Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that the weight of preserving your culture and heritage was on your shoulders? Have you ever had the feeling that you needed to fight with settlers to keep your cultural identity? In Drew Hayden Taylor's play Cottagers and Indians, the debate between Arthur Copper and Maureen Poole doesn't just mirror conflict, but it allows us to understand greater issues of Indigenous communities, such as socioeconomic status, land rights, and racism against Indigenous communities in today's society. To begin with, socioeconomic status is an issue that needs to be addressed widely across the world. It is unfair to Indigenous peoples because the government has stolen their lands for their own greedy and selfish …show more content…
Furthermore, Maureen believes Arthur is only putting his needs before the non-indigenous people who have bought cottages on the land. She is uptight simply because he wants to reintroduce his culture and heritage to his people at the cost of her vacation home, which was originally stolen land and reserves. “I barely earn enough to make it above the poverty line.” (Taylor 55). The root cause of this problem mainly arises from a lack of job opportunities. On average, a non-indigenous person earns about $63,000 yearly whereas an indigenous individual earns about $44,000 annually. An astonishing 47% of Canada's population lives paycheck to paycheck, which only means that it is harder for people with an Indigenous background to survive in Canada, especially since the government puts them in a situation where the chances of owning a place to live are low. Despite who owns the land, it is not fair to either Arthur or Maureen. Arthur, an Aboriginal Indigenous man plants wild rice in hopes of restoring his culture. Arthur has every right to do so, according to the …show more content…
“This affected property values, resale values, resale issues, and water safety concerns.”(Taylor 31). “There are safety violations involved, those weeds you planted can damage boats and endangered swimmers.”(Arthur 34). Although Maureen is concerned about her own property rights, she also mentions the other risks there are if Arthur Cooper continues to plant wild rice in nearby lakes. The main concern is that this species of rice can spread very rapidly, similar to wildfire. “As I was saying, I have no idea what that loud contraption has to do with native culture, which supposedly is what this whole disagreement is about. The right to reinstate their Indigenous ways is how I believe he puts it. It seems he was planting seeds. Wild rice seeds. But does it have to reinstate it 10 feet from my dock?”(Arthur 25). This quote shows how she doesn't mind the fact that he is trying to rebuild the culture that was lost. She is only disappointed about how Arthur Copper chooses not to respect other people's boundaries since he believes it is okay to plant wild rice everywhere around the lake including other people's
Her book focuses on the myriads of issues and struggles that Indigenous men and women have faced and will continue to face because of colonialism. During her speech, Palmater addressed the grave effects of the cultural assimilation that permeated in Indigenous communities, particularly the Indian Residential School System and the Indian Act, which has been extensively discussed in both lectures and readings. Such policies were created by European settlers to institutionalize colonialism and maintain the social and cultural hierarchy that established Aboriginals as the inferior group. Palmater also discussed that according to news reports, an Aboriginal baby from Manitoba is taken away every single day by the government and is put in social care (CTVNews.ca Staff, 2015). This echoes Andrea Smith’s argument in “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing” that colonialism continues to affect Aboriginals through genocide (2006, p. 68). Although such actions by the government are not physical acts of genocide, where 90% of Aboriginal population was annihilated, it is this modern day cultural assimilation that succeeded the Indigenous Residential School System and the Indian Act embodies colonialism and genocide (Larkin, November 4,
Lives for Native Americans on reservations have never quite been easy. There are many struggles that most outsiders are completely oblivious about. In her book The Roundhouse, Louise Erdrich brings those problems to light. She gives her readers a feel of what it is like to be Native American by illustrating the struggles through the life of Joe, a 13-year-old Native American boy living on a North Dakota reservation. This book explores an avenue of advocacy against social injustices. The most observable plight Joe suffers is figuring out how to deal with the injustice acted against his mother, which has caused strife within his entire family and within himself.
Thomas King uses an oral story-telling style of writing mingled with western narrative in his article “You’re Not the Indian I Had in Mind” to explain that Indians are not on the brink of extinction. Through this article in the Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada textbook, King also brings some focus to the topic of what it means to be “Indian” through the eyes of an actual Aboriginal versus how Aboriginals are viewed by other races of people. With his unique style of writing, King is able to bring the reader into the situations he describes because he writes about it like a story he is telling.
Talking Back to Civilization: Indian Voices from the Progressive Era edited by Frederick E. Hoxie is a book which begins with an introduction into the life of Charles Eastman and a brief overview of the history of Native Americans and their fight for justice and equal rights, it then continues by describing the different ways and avenues of speaking for Indian rights and what the activists did. This leads logically into the primary sources which “talk back” to the society which had overrun their own. The primary sources immerse the reader into another way of thinking and cause them to realize what our societal growth and even foundation has caused to those who were the true natives. The primary sources also expand on the main themes of the book which are outlines in the introduction. They are first and most importantly talking back to the “pale faces”, Indian education, religion, American Indian policy, the image of the Indians presented in America. The other chapters in the book further expanded on these ideas. These themes will be further discussed in the following chapters along with a review of this
The novel “Indian Horse” by Richard Wagamese demonstrates the many conflicts that indigenous people encounter on a daily basis. This includes things such as, the dangers they face and how they feel the need to flee to nature, where they feel the most safe. Another major issue they face is being stripped of their culture, and forcibly made to believe their culture is wrong and they are less of a human for being brought up that way, it makes them feel unworthy. Finally, when one is being criticised for a hobby they enjoy due to their indigenous upbringing, they make himself lose interest and stop the hobby as it makes them different and provokes torment. People who are trying
Generations of native people in Canada have faced suffering and cultural loss as a result of European colonization of their land. Government legislation has impacted the lives of five generations of First Nations people and as a result the fifth generation (from 1980 to present) is working to recover from their crippled cultural identity (Deiter-McArthur 379-380). This current generation is living with the fallout of previous government policies and societal prejudices that linger from four generations previous. Unrepentant, Canada’s ‘Genocide’, and Saskatchewan’s Indian People – Five Generations highlight issues that negatively influence First Nations people. The fifth generation of native people struggle against tremendous adversity in regard to assimilation, integration, separation, and recovering their cultural identity with inadequate assistance from our great nation.
