Having read specific articles on current social issues pertaining to; emotional and economical realities, of the Aboriginal Peoples, women’s rights, homelessness/poverty, and mental health persons, I realize there are greater underlings, that emphases the linking of these social groups. This includes, multiple sub-categories on marginalized populations in Canada today; hate crimes that are still prevalent, substance abuse at an upsurge, and suicide that is an invisible crisis among populations from the Aboriginal Peoples, mental health, to the homeless society groups. These play an environmental negative effect on theses stereotyped populations among the media. The media are playing a considerable role in how society (we) views these groups, …show more content…
In this article Moore describes, the extreme crisis of toxic alcoholism among the homeless, versus implementing the controversial harm reduction approach; she claims that with the radical effect on alcoholism and how the homeless are going to great measures to get the effects of alcohol at what ever the cost. The damage to their bodies is substantial, drinking Listerine, aftershave, hand sanitizer, and rubbing alcohol; causing the homeless not seek shelters in the winter and freezing to death “can’t do without their alcohol” (Moore, 2014, para. 9). This is triggering death rates to escalate at an influx, which could be capped with programs being put into place. Next, Moore illustrates; that providing these alternative measures, to help protect and decrease hospital visits, mortality rates that these harm reduction programs would benefit the community and this marginalized population. Harm reduction programs have been set in place already by the Federal government for specific illegal drug users “approach reduced emergency hospital visits and arrests among participants” (Moore, 2014, para. 5), by stating this in the article this brings to light that there are positive outcomes to this approach, decreasing intakes for emergency hospital stays and police interactions. Moore is also addressing the …show more content…
In this article Charlton describes the inhuman attack committed on a homeless Aboriginal woman on the streets of Prince Albert. The attacker left Marlene Bird, 47; severely cut on the face, and her body so badly burnt that her legs had to be amputated. She is facing countless surgeries to correct these horrific hate crimes that were executed on her. He first notes that the police have a surveillance video and were examining it to see any further evidence “happens in a secluded area, like where this occurred, (it) makes it a little more difficult, but we’re doing our best to develop a timeline” (Charlton, 2014, para. 4). Charlton is also addressing the issues of past history of Residential School System, and that Bird fell into some difficulties with addictions, but never became a resentful person. Even receiving a settlement from the government she only bought a trailer for herself and gave the rest away to which she felt less fortunate than her “she opted to give the money away to help others in need” (Charlton, 2014, para. 10). Finally, he concludes with the illustration of Bird at a march for peace downtown Prince Albert, she is a Residential School Survivor “children were denied their language, spiritual rituals and, more importantly, access to their families. Aboriginal children were often subjected to emotional, physical and sexual
In the 1950s and 1960s, the government began abolishing the compulsory residential school education among Aboriginal people. The government believed that Aboriginal children could receive a better education if they were integrated into the public school system (Hanson). However, residential schools were later deemed inappropriate because not only were the children taken away from their culture, their families and their people, but the majority of students were abus...
Residential schools undoubtedly created detrimental inter-generational consequences. The dark legacy of residential schools has had enduring impact, reaching into each new generation, and has led to countless problems within Aboriginal families including: chemical dependence, a cycle of abuse in families, dysfunctional families, crime and incarceration, depression, grief, suicide, and cultural identity issues (McFarlan, 2000, p. 13). Therefore, the inter-generational consequence...
Heroin addiction continues to be an important public health problem for the Edgewater homeless and America today. Addiction compounded with poor living conditions and reduced access to healthcare creates a syndemic that requires social and healthcare programs working together to confront the problem. Structural violence stigmatizes homelessness and heroin addiction, which negatively impacts addicts’ health. Attitudes towards these people must be changed so that all Americans are afforded the basic healthcare they deserve as human beings.
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...
Though the film mentioned the impact that residential schools had and still has on the aboriginal people, I felt that this issue needed to be stressed further because the legacy of the schools is still extremely prominent in aboriginal communities today. The film refers to the fact that residential schools harmed the aboriginal people because they were not able to learn their culture, which has resulted in the formation of internalized oppression within in the group. “The...
Substance abuse is a wide-reaching issue affecting millions of people worldwide. It is an issue particularly troublesome for members of an oppressed class, in this case homeless women, as examined by the authors (Wenzel et al, 2009) in the article. Nearly 50% of homeless women reported drug use, and 32% of them reported binge drinking in Los Angeles, compared to 16% and 17% for drug use and binge drinking among women occupying a low-income house (p. 16).
For teens, the weekend is a fun time for them to let loose and enjoy a short break from the demands of school. While some partake in harmless activities during this free time, many will indulge in the harms of binge drinking. Middlesex-London Health Unit states that "Researchers have defined binge drinking as 4 or more standard drinks of alcohol for women and 5 or more standard drinks of alcohol for men." This is the universal definition of binge drinking backed up by scientific proof. Drinking relates to the 3 main reasons why young people die which are unintentional injury, homicide, and suicide (Binge Drinking and Associated Health Risk Behaviors Among High School
If good intentions, well-meaning programs, and humanitarian gestures could end homelessness, it would be history by now. Since they don’t, it is time to do something different, something that solves the problem, not services the disgrace. (Philip Mangano, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness). The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) defines homeless youth as individuals who are “not more than 21 years of age … for whom it is not possible to live in a safe environment with a relative and who have no other safe alternative living arrangement.” Implicit in this definition is the notion that homeless youth are not accompanied by a parent or guardian (Haber & Toro, 2004). The following essay examines two interventions for homeless youth that abuse drug and alcohol.
