that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve talked to them about why theydo it is some do it cause they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re feeding their drug habit. They need their drugs tofeel happy about themselves and the way they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re doing \u00E2\u0080\u0094 that is to prostitute. Someof them I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve met a few that are trying to like give their kids a better life than welfare.A better life means for them money and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s how they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re getting their money.Some I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve met that just enjoy sex and so \u00E2\u0080\u0094 if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re getting paid for something thatyou enjoy, then do it, right. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s how they look at it. Some of them are doing itout of fear ... No one is going to accept them if they just go somewhere else, right.95So like these people are accepting them into their groups \u00E2\u0080\u0094 these pimps or whoever.They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re accepting them, and you know people feel comfortable with that for a while.Then they want to get out of it a lot of times it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hard. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve talked to a few of thepeople downtown ... like the higher class girls... not higher class but, you know, thehigher class people go to for prostitutes. A lot of them aren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really given moneyfrom their pimps, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re given what 20 bucks a night or something. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s whatthey have to buy their smokes and everything else with. But you know the pimpswill buy them clothing but the only clothing that they really buy them is dress upclothing, and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t buy them anything that they can kick around and feelcomfortable in. This is pretty sad when you look at it and sometimes it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not out ofchoice it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s because of some of these pimps...(p.10, transcript 2).RacismRacism, yeah, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going to experience it everywhere ... it makes me feel shittyyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099re thinking who the hell is this person to be telling me that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m no good, forbeing myself, and everyone has no choice when they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re born\u00E2\u0080\u0094 as to what sex orcolour they are. If you let everything get to you, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099d probably be dead by now(p.2, transcript 2).Joanne describes being harassed in school and she jokes about being told to go back to herown country. At least the experience in school was not directed at her exclusively, she had aPakistani friend with whom she could identify as a partner in oppression.There was me and my sister, my cousins in the school and there wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t too manyAboriginal people in the school. We did get a lot of harassment because we wereNative and this wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t [a long time ago] ... what, the early 80s and people stillweren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really aware of too much. We just kind of said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Screw you if you cannotaccept us for who we are then we don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really want to have anything to do withyou,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and if it came down to fighting then we were there altogether fighting side byside ... Whoever had a problem with this and who we were and what we were. Youknow we got called \u00E2\u0080\u0098wagon burners\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and whatever else right, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve even got told oncewhen I was in my junior high by this guy, he knew I was Native and we were all aparty and ... it was my friend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s party .... [intruders come in and refused to leave] theywere like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Fuck you, wagon burner.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 One of the guys even told me to go back tomy own country. Everyone at the party laughed at him and made fun of him afterthat because it was just a major fuck-up on his part. But, you know, you do dealwith that because I grew up in a more White neighbourhood. One of my bestfriends, when I was growing up, was Pakistani Indian, so both of us got a lot of flackbut we didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really care (p.11, transcript 2).Joanne corroborates the experience of racism that Etah talks about with regard to \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhitepower\u00E2\u0080\u009D groups and skinheads on the street in the major cities in Canada. She also tells of Aboriginalyouth who have bought into the movement in order to gain acceptance. She also (as does Etah)talks about some White youth, who while they will hurl stereotypical insults will send double96messages that Aboriginal youth are also \u00E2\u0080\u009Cneat\u00E2\u0080\u009D because they (Aboriginal people) were here first.Romanticism aside, it is evident that the Aboriginal street youth participants in this study must endurea constant barrage of stereotypes of Aboriginal people without the protection of adequate criticalhistory of their people. They have no defence, in their own psyches or knowledge base, as to thereason Aboriginal people hold the position that they do in Canadian society.there are street people out there that are White power and I think of a lot of theNative youths ... I ran into a lot of Native youths in Toronto, I ran into a couple outhere and a couple in Calgary that they are Native, but they hold a lot of thenationalist views you know they think that the only people that should be here areNatives and Whites. You run into a lot of people White people that think that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099llthink you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re cool because you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re Native and that you were the first people here. Butthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re totally down on other nationalities like Orientals, Pakistani and Asians, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099retotally down on them because they think of like immigrants coming over here takingall their jobs \u00E2\u0080\u0094 raiding everything ... and we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going to treat our fellow WhiteCanadians with respect by screwing everyone else because everyone else just cameand they were immigrants, you know, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re no good, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got germs, anddiseases type things .... but if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna run into racism about being Native you\u00E2\u0080\u0099regonna run into racism that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like from people that are racist against a lot of people\u00E2\u0080\u0094 like everyone of colour except White ... because there are a lot of nazis andWhite power. White pride they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a problem with because White pride isnot going around preaching that white is good. White pride is just going aroundsaying that, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m proud that I am White cause you got Native pride, Black pride,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 orwhatever right (p.1, transcript 2). Racism includes violence from weekend warriorsand college university students that come down on the weekends to go to thedowntown bars and hang out and to be seen, whatever, pick up people and theywalk around and a lot of the time [they say] \u00E2\u0080\u0098You\u00E2\u0080\u0099re a Native and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re a lysolchugging fucking squaw ...\u00E2\u0080\u0098 (p.2, transcript 2).Joanne becomes animated when asked whether she notices any differential treatment from peopleon the streets. Even as she understands the enterprenurial position of seeing street youth presenceas a detriment to business, she questions mainstream lack of understanding of their circumstanceson the street. She indicates that it doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t take much to trigger a string of assumptions aboutAboriginals that show total ignorance about the history of Canada and of the different treatment ofthe Aboriginal peoples.I think that storekeepers treat you worse than everyone else on the street becauseyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099re infringing on their business. If you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re sitting around their stores then they\u00E2\u0080\u0099regonna say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Well, get away from here because you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re scaring away our customers,you have no money.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... they call these other laws ... vagrancy laws just for sittingaround right because you have nowhere else to go to hang out except the street. I97like watching people because you know they are interesting. Ordinary people onthe street treat you the same and some people treat you worse. I think it goes onsocial standards too, I think a lot of people with money treat you a lot worse becauseyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not at the same social level as them, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not living like them, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re notthinking the same way as them. Because people that have money are more moneyminded \u00E2\u0080\u0094 materialistic. They think more along those lines, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go anydeeper than that you know. They might be the most intelligent person but that\u00E2\u0080\u0099ssomething that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned about you know ... but when it comes down to reallife you know they know nothing. They treat you a lot worse than if they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re livingon welfare or just living like right above the poverty line. They know how it is tostruggle. They know how it is not to eat ... they know a lot of the things you\u00E2\u0080\u0099regoing through, whereas the people that have had money in their life have never gonethrough any of that so they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know how it is, and they, you know, a lot of themtake it as, \u00E2\u0080\u0098It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not my problem, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to deal with it.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 They\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll treat you reallyweird just because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been asked 10 times that day for money right, and thenthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll just lash out at you for asking them for a quarter. A lot of people tell you tosell our shoes for money to eat right. What are we going to wear on our feet? It\u00E2\u0080\u0099slike, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d rather have shoes right now because I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to walk around the city inmy barefeet. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not very much fun and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m hungry and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re telling me to sell myshoes. So either way I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m fucked right? That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all you own so you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to.Yeah, I think that a lot of people too, on the street, walking around, treat Aboriginalstreet kids bad because they think that since we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re Native the government has givenall these handouts. We shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be out on the streets asking for a meal, becausewe\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been given this land, and we should go and work the land, or you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gettingland settlements, like the government is using your land, and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got reserves andare getting money. But you know, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t live on the reserve. I haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t got anythingfrom my reserve. When I was younger I got food and stuff from my parents, but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mon my own and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got to work for it all by myself, and a lot of people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t thinkthat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hard. They think because you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re Native you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been handed all this stuff, sogo back and use it .... There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nothing really for me there and I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to (p.17-19, transcript 1).Joanne has much experience with the stereotypical images that are common for Aboriginalpeople in Canadian society. She says, however, she thinks that Aboriginal street youth share in thecommon myths and stereotypes about street youth with all other street youth. This condition, ofcourse, means that Aboriginal street youth endure double oppression on the street. In additionfemale Aboriginal youth experience sexism and discrimination on the basis of age. Joanne thinksthat Aboriginal youth get the harsh stereotypical fallout from older Aboriginal street people in thecity. She also adds that in the city racism is more overt because of the ethnic mix; however, insmaller towns racism is more extensive and pervasive.Not really, I think what happens to you on the street happens to most people that areon the street. A lot of the people stereotype youth because you are Native, that98automatically you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re an alcoholic, or you sniff gas or glue, that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re good fornothing, that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re always going to be drunk and bumming money. I find a lot ofpeople add to the stereotypes of that among the older Native street people. A lot ofit is like \u00E2\u0080\u0098Urban, god-damn Indians ... fucking alcoholics, all they do is sit around theskids and do nothing, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not good for anything.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 A lot of people dostereotype but, I find a lot of the stereotype goes towards more the older streetNatives. The younger ones, some people I think would give hope to you, becausethey are younger and they think these older people are fucked up, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re nevergoing to pull themselves out of it, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re stuck there forever, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re morefucked up than these kids because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve done more and they drink more. I justthink that what happens on the street basically happens to most people on the street,right, you get the same stereotypes because everyone is on the street together, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099reon the same level. Some examples of racism is just a lot ... from store ownersbecause, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re a straight person and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re Native. They think that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just likeeveryone, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just like drunken, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna fuck them up ... their business, andall you want is money to buy your cans of Aqua Velva or Lysol .... In bigger cities,it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s more open because there are more ethnic people everywhere in the cities. Yougo to smaller town and you experience a lot of racism because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re small townsand they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re accustomed to having all White towns, with a black toby. But in biggercities you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna experience probably less of it because there are a lot of peoplewith ethnic backgrounds in bigger cities (p.1-2, transcript 2).Joanne relates that racism includes violence when people choose to attack them in a racialencounter, or when Aboriginal street youth finally get fed up with the abuse and have to stand upfor themselves.My boyfriend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s lived on the street too and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Chipwayan Indian and he grew upin Saskatchewan. From talking with him, he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s grown up in a very violent lifestyle.He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s always been react first and think later, but he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a really nice guy. He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s had alot of trouble too, sometimes just because he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a Native and a guy ..., Since the factthat I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a female, a lot of people won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t attack me physically. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Yeahshe\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a chick, so let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just sit here and yell and scream at her and call her down andhopefully we can make her cry.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 With people like him, since he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a male, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll[string of stereotypical insults], and go out and just attack him for nothing (p.7\u00E2\u0080\u0099,transcript 2).In the final analysis, Joanne expresses sadness about what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s happening to Aboriginal people,\u00E2\u0080\u009CI feel sad too about what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s happening with people in this country, like of the Aboriginal people,all of the drug abuse, the alcoholism She equates many of the problems with the way Canadiansociety is structured and the everyday struggle of facing racist assault, at least in the Aboriginal streetyouth population. Joanne, however, is tough about defending herself on logical grounds against99racism. Racist ideology and its accompanying arsenal, unfortunately, do not bend in the face oflogic, especially in a population of the most disenfranchised people in Canada.so I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve no problems with being an Aboriginal person and if anybody is gonnadislike me for it then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m gonna stand up and say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098listen you have no right to call medown because of the way I am and for who I am... I had no choice of this when Iwas born, so I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m gonna make the best of it\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (p.1 1, transcript 2).Culture and identityI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel ashamed and I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel bad about being an Aboriginal person, like I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mproud that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m Aboriginal person because Aboriginal people are really strongspiritually (p.11, transcript 2).Joanne gives the impression of being a well balanced young person where her identity isconcerned. Somehow she has gathered the strength of conviction that those stereotypes do notapply to her as an Aboriginal person. Nor does she give any evidence of harbouring a blaming thevictim perspective where other Aboriginal people are concerned. Joanne does refer to stories toldby elders that give a critical understanding of the present social conditions of Aboriginal people.And she also indicates self-study in Aboriginal history. She identifies with the non-materialistic valueof Aboriginal culture. Of this characteristic she is proud....if the Aboriginal peoples would look back on traditional values and stuff like that,then none of it is materialistic. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all really spiritual and the stories, and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s reallycool if you sit around and you talk with the elders and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got rad [radical]stories about why things are the way they are. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just the really creative ... creativeethnic group, right? (p.11, transcript 2).Joanne indicates that Aboriginal history was sparse in school, nor did her parents offer to fill in thegaps in self knowledge that were obviously missing. Her parents probably had even less informationabout Aboriginal people in their education.Ah ... no I haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t learned much about it, because in school they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really teachyou very much about the history of Aboriginal peoples. They teach you history ofthe White English and French peoples but not a lot about Aboriginals. They mightmention a tribe here and there in history but they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t elaborate as much as theydo on the history of all the Whites. So you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t learn a lot that way. My parentshave never talked about it when I lived at home and I just really didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any ofthe resources before, but I think I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got them now. I read a couple books abouthistory of Aboriginal peoples in Canada cause my uncle had a couple of them butthat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s it (p.1 1-12, transcript 2).100Joanne does not currently practice Aboriginal cultural ceremonies or go to Aboriginal events.She does though reveal a mature level of comfort and wisdom in being willing to learn more frompeople who are authentically qualified to teach her. And she indicates that she knows that she mustbe properly prepared to enter this process. Joanne would like to see more funding in providingcultural learning opportunities for street youth and people in general. Wisely, she does not thinkthat education only for Aboriginal people will effect the transformation needed in Canada. Shewould like to see education for everyone.No I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t [practice Aboriginal culture]. When I was younger we used to go to powwows, 2 to 3 a year, and I would go and hang out and watch the dances and talkwith some of the people, but right now I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t. Yes I would [practice Aboriginalculture] but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d have to get into it and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s kind of like hard to do at times causeyou say you will, but saying and doing are different a lot of the time. Yeah, I thinkI would if I got into it and I met someone that really knew a lot and could teach me.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d kind of recommend more funding to help get more elder people and more peoplethat know about spirituality and ceremonies. They know how to do them properlyand they know all about them and what helps and stuff like that. I think that itwould be cool if you get more funding to get some of these people in town teachingthe street people about our background and where you came from, and stories andhelp find yourself spiritually. And if you got more people around that would helpeducate in that way ... average people just to become more aware...(p. 12, transcript2).Joanne also shows maturity in that she can look at a reserve that is in poor condition and shehas still not internalized, to a great extent, the image. She can choose to dislike the conditions andthis does not reflect on the human beings that she relates to on the reserve. In the next chapter wewill meet Noella who tends to generalize the conditions on one reserve to all Aboriginal people andwants to dissociate herself from all that that means. Joanne is not unaffected, she gets despondentand wants to regress into an idyllic childhood where she doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to be aware of the conditionsof her people.The last time I went back to the reserve was two years ago and it wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t too badcause I got to see my grandmother, my aunts and uncles and stuff. But a lot of thestuff out there is like really depressing because a lot of the kids all ... they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gotnothing other that drinking, or yeah, shooting back the beers and just basicallyfucking themselves up, and not making use of themselves. Like I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099slots of dirt, lots of gravel, lots of dogs. You go into town, what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s there to do in town,go to the arcade or so a lot of people are just wasting their lives away out there101doing nothing \u00E2\u0080\u0094 drinking (p.19, transcript 1). I also felt sorry like cause at timeswhen you sit back and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re thinking about things that you have to do and thingsthat you want to do, you feel like you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to do it any more, you just wantto go home, you feel like you want to be young again, not have any responsibilitiesand not have to worry about anything \u00E2\u0080\u0094 only worry about who you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna playwith and what is your mom cooking you for dinner or whatever (p.3, transcript 2).Joanne is comfortable with relating to all street workers, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, butmakes a distinction when it comes to dealing with Aboriginal background, history, racism, identityand culture. Aboriginal workers are more \u00E2\u0080\u009Cin tune\u00E2\u0080\u009D she says. Particularly when it comes tospirituality, Joanne says, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cbecause White people have their own god.\u00E2\u0080\u009DFor the most part it feels about the same as talking with like regular street workers,but when it comes down to stuff like about your spirituality and your background,and where you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been brought up \u00E2\u0080\u0094 cause [Aboriginal workers] they know moreabout how you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been brought up, if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been brought on a reserve, all thehardships that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gone through just because of colour. They know more aboutthat because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gone through the same as you right, and if you want to talkabout spirituality then they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re more in tuned with that than other street workers (p.1 7,transcript 1).Joanne appears to be on the verge of leaving the street lifestyle. She is clear about heridentity, she is on income assistance and living in a place she shares with friends, and she isreceiving alcohol counselling. However, she loves to travel. By the time of this writing Joanne wassomewhere in the United States\u00E2\u0080\u0094 gone to discover more about life on the streets \u00E2\u0080\u0094 with friends.SocietyI feel sad about the way mankind is in nature ... \u00E2\u0080\u0098what can we take, what can webuild, what can we make without thinking in long term effects of what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s going tohappen\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (p.3, transcript 2).Joanne shows her political perspective by the role models that she lists. She is not evenreally specific, except for her references to the biographies of Ghandi and Malcolm X. Theirperspectives and solutions reflect her vision of a better society. She ends with a tribute to her friendson the street.I think my role models right now at this point in my life are the free thinkers outthere that aren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t afraid to think of what they want and to do ... to just say what theyplease. I admire people who are non-conformists, people that know what they\u00E2\u0080\u0099retalking about and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t bend very easily to what society tells them to do. Who102I admire? I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been learning about the works of like Ghandi and Malcolm X. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mreading about them and what they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve done, some of their ideologies and gettingangry with them as in, like, to make change. You have to, like, take over thegovernment, not really take it over, but change government, change governments inorder, like, get out of the wreck that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re stuck in and have it self-governed insteadof governed by a different nation or governed by a minority of people like it isnowadays. Governments right now are governed and ruled by power, money,wealth. They say that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re trying to look at social problems but a lot of the timeit\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just like a lot of talk for the people with the money ... \u00E2\u0080\u0098Oh, we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re doing this,we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re doing that and look at the results it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s bringing and a lot of times it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not reallybringing useful results\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going in circles so. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, I admire theirworks cause of what they have to talk about. Malcolm X is a militant guy, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s kindof neat. I also admire my friends too, I admire them for who they are and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m notgoing to let anyone shoot them down just because they fucked up \u00E2\u0080\u0094 everyone fucksup. And you know you just got to live with it and the fuck ups make the person,make them who they are \u00E2\u0080\u0094 you know. You can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really change it \u00E2\u0080\u0094 no one\u00E2\u0080\u0099sperfect (p.4, transcript 2).Joanne says she wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go back to school at the moment because she doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t perceive thatthe school gives a sufficient critical perspective on the life that street youth, or youth in general, arefaced with. She does not trust that the school is not a coercive tool of the government. Much ofJoanne\u00E2\u0080\u0099s dialogue suggests that historical educational and governmental misinformation aboutAboriginal conditions and history is the reason for her distrust.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t believe in the instruction form of education in school \u00E2\u0080\u0094 being taught. Schoolis just a form of mind control, thought control they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re telling you this happened soyou know it didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t, you can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that type thing. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that because itdidn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t happen right. What\u00E2\u0080\u0099s real is what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s written in these books and sometimes youdon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know if it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s real or not because it just might be something that the governmentis giving you to make you think that it actually happened ... it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just like pretty boringbecause they teach you the same thing just about every year except maybe for a littlebit more or something else right. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just really repetitive and I did ten years ofschool (p.4, transcript 2). So you should just educate kids on the way real life is, notthis school of paper, not the office building type (30 stories), suit and tie starch life,teach them about real life \u00E2\u0080\u0094 about living and what goes on (p.16, transcript 2).Environmental issues are of concern to Joanne. She shows her Aboriginal roots in the ethic ofconservation.I also feel sad about the way mankind is in human nature. Because it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just moreconsumption ... we are consumed with what can we take, what can we build, whatcan we make without thinking in long term effects of what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gonna happen, whatyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna do with it afterwards. Man is ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re burning off thetop layer of the earth and wrecking it all, and wrecking everything, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099rethrowing all their junk out into space, when they shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really be. Because it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s103not for man to exploit, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not for man to use, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not for man to destroy. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099redoing all that (p.3, transcript 2).Joanne is impatient with middle class people ignorantly wielding their middle-class workethic at street youth, without being cognizant of the reasons for their existence. Nor would she sayanything to a government person about education on the street.Some people think that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve lived a good life all your life because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t thinkin a broader perspective that something, you know, just happened. You might havegrown up in the perfect family ... functional parents and the brother and sister.Everything is all White and pretty and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got your dog Fifi sitting by your side,you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve always got food on the table and a roof over your head. A lot of peopledon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have stuff like that ... If you sit around and explain your situation right that let\u00E2\u0080\u0099ssay you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re 15 or 16 years old and you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a place to live, you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have aplace to shower and all you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re worried about right now is eating, some people areunderstanding (p.6, transcript 2). I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d say too much to a governmentperson about education on the street level because most government people werebrought up in middle class families where they had everything given to them ... [Shewould rather talk to] The people that live on the street, the people that have lived onthe street ... the people that haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t sold out ... and have not gone to this whitecollar bureaucrat fucking stage. [These are] people that have sold out that say \u00E2\u0080\u0098I usedto be like you ... but now you know, we have to conform.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 A lot more peoplenowadays are getting more knowledgeable. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re catching on to the lies of thegovernment, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re finally getting connected with other people ... sit aroundand talk with them and share knowledge (p.16, transcript 2).At the end of the interview Joanne wanted to dispel a few myths about street youth andabout how the media distorts some of their lifestyle. Hitch hiking, for instance, according to Joanneis not as dangerous as it is made out to be. The main point in her argument is that she does nottrust the media. She blames the media also for blaming street youth for the destruction done bymiddle-class youth....Iike people who are not scared of picking hitchhikers because they know there\u00E2\u0080\u0099sgood hitchhikers out there ... The media focuses more on people\u00E2\u0080\u0099s despair and painand hurt and so like they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna focus more on that too with hitchhiking ... on allthe people that are murdered when they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re hitchhiking, and got rolled or beat orrobbed or whatever (p.6, transcript 1). I just like to say that like a lot of the stuff thatstreet people get blamed for isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t actually what they did. It was kids from thesuburbs, jocks and so-called weekend warriors, that come down and destroy stuff andfucks it up and like are really rude to people and like beat up street people becausethey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re street people and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a place to live in. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know like we getblamed for a lot of the stuff they do just because you know they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re supposedly goodupstanding citizens you know because their parents work for whatever or they\u00E2\u0080\u0099regoing to college or the university and you know they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re supposed to be upstanding104because of their social status in that sense that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re actually putting back you knowinto the community so...(p.19, transcript 2).Joanne is a highly self-educated young individual, even though at times she seems a littleimmature when she gives one of her little laughs. And at times her idealism shows when in childlike fashion she relates her so normal ambition, for a child of seventeen, to travel the world and visitmany cultures. It is, after all, a dream shared by so many middle-class youth.The best possible future for me right now, what would make me happy would be tobe able to travel to many countries, experience what they have, see the countriescause I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve only been in Canada and Montana. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never really been to the Stateseither, and don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really have too much of a desire to, but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to check out likeSouth American countries, Africa, Asian countries. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know if I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to go toEurope, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not very nice, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s very touristy over there ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know really I haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099treally given too much thought about my future, just to be happy (p.5, transcript 2).MISSY: Former street personI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m back in therapy again ... I guess where I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m at today is that I have two beautifulchildren and a partner and a nice home. But at times there are things that comeup that really really bother me inside so I need to talk about those things. I needto deal with a loss of childhood and to deal with the sexual abuse still (p.1 4-15,transcript 1).Missy, a 28 year old mother of two sons and partner to an Aboriginal man, is a statusKwakuitl woman who made the difficult and complex transition off the streets of Vancouver sevenand a half years ago. She presents a quiet confident image of a young woman who knows whoseside she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s on when she is working with the less fortunate. She is down to earth in dress andmanner, and is firm and articulate in relating her story, without affectation, of being on the street,her subsequent recovery and the changes she sees as necessary to prevent more Aboriginal childrenfrom becoming entrenched on the streets of Vancouver. Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s story speaks for itself. It needs littlecommentary, nor did she need prompting in the interview.Growing up in the Vancouver downtown eastside district, torn numerous times from anaddicted single parent family (with a succession of step fathers), surviving foster homes and grouphomes, and finally ending up on the streets at the age of thirteen, is still painful for Missy to talkabout. She has three brothers, one full and two half brothers by two of the four step fathers she lists105on the face sheet before the interview. Missy started running at the age of eleven. By the timeMissy became entrenched on the street at the age of thirteen, she had had a baby who died (shedoes not say when or by whom) and she was well into a cycle of addiction. Missy spent the nextfour years in entrenched street life and two more years in the struggle of getting off the street. Eightyears in all. She now, after seven and a half years off the street, works with the social service systemfor youth who are desperately trying to follow her example.Historyall the time that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been in care she hadn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t made any visits, and everytime I wasbrought to visit her, she never showed up (p.2, transcript 1) ...l missed being a partof my family. I wanted to belong in my family and I felt like the separation hadtaken me from my family (p.7, transcript 1).Missy began her journey through the child care system when she was apprehended at thetender age of two weeks, where she stayed until she was two and a half years old. Returned to hermother for one year, she then came into care briefly while her mother was in treatment. From theages of four to seven she remained with her mom and finally was made a permanent ward of theprovince of British Columbia and placed in numerous White foster homes. The seven year old Missyhad already suffered much under the auspices of parental custody. Child care protection was toprovide no better.Rape at three years old, which continued \u00E2\u0080\u009Cby a number of men in the family\u00E2\u0080\u009D while in thecare of her mother, left Missy extremely angry at her parents (her mother and one of her step dadsthat she took as her father) for not protecting her. The rage compounded as she met with four yearsof sexual abuse (ages 7-11) at the hands of her foster father....it was really vicious abuse...he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d hold me with guns and do all sorts of things...lwas really mixed up at that age (p.2, transcripts 1).She disclosed her abuse to her foster mother and charges were laid. Justice may have alleviated thepent up shame and bitterness; however, after pleading temporary insanity, her assailant received asix month sentence.106At the same time Missy was dealing with being informed, during one of the few \u00E2\u0080\u009Cphonecontacts\u00E2\u0080\u009D with her mother, that her \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdad\u00E2\u0080\u009D (mentioned above) had committed suicide a few yearsearlier and she had never been told. \u00E2\u0080\u009CHe had hung himself in my grandmother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s garage and nobodytold me.\u00E2\u0080\u009D This had been the first contact Missy had had with her mom in almost five years. Itwould be her last. Even as the ministry ended phone contact with her mother, her mom died of anoverdose when Missy was eleven years old.Missy describes the interim years between her mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s death at eleven and the decision togo to the streets at age thirteen this way.So at that time I remember thinking, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Well, why am I letting these people take careof me?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been in a foster place where I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been abused, and then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been movedinto this sort of high class group home...it was totally different. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been moved somany times to different homes at that point. From receiving homes to fosterplacement and temporary placement, it was always a different home and every timeI moved I had to change who I was. There was a new set of rules, there was a setof the way I was to be as a person. Not one of these families were Native. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d hada problem with wetting the bed and often I was moved because I wet the bed andbecause I had nightmares. And at [age] eleven the social worker said \u00E2\u0080\u0098Well, lets puther in Maples ...\u00E2\u0080\u0098 And I was really angry that they wanted to lock me up in Maplesfor counselling and to be seen by a psychiatrist regularly. I felt I was being lockedaway for what somebody else did. And I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see why they wanted to lock meaway and why they thought I was crazy for what had happened. So I figured I\u00E2\u0080\u0099dgiven the Ministry enough chances. I figured that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d done a lousy job of lookingafter me and there was nobody to depend on but myself and my dreams sort of diedalong with my mother. I think one thing that helped me survive all those years wasthat I had a dream that one day she would straighten out her act and we\u00E2\u0080\u0099d livehappily ever after and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d be the best daughter in the world. So when she died thatdream ended and there was nothing else to hang on to. So I went out on the street,you know. And I thought I was safer that way, looking after myself than withsomebody else to look after me (pp.2-3, transcript 1).On the streetsI was running from group homes and I was running from the ministry.... I knew ifI relied on myself I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d be safer than if I let other people take care of me (p.3,transcript 1).Missy had many reasons for entering the maze in the underbelly of Vancouver \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the streetworld. Having lost the illusion of reuniting with her family, Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s alienation from personal andcultural dislocation and sexual abuse intensified. She began to run and abuse drugs in an effort to107be free from \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe system\u00E2\u0080\u009D and from her own pain. Missy would stay in this \u00E2\u0080\u009Calternate system\u00E2\u0080\u009D of\u00E2\u0080\u009Cmasked pain\u00E2\u0080\u009D for eight years (six years steady and two years off and on).There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot of reasons why I ended up on the streets. I guess at age 11 is when Istarted to have the feelings of wanting to run and drink and use drugs (p.1, transcript1). I guess I wanted a sense of freedom, so that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s basically why. I wanted to rely onmyself (p.3, transcript 1). There was a lot of grief ... I missed being a part of myfamily and I felt like the separation had taken me from my family. Even when I waswith my family, I felt like I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t belong. I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t accepted for who I was becauseI was raised differently ... as well as ... I missed my mother very much and I missedmy step dad and I just wanted to be with them. And I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d had a baby that had diedand I grieved that very much. So I felt a lot of losses. A lot of anger concerningthese losses. As well as the loss of my own childhood, I felt that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d miss out on agreat deal of my childhood and I was really angry about that and I was always alwaysreally lonely. And I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to be alone. I was scared to be alone. And so therewas a lot of pain there (p.7, transcript 1).The people Missy hung out with on the street were people of the street who were familiar to her.They too were living in the downtown skid row area of Hastings street.I had a number of new friends on the street and as well I had two uncles that livedin the area ... they lived in hotels. One uncle had been sober for a number of yearsand protected me and fed me and never asked me for anything in return. The otheruncle who used to take care of me ... used to always try and get me to sleep withhim. He\u00E2\u0080\u0099d slept with my mother and he died while I was down there. So I used tovisit the one who used to look after me and never forced me to go home (p.3-4,transcript 1).From the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s AIDS was not an issue \u00E2\u0080\u009C... so I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even hear theword AIDS at that time. It was basically STDs people were concerned about then. And I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t usebirth control, as well as STD precautions.\u00E2\u0080\u009D There were few specific street youth services, at least thatMissy knew about, or that she would approach for help. Any support that Missy would acceptwould have to come unconditionally and from the street itself. Missy did not have access to welfareat the young age of thirteen. Social Services was the enemy who would simply put her back intothe mess she was leaving.No, I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know about any street workers at that time ... being down there and Iwas very resistant to any sort of services. So I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t use them and there was onlyone community drop in centre that I used where you could watch TV and theyoffered you cheap meals and laundry. The only thing that I was offered through mysocial worker was placement and I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t accept it. So basically I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t call veryoften. At the age of 16 and 17 I started receiving a little bit more services, like108clothing vouchers and bus tickets. They used to give me bus tickets ... they used togive me bus tickets back to my home town and back. And at the age of 1 7, theyoffered me underage income assistance (p.4, transcript 1) ... Depending on howthings were going, sometimes I lived outside, sometimes I would just walk aroundall night, other times I would have friends to go to or I had a hotel room (p.9,transcript 1).Early sexual abuse, alienation, poverty, drug addiction and the need to survive led toprostitution and drug dealing. Both hooking and selling drugs came to Missy through adult coercionabsent of the \u00E2\u0080\u0098usual\u00E2\u0080\u0099 promise of love and protection.The first time I remember doing a trick I guess I was about 14 years old. I was livingwith my grandparents for a short time and one of my grandfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s friends wouldcome over and sneak in the house all the time and he started abusing me. At thattime, it was the first time that I had been reunited with my family after a number ofyears, so I was too afraid to say anything for fear that they might move me from mygrandparents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 house. Well anyways, this man who was abusing me ... he used togive me money. He started to give me money and he used to buy me things so Iwouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say anything. And then... I moved out of my grandparents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 house becauseI couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t handle that anymore. But after a short time I went back to see this man.And he was paying me basically .... I think I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d seen him until I went to treatmentbasically [age 20]. As well I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d had a number of regulars that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d found ... justaccidental sort of walking on the street, men approaching me and then I wouldphone them once a week or once a month depending on how much I needed themoney. Sometimes it was twice a week and I would just meet them somewhere andthey would take me home. And then finally after I started to drink heavily, I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tgetting enough money coming in and so I went out and started working on the streetand I still continued to have my regulars as well at the same time (p.11, transcript 1).I used to work in the Chinatown area, anywhere from Pender and Main, alongKeeffer and most of the time it was up near Princess and Hastings. If I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tstanding on the corner, I used to hitchhike and I would hitchhike around and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099show I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d pick up my dates. When I first started working the streets, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d known thisgirl for a couple of years ... she sort of showed me how to work .... When I firststarted dealing I... it wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t something I sort of decided to do on my own, it was sortof somebody who\u00E2\u0080\u0099d come to me, \u00E2\u0080\u0098deal these drugs and this is what you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll get for it\u00E2\u0080\u0099(p.1 1, transcript 1).When the demands of drug addiction became overwhelming robbery supplemented Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099sbottomless need for drug money. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI was really addicted to cocaine and all sorts of other drugs aswell as drinking very heavily.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She was, however, never criminalized for her activity. This is morea statement of the acceptance of youth prostitution, particularly of Aboriginal kids (as Missy will laterelaborate) by Canadian society, than cunning criminality on Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s part.109I used to also rob people. Many of the tricks I used to rob. I used to steal whereverpossible and I got tired of working the streets ... so I started dealing drugs. At firstit was marijuana and then it was cocaine and other types of chemical drugs. I wasnever charged. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been under investigation a few times for theft. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been chargedfor shoplifting but the charges were dropped by the stores that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d shoplifted at.When I was prostituting I was stopped a number of times by the police and theycollected information in their little books on women who prostitute. They take yourname down and your picture and put it in their book in case you go missing. Butbasically I was never charged with anything, I always seemed to get away witheverything (p.10, transcript 1).Missy relates that violence was a feature of her time as a prostitute, \u00E2\u0080\u009CAnd men would justbecome violent, one minute they were fairly nice and the next minute ....\u00E2\u0080\u009C Danger did not comeexclusively from johns, it came from those whom she allowed into her lonely life as lovers. It ismisogynist love-laced violence that she fears most. Missy talks about the physical violence fromboyfriends in the same vein as exploitation from various sources.I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t afraid of anything on the street. The only thing I ever remember being afraidof, when I was down there, was a boyfriend who was physically abusive. I had beenexploited through a number of people down there. I was exploited by dealers butI was never exploited by pimps or anything like that. Pedophiles ... I was exploitedby pedophiles. Basically I was preyed on by pedophiles ... and a few street peoplewho were trying to get me into doing certain things for them ... if you have moneydown there you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re taken advantage of if you let people .... I found that people whoare street involved never give anything for free. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s always something they wantin exchange, some sort of favours of some kind. I also had boyfriends who tookadvantage of me .... Yeah, I used to go back. I had a boyfriend who beat meseverely for three years while I was down there and I kept going back all the time.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d never charged him, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d always protect him and make up excuses for the beatingsand blame it on myself. And part of me really felt like this was what love was. Mymother beat me and she, you know, beat us regularly and verbally abused us, thatI thought this was all I deserved. So I kept thinking well this person loves me, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099swhy they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re beating me. So I kept going back because it was the only sort of lovethat I knew. And to admit that this man didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t love me was to admit that my motherdidn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t love me. So I stayed in that relationship for three years and then the followingrelationship was abusive also. The second one wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t as severe (beatings) but withthe second one I used to fight back. With the first one I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t. The second one, Ifought back at times, not all the time, until finally I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t handle it anymore andI got out of that relationship (p.1-2, transcript 2).Another characteristic of the downtown eastside of Vancouver is that the majority ofprostitutes are of Aboriginal ancestry. Missy, having come from a life in numerous White foster110homes, was now just one of the many Aboriginal street youth who were submerged in the sexindustry for whatever reason \u00E2\u0080\u0094 for however long.In the area I was working, downtown and Chinatown, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d say approximately 75%were Native girls and women at that time, as well as some Native transsexuals whowere working also (p.12, transcript 1).Eventually life for Missy became a blur of drug addiction and partner abuse. She began to realizethat her mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s fate would be her own if she did not do something about the disfunction in herlife.Well I think from every time... from every person who takes advantage of you ... youlearn. You learn something ... and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s usually not to trust the next person so quickly.As for the boyfriends I had for beating me up and I took a good many beatings, fornothing basically, until I finally learned that it was time to get out of this situation.I was beaten until I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t take anymore ... and I was very scared that one of thesebeatings would eventually kill me if I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get out pretty quick so ... it took a longtime for me to learn you know (p.1, transcript 2) .... And I was really fed up with lifein general and I felt like one day I would not wake that I would die in my sleep fromusing too much drugs and I decided that it was time I did something about my drugand alcohol problem and as well as other issues that had been bothering me forsome time (p.9, transcript 1).Being on the street, for Missy, was sprinkled with attempts to get and keep straightopportunities. Missy would have qualified for social services as a permanent ward: involuntaryprotection to the age of sixteen and voluntary services, such as education and special incomeassistance, from age sixteen to twenty one. Between the ages of sixteen and twenty (when she wentinto addiction treatment) Missy began cautiously accessing services for education and employment.Still heavily street active, Missy met with inevitable failure.I went to a Native alternative school ... until I finished grade 10 and then one of theteachers told me that the social workers were looking for me and unless I wanted tobe picked up and caught that I shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t return to school. So I never went back toschool and then at the age of 16, I approached my worker about hairdressing school.And they paid for my hairdressing school for two years off and on ... Sometimes Iwouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t make it for days, but I tried ... I never completed the courses because Ididn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get enough hours (p.4, transcript 1). I used some employment services ...used to get odd jobs delivering papers and working fire fighting camps and doingstuff like that...(p.5, transcript 1).111During Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s time on the street she made visits to the reserve to seek out extended familymembers. She made sure, however, that she retained her independence and freedom. The reservehad not been the safe haven that Missy needed so desperately.I used to hitchhike up to my reserve and hitchhike back and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go up for a day ortwo, or a couple of weeks and return. With my family it varied, it depended on whowas in my family. Anybody who has any sort of authority over me no, I won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t haveany contact with them. Anybody who could boss me around, no. If it was a brotheror a cousin or somebody who was an aunt or an uncle, who wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t gonna expectanything from me, I would have contact with them.Back from the abyssI think the big thing that changed in my life was when I had my son. I started tothink about who I was as a person as well as I started to realize by seeing my soneveryday that a lot of the things that had happened to me were not my fault. Justby looking at his innocent little face everyday was very reassuring for me (p.15,transcript 1).At age nineteen Missy gave birth to her oldest son. Although she had begun navigating theslippery terrain between street culture and life off the streets one year prior to her son\u00E2\u0080\u0099s birth, thetransition was painfully slow. Services do not simply fling their doors open the moment one is readyto go through the mandala. She made sure, however, that her son was well cared for as she slidback and forth into escape. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI always was very responsible about who I left him with ... I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099twant him to grow up like I did ... I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want him to go through the pain.\u00E2\u0080\u009DI was trying to get my life together and get my own place and so I was living withfriends basically and ... but I was still street active. I used to go out and go drinkingin bars and stay out all night and sometimes I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go home for a few days at a time(p.8, transcript 1).During this time Missy was hanging out in the Main and Hastings area of Vancouver (sometimes onGranville). The catalyst in the change that Missy was experiencing came in the form of a streetworker who had faith in her. She relates the story in this way.I had a couple of friends and also one of the street workers who I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been in contactwith quite regularly and he took me out on a retreat. And I was supposed to beclean, like three days of that week while I was on this retreat and so I went on thecamping trip, and it was out near the ocean on this island which was really quitenice. I took some drugs with me but not very much. So I lasted like the three orfour days with just... I think barely anything anyways and I was sitting out in the112mountain and decided, you know, well maybe I should really think about treatmentbecause a friend of mine \u00E2\u0080\u0094 a boyfriend, actually, I had at the time\u00E2\u0080\u0094 had suggestedthat. I said to the street worker \u00E2\u0080\u0098What do you think of me going to treatment, prettyfunny idea?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and he said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098actually it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the best thing, I think, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve ever said.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Soat that time we got back to Vancouver and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d made the arrangements and it tooka few months. Those, I think, were the longest months in the whole time I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d beendown there, was waiting for treatment because I was pretty heavily addicted. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tspend very much time not under the influence of something. And then I went totreatment and basically that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s when my life started to get together and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t godowntown anymore (p.9, transcript 1).Missy was twenty when she went on the mountain trip and six months later she went intotreatment.I went to Round Lake Treatment Centre in Vernon. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s an Aboriginal treatmentcentre and I stayed there for six weeks. And basically I learned a lot about myselfthere, a lot about my past. They do a lot of group work ... and they do a circlesession for a few hours and they also do workshops on different life skills (p.1\u00C2\u00B0,transcript 1).Treatment and stable housing are not the only factors in recovery from the type of completealienation that Missy describes. Love and support are essential to surmount the punishment fordeserting the old crowd on the street. Family and friends must meet and respect the new personwho is emerging. Missy was lucky she had such a friend. Retelling the pain involved in loss aroundrecovery was painful for Missy.the boyfriend I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been with ... so after I was outside of ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d gotten out oftreatment, he became verbally abusive. He was also drinking and using drugs stillso we broke up (p.13, transcript 1). I really felt a loss, I felt rejected and angryand I kept asking myself why I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d gone through ... the treatment and all the work I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ddone on myself to get this. I felt that they didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even want to understand how comeI changed and how come I went through treatment. There was also a challenge withthem as well, because they used to make jokes about me going to treatment, that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099dbe falling off. People used to come over with drinks \u00E2\u0080\u0094 trying to give them to me.So that was really hard. It was hard to let go of them for me. But eventually I startedto make new friends and there was one friend who was my best friend and stuckright by me all the way and was really proud of me and was always there to supportme when I felt like I was losing it, so that was, I guess what made me hang on \u00E2\u0080\u0094was her support being there all the time. She wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t shutting the door no matterwhat I did. So that was nice (p.1, transcript 1).Life, however, does not make a point of stopping and making sure the player is strongenough to take the curves that so often get thrown to Aboriginal people in this society. Missy had113also to deal with the pain that accompanies self-search and recovery, as well as other hardships thatbeckon the help of drugs.During this time I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d lost a number of people in my family due to alcoholic and drugrelated deaths ... just basically drinking themselves to death until they had cirrhosisor dementia. I also had one cousin a year and a half ago who was shot by thepolice. He had a walkman and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been out drinking and been in a fight and waschased by the police and they killed him (p.14, transcript 1). There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s been about 10and they all... either cirrhosis of the liver or drug overdoses ... As well as a numberof deaths before those 10, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s been quite a few of suicides as well (p.15,transcript 1).Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s determination for removing herself from the street extended to volunteer work withsupport services for the downtown poor. Along with a stable living space and supportive friends,the community service helped to pave the way for a job.Well, after I came back from treatment, I got my son back who had been staying witha friend of mine while I was in treatment, he was only a couple years old at the time,and my son came home and I started to volunteer at the youth project. I organizeda big Christmas dinner for 500 people in the downtown eastside and we had all sortof Native drummers, dancers and different musicians. It turned out really really well.And then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d done some other volunteer work for the director of the youths project,and a short time later, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been sitting in his office watching him sort of short listresumes, he and his co-worker at the time, and so after the dinner was all over I wentin and they asked me for my resume, and I asked them, \u00E2\u0080\u0098What for?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 And they saidwell there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a job for a youth worker down here. So I put my resume in, keptvolunteering whenever they needed me. Then I got a call for an interview ... Therewas about two people there that were interviewing me. I got the job which was kindof neat, although I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know a lot of the services that were available for kids. Sothey did a lot of training with me and they trained me for a couple of yearsthemselves, just on how to do Street work and how to get a hold of all the servicesand basically what I was supposed to do out there (p.13, transcript 1).Even a successful job began to cause upheaval in Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s life. Her child was not used to her goingout to work and being home all evening. Stability was unfamiliar. Job and family responsibilitiesbegan to compete with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) support group meetings. Missy had to quitgoing to AA. But by then a new partnership was forming that was supportive to Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s sobriety andcontinued growth.RacismAnd you can see it in peoples\u00E2\u0080\u0099 eyes when they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re looking at you like that (p.6,transcript 1).114Missy talks about experiencing racism in commercial establishments on the lower eastsideof Vancouver. She connects this behaviour with being poor and being Aboriginal. The skid rowbar is the only place where Aboriginal ethnicity is not a barrier to service. Here they are themajority. Here they inflict violence on each other. The business in this part of the city feeds ontheir pain.I find storekeepers treat you differently. You walk through the store and all ofsudden you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re being followed by floor walkers because you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got a pack sack andyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099re Native. And you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have very nice clothes, so obviously you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re beingfollowed because of course you might steal something. Some of the restaurants I\u00E2\u0080\u0099vebeen to, you sit down and you order a meal and they bring you the meal and theymake you pay. Yet a White person who sits right across from you orders a meal andthey don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to pay until they finish their meal and they go up to the till.Basically I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all racism. People don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand that some people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t havea lot of money you know. