Aboriginal people are the very first people to inhabit the Canadian land. Many years ago, English and French men came and forcibly took over the land that the Natives owned. They introduced alcohol and many deadly diseases that made the First Nations very vulnerable. For many years they have been systemically oppressed. Oppression is “a set of policies, practices, traditions, norms, definitions, and explanations which function to systematically exploit one social group to the benefit of another social group” (Sensoy, O., DiAngelo, R.). In this case, the Aboriginals are being oppressed to benefit the “White” society. The elements of oppression – Historical, Ideological, Institutional, and Cultural have been clearly proven throughout the years and these elements continue to prove the oppression of First Nations in Canada until present day. …show more content…
The oppression of Aboriginal people continues until today. In the 19th century, the government introduced things like the Residential Schools that applied only to First Nations. The Residential Schools were the government’s way of assimilating aboriginal kids. They wanted to make sure that the Aboriginal culture doesn’t get carried on from generation to generation. Moreover, getting their rightful land stripped away wasn’t enough, so they were sent to the parts of Canada that have very few resources. The government introduced the “Indian Act” in 1867. This allowed the Aboriginals to have reserved land for them, but it also took away their right to vote or be on jury duty (Indigenous
The Aboriginals had original taught the early settlers how to trap and hunt about the land but in the documents associated with the deed and the land transfer, it was written that “Any claims of Indians too compensation for lands required for purposes of settlement shall be disposed of by the Canadian Government and the company shall be relieved of all responsibility in respect of them.”. Instead of the company leaving land for those who had aided them in the beginning. The singled them out due to racism and did not include them in any of the agreements between the HBC and the Crown in which they would receive land for themselves. This could have also contributed to the prejudice against the Aboriginals in future years because during that time period land was equal to power so those without land were treated as the poor and had no say. The deed also affected those who were against poaching and hunting.
This criminal code encourages sentencing judges to have recourse to a restorative approach to sentencing. Also, the enactment of s. 718.2 (e) is a definite direction by Parliament to pay particular attention to the circumstances of aboriginal offenders during the sentencing process because those circumstances are unique and different from those of non-Aboriginal offenders. Further, when sentencing Aboriginal offenders, courts must take judicial notice of such matters as the history of colonization, displacement, and residential schools. And they should look at how that history continues to translate into lower educational accomplishment, lower income, higher unemployment, higher rates of substance abuse, suicide, and, of course, higher levels of imprisonment of Aboriginal peoples. (Canadian Law, an Introduction 6th Edition: Neil Boyd 2015; page,
The Metis people whole dynamic and attitudes changed and faced such degrading racism every time and everywhere they went. The effects of the past are still a problem and struggle today for the aboriginal people, as stated “Activism for the ages” “will take a long time to change attitudes at all levels of government, throughout society, as well as in our schools such a long time that it will be the children, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, who will need to carry on this work. And we have a responsibility for helping them.” (Shaker 3). Attitudes of the hegemonic society need to shift in order to make way for real social change.
In Australia the Europeans took over all the land that the Aboriginals had owned for over 40,000 years. They had lost their livelihood, living in dumps and small humpies, no where near a safe or healthy environment. The indigenous people were treated very inhumanely; being told where they can go, where they can’t go and who they can have relationships with. Of course they grew extremely angry and something drastic needed to
I would say that “Cultural genocide” is the correct term to use of the treatment of Aboriginals by the Canadian Government. Residential schools had a big part of this. As First nations children went to these residential schools they would never teach anything in the Aboriginal culture. They were mostly focused on instilling the European culture on Aboriginals. Many aboriginals were mentally and physical harmed in these residential schools if they were not trying to conform to this European way of life.
Essay Outline The human race that inhabited the lands earlier than anyone else, Aboriginals in Canada had conquered many obstacles which got them to what they are today. In the past, Canadian Aboriginals have dealt with many gruesome issues that primarily involved the Canadians opposing them or treating them like ‘‘wards.’’ The Indian Act is a written law which controls the Indian’s lives and it is often amended several times to make Indian lives either peaceful or cruel but especially, cruel. Aboriginals found the Indian Act a massive problem in their lives due to it completely controlling them and how they lived on their reserve.
