Maybe at some point there was something to hide.
The poverty of the people living there, or the social problems.
You can see, it doesn't make any sense. [foreign] >> The Indian Act created
reserves and the reserve system created problems, lots of them.
Take Black Stone, for example. You won't find Black Stone on any map.
It's the name of a series produced by an aboriginal team, airing on the aboriginal
people's television network. Though it's the name of an imaginary
reserve, the problems are real. Corruption, violence, drug addiction.
The series is controversial. It paints a tough picture.
It doesn't pull any punches, and it's been renewed for a second season.
>> Previously on Blackstone. >> Holy shit.
>> I don't want you hanging around with that girl.
As a matter of fact, I want you to stay away from that whole fucking family, you
hear me? >> This ain't a family business.
I built this club on my own. And I didn't need to suck on the tit of
Blackstone to get it. >> Ew.
Maybe I just don't want to do drugs every minute of everyday.
Have you ever thought of that? >> What we wanted to do is just show a new
generation kind of questioning and coming up and presenting challenges to the old
guard, if you will. And just looking for new ways and new ways
to promote accountability and transparency within the communities.
[music] That's your cue to come in. >> So I don't say, come here.
>> No, let's lose those last two lines. [music] >> The things that have happened
in the show have happened to real people, like myself.
I have lived through those struggles and I think that's important for people to know
that these things are going on and we're having a voice through the show, speaking
about these issues. >> Daddy, daddy.
>> I'm frustrated, too. My ex-wife is living in a city with some
guy that's looking after my daughter. Maybe this was a lost cause.
>> One of the things that non-native people see in Blackstone is that there's
universal themes in the show. You know, corruption, addiction sexual
assault. Any, any of those challenges exist in a
non-native community. It's everywhere.
I think, too, we need to beat when you realize that Andy has a piece of bread in
there. I think that's a big point.
I think that kind of interest in the show creates a dialog within the community and
it becomes a, a discussion piece. [music] And I do think that, that
awareness that, you know, these kind of challenges exist in the communities is,
is, is a healthy thing for the communities because it does promote dialog.
>> Action. [music] >> Blackstone sets off storms of
discussion according to Ron Scott. For a long time, one of the hottest topics
for First Nations has been the Indian Act. And more to the point, what do you do with
the Indian Act. [music] >> If I had a magic stick with two
powerful power on attached to my magic stick, I would say, yes, no more Indian
Act. Because for me it's, that legislation
doesn't recognize me as a human being. I'm just a member.
I'm not even an adult under the Indian Act.
Let's go, Alicia/g. >> Wee.
>> It doesn't recognize my culture, my territory, my history, my language, my
values, etc. It's just telling me what to do and how I
should be. We have to abolish this Indian Act.
>> The word is out. The Indian Act has to be scrapped,
otherwise reconciliation is a dead letter. The future is bleak.
I know it's easier said than done. My status card, for example.
Will I still have one of these? Reserves, band councils.
What happens to all of that? >> And perhaps, most importantly, what
happens to the $5 a year I'm promised under treaty number three?
I know. It won't be easy.
>> So my other power that I have in my magic stick would be, I'm entitled to this
site for my present and my future. And also, I have a land where I can be
feed with it or, you know self-government. I have something in place, a charter, a
constitution where my rights are protected.
[foreign] >> Give us what we're owed and we'll get on with it.
I think we're capable of running our affairs.
No problem. We did it for thousands of years and we
can do it today. [music] >> I've been walking for the last
15 days. About 400 kilometers, and still 280
kilometers to go. [music] I have been treated four times,
especially the, the first weekend when I had water to my ankle.
And sometimes, I was able to see holes through the ice so it was dangerous to
fall in those holes. [music] >> Doctor Stanley Vollant is an
Indian, and the first aboriginal surgeon in Quebec.
Now he's given himself another challenge, to walk 4,000 kilometers across Labrador,
Quebec, and Ontario in five years. One of his goals, he wants young people to
challenge themselves. [music] >> Three years ago, when I visit
Compostela in Spain, I had a dream, that I was walking in my land, seeking for youth.
Speaking with them about important of dreaming pursue our dreams.
I think there is an emergency. It's midnight minus 1.
75 to 80% of the Aboriginal youth kind of drop out from school.
If we lose this youth, I, we're going to have a big problem.
[music] >> Stanley Vollant is right. The aboriginal drop out rate is a
disaster. But not just for us, for you, too.
Think about it, Canada overall is an aging society.