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re living in poverty so they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re treated differently(p.6, transcript 1). I often was either turned away, followed or looked upondifferently. There wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really racism from other street people, from people whowere living in the same area. There was racism from restaurant owners andwaitresses and stuff ... when I walked into a department store or there was somebodythat wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t from the same background or lifestyle\u00E2\u0080\u0094 was very well off\u00E2\u0080\u0094 they wouldlook at you differently. But that was about it, there was never any violenceconcerning racism. The only time I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d experienced any violence was from anotherNative person who\u00E2\u0080\u0099d raped me (p.7, transcript 1).Missy comments on a racist phenomena in Canadian society that is underground andunderstood by everyone, yet is not talked about in any forum. Structurally the Canadianestablishment supports Aboriginal child prostitution. In Vancouver, and even more so in Winnipeg,Aboriginal children (male and female) line the streets catering an Aboriginal sexual feast to middleclass working (primarily White) married men. She watches \u00E2\u0080\u009Csupport\u00E2\u0080\u009D services turn a blind eye andleave the youth sex trade in tact and unquestioned.One thing that used to bother me was that men looked at me differently. I alwaysfelt really dirty all the time, men used to look at me and undress with their eyes ortry and pick me up or thinking I was just easy. That used to really bother me. I thinkmen [mainstream] prey on Aboriginal kids. I still see them doing it today. You knowI see these men who are living very very well off in different communities, high classcommunities, and have well paying jobs, doctors and lawyers, and you knowpoliticians and then they still go downtown and they look for kids. And the onething ... Native kids are targets for them. They think Native kids won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk. If there\u00E2\u0080\u0099sa rape that happens in the area it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s usually done to a Native kid because they feelthat Native kids won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t report these things. I guess that I see these men here who115come down in the area or sometimes they even got their partner with them andthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got a baby in the back seat (car seat) and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re all trying to pick up womendowntown or kids. Some of the men go down there and they just look for kids.They\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got their own kids at home but they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t abuse them but they go downtown and look for Native kids to sleep with and they pay them basically. The kidscan\u00E2\u0080\u0099t charge these men if the man has given any sort of money. Well, they cancharge them but it doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t usually get through court which you know, I know oneman who was raped by another man and he was drugged at first and then raped andhe tried to go report it to the police and this young guy ... he had a sore throat afterthis man had raped him and the man gave him ten bucks as he was getting out ofhis vehicle and the guy took it and went and bought a pop. He went to the policeand tried to report it as a rape and they said \u00E2\u0080\u0098Well, no, you took the ten dollars\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (p.5,transcript 1).Missy does not only blame parents and care takers, she thinks that band councils, homecommunities, social workers, police, the ministry and the government have a responsibility to stopthe exploitation of youth on the street. She asks some big questions: Isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t it against the law for underage youth to be on the streets selling their bodies? and why aren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t resources made available to takeaction against prostitution in the Aboriginal youth population? Missy believes this is blatant racism.I think the kids need intervention from both the ministry and the police. How comethat kids can go downtown and stay there all night and get into fights and deal drugsand work on the corner prostituting when... nobody stops them you know ... the kidscan just stay there and be invisible almost from the police and the social workers andthe ministry. Why are there all these police officers down there trying to intervenewith the adults and nobody\u00E2\u0080\u0099s doing it with the kids? How come there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s only oneyouth car for the whole Vancouver? You know \u00E2\u0080\u0098oh there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not that much funding,\u00E2\u0080\u0099I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t believe that, you know, when they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got how many drug squad guys out onthe street every night? But they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got only two police officers available on a car forthe youths in the whole of Vancouver (p.6, transcript 2)?Culture and identityI didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know anything about my Native culture. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know anything aboutwhat kind of a Native I was even or who my father was. There was loss of identityI didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know what category I belonged to \u00E2\u0080\u0094 from the White society or from theNative society, and neither one accepted me. So I felt really dirty about beingIndian. I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t proud to be Indian (p.2, transcript 2).Missy relates that during her stay on the streets she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know where she belonged. Theeducational system did not provide the knowledge that she needed to answer her questions abouther tribal heritage or the history of her people. From a very young age her experience told her thatwhat she saw on the streets was the only reference point for her identity. During the years that116Missy was on the street there were no Aboriginal workers in social services or on the street and therewere no opportunities to experience Aboriginal culture. Of her Aboriginal identity then she says:Very confused, I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know who I really was or what my reasons were for beinghere. I felt that I lost my family and that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d never really belong in my family as I\u00E2\u0080\u0099dbeen separated for a number of years. So when I returned I felt really out of place,my schooling was above my family\u00E2\u0080\u0099s. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go to an alternate school and I pretendedI was dumb. I would put the wrong answers down on purpose because I just wantedto be accepted there as a Native student and to be smarter and to be able to do thework quickly ... I would be referred to a regular school and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want thatbecause I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t belong in the regular school, because I was under the academiclevel there and above it at an alternate school. So I really didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t belong anywhereyet I could fake it and be White as well if I wanted to depending on how smartthe person was you know. Some people could tell I was Native right off the bat andpeople would mistake me for Italian or something you know so it was different. Ididn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t belong anywhere (p.2, transcript 2). No, I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know very much [history].The only thing I knew about Aboriginal people was what I learned in elementaryschool. When I went on a field trip to the Planetarium then I learned about the artwork a bit and I learned about what type of fish Native people eat, and how to makebannock, and how the Indians picked berries (laugh), and you know how to makesoap berries stuff like that. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all I knew (p.3, transcript 2). No I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go toanything [Aboriginal cultural activities]. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know of any sort of places to gowhere I could learn that ... and at home there was basically nothing. In the grouphomes I lived in they were all White and they were raised differently, verydifferently, from what Native people are raised like. Then when I was with my realfamily ... I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know about any of that either... there was just alcoholism,addictions, basically, and abuse so we never learned any of that (p.4, transcript 2).Since Missy went into treatment at an Aboriginal treatment centre she has made great stridesin coming to terms with her Aboriginality. She has learned some history and traditional culture.One has to wonder why she had to go on such a destructive path in order to gain self-respect. Shemakes an analogy with street services. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhy are counselling and Aboriginal culture suddenlyprovided \u00E2\u0080\u0098after\u00E2\u0080\u0099 youth have landed on the street? It gives kids the wrong message, if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re behavingyourself, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re doing okay in school, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re at home and you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t run away that ... you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tdeserve these things.\u00E2\u0080\u009DBut I think the best part of Round Lake was learning about my culture and the sweatlodges, the pipe ceremonies. That was, I think, one of the best things about RoundLake and they also do individual counselling there too (p. 10, transcript 1). Now Iknow more than I did ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve travelled around to Alberta and then Saskatchewan andlived in those areas with Native people that live in those areas and learned a lot117from them ... how they live everyday and what they do. And I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gone out and livedout in the bush for months at a time with Cree people and hunted with them,smoked deer meat, gone hunting for moose and stuff like that (laugh). I know someabout the West Coast culture \u00E2\u0080\u0094 quite a bit actually. And the difference in how thepeople live on the West Coast and the way they lived back east in Alberta andSaskatchewan is quite different (p.3, transcript 2). ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve participated in sweatlodges ceremonies, and I find that very powerful, as well as pipe ceremonies, andI believe in them. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just really hard to explain I guess, how you feel when you\u00E2\u0080\u0099rein those ceremonies. But it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s, I guess a sense of being alive and being in touch withyourself. I live in the city so it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s harder to be involved in some of those spiritualceremonies. But I believe in them (p.4, transcript 2).Missy has been reunited with her Aboriginal identity, as much as she has been able in the last sevenand a half years. She is still a young woman who still needs to continue with personal counsellingand she still lives in a city where full expression of Aboriginal culture is not easily accessible. Missyhas begun to carve \u00E2\u0080\u009Cagain.\u00E2\u0080\u009DAnother thing that I guess that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really important to me that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve done is start carvingagain. I was fortunate to get a grant for my carving tools and I looked around forsomebody to teach me how to carve silver. I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t find anybody so I finallystarted carving myself. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been learning how to do that, so that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s something thatbrings me a lot of peace and a lot of happiness and it helps me get in touch withmyself basically so it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s very important for me to do that. Just for me and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m sellingit and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nice too (p. 15, transcript 1).This expression of Aboriginal identity and culture has brought some peace into her life. Even so,shades of her confused identity remain. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI still don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel comfortable in really large crowds ofNative people .... it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not that I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t belong ... it just feels very different. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never experiencedthat very many times though, I guess that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why.\u00E2\u0080\u009D How does Missy feel about being an Aboriginalperson now?I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m very proud to be an Aboriginal person and I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t change that for the world.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m happy with who I am and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m happy and proud of my achievements, and eventhe things that happened to me when I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel so good about myself, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m sort ofgrateful for it because I know I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned a lot from it. I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be as strong asI am today. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m so very proud of my art work. It helps get more intouch with who I am and my own spirituality, and the way I feel towards people andthe world and the environment. So it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really ... you know, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m happy with who Iam (p.3, transcript 2).Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s identity is not exclusively composed of Aboriginal traditional cultural elements anda sense of history, it is also about being an abused child, about having been in many White foster118homes, about being the daughter of a drug addict, about having been a prostitute, about being anaddict herself. When she went into treatment and began dealing with the issues of shame and guilt,she had to deal with the secondary elements of her identity. She had to take on roles which werestrange and difficult with her new primary identity elements still fragile and growing. The role ofpartner in a functional family unit was frightening. Speaking of her new boyfriend she explains thefear involved in dealing with an absence of violence, which as she tells before, meant that she wasloved.He treated me really well and that was really hard for me because part of me wantedto run away from him because he was so nice. It scared me. I never knew what toexpect basically, so I spent a number of months trying to figure out a way to end therelationship (p.13, transcript 1) ... There were a lot of things I felt shameful about.I felt shame concerning the abuse that had happened to me. I felt ashamed everytime I seen a man look at me. I used to feel ashamed that I worked the streets. ThatI\u00E2\u0080\u0099d done these sort of things. I also felt shame for hurting the people I hurt when Iwas there. I tried to find a way to talk about it with my social worker and she knewa lot of what had happened to me, but it was mostly finding out when and where ithappened and not really understanding why. So I always carried the shame aroundwith me and I could never tell anybody some of the things that I felt (p.?\u00E2\u0080\u0099, transcript1) .... [About grief] And so this was all really hard to deal with, and stay sober at thesame time. I felt like I was going to have a breakdown because I was grieving fora lot of these people. So I went to therapy again and spent a year going throughtherapy ... you know it still bothers me when people touch me or men just try andbe a friend. They scare me, so I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m still dealing with that along with losing a lot ofmy family who died. So that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m in therapy now .... [Loss of street extendedfamily] I continued to go to work and I went to AA and any support groups and metnew friends, because most of my old so-called friends had deserted and were veryangry at me. A lot of my family didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know how to take me anymore, and a lot ofthem sort of shut their doors on me as well. So I ended up going to AA and I go todances and roundups at different... community centres and stuff and then it got reallyreally busy for me (p.1.3, transcript 1).Etah was right when she, in her sage way, gave us the statement that only food and shelter will notfix the problem, nor will simply hiding the street youth in holding tanks until they fall out of youthjurisdiction. Getting off the streets means a lot more than first meets the eye. Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s institutionalhistory, street life and recovery path can tell us much about the needs of Aboriginal street youth ingeneral and how those needs differ from mainstream street youth.if people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t start taking a look at it [the street situation], we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going to see alot more kids dying from overdoses and suicides and violent death ... There are kids119out there who are dying, we see that everyday, but I think the other thing is thatgovernment officials ... the people who are doing this research have to come downand take a look too (p.14, transcript 2).SocietyMissy, having been through the child welfare system and through the ordeals of the street,knows very well how many children end up on the street and she also knows their experience oncethey become entrenched in street culture. As a helper on the street, Missy is highly aware of theinstitutional barriers that exist for Aboriginal street youth. She has no illusions about the nature ofthe relationship of Aboriginal street youth to the society that surrounds them. Missy mostvehemently condemns the social system that allows Aboriginal children to become abused,institutionalized, re-abused in the system, only to be victimized again in their flight to somesemblance of safety.Many times in the interviews Missy comes back to the idea of a sexually predatory societyand of an entire social safety network that supports this value system. She does not buy into theidea of scarce resources or that nothing can be done to prevent the escalating phenomena of streetyouth. Although Missy does not express the need for a fundamental change to the system (she isstill struggling to fit into this one), she thinks a lot more can be done with more resources. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey\u00E2\u0080\u0099renot doing their jobs properly, you know,\u00E2\u0080\u009D is her evaluation of the systems that work directly withstreet youth.Yeah, you know, the Aboriginal kids end up missing out because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get thatsupport, you know. And the police can make a difference too \u00E2\u0080\u0094 if they do theirjobs properly, you know. If they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go around and harass the kids ... if theywould go around and support the kids. Some of the kids are not even reportedmissing. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not reported missing with the police so which means if the kid getsstopped when they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re out there in trouble, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not on the computer so they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re notgoing to be held. they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just going to let them go, you know .... I think that thecommunities and the workers have got to start reporting these kids missing andfollow it up. I think the social workers got to start tightening up on their jobs anddoing what they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re paid to do, you know. As well as all other workers. I also thinkthat they have the time to spend to go down and look for that kid if they knowwhere they are. Whether it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just to stop by the hotel room or if they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re at a certainplace every evening. They can just stop and say, \u00E2\u0080\u009CHey, you know, if you needanything, come on in. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to take you for lunch one day. And that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all that kid120(Street youth) needs to give them the proper message that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re cared for .... Andif they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re already lonely, that doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t make a good combination because they end upgetting really heavily involved and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nothing else available to them, so they\u00E2\u0080\u0099regonna stay on the street. I also think when kids get apprehended at a young age,they have to search harder to find somebody in the family to adopt these kids, youknow .... Because a lot of kids, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re moved from home to home to tome and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099sdifferent every time and a lot of these homes aren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even Native. Sometimes they gothrough homes all their lives and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never come across a Native home. So theyreally don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know who they are, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know where they belong. They feelalienated, you know (p. 7-9, transcript 2).Missy expresses the idea that resources are misplaced in the child welfare industry and thatmore resources need to be placed with family support and cultural revival. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI find I get really angrybecause it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s too late when the kids are in the city and on the street, you know.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She stays on thetopic of preventive strategies,Those kids are hurting inside and nobody\u00E2\u0080\u0099s helping them, you know ... Why isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tcounselling being provided? They have to go through victim\u00E2\u0080\u0099s assistance and applyfor that and it takes anywhere ... any amount of time depending on what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s happeningAnd by the time they reach the street it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s too late, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s too painful inside for themto deal with, so they rum away from it (p.12, transcript 2).In the end we are left with the feeling that Missy is getting along, managing to stay true toherself, as a survivor and as an Aboriginal person. She now lives further away from rough streetsof Vancouver and from the daily struggles of street life (in many ways, though the scars remain).Missy, however, commutes back to the streets and all its pain everyday to work with the childrenand youth who are still caught up in society\u00E2\u0080\u0099s web of shame. Canadian society has not changedsince Missy was a child facing its demons. New and far more dangerous challenges have appearedand services instituted for street youth, but Missy still feels that the efforts are not enough and theycome \u00E2\u0080\u009Ctoo late.\u00E2\u0080\u009D121Chapter 4. WinnipegWinnipeg, Manitoba is the geographic centre of North America, lying midway between thePacific and Atlantic oceans. It is situated at the meeting of the Red River and the Assiniboine Riverand 100 kilometres north of Minnesota. The city covers a land area of 571.6 square kilometres or3294.82 square kilometres for the metropolitan area. The climate of Winnipeg is similar to manyother prairie locations: very cold in winter (January average of -18.3 C) and moderately hot in thesummer (July average temperature of 19.8 C). In terms of precipitation there is, on average, 114.8centimetres of snow and 404 millimetres of rain (Canadian Encyclopedia, 1988). The hot drysummer makes it easy for youth to be out on the street.Winnipeg is the economic centre of the province of Manitoba containing half of thepopulation and 68 per cent of its employees. The major employers in the city are, by industry:service, trade, manufacturing, transportation, communications and utilities, public administration andconstruction. In the manufacturing sector alone the range of producers is diverse including: foodand beverage, metals, paper products, publishing, printing, wood, transportation equipment,chemicals, clothing, textiles and non-metallic minerals. In the city the average monthlyunemployment rate for 1992 was 11 .3 per cent. Housing costs were among the lowest in Canadafor major cities (12th out of 15 cities and 45.6 per cent below the Canadian average). Additionally,vacancy and rental rates are moderate to below average; in short, housing is quite affordable andaccessible compared to other major Canadian cities (Winnipeg 2000 Profile, 1990).Manitoba\u00E2\u0080\u0099s population of Aboriginal people was 116,200 in 1991. The census puts thepopulation statistics for Winnipeg at 616,790 with just over 44,970 Aboriginal people living there(1991). However, a discussion paper presented to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples(Discussion paper, June 21-23, 1992) stated that approximately 60% of Manitoba\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Aboriginalpopulation live in Winnipeg and that the population is more likely in excess of 60,000 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 most ofwhom live in the central and northern part of the city. Morrissette and Blacksmith (1993) also122believe that mainstream population statistics underestimate the Aboriginal population in Winnipeg.According to them Winnipeg has anywhere from 60,000-80,000 Aboriginal people within the citylimits. Nearly 8,000 are between the ages of 15 and 24. The population changed dramaticallybetween the 1981 and 1986 census, during which there was a 67 percent increase in Aboriginalpopulation (The Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, 1990a) for different reasons which includeBill C-31 (the reinstatement of enfranchised persons \u00E2\u0080\u0094 most as a result of section 12(1)b of theIndian Act - women who married non status men) and changes in census information around ethnicidentity questions. By 1986 Aboriginal people comprised 10.2 per cent of the inner city populationor 4.7 per cent of the population of the total metropolitan area. Winnipeg has the highestpopulation of Aboriginal people of any urban area in Canada (Valentine, 1993).For the most part the reserves and Aboriginal settlements are sparsely dispersed throughoutthe province. Few are in close proximity to the city. Among the closest are the Brokenheadcommunity which is 65 kilometres north east of the city, the Dakota communities which areapproximately 80 kilometres west of the city and Rousseau River which is 80 kilometres to the south.The social problems of some of northern Manitoba reserves are well publicized. Forinstance, the Shamattawa, Sandy Bay, White Dog reserves have had much media attention forinhalant abuse, sexual abuse and gang activity in the youth population. The impression one getsis that the reserves have had a very long history of dysfunction and degradation; this is not so. Thetroubles started in the mid- to late-i 960s when alcohol was introduced to the communities. In justtwenty odd years healthy communities were left devastated. Mixed with the erosion of traditionaltechnologies, economies and culture, and the unrelenting racism in relation to the rest of Canada,alcohol has taken its toll on entire communities. Today\u00E2\u0080\u0099s youth carry the legacy of this modern dayatrocity. The casualties of this war have nowhere to flee abusive situations or to go for treatmentexcept to the city. Many times Aboriginal families or individuals (sometimes children) from ruralcommunities come to the city for services not provided in or to their communities. The children,123however, do not have a choice. They end up in the city because of social services apprehensionor detention. Foster care and youth detention centres are, too often, not available in their regionsso they are brought to the city.When Aboriginal families arrive in the Winnipeg they come to the frontlines of the battle.At least in their communities they had each other, in Winnipeg they are isolated and they still facepoverty, unemployment, social disintegration and racism. It is estimated that 85\u00C2\u00B0I of the Aboriginalpeople in Winnipeg are unemployed and on welfare rolls (McKay, 1993). \u00E2\u0080\u009CThere are enormousadjustment problems for families coming from rural reserves and other than the Friendship Centre(on Magnus Avenue), Aboriginal people families get less help that those from other countries\u00E2\u0080\u009D(Refugees aided, 1993).According to front page news paper headlines, Winnipeg is ravaged by crime (includingmurder), youth gang violence, prostitution and racial strife, particularly in the north and west areasof the city. The crime problem and exploitation of Aboriginal children has prompted communityaction. Special citizen units have sprung up to assist police to protect the ordinary person. BearClan Patrol, an Aboriginal, culture-based patrol who work the north end of the city, and the WestEnd Community Patrol, who patrol the west end community, are examples of the type of efforts totake back the community. A headline in the Winnireg Sun, on April 19, 1993 titled, \u00E2\u0080\u009CBeaten withbats and metal bars: Kids watch as gang assaults youth because \u00E2\u0080\u0098He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Native,\u00E2\u0080\u009D is an example of thetype of violence fostered in the ghettos. In the assault fifty youth, in the 14-1 7 age group, watchedas an eighteen year old Aboriginal youth (a visitor from The Pas, Manitoba) was clubbed, by \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccarloads\u00E2\u0080\u009D of non-Aboriginal youth, at 12:30 a.m. outside a dry teen nightclub (Graham, 1993;Verhaeghe, 1993).A Winnipeg journalist describes the conditions of Winnipeg\u00E2\u0080\u0099s inner-city core as \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmore thanvaguely reminiscent of the problems of many third world cities\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Smith, 1991). Manitoba has the124highest child poverty, teen pregnancy and youth runaway statistics in the country (Morris, 1993;Flanagan, 1993). In Winnipeg these social problems are manifested in the ghettoized areas.Lord Selkirk Park community is almost 100 percent Aboriginal and is also a majorlocation for the city\u00E2\u0080\u0099s sex trade. The majority of sex trade workers on the low trackas this area is referred to, are mostly Aboriginal children, some as young as elevenyears. The majority of the men who come to this area are white and middle class(Morrissette & Blacksmith, 1993).In a proposal for a street youth safe house the Native Women\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Transition Centre identifiedseveral areas of concentrated effort in the city that were frequented by Aboriginal children and streetyouth. Those areas are: the downtown skid row section of Main Street; the areas around the WilliamWhyte and the Occidental Hotel; the section between the intersection of Main street and JarvisAvenue to Salter Street; the Martha Street/Argyle area; Magnus Avenue, Manitoba Avenue, PritchardAvenue and Gilbert Park around Railway; Tyndall, Chudley, and Magnus. In short, this is an areawith boundaries that enclose St. John\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Avenue on the north, Arlington on the west, Point Douglason the East and Notre Dame Avenue on the south (Native Women\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Transition Centre, 1991).In this same proposal, the Native Women\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Centre cited a 1990 Winnipeg Social PlanningCouncil research report, \u00E2\u0080\u009CThe Needs Assessment on Homeless Children and Youth,\u00E2\u0080\u009D which foundthat:* runaway behaviour among all youth is a serious and growing problem in Winnipeg;* the average age of runaways decreases each year \u00E2\u0080\u0094 at the time of their first run the averagewas 12 years old;* females run more often and for longer periods of time;* youth run more often if they are running from a foster home or institution;* one in two youth have been sexually abused;* one in two youth have attempted suicide;* three in four youth abuse alcohol and drugs;* one in two youth run from a home where parents abuse alcohol or drugs;125* one in three wants to live with parents or extended family;* the vast majority, about 17 out of 20, are sexually active;* one in three had contracted a sexually transmitted disease;* one in five had exchanged sexual favours for shelter;* one in three participated in prostitution;* a minority, about 5 out of 20, practice safe sex;* three in five had put themselves at risk of contractingAIDS;* the general perception of services such as the police, schools and social agencies is poor;* having little or no trust in the above-mentioned resources, the majority of street youth usean informal network to survive (3-4).Case studiesIn the Winnipeg case studies I have decided to present Noella and Travis (the first case study)as a couple. Although this may be somewhat cumbersome, they did come to the interview togetherand it became evident that their relationship, street issues and their history were inextricably linked.They are both products of adoption breakdown in White homes and their current situation is entirelycoloured by the apprehension of their son by social services. Noella and Travis also present apicture of life for many Aboriginal people just like them. Axle, the second collaborator in the study,is Noel la\u00E2\u0080\u0099s sibling. Again, I decided to allow the close relationship to be represented in the study.Not only did Axle follow his sister\u00E2\u0080\u0099s footsteps in the process of adoption breakdown but heeventually landed up in the same detention facility and then on the streets of Winnipeg. They arenow mother and father figures to each other as they help each other to survive mentally andphysically in the westend of Winnipeg. This sibling group is an example of the experience of somefamily groups who are \u00E2\u0080\u009Clucky\u00E2\u0080\u009D enough to be adopted into the same home.126Jean-Marc is also a product of adoption. Although he has had a privileged middle class lifewith his adoptive parents, he still is very much alone on the streets of Winnipeg.Dale is an ex-street person from the streets of Winnipeg who found a \u00E2\u0080\u009Chome\u00E2\u0080\u009D in themetropolitan environment. Dale was not adopted, nor was he, strictly speaking, in care at any timeduring his life. He is from a traditional Aboriginal background and landed on the streets ofWinnipeg for different reasons from the rest of the youth in this study. He does, however, representa fairly large number of Aboriginal youth who leave Aboriginal communities because they cannotfind the supports they need to deal with their gay identity. We know that many gay young men andlesbians migrate to cities in an effort to find a community that reflects their sexuality and shares theirissues. Their common struggles with homophobia and discrimination bind them. Dale now worksto prevent other gay youth from suffering the same fate as he did and going to the streets becauseof identity issues.NOELLA:Street kids, they hide their feelings, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re probably really nice, nicer than peoplethat aren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t street kids. But sometimes they hide their feelings, but when you reallyget to talk to them, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re really nice people (p.1, transcript 1).Noella, a twenty year old status women of Saulteaux ancestry, originally comes from areserve in north central Manitoba. She currently lives in a rented apartment in Winnipeg with herpartner Travis (also a street survivor from a similar background who she met three years ago) andher biological brother Axle. Noella presents herself as a quiet, conservative, in-charge \u00E2\u0080\u009Clittle mother\u00E2\u0080\u009Dwho looks after those in her environment. She speaks evenly and very quietly. Her classic attractiveAboriginal features, medium build and height, mid-length straight brown hair are complemented byher plain attire made up of a meticulously clean sweat shirt, jeans, runners and a ball type jacket.She wears no make-up. None of the over-sized tattered clothing, outlandish hair styles or make-upappeal to her. \u00E2\u0080\u009CActually I think they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re weird, the way they wear their hair and play their music,\u00E2\u0080\u009D127she says of the modern yuppie youth get-up and music. \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt seems like the White ones needattention, the way they wear their hair and they dye them blue, purple, yellow, green and stuff.\u00E2\u0080\u009DStoic in nature, Noella remained in charge of the interview, saying only what was necessary.She describes herself to a tee in the opening quotation. She was articulate and straight forwardabout the events of her life (only those events she chooses to disclose). Noella lives in theimmediate present. There are many great gaps in the chronology she relays and her past remainsin a passionless grey zone. Unlike her brother Axle who becomes involved with rememberedmental images, Noella does not have the energy or the motivation to go into detail. Nor does sheremember or corroborate some the significant events that Axle tells about. Understandably, Noellais preoccupied with the apprehension of yet another new born child. \u00E2\u0080\u009CHe came three weeks early,\u00E2\u0080\u009Dshe says of the baby boy taken right from the hospital by Annishnabe Child and Family Services.She is probably still dealing with postpartum emotional and physical changes. Noella had givenbirth on May 6th, two weeks before the interview.Today, although the interdependent \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfamily\u00E2\u0080\u009D constellation (Noella, Travis and Axle) are tryingto straighten out their lives, they still have the street as their main reference. Street social services,soup kitchens and food banks are their source of social support.History \u00E2\u0080\u0094 NoellaI was running from my [adopted] family (p.2, transcript 1).Born to Saulteaux parents, who still live on the reserve, Noella and Axle identified as Metisas a result of not knowing their pre-adoption background. They are \u00E2\u0080\u009Crepatriated adoptees.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Noellaand her brother Axle were apprehended at an early age and were placed in several foster homesbefore they were adopted. They were placed together into an inter-racial family outside SwiftCurrent, Saskatchewan. Noella was about four, her brother about two. No memories of the peopleback home on the reserve remained as they grew up. She would spend the next eight years withher adoptive family.128Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s adopted mother died of a brain tumour when Noella was 10 years old. Heradopted father, himself a man of Aboriginal decent, sexually abused her, before and after hermother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s death. \u00E2\u0080\u009CHe started when I was about four.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Although she disclosed to a counsellor whenshe was taken into detention and an investigation was initiated, for some reason the proceedings juststopped. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey started something and they just closed off the investigation or something ... I wasmad.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Noella began acting out overtly two years after her mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s death. Eventually, she stole herfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s car and landed up on probation. \u00E2\u0080\u009CAt first they gave me probation ... I breached myprobation so they gave me six months in open custody.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s anger was now two fold: first herabuser bore no consequences for his actions against her, and secondly the court disposition placedher back in the hands of her abuser. Probation, of course, means you may go home.Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s anger was somewhat abated when she came into contact with her adopted cousin,on a stay \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfor about a year\u00E2\u0080\u009D at her adoptive aunt\u00E2\u0080\u0099s house, and she discovered she was not alone.Her cousin was also an incest survivor. At least she had someone to talk to. \u00E2\u0080\u009CYeah, [the familyknew] cause I guess my [adopted] cousin stayed there and that happened to her from her dad andthat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s my dad\u00E2\u0080\u0099s brother\u00E2\u0080\u009D.The aunt in British Columbia has remained a significant person in Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s life. She wouldlater state, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m trying to be like my aunt right now, she had a baby at sixteen, is now a hairdresser.\u00E2\u0080\u009DHer mentor, along with a social worker, helped Noel Ia locate her brother Axle after he had also runaway from their adopted home and was in the same detention centre, in Regina (where she hadabsconded from some years earlier). Together they headed toward Manitoba, she from BritishColumbia and he from Saskatchewan, to find their lost heritage.Finding her biological parents seemed disappointing to Noella. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have contact withher,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she says abruptly of her mother, who is a forty year old alcohol abuser who exhibits the classicmanipulative and toxic behaviour of severe alcoholism.She\u00E2\u0080\u0099s an alcoholic, my mom always drinks, and she lies to me and my brother all thetime ... she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just crazy (p.10, transcript 1) .... the way my mother is, she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s so violent129when she drinks, she lies to me, she pawns off stuff to get her beer, she tries to askme for money but I always tell her no because I know she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s going to go buy beer(p.16, transcript 1).She likes her real father, however. He too must endure the physical aggression of his dailyintoxicated wife. \u00E2\u0080\u009CHe\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the only one who cares ... like if my mom tries to fight me, he stops her.\u00E2\u0080\u009DHer analysis of her mom\u00E2\u0080\u0099s behaviour is astute as she, again disdainfully notes, \u00E2\u0080\u009CShe has other kids[in care] and she won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t try to get them back.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t blame her father.Noella finished grade eight in Swift Current, likely in foster care or protective custody. Shedidn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel protected in her adopted home or in institutional care \u00E2\u0080\u0094 in her earlier life, now she iscompletely protected by Travis and Axle. Travis is her whole life now.TRAVISI just like to be myself ... if people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like that ... the hell with them (p.17,transcript 2).Travis is a tall, long dark haired, muscular twenty one year old Cree male, from a reserve innorthern Saskatchewan, who spent five years on the street in Regina, beginning at the age of sixteen,before coming to Winnipeg in 1991. Travis is a cross between a defiant type person, a rock n\u00E2\u0080\u0099 rollerand a would-be football jock (if he were into sports). He is very handsome and consciously posturesbeing able to look after himself. Even so, he seems vulnerable, he gives the impression that he isonly very loosely connected to the people in his past \u00E2\u0080\u0094 his adoptive parents, his natural father andhis siblings. He too, like his partner Noella, was dressed in spotless jeans, sweat shirt and runners.For the last seven months he has lived in a rented apartment with Noella and (her brother) Axle.They live in the grey zone \u00E2\u0080\u0094 on welfare, jobless, in low cost housing, still using soup kitchens andfree recreational services and spending most of their time on the streets Winnipeg\u00E2\u0080\u0094 in the illusionof making it off of the streets.130History \u00E2\u0080\u0094 TravisI got sent away (p.4, transcript 1)Adopted into a White family, north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, at the age of six months,Travis doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t remember exactly how many brothers and sisters he has. He has only spoken to oneof them by telephone. Ongoing \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfighting\u00E2\u0080\u009D with his adopted parents, culminating in Travis pullinga knife on his adopted father, resulted in forceable removal from his home at the age of fourteen.Travis was placed into a holding unit in Prince Albert. He then was sent, when a space cameavailable, to Ranch Ehrlo in Regina, Saskatchewan for two years. While in detention he asked thecentre to help him search for his natural parents. He found out that mother had died in a fire inEdmonton, Alberta when he was seven years old and that his father lived in Regina. Although Travishas \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstayed\u00E2\u0080\u009D with his natural father, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t consider him like my father,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he says. It appears theobstacle to a meaningful relationship between the two is his father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdrinking.\u00E2\u0080\u009DOn the streets \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noellaso I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to stay there anymore cause he was abusing me. I startedrunning from home. When I got into trouble, I stole his car to get thrown into thedetention centre so I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to go home anymore (p.2, transcript 1).At the age of twelve, after landing on probation for auto theft in the small town where shelived with her adopted father, Noel Ia was placed into open custody. Determined not to return homeNoella repeatedly ran from open and closed custody for a period of two years. During this timeNoella began running to the streets, first in Swift Current, then in Regina. She gives few detailsabout her whereabouts, how she fulfilled her survival needs, who she hung out with or how she gotfrom place to place.A lot of time is unaccounted for in her story, especially as a 12, 13 and 14 year old, thenagain from ages 16 to 20. It appears that she left the adopted home at age twelve, spent one yearin foster homes, none of which she will talk about, and two years in detention, before going to livewith her aunt in British Columbia.131In 1988, for \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnot even a year,\u00E2\u0080\u009D Noella went to live with her adopted aunt in Vernon, BritishColumbia, after getting out of closed custody in Regina. She does not mention the name of thedetention centre. During this year, at age sixteen, Noella had a child. The child was apprehendedand is now in foster care on \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe reserve\u00E2\u0080\u009D [in Manitoba] in an Aboriginal home. She doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t saywhich reserve. She had gone to visit her three days before the interview. Her own baby girl beingapprehended, in Vernon, soon after the birth, she set upon the bureaucratic trail, assisted by a socialworker, to find her biological parents. This search brought her to Winnipeg at the age of sixteen.Since her arrival in Winnipeg in 1989, Noella has gone to her reserve to spend time gettingto know her extended family. Now, at age twenty and two babies later, she will have been on andoff the street for eight years. She seems to just \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstay\u00E2\u0080\u009D with people in her life because she nevermentions having her own place nor does she ever say the word \u00E2\u0080\u009Chome.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Even with this type oftentative and unstable lifestyle Noella appears to be a shy, conservative and innocent person.Noella seemed oddly resigned to her life state, perhaps beaten into submission by socialservice power and an unending cycle of poverty. Travis, Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s partner, had accompanied her tothe premature birth of their baby intoxicated and had been asked to leave. They give this and noother reason was evidence enough to result in the separation of mother and child. Later we wereto receive information that would indicate possible solvent abuse and violence as primary factorsin the apprehension of their son. Nevertheless, Noella believes that the apprehension occurredbecause of her history.They say it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s because of drinking, but sometimes I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s because of the first babyI had, cause they took the first one and I told them that was while I was just a singlemother (p.22, transcript 1).Noella gives glimpses of her life on the street through discussion of street youth in general.Street people to her means people with \u00E2\u0080\u009Cno place to stay ... It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hard to find a place to stay.\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt feelsembarrassing sometimes\u00E2\u0080\u009D to be called a street person, she says. She characterizes street youthbehaviour as \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdruggies, getting stoned, drinking and maybe popping pills.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Her analysis of kids on132the street exhibits a strict \u00E2\u0080\u009Cblaming the victim\u00E2\u0080\u009D stance \u00E2\u0080\u0094 \u00E2\u0080\u009CI think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s actually their own fault the waythey live.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t make the connection with her previous experience of purposeful criminalbehaviour in order to escape from an intolerable situation. This shows also in her self-blame forlosing her recently born baby because of a previous \u00E2\u0080\u009Crecord.\u00E2\u0080\u009DNoel Ia seems very young in her outlook when she shares her experience on the street. Forthe most part, she seems to be only peripherally involved in any, what we might call, normal streetactivities. Noella declares that she won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t panhandle. \u00E2\u0080\u009CNo, I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do that ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a little too shy.\u00E2\u0080\u009DShe does instead get food from food banks and soup kitchens.Nor will she use hard drugs or hard liquor. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI always drink beer, I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like ... I tried hashand acid, just the normal street drugs. I used to see a lot of sniffing,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she says, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdown by the bar,when I used to go see my mom,\u00E2\u0080\u009D warning about the extensive damage that huffing causes and thatstreet youth ought to be warned about. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey just fry their brains and screw up their lives.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re dangerous [drugs] ... like say a kid was going to experiment with acid for thevery first time, he took too much and OD\u00E2\u0080\u0099d on it cause nobody told him about it, hethought it was cool ... Cause I had a friend she took so much acid, she took threehits, she was doing fine and she said I need to get some more acid, I said no, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099rejust going to overdo it, and she said she already took three and I said well maybe itwas OK but not three. She went and bought another hit of acid and she OD\u00E2\u0080\u0099d. Wehad to put her in a hospital. She stayed for over a month...(p.39, transcript 1).Noella has been in treatment for alcohol abuse in The Pas, Manitoba, in the past and is currentlyundergoing Alcoholics Anonymous outpatient counselling as a condition to gaining permanentcustody of her baby. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even think I have a problem with it [alcohol], but the workers wantme to do it or they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll take the baby back.\u00E2\u0080\u009DAbout prostitution, Noella does not claim any connection through friends or otherwise. Theonly incident she mentions is being asked to work for a pimp in Saskatchewan. \u00E2\u0080\u009CYeah, I got askedin Regina, but I said no ... I was only about twelve.\u00E2\u0080\u009D This sounded like a long lifeless memory.Now she never goes out alone, she is protected by her partner Travis and her brother Axle. \u00E2\u0080\u009CTravis133doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want me to go out and my brother doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want me to go alone either. If I want to gosomewhere I would want one of them to come with me ... My brother is like my father.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe only fears Noella has on the Street are \u00E2\u0080\u009Cgetting hit by a car (kids are always getting hitby cars)\u00E2\u0080\u009D and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdirty old men.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Even personal violence on the street does not phase her. Casuallyshe describes being jumped by a couple of girls, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI got in a few punches in ... you got to learn howto fight if somebody jumps you.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Whatever Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s unshared perception of her past life on thestreets, she is optimistic about her progress. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m doing pretty good now, like before I never usedto buy anything ... clothes, stuff for the house, before I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even care. The house was alwaysempty.\u00E2\u0080\u009DNoella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s lifestyle and attitudes are oddly reminiscent of the life of poverty and transience thatis \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnormal\u00E2\u0080\u009D for so many Aboriginal young people in urban Canada. It bares little resemblance to thepunk-type stereotype of street youth. The conditions and the primacy of survival \u00E2\u0080\u0094 physically,emotionally, and spiritually \u00E2\u0080\u0094 however, remain the same.On the streets \u00E2\u0080\u0094 TravisWhen I was young I thought street life would be right, until I got there (p.17,transcript 1).Travis\u00E2\u0080\u0099 drift onto the streets, at the age of sixteen, was peer motivated, aided by a tentativerelationship with his adopted parents and an unreliable connection with his natural father. Travisdescribes the shuttle between detention, jail, and his father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s residence. \u00E2\u0080\u009CYeah, then I was back onthe street again ... I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t ask much for myself.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Travis does not place his adoptive parents, hisnatural father, any past teachers or any adult in his past on a significant persons list. Instead heplaces one of his detention peers as one of the people in his extended family on the streets, alongwith his partner Noella and their baby son. Although Travis seems to have positive contact with hisadopted family and he says that this [adopted] family has forgiven him for past indiscretions, he didnot tell them that NoeIIa and he had had a baby, nor did he tell them that their baby was134apprehended. The level of real communication about issues in his life is superficial. He and Noellaare essentially alone in their struggle.Travis describes street life as simply a proposition of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthis is the way it is.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Although Travisstates, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like authority,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he betrays his caution and his submission to symbols of power andauthority when he says of their social worker, \u00E2\u0080\u009CWell, she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a worker,\u00E2\u0080\u009D conceding that whatever shedecides is beyond his control. He expresses powerlessness again when he comments on possiblechanges for street people. He says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, some people just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any choice.\u00E2\u0080\u009DTravis is very interesting, in much the same way as Noella, in that the streets have not madethem callous. When we asked Travis if there was anything in his life that he was ashamed of hereplied, \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhat I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve done to my parents ... and things I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve done on the street\u00E2\u0080\u009D (robbery, vandalism,group criminal activity) like when he recalls breaking an old woman\u00E2\u0080\u0099s arm in a robbery. Travis alsois vague about the past except to say that he gets sad, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cwhen you talk about the past.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Travis isunique because of all the participants he does not recall any deaths of anyone that was close to himon the street.Racism\u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noella and TravisBut I think he did it because I was an Indian (p.41, transcript 1).Noella persisted throughout the dialogue to exhibit an ambivalence toward any criticism ofthe status quo. This included any open-ended questions that may have given her an opportunity tomake reference to discrimination on the basis of her status as a street person, her ethnicity or thecolour of her skin. Only once did she actually say that her Indianness was possibly the cause ofdiscriminatory treatment.I was at Eaton\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Place, me and Travis were looking at things and a security guardgrabs me, and I said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098What are you doing? I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve seen you steal something,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and Isaid, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Fuck you, I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t steal anything. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even steal.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 He said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Yeah, openyour jacket.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I opened it and he didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t find anything ... I think he did it because Iwas an Indian (p.41, transcript 1).135Otherwise Noella simply answers no to any reference to rude treatment in any context or of knowingabout racism against anybody else. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t hang out on the streets, I stay home and mind my ownbusiness.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Yet she has lived in Regina, which is called the \u00E2\u0080\u009CAlabama of the North.\u00E2\u0080\u009DNoella relates that she feels comfortable speaking with social workers (street or otherwise),Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. She notices no difference between the way they treat her and theway they treat others. The interviewer noticed Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s high level of comfort at the office belongingto SKY street services where they met. There was, however, an invisible line that differentiated thearea where Aboriginal youth congregated and where the White youth hung out. Noella tells aboutpositive favouritism toward her in her school, where she achieved her grade nine. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI was alwaysthe youngest one, they always called me baby.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She also recalls a bus driver who gave her apackage of cigarettes out of the blue. Noella, along with her comfort in relation to Whitepeople, makes clear distinctions between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey probablystay with their own kind of people, like White people,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she says of White street youth. She alsogeneralizes that Aboriginal street youth dress differently than White street youth. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI think mostNatives I see all have long hair, and wear jeans, t-shirts, and jackets ... pretty casual.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Of the reserveenvironment she says,I hate the reserve, it just sucks, nothing to do, no excitement, I stayed with mycousins .... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the girls there, they all have bad names [reputations] becausethey sleep around, they were all talking Saulteaux and I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t. I felt like a dorkjust average reserve girls (p.12-13, transcript 1).Certainly Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s continued good relationship with her adopted extended family, her lack ofAboriginal historical knowledge and her own mild-mannered personality have contributed to herperceptions of herself as an Aboriginal woman and of the society which impacts on her as a streetperson.Travis, also, simply answers \u00E2\u0080\u009CNo,\u00E2\u0080\u009D or answers in vague terms to any questions on topics suchas self-concept, experiences of discrimination on the street, or overt racism in school. He doesmention gang violence and adds, \u00E2\u0080\u009CMostly it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s ganging up ... all over ... it mostly happens to White136people.\u00E2\u0080\u009D And he comments on treatment by social services saying, \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t given us a chanceThere should be a law against that ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m still thinking of taking them to court.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He is referringto an Aboriginal child and family services agency. Any negative experience that he chooses todisclose is meted out by his own people.Culture and identity \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noella and TravisNoella: At first I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like it [about being Aboriginal] cause I grew up in a Whitehome. When I found my parents I liked it because I learned about my background(p.15, transcript 1).Noel Ia presents a complex dilemma in her views of Aboriginal people in general. One canonly assume that the negative images she carries of reserves and the distinct differences that shenotices are internalized as part of her own self-image. She reports that she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t learn anythingabout Aboriginal people in school. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhen I went to the reserve that was the first time, it was reallydifferent. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not as rich as White people \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the reserve is so dumpy ... I hate the reserve.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Sheconcedes that kids are well cared for; however, the standards of cleanliness and behaviour that sheis accustomed to are not evident to her. Her voice changes and becomes tinged with disgust.They treat kids pretty good, most of them, but some of them are, some of the kidsare really bad, they swear, they fight, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re really dirty (p.35, transcript 1).Noel Ia has had no exposure to traditional Aboriginal culture and confuses the Christian wakeof her great grandmother with Aboriginal culture. However, she once spoke the language of herpeople.They told me before I got taken away that I learned to talk Saulteaux, but I lost allthat. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk any more ... I met all of my relatives, most of my relatives talkSaulteaux ... most of my cousins are all my age ... Everyone says I look like my mom(p.35, transcript 1).Elsewhere in the interview, Noella makes a statement about an \u00E2\u0080\u009Cold\u00E2\u0080\u009D street person where sheexhibits respect and responsibility for the elderly. Again her voice and facial expression changes toan innocent, deeply caring picture as she relates the circumstances of the gentleman in question.Yeah, the kids can take care of themselves, not all the old people can cause... by myhouse there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a old man, he sleeps in the apartment doorway and I told him the next137time I get money I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m gonna go over there and give that man five bucks to go buysomething for himself, cause I always see him and I always feel very bad. Just likethe old people can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t take of themselves but the street kids can, so you should takecare of the old people (p.18, transcript 1).This reflects the Aboriginal cultural characteristic of holding elders in high esteem and is contraryto the ageism reflected in mainstream society. Noella also identifies an awareness that there is aculture that makes a person distinctly Aboriginal in the statement about her Aboriginal adoptedfather. \u00E2\u0080\u009CHe acts like he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s White.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Again, one can only assume that she does not act like this.Noella states that \u00E2\u0080\u009COne of my goals was to find my natural parents... the other is to live here\u00E2\u0080\u009D[Winnipeg]. About these accomplishments she feels success, even so she says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t stay overnight at home on the reserve at my parents ... but I would stay at my cousins. This is understandableconsidering the destructive behaviour of her mother. And in the end she wants to attend an \u00E2\u0080\u009CallNative school.\u00E2\u0080\u009DIt seems that Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s self-image and her perceptions of reserve life would improve with anaccurate critical education in Aboriginal history in Canada, with exposure to authentic traditionalculture, and with contact with Alanon counselling (so that she could more effectively cope with hermother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s alcoholism). In the meantime Noella laughs as she says that Chuck Norris is one of herrole models and \u00E2\u0080\u009CI wish he was my father.\u00E2\u0080\u009D It is still a White image she sees as the only worthyfather figure and protector for her.Travis has had no contact with extended family on the reserve after his mother died. Hevisited his grandmother, aunt, and cousins once in five years. Like Noella, Travis doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t likereserves. Travis answers \u00E2\u0080\u009CI like it\u00E2\u0080\u009D when he was asked how he felt about being Aboriginal. Hisknowledge of Aboriginal history is limited to the grade school version of social studies. Hecomments no further. Travis has been to a pow wow and has been involved in a sweet grassceremony in an alcohol rehab centre. Of the rest he says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CWell there is some stuff that I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tbelieve in \u00E2\u0080\u0094 like the medicine.\u00E2\u0080\u009D138Who are Travis\u00E2\u0080\u0099 role models? \u00E2\u0080\u009CAdmire most? Nobody.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He states that the best possiblefuture for him is to be left alone to live his lifestyle \u00E2\u0080\u009Cif I had a job.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He thinks he has the experienceto be able to be a street counsellor,I could tell them what drugs are bad for you ... just tell people to stay away from thatsniffing ... so far since I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been here I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve seen a lot of wrecked bodies up there onBeach Street where people sniff downstairs in the backrooms and that stuff just makesme sick (p.19, transcript 2).He sees himself as a former street person right now.Politically Travis is definite about whose side he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s on in the sovereignty issue and the muchpublicized gambling controversy in Saskatchewan. He includes himself in the statements, \u00E2\u0080\u009CWeshould be able to have self-government ... well, we should be entitled to it because it was our landThe casino bit, I think the government is too scared that we\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll make too much money.\u00E2\u0080\u009D On apersonal level, Travis does not know if he is status or not. He has no knowledge of his rights orwhere to access the information.Society \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Noella and TravisNoella and Travis make no remarks (with the exception of Travis\u00E2\u0080\u0099 self government comment)that would indicate that they disagree with any part of the Canadian status quo in relation toAboriginal people or any other issue for that matter. Perhaps Noella is being cautious about relatingany sign of \u00E2\u0080\u009Crebellion\u00E2\u0080\u009D against a system that has taken two of her children. Except for her commenton mainstream male behaviour toward females on the street, she is uncritical.Perverts ... there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s lots, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re everywhere, dirty old men, even by the bus depot,when you go there ... men standing around. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll whistle or something ... they\u00E2\u0080\u0099llask you to come and drink with them (p.31, transcript 1).Travis simply answers \u00E2\u0080\u009Csick!\u00E2\u0080\u009D on the topic.Noella and Travis spend their lives trying to fulfil the prescribed conditions in order to getthe two children back. Noella states, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m mad at the social workers.\u00E2\u0080\u009D And Travis reacts to theconstant surveillance which they live under. \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt pisses me off.\u00E2\u0080\u009D When asked what would make herlife easier, Noella confides wistfully:139We are going to AA and Travis and I go to parenting classes at Mount Carmel house(p.12, transcript 1) .... supposed to get the baby back on June 15 (p.23, transcript 1).[I want] To get my baby back, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d want to go finish at least up to grade 10, cause Iwant ... I want to finish school, take care of [baby girl\u00E2\u0080\u0099s name]. [About having morechildren] Yeah, when I get older I want to have more children (p.38, transcript 1).Travis states that he needs a job above all else. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI just need a trade.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Once again Noellaemphasizes that she wants to be like her adoptive auntie.She had a baby when she was 16 and when she was 1 7 she finished school and thenshe took a hairdressing course and she started buying equipment and she set up abusiness. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why I want to be like her (p.24, transcript 1).What would Noella advise a government person to do for street youth in Winnipeg? Noellamakes a strong start in answering the question and mid-thought her resolve fades away.I think I would put my foot down and just tell them straight .... I really don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t knowwhat I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d say, I probably would just shut right up if they were sitting right beside me(p.41, transcript 1).Her last advice was to \u00E2\u0080\u009CPut them [Street youth] in a group home, cause it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s dangerous out there.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe dangers she refers to remain, for the most part, untold. We are left to guess about the kinds ofdangers she is referring to and if she is a survivor of any of them. Travis thinks that street youthneed to stay in school, that they need safe houses and drop-in centres. He blames family alcoholismand abusive lifestyles (violence against women) for the resistance of street youth.The normality of life on the fringe of a wealthy society \u00E2\u0080\u0094 of the greyness that is not onlybearable but a staple diet \u00E2\u0080\u0094 is haunting throughout the interviews with Noella and Travis. Noextremes in violence, crime, drug abuse, hunger, illness, homelessness or alienation; no profoundcriticisms of conditions on the street or the society that spawns them; no fancy dreams of a utopianfuture exist for this young family. Only the immediate problem of getting back their child andfulfilling the conditions that will insure a speedy reunion are important. What is more haunting isthe possibility that they are simply being realistic about their life conditions and the prospects oftruly entering mainstream society or indeed Aboriginal society.140As evidence of their relative progression off the street Noella offers, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI never used to buythings for the apartment.