Drug use and abuse is as old as mankind itself. Human beings have always had a desire to eat or drink substances that make them feel relaxed, stimulated, or euphoric. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C. in China. But it was not until the nineteenth century that the active substances in drugs were extracted. There was a time in history when some of these newly discovered substances, such as morphine, laudanum, cocaine, were completely unregulated and prescribed freely by physicians for a wide variety of ailments.
In this story, poverty and homelessness is the underlying problem. However another problem discussed is whether or not the potential loss of funding sources to help the homeless justify not standing up against policy that negatively affects the homeless population by causing unjust criminalization (Pg. 100). In my heart, and in a perfect world, I would never want to sacrifice my beliefs of fighting for the greater good of all people, but I understand that it is more complicated than this in real life. There is no doubt that we are all born with different opportunities. Our text explains some of the personal factors that determines who is homeless. Some of the contributing causes of homelessness include addiction, disability, mental illness,
The dictionary describes alcoholism as continued excessive or compulsive use of alcoholic drinks. However, this disease is much more complex. Alcohol abuse is a growing problem in the United States today, causing more and more deaths each year. It affects nearly everyone in the U.S. today, either directly or indirectly. Over half of Americans have at least one close relative that has a drinking problem. About 20 million people in the United States abuse alcohol. It is the third leading cause of preventable deaths, and about 100,000 people die each year from alcohol related incidents (Peacock 11).
Per-capita consumption of alcohol in the United Kingdom (U.K.) rose 19% between 1980 and 2007, compared with a 13% decline for all 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That’s a shocking number to be an alcohol level. In Britain many people are concerned about the alcohol consumption level, but on the other hand scientists say that the consumption of liquor is not the problem. They believe alcohol is the solution to a deeper problem people in the U.K. have. Scientists believe that more people are drinking because depression is becoming more common. While scientist think that people are drinking to help cope with their depression, the people of Britain feel that the high level of consumption is getting higher because people are just drinking because they can. Alcoholism is a big ordeal in Britain for the fact that it is costing them about 6 billion pounds a year. The average person from Britain has fifteen and one half liters of pure alcohol to drink daily. The people of Britain think the cost is not worth it. The country won't make it much longer paying that much just for liquor. Alcohol has been around for ages and people don't assume it is going to go away anytime soon. The discovering of alcohol turned into the production of alcohol for sell. But, with the sale of it came the overuse of it. And the overuse became the abuse of it. Alcohol might not have been the best find, but it was one of the most popular finds in history.
In today’s materialistic society, there are a number of problems causing moral degradation or breakdown of societies. Alcohol abuse in one of them and it has become a severe problem for modern societies. Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the world and now it is a national epidemic. Alcohol abuse has adverse social and economic effects on the individual drinker, the drinker’s immediate environment and society as a whole. According to a new research, Up to 15 people die and more than 430 are being admitted to hospital every day in Australia because of alcohol related illness. Government is trying to prevent alcohol abuse by imposing various measures and considers raising of tax on alcohol the most effective way to reduce alcohol abuse as it will reduce affordability.
It is shocking to know that approximately 3.5 million people in the United States, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year . About 40 percent of single homeless people are abusing drugs or alcohol and sadly, the majority of homeless people with addictive disorders have never received any type of drug or alcohol treatment . Not only is homelessness an economic issue, but it is a social one as well. Homelessness is increasing in the United States and it is a problem that which strikes Americans of every age, religion and ethnicity and affects people from urban and rural communities alike. A few factors contribute to the increase in homelessness. Low wage jobs, high unemployment rates and a high cost of living force countless Americans to choose between housing, food and other basic necessities. People become homeless for multiple reasons. The number of people who became homeless boomed in the 1980s, as federal funds were taken from low income housing and social assistance programs for low income families and the mentally ill. While economic factors are usually a primary cause for homelessness, long term issues like mental illness, drug addiction, and alcoholism can aggravate situations of poverty and put people at greater risk of being homeless. This is a problem because the high cost of health insurance leaves homeless people without access to proper care to treat mental illness or drug or alcohol addiction. Fortunately, the government has decided to take action against this problem. The city of San Francisco has received $5 million in federal and foundation grants to fund counseling services to h...
Reporting a history of illicit drug use has steadily risen since the recent years. Results suggest that over time, addiction trends among the homeless people have changed to and involved multiple substance abuse with more of cannabis and minor sedatives abuse particularly among the younger persons. Rates of high level of drinking has also increased, majorly among the women both singles and married leading to family problems.