The Indigenous voices course has taught me many things I didn’t know about the Indigenous people of Canada. The course has taught me that though there are good things that have happened in the past but there are many more bad things that have happened to the Indigenous people of canada, such as their culture, beliefs, and language being forcefully taken from them,the problems that had happened at residential schools, and that there are bad things still happening from past problems and how the government is trying to fix the problems they had started. I have learnt that the Indigenous people of Canada’s lives where once and in some areas still are greatly influenced by their beliefs and traditions even after everything that had happened …show more content…
The Medicine Wheel was used all over Canada, but would vary in coulor depending on what the belief was of that band. The Anishinaabe Medicine Wheel represents the east, south, west and north and used the colors yellow, red, black and white. Calliou has said “Medicine Wheels can be pedagogical tools for teaching, learning, contemplating, and understanding our human journeys at individual, band/community, nation, global. And even cosmic levels.” The fact that the Medicine Wheel has survived through history is amazing and shows how strong the will of the Indigenous people of Canada’s will is, along with the fact that even if you personally don't believe in magic and the supernatural there are things that you can find that relate to you from the Medicine Wheel. I have also learnt that the language of the Indigenous people of Canada is a big part of who they are and who they once were, and even that was almost successfully taken from them. The Indigenous people of Canada and the Inuit would teach the younger generation not by getting them to memorize something but by speaking to them and telling them the lessons …show more content…
One of the first things we looked at in this course is how children were placed in residential schools. The government had a lot of laws and ways to make sure that almost all children were placed in residential schools such as hiring people to take the children. The residential schools to a lot of the children were like a prison, and the canadian government did nothing about this problem until the 1990’s after too much damage had happened. The things that the children had gone through at residential school was too much for some and affected them to the point where death seemed like the best option. The children would run away from the schools trying to get back to their families, some were able to get back to their families but others would turn back and go back to the residential schools or even die. The schools to some were a prison in everything but name, there was no love or comfort only nightmares that are unimaginable. Yet still after all of that the mistreatment still continues with problems such as the underfunding of reservations and overpricing on items in the north. There is visible proof that the government is underfunding the reservations in the fact that not many graduate because there is no high
Some of the residential school students were so scarred from the way they were treated in the schools, that they even started putting the same abuse that they had received in the schools, onto their own children. The abuse has left the students with mental trauma and many of the students were unable to erase the memories of abuse from their minds. Many the survivors of the Canadian Residential Schools have been inflicting their children and spouses with physical abuse similar to the abuse that they had received previously in the Residential Schools. In an article talking about the victimization of aboriginals they stated, “Males who had experienced abuse as children were found to be at a significantly high risk to repeat the cycle of violence with future spouses” (Scrim as cited in McGillivray and Comaskey 1996). This sad cycle shows that even though the last Residential School closed in the late 1990’s, the experiences that students had during their time is still negatively affecting their lives today. Many of the former students of the Canadian Residential Schools have turned to substance abuse in hopes to try and cope with their struggling mental health. It is shocking to see that a school this harsh could have such long lasting impacts on its students. In an article related to helping people understand the trauma
8th Fire: Indigenous in the City, is part of a documentary series that describes the challenges that aboriginal people face when moving to the large cities from reservations. The documentary begins by describing the stereotypes that English Canadians as well as other visible minority groups perceive aboriginal people to be. They show how damaging the stereotypes are to the First Nations, especially in the area of education. The documentary concludes by offering a few some solutions of how to change and improve the relationship between the aboriginal community and the rest of Canada. The two main aspects of the film that I will focus my analysis on is the education system from past to present and the negative impacts it has had on the First Nation’s people as well as aboriginal stereotyping. These two themes were the most prominent topics brought up throughout the film, and while one topic was well argued and framed, the other I will argue was more damaging than educational. I should mention that due to my ethnicity being of aboriginal decent, Métis in particular, I was extremely critical of the film because though these issues need to be addressed publicly, if they are presented in the wrong light, it can cause more negative implications than positives.
This again shows the traumatic effects of residential schools and of cultural, psychological, and emotional upheaval caused by the intolerance and mistreatment of Aboriginals in Canada. Settlers not only displaced Aboriginal people from their land and their homes, but they also experienced emotional trauma and cultural displacement.
Steckley, J., & Cummins, B. D. (2008). Full circle: Canada's First Nations (2nd ed.). Toronto:
Do you know that despite Canada being called multicultural and accepting, Canada’s history reveals many secrets that contradicts this statement? Such an example are Canadian aboriginals, who have faced many struggles by Canadian society; losing their rights, freedoms and almost, their culture. However, Native people still made many contributions to Canadian society. Despite the efforts being made to recognize aboriginals in the present day; the attitudes of European Canadians, acts of discrimination from the government, and the effects caused by the past still seen today have proven that Canadians should not be proud of Canada’s history with respect to human rights since 1914.
