The Aboriginal Peoples Of Canada

Aboriginals have made several contributions to Canadian history, which has helped improve one’s standard of living. They have helped with various things such as inventions, discoveries of plants, and have helped significantly in war efforts.

When discussing the Aboriginal quality of life within Canada there are several issues that come to mind, such as health, education, housing and our Canadian-Indigenous relationship (First Ministers And National Aboriginal Leaders, 2005, p. 1). However, many times Canadians neglect to distinguish the root of the issue. While residential schools may be addressed and looked upon historically, the traumas and effects are still particularly palpable for many Indigenous communities. For this reason, it is significant for Canadians to be empathetic towards the underlying issues, for obstacles like Indigenous health to be properly handled. Within this essay, I create an awareness of the impacts of assimilation tactics to Aboriginal communities;

Canada has been home to Aboriginals for centuries, who play an imperative role in the history of Canada. Culture and tradition have been brought into this country with the help of millions of Aboriginals. Aboriginals have been known to be very strong supporters of their culture, and heritage and take very high importance towards it. They are very traditional people, and have been looking up to their Ancestral ways for centuries. The treaty relationship between Canada and First Nations has caused a rift and a divide amongst each other for many reasons. Although there has been so much history and tension amidst the two, there is always room for improvement. A lot of things can be done to strive towards a positive relationship, starting with accepting the culture of Aboriginals and realizing that it is something they will not be letting go. Secondly, education can play a big role in helping this situation, and bringing more awareness to the situation starting from a young age. (p. 5) Lastly, The rights and freedoms of all people in the country need to be equal and similar. Certain changes can really help the state of the situation but it is a matter of willing to try and see the change that we all want.

Before the nineteenth century, the Aboriginal people had their own way of teaching the children in their community, through organic education. In addition to providing knowledge and skills, organic education kept their culture alive (Ravelli & Webber, 2013: pg. 237). This is because the Aboriginal children would also be taught about their culture and its customs. But the Europeans thought, “Canada’s First Nation peoples were in the way of the relentless onrush of capitalist and industrial expansion (Ravelli & Webber, 2013: pg. 238).” This is when the residential education system was established. Since the organic education was what made the Aboriginal culture

Residential schools in Canada were present for over 100 years and were created by the government to eliminate the Indigenous culture. These schools successfully separated families while creating huge cultural barriers between children and their Native culture (COHA, 2011). These children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to residential schools because Canadians saw Indigenous peoples as “backwards” or “savage” (COHA, 2011). They also believed that they were inferior to Natives and that these schools would help “civilize” aboriginals by replacing their Native traits with Western values (COHA, 2011).

The Canadian native aboriginals are the original indigenous settlers of North Canada in Canada. They are made up of the Inuit, Metis and the First nation. Through archeological evidence old crow flats seem to the earliest known settlement sites for the aboriginals. Other archeological evidence reveals the following characteristics of the Aboriginal culture: ceremonial architecture, permanent settlement, agriculture and complex social hierarchy. A number of treaties and laws have been enacted amongst the First nation and European immigrants throughout Canada. For instance the Aboriginal self-government right was a step to assimilate them in Canadian society. This allows for a chance to manage

When I saw the first graph about the education gaps between aboriginals and normal Canadians, I was shocked. Though aboriginals have more trade certificates and the difference between college diploma ownership is not too vast, the differences between the rates of secondary education completion and university diploma’s obtainment are far too great to be considered an incapability, but instead a lack of good education and a lack of services to the First Nations people. On the chart it has shown the fact that less than half of aboriginals than normal Canadians graduate from high school. The First Nations People also have almost six times the high school incompletion, and university degree rates

The Aboriginals accepted the Europeans to come to Canada. Canada was owned mostly by Great Britain. In 1832 Great Britain made the first residential school in Canada. In these residential schools students would be given a new name, they would cut their hair, be separated by siblings, learn English and become Christian. The point of the residential school was to make no more future Aboriginal people. The teachers did this by cutting their hair and give the Aboriginals a new name so that the Aboriginal children can be European and not Aboriginal. The children were kept at the residential school for approximately for 6 to 7 years some residential schools allowed children to have a two week Christmas break others didn’t. Some residential schools allowed visits by there parent for 5 minute with the supervision of a teacher. The children learned how to read and write English. Also Aboriginals would be forced to become Christian. If you wore to try and do anything from having fun with your sibling or trying to run away from school you would be severely beaten using a belt. One of the worst wrong doings at a residential school was practicing your Aboriginal religion because the school wanted you to be completely European. In 1867 Canada was a country. The First Prime Minister of Canada was a man named Sir. John A McDonald, Sir John A McDonald was a European man who was in