Consistently we see the media reporting on the vicious cycles that the Aboriginal people have been forced into, but make it seem as though they are there by choice. The media creates a biased picture for the majority of Canadians; a picture that is painted in harsh black and white strokes with no input from the grey area. In democracy, we need to have everyone represented equally, not some at the top of the pyramid and others consistently as the lowly bottom tier. The movie Our
Aboriginal people continue to be victimized and incarcerated at much higher rates than non-Aboriginal people. The overrepresentation of Canadian Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system is a question that has not yet been answered. This research paper will focus on the risk factors experienced by many Aboriginal people, residential school experiences, and institutional racism, and their roles in the overrepresentation of Canadian Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system. The Canadian government system has tried to deal with this issue, but looking at the high rates of overrepresentation, there approach has not been successful.
With the country’s population being around 33 million in 2011 (“Stats Canada,” 2011), and over 1,400,000 of those people were aboriginals making them about 4.3% of the Canadian population. (“CBC News,” 2014) This high percent of aboriginals in Canada impacts many other statistics as well, there are even times where the statistics for aboriginal peoples out number the non-aboriginals. However this is not always a positive aspect. For example, the suicide rate for aboriginal males in Canada is 126 per 100,000 compared to 24 per 100,000 for non-Aboriginal males.
According to Anzovino and Boutilier (2014), “the legislative definition of Aboriginal peoples includes all persons of “Indian” blood who were known to belong to a specific band, living on specific land, with their descendants [and] all persons intermarried with any such “Indians” who resided among them” as well as all children and persons adopted in infancy (p. 90). These persons are immensely proud of their good character, race, beliefs, values and morals. However, they are receiving abuse and a lack of promised assistance from the government. How can Canada act so neglectful and inattentive to those that live north of the suburban area? Are we not all equal and deserve the same rights, especially basic living conditions in order to survive?
The Europeans caused Aboriginals to have health problems because of all the unknown germs, food and cultures that they brought over with them and that we as Canadians are denying people of healthcare because we don’t want to drive all the way to a reserve to help a ill person and that we as Canadians would rather let a person die than try to understand what they are trying to say. In short, we as Canadians are disgusting for letting innocent people who we basically trapped on a little remote piece of land to die of illness because we wont give them the proper healthcare that they need or
Analyse the impact on Aboriginal peoples human rights from government strategies implemented in both the 20th century and today Throughout Australia’s precious history, there has always been illogical discrimination against Aboriginals which continue to affect them both physically and emotionally. The modern, Australian Government, has attempted to address the perpetual inequality and curb the continual discrimination against Indigenous people by implementing various programs and policies. During the 20 th century, the Australian government formed policies and programs to direct the lifestyle of Indigenous people as non-indigenous people discriminated them as ‘unintelligent beings and uncivilised’. But recently in the early 21 st century,
By doing this, colonial Canadians assumed that aboriginal cultural and spiritual beliefs were invalid in relation to European beliefs (244). The problem with ridding the First Nations Peoples of their languages, as Williston points out is to “deprive them of the sense of place that has defined them for thousands of years” (245). The private schooling system was an attack on First Nations identities, and their identity is rooted in “a respect for nature and its processes” (245).
Firstly, the Indian Act did not allow Indigenous peoples to sell their cows or crops without the
As a result of colonialism the cultural identity of Aboriginal people has been damaged and has left them with little to no foundation. Colonialism is explained by Alfred (2009), as a theoretical framework consisting of institutions and policies regarding the relationship between European settlers and Indigenous peoples (pp. 45). The impact of colonialism has caused destruction to the livelihood of Aboriginal people. Colonialism implicates exploitation of land, dependency, contamination of culture, and eradication of rights (Alfred, 2009). The restructuring of Aboriginal civilization has undoubtedly stripped their identity, and has left this population questioning who they are, and where they belong.