According to conservative conflict theory, society is a struggle for dominance among competing social groups defined by class, race, and gender. Conflict occurs when groups compete over power and resources. (Tepperman, Albanese & Curtis 2012. pg. 167) The dominant group will exploit the minority by creating rules for success in their society, while denying the minority opportunities for such success, thereby ensuring that they continue to monopolize power and privilege. (Crossman.n.d) This paradigm was well presented throughout the film. The European settlers in Canada viewed the natives as obstacles in their quest of expansion by conquering resources and land. They feared that the aboriginal practices and beliefs will disrupt the cohesion of their own society. The Canadian government adopted the method of residential schools for aboriginal children for in an attempt to assimilate the future generations. The children were stripped of their native culture,...
As European domination began, the way in which the European’s chose to deal with the Aborigines was through the policy of segregation. This policy included the establishment of a reserve system. The government reserves were set up to take aboriginals out of their known habitat and culture, while in turn, encouraging them to adapt the European way of life. The Aboriginal Protection Act of 1909 established strict controls for aborigines living on the reserves . In exchange for food, shelter and a little education, aborigines were subjected to the discipline of police and reserve managers. They had to follow the rules of the reserve and tolerate searchers of their homes and themselves. Their children could be taken away at any time and ‘apprenticed” out as cheap labour for Europeans. “The old ways of the Aborigines were attacked by regimented efforts to make them European” . Their identities were threatened by giving them European names and clothes, and by removing them from their tra...
When a native author Greg Sams said that the reservations are just “red ghettos”, the author David disagree with that. He thinks there must be something else beyond that point. After his grandfather died, he somehow changed his mind. Because he could not think anything e...
The Indian Act no longer remains an undisputable aspect of the Aboriginal landscape in Canada. For years, this federal legislation (that was both controversial and invasive) governed practically all of the aspects of Aboriginal life, starting with the nature of band governance and land tenure. Most importantly, the Indian act defines qualifications of being a “status Indian,” and has been the source of Aboriginal hatred, due to the government attempting to control Aboriginals’ identities and status. This historical importance of this legislation is now being steadily forgotten. Politically speaking, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal critics of the Indian act often have insufferable opinions of the limits of the Indian Act’s governance, and often argue to have this administrative device completely exterminated. Simultaneously, recent modern land claim settlements bypass the authority of the Indian Act over specific groups.
“In about half of the Dominion, the aboriginal rights of Indians have arguably been extinguished by treaty” (Sanders, 13). The traditions and culture of Aboriginals are vanishing at a quick pace, and along it is their wealth. If the Canadian Government restore Native rights over resource development once again, Aboriginals would be able to gain back wealth and help with the poverty in their societies. “An influential lobby group with close ties to the federal Conservatives is recommending that Ottawa ditch the Indian Act and give First Nations more control over their land in order to end aboriginal poverty once and for all” (End First). This recommendation would increase the income within Native communities, helping them jump out of
LaDuke, Winona. All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 1999. Print.
Many people today know the story of the Indians that were native to this land, before “white men” came to live on this continent. Few people may know that white men pushed them to the west while many immigrants took over the east and moved westward. White men made “reservations” that were basically land that Indians were promised they could live on and run. What many Americans don’t know is what the Indians struggled though and continue to struggle through on the reservations.
The communities do not want to be marginalized from today’s society, on the contrary, they have both feet in, rather they seek to do is rebuilding their ethnical identity, that is to say, to appropriate according to their values and priorities. Reed Karaim, an experienced writer and journalist in North Dakota and author of Native American Youths: Can new federal programs improves their lives?” (April 24, 2015), reports that The White House recognizes “there is a history of deeply troubling and destructive federal policies and actions that have hurt Native communities, exacerbated severe inequality and accelerated the loss of tribal cultural traditions”. As a result, treaties and passed laws became the legal norm between the government and Native Americans, which were served to establish forced relationships between the conquerors and the conquered. Forced displacement experienced by Indian tribes represented a common form of cultural discrimination for the fact that they were living on their lands
However, it must be noted that Indigenous Australians ached restricted conventional market from the time when colonization took place. Moreover, Kidd (2003) states that there is great suffering that the Indigenous people have undergone such as where Indigenous workers were salaried much less than other non-Indigenous workers. These disparities in class create great gaps in employment till today and Indigenous people are socio-economically disadvantaged in health, employment and also in life expectancy (Nepal & Brown, 2012). According to the result of 2006 Census, the average of the Indigenous people weekly gross income was only $278, whereas the non – Indigenous people weekly income was $473 (Australian Bureau of Statistics,