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
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.
For decades First Nations people1 faced abuse in Canada's residential school system. Native children had their culture and families torn away from them in the name of solving the perceived “Indian Problem” in Canada. These children faced emotional, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of residential school supervisors and teachers. Since the fazing out of residential schools in the 1960's the survivors of residential schools and their communities have faced ongoing issues of substance addiction, suicide, and sexual abuse.2 These problems are brought on by the abuse that survivors faced in residential schools. The government of Canada has established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to address these issues but it has been largely ineffective. Though the Government of Canada has made adequate efforts towards monetary reparations for the survivors of residential schools, it has failed to provide a means to remedy the ongoing problems of alcohol and drug addiction, sexual abuse, and suicide in the communities of residential school survivors.3
“To kill the Indian in the child,” was the prime objective of residential schools (“About the Commission”). With the establishment of residential schools in the 1880s, attending these educational facilities used to be an option (Miller, “Residential Schools”). However, it was not until the government’s time consuming attempts of annihilating the Aboriginal Canadians that, in 1920, residential schools became the new solution to the “Indian problem.” (PMC) From 1920 to 1996, around one hundred fifty thousand Aboriginal Canadians were forcibly removed from their homes to attend residential schools (CBC News). Aboriginal children were isolated from their parents and their communities to rid them of any cultural influence (Miller, “Residential Schools”). Parents who refrained from sending their children to these educational facilities faced the consequence of being arrested (Miller, “Residential Schools”). Upon the Aboriginal children’s arrival into the residential schools, they were stripped of their culture in the government’s attempt to assimilate these children into the predominately white religion, Christianity, and to transition them into the moderating society (Miller, “Residential Schools”). With the closing of residential schools in 1996, these educational facilities left Aboriginal Canadians with lasting negative intergenerational impacts (Miller, “Residential Schools”). The Aboriginals lost their identity, are affected economically, and suffer socially from their experiences.
The Canadian and American governments designed a residential school system to assimilate Indigenous children into Western society by stripping them of their language, cultural practices as well as their traditions. By breaking these children’s ties to their families and communities, as well as forcing them to assimilate into Western society; residential schools were a root cause of many social problems, which even persist within Aboriginal communities today.
The Indian Residential schools and the assimilating of First Nations people are more than a dark spot in Canada’s history. It was a time of racist leaders, bigoted white men who saw no point in working towards a lasting relationship with ingenious people. Recognition of these past mistakes, denunciation, and prevention steps must be taking intensively. They must be held to the same standard that we hold our current government to today. Without that standard, there is no moving forward. There is no bright future for Canada if we allow these injustices to be swept aside, leaving room for similar mistakes to be made again. We must apply our standards whatever century it was, is, or will be to rebuild trust between peoples, to never allow the abuse to be repeated, and to become the great nation we dream ourselves to be,
which is commonly diagnosed by prolonged pressure to the skin. A decubitus ulcer forms when constant pressure is put on skin and can damage the underlying tissue (Mayo Clinic, 2014). For example, persistent sitting in a wheelchair. It is an injury to the skin that is usually over a bony prominence like the sacrum (Kirman, C. et al. 2014). The National pressure ulcer advisory panel (NPUAP) explains that these sores result in ischemia, cell death, and tissue necrosis to the skin. The categories include four stages and two which are deep tissue injuries (NPUAP). Patients that use a wheelchair and have other disabilities have a higher chance developing pressure sores which limits their opportunity to position themselves (Mayo Clinic, 2014).
The creation of the Residential Schools is now looked upon to be a regretful part of Canada’s past. The objective: to assimilate and to isolate First Nations and Aboriginal children so that they could be educated and integrated into Canadian society. However, under the image of morality, present day society views this assimilation as a deliberate form of cultural genocide. From the first school built in 1830 to the last one closed in 1996, Residential Schools were mandatory for First Nations or Aboriginal children and it was illegal for such children to attend any other educational institution. If there was any disobedience on the part of the parents, there would be monetary fines or in the worst case scenario, trouble with Indian Affairs.
Justice has began to commence for many of Canada’s Indigenous people now that considerably one of our Nation’s darkest secrets has been spilled. The Residential School system was a collection of 132 church-run, government-funded boarding schools that was legally required for all Indigenous Canadian children. Canadian Residential Schools ran up until 1996 and, for decades, the secrets from within the walls of the institutions have been hidden. But now, the truth has finally come to light.
Similar to other marginalized groups affected by colonialism due to the government in power, the Indigenous peoples of Canada have struggled as a nation due to the unequal treatment they have encountered in the past. The governing bodies that control these Indigenous communities have continued to have colonialistic tendencies that attempt to put the ‘white man’s’ needs before the Indigenous peoples.