Conception Of History: The Royal Commission Report On Aboriginal People

It is sickening to most Canadians, and many citizens globally, when they discover the harsh ‘disciplinary actions’ most governments inflicted on Indigenous people. Governments at the time, were unapologetic for their cruelty, and still continue to be, despite their ‘tremendous effort’ to rebuild the relationship between themselves and Aboriginal groups . The effects of the assimilation and genocide of Indigenous people globally, continue to haunt their communities and families in the modern-day, with little, proper support from the government. Besides monetary bursaries, the government is completely absent when it comes to proper support and reconciliation. Most countries, including Canada, convoluted in this harsh treatment. Despite the attempted genocides, the Aboriginal community attempts to prosper, but still continues to fail in many aspects. Aboriginal community members continue to struggle in their personal and family life, especially on the subject of intergenerational trauma. Yet, the government(s) chose to become oblivious to these facts and still do not know how to properly rebuild the ties with Indigenous peoples, nor do they attempt to properly do so.  The government has been falling through with their promises to the Indigenous communities and the consequences of the governments actions are detrimental.

The impact of colonization on First Nations peoples in Canada is unsurpassable, regarding every aspect of Aboriginal life and well-being. Throughout Canadian history, the government has been aiming to assimilate and annihilate Aboriginal people by way of racist policies, ethnocentric institutions, discriminatory laws and destructive capitalist behaviours. Because of this, Aboriginal people have suffered many losses, both physically and culturally. One of the main perpetrators of enacting this loss is the education system. The education system in Canada has and continues to threaten the relationship First Nations peoples have with the land. The connection First Nations peoples have with the land is crucial to their cultures, traditions, ceremonies and beliefs. Colonization and colonialism jeopardize this relationship and that is what this essay will address.

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 Aboriginal peoples of Canada had gone through many situations to get to where they are today with their education system. Pain, sorrow, doubt, and hope are all feelings brought to mind when thinking about the history and the future of Aboriginal education. By taking a look at the past, anyone can see that the right to education for Aboriginal peoples has been fought about as early as the 1870s. This is still is a pressing issue today. Elder teachings, residential, reserve and post-secondary schools have all been concerning events of the past as well as the present. Though education has improved for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, there are still many concerns and needs of reconciliation for the past to improve the future.

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) in 1991 provided documentation on the death of indigenous Australians in prison or police custody. In doing so the report highlighted the substantial over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Criminal Justice system and provided detailed analysis of underlying factors. The reports findings were believed to be the foundation of change. However, regardless of a range of policy changes and crime prevention programs in repose to the report, over representation in the criminal justice system remains. The issue is one of the most significant social justice and public policy issue in the contemporary Australian criminal justice system. The RCIADIC made 339 recommendations, most of which have been implemented into the criminal justice system over the past two decades. Never the less the systematic over representation remains prevalent. The purpose of this essay is to understand over representation as it exists in the contemporary criminal justice system. Particular emphasise will be placed on the levels of women and youths in the criminal justice system, their contact with the system and empirically based risk factors pertaining to over representation. An evaluation of alternative programs in the pre and post sentencing stage and the impact such programs would have on the over representation will be conducted.

To many people, Canada exemplifies a country that fulfills human rights and equality being the country of ‘freedom’. However, the Canadian government has distorted certain information including poverty that impacts many Aboriginal individuals daily. In theory, it is impossible to effectively analysis the impact that the past has imposed on Aboriginal people in Canada today. With this being said addressed below are several important historical government actions and legislations such as the Indian Act, Royal Proclamation, force segregation on reserves, and residential schooling impacting Aboriginal Canadians social conditions today. Fundamentally my goal is to address the idea that historical events are a crucial factor impacting Aboriginal

Research an aspect of Australian history (e.g. policy, practice) and outline the ways in which this aspect has impacted on Aboriginal people and Aboriginal education.

Aboriginal Studies and Torres Strait Islander Studies include histories, cultures, values, beliefs, languages, lifestyles and roles of Aboriginal societies or Torres Strait Islander societies before and after invasion. This study of Torres Strait Islander people and Aboriginal people presents an accurate history of Australia.