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Although they are trying and Noella says \u00E2\u0080\u009CI think Travis and I will begood parents,\u00E2\u0080\u009D the deck is stacked against them, both as a relationship and in getting off the street.Both survivors of adoption, sexual abuse, street life, racism, and current warriors against the system,even Aboriginal agencies are destructive to their attempts to make a go of their shattered lives. Theyare a fragile unit, precariously sitting on the ledge of a forty story life support system, as it were.Twenty stories to fall, with the wrong move, and twenty stories up to reach the roof \u00E2\u0080\u0094 anextraordinary hard climb before they reach safety \u00E2\u0080\u0094 out of the reach of the street and of the \u00E2\u0080\u009Csocialsupport system.\u00E2\u0080\u009DAXLEMost of my life I felt alone (p.26, transcript 1).Axle is an eighteen year old male of Saulteaux ancestry who is the biological brother toNoella (also in this study). Axle is a 5\u00E2\u0080\u00998\u00E2\u0080\u009D tall, laid back type of person with a medium complexion,who exudes a sense of playfulness and optimism in the interview and in his relations with the Skystreet services environment. At one point he jokingly acts out a mock radio broadcast \u00E2\u0080\u009CWe arecoming to you from MacDonald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s,\u00E2\u0080\u009D and he chose the pseudonym Axle in the same light heartedway. Although he seems shy, he is a person who would \u00E2\u0080\u009Ctalk back\u00E2\u0080\u009D if he felt imposed upon.Axle came to the interview dressed casually and clean in his Sunday best. He wore hismedium brown hair in a conservative, just below the ear, style. His voice is deep and smooth andhe is articulate in his communication. He laughs easily in the interview. Axle was eager to beinterviewed first because he wanted to tell his story and secondly he needed the money to get backto the reserve to go on a fire fighting job.It appears that Noella is the eldest of six siblings, Axle is the second born. They have twoother brothers and two sisters in their biological family. All are or have been in foster homes oradopted. Mother and father live together on an undisclosed reserve in central Manitoba. Unlike141his sister Noella, Axle finds hope in finding his biological family, however dysfunctional Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099sdescription makes them out to be. \u00E2\u0080\u009CAt the time she gave me something to live for,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he said of hisnatural mother, even though he indicates there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s some things about her he doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like. He looksforward to one day making his home on the reserve. \u00E2\u0080\u009CActually, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all I want,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he says about theprospect of going home, \u00E2\u0080\u009C... just as long as I was with them all.\u00E2\u0080\u009DAt the time of the interview Axle lived with his sister Noella and her partner Travis in arented apartment. They are each other\u00E2\u0080\u0099s protection and family in the urban environment. They stillhave the street as their main reference and use street services almost exclusively. Axle has manyfriends that make their living on the streets, and although he watches out for some young womenworking the streets \u00E2\u0080\u009Cso they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get into trouble,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he is trying desperately to \u00E2\u0080\u009Cget back on track.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe journey is difficult without adequate food and housing, which exceeds even the need foradequate mental and physical health, education and jobs. His mild and optimistic exterior does notbetray the story that is to unfold.HistoryI would say I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m one of the lucky ones. I found my real family... I would say it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s aboost. It gives me something to work for (p.12, transcript 1).It is unclear if Noella and Axle were adopted at the same time. Axle thinks he was adoptedat the age of three or four and he said that he remembers something of life on the reserve before hisapprehension. Noella, who is two years older, relates that she was adopted at three or four. It ispossible that they were adopted into the same adoptive home at different times. It is most probablethat they were adopted together at somewhere between the ages of two and five years old, in whichcase, Axle would have been two years old at the time of adoption. The adoptive family consistedof an Aboriginal father and a non-Aboriginal mother, with two natural children\u00E2\u0080\u0094 a girl and a boy.The family moved a number of times, from Swift Current, to Regina, Edmonton and finally to a smalltown in Manitoba.\u00C2\u00A9E142As stated in Noella\u00E2\u0080\u0099s story, the adopted mother died of a brain tumour in 1984. Axle wouldhave been eight years old. He harboured a great deal of anger toward his adoptive father becausehe knew about the abuse that his sister was suffering. \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt bothered me a lot,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he related, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI felt likekilling him.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The anger and unhappiness he felt in the adoptive home led to extensive runningbehaviour, apprehension, foster care and detention.With his sister gone, during his time in open and closed custody and in foster homes, Axlebecame very self-destructive and suicidal. He simply didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to live anymore. Axle says thathe and his friends were not only into drugs and alcohol and petty crime, they were highly self-destructive as a well.Most of my friends, we all have something wrong ... we did something to ourselves,maybe try to hang ourselves ... did a suicide attempt (p.24, transcript 1).It was while Axle was in closed custody in Regina that their adoptive aunt, who Noella wasliving with at the time in British Columbia, found out that Axle was in custody. Noella phoned himwith the news that she had found their natural parents in Manitoba. He then left Regina to cometo Winnipeg in 1992. On his way to Winnipeg he stopped in Brandon, Manitoba and asked someAboriginal people in the bus depot if they had knowledge of his biological family. By coincidence,Axle met one of his cousins, who then took him in under his wing and took him to the reserve tomeet his family.On the streetsThey told me that my mom was murdered, that my dad murdered my mom and mygramma, that they were drinkers and that my dad was in jail.., at my young age Icould believe anything ... That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the reason I was on the street. I thought we weresurvivors (pp.22-23, transcript 1).Approximately two years after his sister left the adoptive home Axle began running at the ageof twelve or thirteen. He was searching for a happier place, he says.I kept on running away ... staying out with friends ... they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d stay with me ... wealways did the same thing \u00E2\u0080\u0094 running away. I was running away from badnessjust to get myself happier (p. 3, transcript 1).143He was the only Aboriginal boy among the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cescape club.\u00E2\u0080\u009D They would run together, staying at eachother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s houses, drinking alcohol heavily, landing in the drunk tank and starting over. This activitygradually escalated to renting hotel rooms and finally, after being apprehended, he spent time inyouth detention centres and in a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmillion foster homes.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He stayed in both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal homes, in urban and rural settings. Axle remembers a couple of foster homes that heliked \u00E2\u0080\u0094 he liked the attention. But he had to keep running or he would eventually be sent backto his adoptive home. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI did run away because I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to live with our father.\u00E2\u0080\u009DEventually Axle had to leave Regina because by this time his extensive running behaviour,drug abuse, criminal activity and suicidal behaviour had begun to give authorities the idea that hewas \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccrazy.\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009CI had to go to another place, because they thought I was crazy.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Numerous suicideattempts (by hanging, wrist slashing, taking pills) and suicide threats resulted in Axle almost dyingseveral times. After one incident he was unconscious in the hospital for four days. After a near misswith his life Axle began to think that his best revenge was to stay alive. He figured that no onewould care if he died.I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the people ... at the time I thought it was a good thing, I thought it wasa good thing for me to do, then when I was thinking maybe people are thinking, Ithought maybe how was it going to be like, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just going to be like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Oh, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s justanother dead kid. Oh, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nothing whatever.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I was thinking, yeah... so I thoughtI would bug them if I stayed alive (p.25, transcript 1).Of this time period, Axle relates that he was extremely depressed and lonely. It was a call for help.The help came in the form of news about his biological family. They were alive.Axle identifies his destructive behaviour, depression and street involvement as results ofbeing told, at the age of about five, that his father had murdered his mother and grandmother, andthat his father was in jail (quotation above). He claims that his adoptive parents and the socialworkers had told him the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cbunch of crock.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Certainly this was Axle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s understanding during hisgrowing years. \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt made me ... That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the reason I was on the street, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the reason I was on myown. At the time I felt like killing myself.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Noella makes no reference to this revelation. Whether144she knew or not is unknown. What is certain is that Axle was lonely and angered by his adoptedfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s abuse of his sister.Axle has been in Winnipeg for one year. He lives peripherally on the street. At least he hasa place to stay with his sister. He cites high rental costs compared with welfare rates as the reasonfor his not being on his own. Social workers have been working with Axle in order to assist himwith education and getting into the workforce. Axle, however, knows that he must continue hisrecovery from drug addiction, get his living conditions stable, get to know his family and work onhis mental health. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not ready. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m trying to get myself stable, like the way I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m living ... beforeI add another thing.\u00E2\u0080\u009D It has only been a year since he has been repatriated. He is still in thehoneymoon stage and he is fragile.Axle thinks that his street family is his best day to day support at the moment. \u00E2\u0080\u009CStreet peopleprobably care most for each other.\u00E2\u0080\u009D His sister is his mother right now, she is the one who looks afterthings. We have been told by Noella that her brother is one of her protectors on the street, he islike her father. Significant people on the street, for Axle, are the people at Sky, a street youthagency. He is comfortable in the environment and he gets the support he needs when he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s down.He said that they are like his brothers and sisters. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey would be like my family, while I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m hereand while they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re open.\u00E2\u0080\u009DDrugs and alcohol have played a big part in Axle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s life since he started running. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI had a lotof help for my drug problem. I had a problem with smoking dope ... They put me in treatmentI used to do hard drugs LSD, snorting cocaine, etc. It totally ruined my life. My family helped me\u00E2\u0080\u0094 to kick it. They helped me to get into different activities.\u00E2\u0080\u009D During this time crime became a wayto pay for his drug habit. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI used to steal.\u00E2\u0080\u009DAxle has friends on the street who are working in the sex trade. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI have a quite a few friendswho are prostitutes, I go there with a friend just to watch them so they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get into any kind oftrouble\u00E2\u0080\u009D [by writing down licence plate numbers]. He does not allude to further involvement.145Although he says he can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say their names he seems to accept the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cway they live.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Axle gave nocritique of the system, no horror stories of incidents, just a casual comment. One gets theimpression that he is careful about revealing too much about criminal behaviour. He wants to givea good impression, he wants to stay clean.Axle speaks in general terms about his life on the street. He has not done any extensivetravel or exploration of street life in any other cities. His Street life is driven by poverty andreconnection with his family \u00E2\u0080\u0094 and not by the adventure of it \u00E2\u0080\u0094 nor is he running from institutionsany longer: \u00E2\u0080\u009C... and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got one year still ... I got one more year out of my life so I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m finally living?(p.1 2, transcript 2). Axle doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see himself as out of the woods yet. He thinks it will take him oneyear to set himself up in his own place, get a job or go back to school. He is still on hold until hislife really begins. The experience on the street has been valuable for Axle. He believes that he haslearned \u00E2\u0080\u009Cto be tough, to have respect, and to get along ... to have confidence.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He also wantspeople to know that \u00E2\u0080\u009Cno matter how bad a person lived or how bad their life was they can get itback on track.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He must believe.RacismI get mad at the government because those [Aboriginal] people that are on thestreet should have their jobs ... the governments\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s been enough of theirlife taken. I had seventeen years taken from me (p.l2, transcript 2).Axle does not talk about racism at all. He stays in the immediate. He feels absolutelycomfortable in his relations with street workers of any ethnic origin. He says that people \u00E2\u0080\u009Cused to\u00E2\u0080\u009Dtreat him badly \u00E2\u0080\u0094 probably referring to his time of his destructive behaviour. He does, however,not make an association of any of this bad treatment with his ethnicity.They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just like brothers \u00E2\u0080\u0094 It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like you were never on the street ... like the otherday I was feeling down ... feels comfortable using street services. Other people \u00E2\u0080\u0094I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m treated better ... they used to treat me bad and now they treat me better [becausehe feels better about himself]. Security guards give me a hard time \u00E2\u0080\u0098What are youdoing in here?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... they think they have some kind of power over the shopping centre(p.6, transcript 1).146Axle gives a hint of knowing that Aboriginal people on the street should be getting more than theyare. He says, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not getting what they deserve ... some people are getting their lives ruined,destroyed, wasted because there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nobody there to help them.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Again he seems to allude toknowledge of the precursors of their condition, he believes that more helpers would alleviate thecondition. This indicates internalized oppression, in that he would not question the presentcircumstances of Aboriginal people. He then would likely attribute those assumed weaknesses tohimself.Although Axle criticises child and family services, welfare and the police for inadequateservice, no racial connotation is present (that is overt). It is only that they are too tough, and theydon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t give enough money to survive.Culture and identity\u00E2\u0080\u009CThat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all that I want ... as long as I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m with my relatives ... that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mshooting for right now (p.2\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 1).Axle is totally preoccupied in the reunification process, everything else is secondary. Heseems to have no awareness of Aboriginal culture (or at least he doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t discuss this explicitly),ceremonies, or any values that might be different from his life at the moment. He gives no evidenceof having learned any history of Aboriginal people. This absence of awareness may be attributedto his trauma of believing that his biological family were dead and in jail. He subsequently wouldfind a new world where he now had parents, siblings and an extended family \u00E2\u0080\u0094 a place where hebelongs. Finding a place within this world would naturally take precedence over the esoteric valuesof culture, in the immediate. He does, however, want to learn \u00E2\u0080\u009Chis\u00E2\u0080\u009D language and everything thathe\u00E2\u0080\u0099s missed.To get my life back together, to get back what I missed, try to get my language backtoo ... and try to get my image the way I want it to be ... Yeah, the respect ... stufflike that. Try to get everything ... just everything that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s missing from me right now.I like ... I would rather stay somewhere else but... just the years that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve missedjust the years that I missed with my family the way I should have been ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d saythere\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a couple of my aunties and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a couple of my uncles and a couple of mycousins yeah, they tried to help me but ... they came at various emotional times147when I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get along cause I was gone so long ... like I just got back with myfamily not too long ago, my real family, and I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t tell which people are helpingwant to help and which people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t (p.8-9, transcript 2).Axle is still learning to navigate the new universe. He doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know who his allies are. This makeshim vulnerable to disappointment.SocietyMy main interest is to get my life together ... to get back what I missed (p.8,transcript 2).When asked what would be the best possible future for him, Axle replies that he just wishesthat people in general would be nicer, that welfare rates would be higher, and that the governmentwould get Aboriginal people off the streets. The best possible future, he thinks, is to get married \u00E2\u0080\u0094have kids and not lose them. He wants a normal family. Again, Axle demonstrates thepreoccupation with the immediacy of his problem, as does his sister Noella in her interview. Bothdo not have the luxury of philosophical dialogue about Aboriginal existence in Canada. This is theworld of the truly disenfranchised\u00E2\u0080\u0094 the adopted \u00E2\u0080\u0094 those whose relationship to their adoptiveparents have disintegrated.Axle persists (at times when he wants to relate something directly to anyone who will listen,he talks directly to the tape recorder).I would say that the government ... the people ... whoever is in charge of thisplace of Winnipeg or so, they should see all the people that are on the street ... theyshould see how they live, they should see the stuff that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re plugging in their veinsand inhaling and stuff like that ... see how they keep themselves warm at night andthey should start opening their eyes and not being so blind (p.5, transcript 2).His idealism makes him think that \u00E2\u0080\u009Cseeing\u00E2\u0080\u009D would result in changes. \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt\u00E2\u0080\u0099s out there but it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hidden,but I guess, and kind of shoved aside and forgotten.\u00E2\u0080\u009DHe thinks that street youth should have a housing development that \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthey\u00E2\u0080\u009D should run, that\u00E2\u0080\u009Cthey\u00E2\u0080\u009D could pay the rent and have some self-determination. In a round about way Axledemonstrates that government people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have the experience that is necessary to produce the148solutions. This corroborates the feelings of most of the street youth who were participants in theresearch.At the end of the interview Axle took the opportunity (when the question was asked if therewas something he wanted to add, something he had not had an opportunity to talk about) to showhis subversive side. He tries a number of times to express that (at times he is interrupted by theinterviewer) he thinks that the time is coming where the tables will be turned on the people thathave wronged him in an institutional sense.There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a couple of things that I like to say, actually, that goes for the people that didThey should have thought about what they did, like how they wrecked people\u00E2\u0080\u0099sfamilies apart and took their kids away and stuff like that. To think about how theywould feel if it was the other way around ... if their kids were taken away, or eventhem. I wonder how they would feel and how that they wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be in the spot thatthey are today and if it was the other way around and if I were in their spot. Theyshould try for about a week and see if they can last that long to do that, to try to getthemselves fed and everything else ... Yeah, have a thing to test their skills \u00E2\u0080\u0094 likeour skills to see if they can do it, and see how long they like it .... cause maybesomeday they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll end up like that ... Soon that will turn around (p.11, transcript 2).On the other hand he has an idealized image about how things could be and he doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t believe theimage is possible. And still Axle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s playful character comes through when he refers to Walt Disney\u00E2\u0080\u0099slimitations.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll bet you if the way I would want this to be, it would be so nice, it would beperfect. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s too much of a dream. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even think that Walt Disney could makeit into a movie of this (p.13, transcript 2).He also reveals that he has been involved in the fundamentalist religion movement on the reserve.\u00E2\u0080\u009CIt\u00E2\u0080\u0099s good ... actually that would probably be the thing that got me up a little bit ... I went there acouple times ... those are the people, I know for sure, that care.\u00E2\u0080\u009DAt the end of the interview, Axle wants to dispel a myth about street people.I would say the people on the street, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t act that bad, if they do act that badis because the stories are put wrong ... they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re probably doing something right ... inthe newspaper or whatever the cops say something bad that makes it really badExaggerated, yeah (p.1\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 2).In the end Axle defends street people against the press. After all, as a street person, he is not so bad.149JEAN-MARCI act like a kid. I think I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m interesting. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m never going to grow up ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m nevergetting old ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m going to stay young until I die (p.2, transcript 2).Jean-Marc is a dark, thin, over six foot tall eighteen year old male from a Metis background,who first began exploring the streets of Winnipeg at the age of eleven. By the age of thirteen thestreet was a firmed reference point in his life. His one set of punk style clothes were ripped, raggedand dirty. He is proud of his appearance though. His explanation of his \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmongolian scalp lock\u00E2\u0080\u009D hairstyle showed his desire to differentiate himself from others in his environment. At times he worea black baseball cap which had the beak severely curled up and the word \u00E2\u0080\u009CINJUN\u00E2\u0080\u009D written acrossthe front in large white letters. Even his hat had an \u00E2\u0080\u009Cattitude\u00E2\u0080\u009D and set him apart. His generic ethnicfacial features and sophisticated behaviour would often have people mistake him for Italian orPortuguese.Jean-Marc has an amicable character, a very handsome face and a theatrical low voice (hehas done some acting on film). His vocabulary and demeanour betray his middle-class up-bringing.He takes charge in the westend deli where the interview takes place. He gets along well witheveryone, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, Street people and middle class business people. He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s ananimated talker about his adventures on the street. He describes himself as \u00E2\u0080\u009CTotally solo, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve alwaysbeen solo.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marc is currently homeless but survives on welfare and doing the \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccouch tour,\u00E2\u0080\u009Das he calls it. He finds a place to sleep with friends and will \u00E2\u0080\u009Conly break into a place if it is 40below ... then I sleep in a stairwell.\u00E2\u0080\u009D jean-Marc relates that he has been \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfree of hard drugs for ninemonths\u00E2\u0080\u009D and he has now begun the process of finding his Aboriginal biological roots.HistoryI was fed, I had clothing, I had toys and all that stuff but ... I had no idea who mybiological parents were (p.8, transcript 1).Jean-Marc was born to an Aboriginal mother and Scottish father. All Jean-Marc was toldabout his biological mother was that she was an eighteen year old university student, who gave him150up for adoption when he was one and a half years old. His father, he says, was not aware of hisexistence. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI guess she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t tell him ... My father does not know I exist.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He was adopted into a\u00E2\u0080\u009Cfairly upper middle class\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jewish home, where he stayed until the age of thirteen. Jean-Marcdistinguishes himself from other Aboriginal street youth by saying that he had everything and thathis drift to the streets contained an element of choice.Comparatively speaking, I had more than they did cause you know I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m talking aboutpeople whose parents ... welfare mothers and single parents and such (p.12,transcript 1).Even so, he describes a life of alienation starting with peer racial harassment in elementary school,identity confusion and adoption breakdown. The element of choice disappeared with a violent knifeattack involving his only adopted brother during a quarrel with his adopted father, at the age ofthirteen. He had to leave home.Jean-Marc was placed in the Manitoba Youth Centre where he became labelled as\u00E2\u0080\u009Cpsychologically disturbed.\u00E2\u0080\u009D His entry into a world of institutionalization and criminal ization hadbegun. The range of experiences gained in protective and rehabilitative custody were: \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe PenguinBuilding in P13 in the psycho centre ... strapped down ... pumped full of dope\u00E2\u0080\u009D; foster homes; levelfour group home for psychiatric \u00E2\u0080\u009Cproblems\u00E2\u0080\u009D; seventeen charges ranging from possession of illegaldrugs to armed robbery (youth offender and adult); incarceration in both youth detention to thepenitentiary (eight months); and to this day on-going psychiatric visits. (Jean-Marc\u00E2\u0080\u0099s early psychiatriclabel would later come in handy, today he can readily access welfare because of the label. He hasa history.) Later he would say, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI learned a lot in jail.\u00E2\u0080\u009DJean-Marc names racial harassment in school (ages 5-8) as a catalyst in the process that wouldlead to adoption breakdown.I came running home, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a Paki, mom, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a Paki.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 First thing she said to me is,\u00E2\u0080\u0098First of all it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Pakistani,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and then she started to tell me cause she took Nativestudies in university and such and she\u00E2\u0080\u0099d tell me basically, like they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re very anti-racistand the reason I found out later, a lot later on, was that they adopted me as opposedto adopting a Jewish child is because they felt sorry for Native kids who were notgetting adopted .... Which I think is a very poor excuse to adopt a kid cause it kind151of screwed me up but ... I thought it was, you know ... she explained to me whatNativity was ... what being Aboriginal meant, but first you know ... basically she toldme the way I could understand it at 8 years old, that I should be proud that I wasthere. I remember the next day, I planned out, I took my garbage mitts, soaked themfull of water and went to the front door of the school cause I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been used to leavingearly and running home from school through the back door and hiding in the schoolsomewhere till all the goons left. Putting on these gloves and shoving them into thesnow bank and then I went to school just grinning cause I knew what was gonnahappen. I knew they were going to bug me .... Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 and I goWHACK!, hit him right on the side of the head with these frozen mitts and I said,\u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m an Indian you *!#* (pp.6-7, transcript 1).After being told of his adoption Jean-Marc\u00E2\u0080\u0099s increasing curiosity about his biological parentshurt his mother. In the meantime, Jean-Marc noticed a dissimilarity between himself and hisadoptive family. To get relief from the widening gulf from them, he began hanging out with kidsdowntown. Peer pressure took hold. He and his friends began engaging in petty crime. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI did breakand enter with these kids.\u00E2\u0080\u009D When he was caught his parents would not support him.Basically my parents told me \u00E2\u0080\u0098We\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not even going to go to court. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all up to you,you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll have to find yourself a lawyer\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (p.13, transcript 1).The life that followed Jean-Marc\u00E2\u0080\u0099s removal from his adopted parents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 home was a far cry fromthe comfortable middle-class setting that included trips abroad. He lists the United States, France,Great Britain, Ireland and Amsterdam as places that they visited as a family. After receiving theproof he needed that his parents would reject him, \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt just like ... I mean it was a reason for themto finally say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Get the fuck out of the house or else\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to be there anyway.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marcentered a life of drugs, crime, detrimental relationships, incarceration and street life.The only other incident that Jean-Marc mentions under the topic of shame, that might haveadded to his building anger, was that during his time in school he was approached sexually by ateacher at age 13, and though Jean-Marc got away, he was so ashamed of it he never told anybody.Later in the interview he mentions this same teacher.a while later it was like ... isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t this guy your teacher in the paper ... one year injail for child molestation, which pisses me off cause me if I get nailed for robbingsomebody ... or just say for breaking and entering ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll get five years. If these guysget charged with sexual molesting a small boy ... he didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do any time, he got a year152suspended sentence and probation and he had to go to counselling. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like, fuck,the guy should be shot you know (p.1, transcript 2).Perhaps there is more hidden shame in Jean-Marc\u00E2\u0080\u0099s past. His psychiatrist has suggested that possiblyJean-Marc had been abused in some way before he was adopted. His self-destructive behaviourindicates many psychological problems that remain to be resolved. Now he is trying to get back inschool, stay off of drugs and out of jail \u00E2\u0080\u0094 or, in other words\u00E2\u0080\u0094 get his life together.On the streetsI was hanging out there and they made me feel like I was more welcome there.I know people would think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot less of a safe environment. Well myenvironment was safe ... it wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t me. It makes me think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s got to be hereditary(p.10, transcript 1).While Jean-Marc would boast of Seattle, New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Vancouveras street stops before returning to Winnipeg in late 1992, his drift to the street was gradual. He givesfew details of the life he led in the group homes and institutions, except to say that he watched alot of television. He comments that Edgewood House in Winnipeg was a really good place to be.\u00E2\u0080\u009CThat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s when I was out of the house (age 13). So I was in foster homes, in and out ... and I startedgoing through lots of changes.\u00E2\u0080\u009DOne of the changes Jean-Marc talks about was a life of crime. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWe used to rob people leftand right.\u00E2\u0080\u009D In one particular instance where \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe charges were robbery and attempted murder,\u00E2\u0080\u009D hisadopted mother assisted him to go to his adopted grandfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (dad\u00E2\u0080\u0099s dad) home in Seattle,Washington. At age sixteen he was a fugitive from justice. He was, however, with someone wholoved him. \u00E2\u0080\u009COh my dad\u00E2\u0080\u0099s dad loves me. Loves me more than any other person in the family causeI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m real to him.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The reprieve was to last for four months. He ended up on the streets of Seattle.\u00E2\u0080\u009CI didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know what to do cause I lived on the street in Seattle. Scary street to be on.\u00E2\u0080\u009DJean Marc ended up in Matsqui prison, in British Columbia, for \u00E2\u0080\u009Ca string of armed robberies,\u00E2\u0080\u009Dwhich he did alone. Now Jean-Marc is attempting to discontinue his life of crime.I mean, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve tried it and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve noticed I either end up in jail or in debt every singletime. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve done lots of crimes and I end up in jail so I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not good at it, so I153panhandle on the street, if I need money I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll borrow from friends and make sure topay them back (p.4, transcript 1).Jean-Marc is vague about his movement to the various cities that he claims to have lived in.He was, understandably, involved in much drug abuse and crime. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI was drunk all the time. I wasinto like pills, valium ....\u00E2\u0080\u009C Elsewhere in the interviews he mentions, \u00E2\u0080\u009CSee Vancouver is the hub ofthe heroin trade ... I started doing heroin and coke.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He kicked heroin at the Vancouver DetoxCentre and was tested negative for AIDS. Jean-Marc was involved in the sale of drugs in Vancouver,but again insisted, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not really good at selling dope ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d get caught ninety percent of the time.Sometimes I like to escape \u00E2\u0080\u0094 I smoke drugs but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t freebase anymore ....\u00E2\u0080\u009C Jean-Marc says hewatched out for prostitutes on the low track [where the cheap hookers work] in Winnipeg,I used to live at the William Hotel I used to ... watch over a few girls that were doingit on a low track, Fields and Main (inaudible) building they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any pimpsyou have to rely on people like I mean friends who go out and will watch a placeto make sure we you know ... whoever\u00E2\u0080\u0099s picking up ... make sure it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not a bad trick(p.3, transcript 1).He does not mention ever living off the avails of prostitution himself. He, in no uncertain terms,describes pimps as \u00E2\u0080\u009Cleeches and people I despise.\u00E2\u0080\u009DAlthough Jean-Marc has had many friends in gang activity he does not find this life appealing\u00E2\u0080\u009Cbecause I knew if I got into a bike gang, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s pretty hard to get out.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He seems to have extensiveknowledge of gang culture in the United States and was once approached to become an initiate bya \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstriker.\u00E2\u0080\u009D A striker is a person who kills for the gang and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpart of his being a striker was to recruitpeople that he knew were solid.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean Marc was able to resist owning \u00E2\u0080\u009Chis own Harley\u00E2\u0080\u009D in favourof staying \u00E2\u0080\u009Csolo.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Likewise guns are not an option in his life. \u00E2\u0080\u009CIf I carried a weapon it would justmake me want to use it.\u00E2\u0080\u009DJean-Marc describes a three year on and off relationship with an Aboriginal girl that resultedin a knife inflicted scar on his jugular vein and in a baby who was eventually given up for adoption.\u00E2\u0080\u009CIt was a weird fighting love-hate relationship.\u00E2\u0080\u009D154I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been hurt quite a bit. My ex-old lady, we had a child together and then I wentto jail. When I got back it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like she had thrown my kid to the dogs basically. Shewas drinking ... she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really try. Lost the kid to adoption which is the worstpossible thing that could happen, cause I was adopted. My son won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know who Iam. I was in jail at the time and I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t sign the birth certificate so there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s no wayin the world. I mean I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d love to try get his full name but who knows when somepeople adopt a child who\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a year and a half old, they might want to change hisname ... I look care of him for eight months (p.33, transcript 1).\u00E2\u0080\u009CShe,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he relates, \u00E2\u0080\u009Clived on the street, her background was more a reserve lifestyle .... I was reallydependent on that relationship.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Although it was not clear, it appears that Jean-Marc was still withthe same woman when she had another baby girl, possibly from another man (while he was in jailagain), who was also taken by social services. The separation from both children affected Jean-Marcdeeply. In the interview he rarely showed much depth of emotion except when speaking of his sonand the adoption. \u00E2\u0080\u009CHe\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the spitting image of me, only he has more hair.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThough Jean-Marc eventually had to leave the relationship, he is not so sure that even nowhe wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t give it another try even against his own better judgement. Much of the precedingrelationship took place in Vancouver. This is what he was running from when he returned toWinnipeg in the winter of 1992.Watching her go down wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t good for me ... Cause she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gonna fall, you know, nomatter how much I love her, I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t let her drag me down to drown with her (p.36,transcript 1).However, by September 1993 Jean-Marc was back in Vancouver \u00E2\u0080\u0094 his ambivalence about thisrelationship indicates that perhaps he would be back in a situation that threatens to destroy him.Jean-Marc talked rapidly accompanied with frequent lively gestures or facial expressions.During the interviews, however, the dialogue was scattered and shallow, particularly when tracinghis steps from place to place. The only details of street life occur in between incarcerations. JeanMarc\u00E2\u0080\u0099s dialogue about street youth and street life is cryptic and puzzling. His philosophy about therisks and danger of the street is stated as \u00E2\u0080\u009Ca street person\u00E2\u0080\u0099s got to realize that pain goes away anddeath is inevitable. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not too much they can fear or else it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gonna eat you alive.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marcechoes Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s message that \u00E2\u0080\u009CSurvival for us is in the mind not in the body.\u00E2\u0080\u009D155We learn more by the lessons that Jean-Marc has learned during his time on theStreet.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve finally learned to respect myself. I finally learned to treat people the way Iwanted to be treated myself. Finally learned that number one person in life is me.I finally learned how to look at somebody and in two minutes of conversation knowwhat they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re made of, know whether I want to know them, whether I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want toknow them. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned how to, you know, instead of stealing cars or anythinghow to walk by a car that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s running, the window down and go and still walk on,cause I just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to do it, that is I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to do the time for a stupid fuckin\u00E2\u0080\u0099silly car you know ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned self-control, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned to drink and be merry butnot get so fucking shit drunk I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know what I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m doing ... like drug and alcoholand charges. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned so much from the experience on the street, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learnedfrom my mistakes. I remember talking about street people who do the same mistakeover and other again. But there are a lot of street people out there and on the otherside of the coin that know more than me...(p.9, transcript 2).He goes on to talk about a worker in a group home whom he holds as a role model.Like I mean T. S. when he worked and using the street, he was like you knowreally down and out worst than me you know ... and now he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a care worker inEdgewood group home and like he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s done the same things I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m still doing ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tsay I have a great place to stay you know ... and I still drink you know ... but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099vealso learned that ... the first thing you do is weigh the option, money for food ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099velearned that even if it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Chinese noodles, spaghetti sauce or just Chinese noodles orwhatever ... I always keep something around ... that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s another thing I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned, ishow to know who to trust (p.10, transcript 2).Jean-Marc talks of going back to school. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m getting a bit older now and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s time for meto reevaluate myself.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The interviewer, however, felt that Jean-Marc might spend more time in hiscurrent lifestyle, especially with his being openly approached by frequent offers of cocaine fromstreet buddies. For, even though Jean-Marc was able to resist this day, his gregarious and affablestreet personality did not completely appease his \u00E2\u0080\u009Cin-betweenness.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Even as a solo, he both enjoysand needs people and their company.Racismit doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t mailer, you know, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not a racist ... like can that be my mother?That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s always in the back of my mind you know (p.8, transcript 2).156Even though Jean-Marc claims to be confused about his own identity he is matter-a-factlyintrospective about the impact of racism on the identity of the Aboriginal people in his life.Speaking about his ex-girlfriend, who was brought up on the reserve, he says:That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s pretty comparative to a lot of Native people like my ex-girlfriend ... she wasbrought up on the reserve ... taught\u00E2\u0080\u0094 \u00E2\u0080\u0098you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re Native so you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re lower class\u00E2\u0080\u0099 .... She\u00E2\u0080\u0099sfrom Ojibway culture and that caused her a lot of grief and she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s going through ityou know. She was taught that being an Indian was something to be ashamed of...if you really want to change anything you have to know how people really feelIdentity crisis, you know, not being proud of who you are. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not saying I wasreally proud of who I was. I was just sort of like, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not a Paki at least. So I stillhad a bad idea towards it (p.7, transcript 1).Continual harassment at school made him sensitive to internalized oppression. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI thought I was aPaki until I was eight.\u00E2\u0080\u009D With bitterness, he describes feeling \u00E2\u0080\u009Calienated\u00E2\u0080\u009D in a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cwaspy neighbourhood\u00E2\u0080\u009Dand school.Jean-Marc recalls a couple of harsh incidents with the police: one where they wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tbelieve his Jewish name and middle-class address, and another where the police were extremelyphysically abusive.I say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Go get a warrant\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... Sure enough BOOT and then they grabbed me andhoofed me right in the nuts ... \u00E2\u0080\u0098get down you fucking Indian or we\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll fucking killyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099.... Yeah I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve experienced racism with police officers (p.18, transcript 1).For this reason he believes that there should be \u00E2\u0080\u009CNative awareness\u00E2\u0080\u009D provided for all police officers.Jean-Marc also has a critical opinion of affirmative action in the recruitment of Aboriginal policeofficers.They\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got a lot of these police officers who are Native graduated, but then again,that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the token minority they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re graduating. These guys may have not been the beston the force .. just the fact of the colour of their skin ... they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re getting a job on theforce (p.19, transcript 2).The extreme incidence of overt racism and his experience with alienation at school did notinfluence Jean-Marc\u00E2\u0080\u0099s lack of critical comments about this treatment. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWe have a saying,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he says,\u00E2\u0080\u009CWell I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a street kid and I know street life but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m White, you know. Why should there be barriers,that is a barrier in a way you know \u00E2\u0080\u0094 being Native.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marc notices that he is also subject to157the colour line, in reverse, when in the company of Aboriginal people in the northend of Winnipeg.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve noticed that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m being ostracized in places, because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m lighter skinned andeveryone else is full blooded and they start talking Cree and I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand them(p.30, transcript 2).People cross the street when he is walking down the street, kick him out of waiting roomsbut he rationalizes \u00E2\u0080\u009Clook at me.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He does not attribute the idea that these actions might in any waybe related to racism. He blames their reactions on his height, his torn up clothing style, or upon hishair cut.Not so much as racism as it is the way I look, cause racism is a broad termPrejudism against the fact of my haircut, the fact that my jeans were all ripped. Thereason for that cause these are the only fucking jeans I own. I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t afford to washmy jeans you know... cause when I get money I want to eat ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got to live withwhatever I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got, but I experience that...(p.18, transcript 1).Perhaps the reactions are a little of both.Culture and identity[How do you feel about being Aboriginal?] Confused ... confused. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t knowwhat I am ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to know what I am ... but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know what I am (p.25,transcript 2).\u00E2\u0080\u009CI hope you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t mind that I have a Jewish last name,\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marc says apologetically at theonset of the interviews as if to disqualify himself as an Aboriginal person (for the purposes of thisresearch). Jean-Marc is a regular participant in the westend \u00E2\u0080\u009Cgranola belt\u00E2\u0080\u009D hippy-type culture inWinnipeg and performs rap music with a band at an alternative club. He knows everyone. Headvises on exactly what bagels are best to buy. It is life in relation to the larger society that is moreproblematic for him. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s in that world that he is asked to identify himself culturally and that causesconfusion. For twelve and a half years Jean-Marc lived with a Jewish family. Contradictions in hisadoptive parents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 values and the expression of their culture made him start to question.And we\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go on Saturdays and try and learn all this stuff, I mean my mom is prettyhypocritical about it cause once she went through the whole ordeal of ... I call it anordeal because you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got the passover plate and the horseradish and the parsley andthe reading of the Torah ... Lord King of the Universe, a toast which was grape juice158because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t drink. Then after like about 45 minutes we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re getting hungry, ofcourse. Mom brings out a baked ham. Honest it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like I wanted to burn myyammicka (p.31, transcript 1).He goes on, \u00E2\u0080\u009CMy mom is a really cool person but she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just slightly eccentric.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Along with noticinginconsistencies in beliefs versus behaviour, \u00E2\u0080\u009CJudaism, which is hogwash to me ... it works for somepeople okay, I mean true Hasidic Jews.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marc felt that there was favouritism expressed by hisadopted father. \u00E2\u0080\u009CYeah, he was real proud of his son ... I was the black sheep. His son looked likethem, liked the same music etc...\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marc began to demand attention, even if it was negativeattention. The philosophical questions and the intra-familial problems combined to alienate Jean-Marc from his adopted culture and his family. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThe Jewish way is to shun you,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he says of hispermanent removal from their environment. He does not attend important cultural holidays orfamily functions, although he maintains some contact. \u00E2\u0080\u009CMy dad, he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the one who hates me ... I wasdisowned.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marc laments, \u00E2\u0080\u009CIf they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d been more supportive of my interests.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marc feelsuncomfortable in the company of his Jewish adoptive parents and in the company of \u00E2\u0080\u009Creal Indians.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThis indicates that Jean-Marc is really caught between two cultures, two world views \u00E2\u0080\u0094 he feelsuncomfortable in both. It is no wonder that he would choose the relative ease of the street, wherehe says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CThe street person sees a little bit of escape from the fact that where they are at\u00E2\u0080\u009D and \u00E2\u0080\u009CI canhonestly say I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have any enemies.\u00E2\u0080\u009D\u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t believe in God,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he says, although he indicates occasionally doing his form ofoffering in an Aboriginal way.Once in a while I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll take a cigarette out of the package If I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got one and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll breakit up and throw it in the garbage, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s my idea of trying to get back to the earth (p.25, transcript 2).\u00E2\u0080\u009CI didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say I believed in it, I said it seemed like the most reasonable,\u00E2\u0080\u009D he quickly qualifies. He haslearned what he knows of Aboriginal philosophy during his eight month stay in the penitentiary.\u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve done smudges you know and went to meetings in jail.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Jean-Marc again betrays some fragment159of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cinsider\u00E2\u0080\u009D information when he says of his former girlfriend, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI kind of think she put medicine onme.\u00E2\u0080\u009DJean-Marc indicates in a round about way that he knows something about the structuralarrangement of Aboriginal status in Canada.Being an Indian is kinda confusing ... The government makes a difference betweennon-status Indians and FBI\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (full blooded Indians) (p.30, transcript 1).He does not, however, know how it works.My mother was Native, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think she has to be full blooded, do you? Bill C-31\u00E2\u0080\u0094 as long as the father was Native then you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re eligible but if the mother was Nativeyou also get it [status], I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know. (p.39, transcript 1) .... You know getting mystatus isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t the reason I want to find my mother cause status to me, I mean, I treatpeople equally ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s so great that Indians get status ... there aresome who have it and abuse it (p.4\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 1).His knowledge is limited, but he does think that injustice exists toward Aboriginal people. In hisown way Jean-Marc expresses that self-determination is a good goal.these laws, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re telling these people \u00E2\u0080\u0094 you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got your reservations, but you\u00E2\u0080\u0099vegot to stick by our laws while you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re in there. Even Indians don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t kill people ... don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tapprove of thievery .... Violence \u00E2\u0080\u0094 I think the White man\u00E2\u0080\u0099s way got in there ... Theviolence wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t there before, it was usually wars against tribes and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s alwaysbeen war in civilization wherever he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s [man] been (p.26, transcript 2).\u00E2\u0080\u009CIndians are so patient ... too too patient\u00E2\u0080\u009D is his lament. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI think there should be totally freeexpression of culture ... but not from a book ... not from a piece of paper.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He quickly adds that\u00E2\u0080\u009CI wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like to see the White government looking over it to make sure it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all cool.\u00E2\u0080\u009DOff the record Jean-Marc impressed the interviewer with his version of Aboriginal philosophyand giving back to the earth. His belief system is a complex mixture of Aboriginal thought, westernphilosophy and a professed agnosticism.I control my own destiny, if I make a mistake I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m gonna pay for it, I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t blamenobody else for it. I atone for my own sins you know, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m gonna deal with itthat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s me (p.28, transcript 1).In the final analysis, Jean-Marc\u00E2\u0080\u0099s self-image as a street person is not questionable.I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t describe a street person as negative because I am one of them, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d putmyself down (p.2, transcript 1).160SocietyYou do what you can (on tape only).Jean-Marc is basically uncritical of the society he lives in. He simply doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t fit into theFreedom 55 commercial yet. (This is the middle-class Canadian dream of retiring with comfort atthe age of fifty-five which is a popular finance commercial on television today.) He regrets,sometimes, that he doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have the education he could have had by now. On the street heclassifies people into bums, pimps and prostitutes, those who learn from their mistakes and thosewho don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t, drug addicts, and criminals. He basically doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have an analysis of why they are thereor how their lives could be improved. His immaturity shows repeatedly, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t wait till I get older,then I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll have a reason for being crazy.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe man-child in a 6\u00E2\u0080\u00995\u00E2\u0080\u009D eighteen year old body, who never wants to grow up, who reallywants to know who he is, for whom the street represents a place where \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpeople look like me,\u00E2\u0080\u009D forthe time being, continues on his \u00E2\u0080\u009Cchosen\u00E2\u0080\u009D path on the street.Fear on the street? ... nothing. Pain goes away ... like your skin grows back, deathis inevitable ... I mean if that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s going to happen \u00E2\u0080\u0094 I guess maybe something I fearwould be surviving the holocaust cause if I was the only survivor there\u00E2\u0080\u0099d be lots oftoys to play with but no one to play with me. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve always overcome that fear bymeeting people right away ... so there is really no fear now on the street with that(p.24, transcript 2).DALE: Former street personI\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never leaned towards what society demands that a man be ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never givenin to that role that men play in society. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never identified with that, so I can crywhenever I want, I can laugh whenever I want, I can hug somebody whenever Iwant, because I have those emotions in me. I think that comes from ... a feminineside but ... I think that men are allowed to do that also. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s no rule or law oranything saying that we can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do that you know ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never felt that I was wrongever, ever, ever (p.22, transcript 1).Dale is a twenty-eight year-old gay Aboriginal male who is from a Cree community innorthern Manitoba. He is a tall 5\u00E2\u0080\u0099lO\u00E2\u0080\u009D slender person, who wears his beautiful waist-long black hairdown most of the time. He is an age-conscious person who works out everyday to keep his bodyin the best possible shape. His very dark, attractive complexion lends an exotic appearance when161he goes out in drag. Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s attire, speech and social behaviour were studied and meticulous. Thisadded a pleasant quality to Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s slightly accented, low voice.Dale met the interviewer, for the first time, after a workout at a community gym, so he wasdressed in fresh casual workout attire. For the second visit, Dale invited the interviewer to hishouse. The interview took place as Dale sat posturing in front of the mirror, in a teddy, curling hislong hair. He was entirely comfortable and happy with himself and eager to share his entireexperience as a gay Aboriginal male who had been on the streets of Winnipeg. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to bea woman, I like being a man ... I have no problems \u00E2\u0080\u0094 qualms\u00E2\u0080\u0094 about speaking about my life.\u00E2\u0080\u009DHe was a gracious host as he showed the interviewer around his spotless and homey abode. Daleis an actor/writer who also works occasionally for the Winnipeg Gay and Lesbian Resource Centredoing workshops on gay sexuality and AIDS prevention. He survived living on the streets ofWinnipeg for five years and now lives on welfare, when he isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t working. He lives in a gay cooperative household he fondly calls home. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a place to stay, I have a home.\u00E2\u0080\u009DHistoryFeeling uncomfortable about my sexuality was the main thing, cause I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t livemy life openly there, you know, as a gay man on the reserve (p.11, transcript 1).Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s mother and father live on a reserve adjacent to a fairly large town in northwesternManitoba. They have been married for forty-six years and have managed to keep their familytogether through alcoholism, domestic violence, child neglect and the normal poverty that besetsmany Aboriginal families in the Canadian north. They belong to a strong, cohesive, extended family,in which Dale plays the devoted uncle to many nieces and nephews. One other brother lives inWinnipeg. He is also gay identified. Dale does not speak of him much. They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t live together,however, there was no indication that the brother is on the street in Winnipeg. The rest of thefamily continue to reside in the north.Well ... my parents were actively alcoholic, when I was growing, [they were] fightingand abusive to us and stuff like that. We weren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t well cared for because my parentswere always drunk, passed out or whatever. So somebody had to build a fire,162somebody had to cook us food, somebody had to wash our clothes, somebody hadto do all that stuff, so when we got a certain age we started to learn to do thosethings ourselves because nobody else would do them for us ... and the funny thingabout us is we never had curfews or stuff like that, nobody never reprimanded us forbeing out late .... Or bedtime or things like that because it was just you know thenormal, cause all the kids stayed out till twelve. It was very poor, it was very tragicwhen I see the pictures of us as kids, the way we were dressed, the house we livedin ...the poverty \u00E2\u0080\u0094 it was incredible. It was isolated when I was growing up but notanymore it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s grown so much ... then all it had was travel roads, bush and bush andbush. I went through the whole gambit like alcoholic parents and you know abusiveparents, sniffing and drinking and being exceptionally abused and all that stuff (p.7-8, transcript 1). I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m from a large family yes and there was only so much attentionI guess, you could receive from your parents ... but my parents were there as muchas they could be, but when it came time for me to leave I had to for my own sanity\u00E2\u0080\u0094 not my parents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 but my own sanity (p.3, transcript 1).Dale tells of strong traditional grandparents, strong willed women who ran the roost, and afather who is a product of the residential school system. He describes his dad as a quiet person whoquit drinking \u00E2\u0080\u009Cat about fifty.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Although Dale blames the boarding school system for his father\u00E2\u0080\u0099ssubdued personality, he admires his parents\u00E2\u0080\u0099 wisdom and traditional knowledge. In 1987 the familywas struck by tragedy. One of Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s brothers committed suicide. Dale does not talk about anyother loss of family.Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s early adult life as a gay male on the reserve was miserable. He began abusing alcoholand he gradually sank into suicidal depression. He was forced to live in the closet. The only wayto find a community where he would be accepted was to leave the north and his family to cometo the city. This he did in 1981.On the streetsI couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t deal with my sexuality in a positive way when I lived on the reserveit wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t accepted and my mental state and my emotional state, as a teenagergrowing up, was very unstable and I felt very suicidal, very angry and depressedall the time so I had to leave there in order to survive. Another factor that had mego on the street was my alcoholism ... to find other people that drank the way I did(p.2, transcript 1).The first time Dale went to the big city of Winnipeg was to see a psychiatrist at the age offifteen. He had had a nervous breakdown. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI had a nervous breakdown when I was about fifteen,163and I thought people were out to kill me.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Over a period of a year Dale made the decision torelocate to Winnipeg. At sixteen he moved onto the streets in earnest.Dale describes being on the street as not having a home and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cliving the life that you haveto live because of all those factors that affect your life.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He means that people suffer different streetconditions because of various kinds of victimization that they bring to the street with them. Forinstance, Dale faced harsh discrimination particular to gay people in a homophobic society....You know they taunt me and they make really crude remarks and they swear at meand throw things at me ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve always thought that man fears what man does notknow and I think a lot of homophobia could stem from ignorance of the subject (p.2,transcript 2).And the discriminatory behaviour he describes was from the Aboriginal community. Others, maleand female, suffer greatly because of a sexual abuse background. Dale, then, had the burden of themultiple oppression of race, class and sexual orientation. Poverty, alcoholism and homelessnesswere simply pre-conditions as well as by-products of street life.I guess experiencing everything that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s out there when you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a home baseor a job or you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re uneducated ... I guess in simpler terms the street is not having ahome base, not having anywhere to shower on a regular basis, not having anywhereto eat on a regular basis, nowhere to sleep on a regular basis. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s running thestreets (p.1, transcript 1). I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been beaten up, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been robbed you know, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve beenraped, you know everything, everything in the book that could possibly happen topeople ... you know I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been out in the winter time on the streets, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been out youknow in falling rain ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve gone hungry for days at a time (p.18, transcript 1). Yeah,of course, in my life, I think, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve run the whole gambit of being gay like beingbeaten because I was gay, being verbally attacked because I was gay, sexuallyabused because I was gay you know all of those things. I think it isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t a typicalexperience of a gay man but that was my experience. Some of the gay men that Italked with have had that experience (p.11, transcript 1).Dale says that AIDS was just beginning to make the news when he came out in the city.Therefore he knew to protect himself. One wonders if Dale can be absolutely safe because of therape he talks about. When Dale sobered up at the age of twenty, he began going to workshops andeventually began to conduct workshops himself. Dale would then provide the support and a rolemodel for gay Aboriginal youth, that he lacked when he came onto the scene.164I came out in the days when AIDS was a really big thing, so right from the start whenI came out it was like prevention ... I think in that sense we knew right from the startthat it was dangerous to have sex with anybody without being protected and I thinkthat drove me more to protect myself ... No, not actual workshops, they were justpamphlets, booklets, people talking to us. When I sobered up, I started takingworkshops then on safe sex and the prevention of STDs and AIDS and eventuallystarted doing workshops on safe sex and sexuality ... They were free a lot of timesand a lot of times I was paid honorariums to do workshops you know ... And toparticipate in panels and stuff (p.5, transcript 1).In talking about shame, Dale relates the intense suffering he experienced because of beingraped, about being a prostitute, about homophobic harassment, about being uneducated andunemployed. With no one to talk to about the experience of shame from many sources, heremained alone.a lot of times I think that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s where shame enters... is that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a man and this isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tsupposed to happen. There are a lot of things we can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk about, like men don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tget raped and ... feeling that emotion ... of terror, and you know hurt and shameI\u00E2\u0080\u0099d have to be able to vocalize it. My demon, in a sense. I have to feel thatsomebody cares enough to comfort me and say that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll get through this, and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mhere to listen to you and talk about it (p.36, transcript 1). I was a prostitute andwhen you sleep with 300 pound dirty unclean White men .... It was a very shamefulpart of my life. Sitting at a bar at 12:00 p.m. on a workday, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s very shameful.Being uneducated and trying for a job and having no experience brought a lot ofshame to me too ... being beaten because you are a gay ... to being called down inpublic in front of a lot of people ... a lot of shame (p.19, transcript 1). Yes, yes, fora lot of years I went out dressed as a woman and I ran the streets looking like awomen and my hair was dyed and I wore these outrageous outfits, and so I guess itgave cause for people to look. Oh, definitely, [I did it] for attention. I outgrew thatphase fast (p.1\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 1).During his time as a prostitute, Dale became a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmaster manipulator\u00E2\u0080\u009D as a survivalmechanism. His cross dressing was one way to be up front and ahead of the game. Dale relatedthat he outgrew the outrageous flaunting stage as he was becoming comfortable with himself. Nowhe still cross dresses, but in a gentler fashion and because he simply likes it.Although Dale was an alcoholic, he was safe from hard drugs. His strict church-goingCatholic up-bringing was the buffer he clung to.My experience wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t any different from any other person\u00E2\u0080\u0099s, except for the fact thatI never did hard drugs, I was never ever into drugs ever ever ever (p. 7, transcript 1).It was like the devil\u00E2\u0080\u0099s ... it was the extreme because I was brought up Catholic, myparents were church going people and drugs were always the things that were going165to kill you, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re really harmful and so I was always wary of them, and what it didto people on the reserve that were using them ... I thought, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Well, I never want to belike that so I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll stick to drinking,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 you know. I never attempted to shoot up. Ismoked dope of course, you know, I did at that time, but it was very infrequently.There is the danger of falling into the trap of alcoholism and drug abuse ... I thinkbecause those are so readily accessible in the [sex] trade, as a bargaining tool (p.7,transcript 1).Out of DarknessI was one of the lucky ones because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve met so many people that have guided mealong the way. So you know I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been blessed in that sense (p.33, transcript 1).Dale quit cold turkey while he was on the street, he sobered up at age twenty. After twoweeks he went to the Alcohol Foundation of Manitoba to ask for residential treatment and theyturned him down. They wanted him to take an outpatient program. They thought he had his \u00E2\u0080\u009Cheadscrewed on tight.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Dale felt too fragile. \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt was two weeks after I quit drinking, I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t in anyshape to live.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He then turned to the Gay and Lesbian Resource Centre and joined a group calledNew Freedom.Like twenty was the mark when a lot of shit going on in my life that changed and myideas and my views about life changed because it was the time I sobered up. Istarted going to meetings at a group called New Freedom on Sergeant and Banning.It was a gay group and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m generally thankful that that group was there because itwas good for me. Because as a gay man I hadn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t dealt with that full extent of mysexuality. A lot of my drinking was attributed to the fact that I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk aboutmy sexuality. I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk about my sexuality, so when I went in. There wasopenly gay atmosphere and that these people were comfortable and sober being gay.I had a sponsor and there was another gay Native man there (p.6, transcript 1).At the Gay Community Centre Dale received the support he needed. He not only couldexpress his experience as a gay Aboriginal man, but he found the community that he had beencraving since he left home. And he found some mentors to help him build the self-confidence heneeded to feel like he belonged somewhere \u00E2\u0080\u0094 anywhere. Dale says that he entered his first realrelationship after he stopped abusing alcohol.There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s two people that I really care about and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re peers of mine that have taughtme a lot about life. They are two men I met along the way. One of them was reallyinfluential in my sobering up and maintaining my sobriety and then the other hastaught me about all the mannerisms and the fine points of relating with other people(p.2, transcript 1).166Many of the street services that exist today would have been before Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s time. The onlyservices left to him were child and family services, provincial welfare, the Gay and Lesbian ResourceCentre and psychiatric services. As in the case of Jean-Marc, the psychiatric label legitimatedfinancial services. Once you have the label, getting welfare is relatively easy.I hung out there a lot and learned a lot \u00E2\u0080\u0094 for which I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m really thankful for\u00E2\u0080\u0094 thisplace that they have and I eventually started working there ... the project was theWinnipeg Gay and Lesbian Resource Centre ... Yeah, and they were youth and theyspoke of what their feelings as gay people growing up. We had meetings and stuff,it was really wonderful. There was also a support group for the youth and that wasreally beneficial I think in getting an idea of what it was to be gay (p.4, transcript 1).so because when I sobered up \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the street life \u00E2\u0080\u0094 I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want anymore. So Iworked towards a place in my life where I could live a quiet city life, yeah, becausethose are things that society smiles upon. You know it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just live your life quietlyand speak your truth quietly and go to work and pay your bills. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve struggled to dothat and I am still struggling to do that ... obtain some peace of mind ... peace ofmind in my life. I have a home ... a base on which to build and I value that. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099sthe basic structure in my life, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what keeps me together \u00E2\u0080\u0094 if I have somethingto fall back on. I always have a home to come home to, I always have a place toshower, I always have a place to eat because I struggle to maintain those amenities(p.18, transcript 1).Safety is an issue for Dale even when he is not on the street. He is still a cross-dresser andhe is openly gay, therefore he is vulnerable to gay bashing. He says that Winnipeg is especially badin this respect. He has learned to be cautious.Street wise, yeah. Because like for me I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not scared to go anywhere. I have nofear of going anywhere by myself like that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s no problem but the thing is that there\u00E2\u0080\u0099sa lot of places I chose not to go by myself you know because I just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feelcomfortable in those settings (p.24, transcript 1).Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s recovery has entailed counselling for trauma, alcohol treatment, and sexualitycounselling. Personal growth, a stable home, a long-term relationship, positive relations with hisextended family and an accepting community have been the main stays of his continued sobrietyand stability. Dale seems happy and he is looking forward to continued growth in many areas ofhis life. His story demonstrates that specific services need to exist for gay Aboriginal youth, bothat the reserve level and in urban centres. He has become a much needed role model for gayAboriginal males.167I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve adopted a family in the gay community ... because I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have that from myfamily, I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t run to my parents, I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t run to my brothers and sisters for helpbecause they have no understanding of what my life is like or what my sexuality isabout or what you know goes in my life.., because they can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t relate to it becausethey are heterosexual people (p.6, transcript 2). I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve incorporated a lot of stuff in mylife that to make a base for my spirituality and you know and my beliefs in ourcreator and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve adopted a lot of Native beliefs, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve adopted a lot of my own ideasand I think that works for me in a way to make me a whole person. I think that\u00E2\u0080\u0099swhat I strive for in my life is to be a whole person (p.28, transcript 2).RacismI think I experience racism everyday ... if I took the time to write down all theracism that I had in my day you know, I could write a book about racism. I couldwrite a book about racism and sexism (p.13, transcript 1).Dale gives mixed messages when he talks about racism. On the one hand he feels that thereis a lot of racism, and on the other he gives the impression that he wants only to be acceptable inthe society that discriminates against him on the basis of colour. He begins by saying that he doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tthink that people stare at him for any other reason than because he has long hair, and ends by givingexamples of discriminatory behaviour against him that are very overt. He could mean that hispersonal strength is strong enough to transcend the insult.I think the only reason people would stare is because you know I have waist lengthblack hair you know, other than that there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nothing outstanding about ... differentabout me. But it has taken a lot of years to learn that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not different from anybodyelse you know. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s taken a lot of years to cultivate it (p.10, transcript 1).Dale indicates that he felt an acute lack of social graces because of a poor reservebackground. He sounds like he has a lot of internalized racism as well. Dale seems to say that thesocial graces he lacks are White ways of doing things, and not simply polite ways (even in his ownculture) of doing things. This would be the case since his departure from the street also meant anintroduction into the White gay and lesbian culture. This is the place he would fit in with his gayidentity. But, since he came from a Northern community where Aboriginal ways of beingpredominate, he would feel ill at ease in the southern middle-class gay community that was \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmoreeducated\u00E2\u0080\u009D than himself. He would become self-conscious about being unsophisticated in his waysin an urban setting.168I think growing up we didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have people that came in and said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Well, this is theway life is supposed to be lived, this is the way you have to answer in places andcertain people, this is what you talk about and all those things. This is how you sitat the dinner table\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... all of those things were never taught to us. And we werenever taught to be, I shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say for anybody else but for myself, and I always feltthat I was lacking in social graces amongst other people. I think that drew me intoa shell more. You know made me drink more and stuff because I always felt that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099dnever fit anywhere (p.3, transcript 1).Dale admits that he felt ashamed of being of Aboriginal origin. \u00E2\u0080\u009CYeah definitely. I was not alwaysas educated as the White people or I always felt in fear you know.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Again, this shame is in relationto his relative lack of education. The examples of racism he gives in the foregoing dialogue wouldlikely also facilitate self-hatred as an Aboriginal person.Ok, you go to the store, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s three people there, two of them are White and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mNative, the two White people get served first ... Or they throw your change at you\u00E2\u0080\u0094 like if you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like that job then you shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be here if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re throwingchange at people. A lot of time I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll throw it right back at them. Rude behaviour,yeah, another thing, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s in the gestures, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s in the eyes, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s in the body language,you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re standing at an elevator with somebody and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll kind of move to the corner sothat I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to be close to this person (p.13, transcript 1).Dale gives some examples of stereotypic images of Aboriginal women that he has been privyto as a male in a racist and sexist environment. He goes on to explain how Christianity has helpedto alienate Aboriginal people from each other \u00E2\u0080\u0094 he is talking about the separation of straight andgay people in the Aboriginal community. The imposed values of Christianity is a form of racism.I think like ... the red hot blooded squaw or something like that ... and the long blackflowing hair and the brown copper tone skin and the high cheek bones and thingsthat are erotic things to people .... Native people because you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve always been boldand beautiful ... Sexual \u00E2\u0080\u0094 there are so many fallacies I guess about Native sexualitythat as writers one of our jobs is to bring that back the Native love story. And I thinkthat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s another thing that Christianity does to us is it alienates us from each other. Soit teaches us through their teachings to differentiate what is normal and what isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tAnd there are a lot of celebrated gay Native people out there, that people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tknow are gay ... Cause again we ... through advertising and through publicity that\u00E2\u0080\u0099ssomething that would bring shame to the community, so let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not discuss that part.(p.24, transcript 2).Dale talks about the mixture of racism and homophobia that is a constant threat to his wellbeing in Winnipeg. He says, however, he still feels more fear in the homophobic Aboriginalcommunity. He makes a most saddening revelation of intra-group homophobic violence in169Winnipeg. In the same breath Dale reveals that Aboriginal males do engage in covert homosexualactivities in the anonymity of the city.One of the things that I really see, I think, and this is a sad fact but I really find it tobe true a lot of times. If you get beaten and robbed or raped one time this year, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099llprobably be by a Native guy, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s especially in Manitoba. That is a sad fact ... asad observation that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve made myself. Because every time I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been beaten orrobbed or raped, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s been by a Native man. In the urban community then it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a sadfact ... I am weary of being in the Aboriginal community, the whole Aboriginalcommunity because I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel safe in that community (p.Z3, transcript 1). Yeah,I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve talked with a lot guys that are Native men that come in from out of town andstuff and have sexual relations with them or have a relationship with them for theweekend and stuff like that (p.7, transcript 2).Dale ends his dialogue on differential treatment by stating that his ethnicity is a barrier inintimate long-term relationships with White men.And with a White person, my experience has been with a White person that a lot ofstuff comes out like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098How would my family react to you? What would they say?\u00E2\u0080\u0099and stuff like that \u00E2\u0080\u0094 it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not so much the Christianity, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just racism (p. 24, transcript2). Like again, you know, Christianity plays a real important part in our sexuality andour sexual conditioning as Native people. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what I regret. I believe a lot in theChristian beliefs. I think of all of that stuff and work it into my spiritual life butthere\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot of stuff that I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t agree with (p.18, transcript 2).Culture and identityI love being Native ... I love it ... you know I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s beautiful, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s such ahistory and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s such a culture and the language that I speak is beautiful. Itflows off the tongue so well and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s beautiful to listen to when you hear it. Formyself to be able to speak that and also the traditional teachings and the dance andthe music and all that stuff \u00E2\u0080\u0094 it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s beautiful. The extended family, I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s oneof the best scripts that we have. Just being able to live with all our family \u00E2\u0080\u0094 notjust one person (p.25, transcript 1).Dale does not tell of early cultural alienation or identity confusion as an Aboriginal person.He speaks his language, he has a strong extended family system and he says that his grandmotherwas a medicine woman. Dale has a good relationship with his parents: they have visited him in hishome. He has had the benefit of great influence by grandparents who were traditional (althoughCatholic). Dale speaks fondly of cultural teachings in his value system. It is the influence ofChristianity that he repeatedly and strenuously criticizes. Dale has been, in the past, ashamed ofbeing Aboriginal; however, as stated in the previous section, this shame, as he calls it, is more of170a condition of feeling socio.-economically and behaviorally different. This is an important difference,since Dale continues to aspire to fit in perfectly.Dale presents as a person who is very comfortable and knowledgable in his culture and atthe same time feels inadequate in mainstream culture. This mild form of alienation is a product ofDale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s separation from the Aboriginal community with respect to his homosexuality. His homecommunity at best \u00E2\u0080\u009Ctolerated\u00E2\u0080\u009D his difference. There was no opportunity to express himself on anequal footing with others. In the urban setting the Aboriginal community is dangerous to him. Hedoesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel physically safe in the Aboriginal community.Thinking about it, I really felt a lot of frustration and a lot of stress and a lot of mentalanxiety towards my sexuality and so I had to leave there in order to pursue or to getan idea of what it was to be gay because there was no role model, there was nocounselling factors, there was nothing, nobody ever talked about it, it was never atopic of discussion (p.11, transcript 1). Yeah, one other thing that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really good Ithink was with gay men \u00E2\u0080\u0094 we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re very up front together about our sexuality, and Ithink that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s one of the thing that drives us ... dealing and learning about it and tryingto come to terms and understand why we are the way we are (p. 21, transcript 1).Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s experience with a psychologist in Winnipeg at the age of fifteen brought home thedouble alienation which he continues to deal with in his present day struggle to survive in the urbancommunity. The psychologist didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand Aboriginal experience, of living on the reserve, ofpoverty, of Aboriginal ways of thinking \u00E2\u0080\u0094 \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe experience,\u00E2\u0080\u009D nor did he ever say anything about thefact that Dale might be gay. \u00E2\u0080\u009CNot at all cause he never said anything.\u00E2\u0080\u009Dhe was just an old fat little bald Jewish man and he would sit there and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099d askme really dumb dumb dumb questions, and they were because none of them everever had anything to do with my sexuality ... I guess I had some sort of a nervousbreakdown ... he says, \u00E2\u0080\u0098it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just stress\u00E2\u0080\u0099 .... He was very stupid like this man had noidea, I guess, what our lives were like. He had not an inkling of what it was to bea Native gay man or what it was to be Native on the reserve and growing in thatenvironment. He had no idea because he sat in his closed stuffy room at the healthcentre for the rest of his life and he didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go anywhere beyond that (p.9, transcript1).Dale mourns the loss of position that gay people have suffered in the Aboriginal community.Traditionally, he said they held an honoured position and could contribute their skills meaningfully.He indicates that he has read extensively about the history of sexual diversity in North American171Aboriginal society. He cites Fancy Dancer by P.N. Warren; Spirit in the Flesh by W.L. Williams;Living in the Siirit and A Gay American Indian Anthology among the books he has studied.As a gay Native man, a lot of people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand, we have a history, that wehave culture, we have dance, we have ceremonies, we have all those things, andwe\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gifted people, we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gifted story tellers, we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gifted readers, we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re giftedspiritualists, we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gifted medicine people in our tribes. Long time ago, before theonset of Christianity, we had our places in the tribe. I think what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really importantfor gay Native men is reclaiming that spirituality, reclaiming those gifts that havebeen taken away from us since Christianity came into effect. And I think like peoplealways ask would you dance in a pow wow as a woman and they mean it as a joke.To me it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not a joke because I would not dance, I would not be allowed to dancein a pow wow with the other men as a woman, because if you go back into historyyou will see that we did not dance with the tribe. We had our tribe set off asidefrom the main tribe. We had a place where all the gay and us few people lived.And because it was sacred ... we were sacred people it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not because we wereshunned or anything it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s because we were sacred and we could only enter certainceremonies (p.24-25, transcript 1). I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never felt a part of that community becauseI didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t you know again traditionally we weren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t part of it. We had our little tribes,like in modern times ... we have our little tribes set away from them (p.23,transcript 1).Dale takes exception to the suggestion of the interviewer that gay people in Aboriginal society werecalled \u00E2\u0080\u009Ctwo spirit\u00E2\u0080\u009D people. He suggests that even if one has predominant characteristics of theopposite sex, people in Aboriginal society accepted them. Dale shows how inextricably linked arevarious facets of his identity as a gay Aboriginal male.I can take offense to that because everybody has two spirits. Every man, woman andchild has two spirits and those spirits there is a man and a woman. And I think wehave chosen to adopt it because like the term is nice, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s fine and dandy. Peoplealways ask \u00E2\u0080\u0098What do you mean by two spirits?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s because we work asgay men to balance that male and female side of our beings we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re more aware ofthose both sides. Whereas a straight man would only work on the masculine sideand whereas a straight woman would only work on the feminine side. And we\u00E2\u0080\u0099reworking both sides, and to be comfortable with that...(p.15, transcript 1). Peoplealways ask me how I define myself and I think that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a gay Native that identifiesme. The thing is that I would like to be known as a Native writer, I would like tobe known as a Native actor, Native artist ... not just gay but just Native ... like I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mperfectly happy with that but the thing is that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not in the closet about it... ifsomebody asks I tell them yes I am gay, like that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s no problem, but the thing is thatI have to think about how it will affect my career, as an artist. And how people reactto that because I choose not to live my life in a closet because a lot of times it drewme to a suicidal attempt (p.25, transcript 2).172Dale gives the Catholic Church credit for instilling homophobic values in the Aboriginalcommunity. He also thinks the lack of ongoing exposure to gay discrimination in the media and onthe streets saves northern Aboriginal communities from truly integrating these values. He findsisolated northern communities more humane.One of the big things of being gay \u00E2\u0080\u0094 it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s getting back to our roots to our culture, andgoing back to where we came from, and understanding where our spiritualities lie.A lot of the Native community has been influenced by you know Christianity andtheir beliefs in that way ... in the Bible there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot of stuff like that says that youknow two men lying together, you would burn in hell and stuff like that ... One ofthe gifts my granny instilled in me in a way was to always respect people regardlessof who they were or what they were. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve always believed that if the creator madepeople different, he made people different for a reason and maybe that differencegives them power. As you go further up north from where we are and the moreisolated communities are, I think the level of acceptance for gay and lesbian peopleis more so than the reserve where I came from .... They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re so isolated from any kindof major outlet for information on gay and lesbian people, and society\u00E2\u0080\u0099s abuse onhomosexuality. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve had that belief to hate people instilled in themthat strongly. Whereas in my reserve it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like you know that you have no businessbeing on this earth is their belief (p.1, transcript 2). I believe you know thateverybody has a gift in them you know and I think the level of acceptance in thosemore isolated places comes from ... those gay people abilities to share their gift withthe community ... whereas we were never in our community, we were never allowedto show our gifts to people... (p.2, transcript 2). If somebody shuns me in the Nativecommunity I automatically know that there is something wrong with their spirituality\u00E2\u0080\u009D(p.26, transcript 2).Dale talks about the difficulty of two Aboriginal people being in a gay relationship. Peopleare usually socialized in the small intolerant places that he described earlier. He says thatChristianity, racism, alcoholism, homophobia and past physical and emotional abuse make arelationship within an ostracised group extremely difficult. Dale himself has enough to deal with\u00E2\u0080\u009Ctrying to deal with that stuff in my life is such a painful thing a lot of times.\u00E2\u0080\u009DDale finds Aboriginal language to be extremely important. He is very proud to be bilingual,but he feels most comfortable in his own language.It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a beautiful language and I think\u00E2\u0080\u0094 you know \u00E2\u0080\u0094 of times in my life when I washurting and struggling in my life somebody came and spoke to me in Cree and Ialways felt so much more reassured, so much more stronger. Like they say in Creeyou know in my language you know, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s so much more expressive, so much moreyou know down to earth. It doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have pretence you know, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a beautifullanguage and spoken and spirituality.(p.26, transcript 1). I think our language life is173expressed so much more clearly and so much more strongly ... if anything just retainour language, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a very important facet of our existence ... it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s something that\u00E2\u0080\u0099sbeing lost (p.25, transcript 1). I still have an accent you know and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m very proudof it that I have learned Cree, especially being Native, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m very well spoken inEnglish but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned English and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s always been one of my strong points ... tobe bilingual and so I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never had a problem expressing my ideas because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m wellread, well travelled. So I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never had a problem relating to other people especiallyWhite people because I speak the language just as well as they do (p.27\u00E2\u0080\u0099, transcript1).Even those facets of the Aboriginal culture that Dale is good at and is proud of he findsblocked in the urban Aboriginal community. For instance, he says that it is taboo to speak Cree inpublic in Winnipeg (or even in Aboriginal organizations). The interviewer concurred with thisperception. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s one thing that I miss the most in living in the city... it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not hearing people speakCree cause it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s very taboo, you know.\u00E2\u0080\u009D For the love of his culture and language, Dale advises thecompete reclamation of Aboriginal culture in any effort in providing policy, service or prevention.especially sitting with the old people. I love sitting with old people and askingthem about the stories because they are fascinating. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re wonderful stories andthey have a lot of stuff in there that teaches us how to walk in this life. I think forus I think the most important job we have as Native people is to reclaim everythingthat was stolen from us, everything, every aspect of being Native. There are so manybeautiful things out there and people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see them any more. Especially affectionand caring for one another ... was taken from us. I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t ... I can be affectionate withmy parents now but that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s taken twenty-five years to learn (p.23, transcript 2). Toretain the language and the culture and especially history you know. Because that\u00E2\u0080\u0099swhere we came from and what we are moving towards \u00E2\u0080\u0094 our future. We learn fromall those things that our history has taught us ... and that shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be denied. Itshould be put up front and say look, this is what happened and this is what will nothappen, and this is what will happen, we have to look back on this and there are somany wonderful stories to be told, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m an artist, a performing artist, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m an actor andalso a writer so there are wonderful stories to be told in our history. So when we gointo our future from our past there are lessons to be taught as we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going along. Ithink that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what my parents gave me \u00E2\u0080\u0094 are the lessons \u00E2\u0080\u0094 that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve learned intheir walk in their life ... Wonderful stories, about the land, and you know, medicinesand the trickster (p.27, transcript 1).SocietyYeah, because the basis for my sobriety is my honesty and my trust in people. Ialso trust people and I won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t lie to people about how I feel about any givensubject. I won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t lie to people about how I feel because I am ... I work at beinghonest with everybody that I come into contact with. So I have no problems noqualms about you know... speaking about my life (p.20, transcript 1).174Dale seems to have a rather shallow knowledge about the system that pushes youth to thestreet, only in one instance he says, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re fifteen and being abused by your father.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Instead heis preoccupied with proper White behaviour. Dale seems to equate crime and swearing with simplebad manners at the same level with saying please and thank you. He says street kids should betaught morals and the virtues of honesty.Teach them manners \u00E2\u0080\u0094 ask to borrow things, don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t steal, don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t swear \u00E2\u0080\u0094 it isn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tproper social behaviour ... Always say please and thank you when you ask for things,and all those things that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve never been taught Teach it to them because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099venever been taught (p.37, transcript 1).If he were the counsellor he is in danger of duplicating the behaviour of the insensitive psychiatristwho didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t respond to him appropriately. He wants as much as possible to aspire to \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpropermainstream behaviour.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He does, however, have a strong Aboriginal identity to fall back on. Moststreet youth do not. Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0099s only criticism is that social services don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t give social workers enoughtime to work with street youth and that foster care is a legalized form of slavery. He says that streetyouth should have a safe house.Dale later goes on to discuss sexual identity and prostitution, in light of preventing moreyouth from prostituting. Identity, he relates, as a woman or a man is perverted in the act of sellingone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s body. This kind of body alienation compounds all of the other problems that street youth haveto deal with.I think a lot of prostitutes go out and have no idea what their sexuality is like, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099sreally sad but they have no idea about sexuality, they go out there and they put outevery night. How do I feel as a woman? How do I feel as a man? How do I feelabout using my body sexually? I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think a lot of that comes into play becauseyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099re nothing sexually, you are not practising your sexuality. But a lot of timeit\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m here and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m providing a service ...lt\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like a business office, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like astore you go in and you buy your merchandise ... it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s thrown away (p.36,transcript 1).When asked what would make his life easier Dale replies, \u00E2\u0080\u009CA million dollars would makemy life wonderful.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He goes on to discuss the conditions that would further enhance his life.What would make my life wonderful is a really good steady relationship, a goodsteady job ... A steady relationship I think is something that I crave because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a175very affectionate person, I have a lot of love to give. I think I do a lot of that to mystreet group because of youth down there but like physical affection is something thatI crave. I had real image problems from a lot of years in my life.., because I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tlike the way my body looked, so I worked to improve on my body \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the physicalaspects and emotional wellbeing (p.29, transcript 1).Except for disliking the negative image of gay people on the television media, Dale remainsvery uncritical of mainstream society. He strives and he is content.I think the world now is going to be the perfect place and all that but I think in mylife I strive now to be fair to people, to be fair to everybody that comes into my lifebecause I think that everybody that comes into everybody\u00E2\u0080\u0099s life is there to teach thema lesson ... to teach them something and they learn something from that person also(p.19, transcript 2).176Chapter 5. MontrealIn 1992 Montreal celebrated 350 years since the city was founded. It is the world\u00E2\u0080\u0099s thirdlargest francophone community with a population of 3.1 million in the metropolitan area and1,018,000 in the Montreal urban community (387,245 or 13.3% are 10-19 years) (1991 census)\u00E2\u0080\u009444,645 are Aboriginal people in the metropolitan area. The National Council of Canada, in acomparison of urbanization statistics, states that Quebec has had a 70% increase in urbanizationfrom 1986 to 1991. Quebec\u00E2\u0080\u0099s total population of Aboriginal peoples in 1991 was 137,615, anincrease from 80,940 in 1986 (Native Council of Canada (NCC), 1993:14).Just outside the city of Montreal are the large Aboriginal communities of Kahnawake andKanesatake\u00E2\u0080\u0094 Aboriginal settlements are sparse throughout the rest of the province. The island ofMontreal and two adjacent islands that form the metropolitan area contain 29 municipalities (themetropolitan area contains over 100 municipalities) and approximately 35 cultural communities.Though French is the official first language, a significant percentage of the population speaks Englishand a multitude of other languages (Moving to Montreal, 1992-93).The city is also considered to be the economic, social and cultural capital of the provinceof Quebec, although Quebec City is the official capital of the province. Situated at the junction ofthe Saint Lawrence and Ottawa rivers in the southwest region of the province, the city covers a landbase of 490 square kilometres (3508 square kilometres for the metropolitan area).With respect to climate, Montreal has four very distinct seasons with a January averagetemperature of -9.7 degrees celsius and a July average of 26.4 degrees celsius. The wintersexperience heavy snowfall of 200 centimetres on average from approximately December to March.Montreal is the \u00E2\u0080\u009Ceconomic motor of Quebec\u00E2\u0080\u009D; it is also a major international industrial,commercial and financial centre. Twenty seven per cent of the population of Quebec lives in thecity and 38 per cent of the people are employed there. It is economically diverse with a largemanufacturing sector that includes: transportation equipment, electrical and electronics, food,177clothing and pharmaceuticals. The main employment sectors in the city are: manufacturing,construction, transport and communications, commerce, financial services, public administration andculture (Canadian Encyclopedia, 1988).Though the cost of living is lower than in most large Canadian cities, the unemployment ratewas 13.2 per cent in 1992. Housing is more accessible in this city as there are lower rental ratesand higher availability than most large cities in Canada (City of Montreal Annual Report, 1992).Even with the apparent prosperity of Montreal there are 615,000 people in Montreal wholive in poor households, 15,000 homeless people, one-third under 21. At least 20 agencies inMontreal provide food and/or shelter to the homeless. Among them are the Old Rewery Mission,L\u00E2\u0080\u0099Accueil Bonneau, Benedict Labre House and St Michael\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Mission (Abley, 1993). Many of thecity\u00E2\u0080\u0099s foodbanks are not accessible to homeless street youth because of an address requirement.The Inuit population in Canada is estimated at 35,000 with a 3.1 percent average annualbirth rate\u00E2\u0080\u0094 three times the national average. Inuit youth are experiencing a particularly harshreality with extreme rapid change and infiltration of inhalants and drugs into their communities.Youth population under 18 years of age ranges from 50-60 percent. Unemployment is 30-45 percentfor youth 1 5-24. joblessness, loss of traditional economy and boredom plagues the youth makingthe southern cities look attractive (Sarkadi, u.d.). Some sources liken Aboriginal people movingdown into the cities for any number of reasons from social breakdown to environmental devastationas refugees in our own country. Others express that Aboriginal people who have relocated intourban areas do not get the consideration and services that international refugees receive when theyenter our borders. An article in the Winnioeg Sun on March 2, 1993, \u00E2\u0080\u009CRefugees aided more thanNatives: Activist,\u00E2\u0080\u009D stated that:There are enormous adjustment problems for families coming from rural reserves andother than the Friendship Centre, Aboriginal families get less help than those fromother countries (Refugees aided, 1993:3).This is particularly so with Aboriginal people in northern Quebec who do not speak French.178The elders of the northern communities are grounded in traditional culture. The parents,having had the benefit of traditional upbringing and having lived through the first phase of rapid\u00E2\u0080\u009Cmodernization\u00E2\u0080\u009D and its degrading effects, know how to handle what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s to come. The children, someof them results of much of the destruction of the northern economy and culture, don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know wherethey\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve come from and don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know where they are going. They come to the city, experience cultureshock, as well as excited exploration of the big city lights and night life. Although the ones who stayenjoy the city, it remains a thorn in their cultural side. The youth crave continued contact ofextended family and home lifestyle but become seduced into fast lane behaviour.Montreal was a difficult city in which to find Inuit street youth, first because the city layouthas many districts, islands and municipalities. The police (Division 25) stated that the many districtsmake street youth hard to find. There are more places to hide. Secondly, language barriers makeMontreal inaccessible to street youth who do not have adequate French language skills. In the casestudies those who have been on the streets of Montreal speak of discrimination against English-speaking people, especially visible minorities, Aboriginal and immigrated peoples. There has alsobeen backlash toward Aboriginal people after the Oka crisis of 1990.Districts are, in some cases, broken down by linguistic group. For instance the south shoreis a predominantly English community while Henri Bourgand, another side of Montreal, is strictlyFrancophone. This makes for a city whose services are not centrally located as they are inVancouver. Some serve French people only. The Native Friendship Centre, which ought to beaccessible for all Aboriginal people, did not have services for street youth or many specific activitiesfor youth at all.In 1985 the Gazette reported that there were 5,000 young prostitutes in the city; by 1993their the numbers have risen to an estimated 8,000 young women working the streets of Montreal(Leger, u.d.). Most of the youth prostitution and exploitation of youth is underground and rumours179of gang run youth bawdy houses and mafia type import/export of young people for the sex industryabound. The research assistant wrote in her field journal,Last week I went to visit an agency called Passages. It is a house for prostitutes togo if they want to leave the streets. I met with a worker and two street workers, bothof them were French, so the third translated. The three of them all agreed that therewere hardly any First Nations kids that they ran into ... The workers had seen twoInuit (they thought) girls working, but I was unable to have contact with thembecause there was an underground ring that involved very violent pimps, bikers andalso some Asian men. It was much too dangerous to try and infiltrate (researchassistant journal).The Dans Ia Rue street van travels daily to street youth haunts in the city to distribute food,blankets and support to young homeless people. It stops at Atwater Avenue and Ste. CatherineStreet, Peel and Ste. Catherine Street, Parc Lafontaine (a well known male prostitution district),Amherst and Ontario Street (a favourite spot for transvestites), Clark street and Ste. Catherines, andSt. Denis and Rene Levesque Boulevard.The population estimates of street youth varied widely. Dans Ia Rue estimated 10-1 5,000visits in a year, the Salvation Army estimated 500 street youth, while En Marge stated it wasimpossible to estimate. En Marge stated that they served 303 different youth in 1992. Thepercentage estimates of Aboriginal youth were much lower that in other cities and none reportedserving Inuit youth (that they knew of). The large discrepancy in the estimates given by the agenciesare most likely due to Dans Ia Rue\u00E2\u0080\u0099s inclusion of all people, such as prostitutes, strippers, drugdealers, who make their living on the street. A large portion of those are included in the 8000 citedabove. Nevertheless, most agencies simply would not hazard a guess as to the numbers ofAboriginal youth on the streets of Montreal and very few knew of any Inuit youth on the street.They usually came down south to go into detention. One worker estimated about 10% Aboriginalyouth used their emergency street services. This estimate would include Inuit youth who are on therun from detention centres.180Case studiesWe met Natasha and Charnelle in Shawbridge Detention Centre through a Passages workerwho knew they were there. We decided to interview these two young women who were in activecustody partly because this gave us an opportunity to gain insight into the environment of youthholding units and running behavior from institutions. The second reason was we could not locate,by any means, any Inuit street youth age 12-18 on the streets of Montreal. Agency personnel,researchers and youth collaborators all corroborate that the only Inuit Street people (that they knewof) in Montreal are between the ages of 30 and 50. It is also said that Inuit youth who get intotrouble are sent back up North very quickly. Inuit people come down from the north to accessservices such as medical, dental, surgical, foster home, detention, employment, and education.Natasha speaks of Inuit youth who are fairly middle class (going to school, working etc.) and liveat home and other older young people who have their own apartment. Both of the participants inMontreal are at the lower age parameters that we set for the case study project.NATASHAI can never make up my own choice. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been living like this forever. Everydaypeople say you have to do this ... like if you ask me, what do I want? I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t knowwhat I want, but people keep telling me what to do ... And now I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even makeup my own mind what to do ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not in control of my life ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know whatto do with my life, I just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know (p.5\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 1).Natasha is a fifteen year old \u00E2\u0080\u009Cgoing on thirty-five\u00E2\u0080\u009D female of Cree/Inuit ancestry from theChibougaumo area near James Bay, Quebec. She is an attractive (in an innocent type of way) 5\u00E2\u0080\u00994\u00E2\u0080\u009Dyoung woman of medium build who sports a shaven head in a Mohawk style. Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s creamysallow light brown skin adds a dramatic effect to the sullen mood that she carries around with her.Natasha does not wear make-up. In contrast Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s voice is clear and lilting, this could be thevoice of a young, bright and happy child. She wore institutional regiment clothing made up of trackpants and sweat shirt and black \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccheap Chinese slippers.\u00E2\u0080\u009D181Natasha was interviewed, first in a pleasant upstairs reading room that let the light in viaskylights, at Shawbridge Youth Detention Centre, where she had been for \u00E2\u0080\u009Ctwo years, six months andtwenty days\u00E2\u0080\u009D (excluding the time she spends on the run). The second interview took place in herroom which had a depressing atmosphere. The second interview reflected the same emotional toneas the environment. Natasha talked a lot about death.The youth workers indicated that Natasha wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk much and that she was a time bombwaiting to go off. One of the statements proved to be inaccurate. After a few minutes she talkednon-stop. Natasha related much of her story in the third person, as if the issues she talked aboutwere someone else\u00E2\u0080\u0099s. This very well could be because of strict provincial disclosure of abuse laws.We warned the participants that if they disclosed to us any abuse that was unreported we would beobliged to report such to the relevant authorities.Major factors in Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s off and on, hot and cold presentation during the interviews wereher extreme hostility, depression and confusion about her life circumstances. Natasha had a fear oflooking a person straight in the eye \u00E2\u0080\u0094 she was not friendly at all, unless it was on her terms. Withher peers Natasha was hostile\u00E2\u0080\u0094 she always got into fights \u00E2\u0080\u0094 and she would get possessive aboutthe interviewer whenever other people were around them. Natasha seemed totally unstimulatedrather than mentally unstable. The interviewer observed that Natasha was slow and lethargic;however, she was intelligent in her dialogue. She may be affected by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Itis more likely that her slowness is drug and alcohol induced or that depression was getting the bestof her. Her rebelliousness saves her from complete hopelessness.Natasha had been at Shawbridge since she was caught two weeks prior to the interviews.She had returned from a two month AWOL on the streets in Montreal and Quebec City. Herpreoccupation right now is to leave Shawbridge and to be reunited with her mother.HistoryI could of moved up back up north instead of coming back to Montreal, I justdidn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think there was any way out of it ... out of my stepfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s touching me all182the time. The only way out was just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go home. (p.37, transcript 1). Well mystepfather used to molest me at home, so I never really stayed home ... I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t likemy stepfather and my father had remained up north (p.20, transcript 1).Natasha is the youngest of nine children; she has two brothers and six sisters. Her parentsseparated when she was very young. Her father moved away to another location in Quebec,remarried and started a family. Since then there has been no contact between father and daughter.It appears that Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s mother moved to Montreal and left her children with the grandparents onthe reserve two years before Natasha came to Montreal. During her time alone in Montreal,Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s mother met and began living with a young Black man.Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s mother, a woman in her late thirties, has a history of instability in her life. Alcoholand drug abuse and sporadic employment have been a lifestyle. She has recently returned to school;however, she is still heavily involved in dealing drugs. She was very stoned when she met theinterviewer. She was sarcastic and asked what she was going to be paid for allowing her daughterto be interviewed. The interviewer had to call her bluff, saying that there was somemisunderstanding about payment for services and that the interview would not work for anyoneinvolved. At this point the mom said that she agreed that Natasha could be interviewed. Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099ssixteen year old sister (who also lives in Montreal) also came to the introductory meeting and wasextremely restless, she was currently in the process of moving into her own place with her partnerand her six month old baby. She was Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s predecessor in many of the life events, past andpresent, including being a past resident of Shawbridge herself.Natasha came to Montreal to visit her mother for the summer in 1991. It was decided thatNatasha would stay in Montreal and go to school. Natasha describes the way she came to be inMontreal.I came by myself. I rode down on the bus ... and I ride the bus when I want to goback home. It would take me a whole day to get up North ... It makes a few stopsbetween Montreal and VaI d\u00E2\u0080\u0099Or where we go for lunch and we go to Val d\u00E2\u0080\u0099Orand I have to change buses and I get another bus and I go and stop some more andthen we have supper ... you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re sitting there and you want to move around and youkind of have to sit there, then you want to have a cigarette so you go into the183washroom and sneak a cigarette there and that kind of thing (p.3, transcript 1). [Icame here] two years ago. But the first year I was in Montreal I just looked aroundin Montreal and I found out how to ... how the city was made out. But two yearsago that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s when I started hanging around and last year is when I started living on thestreet ... like day to day all the time ... Well one day I decided I wanted to stay inMontreal cause I found it more exciting and there was more interesting places tohang out cause on the reserve there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hardly anything there except a store, gas stationand another store. Like clothing stores that I found in Montreal \u00E2\u0080\u0094 really fascinating.It had buildings and street lights and arcades and you can get liquor anywhere andmy mother used to live downtown. They [siblings] come back to visit my mother.My sister lives here also, she doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t live with my mother and my school is finishedin June so I came from up North and my mother asked me to come back to Montrealfor the whole summer. So I get to Montreal and then we go back up North again.So one day I decided I wanted to stay. I wanted to come back to Montreal cause Ilove the city and it was something new. They had video arcades and all sort of stuffand I said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Mom, I want to stay here\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... and she said that she would find me aschool to enrol me in (p.2, transcript 1).Natasha would soon be leaving Shawbridge because she has stayed in the institution for themaximum amount of time that they can keep her. She will be returning to her mother who, bySeptember, had moved into subsidized housing in a suburb of Montreal. Natasha does not knowher biological father who appears to live in the north. She has recently initiated telephone contactwith him. A visit was discussed sometime in the future.On the streetsA street person is somebody who doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk about their feelings ... and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tknow how to talk about themselves and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know where to go except forthe street and getting high. Cause when you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re high you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t care about anythingand you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t, I guess, have to talk about anything. Getting high ... takes away allyour feelings, all your emotions and your cares. I mean you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t care aboutanything when you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re high and everything. (p.1, transcript 1).Natasha is a person who is in institutional care. She is running from institutional care. Hertime on the streets consists of time away from detention, on the run. She considers herself a twoyear veteran of the streets. Natasha says that she is a street person because of her stepfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s action.Some time in the first year of Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s stay in Montreal the stepfather began to molest her. Shebegan to stay away from home. Natasha takes part responsibility for her extended stay inShawbridge but says she hates her existence there. Mother and daughter have yet to deal with thesexual abuse that precipitated many of the problems that face them.184I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s my stepfather\u00E2\u0080\u0099s [fault]. I probably wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be here or be living on thestreets if it wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t for him, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all his fault. It could have been my fault but I justwanted to get out of here so badly and I shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t of, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know (p.49, transcript1). Yeah, I feel much closer to my mom when she broke up with my step father.I never really spoke to my mother about what had happened and I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to tellmy mother what happened cause she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gonna say it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s my fault ... it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s because shewould blame me, because she blamed my sister cause I saw my stepfather abusingmy sister in the middle of the night while my mother was away. I saw him goto herbed and heard her crying ... We slept in the living room and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s where it alwayshappened and she finally told my mother after a month, cause she couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t fight himanymore (p.33-34, transcript 1). That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why I never told my mother, I never saidanything about it because I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want her to blame me for it, cause I knew it wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tmy fault (p.21, transcript 1) ... the first time he did it [to me], I never went backhome, I always stayed out, really out of the house ... I was twelve or thirteen. Well,at first, no [did not tell anybody]. I started talking about it more when I came to AAmeetings and my judge knows, my social worker knows now ... Paul [a worker] toldme that my mother knows and she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s working with the judge. Well, I hate mymother, you know, cause she never said anything about it when I was talking to heron the phone (pp.20-21, transcript 1).Natasha talks little of the interim period between her molestation and finally ending up inShawbridge for an extended period of time. The only thing she says is that she crashed a car andsubsequently she kept running from institutional care. It appears that Natasha has beeninstitutionalized as a result of her abuse and because her mother has been unable to stabilize herhome life. Her sister had also been in Shawbridge for behaviour resulting from molestation in thesame home. Although institutional care should protect Natasha, it is an alienating experience.But when I first came here it was because of the car, I crashed a car by myself, I gotplaced in a group home and I never really liked anybody in there and I got intotrouble and they brought me here. And I got stuck here and it was about a weekinto it and I went AWOL so then they brought me back here and then they found outthat I had problems at home so they kept me. Like I was here for one year forthrowing rocks at a moving vehicle and after that I kept on running away andrunning away from here all the time (p.19, transcript 1).We learn about street life from Natasha through her descriptions of what a street person is,what she perceives as motivating factors of being on the street, and how street youth cope with thetrauma for being societal fugitives. Natasha identifies street youth by \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe silent characteristic.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Shesays:Yeah that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s it ... nobody is gonna say why are you here for ... nobody is gonna sayor why did you run away from home, nobody is gonna ask you why you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re taking185drugs you know, they just sit there and they ask us if we need a place to stay or haveanything to share... if we just need any kind of protection (p.1, transcript 1). Butmost kids ... most females get raped, molested or sexually abused but also males,boys too get molested or are being raped by their fathers or their stepfathers orthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re being beaten by their fathers and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why they live on the streets (p.22,transcript 1). Like, let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s say I was molested, but other people, other girls might bemolested that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why they live on the streets and they get high to forget abouteverything. I mean there has to be a reason for a kid to be living on the streets andgetting high. Okay, let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s say you meet this little boy, and you say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Why are youtaking drugs?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll just say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 ... It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just funny and yet he seemslike ... you have to have a reason for why you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re taking drugs ... And, cause ithappens to me a lot and people say to me, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Why are you taking drugs?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and I finallyfound out why I take drugs, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s because I just forget about everything. One day, Iwas on the street and I saw everybody getting high and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m sitting there, I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099thigh at all but I was going to and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to talk about my feelings, buteventually somebody came around and offered me some mescaline and I realizedwhen I got stoned, I was thinking it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s true, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to talk about my feelingscause I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t care, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to talk about anything (p.24, transcript 1). [Questionwhether she know any Aboriginal street youth in Montreal]. ... not that I know of...there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s only a few that come down every once and a while but those Native peopleare more like rockers and they have their own apartments but they go to Pops[Director of Dans Ia Rue street youth van], you know. But they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t hang aroundthe street, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have the money to ... they just have their apartments and theyget welfare so ... they can pay for their apartment but they can get food from Pops,so I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know if they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re really street people (p.1\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 1).Throughout the introductory period and the two lengthy interviews for this study Natashashowed a hatred for the institution that bordered on psychosis. When the dialogue brought her backto awareness of her incarceration she would become agitated and desperate. The interviewer wouldproceed by disclosing similar experiences and Natasha would settle down somewhat and continueto describe her attempts to escape. She related that being on the run was exciting. It wasexhilarating to be on the outside. Her lengthy monologue on institutional life and running areenlightening as to the deadening effect of long term closed custody on her and the danger involvedin the escape behaviour.it was me and my girlfriend and we ran up the hill [mountain] and all we hadwere these little slippers that we got because we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not allowed to wear shoes in thedetention centre ... and it was hard and it was foggy and it was really cold. It wasthe middle of the night and these slippers have no grip and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot of leaves andwhen you put your foot on the rocks there was mud on the rocks and so you falland like there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s this huge hole of trees and stuff all down there. It was really scaryand we got to the top and then... we got all bruises around our ankles and it was allswollen and cut ... Yeah, it did hurt a lot and then when you got scratches from186branches also we were walking in the woods and my friend got a branch and she letit go and she was holding on to it and she let it go and it went right into my eye.I was pulling and I was slipping and falling on the ground. On the highway we sawthe patrol cars from the detention centre and the country cops looking for us andthey were going up and down. It was foggy and we stayed up on the mountain forabout an hour to watch it, to see if they would go away. As we sat there it gotfoggier and foggier and because you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re all the way at the top of the mountain andwhen we looked down on the highway we couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see anything at all. We couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099teven see our hands right in front of our faces. It was really scary. It took about halfan hour to go up there and we stayed there for about half an hour, it took us another45 minutes to get down because the hill was way down on the other side and it goesright straight to the train tracks. When we went down we kept on slipping andslipping and we tried to grab a tree, so you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t fall down more. The tree is soslippery and so your hands don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t stay on and when your socks are soaked and theslippers are cheap ... No, but it was kind of fun, cause I like fun things, I like theattention, I like the excitement, and it was great to be out of there. It was nice to dosomething to get out of this place ... Yeah, we had to plan it or you get caught. Ihad planned it before a couple of months before but it didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t work at all ... I stolea screw driver from the workshop and I took it home and I tried putting it in but thescrew driver didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t fit, so I went back to school the next day and I got another screwdriver and I took it back and it fit. I took the bars off my windows. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go atseparate times and I took the whole bars off my windows and stuck it under mymattress and I closed the blinds and I closed my light ... and you can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see the barsare off or on ... and the last round around campus is around twelve o\u00E2\u0080\u0099clock at nightfor the whole night so then in the morning they go home and when the securitygroup comes up for the day, so I knew what time that they switched their shift.Sometimes they go around campus and they stop at different houses because theyhave to lock the doors and make sure nobody comes in and tries to steal ... The nightI was gonna go they screwed us up because they go from the garage to the house inthe back to the gym, then they go all the way to the school then they go back aroundthe garage area. But this time they went to the duplex then they went to the garage,and it was getting late, and it was almost eleven thirty .... We were just standingthere. We were ready to go ... and we had the sheets ready in the windows ... alldressed in black ... [the night lady came in]. We just pretended that we weresleeping and she closed the door, she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say anything .... So we said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098screw it\u00E2\u0080\u0099because I thought she knew, so I pulled down the sheets, and was about to go outwhen the security passes by and ... he was looking at me, like I took all my stuffback in. Then ... \u00E2\u0080\u0098Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just run out, let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just go out the door run, run, run.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Becausethe last time, I just ran out the door and it was easier. She goes, \u00E2\u0080\u0098No, no, no, don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tdo it.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 It was her first time, you know, she was too scared. So we got caught andthe security came. They search me and they brought me to the QR [Quiet Room]and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m claustrophobic so they stuck me in QR. