Ontario Government ignoring their obligation of protecting First Nation children
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 Public James Arthur Black
My name is James Arthur Black. In the 1970s I was taught Native Studies in Charlie Wenjack Theatre at Trent University. Was I shocked at what I learned? Not at all. What shocks me is the outrageous continuation of the abuse of our neighbors even today. I did my part to make the world a better pla... access page ...
My name is James Arthur Black. In the 1970s I was taught Native Studies in Charlie Wenjack Theatre at Trent University. Was I shocked at what I learned? Not at all. What shocks me is the outrageous continuation of the abuse of our neighbors even today. I did my part to make the world a better place but one person can only do what they can.
In my time I taught in the First Native Controlled school in Canada; Chief Jimmy Bruneau School Rae-Edzo NWT. The Dene people taught me much about their culture and the hardships of living off of the land. Some of the things I am going to mention to you may be shocking but I would do nothing different today than what I did when I tried to help people like young Mr Wenjack.
While teaching in Rae-Edzo I was asked to sit as their Justice of the Peace in Rae-Edzo and in Yellowknife NWT.
I set up community service work programs to replace jail sentences in Rae-Edzo rather than sending people from the local community into distant jails where people did not even speak the Dene Language. I had the Dene Language spoken in my court to be sure that all who attended knew what was taking place in my Summary Court.
I was paid $5.00 per case which hardly paid for my gas to get to and from court but I was committed to helping people in any way I could.
Later I helped set up the Justice of the Peace Conference to help Dene and Inuit people to hold the positions of Justice of the Peace and bring justice to the their tiny communities across the Northwest Territories, from the Yukon Territory to the west to the coast of the Arctic Ocean in the north to the shores of the Atlantic ocean in the east. (This was before the splitting of the two territories we have now.)
I was asked to write up a report for the NWT government concerning the residential schools in the Northwest Territories. The report asked all residential schools be replaced with local schools was submitted to the Territorial government and all residential schools in the NWT were closed within three years.
The recent Minister of Fishers Hunter Tootoo was one of the last group of students to be dragged to Yellowknife Sir John Franklin Territorial High School residence. Hunter was actually one of my students in Yellowknife while I taught at the high school. He may not remember me but I do recall him as the student seeking answers to northern problems in my Northern Studies Course.
After leaving the north I taught in Dawson Creek BC where I helped start up a Crime Stoppers Program and a Vandal Watch program to assist with the decreasing of rising criminal conduct in the area. Later my family and I moved to Dryden Ontario where I taught high school Law for almost 22 years with several years off to start up and help run the Native Teacher Certification Program at North Bay. Over 30 students became teachers through the program while I helped them deal with issue in the schools where they did their practice teaching.
For a good part of two years I traveled across the province of Ontario to assist the adult students becoming teachers where I learned that Ontario is not very kind to First Nation Teachers. My adult students, many older than I was at the time, entered the profession of Ontario where they suffered verbal abuse and being paid far less than Religion, French and Latin teachers. One of the First Nation teachers who I worked with in Dryden was a survivor of the Residential Schools in Kenora.
As a young boy Lenn was taken from his home on Eagle Lake and taken to the residential school in Kenora. At a very young age, as a child he escaped just like Charlie Wenjack attempted to do but Lenn fallowed the railway tracks to his home between Kenora and Eagle Lake.
Lenn became a Teacher who took over my Native Studies program I started in Dryden.
Throughout my career I have considered Lenn and my students in the Native Teacher Certification Program both my inspiration and examples of the greatness of Ontario First Nation Community. When I was elected to the Ontario College of Teachers Council I thought I could right some of the many wrongs in Ontario but little did I know that the teacher' Unions, the school administrators and the administration would not hear of my concerns.
My life was threaten by an administrator who claimed he was willing to shoot me with a rifle. After being hounded of the Ontario College of Teacher which was dominated by Teacher Unions, Administrators and religious interest groups, the very ones who ran residential schools in Ontario, the Ministry of Education asked me for a report on the operation of the Ontario College of Teachers. The Minister of Education and the Ontario Liberal Government was made fully aware teachers who molested children where allowed to teach in Ontario Schools and other outrageous conduct.... The document was leaked and eventually I was hounded out of teaching.
Apparently they felt so threatened they reinstated me as a teacher under my protests and found me guilty of professional misconduct even though I was not a teacher. The fellow who found me guilty of professional misconduct was later found publishing child porn.
The Toronto Star also claimed the College found me guilty without any evidence but that did not stop the Ontario Government from ignoring their obligation of protecting First Nation children. My concerns continue to be ignored by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal as they have been told by the Ontario College of Teachers Representatives their actions can not be questioned because they have judicial independence and can not be questioned..... Want to find out more... Google Jim Black Toronto Star, Jacque Tremblay Ontario College of Teachers, Canadians for Accountability..... if you want to dig deep into the powers of the powerful get a Freedom of Information release from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal on the James Black vs Ontario College of Teachers and see how residential schools have not been totally eliminated yet
readingchildrensbooks.blogspot.ca/2016/10/t