But among aboriginal people, there's a demographic explosion.
That's a huge reserve, no pun intended. A huge reserve of talent.
But right now, it's talent lost and wasted when it's needed in the workplace.
When you talk about a path to the future, there's one already laid out, the path of
education. So, how do you get our young people to
stay in school? Stanley Vollant has an answer.
They need role models. Role models they can identify with.
[music] >> In the past, I thought that I was not accessible because people thought
I have a perfect hold on my life and I never had the difficulty.
[music] Today, what I want to do is to, to be humble, to be simple and to come
walking or come in snow showing the community and tell the people, I am like
you. I was like you when I was young.
And I'm coming with a very simple message that is, you, you have to have a dream and
you have to pursue your dreams, and to work to pursue your dreams.
>> Our young people actually face the challenge they are facing in education is
to persevere. What am I going to do after school?
Is there any future for me? Is there anything that I can do within my
community? It's really hard for them to aspire to
something. When they going to be older, it seems that
they have no esteem also, and it's really hard for them to leave their community and
to face the Canadian society. [foreign] >> Our message for them is to
know who they are, who are their ancestors to help them to project into their future.
I live with my grandparents. My cultural roots are very strong.
Help me to get along to my life because I was well-grounded.
[foreign] I see the lights, the flame in their eyes when I'm telling my story, what
I'm doing with my journey. And I just would like to see those lights
continuing in the future. What I realize, it's important for me to
come back to those communities in one year just to make sure the message is getting
through. >> Vollant is back on the road again.
He has thousands of kilometers to cover this year, next year, and the year after.
He delivered his message in Natashquan, but were the young people really
listening? [foreign] Will the kids walking with him
today be willing to go the extra mile tomorrow?
[music] >> I know that they want all become surgeons and physicians, but at
least they can have a dream to, to pursue. They can have the sense they can do
everything in their life. [music] >> What makes it easier to be here
at, at First Nations University is the fact that you're not just a number, you
know. It's like a family, I guess.
>> Penny Smoke is a Cree from Saskatchewan.
She doesn't know Stanley Vollant, but in a way, she's responding to his call.
She's studying at the First Nations University in Regina.
This is a unique institution. All the courses flow directly from native
reality. Today, the university is holding it's
annual Pow Wow. >> Culture was a large part of our life
when I lived on the reserve. We smudged, we prayed, we went to sweats,
we, you know, rain dances, stuff like that.
And I, you know, that's something that are always held high.
That's a major part of what attracted me to this school, in the first place.
And that, it offered first nations, culture in it.
And it made me feel like I was at home. >> Pow Wow is used to have to be hidden,
or we would be punished for them. Our ancestors weren't even allowed to, to
practice those cultures and traditions. I think the Pow Wow of our youth really
represents that we're taking ownership of our culture.
It brings back to mind that First Nations University is not some academic
institution that's meant to be off in a corner.
It was something that was built from a grass-roots effort by aboriginal people in
this country to control our own education. >> Shoulders up.
[music] >> And I chose First Nations University because it's institution where
my people are represented. And it's, I'm surrounded by my own culture
and my own people are, we're surrounded by our languages.
Even the structure of the building is based on First Nations culture.
[music] Rather than something that's kind of unfamiliar to us we use things that we
have seen and we come up with, and that helps us come up with, you know, positive
solutions that would benefit our communities.
[music] >> 70 percent of the students at the university are women.
And like Penny Smoke, many of them are single mothers, single mothers who live
right on the edge. Both my parents are dealing with
addiction, either drugs or alcohol. And for myself, I did in the past deal
with, like, drugs and alcohol. When I was about 17 years old, my mom, you
know, kicked me out and I had nowhere to go.
I decided this is it, you know, got to do something.
I can't live like this and I don't want to live like this.
I'm coming. >> Penny Smoke pulled herself out of that
life. She's now 28, with three children.
She's doing communications and media studies.
Her dream is to become a journalist. >> My own kids, I want them to know that
it's normal for kids to go to school every day.
I want my kids to know that throughout all this, throughout all the negativity that's
happened to our family, that there is positive and that we can move forward with
that. >> In First Nations culture, the women
are, are generally considered the, the backbone of the nation.
>> See what you've retained, from the last class.
What's this story about? >> The women are the real leaders.
They're the ones that are demonstrating, you know, what needs to be done by going
to a post secondary. >> For students, the First Nations
University is a success. But success costs.
Studying costs. And the money is drying up.
