Aboriginal Rights in Canada

In modern society the question of why the aboriginal population receives benefits often arises. Much of today’s youth does not understand that the Native American people were often stripped of their rights in the past in order to gain these advantages. Two main incidents were established in the Aboriginal history, the first was the treaties that spread across Canada and the second incident was the Indian Act of 1876. The main difference between the Indian Act and treaties were the aboriginal’s role in the decision-making. Treaties allowed for a compromise between the Natives and the government that allowed for benefits on both ends whereas the Indian act

Following the French and Indian War, King George the third wrote the surprising Proclamation of 1763. The Proclamation stated that the new western frontier that the colonists won actually belonged to the indians and the colonists could not settle past a line of the Appalachian mountains. The law was passed because the Natives claimed that the western frontier actually belonged to them, although the Natives weren’t using the land.

The rights and freedoms of Aboriginals have improved drastically since 1945 with many changes to government policy, cultural views and legal rules to bring about a change from oppression to equality. Unfortunately on the other hand, some rights and freedoms have not improved at all or have even worsened.

In 1967, a landmark event occurred for the Indigenous Community of Australia. They were no longer declared Flora and Fauna This means that Aboriginal people would be considered a part of the landscape and not humans in their own right.. In 1967, a Referendum was held by all members of Australian society voting on the issue of allowing Indigenous Australian to be a part of the census and thereby able to vote and be counted as part of Australia’s population. This achieved not only citizenship for Aboriginal people, but put the issue of Indigenous Rights on both the political and social platforms. This essay will look at the lead up to the Referendum, how Aborigines and their supporters communicated their belief in their rights to the

When Canada was first inhabited by the First Nations people, the land was completely their own. They were free to inhabit and use the land in whichever manner they saw fit. However, since the arrival of the European settlers, the First Nations people have been mistreated in countless ways. They faced many issues throughout history, and are now facing even more serious problems in our modern society like having to endure racism, discrimination and social ridicule. Given what they already have to deal with, the last thing they should have to worry about is the denial of their rights which is a problem that Aboriginals have to contend with as well.

My first reason to support the fact that Canada hasn’t affirmed collective rights for the Aboriginal group is the Indian Act and how poorly it treated the Aboriginals. The Indian Act is a federal legislation that is related to the rights and status of First Nations peoples (“status Indians”), which was first passed in 1867. During this time, the government thought that is was appropriate/acceptable to make laws for the First Nations peoples without consulting them. This move connected to Canada’s colonial past, the part where people of European descent strongly believed that their culture and way of life was way more superior to any other culture existing. In other words, they were ethnocentric. Within the Indian Act, it defied who may be registered as a “status Indian” with treaty rights. This meant that the Federal government were the ones who mostly made

In this research paper, I will be explaining how western colonialism and racism destroyed the reputation of aboriginal peoples in Canada. The reason why I chose this topic because it shows the strong relationship to anthropology and after taking aboriginal studies 30, it also shows that I have a clear understanding about the history of aboriginal peoples in Canada, the struggles they have been through over the past decade and the challenges they still face today in modern day society. I’ll be addressing these issues in a couple of paragraphs on the discrimination and the inequalities of these “minorities” and how they had to assimilate into European culture, leaving their way of life behind them.

The change in legal affairs for the indigenous was a result of the change in rights and freedoms. Throughout the 19th century white settlers moved the Aboriginal people off their land and into reserves. This resulted in Aboriginal people experiencing dispossession, which meant that they didn’t exist. In the early 1970s the Whitlam government began to work on

As the settlers moved west across Canada, they began competing for the same land and resources as the aboriginal people. It was decided for the greater good of Canada, they would need to aggressively assimilate the natives. “In the face of ensuing conflicts, the confederation government of Sir John A. Macdonald came to view First Nations and Métis as serious impediments to nation-building. Even as treaties to make large tracts of land

Indigenous governance is filled with legislations and amendments that began with the Royal proclamation act of 7th October 1763. Since then, there has been a massive effort to civilize the indigenous population in order to integrate them with the non-indigenous population by the government of Canada. The main purpose of such a congress is debated till date.

