Aboriginal Contributions To Canadian Society

Canada is a nation of opportunity and freedom. People from all around the world immigrate to Canada to start a new life, to get away from war or poverty. Canada opens their arms to them and accepts them, and gives them money to get them started. But how about those who were here from the very beginning, before anyone else landed in Canada; the ones that are called First Nation people, or Aboriginals? What is the government doing for them? Why are First Nations people suffering the worst in Canada? “55.6% of the poor are aboriginals and a lot of them live in reserves around Canada that Canadian government have put them in. For those who leave the reserves to get a better living the suffer from racism from Canadian society” (“Aboriginal”).

Over the past decades, Aboriginal people (the original people or indigenous occupants of a particular country), have been oppressed by the Canadian society and continue to live under racism resulting in gender/ class oppression. The history of Colonialism, and Capitalism has played a significant role in the construction and impact of how Aborignal people are treated and viewed presently in the Canadian society. The struggles, injustices, prejudice, and discrimination that have plagued Aboriginal peoples for more than three centuries are still grim realities today. The failures of Canada's racist policies toward Aboriginal peoples are reflected in the high levels of unemployment and poor education.

Since the colonization of Canada First Nations people have been discriminated against and assimilated into the new culture of Canada through policies created by the government. Policies created had the intentions of improving the Aboriginal people’s standard of living and increasing their opportunities. Mainly in the past hundred years in Canadian Society, policies and government implemented actions such as; Residential schools, the Indian Act, and reserve systems have resulted in extinguishing native culture, teachings, and pride. Policies towards the treatment of Aboriginal Canadians has decreased their opportunities and standard of living because of policies specified previously (Residential schools, the Indian Act, and reservation systems).

Canada ­as a nation is known to the world for being loving, courteous, and typically very welcoming of all ethnicities. Nevertheless, the treatment of Canada’s Indigenous population over the past decades, appears to suggest otherwise. Indigenous people have been tormented and oppressed by the Canadian society for hundreds of years and remain to live under discrimination resulting in cultural brutality. This, and more, has caused severe negative cultural consequences, psychological and sociological effects. The history of the seclusion of Indigenous people has played a prominent aspect in the development and impact of how Indigenous people are treated and perceived in today’s society. Unfortunately, our history with respect to the treatment of Indigenous communities is not something in which we should take pride in. The Indian Act of 1876 is an excellent model of how the behavior of racial and cultural superiority attributed to the destruction of Indigenous culture and beliefs. The Indian Act established by the Canadian government is a policy of Aboriginal assimilation which compels Indigenous parents under threat of prosecution to integrate their children into Residential Schools. As a nation, we are reminded by past actions that has prompted the weakening of the identity of Indigenous peoples. Residential schools has also contributed to the annihilation of Indigenous culture which was to kill the Indian in the child by isolating them from the influence of their parents and

World War I, also known as The Great War and The War to End All Wars, was caused by a build-up of offenses and the multitude of complex treaties made between the many countries of Europe and the need for those treaties to be enforced. As a member of Great Britain’s imperial kingdom, Canada was expected to help on the war front, and the Canadians didn’t disappoint. Although an aspect that may be surprising about the Canadian effort is the amount of indigenous Canadians that participated. These indigenous Canadians made accomplishments for their people that included war notability, honor, and a need to promote their civil rights.

Canada has been home to Aboriginals for centuries, who play an imperative role in the history of Canada. Culture and tradition have been brought into this country with the help of millions of Aboriginals. Aboriginals have been known to be very strong supporters of their culture, and heritage and take very high importance towards it. They are very traditional people, and have been looking up to their Ancestral ways for centuries. The treaty relationship between Canada and First Nations has caused a rift and a divide amongst each other for many reasons. Although there has been so much history and tension amidst the two, there is always room for improvement. A lot of things can be done to strive towards a positive relationship, starting with accepting the culture of Aboriginals and realizing that it is something they will not be letting go. Secondly, education can play a big role in helping this situation, and bringing more awareness to the situation starting from a young age. (p. 5) Lastly, The rights and freedoms of all people in the country need to be equal and similar. Certain changes can really help the state of the situation but it is a matter of willing to try and see the change that we all want.