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a small room with no windowsor anything and they locked the door. I was telling them, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be in here.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099tcause I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m claustrophobic and I get scared and I get sick. Yeah, I get panicky and sowhen I went back to my room they stuck the bars back on the window but they gotdifferent screws ... totally different screws you can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get a screw driver for thatanywhere in the workshop. I was put on assist for trying to take off from the centre.On assist is a three-day program or it can last for five days or it can last for a month.It sort of depends on your behaviour so you stay in your room, you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have adresser, you only have sheets and blankets. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all in your room, you have187nothing to do. You don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a clock you have nothing in your room at all. Allthey give to do is paperwork and more paperwork ... just to keep yourself busybut sometimes at night they stop giving me paperwork, so I can just sit there and youdon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do nothing. You just start screaming like that, and you just feel the shits, andyou have an extra day in your room. It can last for a long time. If you start behavingreally well you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re allowed to get out of your room. But if you can pass a whole shiftwithout arguing, screaming, fighting or anything like that you get out sooner. But itdepends sometimes three days for fighting. [I have been there] Five, six or seventimes ... Yeah, but it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s fun when you have a roommate cause ... you can get to stilltalk to them and ... they have books. When you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re on assist the lights go out at eightthirty. I have no idea why we have that stupid rule (p.l6-l8,transcript 1).While Natasha seems facetious at times about her escapades the pent up rage is a tangible featureof her being. She expresses a helpless and destructive anger at the system that keeps her prisoner.On being caught she says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI was just walking around the mall and somebody called the cops ...really don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know who called the cops on me.\u00E2\u0080\u009D If she knew who it was, she says she would try tokill them. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m very angry.\u00E2\u0080\u009DWhen escape is successful Natasha is free. Free to survive on the streets of Montreal, freeto mask her pain in drug abuse, free to find people who she feels protect her from a world that doesnot understand her. Natasha talks about panhandling and deals with the myth that street youthsimply use the money they garner from people to buy drugs (most of the people in this studyreiterate this fact). She says that anything other than food is secondary.Some people just look at you when I say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Give me some money.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 They just lookat me like I want to buy drugs or some people will pity me, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll give memoney some times, or they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll just look at me and walk away. That really pisses meoff. Some times when we panhandle on the street, I just feel like standing up andsaying, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Look I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not going to use this money for drugs at all or alcohol, I need thismoney for food\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (p.31, transcript 1). Sometimes though ... you know what I hate issometimes when you have the money and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re starving to death, or when youhave to pan for money and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re starving to death, but people think that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re justa bum and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just gonna use this money for drugs and for alcohol, you know.But my money that I always get, I always spend it on food, and if I have a little bitleft afterwards I use it on whatever else I want to buy, mescaline or whatever, butfood always comes first. But when I do get money from the people, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t knowwhat to do with the money, cause sometimes I keep it and then sometimes I give itaway after I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve had enough to eat, and after I bought whatever I wanted (p.13,transcript 1).188Natasha is cautious about the services that she uses on the street. She pretty well sticks to streetfood vans and street youth hostels \u00E2\u0080\u009Cwho won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t call the cops.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Natasha talks about some of theservices she is familiar with and feels comfortable using. In her dialogue we begin to recognize thatNatasha, as in the case of Karen in Vancouver, seems to have at least two people on the street, astreet worker and a peer on the street, who protect her (in each case the protectors are male). Shegives examples getting help or giving support, while she is on the run, both by agencies and byindividuals.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t remember what it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s called either, but it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just like a food van just like Pops.You can just go there and get some food, but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like to use that one. I alwayslike to use Pops because there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s more room in it (the van). The other one didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099thave much room at all, like half of it in the back was an office and there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s only aboutfour feet and everybody is crammed in there. Only about nine people can eat inthere. The first one I ever found out was Pops and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the one I always used. Ididn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have no place to stay, and so I go to Pops and I say to him, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve no place tostay, nowhere to sleep,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and he showed me a place called lnmage. I stayed there forthree days, but after three weeks or two weeks at Inmage I went to Quebec City withsome of my friends. We took a car and they have a place Cactus in Quebec City(pp.8-10, transcript 1). Yeah, Pops was helpful, cause they gave you food andeverything, and you can get clean syringes, and you can sometimes get food andclothes from them. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll give you sandwiches to take off the bus with you. Whensometimes you go to the other services, when you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re on the street, they usual\u00E2\u0080\u0099y callthe cops on you, and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t give you any food they just let you sleep there. AtInmage I found it was helpful cause they would call Shawbridge where I wassupposed to be at and they let them know that I was okay and that was the onlything they would do. The cops weren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t allowed to come into the centre. So theywould give me food and I was able to wash my clothes, and I was able to take ashower, and I was just able to hang out there (p.7, transcript 1). On the street?Pops, I trust him a lot cause he helped me a lot, he was always talking to me to goback up North (p. 4, transcript 1). Like I have a street brother, you know, somebodythat I consider to be my good friend. We share things and we look out for eachother (p.4, transcript 1). Danger ... yes, I also protect him from any kind of dangeralso. But most of the time when I want to protect him I was really stoned, and I stilltried though. Because one day I was walking around town with my friend and therewas a whole bunch of guys that wanted to beat him up. I saw everybody waspushing him around, so I came around and I just grabbed him, and I just pulled himover and we started walking. I was just saying to him, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s go, let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s go,\u00E2\u0080\u0099... I knewif I said anything it wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t make any sense and I just had to get him out of thatsituation. He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s 1 7 and right now he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s using drugs. He can only speak French ... andwhen I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m out on the street I just speak French to him so I can catch up and correctall my French (p.6, transcript 1).189According to her testimony Natasha survives on the street with protection from her \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreetbrothers\u00E2\u0080\u009D and by utilizing street youth services intelligently (in a street wise sense). For instance, shesays that during the winter months the institution offers protection from the winter weather.In the winter, I get caught and I spend my whole winter in the centre, and whensummer comes I get out. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like a standard thing in the winter time, everybody getscaught. All my friends get caught and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re here. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d stay out of Montreal for awhile and go to Quebec City for a while, and then come back to Montreal. WhenI get out, I go AWOL and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why I go to Quebec City. Then I spend some timethere and by the time I come back to Montreal everybody has stopped looking forme (p.14, transcript 1).Lest we get the impression that all is well for Natasha once she gets out of her intolerableconstraints, into the exhilaration of the hunt, and the wild lifestyle of the streets, she reminds us thatno matter where she is she is plagued with confusion and fatigue with regard to her lifecircumstances. She is too young to have to live in the harsh environment of the streets, even withthe anaesthetic effects of illegal drugs. The institution is confining and life with a mother who hasnot yet acknowledged her abuse is crazy making. Natasha becomes suicidal. Although shementions only one example in the following quotation, she indicates throughout the interview howclose suicidal thoughts are to her in everyday life. She feels invisible. \u00E2\u0080\u009CNobody really is listening,\u00E2\u0080\u009Dshe says of all of the adults in her life.I was kinda sick of living on the streets, cause when you live on the street too long,you get tired, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re depressed, you feel like committing suicide. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve tried that,yeah, of course I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve tried that. I have the scars here. When I got caught I was in thelock up unit. I was sick of everything, sick of being on the streets, sick of beinglocked up, sick of everything. I was sick of my world, sick of my mother, she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tknow what the fuck was happening. I never really wanted to die, I just wanted moreattention. I never really thought about it [on tape \u00E2\u0080\u0094 not in the transcript \u00E2\u0080\u0094extensive dialogue missing]. I did it here, when I was in Shawbridge, when I wasput on assist. I was there for a few days and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d tried with a piece of glass and theyfound me and they stitched me up and everything. But I guess that I really didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099treally want to die, I just wanted the attention. I just didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel very good aboutmyself at all. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel like I was going anywhere and I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t happy being here.Now I feel good, I feel better, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m happier cause I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m gonna be going home soon(p.34-35, transcript 1). I used to feel like that a lot, I used to always want to hurtmyself, but now I find it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not worth hurting myself (p.43, transcript 1).190Youth detention centres are conscientious about disseminating information on birth control,sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS. Natasha says she is still a virgin but always carries acondom just in case and she knows not to share needles with anyone.When I came back from AWOL they brought me to the doctor and they did a checkup on me and said everything was okay. I got my AIDS test there, and I got myblood pressure, but my blood pressure is too low. You know, I wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t gettingenough iron and vitamins and stuff (p.18, transcript 1). [Cactus] I just go there to getsyringes and I always use my own syringe, I never share with anybody else and Ialways get a new one after I finish with it. I break off the tip and I just throw it awayin the sewer, in the garbage or something but I never, I never share my needles withanybody (p.8, transcript 1).As shown by the previous comment, the level of comfort in discussing drug use andprotection from HIV due to intervenous drug use is high. Drug abuse is the normal escape forhurting children. While alcohol use is often a peer group activity, the harder drugs are offered toyoung street youth. Often, as Dale (former street youth from Winnipeg) indicates, they are offeredas a bargaining tool for favours that will later be collected. Natasha indicates the effects of heralcohol and drug abuse. The extreme symptoms that she talks about are probably due to abusecombined with poor mental health and lack of proper nutrition.People that don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t live on the street, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know anything, but they give medrugs and a little bit of food and they just want to be your friend. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s something like\u00E2\u0080\u0098you look after me and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll look after you later.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Yeah, so they can get somethingfrom you. So they can use me (p.5, transcript 1). My friends give me the stuffthey talk to me and they give me mescaline. They gave me everything I wouldmaybe need and they helped me find a place to sleep (p.4, transcript 1). Well, Idon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t shake that much anymore, but I used to shake more like this \u00E2\u0080\u0094 my hands. Icouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t hold anything in my hand without having it shake and my voice was lazy.The staff said it was because of the drugs that I was taking. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s getting better, andI still have it, but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have it that much (p. 19, transcript 1).Natasha is now attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the attempt to confront herproblems. She likes the chance to speak out in the confidential atmosphere of the support group.Natasha indicates some change in her attitudes toward drug use and peer group activity. Whetheror not she continues to work on personal growth when she leaves the institution will depend on herrelationship with her mother. Should the fragile reunion fail, her sobriety will hinge on her return191to the north, to her father or to her grandparents. Luckily, Natasha knows exactly what her choicesare (as we will see by later dialogue).I used to consider them friends because they used to give me mescaline and acid,but I realized when I grew up more they weren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t my friends at all (p.5, transcript 1).The first time I came here (Alcoholics Anonymous) I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to say anything atall. Everything that is said in the AA group is confidential, it doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go out. So far,nobody said anything and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s pretty good. And they always talk about differenttopics, like boyfriend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s sexual abuse, beatings, or they talk about shame, they talkabout guilt, or sometimes they talk about rape. Sometimes they talk about abuse andthey talk about abuse in their homes. If you want to talk, you can talk whenever youfeel like it. (p.29, transcript 1).Survival on the streets often makes street youth susceptible to the \u00E2\u0080\u009Ceasy\u00E2\u0080\u009D money of theprostitution industry. It is not like they have to search for the opportunity. They are approached ona regular basis. Natasha tells of an incident of being approached to work on the street for twopimps. \u00E2\u0080\u009CDo you want to keep on living on the street? Do you always want to be a bum? You don\u00E2\u0080\u0099thave to live on the street, you can have beautiful things ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m going to make you a woman.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Shedeclined the offer. That being the case, it was disconcerting to hear a fifteen year old actuallyinclude prostitution in the same sentence as job opportunities. She said that she was too young tohave a social insurance number, that jobs at MacDonald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s or in a day job agency were not possible.In the same breath she mentioned prostitution as a possibility and quickly retracted the statementto say that she had done it once of her own free will and that she wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do it again. At the timeshe was thirteen or fourteen.Any kinds of jobs? Well ... uh, prostitution but I only did that once in my life, andI never ever want to do it again cause, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a pimp and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d never want to dothat again in my life. I just did it by myself cause I needed money. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have noplace to go and so this guy comes along and asked me to go into his car and I justjerked off this guy for $20 ... and after that I just went to MacDonald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s and got somechips ... (p.13, transcript 1).Contrast this account with the complexity of getting a legitimate job.there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a place I was going to go to but I came too late. You have to be there atfive o\u00E2\u0080\u0099clock in the morning, and you can work through the whole day like cleaningpots and mopping floors, sweeping floors and wiping counters and all that stuff. Youget $20 at the end of the day. I was too late and so I just never bothered going backagain. I was gonna work for MacDonald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a social insurance card192at all ... I have to wait till I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m sixteen and right now I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m in the process of starting theapplication. I have to get permission from my mother. Yeah, they gave me atemporary card, and I also have my status card and a birth certificate. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not sureexactly how long it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gonna take to get me that card though (p.11-i 2, transcript 1).Later Natasha is to retell of the shame that the one act of survival had on her. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI felt soashamed, I felt disgusting, I felt like committing suicide, I felt dirty, I tried to forget about it.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Onestill has to wonder, however, how safe Natasha is from entering into a prostitution lifestyle when sheso nonchalantly drops the phrase \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccause I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a pimp\u00E2\u0080\u009D in the passage above and has to dealwith the effects of the triple oppression that is her legacy. And Natasha is exposed to the lifestyleeven in some of the street services she chooses to use.Passages, I went there a couple of times. They were pretty nice and they let me hangout there. Passages is a centre for some of the hookers on the street, if they want toget off the street for a while or permanently. Yeah, I found them nice but I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099twant to stay there too long because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a minor and after twenty four hours they cancall the cops. I only went there a couple of times to visit or to go eat or to changemy clothes or a for place to sleep...(p.8, transcript 1).It appears that Natasha has been exposed to the street life in its harshest form. She does notadmit to being absolutely involved but she tells of the presence of drug dealers, prostitutes, johns,poverty, panhandling, drug abuse, exploitation and street violence in her time on the street. In thepresent, Natasha is biding her time, waiting to go home to her mother. Even so she gives everyindication, with a couple days to wait for her release, that she would run instantly if she had halfa chance.When I get to home you know, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll be more free. Cause this place is driving me upthe wall. It drives me crazy. I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t believe it. Maybe a control officer would beokay, cause they come check on you every night to make sure that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re in bed ontime, and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s how they help you get off the streets (p.49, transcript 1).The day after the last interview Natasha was about to leave Shawbridge. They had kept herbeyond the legal limit that the law provides. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t keep me anymore ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m just trying to gohome, trying to stay out of trouble ... and stay clean.\u00E2\u0080\u009D193RacismI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand why people are so racist against Natives (p.36, transcript 1)if somebody needs help then and has been left on the street, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot of peoplewho can be there to help you but that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re racist (p.1, transcript 1).In her opening statement about Aboriginal street youth Natasha concludes that everyone ina position to help is racist. It appears that Natasha is subjected to ongoing racism. She perceivesthat her Aboriginal ethnicity is a salient feature of her interpersonal relationships on and off thestreets. Although Natasha makes only one reference to herself as being \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhite Peace.\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m WhitePeace now so I can get out.\u00E2\u0080\u009D [A group of kids who are proud of being White but believe that othersshould be proud too.] She does mention a feeling of danger in the presence of skinheads.Most people on the street don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m Native. They think I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m either Chinese orGreek, and some of them like Indians. On the street, punks, some of them I knowthat I am Indian and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t care. Either you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re part of the punks or you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re partof the skinheads. Punks don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like skinheads, so skinheads and punks don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t mix verymuch. The group I hang out with is mostly punks. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t hang around much withskinheads, but I know a couple of other friends who are skinheads. The first time Imet a skinhead I was fucking scared shitless. He just picked me up and he justslammed me against a wall. But skinheads are cleaner than punks, punks are reallydirty. How do I feel about that? Scared, because you never know if they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonnakill you or if they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re gonna rip you off for whatever you\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve got. But most of theskinheads I know are nice to talk to (p.32, transcript 1).Natasha tells us about the stereotypes of Aboriginal people that were aimed at her in schooland are ever present on the street. She feels that people just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand the conditions thathave affected Aboriginal people and that mainstream people need to begin to talk with Aboriginalindividuals in order to gain more awareness.There was lots of racism when I was a kid, when I was younger in school inMontreal. I failed so much when I was a kid. Kids used to make fun of me causeI was Indian. My teachers didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really like me. I was more like alone all the time.People never really wanted to talk to me because I looked different. Because whenI was a kid I had much darker skin and I guess I had an accent. Not that muchpeople ever paid attention to me ... [on tape, not in the transcript]. People on thestreets, if they saw that I was Native they would say I was just one of those drunkenIndians and I couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t keep a job and I was a rotten runaway and I was alwaysstealing and things like that (p.36, transcript 1). I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve seen a lot of people who areracist. Some of them say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098You fuckin Native,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and walk away. I feel like, why arepeople so racist, you know. Just like this one person I was talking to, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m Nativeyou know,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and they say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Okay I have to go.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Why be so ignorant? That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s stupid194cause he got along with me before ... why be racist because of colour? I just findthat so stupid. I used to be racist of Blacks because my stepfather molested me. Butwhen I came across other Black people and I found them nice. Because one Blackperson is like this I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think all of them are the same [on tape, not in transcript].They [people in general] probably need Indian people to talk to that understand whatthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re [Aboriginal people] going through and people that listen too ... Because theydon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand really Native people. Like some of the social workers they justdon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know anything about our background (p.45,transcript 1).Natasha does not go into detail on the subject of differential treatment. She does indicatethat racism is a phenomena that she simply does not understand. With respect to street services onthe street, however, she makes repeated references that she feels more at ease relating to Aboriginalworkers because they know what other Aboriginal people have had to go through. Natasha doesnot understand why Aboriginal people do not want to talk about their feelings.She [Aboriginal worker] was okay, cause she spoke Cree also ... It was better causewe have most things in common cause we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re Indian, and we know how tocommunicate. But ... like Barry [friend], he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s White so he doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know very muchabout Indians ... Well cause they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve [Aboriginal people] never had a family whereyou talk about their feelings, like at night you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk about it, why did he do thisand why did you feel this and ... why are you angry ... Yeah, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d say it would bebetter if they had a social centre for kids where Indian workers should be workingthere, so the kids would feel more comfortable with another Indian worker insteadof speaking to a White female, you know. Cause there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s lot of Indian little girls andthat they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk very much you know .... And that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s quite common with a lot ofIndian kids ... Well some of them are alcoholics \u00E2\u0080\u0094 most of them are alcoholics \u00E2\u0080\u0094their parents. I think, they should have like a Alcoholics Anonymous up North tomake them try to help them to stop drinking ... They have nothing \u00E2\u0080\u0094 absolutelynothing.Culture and identityI feel proud to be Native. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see why people should be racist about otherpeople (p.36, transcript 1).Natasha presents a very interesting picture of a young woman who has been brought up ina very esoteric type of traditional Aboriginal environment rich with myth and ceremony and closeto nature. She has had extensive influence from her grandparents and she is highly respectfultowards them. \u00E2\u0080\u009CYeah, the wisest people I know are my grandmother and my grandfather. Becausethey know a lot more than I do about their culture and about their environment where they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re living195in.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Her wish is to go home for a visit and to go camping with her grandparents. On the otherhand, Natasha, a very intelligent and articulate person, sings, she speaks English, French and Cree,and she has lived in the urban environment, in institutions and on the street. There is an othersidedness about her. In this urban environment she is angry, injured and destructive; when shebegins to relate stories about the spirits and mysteries in her culture she becomes involved, brightand positive.Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s identity as an Aboriginal person, while seemingly intact, is in a state of tension.She expresses rage and sorrow about racism, she wants to go home and yet her mother lives in thecity and she loves the big city excitement. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel Native anymore cause I can speak Englishnow and I can speak pretty good French. I just don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, I just feel White.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She says this is dueto the fact that \u00E2\u0080\u009Cin the last couple of years since I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been at Shawbridge, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been around a lot ofWhite people, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s mostly White ... White, White, White.\u00E2\u0080\u009DIn school, Natasha says, she did not learn anything about Aboriginal history or her culture.Her attitude, in telling about this omission, was openly hostile. \u00E2\u0080\u009CHistory, no, it was mostly aboutRomans and Vikings,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she makes a expression of disgust. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThe only other things was ChristopherColumbus and Christians.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The invisibility that results from the overt racism that Natasha describesand the lack of Aboriginal presence in the school curriculum would have profound effect on a childwho is estranged from family, community and culture.Natasha gets extremely confusing messages from her traditional grandparents, whom sheidealizes, and from an addicted mother struggling to straighten out her life, whom she desperatelywants to go home to. Her mother told the interviewer that all the Aboriginal people her kids hadcontact with were no-good and a bad influence and that she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want her kids hanging aroundAboriginal people. She would let Natasha hang around those Aboriginal people who had aneducation, but she didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know any.196Natasha expresses great sorrow about the socio-economic state of her reserve environment,the lack of opportunity and stimulating activities for youth, and the extensive abuse of alcohol.Natasha retells of attending funerals of people who died in senseless alcohol related deaths. UnlikeNoella (Winnipeg participant), who has little general knowledge of life on the reserve and who seesfew redeeming qualities of the people there, Natasha recognizes the lack of opportunity and ofservices up north. She also says that not all people live in poverty and dysfunction. Natashaindicates also that she knows that there are reasons buried in the past that explain the conditionsexperienced by her people. The difference is that Natasha still identifies favourably with hercommunity \u00E2\u0080\u0094 culturally and spiritually\u00E2\u0080\u0094 but she dislikes the lack of opportunity.And, I was there and I was crying cause it was hopeless, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s nothing \u00E2\u0080\u0094 anythingfor Indian people up North, to help them stop drinking or like AlcoholicsAnonymous...(p.27-28, transcript 1). Nothing was really going on there up North.Kids weren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t allowed to stay out after nine o\u00E2\u0080\u0099clock. The cops up North are Indians,so they go around all around the reserve looking for the kids. Like after nine, if theyget caught after nine, they just grab you as you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re walking along the roads and theybring them back home, and they get a fine for it ... (p.3, transcript 1). Yeah, butsometimes, some of them are okay, some of them have good money, they have goodhouses, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t drink, they just drink at parties and stuff like that. But otherfamilies, the kids are starving because the father is beating up on the mother, andthey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re beating the kids, and they spend all their money on their alcohol. Which isdisgusting (p.29, transcript 1). I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s because a long time ago we didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have anIndian school, priests and nuns or anything so people just felt a loss when they didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tknow who to talk to (p.45, transcript 1).When the subject of Aboriginal culture surfaces Natasha begins to tell stories, she takes ona different aura and becomes very esoteric. After a lengthy session of Natasha telling Aboriginalstories, she says that \u00E2\u0080\u009CNo White man has ever heard or seen any of this Indian stuff, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t knowwhy.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Excerpts of her stories shows the extent of Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s belief in the spiritual elements of herculture.there was a little hawk, a little Indian bird. If you stop and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll come to you andhe\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll talk to you. If you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re a good person, he\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll give you good power \u00E2\u0080\u0094 magic. Ifyou are bad person, he\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll give you evil power ... And then there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s this big gust ofwind, and he started walking back. All of a sudden somebody, a small person, saidsomething to him. He said that if you stayed there you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re a good person and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll giveyou good powers and I believe in it, cause it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s my culture. I believe that nobodywould go around telling stupid stories like that [for nothing]. There was one time at197the reserve a long time ago, my aunt was sitting with my grandmother in the kitchenand they had peas on the stove and my uncle was in the kitchen. He looked out thewindow and he saw a little little person walking and he thought it was a little kid inthe middle of the night. He looked out and he saw somebody walking and walkingaround, and he ran out and he started trying to get this little person, but then hedisappeared by that time. But it was in the winter time and he saw the tracks of littlelittle feet\u00E2\u0080\u0094 but wide. You could tell he was wearing moccasins, because moccasinssometimes make tracks like that. It was really small feet but wide, like babies\u00E2\u0080\u0099 feet,but wide, very wide. There was nobody with that type of feet at all. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s anothertime my brother Dave ... All of a sudden, a big, big, big giant came in his dream,and he was taller than a tree and he was walking around, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.He was just looking and he said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Holy mackerel.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 He didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know where to hide.The giant he was just looking for somebody, you know, and the next day when hewoke up, he heard somebody died and that the police were trying to figure out howhe died. He was only like twenty or something. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, they have no ideahow he died, probably had a heart attack. His sister and my sister Tina had the samedream. And my grandmother said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s probably, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s cause the big giant was lookingfor somebody and the giant was really there, and when he saw somebody he wasgoing to grab and when the person saw him the person died of heart attack.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Thishappens to me, it happens to my sister Tina and it happens to my brother and atnight sometimes when we sleep ... feels it go like a spirit walking around him thewhole night. It happens here in Montreal and up North or whatever, but the spiritwas walking around at night. I told this to my grandmother and my grandfather, andmy grandfather said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098If you panic too much, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the soul that comes overyou, then your soul is going to be captured by a beast and you have no way to goto heaven right now,\u00E2\u0080\u009D or whatever. Me, it doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t happen that way with me.Sometimes it doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t always happen, but when I go to bed some times and try fallasleep, I feel my bed shake. I just feel like the bed is shaking, if I open my eyes, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099sstill shaking, if I get up, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s still shaking my bed all the time, not all the time but ithappens like once every six months, but I never told anybody really, but I only toldmy brother (pp.38-39, transcript 1).Natasha feels confused about her identity (demonstrated in her vacillation between feelingWhite and also feeling proud to be Aboriginal) but she is firm about what she sees as Aboriginalculture. She says the difference between White people\u00E2\u0080\u0099s way and the Aboriginal way is, \u00E2\u0080\u009CWell, theNative way is very, very spiritual.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand racism and wants a safe environment.She would like to go back to the old way and she would bring up her children in this environment.Yeah, I want them to grow in a safe environment place where there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s no alcohol andno kinds of abuse and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why we have the curfew at 9 o\u00E2\u0080\u0099clock. A lot of times,the kids ... that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s the reason why they leave the reserve and they go to Montreal(p.39, transcript 1).When Natasha was asked to give an opinion on how to revive and preserve Aboriginalculture she answers that language is one of the critical elements, that every effort must be made to198save it. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot of Indians that can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t speak Cree or their own language anymoreI mean teach them to speak ....\u00E2\u0080\u009C Natasha is trilingual and feels that language is important.Secondly she believes that elders must be approached to teach people the traditional ways. Herthird comment indicates a protectionist stance whereby she thinks that any influence of Whiteculture ought to be minimized.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d buy a big piece of land but there wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be any White people, we would allowWhite tourists but we don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t allow White people to live there because as soon asWhite people live there everything becomes White, White, White and White (p.39,transcript 1).Back in the present, when asked how she could make her life better, Natasha replied, \u00E2\u0080\u009CGoback up North and live with my grandmother and my grandfather ... I love to go up North to go visitmy father.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not sure that she would feel fulfilled up North but this seems to be the lesser oftwo evils. Natasha seems genuinely unsettled about what is best for her. Ideally she should reunitewith her mother, now that her stepfather is out of the home, but her mother continues to abusedrugs and live an unstable life style. Going back to her grandparents is not entirely unpalatable;however, she hates the reserve. There is nothing to do for a young woman who has been around.Natasha leaves open the possibility of exploring a relationship with her father.Cause I never seen my father in my life and I just start talking to him a couple ofweeks ago \u00E2\u0080\u0094 no, last week. I found out his address from my mother so I sent hima picture and I stuffed it in my letter, and I put my phone number and address hereand I sent it up North. He got it and he phoned me and I said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Oh, my God, Ihaven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t seen you for so long.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I told him I wanted to go visit him for his birthdayand stuff like that ... I forgot. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have my letter anymore. But I am going, I amfifteen years old now and I can go up and see him. Yeah, he said he was going totry to get me out but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d have to do my part too ... He\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll just help me get out of here(p.43, transcript 1).The bright lights of the city beckon to Natasha in equal force to her need to go back up northwhere she identifies. This assimilating alienating phenomena\u00E2\u0080\u0094 the choice between the urbanwasteland and marginalized rural racism and poverty \u00E2\u0080\u0094 is the fiercest modern dilemma thatconfronts Aboriginal youth from Aboriginal communities. Urban Aboriginal youth in dysfunctional199settings have no tangible choice. Natasha demonstrates the dilemma clearly in the followingstatement.Yeah ... now I feel I belong here. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not sure. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m lost between theWhites and the Indians. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d still like to live in Montreal but I find that it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not a verygood place for me, but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to go up North too so, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know (p.43,transcript 1).SocietyYeah, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a lot of those [perverts] on the streets right now, peopledriving in their cars, looking at you, chasing after you with their cars (p.Z3,transcript 1)Unlike other street youth participants in this study, Natasha is very much preoccupied withher institutionalization and getting out, and not about removed philosophical arguments about whatis wrong with urban society. How would she fix things? At first she simply says \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know\u00E2\u0080\u009D toa question about how she would advise the government to improve conditions for street youth.There seems to be an unwritten, unspoken code of not speaking to any authority, especially thegovernment, about anything. Certainly, other case study participants indicated this phenomena,especially in the younger age group. Natasha, however, does corroborate the views of many of theparticipants about the street youth environment being over run with sexual predators.I was going down to Cactus and there was this long road, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like downtown, butthere\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like a little street and it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all black. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hardly any lights. So I waswalking on there and I saw a car, and somebody was looking at me in the car so Istarted walking away. He started waving at me and calling to me and I just kept onwalking and I got to Cactus. I thought the car was gone, so I started walking rightdown town street. He was right at the corner of the street, and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s waving me over.I just wanted to see what he was going to do, so I opened the door but I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t goin. I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t sit in ... never in my life. He goes, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll give you as much money as youwant if you get in and you jerk me off,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and I go, \u00E2\u0080\u0098No\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and I just closed the door andI left. I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s so stupid, how he would want to touch a fifteen year old and he\u00E2\u0080\u0099slike sixty years old (p.23, transcript 1).Natasha comments on the child care system and the way children get lost in the maze oflaws, programs and workers. She sees the value of having one primary worker who would at leasthave a vested interest in tracing the developments of the child who is having difficulties in life. She200seems to indicate in different places in the interview that she means social workers from homecommunities.I mean this poor kid always getting into trouble and you know you can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t keep yournose clean ... they switch you to different places and you never stay in one place forvery long. Like I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a bag of potatoes or something. Like if I say if a new kid comesto the system, they should always have a social worker stick with them, stay withthem until we get out of the system so they know what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really going on with them.Cause most of them are really tired of being exchanged by the social workers andchanging lawyers and they change people and blah blah blah. What they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tchange is the judges. You should really have somebody like a social worker thatstays with you, like know what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s going with you everyday ... Because judges don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tstay with you, the only time you know they see you is when you go to court. Allthey do is repeat whatever is on your file and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know who you are, theydon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know how you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re like. They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know anything about you at all (p.48,transcript 1).Going home is the one thing that Natasha is looking forward to and she wants only to getout of the institution, off the street and into a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnormal\u00E2\u0080\u009D life. She describes, almost like a fantasy, thelife she will begin as soon as she gets out.First when I get out I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll have to help my mother move ...Yeah, cause my stepfatheris not living there any more, and so I feel safer about staying there and I find it easierto relate to my mother ... Yeah, as long as I get out of here, as long as I get to gohome ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d end up changing my lifestyle, I would dress the way I wanted to dress.I would go to school. I wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t hang around with friends that I hang out with. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099dlive in a different area and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d just become a different person ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to wear theruffles on my blouse. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d grow my hair long and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d start wearing some make-up.That type of thing. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d stop taking drugs and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d stop drinking and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d quit smokingand I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d just listen to my mother more and go to school (p.34, transcript 1).Natasha does not have a clear vision of her future as an working adult. She does want a normal life,to go to school, get a job, with marriage and children, and simply to love life. As we have heardfrom her, she would like to return to a traditional lifestyle somewhere where children are safe.Natasha, once again, becomes sullen and she expresses gloom about the real world within whichshe must navigate. Like many kids she is uncertain about how she will achieve the things that shedreams about in a complex modern world.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know what to do with my life. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know I guess get ajob, I have no idea ... I never thought about going to school, I never liked it verymuch and I was never very good at it (p.50, transcript 1).201At the end of the last interview the interviewer asked what Natasha thought would actuallyhappen. Natasha said, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know, drugs are in my system, I need them, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll probably die young.\u00E2\u0080\u009D\u00E2\u0080\u009CShe was looking at me very frankly and right in the eyes,\u00E2\u0080\u009D said the interviewer. Natasha, byNovember 1 993, had gone AWOL and was reportedly in bad trouble of some kind\u00E2\u0080\u0094 she was foundon prostitution strip. She was then placed into very strict detention centre (Jean Sauve DetentionCentre). Shawbridge is nothing compared to this place.CHARNELLEI like doing things like running around. Just hanging around having a good time.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a very hyper girl. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s me (p.9, transcript 1).Charnelle is a thirteen year old girl of Inuit ancestry who was born in Frobisher Bay, Quebec.She is 5\u00E2\u0080\u00997\u00E2\u0080\u009D tall and weighs about 140 pounds, she looks like an 18 year old. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey think I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m olderbut I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she says. Charnelle has accented Inuit features, a very dark pretty face (due to AfricanAmerican heritage, see history) with slanted brown eyes, and long straight dark hair usually tied upin a pony tail (she wears bangs). She doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t wear make-up. At each interview she wore themodern day teen fashion \u00E2\u0080\u0094 made up of big baggy jeans, t-shirt and Reeboks.Charnelle is basically a very friendly and optimistic person who knows what she wants andis very direct in her expression. This directness can seem abrasive at times. This may be the reasonthat her primary worker doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like her at all. Charnelle is a synchronized swimmer and very muchinto sports of all kinds, and shows considerable artistic abilities. She draws very well. Charnelleis very intelligent and achieves at least an 80% average in her grade eight class; however, schoolbores her. Charnelle is trilingual \u00E2\u0080\u0094 English, French and she understands her own language.Someday she wants to be a marine biologist.We had interviewed Charnelle in June 1993 and due to technical difficulties we needed toreschedule an interview with her in November later in the year. In June Charnelle was atShawbridge Detention Centre. She had run away, been recaptured, sent to Jean Sauve DetentionCentre and now was in a group home. The second interview took place at the group home. A202casual atmosphere permeated the house which had a cozy kitchen, a pooltable downstairs, a largeback yard, basketball hoops in the yard, a piano in the living room where the workers coming onshift brought videos for the evening\u00E2\u0080\u0099s entertainment. Charnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s room was pleasantly decoratedaround a bed, a dresser with a large mirror and a desk.Charnelle is a very today type of person. Even with her sunny disposition her situationdepresses her, and at times she can become listless. She wants nothing more than to go homewhere someone loves her, but she does not harbour any deep-seated anger that we could detectfrom the interview. This young girl is very different from Natasha, who we met in the last casestudy.HistoryI think I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m related to almost everybody. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s lots and lots of people (p.27,transcript 1).Charnelle, her sisters and her mother left Frobisher Bay and moved down to Montreal whenCharnelle was too small to remember (possibly at age 4). Her father stayed in the North. Herparents separated but never divorced. Her father now lives in Cape Dorsett, Quebec within anotherfamily. When Charnelle is home she lives with her mother and two sisters, ages 14 and 16, whohave \u00E2\u0080\u009Cnever been in trouble.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Charnelle lists one brother on her face sheet. He is a young manwho has informally stayed with them for years but is not legally adopted. Both Charnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s parentsidentify as Inuit. Her father is full Inuit, while her mother has African American ancestry. Hermaternal grandfather was a African American man from Montana, who died when she was six yearsold.Charnelle does not clearly remember her own father whom she has not seen in 6 years. Hehas not spoken with her in over a year \u00E2\u0080\u0094 she is bitter about this.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know. I haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t spoken to him for a couple of years. Like he called ... Ithink it was last year for my birthday. He wished me Happy Birthday. He\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a manthat says something, but doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do it. All talk but no action. I haven\u00E2\u0080\u0099t spoken tohim for the longest time. My birthday is coming up in February, he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s probably notgoing to call me or send me a card even. He hasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t sent me a card for I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know203how long. He hasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t written a letter. He hasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t called. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really talk to him.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really like him for that, but I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t say I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like him, because I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t knowhim. I hate him, when he heard I was in Jean Sauve he had the nerve to tell mymom, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I want her home\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (p.25, transcript 1).There is some animosity toward the father, from mother and daughter. They speak harshly abouthis current lifestyle with his family, consisting of five children (mostly adopted). \u00E2\u0080\u009CShe\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a witch,\u00E2\u0080\u009DCharnelle says of her father\u00E2\u0080\u0099s partner, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cshe tried to kill him.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She does not indicate at any time thathe abuses alcohol. In fact, later in the interview she seems to indicate that he does not use alcoholor at least he helped to instill caution about alcohol abuse in his daughter.Charnelle hasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t been back to Frobisher Bay for six years although her mother went homefor a visit in the past year. Her memories of the place, however, are pleasant. She remembers skidooing and sliding down the mountain with her cousins. She has many relatives there.My cousins. I have so many cousins. God, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s weird. I have cousins up there. Theyall live around the same community ... My cousin lived up the road in one of thebuildings and one of my cousins lived up the road in one of the other buildings. Ithink I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m related to almost everybody. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s lots and lots of people (p.27\u00E2\u0080\u0099,transcript 1).So how did she end up at Shawbridge and later at the group home? Charnelle attendedRosemount High School in Montreal, but was not allowed to return because she missed too muchschool. Also she went AWOL from home, she was sent to Luchene Shelter, where she ran \u00E2\u0080\u009Cveryoften.\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009CThey got tired of it and put me in Jean Sauve [Jean Sauve is a strict detention centre] for amonth, I got out and they put me in another shelter, again I AWOLed ... and then they put me inShawbridge.\u00E2\u0080\u009D In September 1993 she was sent to the group home, where she will stay until herrelease in February 1994.On the streetsI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m just there. Just walk around, but not really a street person (p.3, transcript 1).Charnelle began staying away from home at age twelve, she began staying over with oldermale friends (ages 16 and 18), one of whom lives on his own. The first jaunt lasted twelve days.Her mother reported her missing. In the meantime Charnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s friends fed her, while she just hung204out. Sometimes she would go to a family friend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s house to eat. Charnelle fits into the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cin and outer\u00E2\u0080\u009Dcategory of runaways. She, in effect, lives at home\u00E2\u0080\u0094 with varying lengths of absences. She doesnot use food banks, she did not live in squats, or panhandle, neither did she qualify for welfarebecause she was too young. It appears that mother and daughter had a communication problemwhich they have since begun to deal with. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t getting along with my mom, because like weweren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talking too often and now we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re talking almost every day. She asks what I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m doing. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099sgetting good between me and my mom.\u00E2\u0080\u009DCharnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s behavior is a mixture of seeking adventure and a call for attention. She describesher flight to freedom in this way:I AWOLed from Luchene Shelter after I AWOLed from home. They put me inLuchene Shelter, so I AWOLed very often... so they put me in Jean Sauve for amonth, then I got out. They put me in [another detention centre] and then IAWOLed from [there] and they put me in Jean Suave again, then they put me inShawbridge\u00E2\u0080\u009D (p.3, transcript 1).Charnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s outward behavior began as peer motivated attempts at freedom. To her goingmissing is just a teen thing to do. \u00E2\u0080\u009CThis generation is more mature, they mature faster. Most of myfriends are like me. Two of my best friends were at Shawbridge with me \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the same age. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099swhat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s happening,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she adds matter-of-factly. Another reason may be that she had experiencedsexual abuse as a young child.Yeah, when I was living with my mom\u00E2\u0080\u0099s boyfriend. My mom\u00E2\u0080\u0099s boyfriend, hemolested me and my sister, but I never really got raped by anything enteringanything. He was touching me more ... [I felt] Uncomfortable. I used to cry, but nowhe\u00E2\u0080\u0099s in jail ... I told my social worker and then I told my mom about it. We went tocourt and he went to jail. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know when he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s coming out. He went to jail forfive years ... When I do think about it, I tell my mom. She tries to get me to talkabout it more. Then I talk about it a bit, but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think about things like that. Ihardly ever think about it because I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t remember it too well. I was young (pp.34-35, transcript 1).The fact that her mother supported her at the time of the crime and thereafter, and the fact that shesaw that the perpetrator experienced consequences for his action, have allowed her to move on withher life.205Charnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s life right now is, however, made of running and institutional care. On her facesheet she filled out all of the categories which show social service institutional care she has used inthe last year (see appendix D, question 10). During her time away from home and away fromdetention she hangs out with friends and downtown on the streets. Although her life is not asharrowing and survival-oriented as some of the street youth we have met in this study, the potentialfor serious life-long or life-threatening consequences await her at every corner.Charnelle tells of the strong pressures for engaging in sexual activity. \u00E2\u0080\u009CGuys here is sex, sex,sex.\u00E2\u0080\u009D In an era where AIDS is a real possibility, this is dangerous enough. But when she tells abouta guy who pulled a gun on her and insisted on sex, that is a different matter.He took the gun out and he said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098If you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have sex with me I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m going to killyou.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 And I said, \u00E2\u0080\u0098You can kill me because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not going to have sex with you.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 Hesaid, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Yeah, yeah.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 He goes like this, shoots to the door. It went out right throughthe door (p.29, transcript 1).Charnelle was on the pill but couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t remember to take them regularly, now she uses condoms withno problems, she indicates that she knows the dangers of STD\u00E2\u0080\u0099s [sexually transmitted disease] andAIDS. \u00E2\u0080\u009C... no venereal disease or anything or HIV or any of those nasty STDs. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like those.\u00E2\u0080\u009DCharnelle is young and doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk extensively about drug abuse in her network of friends.She admits to experimentation.I used to take drugs, nothing bad, just like weed. I tried and I used to take it if Icould get some. But not anymore. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel good like that. And I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t takeanything else because it really rips up your life (pp.8-9, transcript 1).She indicates that her mother talks with her children about drug abuse and that she can have funwithout drugs. Later in the interview she laments about general Aboriginal alcohol abuse by sayingshe wonders why they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have parents like hers. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI was brought up not to drink, so when I seethese people, I say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098How come their moms couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be like mine?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 or \u00E2\u0080\u0098How come their fatherscouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be like mine?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s good to drink ... it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s weird.\u00E2\u0080\u009DWhen we asked if anything happened to her that she thinks might not have happened toother youth on the street she replied,206Nope. Because I heard that lots of people get put out on the street for prostitution.People make them for drugs. I never went on the street for prostitution. I never solddrugs. I might of took drugs, but I never sold any ... because I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really want toget in trouble (p.9, transcript 1).Charnelle does not talk about crime in a familiar way. When asked about shame, guilt and angershe answers like a child with little but early teen concerns to worry about. Her greatest shame ishaving slept with her girlfriend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s boyfriend. She has a distinct lack of rage and shame that is likelya reflection of the support Charnelle received in her abuse case and her mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s concernedinvolvement in her welfare. Charnelle shows an intelligent note of caution in her dealings on thestreet. Contact with street workers, outside of her primary worker, has been minimal. She does notknow any Aboriginal street workers.Even though Charnelle has not had experience with death in her immediate peer group onthe street or in the detention centres she has known sadness at the suicide of her mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s exboyfriend and a twenty year old cousin in the last year. She has fond memories of her cousin.I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really know my cousin, but he, when he came down to go to the hospital orsomething, I met him when he stayed at my house. I really liked this guy becausehe was really funny. We played basketball together. He played basketball with myfriends. He was so funny because he was really beating us. He was a nice guy andwhen I found out he died, I was, like, oh my God. I was, like, really freaking outbecause I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really know him. What I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve seen him to be, he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a really nice guy(p.31, transcript 1).The prognosis for Charnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s repatriation and likelihood that she will stay off the street isgood. At least she has begun to talk with her mother and is taking responsibility for her behavior.She has begun to make plans for behavioral guidelines when she returns home and she has weekendhome visits. And mother and daughter are attending weekly meetings with a counsellor to helpthem communicate.Me and mom went to an interview on Thursday with my social worker and maderules for me if I go home on weekends because my mom works on weekends,because usually on Fridays I go out ... to a dance. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m fighting to be home back byone after a dance. And if I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t go to a dance, I have to be home by 11. And Ihave to eat first and do my chores first. Saturdays, I have to be home by supper,have to eat, have to do my chores and then I can go out until 11. On Sundays, mymom doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like me going out at all because I have to get ready to go back. But207if I do go, I have to be back by 3 or something like that ... It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what I got to live withit. But I think it will be good for me because when I go home I can listen more.Usually, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really listen to my mom and I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really listen to my curfew, andnow I think I should just listen. Would be better for me. ... Oh gosh, it makes mefeel responsible. I would say I do something like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not supposed to do this. Ishould call my mom.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 It so different now because usually I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t call my mom, Idon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think about my mom and now it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I should call my mom, I should gohome, oh my God, what time is it? Am I going to be late? Is my mom going toscream at me? Oh my God, I better go home now.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s weird (p.12, transcript 1).Charnelle is doing everything she can to get her mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099s trust back. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI want to get out,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she saysof the group home. Although Charnelle and Natasha know each other they are like day and night.Natasha is a victim to drugs, doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t trust her mother, cannot communicate with her mom nor doesshe have her support. Natasha has the added difficulties of so much rage to deal with and severedepression about her institutionalization. Charnelle is antsy about getting out in February 1994 andgoing back to school but there is a feeling of hope and love that is evident in her voice. Charnellehad matured in a span of four months and had developed a realistic view about her future.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve calmed down. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get into as much fights and I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk to many peoplethat get me in trouble. And the people that I used to talk to that got me in trouble,don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get into trouble or if they do, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t call me very much any more. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tspeak to them any more (p.4, transcript 1).The interview ended pleasantly with Charnelle and a group home worker driving the interviewerback home.RacismThey mistake me for a black person. Hey negro! (on tape only).Charnelle talks extensively about the racism manifested in her life. She does not tell ofdramatic confrontations in squats or life threatening encounters with police or skinheads; she doeshowever, give us insight of the everyday experience of a young child at school and on the street.The normality of racial harassment and the silent coping with self-esteem murder is frightening. Andout of the participants in this study, Charnelle is the lucky one. She has the invisible protection ofcaring from her mom. As stated before, Charnelle has mixed heritage, Inuit and African American(although she does not explicitly say so, her Black heritage may be Jamaican). As a result of this she208experiences racial harassment on both accounts, first for being African American because her darkskin is a prominent feature. Secondly, she is also visibly Inuit and this is how she ultimatelyidentifies. Most of her friends though are African American. This is where she feels mostcomfortable in the city. (There are few lnuit youth in Montreal.) Charnelle indicates that her darkcolour is also an issue when she is with Aboriginal people. \u00E2\u0080\u009CBecause I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m so dark and my mom\u00E2\u0080\u0099sdark, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s like these people are looking at me. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s weird because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not around too manyAboriginal people.\u00E2\u0080\u009DShopkeepers in particular manifest the suspicion of \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccoloured\u00E2\u0080\u009D people in this society. All ofthe participants report negative reactions, ranging from mild to harsh, from the commercial sector.Some of the abusive behavior is meted out to street youth in general because of poor hygiene andragged clothing, but in the perception of Aboriginal youth racial factors play a large part.They keep following me around because most of my friends are Black and they keepa good watch on them too. Usually the stores that don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t make you put the bags atthe cash tell us to put our bags at the cash. They think that all Black people stealand all that. They really don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand...(pp.1\u00C2\u00B0-il, transcript 1).She believes this constant surveillance is racism.Charnelle told us about racial harrassement in school in 1990 when the Oka crisis wasbrewing in Quebec. She became subject to name calling and threatening behavior from fellowstudents in a Montreal elementary school. She goes on to explain the kind of stereotypes that shehas to put up with and how they affect her.When I was in grade school. When the Oka or Kanawakae was happening and thatsiege was happening. People in my school knew I was Native and they startedcalling me names. \u00E2\u0080\u0098You Native this, you Native that. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all your fault that this hasstirred up,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 and something about becoming a real troublemaker (p.1 5, transcript 1).Once in a while [at school] I tell them I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m Native and they say, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Oh, they kind oflook funny,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really notice those things. They shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t bother me but itdoes ... [How does that make you feel?] Uncomfortable, makes me want to go, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Oh,don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t you do that to me. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not my fault.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 People are ignorant, very ignorant, goshit\u00E2\u0080\u0099s disgusting. All we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re trying to do is save our land. Usually, let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s say me and myfriends are sitting around talking about Inuits and Indians and all those things that,saying how White people are trying to portray Inuits and Indians, because Whitepeople saying that Inuit live in igloos. And if you say that we lived in houses, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099llbe like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098I thought you lived in igloos.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 And if they find out we have microwaves,209we make jokes about it. \u00E2\u0080\u0098Yeah, we have microwaves in our igloo, and HydroQuebec pays for our Hydro\u00E2\u0080\u0099... we make a big thing out of it. People feel so weirdafter it (p.15, transcript 1).When asked how she copes with stereotypes she says,Usually, I just punch them out. But now, whenever anybody comes up to me, I tryto talk to them and I try tell them it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m Inuit, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not because ofanything, people are just trying to be racist. You know, just walk away and not sayanything (p.16, transcript 1).Although Charnelle is later to tell us that she has no role models, she demonstrates in thefollowing passage that she distinguishes between hero worship and adopting ordinary role modelsthat make one believe in the inherent abilities of one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s own people, that Aboriginal people can doanything they set out to do. Charnelle articulates the mainstream images that Aboriginal childrenhave to surmount in their quest for self-esteem. She astutely tells us how important it is to have rolemodels in the professions and in the mainstream media.I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d like to be a marine biologist. Because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that Natives are smart,right? They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that Natives can do anything, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re smartenough even to be a teacher. I know a couple of Natives that are a lot smarter thanmost White people ... I think that they got somewhere in their life, and the Whitepeople don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see this. They just see the poor little Inuit boy sitting on the cornerwith his father pissed drunk in the bar. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all they see. Yeah, because, like whatmost White people see is drunk Natives and they think that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all they do, and that\u00E2\u0080\u0099swhy they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re all bums and they say that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re never going to get anywhere in life,but there are some Natives that are in movies. There are some Natives that arelawyers. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s some Natives that are doctors. They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see those people. Allthey see is the people that are drunk ... They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just there because they live here.They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see the people that are successful (pp.Z3-24, transcript 1).Charnelle discusses how she doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know enough Aboriginal history and what she doesknow is not very complementary to Aboriginal people. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI know that we traded our lives for alcoholand all that,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she says of the impression that is reenforced by her social studies courses in school.She also has difficulty in finding Aboriginal history written from an Aboriginal perspective \u00E2\u0080\u0094 byAboriginal people.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really know too much about Aboriginal history or Inuit history because I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099tfind any books about it. Because usually I go to the library, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s White history,there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s European history, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Spanish history, all this other history except forAboriginal history. Maybe they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s important (p.17, transcript 1).210She wants to read the real truth written by Aboriginal people. Charnelle talks about landappropriation and unjust treatment of her people.Certainly not the White people because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll say they didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do this and that, butif the Native people were to, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d write everything bad. Like the White peoplebringing over alcohol for when they trade. All these, first, were little dinky things.Because in the past ... I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve read a couple of things that they sold furs, like, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tknow, a pile of furs for one rifle. I think that White people really cheated them outof what they could have gotten, what they should have gotten. Yeah, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t thinkthat they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re being taken seriously because remember the thing about the golf course?It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s their land, right? So, they want a golf course, they should put it somewhere elsebecause a golf course, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s so many around. A golf course? What\u00E2\u0080\u0099s that going todo to the world? They need that land to make houses ... but the White people don\u00E2\u0080\u0099ttake them seriously. They just keep on pushing them out. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s good(p.21-22, transcript 1).Charnelle alludes to Aboriginal alcoholism being a result of bad treatment in Canadian society. Shethinks Aboriginal people abuse alcohol in order to feel better about themselves; however, she saysthat individual responsibility is also a part of the problem.I think they drink because White man introduced it to them and they drink and itmakes them feel good. So, they drink and when they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t drink, they feel weird,so they keep drinking and drinking and they get to the point where they have todrink and they have to have a beer and they have to try to get one. So, I think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099spart of the White man\u00E2\u0080\u0099s fault, but the other part would be the Inuit\u00E2\u0080\u0099s fault or theIndian\u00E2\u0080\u0099s fault, because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re taking it and drinking it and making their life out ofit. If we didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have alcohol, it wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t be as bad. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s both of their faults (p.22,transcript 1).Charnelle shows intelligence and courage in dealing with the pressure of stereotypes, culturalracism and the burden to defend Aboriginal struggles depicted in the media. It is a wonder that shedoes not exhibit a great amount of self-hatred. She does, however, feel different talking toAboriginal workers, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cbecause I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m so used to talking to White people. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s weird. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really talkto Native people because I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really know too many.\u00E2\u0080\u009D On the other hand, she says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CNativepeople are a lot more understanding.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She, like other youth in the study, feels like Aboriginalpeople \u00E2\u0080\u009Cknow what we\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve been through.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She admits some shame when she sees drunk Aboriginalpeople on the street. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhat most White people see are drunk Natives.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Some evidence of211internalized racism surfaces when she refers to her colour in a hushed sort of way. \u00E2\u0080\u009CShe has thecolour also,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she says about her aunt at one point in the interview.Charnelle also begins to share that in the detention centre youth from all cultures cometogether and begin to understand that all people are alike in some ways. She likes the experienceof getting to know other people\u00E2\u0080\u0099s culture. Charnelle corroborates that there are mixed messages forher as an Aboriginal person in that she is subject to racial stereotypes and yet somewhere in themessage the perpetrators also want to give some respect to First Nations because they were here first.Even this small confused measure of respect would enhance the self esteem of healthier Aboriginalchildren. For others it makes for angry youth. Charnelle indicates just how much mainstreamignorance of Aboriginal issues and history hurts her by her answer to a question we asked eachparticipant. [Is there anything you want to talk about that you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think we covered?] She answers\u00E2\u0080\u009CNot really except ...\u00E2\u0080\u009CLike kids ... people say they live in igloos, they live in tents, they live in teepees,they dance around the fire going ah, ah, ah like that? They shouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think aboutthat. They should just think about they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re the same people as that. They live in thesame place, they have the same clothes, they eat the same food, except for somethings may be different ... And they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see the person. And they might just sayall these people are troublemakers and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t care. People in Shawbridge, theycare. Because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like prejudice. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not prejudiced at all. They likeevery kind of faith. And people say they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the Jamaican, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t likeHaitians because of their colour, but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s right. But when it comes toNative people, they think that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re really, really powerful, because you were herefirst ... but in Shawbridge you live with them and you can learn how they talk andyou could see how friendly they are (p.4\u00C2\u00B0, transcript 1).Culture and identityI don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel any different as any other person. If I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m happy, then I feel happy. Itdoesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t feel weird. The fact that I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m mull, I say it with pride. I say I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m Inuit andI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m happy to be one (p.16, transcript 1).Although Charnelle identifies as Inuit and her personal self-esteem is intact, she seemsculturally estranged. She has superficial contact with Aboriginal people through her mother\u00E2\u0080\u0099sattendance at functions at the Montreal Friendship Centre and she remains uncomfortable withAboriginal people (who are not from up north). Charnelle hangs out with Black youth in Montreal212and says that her discomfort around Aboriginal people is due to lack of contact. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI was brought uparound White people and Black people,\u00E2\u0080\u009D she says. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m proud and should be happy, even if I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mNative we could be friends. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hard for me ... I can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t talk because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m shy.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Only once shementions that her reticence around Aboriginal people may be because of her darkness and theattention that gets.Her mother speaks lnuktitut and works in Montreal translating for people who come fromthe north to receive services. Charnelle understands her language and she could probably speak ifshe had to. In their home, they use sweet grass on a regular basis and they get regular shipmentsof dried caribou meat from the north. She identifies this unique food as part of her culture.Yes, most kids I know, eat \u00E2\u0080\u0094 like White food. I was brought up on Inuit food. Bythe time I ate this kind of meat and that kind of meat, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll start grossing out. I thinkI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m different in that way (p.19, transcript 1).Charnelle recognizes that there are significant cultural differences in world view and in theexpression of interpersonal relationships. She indicates that she appreciates the difference andidentifies more with the basis of equality in Aboriginal philosophy. The first difference that directlyaffects her as a youth in the city is peer pressure to engage in sexual activity. She contrasts thepressure to have sex down south to up north. \u00E2\u0080\u009CIt\u00E2\u0080\u0099s good up there because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re notintroducing you to guys pushing you to have sex like that kind of thing.\u00E2\u0080\u009DA Native community would all know each other. They wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t, like, reject eachother, but in a White community, if you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like what they dress, if you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t liketheir food, if you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the way they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re living, like, if there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a poor part of townand there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a rich part of town, you wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like them because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re poor or rich.And most of them are hypocrites, because, like, they say something and then theygo and say something else, then the other person tells the first thing and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099tadmit to it ... In the Native community, if you say something about somebody, yousay it straight to their face, because you all know each other because you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re almostall related. So there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s some differences because White people think they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re all it.They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re up there, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re superior, and in the Native community, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re all equal.Yep, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what happens when you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re superior. We all come from the same blood(p.42, transcript 1) ... People in the city don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know that, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s why. That\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what\u00E2\u0080\u0099sgood about the Native culture. They have a completely different culture than theWhite people or the Black people, because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t sit around the fire going ah,ah, ah all their lives. They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t live in teepees, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t live in igloos. But theystill keep their language, yeah. Most people do. Like, the French people, the English213people ... but when you find out what their food is like, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really weird, because,like, \u00E2\u0080\u0098They eat that!?\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (p.l5, transcript 1).Like Natasha, Charnelle speaks of esoteric beliefs that exist within her family \u00E2\u0080\u0094 within herculture. They do not simply rely on what is known with the ordinary senses. Dreams aremeaningful. This indicates attitudes that exhibit unconscious cultural traits and extensive use ofintuitive faculties.My mom had this dream about a month ago. Before she went to Frosbisher Bay,because the reason why she went up there was because my cousin committedsuicide and she had a dream that two of her friends committed suicide, but shedidn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know who. The next day she found out her ex-boyfriend, Johnny, committedsuicide. And my cousin committed suicide, so...(p.31, transcript 1).So although Charnelle appears not to have much contact with the outward symbols of her culture,her identification is based on lived expression of culture. Charnelle does not have extensiveinfluence from her grandparents. There appears to be a falling out in the family that is not discussed.Her mother talks to her sister in Frobisher Bay, but that is the extent of contact with family. Hermother occasionally visits the north but doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to live there. Once in awhile they get visitorsfrom back home. Charnelle craves more contact with extended family and elders up north. Shewants to find out more about her history and she wants to become involved, when she get older,in helping down south (like her mom).As can be seen in this case study, Charnelle exhibits a balance in her personal self-esteem.She has a good self-concept and does not over-identify or denigrate Aboriginal role models, sheadmires them but also believes she too could become successful.I think myself that if I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m different than this person or that person, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m different. If I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mthe same as that person, I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m the same. Why can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t I be the same as any other person?I can have a good education. I could become anything I want to, like anybody else.So, I just think that way, so I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t need any role models .... Native actors? They\u00E2\u0080\u0099regood actors just like any other actors and something special about them becausethey\u00E2\u0080\u0099re Native and not too many Natives pursue what they want to be, like, theywant to be an actor. They may just say, I want to be an actor, and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll go and doit. I admire them, because you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really know how they got there. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t reallyenvy or admire too much people. I just do what I do. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not the type of personwho judge people just by what they do. I judge people by their personality. If theirpersonality is good, I admire them a lot (pp.37-39, transcript 1).214In the end, Charnelle appreciates her culture and states that \u00E2\u0080\u009CWe need our traditions.\u00E2\u0080\u009D She wouldlike to see people learn to appreciate each other\u00E2\u0080\u0099s culture and learn from each other.SocietyAdults? Some adults are really sick persons. I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know too many people, anyadults or who are ... kind of a nice person. Sometimes you see them when they\u00E2\u0080\u0099reslightly nice (p.38, transcript 1).Charnelle does not show overt rejection of mainstream values and cultural expression;however she says that she doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the contradictory messages that she gets from adults aboutdrug abuse. She indicates that adults preach that youth are not supposed to drink and then they usemany types of drugs. About street youth, Charnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0099s attitude is \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s just the way it is now-a-days.\u00E2\u0080\u009DExcept for the friends I have. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re 13, 12 and they do all those things. Becausethis generation is more mature. They mature faster, so ... Most of my friends are likeme. Two of my best friends were at Shawbridge with me \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the same age. Thatwhat\u00E2\u0080\u0099s happening (p.30, transcript 1).Charnelle believes that youth go to the street to find excitement and freedom to experience life.I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think that people will be able to keep them off the streets because they\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll begoing back to drugs, booze, freedom and parties. They think that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s all the fun.They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re living in the fast lane. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not like going to school and learning andthen having fun afterward. They just have to party, party, party (p.13-34,transcript 1).Charnelle does concede that youth on the street have problems and that they need help. Hersolution is to send them back to group homes or wherever they came from. We get the messagethat Charnelle herself goes to the street to find freedom and that her home situation is not athreatening place to go back to.They have problems and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want to deal with them so they just leave andtake drugs. They should try to help them. Tell them to go to the Pops or something.They usually go to Pops, and at Pops they should have somebody there saying theyshould go back and that it would be better. I think they have that, but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not sure.But it will be better if people started telling them that they should go back home andstraighten out their life ... or back to their group home or Shawbridge or home,because people worry about them and I realized that when my mom called thepolice to say that I was AWOL (p.36, transcript 1).215What should youth do if they are being abused? Charnelle reflects her experience onceagain. She advises youth to talk to a social worker and to press charges against their assailant. Shecannot imagine a child not having the support she had when she was going through her court case.I think that they should go and talk to somebody and ask their social worker to gointo some sort of place, you know, with a foster family, or in a shelter or in a grouphome so that they get help. Try to get the person that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s bothering them or rapingthem or whatever to get into jail and try to get the person to talk about it and see ifthey want to press charges or whatever (p.34, transcript 1). They should tell thepolice that they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re being molested or raped. They could talk to a friend\u00E2\u0080\u0099s parents.They could talk to a friend or their aunt. They could talk to almost everybody (p.36,transcript 1).Charnelle expresses the need for alternatives to detention or jail for youth who haveproblems. She also believes that jails for adults, without proper treatment, do little to rehabilitatesexual abusers. She doubts that molesters get help in jails.Kids ... people in the jails... they think that jail makes them better. It just makesthem go crazier ... In the jails, they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t help you. They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t help you talk aboutyour problems. They put you into a, like, psychiatrist. They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t help you at all.Like, if a rapist goes out and rapes people, then goes to jail, comes out 20 years later,he\u00E2\u0080\u0099s most likely going to do it again because he didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get help. People might havebeat him, really beat him because he raped children, but that doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t mean he\u00E2\u0080\u0099ll goout and not do it again. When I was at Rosemont High School, my moral educationteacher told me that they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t let the people talk about their problems \u00E2\u0080\u0094 about whythey did it. They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t give them any help, people who molest people. The peoplein jail won\u00E2\u0080\u0099t give them any help so that they can stop doing it. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just there todo their time. So they stay there for 20 years, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going out and doing it again.The jails should have something like a psychiatrist for people who rape people andtry to get them on the right track so they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t rape people anymore (p.34, transcript1).When asked what she would advise a government person to do to help youth on the streetand to prevent more youth from ending up on the street, we received straightforward answerswithout the strong resistance that we noticed in other participants. Charnelle would like to seeefforts in job creation, affordable housing, youth detox centres, safe houses for youth, communitycentres and more services on the street. She intersperses her answers with requests for more culturalactivities and recognition of Aboriginal rights.216I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d try to tell them, to ask if they could put more services for Aboriginal people.Like, if they could help them find jobs and places that aren\u00E2\u0080\u0099t very expensive to stay.Different kinds of things, but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d most likely try and get more services for Aboriginalpeople because there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s lots of services for Black people, White people, all kinds ofpeople, but I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really see too many for Native people. And they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t really talkabout Native people so often ... Like, community centres, pow wows. They shouldhave lots more of these things because we need our traditions because they justcame here, like, Christopher Columbus came here. He discovered us. If he didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tcome here, we\u00E2\u0080\u0099d still have our traditions. But now, since they came, we havemicrowaves, we have all this stuff and they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t let us really do too much, like powwows or having ceremonies or ... They don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s important, but it is, becausewe need to fish, because usually in Newfoundland, they have international placesto fish. They should make part of it or most of it for us so that we can keep fishingand we can keep hunting, that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s what I want, things that would be fun (p.2\u00C2\u00B0,transcript 1). I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d try to get him [a government person] to get more places likecommunity centres, places where they can sleep, places where they can get goodfood, clothes, money, all those kind of things. And somewhere where they couldtalk to people, where the people would understand and not just sit there and yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah, just listening to them, not doing anything about it. They shouldget a place where people could do something about it, like, you tell them somethingand tell them you want to go here, you want to go there. Instead of just tellingthem, \u00E2\u0080\u0098Oh, wait it out, wait it out,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 because you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the group home thatyou\u00E2\u0080\u0099re in that\u00E2\u0080\u0099s helping you and you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t like the way they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re helping you. Justwait it out maybe a couple of days or couple of weeks and if it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s really, reallymiserable for the person. I think that they should try to get them to make it feelbetter like putting culture into activities at a community centre, activities at school\u00E2\u0080\u0094 put them in a good school (p.32, transcript 1).How might she do this? She feels that a lot of education is needed and that political action willmake the difference.Write to the government and get a whole bunch of signatures from a whole bunchof people. Try to get them to know that people want to work and that other peopledoesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want them to succeed. I think that would get their attention. And then sendmore and more letters, and have more and more people talk about it (p.32, transcript1).For the present Charnelle wants to return to the loving home of her mother. She feels thatshe can stay out of trouble and try to influence her friends to do the same.I just want to go home ... [Will it be different?] I think so because all the people thatused to get me trouble are in Shawbridge or in group homes themselves and theywant to get out also so ... I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t think there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s any more trouble (p.31, transcript 1).I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d try to get more of my friends out of trouble and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m trying to get my friend notto, like, get into the trouble with the cops or whatever. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m going to try and get myfriends on the right track (p.39, transcript 1).Charnelle still believes in the system, it has not failed her. She believes in herself. She is a survivor.I think that I could be a lot of things, because I have talent. I can sing and I candraw. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m a nice person. I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m good with children and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m smart, so I can probablybecome lots of things. If I want to do something, all I have to do is keep my mindset on it then I could do it. Because I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m the type of person, if I want to do something,I really go for it. So, I could probably become anything I want.217218Chapter 6. Life on the streetIn chapter six I discuss implications arising from the case studies by pulling out themes whichrecur in the interviews and that are salient to life on the street. The summation follows under themajor headings of: the guiding questions; research revisited; street culture and myths aboutAboriginal street youth; and street youth needs. The first section connects the content in the casestudies with the questions that were identified at the onset of the research. The second piecejuxtaposes Aboriginal street youth experience with the substance of the literature on street youth ingeneral. The third part speaks to the specificity of street youth culture as shown in the case studiesand also discusses what the youth perceive as societal myths about them and their environment.The fourth and last section in the chapter examines the lives of Aboriginal street youth encompassingfour types of needs: survival needs (food, clothing, shelter); safety needs (protection from society,from police, from care givers); self-esteem and intellectual integrity needs (mental health, education,employment); and spiritual needs (culture, tradition, creativity).The guiding questions (introduced in chapter 2)1. What are the most significant life experiences that have impacted on the current situation ofstreet youth? The significant life experiences might be categorized under the heading of antecedentsfor going to the street \u00E2\u0080\u0094 removal from parental and extended family community, institutionalization,criminalization at an early age, adoption breakdown, foster care alienation, extreme poverty offamily, racial harassment in schools, alcohol and drugs abuse in family of origin, death of parent(s),violence, and child abuse. There are the multiple and overlapping reasons for Aboriginal youthoverrepresentation on the streets. As explained, the participants in this study were referred by streetworkers. Therefore there was no prior knowledge of who were from adoption breakdown or fostercare settings. Eight of the eleven participants went to the street by way of state care. Three (Karen,Joanne and Dale) had not been institutionalized. Their primary causes for running to the urbansetting were poverty, possible Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (in Karen\u00E2\u0080\u0099s case), and sexual orientation.219Rage, shame, invalidation, homophobia, predatory behaviour (toward them) and exploitation,separation and loss, cultural shame and alienation all impact on Aboriginal street youth self-conceptand contribute to the struggle negatively to staying alive. The death of street family and extendedfamily are a major force in street youth lives.2. What are the greatest challenges facing street youth today? The challenges are made up ofthe consequences of being on the street and imply multiple oppression: hunger, shelterlessness, dailyracism, sexism and homophobia in all forms, violence and exploitation, physical and mental healthproblems, lack of relevant re-entry education, lack of training and joblessness, drug and alcoholaddiction and the availability of new and stronger drugs, lack of culturally appropriate andsociologically similar counselling (much more than cultural insensitivity and marginalization \u00E2\u0080\u0094counsellors who do not know their circumstances and background), despair, depression, grief andsuicidal thoughts. The danger of AIDS, rootlessness, the search for biological, cultural and racialidentity and dignity, escape from institutional care, and the desperate yearning to go home are theintangible challenges that await street youth every waking moment. With recession and a trendtoward more conservative social policy, one of the greatest long range challenges is hope in thefuture.3. What are the most critical forces/institutions that influence the thinking and behaviour ofstreet youth? The forces which impact on Aboriginal children on the streets are elaborated inchapter seven. The Young Offenders Act, foster care policy and practice, adoption and all itssurrounding issues from obscured identity to sexual abuse, repatriation, and reconnection withnatural parents are frontline institutions that directly impact on Aboriginal street youth. Indirectlyyouth are affected in their collective ignorance about their Aboriginal rights and through aneducational system and school policy which ignore racial harassment. Many of the impacts resultin youth who are resistant to education and training and who resist street services which aredesigned to helped them.220Most of the participants agreed that services which would help families stay together in theircommunities are the primary focus of need. Services for addictions, family violence and childabuse/neglect are missing. Employment for young adults and their parents are the most needed inorder to facilitate healthy families. When asked what would prevent youth from coming to the urbanstreets, the answers led to community solutions.4. In what terms do street youth define their social, cultural and spiritual needs and how dothey perceive the effectiveness of services available to meet those needs? Aboriginal street youth\u00E2\u0080\u0099ssocial, cultural and spiritual needs are defined as: adequate survival needs, return to birthcommunity, need for extended family, eradication of racism, acceptance from the mainstreamcommunity, culture revival, contact with elders, language retention and development, a sense ofhistory, cultural relevance in street services, and respect for their person, skills, and integrity. Theoverall sense was that street youth do not see their needs being met by the existing services on thestreet. They experience constant hunger and they lack clean and safe long-term housing facilities.Hostel services on the street have a vastly inadequate number of spaces in comparison to the needon the street. Aboriginal youth are forced to compete for space with the growing numbers ofmainstream youth in an environment that is culturally and racially different for them. (It is verytempting to say hostile to them.)Getting off the street is difficult with extremely few role models such as street workers,police, judges, social workers, foster parents and detention workers. Aboriginal street youth do notperceive that their experience as Aboriginal people is understood.5. What or who do the street youth of today model themselves after, and what factors shapeand influence this process? There are strong indications that Aboriginal street youth do not haveclearly defined role models except for those among them who are surviving well, at least not fromour definition of role model. Whom do they admire? For the most part, street youth admire each221other and sometimes those who have done what they see as nonconformist deeds. While some haveindicated their grandparents are significant, most have lost faith in the adult world and its values.More specifically the case studies reflected, in addition to poverty and dangers in the streetenvironment experienced by all other street youth, evidence of identity confusion, extensive impactsfrom racism, disillusionment with mainstream education and child welfare, and the need forculturally appropriate services. Multiple levels of abuse and oppression made recovery moredifficult, particularly in the absence of culturally relevant treatment and retraining. Missy tells usclearly that the only time she was able to respond to education and treatment was in Aboriginalprograms. Even then (at that time) she likely didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t receive a critical education. Her road torecovery was very long \u00E2\u0080\u0094 and she was one of the lucky ones. Most of the youth had difficulty inidentifying with mainstream values, culture and services.Research revisitedIt is helpful to compare Aboriginal youth experience indicated by the case studies withcurrent social science definitions of street youth behaviour. Why do Aboriginal youth run to thestreet? This question is examined from several perspectives. Of the five reasons that McCullagh andGreco (1990) give for running to the street \u00E2\u0080\u0094 running from an intolerable situation, running toadventure, throwaways, absconders from care, and curb kids \u00E2\u0080\u0094 the youth in this study might fit intotwo main categories. The vast majority would be escaping an intolerable environment, and twocould broadly be described as absconding from care. While Missy, Etah, Jean Marc, Noella, Travis,and Axle fit into the definition of escaping an intolerable situation, they were also absconding fromcare. They entered street life by way of foster and adoptive parents. These are in-care alternativesto Aboriginal parents, extended family or other Aboriginal resources. And as the Safe Home SteeringCommittee (Native Women\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Transition Centre, 1991) of Winnipeg have articulated, when culturallyappropriate treatment and services are not available, and racial marginalization is the norm in222detention services, even Natasha and Charnelle could be described as escaping an environmentwhich would further alienate them. Legally they were absconders from care.Mainstream labels for running behaviour, definitions of choice, and antecedents areinadequate when variables of colonially-determined policy, culture, and race are added to theequation. As demonstrated in the examples above, definitions are dependent on a viewpoint. Forexample, the term \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthrowaways\u00E2\u0080\u009D has at its base a rejecting parent. This situation is not necessarilypresent when foster care or adoption breakdown occurs because of abuse or cultural alienation. AnAboriginal child in a cross-racial and cross-cultural setting becomes rejected, from their mainstreamreference point along with being displaced from a home and family, when a breakdown occurs.They lose everything in one culture and they have not had the opportunity to gain a footing in theother. From the stories presented in this study it has become evident that the term \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthrowaways\u00E2\u0080\u009Dlacks the cultural dimension that the adoption breakdown survivors and other in-care experience.In fact, Aboriginal children become \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccultural throwaways,\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009Cabsconders from care\u00E2\u0080\u009D as well as\u00E2\u0080\u009Crunners from an intolerable situation\u00E2\u0080\u009D if they run from abusive mainstream alternative care givers.In cases such as those given above, and there are many, the element of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cchoice,\u00E2\u0080\u009D asRobertson (1991) presents, is also in question. Many avoid capture because they would be returned,as in the case of Noella, to be abused once again. Did she \u00E2\u0080\u009Cchoose\u00E2\u0080\u009D to leave by stealing a car inorder to be removed from her adoptive home? Her brother Axel \u00E2\u0080\u009Cchose\u00E2\u0080\u009D the same route out. Daleon the other hand claims to have gone to the street by choice. But the lack of support and servicesfor him and the abuse due to his identity as a gay person left suicide as a choice. And Dale wasleaving a culturally same community. Similarly, McCarthy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1990) four categories of individualpathology, pathological family, sociological approach, and healthy individual approach are blurredand can all apply to most situations of Aboriginal runners to the street.All of the participants in the case studies were running away from harm and not to adventureor any utopian dream. The various definitions of the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet youth\u00E2\u0080\u009D offered by the collaborators give223us clues as to their perception of street life, street youth and current meanings of this culture. \u00E2\u0080\u009CNoplace to sleep,\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009Cno money,\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009Cno food,\u00E2\u0080\u009D \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdon\u00E2\u0080\u0099t tell their feelings,\u00E2\u0080\u009D and \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthey don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t understand\u00E2\u0080\u009D werethe common themes. These subjective definitions have little to do with the common definition \u00E2\u0080\u009Cayoung person without responsible supervision,\u00E2\u0080\u009D or definitions that are indicative of types of runningbehaviour. The causes for ending up on the street, the age distinctions, or even the different waysof surviving are absent in the self-defined meaning. Their definition indicates only absolute necessity\u00E2\u0080\u0094 it indicates lack of survival resources, appropriate treatment, cultural recognition and racialdignity.The participants \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Etah, Karen, Joanne, Missy, Noella, Travis, Axle, Jean-Marc, Dale, Natashaand Charnelle\u00E2\u0080\u0094 have brought to light some of the conditions that Aboriginal street youthexperience prior to street life. They have illuminated some of the alienation in their lives and someof the degradation that characterizes street existence. The motivating factors for Aboriginal youthtaking on street life are often embedded in at least five types of identifiable behaviour (while on thestreet) which came to the fore in this research.1. Incarcerated children or children in substitute care \u00E2\u0080\u0094 escaping from detention, socialservices foster homes and group homes. Research states that youth placed in care, inparticular facilities that use isolation, are more likely to run (Kufeldt, 1991:41; Webber,1991:242). Shawbridge is one of those institutions. With the high numbers of Aboriginalchildren in care and criminalized by the Youth Offenders Act, the trend of running to thestreets is likely to keep on rising. Youth like Natasha and Charnelle want to go home tofamily.2. \u00E2\u0080\u009CNormal\u00E2\u0080\u009D poor or those just staying on the street like Noella/Travis, Axle and Karencharacterize these marginalized youth. An Aboriginal social service worker in Winnipegreported that there is pressure to conform to a marginal lifestyle in order to be accepted. \u00E2\u0080\u009CAttimes, it is unclear who is actually an ex-street person as there is a lot of pull on Native224people to practice that lifestyle.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Another street worker said, \u00E2\u0080\u009CComparing mainstream streetyouth to First Nations street youth, it seems that identity problems for Native youth areexpressed by their more conservative dress styles. To fit into the Main Street scene especiallymeans less calling attention to one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s wardrobe. Except for Karen, all are White adoptionbreakdown survivors.3. Alternative community seekers are those like Joanne, Jean- Marc, and Dale who cannot gettheir needs met in their home environment. For Joanne poverty and violence at home makesthe street community a viable alternative. Jean-Marc feels more at home on the street wherehis identity is less in jeopardy. Dale seeks a community where his sexual orientation isaccepted and services are available.4. Radical counterculture and home substitution characterizes Etah\u00E2\u0080\u0099s life on the street. She hasfound the family and community that she never had and she does not have to conform toa society which she despises.5. Occupational crime and/or pathological abuse of drugs \u00E2\u0080\u0094 prostitution, heavy addiction andoccupational crime are many times the only means of survival, particularly for those youthlike Missy. She was sexually abused from an early age, in and out of the child care system.Her Aboriginal identity and self-esteem were non-existent. She gave up on the system.Street culture and myths about Aboriginal street youthThe culture adopted on the street is indicative of the undesirable conditions youth areseeking to replace. Next to partnership (in securing and sharing food, clothing, blankets, and a spaceto sleep), physical safety and the need for affection and community were essential components forsurvival. The shared duty of keeping the body alive and physical safety on the street are critical.Entrenched in street culture, Etah offers insight of foraging for a living and the nuances of secrecysurrounding one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s real name or age, and of teaching and protecting the younger ones. All of theyouth allude to fighting for each other, watching out for prostitutes, safety in numbers, and the225danger of violence and exploitation. Distrust and caution are necessary features of safety \u00E2\u0080\u0094 not onlystreet generated violence, but from middle-class youth and the \u00E2\u0080\u009Chelping\u00E2\u0080\u009D professions. Sharing andprotecting one another is a means of seeing the next day.The means to replace love, family ties, and community are expressed in extended familyadoption on the street. For example, some participants spoke of calling older Aboriginal people\u00E2\u0080\u009Cdad\u00E2\u0080\u009D or \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmother.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Etah talks about her adopted daughter and Noella and Axle think of each otheras mother and father figures. For others, abusive relationships, with lovers or pimps, become adistorted substitute for the affection lacking in their lives. The culture is a collage of learningnecessary survival skills, mutual protection, and kinship. Some seek family and community toaugment a sense of belonging and others seek to kill the pain of alienation and shame.The youth in the study want people to know that there are myths about street youth culturethat need to be dispelled. Panhandling is a necessary means of subsistence and shelter, contraryto the popular belief that street youth habitually use panning money to buy drugs. In fact, thechances are that youth who panhandle are not, currently or ever, in the sex industry nor are theynecessarily abusing drugs, and it is their way of holding on to some semblance of dignity. As Joanneand others aptly note, the middle-class work ethic gets thrown at them without regard to the issuesthey are facing in a society where competition for jobs is fierce and street youth don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have even thebarest resources needed to compete. They are rudely told to sell their meagre belongings in orderto have food and shelter, while the excess of middle-class suburbia is flaunted in their face. (Middleclass men would rather see them on a street corner selling their bodies than to give them a dollar.)In short, alternatives are far more degrading and dangerous than sticking out one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s hand to ask formoney.Squats are real homes to the youth who need them and not just empty buildings haphazardlyoccupied by mindless young hooligans. These homes are valued \u00E2\u0080\u009Ceven more,\u00E2\u0080\u009D as a participant said,than a residence one takes for granted. A squat can also be safer than begging for a place to stay226with a stranger or joining a party in order to secure a bed. The safest alternative is a safe house orindependent living unit, but these spaces are extremely limited in most cities, particularly Aboriginalspecific hostels. In Winnipeg an Aboriginal safe house has just opened its doors to 16 residents.This gesture from Winnipeg is commendable, but considering the large Aboriginal street youthpopulation in Winnipeg, 16 beds seems inadequate.Not all street youth chronically abuse alcohol or drugs. Most have used and experimented,but among the people we interviewed some did not use drugs at all, and most had alcohol and druguse under control. Many had come to a point where they were involved with an alcohol counsellor.This trend is due to extensive addictions counselling at the street level in recent years. Aboriginalstreet youth are equated with the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdrunken Indian\u00E2\u0080\u009D image and are thought to be dull and drug-ravaged young people. In fact, they are highly intelligent and cognizant of the contradictions inCanadian society: beginning with mixed messages from adults around alcohol consumption.Particularly obvious to them are sexual predatory behaviour by White, middle-class men versusmoralistic standards set for women, families and street youth. All participants, particularly Missy,made comments about male predatory behaviour aimed at them. Environmental destruction causedby societal greed seems reprehensible and deepens their distrust for mainstream values and services.Etah speaks to a society of lonely people driven by material gain and mindless linear corporatebehaviour. Aboriginal street youth see through the rhetoric of multiculturalism to the racist valuesinherent in Canadian society. Their critique is more severe, more honest, and more experiencebased than any middle-class sociologist or politically-correct social movement. And why wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099ttheir analysis be more astute? Their very lives are the embodiment of all of the contradictions inwestern \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccivilization.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe media, they say, blame street youth for the crime and violence perpetuated by \u00E2\u0080\u009Cweekendwarriors,\u00E2\u0080\u009D college kids, and middle-class suburban youth acting out against the system or usingAboriginal street youth as scapegoats for their anger and racist venting. Weekends become a barrage227of racial harassment. Without exception the youth we interviewed had experienced stereotypicalname calling \u00E2\u0080\u0094 awful names which attacked their identity as Aboriginal people.The media also portrays how dangerous hitchhiking is, that teenagers are in danger of gettingkilled by truckers for example, or conversely that street youth are dangerous. The more transientparticipants travelled freely and told of many positive experiences on the road. The \u00E2\u0080\u009Csleazy\u00E2\u0080\u009Dpropositions which are common for them are simply inconveniences to be tolerated.There is a myth that street youth are all sexually active, in fact, many of the youth indicatedthat they were not sexually active and when they were, it was within a meaningful relationship.Whether we had a particularly mature group of people in each of the cities is not known. In anycase all of the youth indicated they were knowledgable about sexually transmitted diseases and birthcontrol. All of the participants indicated knowledge about AIDS transmission and correspondinglyspoke of taking precaution with needles and safe sex (under normal conditions). HIV and AIDSeducation seems to be paying off.Another myth is that street youth are sexually sophisticated. Aboriginal Street youth are seenas sex objects. Even though youth are knowledgable about sexually transmitted diseases andpregnancy, or they may be prostituting, it does not necessarily mean that they are mature about theirsexuality. Dale talked about the fact that males or females, whether gay or straight, who have nothad the opportunity to develop normally \u00E2\u0080\u0094 those who have experienced incest, molestation, rape,and constant harassment about being recruited into the sex industry \u00E2\u0080\u0094 may be very immature whenit comes to their sexuality. They may have misinformation about what to expect from a sexualrelationship which are manifestations of the distortions in their sexual development.Yet another myth is that only White men victimize Aboriginal youth. Participants inVancouver and Winnipeg explicitly stated that Aboriginal male involvement in perpetuating sexualviolence upon street youth is becoming more common in the cities (as it is in rural areas). Thisphenomena is not surprising since patriarchal culture has been imposed on Aboriginal peoples, and228the sex/pornography industries, which reinforce and legitimize the power differential between menand women, are unrelenting socialization factors in western culture. Gender dominance andpredatory behaviour are probably the only arenas in which White and Aboriginal males enjoy powerequity. Since degradation of women and children, particularly those of Aboriginal descent, isconsidered a right by White males, they are not held accountable by Canadian society. Neitherfamily nor the criminal justice system deter the long lines of middle-class males waiting for anAboriginal child to have sex with. Why wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t Aboriginal males be attracted to join this bastionof power? Only through the authentic recovery of Aboriginal values associated with respect andprotection of children will this type of collusion end.A most pernicious myth is that Aboriginal youth are going to the streets because of massiveneglect and abuse due to alcoholism; that Aboriginal parents don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t care for their children; thatparents simply don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t try to keep youth off drugs and off the street. A corollary to this version ofreality is that residential schooling in the past (and loss of parenting skills) is the cause of massivechild apprehensions. While there are some very dysfunctional families who are immersed inprostitution and drugs, the majority are not. Many alienating factors described in this researchoriginated from mainstream care-giving institutions like foster parents, adoptive parents, anddetention centres. Mainstream institutions such as schooling, the criminal justice system, and socialwelfare were also implicated.Another misconception is that all Aboriginal youth who are on the street are culturallyalienated. Although many factors surrounding street life inhibit the development of a healthy culturalidentity, some of the youth we met exhibited healthy attitudes and behaviour with regard to theirculture (Dale and Natasha for example). Some of them speak their language, practice their traditionsand through contact with extended family continue to grow as Aboriginal people in an urbanenvironment. They remain strong even though they suffer racism and inappropriate service deliveryin the city. Street workers and police personnel have stated that youth who have been through229White foster homes and adoption breakdown have pronounced problems with self-esteem andidentity issues. \u00E2\u0080\u009CAboriginal youth who have been adopted by non-Native families especially are theworst off. These youth seem to have the most problems,\u00E2\u0080\u009D said a street worker in Vancouver.Children who have had cultural experience and continued support do not necessarily exhibit identityconfusion.Street youth needs on the streetThe four areas of need discussed in this section were chosen because they were a recurringthemes in the case studies. They are similar to Maslow\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1954) hierarchy of needs and provide uswith a framework for analysis. In our conception, however, they are different. In Maslow\u00E2\u0080\u0099s modelthe needs are presented as a descending or ascending order needs where one could not experiencethe succeeding need fulfilment until a more fundamental one is completed. The street youth spokeof their needs in a more circular or spiral conception \u00E2\u0080\u0094 that is, none was more important than theother. Absolutes are uncommon on the streets of the urban centres involved in this study. Howmuch food and what kind is sufficient for survival? What is adequate shelter? Pain is anotherexample; the primary importance of killing the psychological or spiritual pain of living on the street,or the memories of why one is on the street, may override the need to eat at any given time.\u00E2\u0080\u009CSurvival is of the mind not the body.\u00E2\u0080\u009D From this perspective all of the need categories are not moreor less, in value or importance, but qualitatively different. The circular and interrelated qualities ofour needs paradigm can best be conveyed in the image of a circle as follows in figure 2.Street youth, for the most part, cannot depend on a family or adult caregivers to help themfulfil all of the needs listed in figure 2. They rely on themselves, their friends on the street and ahandful of street services (this research has shown that they use very few of the services offered fora number of reasons including lack of trust and cultural inappropriateness). Many of the youth wehave spoken with have \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfallen through the cracks\u00E2\u0080\u009D so many times that they come to the realizationthat they can\u00E2\u0080\u0099t trust any of the people who are supposed to be protecting or caring for them. The230SPIRITUALNorthINTELLECTUAL SPIRITUAL INTEGRITYINTEGRITY culturally appropriateeducation, services, access toemployment cultural resourcesWEST - Mental Physical\u00E2\u0080\u0094 EASTPROTECTIONfrom society, from SURVIVALabusers of power food, clothing,and authority shelterSOUTHEmotionalFigure 2: Four need categories beginning at the east door with survival (physical); at the south doorwith protection (emotional); at the west door with intellectual integrity (mental); and at the northdoor with spiritual integrity (spirit) (Absolon, 1993). Additionally, there is the social safety net that,by nature of the fact that they are on the street, has been ineffective in their lives.institutions that set out to be agents of care and protection, the social safety net, are oftenexperienced as agents of control by these young clients who they seek to \u00E2\u0080\u009Chelp.\u00E2\u0080\u009D231Given that street youth lack the security and direction that others get from a stable family,they are vulnerable to the whims of a society that will prey on its weak and defenceless.Fundamental to North American culture are the ethics of individualism, exploitation and ownershipthat, on the street, translate into a drug and sex trade that festers twenty-four hours a day. On thestreet there is a commodity market of human flesh that is fuelled by \u00E2\u0080\u009Cpoverty, sexism and maleviolence\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Webber, 1991: 133). Kufeldt and Nimmo (1 987) reiterate this tone emphasizing the factthat the youth are essentially treated as \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdisposable\u00E2\u0080\u009D children as they are a product of the culture ofcapitalism and disposable consumerism (157). For Aboriginal youth racism is yet another of themajor structural impacts that have shaped generations of their families and communities and haveultimately steered them to a life in the streets.The desperation of trying to fulfil simple survival needs with limited education and job skillsis what drives these young people to break the law or exploit themselves in a variety of dangerousand oppressive livelihoods. Beyond mere survival there are the needs of protection from this societyand, at times, from those entrusted with the protection of its most vulnerable members. In additionyouth also must strive for a level of mental health and self-esteem that enables them to continuesurviving the hardships of their predicament with the potential of some day creating something betterfor themselves. Finally, and closely related to their esteem and mental health, Aboriginal streetyouth have a need to nurture their sense of spiritual integrity, possibly one that will incorporate acultural element rooted in their Aboriginal identity.I Survival \u00E2\u0080\u0094 food, clothing, shelterThe act of physical survival involves finding enough food, clothing and shelter to stay alive.Money is a guarantee of all three but in the midst of poverty it is a rare commodity. Poverty is a factof life for Aboriginal street youth. Some youth get involved in illegal or dangerous activities suchas prostitution, the drug trade, robbery or theft to earn money; others will work at demeaning, lowpaying jobs, some will panhandle, one youth we met sang on the street corner to earn her money232in a way that allowed her to maintain some degree of self-respect. Social assistance is anotheroption available to some of the youth but not without obstacles for those under the age of majority.For example, in British Columbia youth under the age of 19 are eligible for financial assistance, butit is dependent on the discretion of the financial aid worker who must assess their situation becausethey are considered to be an exception under the Guaranteed Available Income for Need Act (GAINAct). In cases where youth are under the age of 1 7, they are referred to a social worker who musttry to contact their parents in order to review their ability to help with the support of their child.As well, financial aid workers often do not have sufficient time to make a thorough assessment ofthe young person\u00E2\u0080\u0099s needs. Clearly, the resources available to help these young people meet theirmost basic needs are not readily accessible and they come conditional upon making significantcontact with the child welfare system and/or one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s family\u00E2\u0080\u0094 both options that a runaway may wantto avoid (Community Panel, Family and Children\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Services Legislation Review in British Columbia,1992:72). Similar discretionary policies exist in other provinces for young people between the agesof 16 and 19.In general, adolescence is a vulnerable age range in terms of our social safety net as youngpeople are not eligible for much of the service offered \u00E2\u0080\u0094 namely welfare, employment andeducation services \u00E2\u0080\u0094 except under special categories. The gaps in the safety net account for muchof the 18.3 per cent of children under the age of 18 who were living in poverty in 1991 (NationalCouncil of Welfare, 1993). Additionally, one must consider that there is a general sense ofresentment, frustration, anger and mistrust of the\u00E2\u0080\u0098tsystem\u00E2\u0080\u009D that has failed many of these youngpeople. So it is not surprising that they rarely speak of any form of financial assistance as it is noteasily accessible to them. Even if they access the welfare income they need, they will live wellbelow the poverty line if they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t supplement it with illegal earnings. As the table belowillustrates, there is an enormous gap between the welfare rates in various provinces and the povertyline of the respective provincial economies.233Table III. 1992 Welfare Incomes (Canada, Welfare Incomes 1992).)eProvince Total Income * Poverty LineQuebec $ 6,186 $ 15,175Ontario 8,395 15,175Manitoba 7,098 15,175British Columbia 6,500 15,175:Rates for Single Employable PersonNeedless to say, single people who depend on welfare assistance are insufficiently supported to meeteven their basic needs of shelter, food and clothing.Street family as safety netIn the absence of money or the likelihood of sufficient financial assistance in the foreseeablefuture, street youth use a variety of creative resources to ensure their own and their peers\u00E2\u0080\u0099 survival.In fact, in reviewing the interview responses given by the participants in this study it becomesapparent that the street family is a much more reliable safety net than the welfare system for thesepeople. Repeatedly, there is a strong ethic of familial support expressed by the youths weinterviewed; it is clear that when on the street \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfamilies\u00E2\u0080\u009D of peers develop and become a moredependable replacement for the biological or adoptive families, foster families, group homes, ordetention centres they have left behind. This point is clearly stated by Joanne:The most significant people in my life on the street at this point are my friends andas you\u00E2\u0080\u0099d say like street family\u00E2\u0080\u0094 street brothers and sisters. ... we all stick together...if someone gets in trouble then everyone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s there to make sure that nobody gets hurtor damaged ... if you need a place to crash and someone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s got a stair well ... thenyou can go with them... if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re hungry we all help each other out. If someone\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gotmeal tickets and they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not hungry or they ate already then you know you give themaway. If you got a little bit of money you give it away ... making sure everyone\u00E2\u0080\u0099seaten and people are rested (p. 10, transcript 1).To obtain food, young people do anything from \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdumpster diving\u00E2\u0080\u009D (searching throughgarbage bins of restaurants and food stores) and obtaining food tickets from emergency services, toeating at soup kitchens or getting food from food banks. They also ensure food by sharing with234friends or stealing it if they have to. In 1990, 38 per cent of the 590,000 people who regularly usedfood banks were children under 18 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 even though this age group was only 25 per cent of the totalpopulation (Library of Parliament, 1993:9).Clothing is the only form of ownership for some of the young people we spoke with. Onegirl spoke with disbelief about a person who suggested she sell her shoes to get food, conveying inthe interview that her shoes were her most valuable and practical material possession. For thosewhose lives were the least stable clothing could be obtained, like food, from dumpster binsoccasionally stealing it, sometimes from friends, or maybe from an emergency service agency.Though some of the youth came to interviews reasonably well groomed, others clearly had (or chosenot to access) sparse resources to obtain and care for their clothing\u00E2\u0080\u0094 in these cases they simplywore their clothing until it literally disintegrated beyond use and then they would find somethingto replace it wherever they could.Shelter is also integral to survival; for street youth the range of shelter is immense and ideallyfulfils at least two basic criteria: that it is warm and dry. With these criteria as a minimal standardthe abodes of these people range from park benches, to card board boxes and trees at one end, toabandoned vehicles and buildings, to an immense variety of arrangements that entail some form ofshared rental accommodation with friends including warehouses, studios, apartments and houses.Even for those who obtain social assistance they express a basic incongruity between rental marketaffordability and availability in major urban centres and the allowable housing stipend they receive.In short the shelter that is accessible to these people is the cheapest and usually the worst in thehousing market.One other significant aspect of survival is health; though homeless youth are more likely toneed health services, they also face greater barriers to getting service including administrativebarriers, lack of information about their rights and the services available, and ignorance orinsensitivity of service providers. Specifically, some of the health problems faced by street youth235include: sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, depression, suicide, substance abuse, pregnancy,violence related injuries and poor nutrition. In the street level economy of the sex and drug tradethese health problems are rampant. As well, one must consider that among Street youth there is apervasive use of drugs as painkillers and aids for escaping the bleakness of life on the street. Onemust also consider the impact of the rage these young people feel and how it is expressed inviolence against themselves and others when it eventually boils over. Still, the lifestyle ofadolescents on the street is not conducive to the bureaucratic nature of most health services. Thissystem is often experienced as a series of barriers to street youth who are not in the practice ofmaking and keeping appointments, who often do not want or cannot get parental consent or whomay have literacy issues that motivate them to avoid any form of paper work. These are only asampling of the issues service deliverers must be aware of. Though they are a significant part ofsurvival on the street, a comprehensive look at health issues is beyond the scope of this discussionas the issues are wide ranging.ServicesOn a short-term, crisis-oriented basis there are street services that meet most of the basicneeds that street youth may have. These services include: safe houses, emergency child welfare andprotection services, multi-service hostels and mobile street services. Often these services providesome combination of food, shelter, clothing, bus fare, health information and service, referralservices, a telephone, a washroom facility, and sometimes counselling. This variety of store frontemergency services are ideally flexible, non-i udgemental and reasonably safe. They are usuallyunder the mandate of the ministry of social services, the police force, church organizations or privatenon-governmental organizations in each of the provinces. In general the youth in our study usedonly one or two of these types of services even though they were aware of others. On a long-termbasis the alternatives for street youth include: foster homes, open and closed custody options \u00E2\u0080\u0094group homes, detention centres, nature retreat facilities \u00E2\u0080\u0094 and going back to live with one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s family.236The question one has to ask is why they consistently want to leave these types of longer termoptions in favour of surviving on the street? In the end, the youth are on the street because of thefailure of our society to provide for their most basic needs at a time in their lives that is most critical.ii. Safety\u00E2\u0080\u0094 protection from institutions, caretakers, police, societyThe ensurance of physical safety is another area of need that is central to the lives of streetyouth. Without question, the downtown core of any large urban centre in North America is apotentially dangerous place to be for anyone, especially at night \u00E2\u0080\u0094 more so for young peoplewithout proper shelter or other basic survival resources. On their own, these young people arevulnerable to a host of potentially dangerous situations. Additionally, the youth who are living onthe street have in common the fact that most of them are running from some form of abuse orviolence suffered at the hands of an adult caregiver. For example, Manitoba has the highest percapita number of teenage runaways and missing children in Canada; most of them are living inWinnipeg which has been called \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe runaway capital of Canada\u00E2\u0080\u009D (Bergman, 1990). In a SocialPlanning Council (1990) study of street youth in Winnipeg (over half of the 127 youth interviewedwere Aboriginal) 73 per cent of the youth who left placements and 78 per cent of the youth wholeft home gave as a reason that they were running away to escape situations they found intolerable.The essence of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cescape\u00E2\u0080\u009D may best be defined by ex-street youth Missy who felt that the street wasthe best possible solution when compared to her life at the mercy of a string of inept caregivers andinstitutions:I figured I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d given the ministry enough chances .... they\u00E2\u0080\u0099d done a lousy job of lookingafter me and there was nobody to depend on but myself... I went out on the streetI was safer that way, looking after myself than with somebody else looking afterme.Young people on the street are also entitled to protection, from society in general, by thepolice; but what recourse do they have if they experience violence at the hands of the police? Thisis in fact the case for more than one of the participants we interviewed (for example, Etah and JeanMarc both have experienced police violence). Further, given that many of the youths are on the run237from authority figures who have abused their positions of power, one has to ask how likely is it thatthese young people will seek the help of police officers who hold a high degree of status, power andauthority in any community? In short, police officers, who are middle-class male in the majority,are the street level arbiters of a \u00E2\u0080\u009Cjustice\u00E2\u0080\u009D in the mainstream culture that sees Aboriginal people wholive on the street as the losers in the game. Research and documentation of the systemicdiscrimination and over representation that Aboriginal people experience in the justice system issignificant. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Manitoba Justice Inquiry, and theSaskatchewan Justice Inquiry are recent examples of fullscale inquiries (Province of Manitoba, 1991;Province of Saskatchewan, 1992). These studies and others document the destructive clash ofcultures and racism that feeds the pervasive racial oppression experienced by Aboriginal peopledaily. Given the substance of Aboriginal people\u00E2\u0080\u0099s historical experience with the security forces thatare supposed to protect them, it is clear that any person, especially a person who holds very lowstatus within the community (such as a young, alienated, homeless, poor person), would beapprehensive about using this service.iii. Self-esteem and intellectual integrity \u00E2\u0080\u0094 mental health, jobs, education, critical history,tribal self-esteem,In the course of interviews, both Jean-Marc and Etah made the same statement: survival onthe streets is survival of the mind not the body. Though basic physical survival and safety areprecursors for mental health development, these youths have learned repeatedly that they sometimesneed to protect their self-esteem and integrity by starving or sleeping in precarious conditions.There is a lethal chain reaction that is at play in the lives of many street youth; the chainbegins with poverty. Statistics show that among the unattached individuals under the age of 25 thepoverty rate is 40 per cent (Webber, 1991; Library of Parliament, 1993). Without money andresources young people cannot always afford to eat healthy food, but a diet that is nutritionallydeficient cannot sustain physical health. Also, without sufficient nutrition and physical health youngpeople experience developmental barriers such as learning disabilities which, in turn, negatively238affect their ability to do well in school. Without at least high school education the chances ofgetting a job are low. The education levels of young people living on their own are also belowaverage simply by virtue of the fact that it is extremely difficult to fend for one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s survival and attendschool regularly in the absence of a secure home base. Though the exact statistic for Aboriginalstreet youth is unknown, front line street workers state that illiteracy rates are higher among thisgroup, perhaps simply because of the disruptive lives they lead or because of the negativeeducational experiences conveyed by most of them.The next links in the lethal chain we are discussing are poverty and crime. Having littlechance of getting meaningful work leads some people to live with degrading levels of poverty; forothers who wish to rise above the oppression of poverty, they must find other ways of getting themoney and resources they need to live\u00E2\u0080\u0094 often this means breaking the law. This chain isparticularly potent in the lives of Aboriginal street youth who may not only lack the education levelsrequired by the labour market but who also face racism-induced barriers to employment.EducationThe majority of services on the street pertain to the first two categories of need discussedabove, namely, survival needs and protection needs. At best there is some short-term crisisintervention counselling or information and referral services available from storefront agencies forfinding employment and education. One successful type of street education strategy that has workedis the Beat the Street literacy program developed in 1985 out of Toronto\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Frontier College. Thisprogram focuses on increasing the functional literacy of street youth through peer tutoring. In short,the students learn from other youth who are in the same predicament but one step ahead of themin terms of their literacy skills. The material used to teach the students are very practical examplesfrom the street\u00E2\u0080\u0094 a phone book, an arcade game, a street sign, a bad date sheet. This program isextremely successful as it offers practical, meaningful, accessible and flexible service.239Most of the youths interviewed conveyed negative experiences in the elementary and highschools that they were exposed to. All of them expressed some recommendation that there be moreculturally appropriate educational services available to them. Most of them simply did not want totake part in the education system as it was such a bad experience for them. These young peopleare exposed to racism not only in the education system but also on a daily basis in the streets andthey do not have sufficient defenses to protect themselves from it \u00E2\u0080\u0094 namely, they lack a criticalhistory of colonization. This is one of the main differences that sets Aboriginal youth apart fromother street youth \u00E2\u0080\u0094 they have lower racial self-esteem because of the overt racism that they areexposed to daily. Those who expressed some cultural pride or critical historical understanding wereself-taught as this information is essentially suppressed in mainstream education institutions. Lackingcritical information they cannot begin to respect their cultures as they have not been taught howtheir culture was systematically downgraded in the first place. In short, many continue to carry andact out the extreme shame that has burdened generations of Aboriginal people.EmploymentIn April of 1993 the youth unemployment rates included: 26.1 per cent in Atlantic Canada,18.8 per cent in Central Canada and 16.0 per cent in Western Canada (Library of Parliament,1993:11). Additionally, for Aboriginal people 15 years and older, the unemployment rate in 1991was 24.6 per cent in contrast to 10.2 per cent for the general population in Canada (Statistics CanadaNo. 93-324; Aboriginal Peoples Survey, 1991). The Aboriginal Peoples Survey also found that 16.3per cent of the respondents cited \u00E2\u0080\u009Cbeing Aboriginal\u00E2\u0080\u009D as a barrier to employment \u00E2\u0080\u0094 in short, just over1 in 6 Aboriginal people felt that racism was a barrier to getting work. Other significant barriersincluded lack of jobs available, skills/jobs mismatched, lack of child care and lack of information(Aboriginal Peoples Survey, 1991). Again, these statistics focus on the age range from fifteen yearsand over; though they are not specific to the street youth in our study they do shed light onto theemployment realities faced by youth and Aboriginal people. Frankly, the employment picture is240bleak for young people who have low education and few work skills; the choices left for theminclude exploiting themselves in the sex trade, running drugs or other illegal activities or takingminimum wage jobs with no future. Natasha genuinely expresses this dilemma; in speaking abouteducation and employment, she talks about job opportunities at MacDonald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s, a water slide andprostitution in the same conversation:I never thought about going to school, I never liked it very much and I was neververy good at it. [About a job] ... there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a place I was going to go to but I came toolate and you have to be there at five o\u00E2\u0080\u0099clock in the morning and you can workthrough the whole day like cleaning pots and mopping floors, sweeping floors andwiping counters and all that stuff. A place for street kids and you can clean upboth places and you get $20 at the end of the day. I was gonna go there, but I wastoo late and I just never bothered going back again. I was gonna work forMacDonald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s but, I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a social insurance card at all. Yeah, I have to wait tillI\u00E2\u0080\u0099m sixteen and right now I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m in the process of starting the application, I have to getpermission from my mother. So when we went to the water slides one day at StJerome, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s also an office there where I went with one of the workers to applyand to get all the paperwork in order for my application for a social insurance card.Yeah, they gave me a temporary card and I also have my status card and a birthcertificate and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099m not sure exactly how long it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s gonna take to get me that cardthough. [Other jobs?] Well, uh ... prostitution but I only did that once in my lifeand I never ever want to do it again cause I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have a pimp and I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d never wantto do that again in my life. I just did it by myself cause I needed money and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099thave no place to go and so this guy comes along and ask me to go into his car andI just jerked off this guy for twenty bucks and I got the twenty bucks and after thatI just went to MacDonald\u00E2\u0080\u0099s and got some chips. Sometimes though ... you knowwhat I hate is when you have the money and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re starving to death or when youhave to pan for money and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re starving to death but people think that you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re justa bum and you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re just gonna use this money for drugs and for alcohol you know...but my money that I always get ... I always spend it on food ... and if I have a littlebit left afterwards I use it on whatever else I want to buy ... mescaline or whateverbut food always comes first but when I do get money from the people I don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t knowwhat to do with the money cause sometimes I keep it and then sometimes I give itaway after I\u00E2\u0080\u0099ve had enough to eat and after I bought whatever I wanted (p.11-13,transcript 1).In the last part of this quotation Natasha sheds light on the desperation of hunger that pushesother young people like herself to do humiliating and shameful acts simply to survive, It is this samesense of desperation that also drives young people to break the law. Natasha\u00E2\u0080\u0099s statements poignantlyillustrate many of the issues that face young people trying to find legitimate work, including the agebarriers, lack of experience and education. Other barriers affecting access to employment for street241youth include: the instability of their living situations, emotional problems, medical problems,psychiatric problems, criminal records, addictions and family dysfunction. Accordingly, street youthneed a more comprehensive approach to service delivery with respect to their employment needsbecause of the complex of issues they face daily. This means that front line workers need to takea more holistic approach to working with this client group to help them access a variety of otherservices (housing, financial, legal, mental health, medical) in order to insure equal opportunity inemployment (Wojick, 1986:227-235).iv. Spiritual integrity\u00E2\u0080\u0094 cultural aspects, tradition, spiritual nurturance, healingA consistent theme from our interviews with the young Aboriginal people we met was a lackof culturally appropriate services in existence for them. As well, the participants repeatedly spokeof a turning point that they experienced as a result of using a service that is sensitive to their culturalhistory and experience and is staffed by people who can understand, and provide insight into, theirlives. Regardless of the type of service \u00E2\u0080\u0094 a school for Aboriginal adolescents, an Aboriginal alcoholand drug treatment centre, or maybe a counsellor at a Friendship Centre \u00E2\u0080\u0094 it is often the first timethat many Aboriginal people are able to put the generations of suffering that they have witnessedand endured into a historical context. With this new information they are able to release some ofthe burden of personal shame and blaming that they have carried for so long. Additionally, racism\u00E2\u0080\u0094 at the hands of institutions, groups or individuals \u00E2\u0080\u0094 serves as a constant reminder and reinforcerof the shame and confusion they live with. For example, very few of these youths were taught abouttheir tribal heritage or the historical experience of their culture in their education experiences andthey felt a significant lack as a result. Most of the Aboriginal street youth we spoke with relayexperiences of moderate to extreme racism and misinformation in the education system (see Missyand Karen for examples). Ironically, young people are only exposed to more culturally suitablelearning and counselling opportunities when they act out in the mainstream systems that are unableto accommodate them \u00E2\u0080\u0094 this is a damaging and circuitous route to having their needs met. Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s242conception of this phenomenon focuses on the issue of who deserves appropriate services(counselling and Aboriginal culture). Specifically, she feels the message we give to youth is if theydo okay in school, live at home and stay out of trouble they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t deserve to get the services theyneed. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhy are counselling and Aboriginal culture suddenly provided \u00E2\u0080\u0098after\u00E2\u0080\u0099 youth have landed onthe street? It gives kids the wrong message, if you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re behaving yourself, you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re doing okay in school,you\u00E2\u0080\u0099re at home and you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t run away that ... you don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t deserve these things.\u00E2\u0080\u009D A n o t h e rdestructive force for many of these young people was that they were adopted into White homes thusmaking it highly problematic to integrate a positive cultural identity as they become caught betweentwo cultures\u00E2\u0080\u0094 alienated from both. Adolescence is a time to integrate a healthy sense of identity\u00E2\u0080\u0094 a developmental milestone that is difficult for youth from the most secure environments. Theissues of identity formation are substantially more challenging for Aboriginal youth who must alsoendure the barriers of racism that reduced their cultural heritage to a source of shameful pain. JeanMarc was given up for adoption at the age of one-and-a-half. In his experience racism was expressedthrough omission and ignorance, but it was also overtly expressed by his adoptive family in theirattitude that they were rescuing him from his Aboriginal community, and that they adopted himbecause they felt sorry for Aboriginal children. Jean Marc is only one of thousands of Aboriginalchildren and youth who have lost contact with their cultural heritage by way of the adoption system.Aboriginal child and family service agencies are one way that Aboriginal communities canimplement adoption and child protection practices that are staffed by Aboriginal people who arecritically educated and insightful about the culture of the communities where they practice inpositions such as counsellors, protection workers or advocates.Learning identityIdentity is not a traditional or other artifact of Aboriginal culture: it is learned and socializedbehaviour. Aboriginal street kids live in a world that has, in various ways, closed access to selfrespect as an Aboriginal person. The educational system does not give them a critical view of why243the sociology of Aboriginal peoples in Canada is so bleak, why nations are just now becoming strongand are reemerging as viable self-determining communities, including those that exist in urbancentres. Aboriginal cultural renaissance is only beginning to make cultural ceremony accessible;however, it will be the dance of the two, critical history and cultural revival, that will placeAboriginal cultural in its rightful place \u00E2\u0080\u0094 back at the centre of Aboriginal life. Policy, treatment,counselling, repatriation, street services, whatever one wants to call the acts of reaching out to streetyouth, must take their whole person into consideration. For example, services must have explicitelements of literacy issues beginning with an accurate critical history, including stories from eldersand Aboriginal academics. The only way to heal the disillusionment of being on the street throughno fault of one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s own, through the colour of one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s skin, through dysfunctional communities andfamilies, through identity confusion, is by developing a critical consciousness of the history whichhas created all of these phenomena. How can this be done? One example could be a film, widelydistributed \u00E2\u0080\u0094 to schools, treatment centres, band offices, video stores \u00E2\u0080\u0094 depicting the structuralhistory of Canada accurately. This version would show the external reality in the steps, the majorpolicies, and the results of colonization. It would also include the processes of internalization of theimages fostered by the Canadian version of history and the psychological treatment of the impactsof colonization and racism. Finally, it would be important to highlight the continued resistance tocolonization and the contributions of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. The combination of materialwould validate Aboriginal experience in Canada and provide role models to facilitate cultural andracial self-esteem for youth.In the case study narratives there emerged a ghost-like quality about Aboriginal youthexperience on the street. Through insufficient resources and services, ignorance of their background,and non-recognition (in treatment and counselling) of their racial and cultural marginalization,Aboriginal street youth are rendered transparent. More specifically, they enter the doors of streetservices with enormous long-term problems related to cultural identity and community dislocation,244trauma from racism and abuse, and the need for continuity in their lives and then they leave in thesame way. They have no opportunity to deal with the real issues in their lives \u00E2\u0080\u0094 no oneunderstands. This is reminiscent of the experience of abused European women in the earlynineteenth century when most of their problems were thought to be a figment of their imagination.Women of that time did not have access to professionals who would understand their lives. Thesociety did not support a perspective that would make their issues visible. The case studies speakfor themselves and they indicate that we are too silent about the deeper issues of Aboriginal streetlife existence. We must break the silence on the combined impact of poverty, colonial policy,cultural marginalization, and racism.Much research is needed in many areas of Aboriginal youth life on and off the streets. Forinstance, mental and physical health issues are minimally mentioned in this study. Research isneeded with respect to street youth and pregnancy, youth with AIDS, suicide attempts, fetal alcoholand fetal inhalant syndrome, depression, mental illness, children in care who also have babies whoare taken into care, advanced drug abuse damage, and identity problems. We need further in-depthresearch on the relationship between the entire criminal justice system (laws, courts, police anddetention centres), adoption breakdown, permanent wardship, family poverty and dysfunction andstreet youth. Focused research is needed on the impacts of racism on cultural identity; on the longterm effects of exposure to predatory behaviour and exploitation on street youth re-entry toAboriginal communities; on sexual orientation, street life and repatriation; and on street youth, AIDSand community support. We need research on intervention with street youth which utilizesAboriginal cultural ceremonies such as talking circles, healing ceremonies, naming ceremonies,sweats, vision quests, winter dances, potlatches, give-aways, feasts, and sentencing circles. In thisendeavour participatory action research is the more practical method since it will bring results as oneis learning more about street youth culture and needs.245Chapter 7. Policy implicationsThe purpose of this chapter is to give hope to the reader in the form of problem definitionand recommendation of solutions. What are the policy implications of the case studies? Theinsights from the youth are mature, comprehensive, and holistic in nature. The youth tell us straightout what changes need to take place. The policy implications are explored under the headings ofsurvival, addictions, exploitation, justice, in care, education, racism, and culture. First the issue ofAboriginal street youth must be seen in its global context.The underlying assumption of this research was that the dysfunction manifested in personalalienation, loss of Aboriginal identity, addiction of all kinds, sexual abuse, prostitution, violence,crime, teen pregnancy, family breakdown, governmental dependency, poverty, and lack of resourcesand services experienced by Aboriginal families in greater numbers than the national average inCanada is the legacy of colonization and racism. We are not alone in our distress. The CanadianPress reported that three hundred million Indigenous people in 70 countries globally are subject tohuman rights abuse (May 12, 1993). Canadian Aboriginal street youth fit into this category. Thereare an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 street youth in Canada (McCullagh & Greco, 1990) \u00E2\u0080\u0094 andagency personnel (in this study) estimate Aboriginal street youth to range from 40% to 70%(exception of Montreal 1O%) of the total street youth population. These estimates show thatAboriginal youth and children are vastly over-represented on the streets of Canada.The rights accorded to children are set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Childadopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 20, 1989. The stories toldby the participants in this study show that all of their rights are contravened. For example, survivalrights, protection from exploitation and denial of cultural rights are clearly and uniformly absent.The secondary abuse of our children is expressed in the continued rage, distrust, fear, disgust, senseof powerlessness, lack of access to their history and culture, and trauma from the impact of racismthat they continue to face on a daily basis.246Aboriginal street youth are not alone in the contravention of many of their rights. McCullaghand Greco (1990) show that vast numbers of mainstream street youth in Canada, whose survivalneeds are in jeopardy, are in danger of being exploited on the street in the same way as Aboriginalyouth. Street youth in general, however, do not share in the impacts of colonization (except tobenefit in positive discrimination vis-a-vis Aboriginal people); and while mainstream youth andAboriginal youth share in the generic stereotypes of street people, they do not share in the racialattacks heaped on Aboriginal youth. In the race and culture categories of abuse Aboriginal youthhave more in common with their non-street counterparts. In a draft report regarding a survey ofneeds of Aboriginal street youth presented to the Social Services Department, the Calgary AboriginalUrban Affairs Committee found that the key areas identified by Aboriginal youth were: 1) inadequateeducational preparation, 2) misuse of alcohol and drugs, 3) lack of cultural identity, 4) lack ofculturally sensitive services, 5) racism and discrimination, 6) feelings of isolation and apathy, 7)poverty and 8) limited family and community supports (March 1 7, 1993).SurvivalUnder the heading survival and development the Convention on the Rights of the Child(1989) states that:Survival rights might include nutrition, adequate standard of living and access tomedical services. These are the basic rights that ensure that a child may quite simplylive, but as such they are only necessary, not sufficient (2).Survival for street youth means panhandling for money for food, prostitution, robbery, theft, conningwould-be exploiters, and soup kitchens. A place to sleep can be virtually anywhere or with anyonewhere shelter from the elements is the primary consideration.The types of services that currently exist for street youth fall into the categories as shown inTable IV. The services remain disjointed and youth either fall through the cracks in the system, theysimply become immune to the manipulation and control of mainstream service delivery, or theyavoid services because of racism and cultural irrelevance.247Table IV. Services for youth by type of service, duration of contact, intervention strategy andexample of service (Brannigan & Caputo, 1993:83-84).Type of Service Contract Service ExamplesPrevention Minimal length Education Media and schoolpresentationsCrisis Short term Stabilize crisis Shelters or hotlinesInterventionMaintenance Ongoing! Meeting basic daily needs Hostels and needleintermittent exchange; soupkitchenTransitional Longer term Help to get off street Addictions counsel;literacy program; longterm shelterIncapacitation Various lengths Incarceration; prevention Young offendersfrom self harm or harming facilities; psychwardssocietyRehabilitative Various lengths Involuntary reintegration Corrections and CJinto community system; probation; lifeski I IsIn a report, on homelessness in British Columbia, titled \u00E2\u0080\u009CA Place Called Home,\u00E2\u0080\u009D Fallick(1987) states,The youth who led the workshop advocated a legitimate participatory role for youthin determining strategies to assist young people, rather than having a pre-determinedsystem imposed on them. The recognition that this involves better communicationamong all concerned groups, and more effective involvement by youth was raisedin connection with the view expressed that communities have given over the caringcomponent to the state or the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstate.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The \u00E2\u0080\u009Csystem\u00E2\u0080\u009D is not working for troubled youth(32).In addition, age and wardship based accessibility to emergency shelters were deemed to beinadequate to the needs in the youth population. These views were expressed by most of theparticipants in the case studies.Safe houses provide temporary safety and survival services, such as food, clothing, shelter,until realistic long term planning are required. Street youth need to be protected from being placedback into abusive situations. Safe houses must begin immediate treatment of abuse, grief and248separation issues. The common response regarding non-disclosure of pain and suffering to anyonein the street services environment is indicative of the need for immediate treatment, counselling, andrepatriation assistance that takes the whole person into consideration. Kufeldt (1991) writes that,\u00E2\u0080\u009CUnfortunately, in the exigencies of the crisis event, there is a tendency to overlook the feelings ofgrief and loss associated with separation\u00E2\u0080\u009D (44). In addition to separation issues, the experience oftrauma from sexism, racism, poverty, grief and loss from violent death and suicide of family, friends,peers, and street family are evident in all of the Aboriginal street youth in this case study.Emergency services must make a circle of healing that is culture-based and deals with profoundtrauma.Holistic treatment in services needs to include treatment, out reach services and preventionstrategies. As a Winnipeg advocate stated, \u00E2\u0080\u009CWhen kids come down from the reserves and are placedin a setting here, there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s something we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re missing. We need to ensure their feelings of safety. Thesystems are too big. There are kids from all over the place. We need community- orientedservices.\u00E2\u0080\u009D The Calgary Aboriginal Urban Affairs Committee (1994) recommendation #3 haveincluded this feature in their proposal. They stated that:A transition program should be developed to assist reserve youth to overcome theculture shock once they arrive in the city and provide them with strategies to resistthe lures of the street life.Aboriginal street workers should be employed to assist young people on the street.These workers should not only be Aboriginal, but young and be someone withwhom the youth can relate. This work should be supplemented with a drop-incentre for Aboriginal youth (6).The last point is supported by many of the participants that, while cultural relevance isindicated as very important, racial similarity is also highly recommended. This is expressed as thecommon historical impact of colonization, racism and reservation background. In other words,\u00E2\u0080\u009CAboriginal people know what we\u00E2\u0080\u0099re going through, they know our background, they know aboutreserves and they have experienced trauma similar to ours.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Similar experience is extended to mean249that a worker must also have street experience. Etah said, \u00E2\u0080\u009CMake sure they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t get people whohave just textbook knowledge ... [that they] have some experience.\u00E2\u0080\u009DHousing is a major stumbling block for youth because of discrimination in housing for youngpeople in general. This discrimination is compounded for Aboriginal youth due to racism.Aboriginal youth need a place to eat, sleep and to have a shower. They need an address andtelephone number, in order to be eligible for welfare or to go for job interviews. Stable affordablehousing is key to enhancing the life chances of Aboriginal youth in the city. Participants haveaddressed this issue in their recommendations in proposing that co-op housing be part ofrehabilitation and recovery. They need places where they can pay rent, have decision-making powerand build on the mutual caring that street youth exhibit. This recommendation speaks to legallyextending the autonomy already exercised in the street environment.To be fair, we have seen that some street services (see appendices) are doing as good a jobas they can with little resources and very high demand, and at the time of this research Winnipeg,Vancouver and Calgary had proposals for safe houses. For the most part the capacity of any facilityproposed for street youth range from 6-16 spaces. Blasi (1990) puts the dilemma of numbers intoperspective,From the perspective of a homeless mother and child, even if \u00E2\u0080\u0098The Number\u00E2\u0080\u0099 is two,homelessness is a tragedy of grave proportions. From a public policy perspective,whether a community has 5000 or 50,000 homeless persons is of marginal interestif there are only 500 shelter beds and no programs for assisting people out ofhomelessness (209).With an estimated 600-900 child prostitutes in Vancouver eastside alone (Bellett, 1995), Blasi\u00E2\u0080\u0099spessimism is warranted where Aboriginal street youth are concerned.Estimates of street youth in need of safe houses far outweigh the proposal capacities andexisting services are losing funding and closing their doors faster than proposals are being written.In any event most proposals indicate an age range of 16-18 as criteria for admittance. Where do 10-16 year olds go for help? It is increasingly this group of Aboriginal youth that are showing up in250Street youth Statistics and who are represented in Bellett\u00E2\u0080\u0099s (1995) numbers in Vancouver. Natashaand Charnelle are examples.AddictionsAddictions have enjoyed a long standing prominent place in rural Aboriginal communitiesand an even longer one in the urban centres. Not very long ago addiction was primarily an adultconcern, and pockets of heavily addicted homeless skid row older youth (20-25 years) provided thestereotype of addicted Aboriginal people living on the streets in urban centres. Now Aboriginalyouth are heavily implicated in statistics of alcohol, drug and inhalant abuse (See statistics ofVancouver needle exchange in Appendix G). Vancouver Downtown Eastside Youth ActivitiesSociety (DEYAS) statistics show that Aboriginal children are 60% higher than Aboriginal people inthe total client base to access services from needle exchange services. An Adolescent Street Unit(ASU) worker in Vancouver gave us examples of addicted Aboriginal youth.One girl\u00E2\u0080\u0099s sad story: She was an Aboriginal young woman who was adopted by anon-Native family. She started using drugs at the age of 11 and she died May 28,1993 of a heroin overdose. The heroin came from the current lot which is beingsold \u00E2\u0080\u0098pure and uncut.\u00E2\u0080\u0099 It is powerful, potent and deadly. Another girl, 14 years old,whose liver is shot, who started drinking at 10 years old, will probably not live verylong (Vancouver).The need for Aboriginal detoxification units to fit the needs of Aboriginal youth in city wasexpressed. These facilities ought to refer to longer term culturally appropriate treatment facilities thatare equipped to handle all of the issues that Aboriginal youth face on the street and in the greatercommunity, particularly abuse issues and trauma issues such as racism, within a stimulating culturalenvironment.Vancouver had an influx of particularly potent heroin in 1993 which resulted in an escalatednumber of overdoses and deaths. Most participants in this study know friends who have diedrecently of drug overdose. This means that street services must take grief and loss into considerationin addiction counselling.251Winnipeg has a heavy problem with inhalant abuse in a very young Aboriginal population.They have city blocks that are known as \u00E2\u0080\u009Chuffer\u00E2\u0080\u0099s row\u00E2\u0080\u009D in the northend ghetto. Presently thesechildren have to be shipped away to treatment centres outside the city and sometimes outside theprovince. The Winnipeg parents interviewed say the problem of sniffing is \u00E2\u0080\u009Cvery severe,\u00E2\u0080\u009D even inthe older Aboriginal population and they believe that legislation is needed to prosecute people whosell inhalants for the purposes of sniffing. There are an estimated 300 sniffers in Winnipeg (in thenorthend, westend and central city combined). But a Winnipeg father contends that, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI wouldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t goback to the reserve because it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s worse than the city, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s worse, they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re sniffing gas and lots of kidsare dying. On the reserve it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s much worse, alcohol is much worse.\u00E2\u0080\u009D He says that he couldn\u00E2\u0080\u0099tremember that there was drinking on the reserve a long time ago, then the problem was in the city.His response about sniffing being just as bad or worse in some reserve communities is supportedby numerous items in the media such as the Shamatawa and Davis Inlet tragedies.Parents in Vancouver and Winnipeg spoke of the need for education on symptoms of drugabuse in youth and information on fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal inhalant syndrome. Theyindicated a need for support groups and support services for parents whose children are involvedon the street. These sentiments were echoed by the participants, only they emphasized the needfor addiction rehabilitation and prevention services at the reserve level as well.Service personnel in this research pointed to the need for wilderness camp treatment forAboriginal street youth who abuse inhalants. Wilderness detoxification works best because of thehighly addictive ingredients and psychological addiction of inhalants. An Aboriginal street workeradded that these facilities would ideally be run by rural Aboriginal communities and tribal councils,where youth would have access to learning traditional cultural technologies and survival skills,ceremonies and where workers would provide healthy role models. Karen in Vancouver is the onlyparticipant who has used inhalants to any great extent, although others have experimented withthem. The youth in this research, however, have voiced their concern for the provision of inhalant252abuse services and for wilderness camp treatment. Missy also reported that her journey off the streetbegan with a wilderness retreat.Missy and Dale provide insight into the long term implications of addiction recovery andleaving the street. We can see that drug addiction treatment with persons who also have abusetrauma, attachment problems, confused culture identity, and racial alienation is a very complexprocess. Housing, education, job training, relationship stability, self concept, and employment allplay crucial roles in recovery and yet these elements have a good chance of being sabotaged frommany angles. Alcohol and drug addiction treatment must consider the long-term implications ofmultiple abuse trauma and triggers for sliding back into addiction and street life. Twenty-eight daytreatment programs (regular adult programming) cannot address addiction issues and the types oftrauma described by participants in the study. The proposed Aboriginal youth detoxification centreto be instituted in Vancouver will have a stay period of one week (Bellett, 1995).Studies show that patterns of substance abuse in family and peer groups make Aboriginalchildren more vulnerable to substance abuse (Gfellner and Hundleby, 1991 for instance), that urbanAboriginal youth \u00E2\u0080\u009Cmay be in greater jeopardy\u00E2\u0080\u009D than their mainstream peers due to lack of familysupport and mainstream marginalization (Gfellner, 1991), and that drug and alcohol abuse ispositively correlated with youth suicide (Minore et al., 1991). These studies are an example of thewealth of academic information on youth addictions, more importantly they show the complexityof substance abuse in Aboriginal youth.Recovering addicts experience more psychic pain when they are sober. They do not havethe aid of the drug to shield them from the realities of their lives. Culturally-based recoveryprograms which are prepared to rebuild a strong Aboriginal identity (Hughes and Sasson, 1990), todemythify the historical oppression of Aboriginal peoples, and to recognize racism as triggers toundoing sobriety provide a sturdy base to build upon. The base, however, must be linked toindependent living transition, education and job training which are crucial to efforts to assist street253youth in leave the streets. These people are young and many have Aboriginal status which includesthe right to education, and they have the time to be channelled into meaningful occupations andartistic endeavours. Missy and Dale are excellent examples of this potential.Charnelle recommended that access to Alanon, Alateen and Alcoholics Anonymous at thereserve and community level would help youth struggling with alcohol and drug use. This pointsto policy formation that targets the youth population, rural and urban.Exploitation:Article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) deals with exploitation andstipulations on treatment of exploited children.States Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation andsex abuse. For these purposes States Parties shall in particular take all appropriatenational, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent: a) the inducement orcoercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity; b) the exploitative useof children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; C) the exploitative useof children in pornographic performances and materials (10).The first priority for Aboriginal children and youth is the elimination and prevention of abuseby state legislated care takers because this predisposes them to escape to the street. Kufeldt (1991)calls for a re-evaluation of the child welfare policy and service delivery systems from which a childis more likely to run or to end up on the street. For many Aboriginal youth prostitution on the streetis simply an extension of the abuse experienced at the hands of care givers where they are socializedto exchange sex for recognition.All of the collaborators agree that Canadian society is predatory toward youth, andincreasingly so toward much younger children (Etah, Missy, Dale, Natasha, Morrissette & Blacksmith,1993; parents, and numerous agency personnel). According to a Vancouver Sun article (Bellett,1995), cited earlier, a director of an eastside street youth service estimated 1000 child prostitutes inVancouver\u00E2\u0080\u0094 600 to 900 on the eastside alone (based on their statistics). In particular, Aboriginalchildren and youth are the target population in this area. The fact that this large estimate (printed254in the media) is significantly larger than those we get from other street personnel indicates that childprostitution is for the most part underground and is a very significant problem.Aboriginal youth and children are continually propositioned everywhere they go in the urbanenvironment. They are not safe at home, in care, in school yards (some of them prostitute out ofschool yards in ever decreasing age groups), or on the streets. Gang-related abuse, cult (ritual) abuseand organized crime is on the rise with younger populations. \u00E2\u0080\u009CPredators should be held accountable\u00E2\u0080\u0094 don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t allow \u00E2\u0080\u0098men\u00E2\u0080\u0099 to buy our children,\u00E2\u0080\u009D is how one Aboriginal street worker expressed herconcern. Law reform is required in policy and practice to remove youth and children from the sexindustry. A concerted multilevel effort must come from the entire community to bring Canadian lawin line with the Convention. The Aboriginal community, having inherited the problem of youthprostitution in extremely high numbers, must examine just how much the Aboriginal malepopulation have taken on the socialization of misogyny and sexual predatory behaviour (see Missyand Dale\u00E2\u0080\u0094 about Aboriginal abuse of youth and gay males).This brings us to the related issue of AIDS in the Aboriginal community (Bellett, 1993). InFebruary of 1993 there were 30,000 persons infected with the AIDS virus in Canada (Mickleburgh,1993). In December of 1992, 28 Aboriginal males, in British Columbia alone, were reported to haveAIDS by the AIDS Urdate Quarterly Report (Rekart and Chan 1992). The Province reported, onApril 22, 1993, that on the streets of Vancouver downtown eastside there were 20 cases of womenwith AIDS, many of them Aboriginal (Easton, 1993). These were women who had been tested injail or detox. With an estimated 400-500 women in British Columbia with HIV we can assume thatAboriginal representation is fairly high. There is no way of knowing how many go undetected,particularly with transient youth. A 1990 study of street people in Vancouver showed a 50% higherrate of HIV infection for Aboriginal people, and an Ontario study estimated that 1 in 212 Aboriginalpeople (5 times the national average) to be HIV positive in eleven northern Aboriginal communities255(Aubry, 1993). Unprotected sexual contact (and rape) and intravenous drug use are breedinggrounds of the virus. Street youth are exposed to these conditions on the Street.Healing Our Spirit B.C. First Nations AIDS Society, an organization set up in Vancouver toreduce and prevent the spread of AIDS in the Aboriginal population, identified the need for morefront line workers (they presently have only one and a half workers for the whole of Vancouver, thehalf is designated for an Aboriginal person) and \u00E2\u0080\u009Can absolute need for an adolescent treatment centrefor Aboriginal youth.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Aboriginal youth are at risk although as previously stated they have educationreadily available on the streets.JusticeThe child also has to be assured \u00E2\u0080\u0098protection\u00E2\u0080\u0099 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 not only from the violation of theabove [survival and development] rights, but also from all kinds of exploitation andcruelty, arbitrary separation from family, and abuses in the justice and penal systemsConvention on the Rights of the Child (1989) Document 1(2).Most of the participants have had negative contact with the criminal justice system in thecity. Some reported excessive force which they perceived as racially motivated. Institutionally theYoung Offenders Act and the Criminal Justice System are guilty of victimizing youth for pettyproperty crimes, particularly in small communities adjacent to reserves (LaPraire, 1988). This iswhere children come into care and eventually into the cities into detention centres. The law mustshift from protection of property to the best interests of the child. Sentencing circles, restitution, andcommunity case planning are warranted with a population where violent crimes are not usual(particularly with the younger age group).Criminalization of Aboriginal youth is the 1980s and 1990s current practice of genocide inthe massive removal of children from their families and communities. Police harassment andinappropriate sentencing are one form of racism in the system and the underutilization of theAlternative Measures Program (AMP) is another. The latter is an alternative to incarceration foryoung offenders. In Saskatchewan, where Aboriginal youth make up at least 95% of inmates inKilborn Hall (a provincial detention centre in Saskatoon), AMP is used only 3O% of the time for256Aboriginal youth compared to a much higher rate for non-Aboriginal youth. They make up 70% ofthe youth charged and sentenced in the province (Report of the Saskatchewan Indian Justice ReviewCommittee, 1992). Aboriginal female youth are also disproportionally charged and sentencedalthough at a lower rate. Kilborn Hall\u00E2\u0080\u0099s population composition drastically changed frompredominantly mainstream youth to near 100% Aboriginal inmates when the Young Offenders Actcame into effect in 1985.In Saskatchewan an Aboriginal male has a 70% chance of being incarcerated (from the ageof 12) before they are 20. This represents only those who are convicted and does not take intoconsideration those who experience police harassment without conviction. A system of youthagainst police is set up. And when 7 out of 10 of one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s peer group are talking about experienceswith the criminal justice system, one becomes an outsider if one has not had at least one detentionexperience. Peer pressure to commit petty crime and to identify with the majority becomesincorporated with a macho male image (and may even be incorporated into Aboriginal identityissues). The cycle is perpetuated by negative police involvement with Aboriginal youth and withadolescent male behaviour patterns of rebellion. This cycle needs to be interrupted and eliminated.In a research report entitled \u00E2\u0080\u009CAboriginal youth/police relations in Saskatoon\u00E2\u0080\u0099s inner city,\u00E2\u0080\u009DMarlene Larocque (1993) summarizes the urban youth/police relationship in this way.When talking to youth about policing, it is difficult to avoid the role of Justice andthe Young Offenders Act. Many youth cannot focus just on Police intervention, buttie in jail, courts, and youth facilities ... This response indicates that youth come toshape their perception of police as an \u00E2\u0080\u009Carrest and charge\u00E2\u0080\u009D agency. The scenario isclear, it becomes a cycle of crime, arrest, charge, court and finally punishment. Itis not to our advantage as a society to continually punish our youth without takinginto consideration the causes of their behaviour. This only creates more anger whichcreates more crime, self hate, and negative behaviour. The answer to this can onlybe found in the exploration of alternative measures and the shift from punishment tohealing. Society must begin to deal with the root problems not just the symptoms(17).Street workers expressed the need for more Aboriginal city police to work with Aboriginal youth,particularly with prostitution and drug related areas. While most of the youth prostitution industry257in Vancouver is Aboriginal, there are no Aboriginal police working with the Kiddie Car Unit whichis in charge of getting these youth off the streets. In Winnipeg the situation is much more grim.Additionally, drug trafficking is known to be a problem at inner city schools. As well as morepolice, workers indicated that the police department should step up racism and cultural awareness.Aboriginal justice inquiries conducted in many of the provinces (Province of Manitoba, 1991;Province of Saskatchewan, 1992 for instance) have recommended the recognition of the Aboriginalright to establish our own justice systems as part of the inherent right to self-government (GardnerO\u00E2\u0080\u0099Toole, 1989-93). Aboriginal jurisdiction over urban Aboriginal population may be the onlyanswer which would give Aboriginal children and youth the immediate and concentrated attentionthat is required to cease the exploitation of Aboriginal children in far greater numbers than theirmainstream counterparts.In CareA study conducted by Kufeldt (1991) stated that running behaviour was three times higherin institutions that used lock up facilities and in general children in care are more likely to run.However, she writes, \u00E2\u0080\u009CWe ignore the fact that some may be running from ill treatment or abuse inour institutions. We fail to distinguish between these and other youngsters who are running becauseof attachment related problems\u00E2\u0080\u009D (44). How, why, for what purpose, and for how long a child endsup in state run facilities (including foster and adoption homes) needs to be critically examined.The rhetoric of\u00E2\u0080\u009Dthe best interests of the child\u00E2\u0080\u009D as practised in provincial child welfare systemsdoes not conform with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). For example, the arbitraryremoval of children from their culture and community is against the Convention. The followingstatement also mentions the right of children to remain within the Aboriginal community.According to article 3, the best interests of the child shall be a primary considerationin all actions concerning children. In connection with the various provisions of theConvention, the best interests of the child are referred to or further specified byreference to his or her family ties, continuity in the upbringing and the child\u00E2\u0080\u0099s ethnic,religious, cultural and linguistic background (Convention on the Rights of the Child(1989): Human Rights of the Child, Doc. 3).258The focus must change to support families with a weliness model and/or extended family care thatare culture based.A January 1992 consultation paper (Province of British Columbia, 1992:78-103) for thelegislative review of the Family and Child Services Act gives some insight into current policydirections of the provinces represented in this research. For instance, Manitoba and Quebec haveextensive lists on the topic of rights of the child and rights of families, British Columbia has nolistings on either topic. Again, in the area of \u00E2\u0080\u009Cprovisions for Natives,\u00E2\u0080\u009D whereby Aboriginalcommunities have significant involvement in the apprehension of an Aboriginal child, BritishColumbia and Quebec have no provisions listed. Alberta and Ontario have the most comprehensiveprovisions. Ontario has the most inclusive and meaningful set of stipulations that would insurecultural continuity for a child in care of the province.* Native heritage is to be taken into account when considering a child\u00E2\u0080\u0099s best interests (s. 27,43 and 130).* Bands and communities are to sit on boards of agencies and on Residential PlacementAdvisory committees (s. 13 and 34); participate in placement hearings (s. 36); have partystatus in protection hearings (s. 39); apply for access and restraining orders (s. 54 and 76);receive notices and copies of assessment reports (s. 50 and 60); and provide services underagreements with the Minister or as a designated children\u00E2\u0080\u0099s aid society (s. 193 and 194).* Customary care is recognized (s. 191) and may be subsidized (S. 195). Service providersmust consult regularly with bands on specified matters (S. 196).In the current Aboriginal child welfare take over movement (in some areas this is called \u00E2\u0080\u009Coffloading\u00E2\u0080\u009D of the problem) there are several issues that present barriers to implementing wellness andprevention as a primary focus. In addition to struggles pertaining to jurisdictional issues currentlybeing debated, two conditions closer to home are problematic. One, funding formulae based onthe number of children taken into care fundamentally opposes Aboriginal philosophy and the need259for prevention based strategies. Secondly, barriers to extended family care in the form of reducedfoster payment rates is discriminatory. Section 23 of the Saskatchewan Family Services Act, forexample, provides for application by an interested party (relatives on reserve) to provide care to achild. The rates, however, are capped at approximately $270 per month per child. The same childwould draw up to $1000 (and in certain circumstances) or more per child off reserve. (It is okay formainstream foster parents to make a living off of Aboriginal children, but not so for people onreserve.) Etah in particular resented being a pawn in her foster family\u00E2\u0080\u0099s income. She felt that theydid not care for her and they used the money to provide luxuries to their own children.Although the parents interviewed in Vancouver received some support to improve theirconditions, still the criteria for helping them was counter-productive to a family staying together.For instance, they said that the band would not provide money for daycare or trade school fundingso that both parents could improve their lives although they were willing. Social services waswilling to provide some support for the mother to attend daycare training but it was contingent onbeing classified as a single mother. Her husband had to stay at home.Parents also said that treatment, counselling, education and training for parents of street youthis needed so that the youth are not ashamed of them. Employment programs for adults like an adultNative Youth Job Corps were suggested. Trade training programs for older adults is not a priorityfor band funding. TMhey need to put more money into educational funding for all Native people anddaycare for educational purposes.\u00E2\u0080\u009DCare and protection of Aboriginal children must revert to Aboriginal nations. This includesthe functions of self-determined child and family legislation, policy making and service deliveryprotocols. Services need to be available to rural and urban Aboriginal communities. Consistentlyparticipants have stated that non-Aboriginal personnel are not equipped personally, politically orprofessionally to deal with identity confusion, cultural reawakening, or issues of separation and lossin a way that is supportive to Aboriginal cultures. Human services education does not prepare260practitioners or policy decision makers to adequately serve or accurately access the needs ofAboriginal families or communities. Careerism, research and social worker mandate (powerrelations) play a part in the distance maintained between practitioner and client on the street. In thecase study process we heard many times that social workers did not really care and that a \u00E2\u0080\u009Ccareer\u00E2\u0080\u009Dwas the most important thing.Participants demand less research and politics and more immediate and concrete action onthe street level. \u00E2\u0080\u009CPeople who run band government and mainstream government should come downhere and actually take a look at what the kids have to live in,\u00E2\u0080\u009D is how Missy explained the situation.She is sceptical about government statements about the lack of funding. She looks around at themisuse of money in society and simply says, \u00E2\u0080\u009CThere\u00E2\u0080\u0099s enough money out there.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Missy raises thetopic of social work practice with street youth. She thinks that social workers need smaller caseloads and more time to spend with children in care. She indicates that children and youth simplybecome lost \u00E2\u0080\u0094 in the system\u00E2\u0080\u0094 and lost to the Aboriginal community. Participants have told ofbeing moved in and out of many homes, detention centres, and group homes. The provincialgovernment and its agents must be accountable for children within its jurisdiction.Children removed for delinquency or Young Offender\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Act issues and placed in lock upfacilities are at risk of entering a cycle of running, criminalization and abuse at the hands of the childwelfare system. They are very different from children who are removed from parental custodybecause of abuse or neglect in the home. If the child is in eminent danger then, and only then,should they be removed and placed with extended family. Even then it is the abuser that shouldbe removed and not the child. We have heard the stories of youth currently caught up in the youngoffenders system. Both young women felt that they were there because of someone else\u00E2\u0080\u0099s action\u00E2\u0080\u0094 namely their abusers. Alternatives must be found for youth who act out because of trauma.The lack of jobs and a sustainable economic base are missing in urban and rural Aboriginalcommunities. When the participants looked back upon their own experience and made261recommendation for prevention strategies, they said that Aboriginal people need jobs and servicesat the community level. All of the participants in this study who were removed from their familyfelt that they were punished for something they had no control over and all of them, who were oldenough to remember, simply wanted to return to family. Those who were adopted eventual ly soughtrepatriation.Many of the participants had been temporary wards, permanent wards or adoptees. Theseyouth suffered identity confusion and repatriation problems. Support groups for permanent wardsand ex-adoptees and a national Aboriginal youth hotline are needed to support their search foridentity and belonging. The National Kids Help Line (1-800-668-6868) provides counselling oneverything but homework and it has a data base on all services in Canada, and an Operation GoHome (1-800-668-4663) provides bus tickets to send runaways home. Neither organization hasstatistics on Aboriginal use of the service. One counsellor said that they received calls fromAboriginal children who wanted to discuss living on the reserve. We are told by the participantsin this study that, without exception, mainstream workers do not have enough information about lifeon the reserve or identity issues, therefore an Aboriginal specific hotline is indicated. Acomprehensive hotline such as the United States National Child Help Hotline (1-800-422-4453) outof Utah provides a three in one touch tone service: 1) for children under 16; 2) for parents; 3) forresearch and information. In this vein tracking systems by provincial and band workers must becreated to prevent children from disappearing into a void. Missy has been there and now shewatches youth going through the same thing \u00E2\u0080\u0094 only in greater numbers.EducationThe history of the Aboriginal educational legacy vis-a-vis the Canadian state has been muchcriticized for its mismanagement and negative impact on a people (for example Barman et al., 1986& 1987; Kirkness and Selkirk Bowman, 1992; Cardinal, 1977). According to Kufeldt (1991), \u00E2\u0080\u009CAfterthe family the school is the most important and most impactful for young people\u00E2\u0080\u009D (46). She states262that the school is not only a place of learning but socialization and a testing ground for socialbehaviour. Keufeldt is calling for \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdiversion of some high quality social services to the schoolmilieu\u00E2\u0080\u009D (46). According to most of the participants the school is also a place of degradation for themas Aboriginal students. Not only is the history of Aboriginal people in Canada absent orromanticized but racism mediates their entire experience. These problems are aside from ordinarychildhood and youth problems that have to do with growing up. This legacy would instill a deepsense of alienation from a people who sit at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder and who areperceived to be a constant burden on the state.The school yard is also a breeding ground for bigots who abuse Aboriginal children withisolation, violence, insults and stereotypic images. Teachers and school administration, void of acritical analysis of the colonization of Aboriginal people and its impact, do not understand thepsychological and socio-cultural barriers of their students. With Noella as an exception, thecollaborators in this study could not tolerate the educational environment.Even without the socio-economic barriers school became intolerable for Jean-Marc, as wehave seen in his story. He was subjected to insults and violence because of his mild Aboriginalfeatures. One can only imagine what happens with children with pronounced Aboriginal features,accents, low self-esteem, and poor clothing and nutrition. If there is trouble at home, even if thattrouble is simply unemployment, the school would quickly become unbearable. The adult worlddenies or minimizes the trauma and humiliation that children and youth suffer at the hands of acompulsory institution which denies that racism in schools is rampant. The shame involved isevident in that many of the youth took the opportunity to talk about their ordeal in schools underthe topic of shame and anger. None of the street youth workers mentioned incidents in the schoolenvironment. One must wonder if they were ever told of the shameful events.McFarlane (1993:70) describes George Manuel\u00E2\u0080\u0099s struggles in the early 1960\u00E2\u0080\u0099s in his appealsfor Indian controlled school boards and Indian content in curriculum because of discrimination263embedded in the entire school experience for Aboriginal children. In 1977 Harold Cardinal wroteabout youth experience in his book The Rebirth of Canada\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Indians about the high rate of schooldropout of Aboriginal youth.Why not? There was nothing for them in those (provincial) schools. In manyinstances, they had to face a really racist set-up where they were looked down uponboth by their white classmates and by their white teachers. They were underconstant, and often heavy, pressure simply because they were Indian (194).Still in 1989 Frank and Echols write of the same, maybe even worse, racist degradation of Aboriginalchildren in the urban school environment in their research entitled Evaluation rerort on theVancouver School Board\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Race Relations Policy. In this research the youth have repeatedly statedthat the lack of an accurate Aboriginal history and relevant curriculum, and peer harrassement werecommon experiences in schooling. Yet Kehoe and Echols (1994) advocate \u00E2\u0080\u009CA policy of \u00E2\u0080\u0098leastchange\u00E2\u0080\u0099 on the part of the home and school should be followed because it will increase thelikelihood of change actual ly taking place\u00E2\u0080\u009D (63). They use, as an example, a Hawiian based programwhich raises scores on standardized tests for low socio-economic status children. The centralfeatures used are: 1) a culturally compatable, small group classroom organization; 2) interactionpatterns between teacher-child and child-child which are based on a thorough knowledge of culturaldifferences and similarities; and 3) a set of social reinforcement and social control techniques whichare grounded in cultural understanding (72). No mention of critical history, curriculum relevanceor racism as barriers in schools. Multicultural solutions alone cannot provide the empowermentnecessary to reconcile Aboriginal children and youth with a system which alienates them.All participants stated that they did not know their own history. Fostered children and exadoptees in particular did not know their heritage. School curriculum did not reflect Aboriginalhistory or culture. The National Indian Brotherhoods\u00E2\u0080\u0099s policy paper, Indian Control of IndianEducation (1973) stated that,Unless a child learns about the forces which shape him: the history of his people,their values and customs, their language, he will never really know himself. Indianculture and values have a unique place in the history of mankind. The Indian child264who learns about his heritage will be proud of it. The lessons he learns in school,his whole school experience, should reinforce and contribute to the image he has ofhimself as an Indian person (In Cardinal, 1977:66).One of the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cforces that shape\u00E2\u0080\u009D Aboriginal youth is our collective history of colonization, another isracism. Current researchers and policy makers refuse to recognize these elements in their work.Most participants flatly stated that they would not return to school and that anything thatresembles the irrelevant material, the control exercised in the educational system and the personalabuse simply strengthened their resolve. Positive examples of band controlled and culturally basededucation in the various provinces are set out by Kirkness and Selkirk Bowman (1992) in fjtNations and Schools: Triumrhs and Struggles. They quote a young woman who feels she is gaininga positive identity through her experience in an urban Aboriginal separate school, she also echoesstreet youth experience with racism in urban school environments.Olivia Mercredi, a 16-year-old grade 10 pupil, said that after her first month atChildren of the Earth High School her confidence and pride as a native person havebeen renewed .... Ms. Mercredi, a cousin of Ovide Mercredi, Grand Chief of theAssembly of First Nations, says she doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t even mind riding two buses everymorning to get to the school. She says she was the victim of racism at ElmwoodHigh, a mostly-white, suburban school in northeast Winnipeg .... \u00E2\u0080\u0098People would callus stupid Indians ... Here it is better. I never learned my native language \u00E2\u0080\u0094 but I\u00E2\u0080\u0099mlearning it now\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (Roberts, 1991 in Kirkness & Selkirk Bowman, 1992:84).Children of the Earth High School, the first funded by the provincial education department inWinnipeg, Manitoba, is the first of its kind in Canada. Many of the participants said they wouldconsider returning to an all Aboriginal school such as the one in Winnipeg if they could.There are also some alternative schools that exist for Aboriginal youth if the public schoolsystem is not able to accommodate their needs. These extremely rare institutions are an attempt tocreate an environment that promotes expressions of Aboriginal culture while fulfilling the provincialregulations from the conventional education system. For Missy the refreshing significance of sucha school is clear in the following quotation:...I\u00E2\u0080\u0099d go to an alternative school and I pretended I was dumb. I would put the wronganswers down on purpose because I just wanted to be accepted there as a Nativestudent and to be smarter and to be able to do the work quickly ... I would be265referred to a regular school and I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t want that because I didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t belong in theregular school, because I was under the academic level there and above it at analternative school, so I really didn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t belong anywhere.These words poignantly express Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s experience of being caught between two cultures within theeducation system. Undoubtedly, she craves the cultural sensitivity and supportive environment forher identity development and feeling of acceptance, but these feelings are overshadowed by thejurisdictional issues of the larger institutions. Missy\u00E2\u0080\u0099s words also point to the fact that somealternative schools have the effect of stigmatizing Aboriginal youth as the schools may provide alower academic standard than other public high schools; they are also a place for students who areconsidered to be problem children in the mainstream. It is for this reason that some Aboriginalyouth prefer to have these services offered within the mainstream as they have the opportunity tolearn with their peers, Aboriginal and non; in this way they avoid being outcast and yet their culturaldifference is positively validated in a setting they are comfortable with.Whether service is provided within the mainstream system or at an alternative school, itshould be in a racism free environment; it should also provide a culturally appropriate learningenvironment, and it should teach Aboriginal youth a critical history of their culture in order toreverse the effects of the racism experienced by the students in the past.Some of the youth felt adversely affected by the inequities and irrelevance involved in jobtraining strategies. Joanne in particular describes racist and sexist treatment in a job opportunitiesprogram where she was enrolled. The youth in this research have identified many multi-levelbarriers in the educational system. Unless the entire educating system (including job training)becomes aware and confronts the reality that Aboriginal youth face, we simply will perpetuate asystem which unequally distributes power, and dropout rates will continue to soar in urban schools.RacismThe guiding questions (appendix B) for the case studies made only one direct reference tothe word racism (question 12, Do you experience a lot of racism on the street?) and this question266was placed strategically (after they would normally have had an opportunity to speak to the issuein the questions on differential treatment) in order to discuss the idea of racial marginalization withthe participants who may, for various reasons, want to avoid the issue. Most of the participantsprovided many examples of racism in their lives long before question 12 came up. Noella was anexception. Although the narratives in this research are permeated with racism and marginalizationso that a special category seems not to be warranted, there are points that need to be highlighted.In the case studies racism emerged as an everyday experience everywhere. Harassmentstarted in the school environment and permeated all of their lives. It means surviving verbal abuse,stereotypes, cultural alienation and violence because of the colour of their skin. The street offersfertile grounds for White supremacy and racial hatred expressed in White power and skin headmovements. These are acts of commission. More subtly, participants are subject to racism in actsof omission in the lack of accurate history and culturally appropriate services. Street youthexperience personal racism in confronting bigotry on the street. They experience cultural racism incultural degradation, identity confusion and culturally inappropriate treatment and service delivery.And they are products of institutional racism in their collective removal from natural families andsystematic criminalization in the criminal justice system by legislated policy. It is the legislatedracism in policy and practice which holds Aboriginal street youth exactly where they are.Racism in policy and practice are not measured by their intent to do harm but by the impactwhich they have on those affected. The combination of policy to remove personal, cultural andinstitutional racism would be ideal for street youth. Eradication of personal racism can only beachieved by mass compulsory critical education and racism awareness. There is little chance thatthis education would reach the street anytime soon (this is not to say that it is not needed).The external barriers manifest in the lack of housing and job opportunities and services onthe streets (for the street youth), in urban Aboriginal communities (for their parents) and on reserves.The subtlest form, however, is the internal or intrapsychic barriers which denies self-respect and267respect for the ancestors. Aboriginal people in general, and street youth in particular, need to knowthat the descent to the socio-economic bottom of the world hierarchy of nations was a gradualprocess involving disease, the undermining of spiritual life, betrayed alliances, land appropriation,segregation, starvation, cultural genocide, residential schooling, underemployment, poverty, massivechild removal and criminalization of Aboriginal people by assimilative legislation.We need to know that we are not alone. It is not just Joanne, not just Kanewake, not justNova Scotia, not just Canada, and most of all it is not just Aboriginal people. Colonization is aglobal phenomenon. India, Asia, Africa, South America, Australia and New Zealand are partners incolonisation impact. We face the same challenge: to achieve decolonization. It is our right toknow, to be without the stereotypes, to work and achieve, to be politicized, and to be wholepsychically and culturally. Street youth have questioned the assumptions of mainstream society andwith their voices they have pleaded with us (mainstream and Aboriginal) to listen, to respect theirwisdom, to learn from their experience, to heed their warnings, and to utilize their expertise.CultureIdentity is regarding oneself as sharing characteristics with another, it is learned andsocialized behaviour. Culture is the sum total of inner learned values and outer expression of thosevalues. Etah gives a definition of Aboriginal culture. \u00E2\u0080\u009CI mean Aboriginal culture has to do with thelife in you. Just a whole world unto itself. It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not a status thing, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not a piece of paper, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s aspiritual thing, an emotional thing, a mental thing, a physical thing.