Canadian Aboriginal People In Canada

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Introduction Prior to the arrival of the Europeans in Canada in the mid- to late 1600s, Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants of the Canadian land. In Canadian history, we forced our Aboriginal people to adapt to the European-Canadian culture and values. Prior to overthrowing their land and culture, the Aboriginal peoples were thriving off the natural land materialistically and financially. In years to come in response to the mistreatment of them, the Canadian government would implement what is known as the Indigenous and Northern Affairs act [1966] this act would aim to establish financial rights and benefits for the aboriginal demographic. Today in the 21st century Canada is comprised of over 1.4 million indigenous peoples (Aylsworth …show more content…

Poverty also comes with many stigmas and negative outcomes attached, and there are many impacts poverty has on person or group; some of the most significant and detrimental being barriers to health, victimisation, mental health issues and unstable housing situations to name a few. In a study that took place in Hamilton, it is shown that the aboriginal population visits the emergency room ten times more (Carter, 2014) but have less access to hospitals and face more discrimination than non-aboriginal people do. Statistics released by stats Canada reveal that aboriginal people have significantly higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse compared to non-aboriginal peoples. 32.7% of all aboriginal people experience alcohol abuse compared to 22.5% of non-aboriginal people. (Stats Canada, 2012) Mental health is also another significant aspect in the impact of poverty. It is shown that there is a staggering difference in suicide rates between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal population and the different Aboriginal identifying groups. A set of statistics shows that 24 people per 100,000 who identify as all status aboriginals have commit suicide, compared to 12 people per 100,000 who identify as non-aboriginal. An even larger number shows that 135 in every 100,000 Inuit peoples have commit suicide, this number is over 5x as large as the other aboriginal identities and just over 11x more than non-aboriginal peoples. (Khan, 2008) Another impact that poverty has on this demographic is unsuitable housing, a house is considered unsuitable if it is severely damaged, crowded and even possibly detrimental to one’s health. Statistics pertaining to living on native reserves show that 27.2% of on-reserve aboriginal people live in overcrowded dwellings, whereas only 4% of non-aboriginal people live in such

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