Did you know that in 2006, the number of aboriginal people in Canada surpassed one million? This means that the aboriginals represented 3.8% of the total population in Canada. Even though this number is much smaller than the non-aboriginal population, they have an impact on Canada, in the north and south. Unfortunately, some of the aboriginal groups do not have a stable way of living and the Canadian government is very selective when helping them. Overall, I want to be able to help the First Nation people receive the funding they need to have a thriving economic workforce.

Firstly, Aboriginals have been run out of their native lands and what little they have left is constantly being fought over by the Natives, the government and major corporations. Mr. Norman Slotkin, a lawyer for the Union of Ontario Indians, had this to say:

When discussing the Aboriginal quality of life within Canada there are several issues that come to mind, such as health, education, housing and our Canadian-Indigenous relationship (First Ministers And National Aboriginal Leaders, 2005, p. 1). However, many times Canadians neglect to distinguish the root of the issue. While residential schools may be addressed and looked upon historically, the traumas and effects are still particularly palpable for many Indigenous communities. For this reason, it is significant for Canadians to be empathetic towards the underlying issues, for obstacles like Indigenous health to be properly handled. Within this essay, I create an awareness of the impacts of assimilation tactics to Aboriginal communities;

The history of Canada is the era of where colonization all began towards aboriginal peoples. Over the past decades, aboriginal peoples have been mistreated and misused by the white-Europeans. They have been oppressed by Canadian society that we are known still by today and continue to live under racism resulting in gender and class oppression. The history of colonialism has been playing a big part in the way of how aboriginal people have been constructed and impacted on how aboriginal people are treated and viewed in Canadian Society. They have been dealing with the struggles, inequality, and discrimination that we have been putting them through for over three centuries, we’ve been also failing them with Canada’s racist policies

Throughout history, Aboriginals have been misunderstood and mistreated, despite their contributions to the country. There were many native men who gave their lives during the first World War and numerous native communities that did anything they could to help the war effort in Canada. Aboriginals contributed in many ways to serve their country during World War I.

During the course of the Second World War, Canada evolved into a powerful, resourceful nation that was needed by the Allies. Canada contributed significantly to the Allied war effort during World War II where they fought on land, water and air and assisted indirectly from the home front. On land, they fought in numerous battles and campaigns such as D-Day, Hong Kong, and the Italian campaign. However, they were also strong and resourceful when it came to air and naval forces in battle. But even outside of battle, Canada was still able to make a contribution through its civilians.

The Canadian native aboriginals are the original indigenous settlers of North Canada in Canada. They are made up of the Inuit, Metis and the First nation. Through archeological evidence old crow flats seem to the earliest known settlement sites for the aboriginals. Other archeological evidence reveals the following characteristics of the Aboriginal culture: ceremonial architecture, permanent settlement, agriculture and complex social hierarchy. A number of treaties and laws have been enacted amongst the First nation and European immigrants throughout Canada. For instance the Aboriginal self-government right was a step to assimilate them in Canadian society. This allows for a chance to manage

Today, the Aboriginal people aren’t treated nearly as harsh as they were back then, but the Aboriginal rights have still continued to be repressed and they are being treated poorly. Let’s take the water issue for Aboriginal people, for now, 80 Aboriginal communities are under, “ boiled water advisories and 21 of those communities have a high risk of contaminated water otherwise known as polluted water. The Canadian government apologized to the Aboriginals, but that apology only addressed the residential schools and ignored all the times they raided and broke the Canadian Constitution of 1982. Another problem for them is the poor houses, an example is the Attawapiskat First Nations, who drew massive media attention to the housing problem and

This caused many to believe that Germans would treat the Aboriginals harsher, and they would respect their rights of civilized warfare. Due to this, Aboriginals, or ‘Status Indians’, were not allowed to be recruited in the army. Even without this prohibition, many Aboriginals did not speak English, which along with racial prejudice created a cultural barrier. Despite this, Aboriginals tried to get recruited, many getting recruited before Aboriginals were widely prohibited, others managing to join despite the restriction. Since many recruiting officers were unaware that Aboriginals were not allowed to enlist, there were some Aboriginals in the early contingents.