In 1534, when Jacque Cartier first voyaged to Canada, the first disrespectful action against the Indigenous community took place. Due to a geographical error, the European’s addressed the persons as ‘Indians’, which, unfortunately, is a term still used today. Today, the Canadian Government is still not respecting the Indian Act Peace Treaty, taking away the FNMI communities rights and unsatisfactorily providing the group financially, socially, and environmentally. On July 11th until September 26th of 1990 , the controversial protest over the government’s plans to abolish a Mohawk reserve in order to build a recreational golf course on the traditional land took place. This is such a notorious landmark in time due to the fact that it was one …show more content…
In Aboriginal reserves, the chances of employment are significantly lower than if you were to live off- reserve because of common barriers. An example of a common barrier affecting the employment rates is literacy and education levels as 24% of 15 to 24 year olds will eventually graduate, limiting their skills for a job . Another barrier that can get in the way of their employment chances is their cultural differences that often lead employers to decide against hiring them due to the commonly known negative stereotypes that are associated with them . Additionally, their lack of job opportunities on-reserve forces FNMI persons to leave the reserve, which leads to the problem of their lack of transportation . Along with the Indigenous income rate, this sets them up for failure. In 2006, the median income for Indigenous persons was 30% lower than the rest of Canada and for the gap to be erased, it would take 63 years . It is said that the Aboriginal’s with a bachelor degree have much reduced income problems, although only 8% actually have them as 32% of Indigenous people do not have a Secondary School Diploma . The Government does have the ‘Income Assistance Program’ which about one hundred and sixty-one thousand people benefit from and on some reserves, 80% of the community depend on this program
Glen Coulthard’s “Resentment and Indigenous Politics” discusses the politics of recognition that are currently utilized within Canada’s current framework of rectifying its colonial relationship with Indigenous peoples. Coulthard continues a discussion on reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and the state that recognizes the three main methods of reconciliation: the diversity of individual and collective practices to re-establish a positive self relation, the act of restoring damaged social and political relationships and the process in which things are brought to agreement and made consistent.
This paper supports Thomas Flanagan's argument against Native sovereignty in Canada; through an evaluation of the meanings of sovereignty it is clear that Native sovereignty can not coexist with Canadian sovereignty. Flanagan outlines two main interpretations of sovereignty. Through an analysis of these ideas it is clear that Native Sovereignty in Canada can not coexist with Canadian sovereignty.
Fleras, Augie. “Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: Repairing the Relationship.” Chapter 7 of Unequal Relations: An Introduction to Race, Ethnic and Aboriginal Dynamics in Canada. 6th ed. Toronto: Pearson, 2010. 162-210. Print.
Introduction “We are all treaty people” Campaign. The year 1907 marked the beginning of treaty making in Canada. The British Crown claims to negotiate treaties in pursuance of peaceful relations between Aboriginal peoples and non-Aboriginals (Canada, p. 3, 2011). Treaties started as agreements for peace and military purposes but later transformed into land entitlements (Egan, 2012, p. 400).
"Contact & Conflict: First Nations, French, & English in Canada." Canada's First Peoples. N.p., 2007. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. .
Canada likes to paint an image of peace, justice and equality for all, when, in reality, the treatment of Aboriginal peoples in our country has been anything but. Laden with incomprehensible assimilation and destruction, the history of Canada is a shameful story of dismantlement of Indian rights, of blatant lies and mistrust, and of complete lack of interest in the well-being of First Nations peoples. Though some breakthroughs were made over the years, the overall arching story fits into Cardinal’s description exactly. “Clearly something must be done,” states Murray Sinclair (p. 184, 1994). And that ‘something’ he refers to is drastic change. It is evident, therefore, that Harold Cardinal’s statement is an accurate summarization of the Indigenous/non-Indigenous relationship in
Living in Canada, there is a long past with the Indigenous people. The relationship between the white and First Nations community is one that is damaged because of our shameful actions in the 1800’s. Unnecessary measures were taken when the Canadian government planned to assimilate the Aboriginal people. Through the Indian Act and Residential schools the government attempted to take away their culture and “kill the Indian in the child.” The Indian Act allowed the government to take control over the people, the residential schools took away their culture and tore apart their families, and now we are left with not only a broken relationship between the First Nations people but they are trying to put back together their lives while still living with a harsh reality of their past.
