Shining a Light on First Nations Poverty
Frank Busch
First Nations Author, Businessman and Entrepreneur
Huffington Post (BLOG)
If you have never lived in isolation and poverty it is hard to imagine exactly what it is like. It is easy for those living a life of relative privilege to look down their nose and place blame on the victim, which is what most will instinctively do. Growing up in a northern community, my family was better off than some but not as well off as most. This placed me in a precarious position in the middle of two dramatically different layers of the socio-economic strata of society. When my family would go to the First Nation to visit relatives, we would stay in their homes without running water and other amenities that most of us take for granted.
What I quickly learned is that the poor are generally oblivious to their poverty and see the accompanying social ills as normal life. When you are born into poverty and all around you are poor, you grow up unaware of any alternative lifestyle. The first time you are exposed to a more affluent lifestyle, such as those of the urban middle-classes, you do not immediately aspire to be a part of it, as most would assume. Instead, you see it as something very alien in which you do not belong. This fear of the unknown and unfamiliar drives many First Nations people back to their home communities....
Frank Busch
First Nations Author, Businessman and Entrepreneur
Huffington Post (BLOG)
If you have never lived in isolation and poverty it is hard to imagine exactly what it is like. It is easy for those living a life of relative privilege to look down their nose and place blame on the victim, which is what most will instinctively do. Growing up in a northern community, my family was better off than some but not as well off as most. This placed me in a precarious position in the middle of two dramatically different layers of the socio-economic strata of society. When my family would go to the First Nation to visit relatives, we would stay in their homes without running water and other amenities that most of us take for granted.
What I quickly learned is that the poor are generally oblivious to their poverty and see the accompanying social ills as normal life. When you are born into poverty and all around you are poor, you grow up unaware of any alternative lifestyle. The first time you are exposed to a more affluent lifestyle, such as those of the urban middle-classes, you do not immediately aspire to be a part of it, as most would assume. Instead, you see it as something very alien in which you do not belong. This fear of the unknown and unfamiliar drives many First Nations people back to their home communities....
