The What??? This is one of the traditional ways that the native people have of dealing with something bad that has happened, such as the break-in at our house. One of the band council members and the RCMP set up this meeting for us today. We met with the band chief and council and the kids who broke in and their parents. We were really nervous about this meeting, having never done anything like this before. We were also quite skeptical that anyone would actually show up. We later learned the cops were also very skeptical. We arrived at the band office about a minute before the scheduled start time, and wouldn't you know it - we were the first ones there. However, people began to trickle in. Eventually there were about 5 band council members, the chief, the RCMP, and all the kids except one and their parents. I was shocked that so many people came. We were a little surprised also at a couple of extra kids that had been involved that we hadn't known about. One of them is such a nice girl, it was difficult to deal with the fact that she had been part of the break in. It is a huge thing for any parent to show up at a meeting like this where your child is being reprimanded. It was really difficult at first when the kids came in - I couldn't even look at them. But as the meeting progressed I was able to look at them and even talk in a civilized fashion to them. The whole meeting basically centered on what they had done and what the consequences should be. They asked us what we wanted and we said we are not looking for any monetary compensation, but they should have to do something positive for the community such as community hours. We were able to tell the kids how we felt about what they had done and a couple of them apologized. The parents also had opportunity to talk and they all expressed their regret for what the kids had done and apologized. They also let their kids know how disappointed they were in their actions. When one of the parents had found out what her son had done, she had taken all his electronic equipment (games, mp3, etc) and thrown them out so that he would know what it felt like. (Time for an aside: One of the parents is quite a character. They call him "Tagish Elvis". Apparently he was told by aliens that he is "the Elvis". Anyways, he is running in the territorial election. He wants to be the justice minister. I guess he has filed so many lawsuits for stupid things, that they banned him from filing any more. When he becomes justice minister he will officially apologize to himself. During the last election campaign Brian and I listened to a radio interview with him - I have never laughed so hard in my life. His big ideas for promoting the Yukon were to have candy, chocolate bars and garbage cans in every community with the picture of a Yukon mascot on them. Needless to say, he only garnered 5 votes in the election. During the meeting he kept going on about the corrupt justice system - "how can we tell kids not to be corrupt when the whole system is corrupt." Finally everyone had enough and someone asked "what does that have to do with today?" "It's the same thing" he responded. I half expected everyone to say "Shut up Elvis" all at once.) The band council proposed instituting a curfew and hiring a couple security people that would enforce it. I hope they do this because there is no need for kids to be wandering around town at 2 or 3 in the morning. The cops also told them that if they do something like this again they will be going to the courts. They are going to be working with the justice person to get these kids doing some community service. They want the kids to get some money together and buy us something too - I doubt that this will happen, but it is a nice sentiment. One of the older kids that was involved in the break in has gone to BC and will be working there until October. His uncle said when he gets back he is going to make him take some of his money and buy us something nice. I'm thinking big screen tv or a new computer. LOL. Actually what I really want is that these kids realize that they can't get away with this type of thing and that maybe some of them will change the direction their life is heading.
Monday, July 31, 2006
THE HEALING CIRCLE
The What??? This is one of the traditional ways that the native people have of dealing with something bad that has happened, such as the break-in at our house. One of the band council members and the RCMP set up this meeting for us today. We met with the band chief and council and the kids who broke in and their parents. We were really nervous about this meeting, having never done anything like this before. We were also quite skeptical that anyone would actually show up. We later learned the cops were also very skeptical. We arrived at the band office about a minute before the scheduled start time, and wouldn't you know it - we were the first ones there. However, people began to trickle in. Eventually there were about 5 band council members, the chief, the RCMP, and all the kids except one and their parents. I was shocked that so many people came. We were a little surprised also at a couple of extra kids that had been involved that we hadn't known about. One of them is such a nice girl, it was difficult to deal with the fact that she had been part of the break in. It is a huge thing for any parent to show up at a meeting like this where your child is being reprimanded. It was really difficult at first when the kids came in - I couldn't even look at them. But as the meeting progressed I was able to look at them and even talk in a civilized fashion to them. The whole meeting basically centered on what they had done and what the consequences should be. They asked us what we wanted and we said we are not looking for any monetary compensation, but they should have to do something positive for the community such as community hours. We were able to tell the kids how we felt about what they had done and a couple of them apologized. The parents also had opportunity to talk and they all expressed their regret for what the kids had done and apologized. They also let their kids know how disappointed they were in their actions. When one of the parents had found out what her son had done, she had taken all his electronic equipment (games, mp3, etc) and thrown them out so that he would know what it felt like. (Time for an aside: One of the parents is quite a character. They call him "Tagish Elvis". Apparently he was told by aliens that he is "the Elvis". Anyways, he is running in the territorial election. He wants to be the justice minister. I guess he has filed so many lawsuits for stupid things, that they banned him from filing any more. When he becomes justice minister he will officially apologize to himself. During the last election campaign Brian and I listened to a radio interview with him - I have never laughed so hard in my life. His big ideas for promoting the Yukon were to have candy, chocolate bars and garbage cans in every community with the picture of a Yukon mascot on them. Needless to say, he only garnered 5 votes in the election. During the meeting he kept going on about the corrupt justice system - "how can we tell kids not to be corrupt when the whole system is corrupt." Finally everyone had enough and someone asked "what does that have to do with today?" "It's the same thing" he responded. I half expected everyone to say "Shut up Elvis" all at once.) The band council proposed instituting a curfew and hiring a couple security people that would enforce it. I hope they do this because there is no need for kids to be wandering around town at 2 or 3 in the morning. The cops also told them that if they do something like this again they will be going to the courts. They are going to be working with the justice person to get these kids doing some community service. They want the kids to get some money together and buy us something too - I doubt that this will happen, but it is a nice sentiment. One of the older kids that was involved in the break in has gone to BC and will be working there until October. His uncle said when he gets back he is going to make him take some of his money and buy us something nice. I'm thinking big screen tv or a new computer. LOL. Actually what I really want is that these kids realize that they can't get away with this type of thing and that maybe some of them will change the direction their life is heading.
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