Essay On Canadian Aboriginal People

Canadian Aboriginal
Canada has been constantly acknowledged as a nation of different people from different part of the world (MacDonald 66). Our great nation is recognized as a very diverse country filled with unity, which continues to encourage people from other part of the world to come and live in Canada. Although its been constantly considered as one of the top countries in the UN Human Development Index, Aboriginal peoples classified together with residents of Panama, Belarus, and Malaysia in terms of their economic and social possibilities (qtd. in MacDonald 66). In a special report by James Anaya, claimed that Canada has issues in regards to the circumstances surrounding indigenous people of the nation, and Aboriginal petitions continues to be unsettled, and therefore resulted to an excessive amount of lack of confidence among Aboriginal peoples towards the government (qtd in MacDonald 66).
Canadian Aboriginal people were the first to inhabitant the nation and call it home before the European started to explore different territories around the world and discover the nation called Canada. This discovery made the European people established their culture, traditions, and so many people started to migrate to Canada and called it home.

Not only the Canadian aboriginal people have difficulty to live with new immigrants, they were forced to learn new languages, and adjust to other people’s culture.

Through out the history, native people have been the last individuals to participate in any government related work or progress in society. Native people are one of the least poor people in Canada right now, as many of them do not know their legal rights, and more and more Aboriginal individuals are getting incarcerated for different offences also, women have very little status in the society as many of them does alcohol and substance uses and therefore results to short lived

marriages.
Long before the European people brought their education system to Canada, Native people were educating themselves and their kids through out hand on hand perspective on daily life. Children’s were shown more spiritual and historical events than subjects such as Economic, Sciences, and or Math. However, the children’s’ were taught to survived and pass these traditions to their next generation, so not only these kids were to learn how to survive but also to respect the land that they were living. Their father taught many of their kids and women took huge part in household chores. “I learned how to chop wood after observing my father, my grandmother and mother chopping wood and how safety conscious they were in ensuring that no harm will be done” (qtd in Neegan 5).
In the early century right after the European started taking control over the country, the Catholic churches were in charge of teaching the Aboriginal kids, allowed by the federal government, also the schools were started to get built across the country, including the small villages. These kids were forced to go school and attend religious classes. “ I can remember saying to my mom who was crying, “ What did I do to you? Why are you sending me away? She was very really heartbroken” (qtd in Neegan 6).
In school, the kids were taught different material about daily life. These materials were to terminate what the elder of the society had to teach their kids for over the generation. Many of the Aboriginal felt like the European school system were being forced to extinguish the native history and spiritual beliefs. “Aboriginal languages were the first targets of the operators of residential schools. It was forbidden to speak anything other than English or French. Children were severely punished if they spoke their native languages. Some even had sewing needles pushed in their tongues if they were found speaking their native language”. According to statistics, in the recent years, 50 out of 53 Canada’s aboriginal language are to be wiped out and 13 out of 50 are in extreme danger due to smaller groups of people participated in speaking them.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders defined as a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. FASDS are completely preventable if a woman avoids drinking alcohol during pregnancy. FASDS is a huge factor against the Aboriginal community compare to non-Aboriginal community. Canadian Aboriginal tends to make a larger portion of the population with this disorder, as most of the individuals are associated in the sex trade, and sexual and drug trafficking. According to researchers, individual are more likely to join gang with FASDS and also most of the women’s are likely to be sexually abused as early age or experience sexual slavery in gangs. These individual would have problem growing as an adult, they could face problems such as neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, violence, and maternal death. Also most of these kids can’t live independent life and exclusive from community, the only comfort place for them is join gang.
Canada’s population is mixed with different type of diversity community. Most of the aboriginal communities are becoming minority. For many of the Aboriginal youth, they face many challenges such as high unemployment, entrenched poverty and violence. However, for most gang members it is the only solution to fight for rights and find shelter, based on the gang rank the member gets paid for the involvement in gang activities. The larges gang in Canada is in Saskatchewan with 1.34 member per, 1,000 populations, 21% of Canada’s are Aboriginal gang. These gang identify themselves with different brand, different color clothing. The members are recruit by elder of the gang member, for this member they must pass the requirement to acquire a patch in the gang. Aboriginal gang are defined as visible, hard-core groups, which come together for profit-driven criminal activity.
Study has found that 8 out of 10 Aboriginal women had domestic violence experience in Ontario. Based on statistic, 54% of Aboriginal has reported life-threatening violence against them compared to non-violence in Canada. The Aboriginal women are more likely to die at age of 25-44 from violence. Not only that aboriginal women faces abuse at community but also at prison, 90% of the aboriginal women at prison have been abuse.
Sex Exploitation is one of the huge problem in Canada especial in the native community, most of the women are involve in sex trade business to make a living for them self or family member. A Statistics Canada research discovered that “25% of Aboriginal people identified sexual abuse as a problem in their community (Totten 14). There are about three quarters of female Aboriginals who are under the years of 18 who have been sexually assaulted (Totten 14). It is also in fact that most of all sex workers in Western Canada are Aboriginals.
Meanwhile, during the year 1969, Aboriginal women have exerted to use Canadian courts to make amends on its sex equality rights that was published on the Canadian Bill of Rights (McIvor 107). Aboriginal women struggle to fight for their essential rights to have equal status and being part of Aboriginal communities such as same rights to divide in matrimonial property and same participation rights in Aboriginal governance (McIvor 108). Due to Canada’s law and services made Aboriginal people in its communities to answer to their men because men are considered to be their “boss” in every aspect of their lives. Aboriginal women have been suppressed due to lack of opportunities to participate and grow as a person with rights and confidence. In a statistic in 2004, Aboriginal women were considered to be among the poorest in Canada consists of 43% of them who lives in poverty (McIvor 108). They were believed to be poorer than male Aboriginals or other women in the country, which directly links to poverty and lacks of rights that influenced their right to appreciate any standard of living.
Aboriginal people has been successful in growing and protecting their rights against the Canadian nation, they have accomplished constitutional amendments, laws, settlement, and agreements and also earn a territory, and numerous more, but while these rights progressed, the rights of Aboriginal women have not (Alcantara 514). Non-Aboriginal women have been more victorious than their male counterparts at broadening and establishing their rights, for example, non-Aboriginal women have acquired gender equality during divorce proceedings, Aboriginal women living on reserves have not (Alcantara 514). As stated in the Indian Act, Aboriginal women in the country does not have similar equality rights as the male Aboriginal living in reserves and non-Aboriginal women not living in reserves (Alcantara 317). Many First Nations do not agree with this term and been able to confront the problem by creating First Nations Land Management Act that is different from the Indian Act.

Will the Aboriginal people ever solve their problem? I guess that’s based on how much native people want to see them self in society. The Canadian government should have more subjects in high school to educate non-aboriginal community the history of native people. The society should be able to identify the problems and help these individuals. The women need to have more control over them and have self them against domestic abuse, these women’s have the same rights and obligation in the society as the non-aboriginal women.