The duty asked five candidates who made the leap into the political arena for the first time what made them interested in public life. In turn, with one candidate per party, they tell us about their doubts and their hopes. Today, solidarity Maïtée Labrecque-Saganash.
While there are indigenous children buried all over the Canadian subsoil, I myself wondered about my responsibilities, as the child of someone who survived ten years of genocide in an Indian boarding school. . My own legacy is anger in the face of an oppressive system.
I have been an activist for human rights and First Nations rights for a long time, mostly out of a desire to survive. After all these years of fighting against social injustices, I am still indignant in the face of iniquity and abuse. It may always be like that; I channel my anger into action and welcome it with open arms. My social involvement took root in my anger and kept me alive whenever I was pushed to the social margins. On the other hand, I dream of the day when I will be able to fully live my right to joy. To achieve this, we will have to adopt mechanisms so that our rights are no longer affected by changes in government ideologies.
Québec solidaire contacted me four years ago to ask me to stand for election. I declined the offer for several reasons, but mainly because I did not want to be the only Aboriginal candidate. Since that time, I have been able to observe the work done by the party to develop nation-to-nation relations. Québec solidaire is the party with the most Aboriginal candidates in this election. On aboriginal issues, the party knows how to be introspective and attentive.
By bringing my voice to the National Assembly, I hope to influence to change the debates, so that they become more representative of our realities, all in collaboration with all the Aboriginal nations. I also want to carry the voices of the riding of Ungava. It brings together the Crees, the Inuit, the Jamésiens and several communities of immigrant origin. We have our similarities and our differences, but we coexist in this great territory. It’s time for social cohesion, and it’s time to stop making speeches that harm living together, in legislative spaces.
The North is not just trees, rocks and other endless resources waiting to be exploited. The elected officials must stop acting as if my territory was a all-you-can-eat for companies that make profits and do not deign to get involved in the communities that sustain their industries. In the midst of a climate crisis, we must protect the North, adopt better land management policies and think about a new social contract between communities and companies that want to exploit resources.
National crises, such as the lack of manpower, housing, health and education personnel, are hitting exponentially, north of the 49e parallel. Access to public services is difficult and lacking in northern Quebec, because we are not given the means to respond to them properly. That civil servants or elected officials in Quebec who do not live our realities decide for us about our present and our future is unacceptable.
Moreover, the “wall to wall” solutions that we are constantly offered rarely represent real solutions for us. Decision-makers must understand that there are people who live here and that we have the right to the same services as elsewhere in Quebec. It is also high time to resolve the health crisis in Nunavik and to ensure that the Inuit have better infrastructures for access to drinking water.
I see it even more when campaigning: the people who live in the riding of Ungava are in the blind spots of the elected members of the National Assembly, and it is the community organizations and the people who work in the little social fabric that who carry our communities at arm’s length, always doing more with less. I intend to fight for better funding for these organizations and to advocate that we stop mortgaging their small numbers of employees with paperwork and accountability. We must fund them at the mission and let them do their job.
In a few years, I went from a situation of hidden homelessness to an election campaign. I am very protective of the broken youth that I was, because even when I fit all the negative stereotypes often attributed to my people, I deserved dignity. The girl I was not so long ago was full of talent and ambition despite her addictions; she just needed security, help and compassion. Regardless of the social and economic context, each person has rights and deserves dignity. I will hammer home this message all my life, including in the National Assembly. Being happy and healthy is a deeply radical act in these uncertain times.
My personal journey has given me this wonderful gift of empathy. I have an unconditional love for my community and my people, and no statistics are going to stop me from being proud to be a Waswanipi ishkwesh. I begin this new chapter of my long marathon towards justice and human rights with great emotion, and with great admiration for the people I intend to represent. I hope to be able to contribute to building a society where the children of my community can dream and rest. Finally.