\u00E2\u0080\u009D Although Etah has explainedthe concept most eloquently, the youth in this study have demonstrated the lived process in manyways: some by pride and outward expression, some by their desperate search, and others by theirresistance. Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) speaks to the right ofevery Aboriginal child to enjoy a positive cultural identity.In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons ofindigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenousshall not be denied the right, in community or with other members of his or hergroup, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own268religion, or to use his or her own language. In addition the Conventionacknowledges that society must be specially vigilant to ensure that the rights ofminority children and indigenous children to their language and culture are respected(Convention on the Rights of the Child, Document (1 989:1(2)).We have ample evidence that the rights to culture are contravened to a large degree evenwhen Aboriginal youth have had a supportive cultural background and totally when the person hasbeen in foster care or has been adopted into White homes from an early age. The CalgaryAboriginal Urban Affairs Committee (1994) has embedded the spirit of the Convention in theirproposal for a safe house for Aboriginal street youth in that city.A safe house for Aboriginal youth should be established, for temporary housingneeds. It should have a special emphasis on ensuring that traditional values arerespected by having an elder live in residence, providing healing circles, talkingcircles, and life skills. Since traditional values and teachings are an essential part ofbuilding a strong self identity, it is imperative that Aboriginal people staff this agency(Draft report, recommendation #3, p. 6).Aboriginal street kids live in a world that has, in various ways, closed access to self respectas an Aboriginal person. This is true especially for children who have been placed in White homesand have experienced racism, perhaps only in the form of racial stereotyping of Aboriginal people,within that family. As a result their identity becomes confused and they will be angry at both theirown culture and mainstream society because they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t fit into either one. Cultural identitymediated by racism (and in the case of foster children and adoptees \u00E2\u0080\u0094 isolation) produces at leastfour levels of identification with one\u00E2\u0080\u0099s ethnic group. Table V gives a visual image of this phenomenaand the corresponding meanings. The levels of cultural identity shown here are socialized anddepend on the amount and quality of support for authentic Aboriginal cultural expression. Thecultural categories are not exclusive, they are simply indicators of socialization and may also meanthe degree of racism experienced. A person can have shades of different levels and can change withlearning and support.The participants show the variations in support for their Aboriginal identity. For example,Karen shows characteristics of alienation from both mainstream and Aboriginal values. Noella,269Table V. Cultural identity variations1) the alienated person cannot identify withA W Alienated either mainstream or Aboriginal values orI I I culture. They are confused and very angry andcope with self-destructive behaviour;2) the over-identified person, on theA W Over-identified mainstream side, rejects Aboriginal values andI I\u00E2\u0080\u0098 with White culture culture. They usually exhibit a lot ofinternalized racism and avoid Aboriginalcontact;3) the over-identified person, on theA W Over-identified Aboriginal side, rejects mainstream values andI I I with Aboriginal culture entirely. They usually withdraw fromculture mainstream society and exhibit elements ofdislike for mainstream society and people, andwill avoid contact;4) the bicultural personA W I Bicultural or has integrated Aboriginal values and cultureI I I comfortable in and is comfortable with their identity as anboth environments Aboriginal person but can operate in bothcultures comfortably. This person can practicetraditional culture or not. They often, but notnecessarily, can speak an Aboriginal languageand they have been brought up with Aboriginalvalues.** A means Aboriginal culture; W means Western culture. This does not negate the fact that bothAboriginal and Western cultures have many ethnic groups with distinct cultural expressions(Tukukino, 1988).Travis, Axle and Jean Marc over-identify with mainstream identity and have difficulty with Aboriginalidentity. They have difficulty in the Aboriginal environment. Etah and Natasha are both very angryat mainstream society and try to stay within an Aboriginal framework in the interview (althoughNatasha at one point said, \u00E2\u0080\u009CI just feel White.?I) Joanne, Charnelle, Dale and Missy appear to havethe most comfort with their Aboriginal identity and are able to exist in mainstream environmentsequally as comfortably, although Dale is still anxious to behave correctly in mainstream culture andMissy and Charnelle still have trouble in Aboriginal crowds. Certainly Dale and Charnelle have hadthe most influence from their extended family, although they have other issues that also mediate270their identities. Dale has trouble in the Aboriginal environment with his identity as a gay person andCharnelle must deal with her African American identity vis-a-vis the Aboriginal community.The point of this discussion is to show that with culturally appropriate treatment andeducation and a supportive environment (which they all want), youth can gain insight into their tribalbackground and cultural richness. Those persons who have strong support for their cultural identityhave less difficulty dealing with racism in the greater society. Street youth policy, research, practiceand services must take into consideration the Aboriginal culture within the tribal territory that isaffected, for in Canada Aboriginal cultures are many and they have widely varied expression.Colonization has affected us for different lengths of time and in different ways. On the easternseaboard colonization impact started in earnest in the 1 600s, around the Great Lakes in the 1 700s,the plains territories in the early 1800s, and on the western most territories in the mid-to-late 1800s(MacFarlane, 1993:19). And sometimes the northern regions across the continent have goneunaffected seriously until two decades ago. To say that one solution would apply to all nations inall regions would be to repeat past mistakes. Kirkness and Selkirk (1992) summarize this sentimentby saying,It is, therefore, the challenge to today\u00E2\u0080\u0099s peoples to correct the situation created overthree hundred years of attempted assimilation. To achieve this, the First Nationschildren of today must know their past, their true history, in order to understand thepresent and plan for the future. First Nations cultures must once again be respectedand the traditional values must again be held in high esteem (103).ConclusionIn summary, there are many policy implications arising from the issues that have surfacedin the case studies in this research. I have touched on survival, addictions, exploitation, justice, incare, education, racism, and culture. Each topic is intertwined and complex, and yet from a policyvantage point they still leave the youth out there on the street. This is so because this research isabout youth living on the street, their survival issues on the street, services which help them copewith street conditions and helping systems which potentially could help them get off the streets.271Ideally these youth should never be seen outside their extended Aboriginal systems. For anAboriginal person without their extended family does not really exist. They have no reference point.Public policy directions that will assist Aboriginal street youth to reconnect with their communitiesand further, to prevent more children from being lured to or escaping to the street must first keepin mind the importance of kinship values.Bass (1992) gives some valuable insights into serious concerns for researchers, policy makersand service providers, to keep in mind. She raises a number of questions about the many Streetyouth who do not access street services for various reasons. Therefore what kind of outreachservices are indicated? Street youth have long-term needs when they show up at short-termemergency shelters. How can both be served adequately? What kinds of long-term facilities areneeded to meet long-term problems? How can social support systems be built in for youth leavingchild care facilities (foster care, street services, transitional settings)? Are distinct programs neededfor runaways, homeless youth, and those leaving state legislated facilities? Are separate servicesindicated for younger street children and older street youth? And finally, what kinds of staff(professions, qualifications, experience) ought to work in street youth facilities? The case studieshave surfaced just a little more of the iceberg. Perhaps it is enough to build a base for furtherdialogue and research about the specific needs of Aboriginal street youth. Certainly street youthparticipation in further discussion on policy directions and service provisions is highly indicated.272Chapter 8. ConclusionThe case studies of Aboriginal Street youth indicate that Aboriginal street youth are notenjoying the basic human rights set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). Andyet this study is not about victimization. It is about survival. The youth interviewed (some to alesser degree) are proud of their survival skills and intelligence. They feel experienced in life; theyfeel mature and well travelled; and they make intelligent use of different systems such as streetculture and mainstream services. Hearing their stories, therefore, is the celebration of the will to liveand the courage to once again trust that research will enhance the life chances of youth such asthemselves who are truly dispossessed in their own homeland.Mainstream society, Aboriginal communities and governments must quickly face therealization that the new generation of youth that is leaving the Aboriginal community, by whatevermeans, is living a hyper reality. They live in a world where violence is embedded in their videosgames, television programs, movies and peer activity. They have ready access to powerful drugs andweapons of many kinds, and increasingly gangs provide the need for relationship and power. Theylive in a society where their image in relation to the society is degraded by increased childpornography and prostitution, and at the same time where fatal diseases wait on every corner if theyfollow that image. They live in environments where child abuse mediates their development andwhere supports for healthy racial and cultural identity are scarce commodities. Finally, the childrenlive in a society where technology transmits the socio-economic differential directly into the livingrooms of their poor homes. The Aboriginal community must come to terms with this realizationbecause they are out of touch with what these youth are all about. Street youth are living andnavigating circumstances that only decades ago were unheard of. The dangers do not only affectthe wayward child, they affect all children and youth who walk the urban street \u00E2\u0080\u0094 children andyouth who go to school. The point is, we have to catch up with street youth; we need to enter the273self-determination era equipped with the tools to bring back our children\u00E2\u0080\u0094 back from the abysmalimpact of colonization.The task will not be an easy one and half way reforms will not do. Considering thatAboriginal people, as a whole, still face major obstacles in Canada, the success for social change inthe Aboriginal street youth population depends in part on social reconstruction in the whole. York(1989) writes,Aboriginal people continue to face more hostility than any other ethnic group inCanada. The Canadian Human Rights Commission, in its annual report issued in thespring of 1989, concluded that discrimination against native people is a the top ofthe list of human rights abuses in Canada today. \u00E2\u0080\u0098The situation faced by Canada\u00E2\u0080\u0099snative peoples is, in many ways, a national tragedy,\u00E2\u0080\u0099 the commission reported. \u00E2\u0080\u0098Thegrand promise of equality of opportunity that forms the central purpose of theCanadian Human Rights Act stands in stark contrast to the conditions in which manynative people live\u00E2\u0080\u0099 (268).To ensure authentic transformation, coalitions need to be formed between urban and rural Aboriginalcommunities to safeguard rights of the Aboriginal child, family and community. We must create anenvironment for these children to come home to \u00E2\u0080\u0094 or self-determination could mean that we toowill create a class system where street youth are the bottom of the pyramid. Etah, an eight yearveteran of the streets, reminds us cryptically, that if we don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t do something \u00E2\u0080\u0094 if we don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t wake up\u00E2\u0080\u0094 there will be more and more youth coming onto the streets.We have read the stories of those who have agreed to share their experience with us; butthere are those who are not represented in this study. These young people must be acknowledged.Whether by the constraints described in the methodology section or by some other form ofexclusion, we have missed youth who represent some of the most damaged and incapacitatedpeople in Canada (although we heard about them). They are:* very young runaways (for instance there were two 12 year old boys living in empty buildingsin Winnipeg who were living under cover so they became inaccessible);* sniffers (in most cities there are groups of children who hang out in \u00E2\u0080\u009Chuffers row\u00E2\u0080\u009D);274* underage prostitutes, male or female, with or without pimps (for instance in Winnipeg thereare street corners where groups of 8-10 children age 9-12 work right out in the open);* gang members or survivors of gang abduction (particularly Winnipeg has a problem withgang activity, O\u00E2\u0080\u0099Connor, 1993; Flanagan, 1993); \u00E2\u0080\u009CAbout 21 gangs exist in the city ofWinnipeg although this is an unofficial estimate, even the police now notice the increase ofgang activity. The Police Chief has attributed the cause to increased poverty\u00E2\u0080\u009D;* heavily addicted alcohol and drug addicts;* in special categories (for instance, skinheads or white power groups, and satanic cults);* underground houses of exploitation where very young youth are being held (for instancethose mentioned in Winnipeg, Vancouver and Montreal); \u00E2\u0080\u009CNative young women areespecially recruited by South Asian gangs or others to be prostitutes or to be on drugs\u00E2\u0080\u009D;* any youth in connection with fire arms and weapons;* Metis under-represented, possibly because of Bill C-31 and referral method;* lnuit youth are underrepresented, because of older population in Montreal;* Lastly we have no way of knowing how many Aboriginal street youth have died on the streetthrough substance abuse, murder, and suicide.It is to the last group that I dedicate the stories in this study.The introduction to the study presented three reasons why we are unique peoples in Canadaand introduced a macro approach against which to view the present experience of Aboriginal streetyouth. This focus brought us to the conclusion that Aboriginal street youth experience far greaterimpacts, from our collective dispossession, the marginalization of our unique world view expressedin our various cultures, and colonial policy and racism, than was previously imagined. By placingAboriginal street youth in the larger context of mainstream society and the urban environment, andby highlighting the role of current and historical legislation impacts, we have been able to accessa holistic view of their lives.275Canada is ranked as one of the best countries in the world to live in based on statisticsindicative of a desirable lifestyle. Ironically Canada is also ranked second in the western world forchild poverty and child poverty is a fact of life for many, particularly Aboriginal children. Statisticsshow that 15% of Canadian children live in poverty; 1.2 million children age one to six live inpoverty; that Canada is second only to the United States in the murder of young children; and thatCanada ranks third in the world (Australia and Norway have more) of youth (age 1 5-24) suicide(Laidlaw Foundation, 1993). We have no way of knowing if Aboriginal children are accuratelyenumerated in these statistics. However, since poverty line and unemployed statistics do not includethe Northwest Territories, Yukon and Aboriginal reservations, we can safely assume that thesestatistics do not accurately reflect what is happening in Aboriginal communities.On a positive note, we have gained insight into the lives of Aboriginal street youth. Andthose of us who have had the honour of working with them and who have heard their stories ofsurvival have come to respect them immensely. As we respect our elders so ought we respect ouryouth. 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(1993, February 10). Poll results critical of AIDS funding. The Globe and Mail.Minore, B.; Boone, M.; Katt, M. & Kinch P. (1991). Looking in, looking out: Coping with adolescentsuicide in the Cree and Ojibway communities of Northern Ontario. The Canadian Journalof Native Studies. Xl(1). pp. 1-24.Moore, Joan W. (1985, October). Isolation and stigmatization in the development of an underclass:The case of Chicano gangs in East Los Angeles. Social Problems, 33(1).Morris, Roberta. (1993, June) Centre fills gap with youth shelter. Inner City Voice. Winnipeg.Moving to/Emmenager-a Montreal. (1992-93). Making the right moves when relocating to Montreal,19(4). City of Montreal.Morrissette, Larry & Blacksmith,David. (1993, May/June). Winnipeg\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Bear Clan patrol. CanadianDimension.Nagler, Mark. (1971). Indians in the city. Ottawa: Canadian Research Centre for Anthropology, St.Paul University.282National Council of Welfare. (1993, Winter). Poverty rwofile uDdate for 1991. 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Newbury Park, California: Sage.York, Geoffrey. (1990). The disrossessed. Toronto: Little Brown and Co.Zatz, Marjorie S. (1985, October). Los Cholos: Legal processing of Chicano gang members. SocialProblems, 33(1).Zeitoun, L. (1969). Canadian Indians at the crossroads: Some asrects of relocation and urbanizationin Canada. Ottawa.Zingaro, Linda. (1987). Working with street kids. lournal of Child Care, 3(2).285APPENDIX ACONTEXTUAL INFORMATION QUESTIONSA. Generic information questions: Agency.1. Number of street youth in city?2. Percentage of First Nations\u00E2\u0080\u0099 street youth.?3. Number of workers in agency. (Percentage of First Nations workers in agency)?4. What are your funding sources?5. Who decides policy?6. What organizations are represented on your board of directors?7. Are there First Nations people on your board of directors?8. What age group do you work with?B. Non-generic information questions: Agency.1. Do First Nations street youth readily access your services? Do they under utilize?(Research alludes to First Nations over representation in Street youth \u00E2\u0080\u0094 if they arenot using agency services, also at the highest percentage. Why not?)2. Do you provide culturally specific services (re. identity, cultural ceremonies,therapeutic methods) or do you refer youth to specific places? If agency is FirstNations: what kind of culturally appropriate services?3. Have your workers (agency) had racism awareness training, workshops, speakers, etc?What do you do if a person tells you about a racist assault? Do you work with selfesteem and identity?4. Why do you think there are so many street youth? Why do you think there are somany First Nations street youth?5. Do you have any recommendations (ideas) about how to keep these youth off thestreet or to get them back home?C. Questions, Open Ended Interview (Parent & Advocacy Person Front Line).Parent:1. How old was your child when they got into street life?2. How did the problems start (between home and youth)?3. How did you cope?4. Did you use social agencies to help you (youth and self)? Which ones? How many?Did they help?5. Why do you think your child went to the street?6. How did this situation affect your family? Your health? Your work?7. Can you identify outside sources of problems for yourchild? (i.e. school, police, peers). Do you think these had to do with racism, selfesteem or cultural identity?8. Is there anything you would recommend to help these street youth stay off the streetor to get back home?286Agency Person:1. Why do you think aboriginal youth end up on the street?2. Do you think there are differences between mainstream street youth and those whoare First Nations? What kind of differences (if any)?3. Do you know about the history of Aboriginal people in Canada?4. Do you observe that the street youth have identify problems?5. Is racism a factor? How?6. Are there appropriate culturally specific agencies and services for you to refer thesestreet youth to? (i.e. extended family counselling).7. Is there anything you would recommend for policy regarding service delivery,prevention and repatriation?8. Do you have anything else to add?287APPENDIX BI. THE CASE STUDY QUESTIONSA. The street youth: open ended questions.1. Define \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet\u00E2\u0080\u009D situation with the participant.2. How long have you been on the street?3. What are you running from?4. How did you get here?5. Why did you get here?6. Who are the significant people in your life (your extended family) on the street?7. Do you use the street services in your area? if no why not? Do you get welfare services?educational services? employment services? aids prevention? birth control? drug andalcohol counselling?8. What kind of things happen to you that you think don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t happen to other street youth?9. Do street services workers treat you the same as everyone else? Do you feel comfortableusing their services? if not why not? Do you know any Aboriginal street workers? Howdoes it feel to talk to them?10. Do store keepers and ordinary pedestrians treat you the same as everyone else on the street?better? worse? if worse why do you think they do this?11. What happened back home (whatever that means)? Why did you leave home? Would yougo back? Under what kind of conditions would you go back home? Do you have contactwith your family? extended family? home reserve? home community?12. Do you experience a lot of racism on the street? Tell me about some examples? From otherstreet people? From people in general? How does this make you feel? Does this includeviolence? How do you cope?13. Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s talk about grief. Are there things that you are very sad about? For example; separation,suicide, death of someone, loss, loneliness, wanting to go home.14. Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s talk about shame. Are there things that you feel are very shameful for you to talkabout? Have you talked to a counsellor, elder, your parent, police, teacher, social workeror anyone else about this? if not why not? Would you like to? Do you know where to go?15. Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s talk about fear. What kind of things do you fear on the street? What kind ofexploitation happens (if any) to you on the street? Does anyone try to take advantage of youon the street? What about drugs? What about alcohol? What about sniffing? What aboutprostitution? How do you survive? How do others survive?28816. How do you feel about being an Aboriginal person? Do you know much about the historyof Aboriginal people in Canada? Do you practice any Aboriginal culture? Did you whenyou were home? Would you practice if any kind of ceremonies or services were available?What would you advise a government policy person to do about this subject?1 7. What would make your life easier than it is today? What kind of services do you thinkAboriginal street youth need? How can we put them into operation? What kind of thingsneed to happen at the family, community, city level for prevention of more street youth.What about education at the street level \u00E2\u0080\u0094 what kinds of things need to be known by theyouth? How would we set them up? How would we operate them? What would you sayto a government person about this subject?18. Would you go home if you could? Would you go to school if you could? What stops youright now?19. Who are you role models right now? Who do you admire most? Why?19. What would be the best possible future for you?20. Is there any thing we left out? Do you want to add anything?B. The former street youth1. Define \u00E2\u0080\u009Cstreet\u00E2\u0080\u009D situation with the participant.2. How long ago were you on the street? How long did you stay there? How did you get offthe street? What has happened to you since you got off the streets?3. How did you get there?4. Why did you get there?5. What were you running from?6. Who were the significant people in your life (your extended family) on the street?7. Did you use street services in the city? if no why not? Do you get welfare services?educational services? employment services? aids prevention? birth control?8. What kind of things happened to you that you think don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t happen to other street youth atthe time?9. Were there street services workers for you to go to? Do you feel comfortable using theservices? if not why not? Did you know any Aboriginal street workers? How did it feel totalk to them?10. Did store keepers and ordinary pedestrians treat you the same as everyone else on the street?better? worse? if worse why do you think they do this?28911. What happened back home (whatever that means) to make you leave and go to the street?Why did you leave home? Did you go back? What made you go back home? Did youhave contact with your family? extended family? home reserve? home community?12. Did you experience a lot of racism on the street? Tell me about some examples? From otherstreet people? From people in general? How did this make you feel? Did this includeviolence? How did you cope?13. Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s talk about grief. Were there things that you were very sad about? For example;separation, suicide, death of someone, loss, loneliness, wanting to go home.14. Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s talk about shame. Were there things that you feel are very shameful for you to talkabout? Did you talk to a counsellor, elder, your parent, police, teacher, social worker oranyone else about this? if not why not? Would you have liked to? Did you know whereto go?15. Let\u00E2\u0080\u0099s talk about fear. What kind of things did you fear on the street? What kind ofexploitation happened to you on the street? Did anyone try to take advantage of you on thestreet? How did you survive? How did others survive?16. How did you feel about being an Aboriginal person then? How do you feel about being anAboriginal person now? Did you know much about the history of Aboriginal people inCanada? What about now? Did you practice any Aboriginal culture? What about now?Did you when you were home? Were there any kind of cultural ceremonies or servicesavailable to you in the city then? What would you advise a government policy person to doabout providing appropriate cultural services to Aboriginal street youth?1 7. What kind of services do you think Aboriginal street youth need to help them get off thestreet? What kind of services do you think Aboriginal street youth need to prevent themfrom going to the street? How can we put them into operation? What kind of things needto happen at the family, community, city level for prevention of more street youth. Whatabout education at the street level \u00E2\u0080\u0094 what kinds of things need to be known by the youth?How would we set them up? How would we operate them? What would you say to agovernment person about this subject?290APPENDIX CRoyal Commission on Aboriginal PeoplesUrban Perspectives: Street Youth ProjectConsent FormI,_______________________,agree to participate in the Street Youth Case Study Research Projectinvestigating the life circumstances and environment of street youth. I fully understand all of theinterview sessions, of the case studies and the interviews with parents and advocates in thecontextual information gathering, will be audio taped and used solely for the Street Youth Projectof the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP). By signing this form, I agree to participatein the Street Youth Project and to be audio taped. I have been assured by RCAP that myparticipation is completely voluntary and confidential and that I may withdraw at any time withoutconsequence. I understand that the material discussed in the interviews will not be made public inany form in which I can be personally identified.I understand that this research project is being carried out by the Royal Commission on AboriginalPeoples, Urban Perspectives, Research Co-ordinators Rosalee Tyzia and Donovan Young; the ProjectCo-ordinator, Lauri Gilchrist; and Research Assistants: Marie Baker, Bev Dagg Lopez, and AlysaPraamsma. Questions regarding this research project can be directed to Rosalee Tizya or DonovanYoung at 1-800-363-8235. In the event of any complaints about the procedures used in this project,I am aware that I may contact David Hawkes (613-934-8529) or Marlene Castellano (613-943-2050),Co-directors of the Research Department at the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.SignatureDateWitnessDate291APPENDIX DFace sheetCode name:_________ Code number for files:1. Gender: male_ female_2. Age: 12-15_3. Education: (number of years).Primary__ Secondary_ High SchoolK-8 8&9 10-124. Schooling: (any combination).On reserve_ Off reserve_ UrbanResidential school_ Rural_5. Regional information: Home identificationRural_ Town_____ Urban-(100,000 and up)______Province_________ Reserve (state)_________Notes:_________In the case of foster care, adoption or institutional care, please make notes and rememberto discuss in the dialogue.6. Indian ethnic affiliation: (ie Cree, Metis, Inuit)Cultural identity__________Status_______________ Non-status C-317. Languages spoken:Indian language (state)_______ English_ French9. Family constellation:Single parent: Mom_ Dad_ Brothers \u00E2\u0080\u0094 SistersTwo parent (state type of family):Brothers SistersExtended family primary care:Grandparent(s) Aunts or uncles. Cousins_Friends Others292Foster family_ Foster family brothers Sisters_Other Aboriginal youth in home: Brothers SistersAdoptive family_ Adoptive family brothers_ Sisters_Other Aboriginal youth in home: Brothers_ Sisters.10. Social service institutional care: any occurrence in last year.Social worker_Detention centre_Group home_Special schoolNotes:11. Current shelter/living arrangements:Streets_ HosteL...... Emergency unit_ Other..........Friends (adult) \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Friends (peers) \u00E2\u0080\u0094Notes:Notes:12. Current nutrition/food arrangements:Streets......... Hostel_ Soup Kitchen......... Other_________Food bank_ Friends (adult) \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Friends (peers) \u00E2\u0080\u0094293APPENDIX EFace sheet \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Former street youthCode name: Code number for files:1. Gender: male_ female_2. Age: 18-20_. 21-30_ 30-40__.3. Education: (number of years).Primary_ Secondary_ High School__K-8 8&9 10-12Life skiIIs College_ University_Notes:4. Schooling: (any combination).On reserve Off reserve UrbanResidential school Rural5. Regional information: Home identificationRuraL_. Town_____ Urban-(1 00,000 and up)______ Province__________Reserve (state)__________Notes:In the case of foster care, adoption or institutional care, please make notes and rememberto discuss in the dialogue.6. Indian ethnic affiliation: (ie Cree, Metis, lnnuit)Cultural identity__________Status______________ Non-status C-317. Languages spoken:Indian language (state)_______ English_ French9. Family constellation:Your own family:Partner.. Sons__________ Daughters_294Cousins______BrothersSisters11. Current living arrangements:Notes:12. Agencies or persons who helped you get off the streets:Parents Extended family Agency person Social worker PoliceTeacherNotes:Your childhood family:Single parent:MomDad_Brothers Si stersTwo parent (state type of family):_Extended family primary care:Grandparent(s) Aunts or uncles_Friends OthersFoster family_ Foster family brothers_ Sisters_Other Aboriginal youth in home: Brothers_SistersAdoptive family_ Adoptive family brothers_ Sisters_Other Aboriginal youth in home: Brothers Sisters10. Social service institutional care: any occurrence in childhood.Social worker Detention centre Group home_Special schoolNotes:295APPENDIX FDocumentation sheetTo be used immediately after each dialogue with participant. This is where you will describe whereyou are meeting with the participant, what is significant about their appearance, date time and anyother description of the person or the surroundings that will fill in the detail of the interview withthe participant as well as your personal thoughts about the events.Reflection Description296APPENDIX GVancouver: Services directly mentioned by participants in the studyIn this section we elaborate on some street services which participants have directly mentionswhether or not they use the service. These also represent some of the agencies which we visited.There were services which were visited but mentioned elsewhere in the study because there werejust too many.Every person in the Vancouver group mentioned the Downtown Eastside Youth ActivitiesSociety (D.E.Y.A.S.). The society was established in 1979 by John Turvey who is still the ExecutiveDirector. Eighty to ninety percent of its funding comes from the Ministry of Social Services with thebalance coming from the Vancouver Social Planning Council. In 1992 the budget was $550,000.DEYAS employs 21 workers, 8 are Aboriginal (2 reconnect workers, 2 counsellors, 3 needleexchange, 1 AIDS worker). Policy is decided by a multi-cultural board made up of 30-40%Aboriginal people.The organization works with an open age group policy (0-84), however, 70-80% are youth.They work with 50-75% Aboriginal youth, (13 years ago 50% were Aboriginal). They estimate 25100 entrenched street youth (very few middle class) on the street on any given night who areinvolved in quasi criminal activities, drug dealing and prostitution. Street workers state that therehas been an increase of 50-90% street children in the last 5 years, many of whom are from reservesand small communities. Some of them are third and fourth generation families living in the city.Many Aboriginal street youth have had relatives die violent deaths in the eastend of Vancouver,many grew up in care.Services provided by the program include: education, counselling, assessments and referral.The Reconnect Program is available 24 hours a day for street youth under 19 which assists toreconnect youth with families and community, to identify who is new on the street, and to referyouth to appropriate agencies such as detox, housing, health services, and outreach services. Afterinterviewing five workers from DEYAS the research assistant wrote in her journal, \u00E2\u0080\u009CAfter five formalinterviews I am feeling overwhelmed by the plight of our Aboriginal street children.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe Needle Exchange Program is a part of the DEYAS organization. It consists of three vansin which 5-8 staff members (ex-street people) travel the streets of Vancouver. Aboriginal staffaverages from 1-4 people at anytime. The services they provide are: AIDS prevention and education.They exchange needles, provide condoms and bad date sheets, and they refer to other streetservices. Six nights a week until 2:00 a.m. the program deals mostly with cocaine and heroin users(talwin and ritalin secondary) and prostitutes. According to personnel 35-40% of the frequent usersof the service are Aboriginal people, 9% of the total population are teenagers, approximately 40%of which are Aboriginal youth, and Aboriginal teens are 60% more likely to be users compared tototal youth population. The April 1993 statistics show that there were 10,945 visits, 29.3% of whichwere Aboriginal people.A street worker stated that estimates of Aboriginal street youth population are hard topinpoint because some are underground, they are very transient and resistant to social services, andthey are very often on the run. A recent most troublesome underground trend with urban Aboriginalyouth is the involvement with Asian youth gangs and br with exploitative older (25-40 age group)Asian men. Another underground portion of street youth population, less often but equallydestructive, are involved with child exploitation industries.297The Adolescent Street Unit (ASU) is a non-Aboriginal organization which is situated onDrake Street. ASU is funded by province of British Columbia. Their policy is decided at the DeputyMinister level (\u00E2\u0080\u009Cwho often don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know what\u00E2\u0080\u0099s happening at the grassroots level\u00E2\u0080\u009D). ASU has 24workers with only one Aboriginal worker in the alcohol and drug area. Youth age 12-19 year oldcan access help which offers all kinds of services as diverse as possible.ASU workers estimate 400-500 street youth on the street, 55-60% of them Aboriginal youth,that use their service as frequently as other youth. They do not provide any Aboriginal specificservices although workers have had at least two days of cross cultural training from United NativeNations and they refer to Aboriginal services such as court workers and the Indian Centre. ASUrecognizes that there is a need greater efforts for outreach to Aboriginal youth.Street Youth Services (SYS) is located at 1237 Richards Street, it was instituted in 1987funded by the Ministry of Social Services, with a small amount coming from the city and otherdonations. SYS is an outreach program that identifies youth at risk and connects them withappropriate services. They provide youth with someone to talk with, referral and advocacy. Theyshare office space with the STD clinic, AIDS counsellors, prenatal counsellors\u00E2\u0080\u0094 5 days per weekwith 2 nights late coverage. The staff consists of 2 1/2 positions with 1/2 designated as an Aboriginalposition. Three hundred street youth under the age of 19 use their service in a month, 30 of whichare Aboriginal youth, however, they state that 70% of males prostitutes in \u00E2\u0080\u009CBoystown\u00E2\u0080\u009D areAboriginal. SYS has been adopted by the Aboriginal males that frequent Boystown. The workersspend more time with their Aboriginal users because their are no other services for them. However,they do not provide any Aboriginal specific services. SYS workers say that many of the Aboriginalyouth do not like going to the DEYAS, particularly the gay males who are subject to homophobicdiscrimination from Aboriginal people and racism from the White people. A lot of their Aboriginalclients come from adoption breakdown in White homes (interviews).NEXUS a Substance Abuse Outreach Services program located at 575 Drake Street is aconfidential alcohol and drug information and counselling service for street youth. They assist youthto connect with detox, treatment, support groups, counselling and other alcohol and drug services.It appears, from participant responses on alcohol and drug abuse, that youth get or have access toinformation and the help they need to get off of drugs when they are ready. Most of the youth wespoke with had alcohol and drug counsellors and they were reasonably responsible with addictionissues in their lives.The medical clinics in the inner core of Vancouver: the Drake Street Clinic at 575 DrakeStreet; the Richards Street Clinic at 1237 Richards Street; the Main Street Clinic at 219 Main Street;and the Health Clinic at 414 E. Cordova Street, provide confidential and free pregnancy, STD andAIDS testing, treatment, advocacy and referral to street affiliated youth and adults. The youth in thisstudy spoke freely about using clinics and they were fully informed of the dangers of contractingAIDS through sex and needles. The health education on the street is reinforced by consistentnetworking of street workers, the needle van and the clinics. This is a very positive developmentin street culture. Street youth are probably more informed that the average middle class teenanywhere in Canada.Employment oriented services are on the rise in Vancouver. Creative Opportunities For Kidsis one of them. It was founded in 1985 by Vancouver street workers, sponsored by the Seva ServiceSociety. Now it is also supported by Family Services of Greater Vancouver and government funding.The program is a grassroots initiative that helps street workers make contact and provide street youth298with part-time employment. The youth can gain employment experience and skills. In other words\u00E2\u0080\u0094 a place to start. Three full time employment and skills counsellors work at the street level.The organization has placed over 400 in more than 75 placements in places such asrestaurants, day-cares, and private businesses since its inception. Joanne was one of their clients.She said that she experienced sexism after being placed in a work placement where she was acarpenter\u00E2\u0080\u0099s helper. The employer quickly lost interest in the youth after the program part wascompleted. Joanne stated that she did not get any long term benefits and the employer frustratedthem by promising work which did not materialize.Other programs like Life Choices for Youth Society (auto service training) and the PicassoCafe (training for the food service industry) also help to train youth before they go out on their own(White, 1992).Stable housing is an issue because youth need an address and telephone number in orderto be eligible for welfare or to go for job interviews. They need a place to eat, sleep and to havea shower. Youth on their own experience systematic discrimination in housing simply because oftheir age. Stereotypes of street youth behaviour and Aboriginal people are also barriers. Stableaffordable housing is key to enhancing the life chances of Aboriginal youth in the city. Vancouverhas low rental housing for Aboriginal people in the city that would be ideal for youth on their own.The one Aboriginal program, Aries Project/Urban Native Youth Association situated at #1-1607 East Hastings Street in Vancouver, is a day and evening program for street involved Aboriginalmale youth. Aries Project provides meals, life skills, recreational, cultural and social programs andacademic upgrading. The program is useful for youth who have made some effort of transcendingthe street and who have a place to stay. None of the youth mentioned using this service. Theparticipants in Vancouver do not qualify by virtue of their gender.The male street population is more visible in addiction and criminal justice statistics,therefore Aboriginal specific programming that are also gender specific tend to address their needsfirst. Although Urban Images for Indian Women, run under the auspices of the British ColumbiaProfessional Indian Women\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Association is a life skills and job readiness program, it deals withwomen survivors of abuse in the family and addiction. This program is suitable for older women(re)entering the labour market and Aboriginal female street youth would not qualify. In any case thewaiting list is too long. Female Aboriginal street youth are marginalized in Aboriginal programmingeven though the Winnipeg Social Planning Council Research Report (1990) shows that youngfemales run more often and for longer periods of time (see Winnipeg background information \u00E2\u0080\u0094chapter four).SKID (Street Kids in Distress) is worth mentioning because of its recent closure. InDecember of 1992 the store front operation opened on the corner of Pacific Boulevard and RichardsStreet. It opened after a track record of one year of providing food, clothing and education to manyyouth with no where else to go. The organization was closed in January 1993 for allowing 13-15year olds to sleep on the premises (Truscott, 1993). Where do the 10-16 year olds go who arerunning from care givers? This type of enforced homelessness makes youth more vulnerable topimps and gang abductions. It is also interesting that the organization now plans to open a shortterm housing (six bed) unit to youth 16-18. This is a small concession in a city where over 400street youth roam the streets and still leaves the younger range to the mercy of a predatory void inthe system.299Recent proposals for the use of an old hotel on Hastings Street for a housing unit for streetyouth met with loud protests. It is ironic that the idea that street youth housing could be in closeproximity to the adult street population was not acceptable to city council.Brenda Carr\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Art Studio was the service consistently mentioned with great respect andadmiration. Situated in downtown Vancouver the art studio is a place where street youth can go fora cup of coffee, a safe place to hang out during the day without strings attached. It is a place whereyouth can express themselves artistically and somewhere from which they can call home every sooften. Older people, particularly police and social workers, are discouraged from going to the safehaven. This aspect is much appreciated by the youth. Brenda Carr is someone to be trusted withstories from the street, with the burdens of the day, and with hopes for the future.Vancouver and Montreal each had a particular person that attracted youth to street servicesand inspired trust and affection from the most alienated and distrustful youth. Etah from Vancouversaid that it was the personal qualities of the person that characterized the patron saints of the streetand not the type of service. The people in question showed unconditional service, advocacy andaffection. They were flexible and were not above bending the rules just a little in order to alleviatepain and suffering. They were perceived by the youth to be on their side. In other words, as muchas possible, they did not collaborate with the police or social workers against the youth. In Montrealthat person was Pop\u00E2\u0080\u0099s originator of Dans Ia Rue. In Vancouver Brenda Carr fit the bill. In Winnipeg,SKY, an agency came closest to the characteristics that inspired trust in the youth interviewed.Although workers were mentioned by name it seemed that the atmosphere at the agency was thedrawing point in that particular case.300APPENDIX HWinnipeg: Services directly mentioned by participants in the studyThe agency where we met with the participants for this study was Street Kids and Youth(SKY) situated at 41 5 Graham Street. This centre was comfortable for the participants. It was to beclosed one month after we were there. Ironically on June 1, 1993, a day set aside to commemorateInternational Children\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Day, also marked the day when SKY closed it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s door to street youth. Theprogram\u00E2\u0080\u0099s funding had been terminated.None the less, it is important to identify the services that are/were frequented by those weinterviewed. SKY came into operation in September 1991, funded by the former Winnipeg CoreArea Initiative, the Winnipeg Foundation and the Downtown Improvement Zone. Board membersfrom Mamawi, the Boys and Girls Club, the City Police Department, Children\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Home and Child andFamily Services decided policy. SKY had served 13,000 youth ages 7-25 up until the time we werethere. They provided food, clothing, counselling, bus tickets, and a safe place to be off the streetfor a brief period of time.The director spoke of the image of Aboriginal people that youth have to come to terms within Winnipeg.In Winnipeg, the young are impressed with the stereotype of the drunk on MainStreet. Some kids are told they act Indian like their father or are a whore becauseof their mother. Constant exposure to racism makes it hard to have a positiveidentity ... Schools such as Children of the Earth have helped tremendously. TheNative youth have been strongly influenced positively in their identities. But theyneed to learn to celebrate all cultures as well (interview).To provide better services, she went on, \u00E2\u0080\u009Cwarehousing\u00E2\u0080\u009D has to be avoided. Lumping of services orclients in one location doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t always make it easier. Separating Aboriginal youth from others makesit less likely they will learn to interact comfortably with their own age group. They need in-betweenareas to choose \u00E2\u0080\u0094 where an agency doesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t regiment their associations. By the time some are 13years old they have been in 24 placements, and by 15 some are on their own. They need a placethat gives them time to think and is not so crisis-oriented.Beat the Street, created by Tracy LeQuyere in May 1985 out of Toronto\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Frontier Collegeopened a resource centre in Winnipeg in September of 1990. The literacy resource centre, locatedon Sutherland Avenue is open to youth 16 and over. The organization produces a space wherestreet youth tutor street youth. The literacy program consists of individualized learning programs.Native clients form about 70% of the total client population. The agency mandate is directed tostreet youth in providing literacy or basic skills. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s no entry level when it comes to gradelevels. Once clients complete this program, they go to the employment readiness programs.R. B. Russell does provide counselling and job strategies using \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe school approach\u00E2\u0080\u009Despecially for their Grade 12 students. Although, some institutions like the universities stipulate that\u00E2\u0080\u009Cmature\u00E2\u0080\u009D students may enter, there are some restrictions that relate to particular high school courselevel work.There is an over-representation of Aboriginal youth on the street, stated Beat the Streetpersonnel, with an estimated 74-89% population in correctional institutions (1990 figures). When301Native youth are undercounted by the system, it might be an effect of bias where there is a refusalto take into account any type of racial, ethnic or cultural difference.Cultural appropriate services are delivered by contracting with \u00E2\u0080\u009CFlying on Your Own\u00E2\u0080\u009Dinstructors. Students are taught the Medicine Wheel and how to talk in a circle as was done atAlkali Lake.Why we see more street youth may be because there are more single parents ordysfunctional families than before. The media as well as Much Music have beeninfluential on street youth about a certain kind of lifestyle. Some youth find anotherfamily on the street or gang to belong to. About 21 gangs exist in the city ofWinnipeg although this is an unofficial estimate, even the police now seem to noticethe increase of gang activity. Even the Police Chief has attributed the cause asincreased poverty. Maybe even more apathy exists among youth especially whenyouth defy authority figures. The Young Offender Act has been itself responsible forcondoning violence in the treatment toward crimes against property such as stealingcars or break and enters. Housing costs are barely met by welfare cheques. Raisingchildren on welfare for a single parent is still too lean an existence. Changes thatwould be beneficial might be changing the Young Offender\u00E2\u0080\u0099s Act especially with theincrease of car thefts. Street youth need more recreation facilities and more arts orcraft training opportunities. Here, the Native Arts Foundation in Toronto wasrecommended as a possible funder for some gifted youth. Seems to be not enoughcounselling for youth especially to allow some to know more about their basic rights.So many are abused in their families. More walk-in counselling sessions to deal withsexual abuse would be a high need. Youth need to re-establish their education andhave to gain the skills to help them \u00E2\u0080\u009Cfit in\u00E2\u0080\u009D to the educational system which has someinflexibility to respond to adult learners. Some youth seen at Beat the Street are\u00E2\u0080\u009Cbrain damaged\u00E2\u0080\u009D and present behaviour problems for instructors. Others havecomplained of \u00E2\u0080\u009Csigning documents\u00E2\u0080\u009D which may have meant more jail time for them.Other staff talked about the services of providing language instruction to Cree andSaulteaux clientele. Presently, an evening program provides Cree lessons. Aninstructor in Saulteaux is needed (interview).Prostitutes and Other Women for Equal Rights (P.O.W.E.R.), is a Drop-in Resource Centrefor prostitutes situated at 50 Argyle Street. POWER is a drop-in centre for women, kids and tranniesinvolved in prostitution. The program began in 1985, closed, then reopened in 1992. POWER isfunded through the Provincial Health Services Development Fund, as a demonstration projectthrough the Core Area Initiative and Manitoba Community Services. Policy is decided by anadvisory board. One Aboriginal person sits on the board. Some of their 40 volunteers areAboriginal people but as yet they employ no Aboriginal staff (out of five staff).We encourage our clients to get involved in public presentations on Aboriginalculture ... We are arranging for a contract position to have a First Nations person onsite ...We are organizing a sweatlodge. We are trying to get people who have leftthe reserve to reconnect with their culture. This will be a paid position.The organization provides a safe place off the street with facilities for laundry, bathing andcooking; street outreach service \u00E2\u0080\u0094 condoms, bad date sheets and health information on sexuallytransmitted disease; counselling; health program with full time nurse on staff; referral services; and302public education. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWe help them through crisis intervention, or problems with the justice system,refer them to Legal Aid, and Child and Family Services.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe number of contacts is 7,000 with 40-45% Aboriginal clients between the ages of 18 and22. 21% of clients are under 18. Some are around 10 to 12 years old. They keep files on clientswho consent. \u00E2\u0080\u009CWe have 100 files on different individuals. We could have three times that amount.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe employee that we interviewed stated that he did not think there was racism on the streetor in their service delivery, however, he noticed racism in the justice system. The organization hasnot provided anti racism training to their workers.We don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see racism on the street, don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t see clients calling each other names. Thereare women who sound racist about other people\u00E2\u0080\u0099s pimps. But there\u00E2\u0080\u0099s no racismamongst the women in here ... The racism I have seen is discrimination or racismwith prostitutes trying to access services. When a women is beaten or raped is takento the emergency ward, if the hospital gets wind she\u00E2\u0080\u0099s a prostitute, they discriminatein the way they talk to her. There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s racism throughout the justice system (interview).Why are there so many Aboriginal street youth in Winnipeg? The worker offered an opinion.Poverty\u00E2\u0080\u0094 part of it is people coming from reserves. Kids coming from small towns,getting swept away. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re taken away from the reserve, stuck in a group home.They run with other girls who have been on the street. You can lose your sense ofidentity. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re usually running away from something, if their home wasn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t good.It\u00E2\u0080\u0099s poverty and economics. They run away also within the city. The ones who areworking Sutherland or Jarvis, the majority are Aboriginal kids hanging out together.Racism is still there in society. A lot of Aboriginal family situations are bad, but itdoesn\u00E2\u0080\u0099t mean that is the only reason, it\u00E2\u0080\u0099s always a mixture. When they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re on the run,they shack up at different people\u00E2\u0080\u0099s houses, or stay in a hotel room, or sleep outside.They can run from their own home, or from a locked setting, or treatment centres,or big institutions. They\u00E2\u0080\u0099re not happy in foster homes. They get into legal trouble,they\u00E2\u0080\u0099re scooped again, put back into group homes. On the run, they live off theirfriends, or steal or prostitute themselves. Some kids get confused, kids who havebeen in foster homes (interview).The Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Youth Centre situated on 2nd floor, 531 Notre Dame Avenue,gets funding from the provincial government, federal government as well as municipal sources. TheBoard of Directors runs the Centre through a Work Relations Committee. They have 65 employeeswho are almost all Aboriginal people. They use a status blind approach to service delivery. A non-designation of status makes it possible to serve all First Nations or Aboriginal youth. \u00E2\u0080\u009CStreet youthreadily access our services because of a youth outreach effort and also because of the Bear Clanpatrol. The youth program has a drum group and offers other culturally related activities.\u00E2\u0080\u009DThe administrator we interviewed said that 50% of the overall Aboriginal population is under15. This is the reason there is a high number of Aboriginal street youth.A high rate of school drop outs contributes. Hard core street youth are homeless orlive with friends. Some youth who hit the street come to the city for the summerfrom the reserves. Of the sniffers, a quick head count shows more are Aboriginalalthough non-Aboriginals are also involved in solvent abuse (interview).303The topic changes to problems with street youth services in the city and what he believes is neededwith regard to working with Aboriginal street youth.Problems faced by street youth are not always addressed by agencies or professionalsbecause of a mainstream criteria for service delivery. Shelters may focus on womenand usually for a particular emergency or crisis situation. Child and Family ServicesAct restricts some family work by the need to report \u00E2\u0080\u009Cat risk\u00E2\u0080\u009D children or in need of\u00E2\u0080\u009Cprotection\u00E2\u0080\u009D. Some abuse may be hidden or disclosure withheld. Mainstreamservices don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t work out well because of the stress on the individual. When streetyouth are not accessing an agency, not enough outreach has been done ... Racismawareness training does not deal with colonialism or with self-esteem and identity.Native people have mixed values and some experience a cultural confusion. Insteadof racism training, \u00E2\u0080\u009Csocial reconstruction\u00E2\u0080\u009D would reconstruct social identity and givea history of Indian people and the colonization process. Even Native social workerstrained toward a BSW need to be retrained or need to refocus their skills. They donot receive enough content in their academic preparation to help them work withcommunities and families. Not enough [practicum] placement of students has beenwith Native agencies.Ni Tin Away Ma Gun Antat (My Relations House), a safe house for Aboriginal street youth,opened in July 1 993. Their funding comes from Child and Family Services who have a \u00E2\u0080\u009Chands off\u00E2\u0080\u0099or supportive approach to the Aboriginal Board of Directors of the safe home. The facility is forAboriginal youth age 18 years and under with a capacity of 16. The services fall under protection,prevention, and advocacy, in basic needs, counselling, crisis line, independent living support, andeducation. They foster participation of elders, volunteers and the urban Aboriginal community.Na Tin Away wants to develop a more cultural appropriate model than the medical orientedor behaviour modification perspectives. The staff provide services that are more sensitive to peersupport with an emphasis on the need for adult service providers to be both supportive and yetauthentic in their approach to youth work. The home provides a safe environment so that somechildren may be reunited with their parents or family members. An advisory committee is made upof some parents so that parental involvement in the management of the safe home is insured.Some sniffers will be admitted but the safe home will not be a treatment centre.Basic needs for food and shelter will be met. Some opportunity to up self-esteem byparticipating in support groups will be encouraged. Several elders will visit the safehome to counsel the residents. Treatment referrals for sniffers might be FortAlexander and also the program, Breath of Life in Kenora, Ontario. If child abuse orsexual abuse is a problem, then the safe home will attempt to provide a safeplacement for the kid in either a foster home or group home, one that takes intoaccount working with street kids within a neighbourhood that has communitydevelopment or betterment programs also operating (interview took place before thesafe house opened).The Bear Clan Patrol came into existence in 1992 at the initiative of Brian McLeod andErnest Daniels as a result of concern with prostitution in the northend of Winnipeg and its impacton the community. It works with the co-operation of the Winnipeg police with anywhere from 38to 70 volunteers. The Bear Clan patrols the inner city northend to prevent violence againstAboriginal people (particularly the prostitutes in the area), take drunks and children home, and tryto get prostitutes and pimps to take their business somewhere else (Demas, 1993).304Child and family servicesWe interviewed an Aboriginal worker who has had experience in Aboriginal child and familyservice agencies, with the provincial social services system, and who has had experience with streetyouth on her caseload. Her insights on Aboriginal street youth and services for families in crisis arepresented in block form as the standard questions did not apply in this instance.The present trend toward privatization makes it more difficult for families to receivesupport services. Staff time has been cut back and there are more gaps in servicesWith the increased privatization, more options for young clients are needed. Theonly option now is to stay with family or to go to the street. Maybe some should beencouraged to live on their own. Youth may administer their own hotels and cafes.There\u00E2\u0080\u0099s not much dignity for those utilizing soup kitchens. I try not to utilize grouphomes but instead prefer to place kids with extended family or at a foster home.Kids who go to group homes are left unsupervised. They hang around in malls.They are too young (age 13-14) and are easily influenced by the peer group withinthe group home and the street ... We provide no cultural specific services exceptperhaps referral to residential treatment at the Native Alcoholism Centre, and no anti-racism training... The problem of Street kids has become more severe because ofincreased poverty, lack of specific services for them, schools are not meeting theirneeds, lack of recreational programs or funding for sports/arts participation, parentsare not represented on school boards which lack community involvement, parentsand kids are separated or don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t know each other or they don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t communicateRepatriation needs a more comprehensive approach and should be handled by morethan a single agency. This is a specialized service and should address the stigmafamilies experience of having lost their kids. The abuse attributed to Chiefs andNative Child welfare agencies results from the \u00E2\u0080\u009Cdumping of problem clients\u00E2\u0080\u009D and theinadequate resources. Child welfare should still address the needs for more supportservices for families. Families need more than just counselling or intervention. Somefamilies are not ready to function without extended help from agencies. Somemainstream agencies tend to work with women and not with children. Stigma isattached to hookers as single parents. Workers must look at the welfare of thechildren and not cast judgment on the lifestyle of the parent. If children are not atrisk, workers should not simply condemn a mother for her lifestyle or economicbehaviour ... More Aboriginal workers are needed in the mainstream child and familyservices field. Because of the high numbers of Native people, institutions andagencies need to reflect the population base better. Some schools need more visibleNative staff such as teachers or administrators. The move toward separate schoolsor services does not always fit the client group because Native families do have morediversity than is generally assumed. They are more than statistics or victims.305APPENDIX IMontreal: Services directly mentioned by participants in the studyLe Bon Dieu Dans Ia Rue (The Good God in the Street), (Dans Ia Rue for short) founded byFather Emmet Johns, a 63 year old Catholic priest known to all as Pops, in December 1988, was thebest known emergency service for street youth in Montreal. As stated before, Pops\u00E2\u0080\u0099 method ofdelivery and unconditional regard for the street youth, particularly the younger ones like Natasha,endeared him to alienated youth. In the field work process it became quite clear that Pops was verypersonally involved in watching out for Natasha on the street. She, in turn, spoke affectionately ofhis help.Dans Ia Rue is a non-denominational group (four full time staff and volunteers who work inteams of six per shift, 45 volunteer teens in all) aimed at helping Montreal street youth. It ispredominantly designed to help minors although no one is turned away. They have had contactwith over 30,000 people from 10 to 35 years of age since its opening (Lalonde, 1993). They workfrom a 31 foot GM mobile home, everyone calls \u00E2\u0080\u009Cthe van,\u00E2\u0080\u009D handing out everything from food toblankets, condoms to second hand clothes, They also provide counselling, referrals, advocacy withthe court system and generally being a friend. The van was donated by the Rotary Club of Montreal.The organization is funded mostly by private donations (the city donated $20,000 in 1992).It represents a place to get reprieve from the cold, hunger and a slim chance to avoid sexuallytransmitted diseases, and even a couple of free cigarettes, with no questions asked and best of all\u00E2\u0080\u009Cyou don\u00E2\u0080\u0099t have to beg.\u00E2\u0080\u009D It is also a place where unconditional love is liberally dished out (Abley,1993).Pop\u00E2\u0080\u0099s makes stops at Atwater Avenue and Ste. Catherine Street, Peel and Ste. CatherineStreet, Parc Lafontaine (a well known male prostitution district), Amherst and Ontario Street (afavourite spot for transvestites), Clark street and Ste. Catherines, St. Denis and Rene LevesqueBolevard. And has contact with 125 people a night, as high as 1 75 on an extra cold night.A new initiative that is currently underway is a short term, 20 capacity, rooming house forhomeless youth ages 12-17. A $30,400 contribution from the city of Montreal will assist in theoperation of the house in a location near the downtown bus terminal. Youth Protection Services willbe advised within 72 hours of a minor being housed in the unit. The goal of the house is to providestability while permanent planning for the youth is underway. An advisory committee of formerstreet youth, volunteers and three full time employees will help run the house (Lalonde, 1993).Cactus (Centre d\u00E2\u0080\u0099action communautaire aupres des tosicomaines I utulisateurs de syringes)which has a fixed cite at 1209 Saint-Dominique Street in downtown Montreal, was founded in July1989. It is funded by provincial and federal governments. The organization also provides servicesat several other locations. The prison locations are at the provincial medium security prisons LaMaison Tanquay (150 women, 2000 women per year), and Le Centre de Detention de Montreal (850capacity, 12,000 per year) with sentences of less than two years. Cactus also operates a drop inclinic situated within the St-Luc Hospital, and is an integrated part of the detox unit in downtownMontreal (Hawkins et aI. 1993).The drop-in site operates seven days a week, 9 p.m. - 4 a.m., with four nursing staff (Redpath,1990). They serve 150-1 75 clients per night. The services they provide are education on AIDS, HIVprevention, needle exchange and condom supply, counselling and medical referral. About one outof ten prostitutes are likely to be HIV infected according to Cactus statistics (Cactus EvaluationReport, Jan. 1993).Natasha mentioned, in her interview that she spends time at the Cactus drop in centre inMontreal. Her only complaint was that after a short period of time they call the provincial child care306system when a minor uses their services. Since Natasha is always on the run from authorities thisis not a drawing feature for her.Heads and Hands, situated at 2304 Old Orchard Avenue, is a Community health and socialservice centre for youth and young adults in the west end of Montreal. Services consist of referral,counselling, legal help, Monday to Friday 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. (Friday until 5 p.m. only). Personnelare also available to schools, the community and church groups for education on addictions, sexuallytransmitted disease, nutrition and dental care (Brochure).Sawbridge: Youth Centres, 3065, boul. Labelle, Prevost, where we found Natasha andCharnelle, is a detention centre that serves youth 12-18 years old that have been \u00E2\u0080\u009Cprocessed\u00E2\u0080\u009D throughyouth protection or the young offenders systems. They are funded through the Quebec Ministry ofHealth and Social Services. Out of 369 staff members one is Aboriginal and no Aboriginalorganization representatives or private citizens sit on their board of directors. We were directed tothe Law 120 section of Quebec\u00E2\u0080\u0099s new law on health and social services, which laid out strictguidelines for representation on the board of directors. Aboriginal people are not likely to be electedor appointed in any of the categories.In the seven districts in Quebec, 31 Aboriginal youth age 12-2 1 were admitted to Shawbridgein 1992-93, Montreal alone had 10 Aboriginal youth in detention. So far in 1993-94, 6 Aboriginalyouth have entered their care. Natasha and Charnelle were two of them. The organization staffrecognize that Aboriginal identity is a particular problem \u00E2\u0080\u009Cespecially for Native youth who wereadopted into White families and the adoption is breaking down.\u00E2\u0080\u009D However, they say that they dominimal culturally specific work with Aboriginal youth but will refer to Aboriginal agencies whenappropriate.Passages is a program for juvenile prostitutes and runaways (14-18) who come from all overCanada, from many ethnic backgrounds, and from all socioeconomic classes. It is an 18 unit centrewith and average stay of six months (City helps, 1988). A package, that Passages uses foreducational purposes states, that the johns are mainly men 35-50 years of age, from allsocioeconomic backgrounds and all professions. Youth in the sex industry need services designedspecifically for them. Robertson (1984) stated that youth requested counselling services, legal aid,medical referrals and information, lifeskills training, some structure and discipline and protectionfrom their pimps. All of our participants had either tried prostitution or had been approached bywould be pimps.The Native Friendship Centre of Montreal created in January 1974, is situated at 3730 Cotedes Neiges. They provide services, information, referral and counselling, to Aboriginal people(usually over 30 years of age), cultural community-recreational activities, food depot and daily meals,and addictions outreach. Except for incidental accompaniment of parents to cultural activities, theparticipants did not mention the Friendship Centre as a resource they felt they had access to. Theresearch assistant also observed that most of the clientele were older Aboriginal people. They hadno programs for Aboriginal youth.307APPENDIX JConsent and release formI_____________________________hereby give permission to Lauri Gilchrist to use the interviewswhich I conducted as part of the Aboriginal Street Youth Study sponsored by the Royal Commissionon Aboriginal Peoples in 1993. The interviews were conducted in May and June of 1993. Iunderstand that the material will be used in a dissertation as partial requirements for a Ph.D. in theSocial and Educational Studies Department, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia.Further I understand that I will have the opportunity to see the final document to insure that thecontext of the interviews reflects the reality of the persons interviewed.Name:___________________Date:"@en . "Thesis/Dissertation"@en . "1995-11"@en . "10.14288/1.0055456"@en . "eng"@en . "Educational Studies"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use."@en . "Graduate"@en . "Kapi\u00CC\u0084tipis e\u00CC\u0084-pimohteyahk: aboriginal street youth in Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Montreal"@en . "Text"@en . "http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7359"@en .