Cultural Genocide In Canada Essay

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

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada have taken on great suffering from the colonization of the settlers of Canada. However, the effect of colonization has not disappeared from the Canadian society. Indigenous Residential Schools (IRS) played a major role in the cultural loss or genocide of the Aboriginals. Presently, IRS litigation is trying to reveal the effects of the IRS and how the justice system needs to acknowledge that cultural genocide was a consequence of IRS. This socio-legal issue is the focus of the article,” Troubling the Path to Decolonization: Indian Residential School Case Law, Genocide, and Settler Illegitimacy,” written by Leslie Thielen-Wilson.

Truthfully, Canada has yet to come to terms with its Aboriginal heritage. Though steps are being made, our country still in a sense lacks the conviction to truly accept our Indigenous history. This essay will discuss the importance of three paramount pieces of Aboriginal history that we must come to terms with as Canadians in order to accept our Aboriginal heritage. Canada is struggling to come to terms with its Aboriginal history, and this essay will attempt to display what we need to understand in order to move forward and make progress. Canada is a melting pot of diversity, but our very earliest roots as a nation stand with the Aboriginal people. Therefore, it is clear that Canada needs to come to terms with its Aboriginal heritage.

What is the government doing for them, in order to help them? The Canadian government’s promises towards the First Nations are being neglected. This research paper explores the mistreatment of aboriginals to this day. This is proven by the government stealing the First Nations land, also the government putting the aboriginal community into reserves, and finally the discrimination that has and is still occurring towards the First Nations.

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.

Aboriginal people are very passionate about their culture and traditions and believe that they are an important part of Canada’s past. Although their customs shaped Canada into a great nation, they are slowly fading into the background while competing with the French and English cultures. “Such an understanding gives no consideration to the presence and role of Aboriginal groups throughout history.” First Nation’s people do not receive a just amount of respect and equality in terms of their rights for land and freedom. Over the past century there have been several brutal protests that promote a negative, violent appearance towards all Aboriginals. In order to advance within society and claim land that is rightfully theirs, Natives

This belief simultaneously oppressed and exotified Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples were forced to assimilate into a society that never intended to embrace them. National and local newspapers generally ignored the lives of Indigenous peoples. Instead, they only discussed issues of Canada ‘helping’ Indigenous peoples or discussed cultural differences that seemed exotic and entertaining. The exotification of Indigenous cultures and traditions further discriminated Indigenous peoples by creating a divide between what was considered socially acceptable and what was not.

First Nations people in Canada have faced colonization and assimilation through Canadian Aboriginal policy throughout history. Policies such as the Indian Act, residential school system, the sixties scoop, and the White Paper have all shared the main goal of assimilation throughout many years. In today’s society, First Nations people are beginning to see positive changes throughout Aboriginal policy. The changes made to the Constitution Act and the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement proves that the government is slowly making positive changes toward Aboriginal policy in Canada. Although the past has shown nothing but struggle and trauma faced by First Nations people because of Aboriginal policy set forth by the government. The Indian Act began

As Canadian’s we prize ourselves on our constant strive to maintain peace, and promote equality among all residents of the country. However, as history indicates some of our actions towards specific minority groups have been less than reputable. Specifically, Canada had introduced a residential school system for native children under the demand of a new policy regarding “forced assimilation” (Langtry, 2014). The implementation of residential schools enforced oppression among this minority group, reinforced white power, and emphasized Caucasian’s as the dominant race (Langtry, 2014). Ultimately, the abuse experienced in these schools remind Canadian’s of a haunting

The history of Indigenous people in Canada is both tumultuous and troubled, European colonial powers never acknowledged the political organization and historic land use of Indigenous Canadians and ignored any pre-existing Indigenous sovereignty (Elder, 121). Historically, Canadian sovereignty depended on maintaining the relationship between Canada’s Indigenous people and the Crown through treaties of peace and friendship (Macklem, 122). Over the past century, assimilation has been the predominant solution to the challenges

With the rapid growth of media influence in today’s society, the media has often misrepresented and devalued Indigenous issues occurring within their respecting communities. Poor reporting on Indigenous issues occurs because journalists are not well-prepared, do not have enough time to gather sufficient information, and there is a lack of interest of Indigenous issues by non-Indigenous reporters (“Aboriginal People in the news”). For proper recognition to occur in the media, journalists need to be properly informed about Indigenous history in Canada, which they are not. The Indigenous community has always faced discrimination in Canadian society, even though they are the original settlers. Indigenous issues portrayed in the media has not received

One of the most famous images within Canadian history is that of a tense moment between two men facing each other. The image shows a masked armed indigenous man leaning over the smaller soldier before a moment of apparent confrontation. On one level, the image itself is colonial portraying the soldier as keeping the peace against the unknowable “other.” Thereby in many parts this image misrepresents the complex reality of the situation and the history surrounding the Oka confrontation. But this image represents more then merely the Oka crisis, but rather the often one sided portrayal of Indigenous people within the media. The media has played an important role in shaping perception on Indigenous collective action. But like the photo

Since Canada has been founded by European settlers and constituted as a country, there has been victimization against First Nations people by the Canadian government. There are three problems that will be addressed, First off, the government has been taking away and in some cases polluting the First Nations land (Lukacs, M, 2015). Secondly, to this day the Canadian government pays less attention to missing aboriginal women. (Still thinking about the second point) Finally, in the past, there has been serious discrimination toward the First Nations people from residential schools (News, C, 2016). With each problem, there can also be a solution. As each point will be discussed, the best solution will be provided that will satisfy the First

In order to solidify the First Nations’ place as “designated outsiders in their own homeland” (8) the press had to show how Indigenous people become the ‘other’ when compared to the white settlers of Canada. In comparison to the white setters presumed racial superiority, the media would use headlines and stories that evoked images of Indians as dependent children. One specific instance of this is the “federal government’s poster campaign to instruct the ‘Eskimo mothers’ about how to use their newly awarded family allowance funds by the Department of National Health and Welfare” (148). This campaign created a standard that, despite being mothers and raising children in this land for generations, the Inuit mothers were not capable of providing

We’ve all heard about the people of Canada’s First Nations and the struggles they have gone through in the past.