Elijah Harper

Indigenous people were the first inhabitants of the land we now call Canada, today they are treated as though they are foreigners and are unwelcomed. Indigenous people have been continuously going through discrimination since the day europeans settled in this land. They were forced to change from their so called “savage” life to become part of the white community through residential schools. In the novel Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, the main character Saul Indian Horse is taken to residential school to be cleansed of his savage culture. Over time he went through many hardships and slowly he began to forget his identity. On the other hand, Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock by Drew Hayden Taylor, involves a boy named Rusty who is going through

Fig. 1. Brian Mulroney’s first year in office (1984), he led the first conservative majority government in 26 years.1

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causes and consequences of the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, as well as what Meech tried to accomplish through the agreement. In 1987, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attempted to win the consent from Quebec to sign the 1982 Constitution. The Meech Lake Acord, which he and the 10 provincial primers discussed in that year, was designed to reach most of Quebec’s concerns and demands for constitutional reforms including official recognition in the constitution of Quebec as a distinct society within Canada. Quebec demanded its provincial powers and expansion of its jurisdictions within the federation. Though most provinces and federal government approved the agreement, Newfoundland and Manitoba rejected

After the ouster of Bob Rae in 1995 is when Harris became premier. The NDP rule under Bob Rae was associated with a deteriorating economy before being ousted by Harris. In the 1999 election, Harris’ party emerged victorious once again even though there was a strong opposition from labor, environmental and social organizations throughout the province. Harry and his neo-conservative group all over

The Manitoba Act said that Manitoba could send in 4 member to the House Of Commons and 2 members into the Senate. It also declared that 560 000 hectares of land would be kept for the Metis families and that of people could use French or English in schools and government.

idea of turning Canada back to its original roots. He compares Harper's government system with Pierre Trudeau’s. Arguing about the struggles and failures of

Stephen Harper, the leader of the Alliance, made the decision with the leader of Progressive Conservative, to unite and form the current Conservative Party of Canada. The strategy of combining two right-wing parties was a success because the votes for the right-wings were splitted and kept the Liberal in power. Stephen Harper was elected to be the Prime Minister of Canada after he was elected to be the party leader; the Party was in power for 9 years.

In 1980, he and his party, Parti Quebecois, called a referendum on the topic of Quebec sovereignty. He asked the Quebecois to present his government with a mandate to negotiate with Canada for a new agreement based on sovereignty-association. This meant that Quebec would become independent from Canada politically but stay closely associated with Canada economically. The partnership would mean free trade between Quebec and Canada; both nations would have the same currency and both would have the same tariffs on imported goods. Prime Minister Trudeau promised the negotiation of a new constitution that would recognize Quebec as a distinct society in Canada and an equal partner in confederation. Then, during the referendum, only 40% of the Quebecois actually voted for sovereignty-association. This referendum caused a rift between the people in Quebec because it led to Trudeau making an opposing argument that split Quebecois opinions. They remained divided on the issue as shown by the close vote for the referendum, which shows the separation in views. Additionally, the referendum not only caused tensions among fellow Quebecois, but also between the Quebecois and English Canadians. Quebec was trying to separate from Canada in order to distance itself from other Canadian cultures and preserve its own. So the fact that

Impressively, 100% of adult Aboriginal men from the Mi'kmaq reserve in Sydney, Nova Scotia volunteered. The province of Ontario saw some of the highest native enlistment numbers. “Areas around Brantford (Six Nations) and Tyendinaga (Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte) became the highest sources of Indian enlistment in Canada” (Lackenbauer, Moses, Scheffield and Gohier 123). Even with large quantities of Aboriginal soldiers, there were no exclusively Aboriginal battalions. Several battalions, nonetheless, consisted of great numbers of natives, including the 114th Battalion, also known as Brock's Rangers and the 107th Battalion, also known as the Timber Wolf Battalion. During the First World War, the voluntary service from Aboriginal men was significantly larger than expected.

French and English Canadians wanted. Laurier wanted to promote national unity in order to protect

These ‘White Papers’ focused on the social and economic problems that were rampant within the First Nation communities and was considered to be humane because of the fact that Native peoples were integrated within mainstream society [pp.6]. These problems were ‘highlighted’ through the result of various studies conducted by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development from 1966 to 1969 and became the basis of the ‘White Paper’. Although the paper was ultimately defeated, these beliefs were brought into mainstream society and became a more idolized form of modernizing the Aboriginal peoples. This form of ‘helping’ the First Nations peoples was the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development [D.I.A.N.D] way of dissolving the First Nations reservations. These institutionalized ideologies were masked as social and economic reforms that addressed the First Nation communities [pp.5-6]. Such reforms include the state of welfare on First Nation communities, re-educating the youth, and the identification of a First Nations person according to the government, which also includes the apology that Prime Minister Harper spoke on June 11th, 2008. These ideals have become the driving force behind the United Nation’s ‘Universal Declaration of Indigenous Rights’. This declaration has yet to be signed by Canada for a variety of reasons, one of them being that it is in direct violation of Article 25, which is a right to social services and health

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.

“Most nations consider the notion of land to be an important one. But to Canada 's aboriginal people, it is also a strong cultural symbol. Native identity is drawn from the land: It has been a form of subsistence, and an integral part of creation myths.

One of the most contentious issues in Canada’s history is that of the Metis. Some people feel this unique group of people does not deserve any sort of recognition, whereas others believe their unique history and culture is something to be recognized and cherished. The history of the Metis people is filled with struggle; not only struggles against other powers, but also a struggle for self-identification. Despite strong opposition, the Metis people of Canada have matured as a political force and have taken great strides towards being recognized as a unique people.

In the western part of Canada, aside from Alberta, usually, politics showcased NDP or CCF on the left side, while some other political party on the right side. The current epitome of the BC Liberal Party accomplishes this role in British Columbia according to BC Politics. This British Columbia political party is neutral federally and it acquires its associates from the center going to the center right. The Social Credit Party of BC suffered several scandals, and plummeted in popularity polls and get replace with NDP. The revival of the Liberal Party caused a split in the moderate/conservative vote, however, and led to a ten-year period of NDP rule in B.C. from 1991 to 2001. Social Credit Party era is ended by NDP in 1991 and NDP hold onto power