The Indian act, since being passed by Parliament in 1876, has been quite the validity test for Aboriginal affairs occurring in Canada. Only a minority of documents in Canadian history have bred as much dismay, anger and debate compared to the Indian Act—but the legislation continues as a central element in the management of Aboriginal affairs in Canada. Aboriginal hatred against current and historic terms of the Indian Act is powerful, but Indigenous governments and politicians stand on different sides of the fence pertaining to value and/or purpose of the legislation. This is not shocking, considering the political cultures and structures of Aboriginal communities have been distorted and created by the imposition of the Indian Act.
However, Canada is working towards incremental equality when regarding this concept, which in turn, impacts reconciliation. The most universal outcomes of the physical environments of reserves are to do with substantial housing shortages and poor quality of existing homes. With the lack of affordable housing off reserves, there is overcrowding in First Nation communities, as well as homelessness for Aboriginals living in urban areas, (Reading & Wien, 2009, p.8). Homes that exist on reserves lack appropriate ventilation, which results in mold, which in turn can lead to severe asthma as well as allergies. Families on reserves do not have access to a fresh supermarket that carries nutritious foods because they live in a remote community. With this being said, health conditions may develop in Aboriginal peoples because of the lack of healthy, nutritious food. Canada is working towards equality within the physical environments as William F. Morneau (2016) describes, “Budget 2016 proposes to invest $8.4 billion over five years, beginning in 2016-17, to improve the socio-economic conditions of Indigenous peoples and their communities and bring about transformational change,” (“A Better Future for Indigenous Peoples,” 2016). All of these aspects play a key role in reaching reconciliation throughout
The needs of Aboriginal youth are not being met in mainstream systems. Undoubtedly, with the high dropout rate of “7 out of 10 first nation youth drop out of school” (Donovan, 128), the school system is failing them. Across Canada only “23 percent of the Aboriginal population has their high school diploma” (Donovan, 129). Aboriginal people make up the youngest and fastest growing segment of our population, and yet many still have significantly less education than the general population.
Due to the following reasons and other Canada's racist policies towards Aboriginal people, their unemployment and poor education ratios are very high.
The Indian Act is a combination of multiple legislations regarding the Aboriginal people who reside across Canada, such as the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869 (Hanson, n.p.). The Gradual Civilization Act was the Canadian government's attempt to assimilate the aboriginals into the Canadian society in a passive manner, through a method they encouraged called Enfranchisement. Enfranchisement is basically a legal process that allows aboriginals to give up their aboriginal status and accept a Canadian status (Crey, n.p.). This process, while under the Gradual Civilization Act, was still voluntary, but became a forced process when the Indian Act was consolidated in 1876 (Hanson, n.p.). The Gradual Enfranchisement Act introduced in 1869 was a major legislation that intruded with the private lives of the aboriginals. First, it established the “elective band council system” (Hanson, n.p.) that grants th...
There’s still work to be done. There’s not enough support for the rights of Indigenous peoples on their lands.”(Ahooja, Burrill, & Higgins, 2010) She is a Montreal-based activist, over the past three decades she’s worked on Canadian social justice issues related to poverty reduction, illiteracy, and the rights of First Nations. She emphasized that Canada is one of the three countries that has yet to sign the UN Resolution on Indigenous Peoples. Attempts were made to get Quebec to put pressure on the federal government and to sign a declaration itself – maybe not the one from the UN because it’s only a province – but that did not work either. This means that, at all levels of government, there haven’t been many changes. (Ahooja et al., 2010) Moreover, the UN Resolution is not very constraining. Boucher deemed, “It could probably have an important impact if they followed it to its endpoint; but the governments deny any rights to Indigenous peoples.” In sum, the Canadian government has kept their attitude to the First Nations and cannot avoid falling into the same old trap
Viewpoints: Indigenous Peoples. Ed. Diane Andrews Henningfeld. Detroit – New York – San Francisco – New Haven, Conn. – Waterville, Maine – London: Greenhaven Press. 2009. 125-134. Print
Vachon, R (1992). The Mohawk Nation and its Communities. Interculture #114, Vol. XXV, No 1, Winter 1992.