The Perpetuation of Subordination - Challenges to Aboriginal Employment Opportunities

The impact of colonization on First Nations peoples in Canada is unsurpassable, regarding every aspect of Aboriginal life and well-being. Throughout Canadian history, the government has been aiming to assimilate and annihilate Aboriginal people by way of racist policies, ethnocentric institutions, discriminatory laws and destructive capitalist behaviours. Because of this, Aboriginal people have suffered many losses, both physically and culturally. One of the main perpetrators of enacting this loss is the education system. The education system in Canada has and continues to threaten the relationship First Nations peoples have with the land. The connection First Nations peoples have with the land is crucial to their cultures, traditions, ceremonies and beliefs. Colonization and colonialism jeopardize this relationship and that is what this essay will address.

Over the past decades, Aboriginal people (the original people or indigenous occupants of a particular country), have been oppressed by the Canadian society and continue to live under racism resulting in gender/ class oppression. The history of Colonialism, and Capitalism has played a significant role in the construction and impact of how Aborignal people are treated and viewed presently in the Canadian society. The struggles, injustices, prejudice, and discrimination that have plagued Aboriginal peoples for more than three centuries are still grim realities today. The failures of Canada's racist policies toward Aboriginal peoples are reflected in the high levels of unemployment and poor education.

Since the colonization of Canada First Nations people have been discriminated against and assimilated into the new culture of Canada through policies created by the government. Policies created had the intentions of improving the Aboriginal people’s standard of living and increasing their opportunities. Mainly in the past hundred years in Canadian Society, policies and government implemented actions such as; Residential schools, the Indian Act, and reserve systems have resulted in extinguishing native culture, teachings, and pride. Policies towards the treatment of Aboriginal Canadians has decreased their opportunities and standard of living because of policies specified previously (Residential schools, the Indian Act, and reservation systems).

In this essay we will try to provide a brief overview of educational issues of Aboriginal communities in Australia and Victoria and the elements that influence the educational outcomes of young Aboriginal people, such as culture and contemporary challenges. In addition to this, the inclusion of Aboriginal content in the Victorian curriculum and classroom practices will be explored as well as contemporary government policies.

8th Fire: Indigenous in the City, is part of a documentary series that describes the challenges that aboriginal people face when moving to the large cities from reservations. The documentary begins by describing the stereotypes that English Canadians as well as other visible minority groups perceive aboriginal people to be. They show how damaging the stereotypes are to the First Nations, especially in the area of education. The documentary concludes by offering a few some solutions of how to change and improve the relationship between the aboriginal community and the rest of Canada. The two main aspects of the film that I will focus my analysis on is the education system from past to present and the negative impacts it has had on the

Oppression also occurred on a political level when the Canadian government imposed systems for the Aboriginal peoples to govern them- selves. Aboriginal people were no longer allowed to follow their traditional forms of governance and the Indian Act Chief and Council System.

The history of Canada is the era of where colonization all began towards aboriginal peoples. Over the past decades, aboriginal peoples have been mistreated and misused by the white-Europeans. They have been oppressed by Canadian society that we are known still by today and continue to live under racism resulting in gender and class oppression. The history of colonialism has been playing a big part in the way of how aboriginal people have been constructed and impacted on how aboriginal people are treated and viewed in Canadian Society. They have been dealing with the struggles, inequality, and discrimination that we have been putting them through for over three centuries, we’ve been also failing them with Canada’s racist policies

The Aboriginal peoples of Canada had gone through many situations to get to where they are today with their education system. Pain, sorrow, doubt, and hope are all feelings brought to mind when thinking about the history and the future of Aboriginal education. By taking a look at the past, anyone can see that the right to education for Aboriginal peoples has been fought about as early as the 1870s. This is still is a pressing issue today. Elder teachings, residential, reserve and post-secondary schools have all been concerning events of the past as well as the present. Though education has improved for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, there are still many concerns and needs of reconciliation for the past to improve the future.

First Nation Peoples within Canada have been facing many injustices in their homeland since the dawn of colonization. The most unraveling point to First Nation assimilation was the formation of the consequential Indian Act and residential schools resulting in a stir of adversity. As racist ideologies within Canada developed, upheaval against such treatment was undertaken as First Nation communities fought back against government land claims and eradication of treaty rights. In attempt to make amends, proper compensations from the injustices within residential schools have been released and the key for the future is allowing First Nation self-government. Ideals with the intent of ultimate assimilation have been standardized unto First Nation

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).

Discrimination of Aboriginal culture and way of life has also been a pressing issue during the years between 1945 and 2010. Canada, as nation that promotes equality, has done a terrible job demonstrating it. False stereotypes and perceptions of Native American people are very common in society today and back then. It is most common in the media because it is seen by almost everyone and has a considerable influence on peoples perspective on an idea, whether their aboriginal or not. Media reaches everywhere, from movies to the new and from advertisement to literature, it gets coverage. In the media aboriginals only ever get minor roles with a lack of identity in their characters, but when they are recognized, they are seen as

Residential schools in Canada was the planned assimilation of Aboriginals into European way of life through church run schools. These forging societies have not only been a vital part to the Canadian economy but have also played an important role in protecting Canadian land form American conquest in the 1700’s-1900’s. The residential schooling system revealed the monstrous and shameful acts humans commit when they are power hungry. With the decline of the fur trade industry British colonizer started to see aboriginal peoples as a threat and began introducing treaties and laws to decimate the aboriginal population. Colonizer began implementing land treaties, reserve system but soon realized it was not enough to destroy aboriginal culture. Of the many laws that were passed residential schooling could the most heinous law used to cripple the aboriginals and destroy their culture, and make them second class citizens. This paper argues that euro centric practices reproduces the marginalization and downward social mobility of aboriginal people through the residential schooling system.

In 2008, our 22nd Prime Minister stated: “These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal. Indeed, some sought, as it was infamously said, `to kill the Indian in the child.' Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country.” (Harper)

The Course Pack provided for the Native American Philosophy contained nine articles combined to demonstrate the huge philosophical gap of ideologies between Canada and the Aboriginal people. A couple articles comment how Canada in the past has attempted to discriminate, assimilate and destroy the aboriginal people and when that did not work, their cultures and assimilate them into European Canada ways. Evidently this has not worked. The course pack talks about the differences of ideologies being because of different languages, assumptions, and cultural views. In order to narrow the gap we need to understand these differences on both sides to a greater extent.

This heritage which they regard very highly is stripped away by the government to force an inclusion into Canadian Society. Canada’s ethnic groups are forced to separate into “isolated islands’ or else they are coerced into assimilation. Ever since white settlers landed on Canadian shores in the 1600’s, there have been conflicts with the First Nations. From driving them off their land to exterminating them with European diseases, the First Nation population has been struggling to keep their lineage and history from being erased. With the struggle to keep themselves from being “cut [off] close to the floor” (Page 2) the First Nation society has been confined to a small patch of land called a “reservation”, a small downsize from all of Canada.