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Social emergencies relating to deaths caused by suicide, violence, drug misuse/poisoning, community fires, and/or health-care services have been declared in northern First Nations in Manitoba and, in some communities, multiple times. While the definition of an emergency is “an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action,” the social emergencies called in these First Nations are not “unforeseen.” Rather, as our research has found, they are predictable. They are rooted in colonial conditions that have left many First Nations in dire straits.
Social emergencies are a clear sign that the myriad harms generated by colonialism — impoverished living conditions, disconnection from Indigenous cultural traditions and ways of being, the impacts of forced relocations, and historical and intergenerational trauma — have reached a breaking point. Our purpose here is to map out social emergencies that have been called in northern First Nations in Manitoba, including the social problem or issue that led to calling a social emergency, how that problem was framed or understood by the leadership in those communities, and the response by provincial and federal governments to the social emergency. This mapping reveals that a full understanding of these social emergencies requires locating them in their colonial context. Without that understanding, responses on the part of governments will fall short and social emergencies — and the tragedies that prompt them — will only continue to occur.
While it is important to provide a timely response when social emergencies occur in First Nations, preventing the social issues that lead to declarations of a social emergency will require addressing the colonial conditions that generate them. Northern First Nations have been actively involved in that work, taking steps to assert their rights and build the social, economic, and political power to foster collective healing and wellbeing in their communities. To that end, provincial and federal governments — and all settlers — have a responsibility to ensure the success of this decolonizing process.
Grant: Community-Driven Solutions to Poverty: Challenges and Possibilities - 2020-2027
Category: Justice, Safety and Security