According to Razack (2000), George became a scapegoat for the ongoing colonial policy that resulted in her degradation, shame, and humiliation. Razack argues that “a spatial analysis reveals that bodies in degenerate space lose their entitlement to personhood through a complex process in which that is enacted is naturalized” (155). She uses the metaphor of spatial analysis to assert that George was merely a body waiting to be violated in the space of Canadian social, legal and political life. Sara Ahmed (2010) in her chapter, Melancholic migrants, claims that the melancholic migrant, which one can say George was, holds on to the unhappy objects of differences. Meaning, In order to achieve the happiness one must learn the social norms and customs …show more content…
This amounted to nothing short of a form of colonial violence that instrumentalized legally her subjugation and humiliation. As such, one can see the role of white male dominance percolating within her case, almost as if this was the underlying theoretical model of the entire Canadian legal system itself. Accordingly, one can say that George death brought about intense humiliation and shame and that her colonized body has since come to symbolize the legal justification for ongoing colonial policy and discourse within the Canadian legal system. That she was a mother, daughter, a friend, and a human being was different took into account. The fact that the court centered upon treating her and engaging in a full blown character assault is emblematic of ongoing colonial legacies and histories that have impacted how the legal systems treat women to this very day. This also signifies the ongoing processes of discrimination that the courts allow. In analyzing this case both on the admissions of guilt and comments by the presiding justice, the legal frameworks and theoretical considerations that the Canadian justice system remains mired in colonial policy seems entirely
Since the 19th Century, women in Canada have fought political, legal, and social battles to find their place in Canadian society. From starting out in small, local organizations, to legal battles in the Supreme Court, Canadian women have come a long way. Unfortunately, it took a long time for many people to adapt to the changing roles of women, which made women still feel unequal compared to men. It is really striking to think that at one point society questioned if women could even be considered persons, just a small sample of the many changes women had to face through the course of history. This paper will analyze these changes experienced by Canadian women in that time period and how it affected their everyday lives.
The issue of violence against Aboriginal women is my chosen subtopic that strongly contributes to the history of Aboriginal women’s struggle for rights and identity in Canada. To search relevant newspaper articles for this topic, the databases that were used were Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, as well as Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies. The reason these two databases were chosen was because Canadian Newsstand offered articles from multiple newspapers in the country, therefore providing me with diverse news in different provinces other than Ontario. The article I obtained from Canadian Newsstand was Canada Called on to Stop Violence Against Aboriginal Women from the Leader Post newspaper in Saskatchewan. Lexis Nexus provided one article I
In conclusion, this article is an eye-opening one that does not necessarily paint Canada’s justice system in a great light. Razack shows through the use of examples how Aboriginal people are treated differently and perceived to be lower than whites on the hierarchy of society, and how this lead to the lack of justice in the murder of Pamela George. It is disheartening to think that simply because she was an Aboriginal and a prostitute that her life is considered less important than those of her (white) murderers, but this is the light that Razack brings to the argument, and she does so
When the term “genocide” is used, the majority of people will immediately call to memory one of a few widely recognized instances where this atrocity was committed. The Holocaust, Rwanda, Darfur or Armenia are among the most well known, but are they the only instances where genocide has occurred? Surely not, but this is indicative of a problem we are faced with today. Since the term “genocide” was coined, countries are very wary of admitting to any acts of wrongdoing in their history which may fit that definition. Canada is not exempt from this thinking, and because of this we must ask, has Canada ever committed acts of Genocide? This paper will look at one relatively recent example that can be used to answer “yes” to this question; the residential school system. Canada’s Indian Residential School (IRS) system and it’s treatment of Indigenous children was not just dark and brutal, but in fact constituted a “genocide” as defined by the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide.
Canadian Criminals are a major part of Canadian society. In our country if you were not the direct victim of a crime you tend to forget the members of society that take pleasure in causing societies grief. As in the case of James Hutchinson and Richard Ambrose, whose crimes were committed in December of 1974.1 They were convicted of killing two Moncton City Police officers. Today, years after the murders were committed Ambrose and Hutchinson are still the center of a major controversy that has plagued our parole system. In order to fully understand the controversy that Ambrose and Hutchinson posses you must look at the
For the past forty years, women have been reported murdered or missing along the highway 16 corridor in Northern British Columbia. The 724- kilometer stretch of road from Prince George to Prince Rupert was given the name “the highway of tears”. In the documentary Highway of Tears by Matt Smiley, the focus of the documentary was to set out and find the root cause of the disappearances and murders and to shed light on the real issue of violence against women and systematic racism in the justice system. The documentary looks at true stories of women who have gone missing or have been murdered along the highway of tears. The documentary focuses on how the highway of tears is the core of a much larger problem of how the indigenous population has been treated since colonialism. (Smiley, 2015) This essay will focus on summarizing the documentary, showing the correlation between the injustice the women and their families have faced and the mainstream and critical theories of victimization, and provide a critical reflection.