The relationship between the Indigenous people of North America and the monarchies of Western Europe began over three centuries ago after it was realized there was more than fish and fur to be had across the Atlantic Ocean. Indigenous nations inhabited every corner of what is now Canada when France and Britain began to colonize the North East of the continent. Between these European states and many Indigenous nations there was trade, wars fought, treaties written, all of the standard practices of Nation to Nation relationships. Eventually with the defeat of the French imperial power, Britain effectively expanded their empire to include most of North America. The acquirement of those French claimed territories lead to the infamous Royal Proclamation of 1763. From here the relationship between the British Crown and the Aboriginal nations changed monumentally. Today the British Crown has been replaced by the Canadian Crown in Canada, a legally separate entity, as mentioned by Nathan Tidridge (2016) in “The Crown and Indigenous Peoples” (p.1). The relationship between First Nations and Settlers has gone from being between; “Nations and Tribes” (Royal Proclamation of 1763) and the Empire of Britain, to Institutions of the Federal Government (Indian/Indigenous and Northern affairs) and the many First Nations and Inuit Bands of Canada. However; the Proclamation has continued to stand and influence policy and decision making by colonial powers in regard to Aboriginal people in

Canada was ceded by New France and came under British rule the year 1763 with ‘Treaty of Paris’. Many provinces of Canada then became part of the British Empire and it soon started expanding. At first, France saw Aboriginal people as allies and relied on them for trade wealth and their own survival. After the transfer of power from French to British, diplomatic relations and alliances between them began to cease (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-french-relations/). The history of Aboriginal policy is characterized by the presence of both Britain and France as colonizing powers. It was assumed by the Canadian government that the Aboriginal people are hopeless and they will never be able to adapt to the new

In 1763, the Royal Proclamation was a document created following Great Britain’s acquisition of French territory in North America. It marked the end if the Seven Years War and outlined that Great Britain would need Aboriginal agreement to be able to do any further settlement across the Royal Proclamation Line. The Royal Proclamation was said to be the begging of the treaties.1 Treaties consisted of the allowance to live and maintain traditional lifestyles that the Aboriginals had prior to European settlement. Traditional lifestyles held hunting, fishing and gathering to great importance. They may have also included things such as, medicine, building and staffing schools and agricultural supplies.2 Saskatchewan in conjunction with a part of British Columbia and all of Alberta was previously known as the Northwest Territories during the 1880s. The Northwest Territories had been inhabited by Aboriginals for years prior to the European-Canadians wanting to expand onto the land.3 The Northwest Territories was eventually agreed to be settled on by European-Canadians for agricultural purposes. The agreement was done through the signing of treaties that took place throughout the late 1800s to early 1900s between the Canadian government and the Aboriginals. The Saskatchewan Encyclopedia outlined

Over the past years, Canadian courts have repeatedly urged that aboriginal title conflicts should be resolved through negotiation, rather than litigation. The primary reason being that litigation is costly and time-consuming. For example, the decision for the Delgamuukw case took a duration of thirteen years. Furthermore, litigations that deal with the issue of aboriginal rights and title are “generally narrowly focused” and “ultimately leaves the question [posed about] how aboriginal rights and title apply unwarned.” For instance, the courts of Canada repeatedly failed to come up with a clear definition on the legal scope of Aboriginal rights despite the fact that they have several opportunities to do so. The Delgamuuku case clearly illustrates this when the Court “did not define how aboriginal title applied for the First Nations involved.” Instead, the Court came to the conclusion that a new trial was required, which ultimately will be more expensive and take longer.

1. Over the course of the past semester, we have discussed a number of different ways in which the colonial and, subsequently, Canadian authorities have attempted to impose their vision of public order on Indigenous peoples. Discuss two examples of this.