Idle No More Movement

Barker, J. (2008). Gender, Sovereignty, Rights: Native Women's Activism against Social Inequality and Violence in Canada. American Quarterly, 60(2), 8. Retrieved fro m http://search.Proquest.com.Ez proxy.library.yorku.ca/docview/61688929?Acc ountid=15182.

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans to North America, and their colonization of the land, the Aboriginals lived prosperously. Notably, after the Europeans colonized the land, the woman’s role in the Aboriginal societies drastically changed. Originally, women played a large role in the political zone, as well as essential roles in their societies. Essentially, women in Aboriginal societies, were once considered to be integral parts to their society, and through the many attempts of assimilation from the Europeans, the women now have an insignificant role in their societies. Correspondingly, in the present year of 2014, women in Aboriginal societies seem to have no political power or voice and unfortunately, they have become the victims of many unsolved irrational violence attacks. Furthermore, a large and pertinent element to this problem would be the presence felt of the Indian Act. This led to the neglecting of Aboriginal women’s legal status as an Indian. The law had made women minorities; In order to obtain an Indian status, women would need to either marry an Aboriginal, or be the direct descendant of their father.

Due to the effects of colonialism, indigenous sovereignty is breached by Western society’s government, deceptions, greed and ignorance. In the documentary, Trick or Treaty?, Alanis Obomsawin illustrates how the history of treaties oppresses Aboriginal peoples and limits their rights. Treaties are meant to be a mutual agreement between two parties that plan to share and prosper in coexistence. However, the treaty between the Indigenous and the Europeans transforms into the surrender of land, one that the Indigenous peoples do not know of until 25 years later, Dr. John Long states (Obomsawin “Trick or Treaty?”). Drastic measures must be taken in order to initiate progression for Indigenous issues, as Chief Spence’s exemplifies through her hunger strike. Aboriginals had the privilege to govern their own land, people and politics, wherein, now, they are paralyzed by the skewed ideals of Euro-Canadian civilization.

Treaty benefits, health, rights to living on the reserve and property are forfeited as a result of losing Indian status. This also happens when an Indian women gets married to another Indian man. She loses her rights to her own band, and has to become a member of her husband’s band. Ultimately, if the women becomes widowed or abandoned then she loses all status of being an Indian all together. On the other hand, men can marry a non-status woman and all of his rights would be kept. With strides of equality throughout history, it takes a step back when Aboriginal women are entirely dependent of their husband. Several cases were took to court in the 1970’s, but not until 1980 is when there was a connection found between the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Canadian Human Rights Act. With this section in direct violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the removal of a woman’s Indian status while marrying a non-Indian man was done and Bill C-31 was passed so victims of the Indian Act can be reimbursed. However, Bill C-31 is still under scrutiny because those who have their status reinstated to them can only pass it on for one generation. This is a violation under Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Payne, 1992). The Indian Act is a controversial piece of legislation that was passed in 1876. It has been amended throughout the times, but the core concept of the Indian Act still

Prior to the celebrations of Canada’s 150th birthday, and the protests against it, called Resistance 150, there was not much media coverage on the cultural genocide of the indigenous people in Canada. Resistance 150 opened up a conversation and increased media coverage about the issues of Canada’s dark past.

Although this course is about global women’s movements, the overall argument in which I intend on taking for the purpose of this book review is that besides women, First Nations men are also victims of oppression. In addition to oppression, first nations are often stereotyped by society. Rice’s book does a good job on reflecting this idea once again, through the use of first person point of view stories. It allows the reader to really understand how these stereotypes affect the everyday lives of First Nations people. Before getting into how stereotyping affects the lives of these people, we will begin with looking into oppression and how it relates to the textbook.

In conclusion the oppression of Native Americans is an often overlooked subject. It's important to learn about this and be aware of it because many Native Americans still live on reservations. Their oppression has not yet dissipated completely and not until recently, as recently as 1962, were they allowed to vote in every state. So we must be well informed in order to continue to dissipate Native American oppression and try to correct the mistakes of the

The film Highway of Tears brought to light many issues faced by Indigenous persons however, its main focus was the missing and murdered women found along Highway 16 in Northern British Columbia. Majority of the women who are missing as well as those who were murdered are Indigenous women. This film displayed that although there are ways to prevent and possibly end the violence against Aboriginal women, no action was being taken by police or other government agents to do so. It was discussed how this as well as other wrongs done to Indigenous persons and communities, is a result of past and present colonialism.