If “prejudice is…the tendency to view people who are different from some reference group …as being deficient (Morrison, 1995, 235), then public education’s treatment of Canada’s Aboriginals does nothing to end that prejudice. This situation is unlikely to change because, as John Ralston Saul quips, “our real history is not part of how we describe ourselves, we live in denial of our reality” (Saul, 2008, 21). The reality he alludes to is that Canada has failed “to normalize…the First Nations as the senior founding pillar of our civilization” (Saul, 2008, 21). Until the First Nations are regarded as equals in Canadian society, and until public education shifts away from Eurocentric teachings - colonial teachings - of the past, prejudice will remain a stumbling block.

As time went on in Canada, the relationship that the Explorers held with the Natives shifted from one of gratitude and reliance to possessions and liability. As time continued to pass, the relationship and treatment toward First Nations Indians became more hostile and unforgiving and while that relationship is now on the mend, for a good many years the First Nations Canadians were persecuted by the government. Between 1876 and 1950 the way First Nations Indians were regarded by other Canadians shifted, legislation to regulate the activities of First Nations Canadians began in full capacity in 1876, continued in the early 1900’s, and was reformed in the 1950’s.

In today’s modern era, Canadian identities is thought of as being one of the world's leaders in protection and promotion of human rights and freedom. Aboriginal people are now able to contribute as equal individuals. However, this was not always the case. Before the arrival of the Europeans with diverse interactions, expanding trades and intense conflicts and rivalry for land and resources. Aboriginals have been trying to redefine their place in society and were demanding justice. Canada’s identity is the negative treatment of the First Nations. (INSERT THESIS)

Many Canadian Aboriginal civilizations recognized individuality and stamps that built-in enduring or urban resolution, agriculture, public and monumental, complex societal hierarchies. These people had evolved and distorted by the occasion of the first enduring European arrival, and have been brought onward from side to side archaeological study.

Modern Canadian archaeological practice should close of the gaps between the aims of archaeologists and indigenous peoples (Nicholas 2001:30-33, 38, 2008:1660, 2010:10-13). Historically, archaeological research is rooted in a colonial practice interpreting the past because experts based in Western science evaluate and redefine local and regional histories (McNiven and Russell 2005:1-8; Nicholas 2005:89; Watkins 2012:260-262). Many northern Canadian aboriginal communities grapple with this form of heritage-based colonialism (Kapyrka 2010:11-16). This is evident by the legal ownership of the material past by provincial and territorial governments (Smith and Jackson 2007:172-173, Yellowhorn 1996:27). Some research includes collaboration and increasing involvement and ownership of the discipline by descendants (Atalay 2012:130-134; Million 2005:39-43; Watkins 2006:105-106).

Aboriginal peoples occupied Canadian lands long before the country was established and yet their position within Canadian hierarchy is often questioned. Colonialism imposed Euro-Canadian standards on First Nations peoples, challenging socio-cultural traditions and norms in the process. The implications of this decision propagate a longstanding marginalization of Aboriginal people, which is still experienced today (Frideres and Gasacz 1). Historical circumstances have created an unbalanced dichotomy of Aboriginal identity: what their identity means to Aboriginal people, versus what Canada, particularly the country’s policy-makers, desire them to be. This paper will outline why it is difficult to define an Aboriginal person as they are constantly faced with forcefully altered identities, definitions, and place amidst transcending political borders.

For indigenous people, acknowledging the impact of colonialism and the post-confederation government has had long lasting effects on the definition of national identity to the indigenous population. The aggressive policies and legislations created by British in the pre-confederation era and the post-confederation governments led to devastation in the indigenous communities in Canada and survived traditions are the foundations of today’s nations within (Manzano-Munguia, 2011, p. 404). The indigenous peoples of Canada have experienced the dark side of Canada’s history as throughout the years, governments “sought to assimilate and civilize” Canada’s First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (Manzano-Munguia, 2011, p. 404). More importantly, social and cultural structures of indigenous groups were destroyed by the British colonization. According to James Frideres, a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Calgary, “aboriginal social, religious, kinship, and economic institutions were ignored, rejected and replaced by Euro-Canadian institutions” (2008, p. 318).