The documentary Finding Dawn by Christine Welsh portrayed the violence and discrimination experienced by Aboriginal women and girls in Canada as a national tragedy. The national tragedy is illustrated as the overlooked murders and disappearances of an estimated 500 Aboriginal women in Canada over the past 30 years (Finding Dawn, 2006). It was apparent while viewing this documentary that embedded historical, social and economic factors have negatively contributed to this national tragedy receiving meager attention in Canada. Thus, the issues presented in Finding Dawn is in fact a representation of wider social problems correlating to issues of oppression, ethnocentrism, racism and assimilation in our society. Finding Dawn provided the viewers with a deeper insight into an Aboriginal women’s experience from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to the Highway of Tears in Northern British Columbia, where twelve women (all, but one Aboriginal) have vanished, to the unique life experiences of Professor Shannon Acoose in Saskatchewan (Finding Dawn, 2006). This documentary was described by the Canadian Council for the Arts as “highlighting the disturbing world-wide culture of impunity that allows murders of women – especially those who are poor, indigenous, or sex workers – to go unsolved and unpunished (Cinema Politics, 2006).” The theoretical perspective in analyzing underlying social problems behind missing women in Canada can be through the understanding of conflict theory. Conflict theory was derived from the works of Karl Marx, which focuses on the primary themes of power, oppression, and exclusion (Unit 1, Justice Studies). An example of this is the hamrmful treatment of Aboriginal peoples in Canada after centuries of colonialism and the... ... middle of paper ... ...tool of the Canadian Federal Government to extinguish Indian land rights (Stout and Kipling, 2003:38). Furthermore, Aboriginal people still continue to suffer inter-generational consequences of these historical wrongs such as residential schools, sixties’ scoop, as much more as evident in Finding Dawn. These inter-generational consequences have resulted in the issue of missing women being the sad reality of being an Aboriginal woman in Canada. Doug Cuthand, a writer stated how “Indian women can be beaten up and killed with very little public outcry. Somehow they are not important (Entremont, 2004).” Democratic racism has resulted extreme racism, loss of indigenous language, poverty, family violence, loss of parental skills, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, high rates of incarnation, and much more as described by the commenters in the documentary, Finding Dawn.
Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. The Justice System and Aboriginal People: Child Welfare. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html.
The over-representation of Aboriginal children in the Canadian Child Welfare system is a growing and multifaceted issue rooted in a pervasive history of racism and colonization in Canada. Residential schools were established with the intent to force assimilation of Aboriginal people in Canada into European-Canadian society (Reimer, 2010, p. 22). Many Aboriginal children’s lives have been changed adversely by the development of residential schools, even for those who did not attend them. It is estimated that Aboriginal children “are 6-8 times more likely to be placed in foster care than non-Aboriginal children (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, 2010, p. 2).” Reports have also indicated that First Nations registered Indian children make up the largest proportion of Aboriginal children entering child welfare care across Canada (Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel, p. 2). Consequently, this has negatively impacted Aboriginal communities experience of and relationship with child welfare services across the country. It is visible that the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the child welfare system in Canada lies in the impact of the Canadian policy for Indian residential schools, which will be described throughout this paper.
Eden Robinson’s short story “Terminal Avenue” presents readers with the dystopian near-future of Canada where Indigenous people are subjugated and placed under heavy surveillance. The story’s narrator, Wil, is a young Aboriginal man who struggles with his own inner-turmoil after the suicide of his father and his brother’s subsequent decision to join the ranks of the Peace Officers responsible for “adjusting” the First Nations people. Though “Terminal Avenue” takes place in Vancouver there are clear parallels drawn between the Peace Officers of Robinson’s imagination and the Canadian military sent to enforce the peace during the stand-off at Oka, Quebec in 1990. In writing “Terminal Avenue” Robinson addresses the armed conflict and proposes
It is the belief of first nations that the healing process and renewal of relationships are the essential ingredients for the building of healthy First Nations communities. First nations realize that the current justice process does not address the real issues at hand nor does it fit into their traditional forms of achieving justice. In fact, the current justice process systematically removes the offenders from their people and communities effectively severing all ties and ...
Despite the decreasing inequalities between men and women in both private and public spheres, aboriginal women continue to be oppressed and discriminated against in both. Aboriginal people in Canada are the indigenous group of people that were residing in Canada prior to the European colonization. The term First Nations, Indian and indigenous are used interchangeably when referring to aboriginal people. Prior to the colonization, aboriginal communities used to be matrilineal and the power between men and women were equally balanced. When the European came in contact with the aboriginal, there came a shift in gender role and power control leading towards discrimination against the women. As a consequence of the colonization, the aboriginal women are a dominant group that are constantly subordinated and ignored by the government system of Canada. Thus today, aboriginal women experiences double jeopardy as they belong to more than one disadvantaged group i.e. being women and belonging to aboriginal group. In contemporary world, there are not much of a difference between Aboriginal people and the other minority groups as they face the similar challenges such as gender discrimination, victimization, and experiences injustice towards them. Although aboriginal people are not considered as visible minorities, this population continues to struggle for their existence like any other visible minorities group. Although both aboriginal men and women are being discriminated in our society, the women tends to experience more discrimination in public and private sphere and are constantly the targeted for violence, abuse and are victimized. In addition, many of the problems and violence faced by aborigin...