On June 11th, 2008 former Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to the Aboriginals saying “today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm and has no place in our country” (CBC news). The Aboriginals, waiting for this moment to occur in Canadian history responded with sorry is not enough. Assimilation is defined as absorbing a culture or adapting to a nation. The wrong in what happened in the historical past was assimilation was attempted in very wrongful unforgiving way, actions indeed do speak louder than words. The real question could be why was assimilation such a key goal? Did it play a part into why Aboriginals culture slowly is eroding? Some may say that the lack of Aboriginal Culture in our days, today was caused by a reason that had nothing to do with the Government of that time. With the White Paper being rejected, it lead to Canadians thinking that Aboriginals denied a “great offer”. But none of the canadians came to realize how unfair the terms the Aboriginals received were. The Indian Act was a way the government used to be successful in assimilation in a lot more secretive manner. Whereas the Residential Schools practically were screaming out “assimilation”, their goal was made a lot more clear after the Residential Schools came out. This essay will argue that Indian Act, Residential Schools, and the White Paper was an assault to their culture and an erosion of their values/practice .

The Canada that we know of as a multicultural society, has not always been the country we know as many Canadians in the twentieth century many countries including Canada have shared anti Semitic views. For example in World War Two, the S.S. St Louis left humbug in 1939 Germany in May with 907 Jewish passengers trying to escape percussion the passengers last hope was Canada, the Canadian government refused to let the St . Louis dock in any ports because the passengers did not qualify as immigrants in addition the government Canada had anti Semitic view towards Jewish people they did not want them to slow the economy down because the economy was recovering, another reason was because they were selfish and only want immigrant who could support themselves.

Residential schools first started in America and came into Canada “were first established in the mid-1880’s and continued for more than a century” (MacDonald, 431). After the establishment of the schools, aboriginal children were taken away from their parents and try to take away their language and culture; so that they become more cultured according to British standards. The issue with taking teaching the children something that they did not want to learn is that they will start to retaliate, so when this would happen the teachers within the residential would beat the children and force them not speak in their language and not practice and of their traditions. The British were trying to make aboriginals become Euro-Canadian; by making them only speak English instead of their native languages, they cut their hair short, forced to wear uniforms, and follow a strict

Aboriginals who are known as First Nations, are the first residents of Canada who lived for many years before the pioneers came to settle from Europe. They were known as Indians at first because of their assumption that they had thinking they landed in India when it was North America. Many lives under the registration as Indians and some has changed their status of First Nations. The population rate of the First Nations in Canada are 901,053. Aboriginals have about 617 communities in Canada. [ Government of Canada. 2014]. In their early years, they were able to structure their ways to gather their needs, such as food, seasonal clothing and hunting supplies. Although, receiving clean water was their major issue since time. Moreover, many First

The aboriginal people lived a life of change, moving throughout their country depending on the season. They worked in order to provide food for their families and tribes, trading goods and food to other tribes.

Education is important to the survival of a community through the perseverance of language and culture, through the cultivation of learning in the belief that all should have the chance to share in life and as otherwise stated by John Dewey (1916), "a process of living and not a preparation for future living." As we understand it - it is a process of inviting truth and possibility, of encouraging and giving time to discovery. (Smith, 2015). Education is therefore defined as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university setting, However, this issue of receiving and or giving systematic instruction has long been the central debate of many Aboriginal (and other minority) communities as the individuals

In the nineteenth century, the Canadian government arrogated themselves with the task of educating and caring for aboriginal people in Canada, though their approach to this was anything but amiable. Instead, they tore 150,000 aboriginal, Métis and Inuit children from their homes, coerced them into learning English and adopting Christianity, all while practicing Canadian customs. From the moment these children stepped across the school’s threshold, their identities were stripped from them. Their lives, subsequently, were over.