Aboriginal persons in Canada have been facing oppression ever since colonization began. Even when Canada gained independence from the British Empire, the oppression continued and still goes on today. One major contributing factor to the oppression of Aboriginal people in Canada is the actions taken by the Government. The Government of Canada has in fact mistreated and found to be partaking in wrongdoing when dealing with the Aboriginal population in this country. With this ugly truth being revealed, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had to be tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. (cite)
A closer in depth analysis into Canada’s justice system will show that their acceptance of all cultures did not leak through to the confinements of its courts. Why it is that one race or class is more likely to be an inmate? From a racial standpoint,
Sexual assault is one of the most challenging issues that must be dealt with within the Canadian legal system. Sexual assault is defined as sexual activity inflicted upon someone without their given consent. In order for a sexual assault to be eligible for that title, a person committing sexual acts must continue to engage without the consent of the other person. Sexual assault is also heavily related to the rape myths that exist within society and these are the decisive factors when resolving a sexual assault case. These rape myths generally target the victim of sexual assault blaming them for the actions that occurred. The first case involving consent and rape myths to ever reach the Supreme Court of Canada to be resolved is the case of
As a nation, Canada is known to the rest of the world for being thoughtful, polite, and generally very accepting of all ethnicities and people. However, the treatment of Canada’s Indigenous population, Japanese Canadians, African American and Indigenous slaves seems to suggest otherwise. Canada's dark past may not be talked about often, but there are three main events that targeted specific ethnic groups which still affect those people today. Residential Schools led to major negative cultural consequences, as well as psychological and sociological effects. Japanese-Canadian Internment Camps were used to strip Japanese Canadians of their rights because of the World War II bombing of Pearl Harbor. And finally, for two centuries slavery was legal in New France, and in Lower Canada under British rule. Human beings were being held captive and were owned by many people, including governors, bishops, military officers, priests, and blacksmiths. All of these terrible consequences can be accredited to Canada’s imperialistic policies.
In “Dane-Zaa Oral History: Why It’s Not Hearsay,” Robin Ridington introduces an historical Canadian court case “in which oral history was introduced.” (Ridington 38) She “discusses evidence provided by elders, anthropologists, historians, and other experts” (Ridington 39) to demonstrate why oral history is not hearsay. In addition, Ridington provides an in-depth analysis of “Dane-Zaa oral history in current legal opinion regarding the admissibility of such evidence.” (Ridington 39) Ridington argues that the usage of oral history in Canadian courts provides further insight into little-known cases and therefore is considered legitimate evidence and not hearsay.
In the fact sheet from Native Women's Association of Canada it discusses missing and murdered Aboriginal girls and women in Canada, this organization researches different cases on this topic. Did you know that sixty seven percent of these cases are murder cases (Native Women's Association of Canada, 2010)? By exploring the classical conflict theory and the contemporary anti-racist theory, these two theories will provide an explanation for the issues occurring regarding this report. Conflict theory is the classical framework that says that "society is grounded on inequality and competition over scarce resources that result in conflict" (Ravelli, B and Webber, M. 2013). Conflict theory can explain this situation because it helps to understand why this issue is occurring, the ruling class is the government and they were not doing anything to help protect these Aboriginal women and girls.
In April 1995 Pamela George, an Ojibway women, was brutally murdered in Saskatchewan. Her murderers Steven Kummerfield and Alex Ternowetsky, young middle-class white men, were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to merely six and a half years in prison. George’s story is one of the many Indigenous women who have been murdered or missing over the past years. There are over 580 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women, close to half are put aside and left unsolved. Only 53% of these cases have lead to charges of homicide (Klement 8). Drastically, statistics indicate that Aboriginals are faced with more hardships throughout their life compared to the average Canadian. Indigenous groups, particularly women, suffer from a lower rate of education, higher suicide rates and an array of health risks. This paper will examine the role settler colonization history has played in perpetuating conditions for violence to indigenous women, many of which are still experienced today. This will be accomplished by first assessing the history of settler colonization and its negative repercussions. Secondly, it will use Sherene Razak’s concept of “spatial segregation,” to illustrate how state institutions have facilitated violence through space, race and the law. Lastly, this paper will use evidence from the film “Finding Dawn” to further demonstrate how violence towards indigenous women is institutionally produced.
Blood Relations by Sharon Pollock complicates my understanding of Canadian culture to the degree of questioning the boundaries between justice and morality. Canadian culture is defined by the values portrayed through the empowerment of minorities and the ability to empathize with others on the basis of morality. These principles are used to promote positivity and equity founded on a system of justice. I believe these values have been manipulated by Pollock to reveal a question of ethics in Canadian culture.
The issue of male domination and female discrimination has been deeply rooted in the Canadian society from centuries. The mandatory minimum charging policy emerged as the promising step from the criminal justice system to restrict the rate of offenses in Canada. However, it clearly failed in projecting the fruitful results and strong criminal justice response to abusive men. The no drop policy, more number of female arrests, disempowerment, lack of access to reach the resources and inefficient policing strategies have been the main reasons of females’ disadvantageous position and their consistent suppression. There police officers are not seen favoring the mandatory minimum charging policy since they fear that their discretionary powers might get weakened. The police academy has been very diligent in educating its officers against the domestic violence. Yet the police officers consider that violence against women is restricted into a personal or private space and comes under a family or domestic ground; not a criminal offence. In addition, few police also believe that the victim should also be held at least partly guilty for the crime. The purpose of this paper is to explore the historical role of criminal justice system in perpetuating patriarchy, reproducing sexism and normalizing male violence. This paper argues that the patriarchal criminal justice system reproduces the oppression and re-victimization of abused women through mandatory minimum charging policies. This