Fleras, Augie. “Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Repairing the Relationship.” Chapter 7 of Unequal Relations: An Introduction to Race, Ethnic and Aboriginal Dynamics in Canada. 6th ed. Toronto: Pearson, 2010. 162-210. Print.
“For too long, aboriginal peoples’ voices have been missing in our urban mosaic. Now is the time for all Canadians to fulfill our responsibility to listen.” (Smith, 2014) A key concern the Canadian government needs to be attentive to are the unsolved cases on the Highways of Tears. The Highway of Tears incidents are series of unsolved cases involving murders and missing women along the highways in British Columbia between 1969 until 2011. The mentioned highway includes Highway 16 between Prince Rupert and Prince George, British Columbia measuring a distance of 750 kilometers. (Meissner, 2015) In particular, the governmental response to incidents on Highway 16 have been framed differently by Aboriginal communities versus the government in media.
Canada likes to paint an image of peace, justice and equality for all, when, in reality, the treatment of Aboriginal peoples in our country has been anything but. Laden with incomprehensible assimilation and destruction, the history of Canada is a shameful story of dismantlement of Indian rights, of blatant lies and mistrust, and of complete lack of interest in the well-being of First Nations peoples. Though some breakthroughs were made over the years, the overall arching story fits into Cardinal’s description exactly. “Clearly something must be done,” states Murray Sinclair (p. 184, 1994). And that ‘something’ he refers to is drastic change. It is evident, therefore, that Harold Cardinal’s statement is an accurate summarization of the Indigenous/non-Indigenous relationship in
All through Canada hundreds of indigenous women have been going missing and turning up dead. This problem has been around for years and there are more than four hundred and fifty cases reported across Canada. After many cases where left unsolved and forgotten the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was created.
She stresses the point of Aboriginal women being portrayed as an “other” in these areas, arguing that the middle class white feminist cannot understand their position and are often indifferent and complacent towards the situation. In analysing the issues for Aboriginal women that Moreton-Robinson suggests, we can adapt these experiences to those faced by intersectional groups, particularly women of colour. This is crucial to consider in Corley’s case, as her experience is unique and targeted. Being degraded, humiliated, abused and stereotyped by police, societal figures intended for protection, is essentially limited to minority groups. It is essential when performing an intersectional analysis to ask if an individual from a majority group, such as a white man or woman, would face the same treatment or experience in a similar
A non-guilty verdict in the murder trial of Bradley Barton accused of killing Cree mother of three Cindy Gladue who bled to death from an eleven centimetre internal laceration argues that the wound was the result of rough sex. Gladue known in Edmonton as a sex worker spent two night with Barton in an Edmonton hotel room in June 2011. This essay will argue the appeal that was warranted through looking firstly at feminist analyses of sexual assault and legal consent, secondly, the contexts of intersectional power relations/ interlocking oppressions such as Gladue being a women from a Cree nationality who works as a sex worker, thirdly the problematic notion of Gladue being the bearer
Kelm, Mary, and Lorna Townsend. In the days of our grandmothers: a reader in Aboriginal women's history in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.
There are an increasing number of racial remarks towards aboriginals in Canada in terms of health care and the way their healthcare issues are handled with respect to the social determinants of health and their own cultural beliefs and rituals, along with the laws and policies that are set in place for all Canadian citizens. The unfair treatment towards aboriginals in the lack of funding for proper healthcare services, housing, education and the lack of attention given to their suffering in both physical and mental health by the Canadian government and healthcare workers and providers causes many Aboriginal people to feel neglected, uncared for and unimportant in this society.
The downtown east side is “one of the most marginalized and stigmatized neighborhoods in Canada” (Longstaffe, 2017, pp.231). Longstaffe mentioned how many of the residents are affected with poverty and drug addiction; with more than 60 women from the community missing from 1970 through 2000; many of whom are of indigenous background (2017, pp.231). During those times, many news reports of indigenous women missing or murdered were nothing to note because of how the downtown east side was portrayed; the poor and drug addicted prostitutes were nobodies that walked the streets. As Hugille noted, “media discourse continued to circulate images of street-level sex workers and the space of the Downtown Eastside as morally corrupt and degenerate” (2010,
The first report was titled Buried Voices: Media Coverage of Aboriginal Issues in Ontario was released in August of 2013 and the second report released in March of 2016 was titled Buried Voices: Changing Tones. These reports have found, through qualitative analysis, a steady increase in the number of Indigenous stories written by Ontarian journalists. However, this increase in coverage still fails to adequately represent the Indigenous population. As Indigenous people account for approximately 2% of the population of Ontario, but only 0.5% of media engages with Indigenous issues (JHR, 2016, p. 6). A remaining problem with the coverage is that it is focused on current issues indigenous people are facing, but not on why they are facing them. The media needs to do a better job explaining to the general public as to why Indigenous people in Canada are suffering. The failure in doing so creates a uniformed society that perpetuates myths or negative stereotypes of Indigenous people in