No analysis of violence against Indigenous women can be made without first looking at colonization as the antipasto of the conflict (Cooper & Salomons 2010). “It is thus paramount to understand the context of colonisation in Canada in order to begin to understand the structural problems and barriers that lead to serious numbers of missing and murder Indigenous women in Canada.” (Cooper & Salomons 2010, 31). When the Europeans first came to “turtle Island” they were “highly dependent” on the assistance of Indigenous women (Cooper & Salomons 2010). However when the Euro-North American governments were forming, the issue of ownership of land became significant. “As the settler society

This rhetorical analysis will define the ethos and pathos in “Allowing the Mind to Wander” by Carole Giangrande. The importance of this article rests on an emotional plea, which provides the reader with a call for justice to the plight of indigenous people in Canadian society. This rhetorical device is part of the pathos of Giangrande’s (1990) article that evokes sadness and pity in the way that white Canadian society has alienated and marginalized the First Peoples. More so, the ethos of the article reveals the problem of an apathetic society that has lost the spirit of the 1960s Civil Rights era, which is desperately needed in the 21st century. The loss of cultural respect for the First Peoples reveals the problem of a white hegemonic society as part of a modern trend in political activism. Giangrande (1990) presents these rhetorical devices to show the loss of moral and civic activism to defend the indigenous peoples of Canada. In essence, this rhetorical analysis will define the importance of pathos and ethos in “Allowing the Mind to Wander” by Carole Giangrande.

INM originated when four women — Nina Wilson, Sylvia Mcadam, Jessica Goredon and Sheelah Mclean — organized a work shop focused on how the conservative omnibus bill, Bill C-45, would affect first nations people. This bill proposed changes to various acts and regulations that would directly affect Aboriginal sovereignty. These include; the Indian Act, the Navigable waters protection act, the environmental assessment Act and the Fisheries Act (Graveline, 2013: 293). These proposed changes mobilized aboriginals and non-aboriginals across Canada to come together in solidarity and form the largest movement for indigenous rights in Canada since Oka in 2002. With an excellent campaign strategy involving social media such as Facebook and Twitter, the INM movement has been inspiring youth and women to come together collectively to demand change. Through rallies, protests, round dancing and road blocks, the INM movement has gained national coverage in the news media (not all of which has been sympathetic to the INM cause). In particular, the six week hunger strike of Chief Theresa Spence gained immense news coverage, and put pressure on the Prime Minister to quickly organize meetings with chiefs of first nation tribes (Graveline 2013: 293). While exposure in the news media, is necessary in order to win the

Gabriel, along with other speakers at the march, highlighted Canada’s colonial past for how indigenous people have gotten trapped in this cycle of oppression. Colonization involves the process of “othering”; that is, centering Eurocentric ideas and people at the top of the hierarchy. From the inception of Canada, ingenious women were “othered” and viewed as an extension of the land, to be colonized, dehumanized, and fetishized by the colonizers (Alexander M.J. et all, 39; Native Women’s Association, “Root Cause” 3). This attitude has been passed down for generations and compacted with the lasting effects of the 60s scoop and residential schools have left indigenous communities, especially women, vulnerable by disrupting their values, roles, and traditions (Native Women’s Association, “Root Cause”

She argues that women face many institutional and societal barriers. In this regard, I will give examples of the institutional and structural barriers such as “The Indian Act” which have significantly affected Indigenous women in Canada in many ways including social, economic and political. While comparing feminists and Indigenous feminists, I think that Native women are different in several ways including social, cultural, historical, political and economic; therefore, Indigenous feminism is a way of practicing the values that they have been taught and inherited from their

Second Slide: The ways in which Indigenous Women tried to resist, but were ultimately victims of colonization, and how heteropatriarchy has affected them.

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.