Discrimination In Canada Essay

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We all have prejudice about members of social groups that we do not belong to, it is impossible to avoid and it is engraved into us through socialization (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2017, p. 51). I decided to choose this topic since I often see people’s prejudice turn into discrimination, and more specifically in Canada, there is a great deal of discrimination which takes place against First Nations. This specific topic peaked my interest recently since I am taking a First Nations course, and it has allowed me to realize the extent to which the First Peoples of Canada are discriminated against through government policies, everyday occurrences and terminology on the territory that belongs to them.

In my everyday life, I have started to notice more …show more content…

71). Since this message has been ongoing since the settlers arrived in Canada, it is important to acknowledge that we may have internalized dominance towards First Nations but to not act on it. Internalized dominance and colonialism have been engraved into us from the time we are children through learning the story of how Christopher Columbus “discovered” North America and this may explain the reason many of us do not even notice we have internalized dominance against certain groups until someone points it out. The story of the “discovery” of North America teaches many that whites should control all others, just as Christians should control other religions (Bigelow, 2014, p. 70). As Bigelow explains (2014, p. 75) it is important for us to acknowledge First Nations people as being full human beings and to write this story from both perspectives, which allows for children to understand the different perspectives and does not support their internalized dominance. It is also interesting that although this passage supports that we should recognize First Nations as full human beings, the word “indigenous” is written with a lowercase “i” demonstrating that they do not recognize “indigenous peoples” as being a distinct group such as Canadians or

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