Aboriginal women and girls are strong and beautiful. Unfortunately, they often face life-threatening, gender-based violence and disproportionately experience violent crimes because of hatred and racism (Fact Sheet: Violence Against Aboriginal Women , 2013). According to Statistics Canada, Aboriginal woman are three to five times more likely to experience violence than non-Aboriginal women (Fact Sheet: Violence Against Aboriginal Women , 2013). Fortunately, this frightening trend has been noticed and interventions such as the Sisters In Spirit social movement and Kanawayhitowin Campaign have been created to assist in diminishing these violent events.
It is important to first explore the violence against Aboriginal women that occurs before assessing the effectiveness of interventions. Aside from being more likely to experience violence, Aboriginal women also experience severe violence more often, 54% of Aboriginal women versus 37% of non-Aboriginal women (Fact Sheet: Violence Against Aboriginal Women , 2013). They also fear for their lives 44% of the time, which is 11% higher than for non-Aboriginal women (Fact Sheet: Violence Against Aboriginal Women , 2013). Regardless of the statistic, Aboriginal woman regularly experienced higher rates. Furthermore, while the number of non-Aboriginal women reporting the most severe forms of violence declined from 43% in 1999 to 37% in 2004, the number of similar attacks against Aboriginal women remained unchanged at 54% during the same time period (Fact Sheet: Violence Against Aboriginal Women , 2013) demonstrating the need for interventions.
In the past, Aboriginals have been treated as uncivilized, and socially, culturally and intellectually inferior. They were treated as savages and it cor...
... middle of paper ...
...l Approach to Working with Aboriginal Men who are Abusive. Retrieved from Kanawayhitowin: Taking Care of Each Others Spirit: http://www.kanawayhitowin.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=40
Ontario Native Women's Association & Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres. (2007). A Strategic Framework to End Violence Against Aboriginal Women . Ottawa: Ontario Native Women's Association & Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres.
Samphir, H. (2013, September 23). Canada's rejection of inquiry into violence against Aboriginal women is a national disgrace. Retrieved from Rabble: News for the Rest of Us: http://rabble.ca/news/2013/09/canadas-rejection-inquiry-violence-against-aboriginal-women-national-disgrace
The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. (1999). The Justice System and Aboriginal People. Winnipeg: Manitoba Government.
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,
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.
Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. The Justice System and Aboriginal People: Child Welfare. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter14.html.
LaPrairie, C. (1995). Community justice or just communities? Aboriginal communities in search of justice. Canadian Journal of Criminology. 37 (4), 521-535.
In this proposal our team seeks to explore the injustices within the Indian Act. To achieve this our proposed research will examine the target population being the aboriginal woman. The paper will further explore the oppressions faced by the aboriginal women within the Indian Act. In conclusion, this proposal will sum up the negative impact that the Indian Act had on aboriginal women and how it continues to oppress this population within the Canadian National discourse.
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
the Canadian justice system(Brizinski,1993,395) it has over and over again been stated that the present justice system has and is failing Aboriginal people. It is not suited for their cultural needs and does nothing to rehabilitate offenders but rather does the offender more harm then good. It does not address the underlying conditions causing criminal behavior or in assessing what specific needs must be addressed to rehabilitate.
...rial covered in the unit Aboriginal People that I have been studying at the University of Notre Dame Fremantle, Aboriginal people have had a long history of being subjected to dispossession and discriminatory acts that has been keep quite for too long. By standing together we are far more likely to achieve long lasting positive outcomes and a better future for all Australians.
Many Indigenous women are craving for a change in our society and it is time for a change. The women being interviewed came up with a few statements that they would like to see changes too. Firstly, women would love to see the return of Indigenous women’s positions in Indigenous societies. Regarding the equality of women and men. In Indigenous cultural women were viewed as life-givers and care givers of life. This gave women a great reasonability of the children and the future generations. “Women figured centrally in almost all Aboriginal creation legends. In Ojibway and Cree legends, it was a woman who came to earth through a hole in the sky to care for the earth.” Women were treated as an essential part of life, unlike how they felt after the Indian Act. Secondly, Indigenous women would like to set differences aside and work together with other races in making our society much more bearable for women. Thirdly, they want to set focus in Indigenous youth and creating a better education and guidance program for those who are new to urban areas. Granted, they are the next
Despite the decreasing inequalities between men and women in both private and public spheres, aboriginal women continue to be oppressed and discriminated against in both. Aboriginal people in Canada are the indigenous group of people that were residing in Canada prior to the European colonization. The term First Nations, Indian and indigenous are used interchangeably when referring to aboriginal people. Prior to the colonization, aboriginal communities used to be matrilineal and the power between men and women were equally balanced. When the European came in contact with the aboriginal, there came a shift in gender role and power control leading towards discrimination against the women. As a consequence of the colonization, the aboriginal women are a dominant group that are constantly subordinated and ignored by the government system of Canada. Thus today, aboriginal women experiences double jeopardy as they belong to more than one disadvantaged group i.e. being women and belonging to aboriginal group. In contemporary world, there are not much of a difference between Aboriginal people and the other minority groups as they face the similar challenges such as gender discrimination, victimization, and experiences injustice towards them. Although aboriginal people are not considered as visible minorities, this population continues to struggle for their existence like any other visible minorities group. Although both aboriginal men and women are being discriminated in our society, the women tends to experience more discrimination in public and private sphere and are constantly the targeted for violence, abuse and are victimized. In addition, many of the problems and violence faced by aborigin...
Neylan (2013) suggests that the Aboriginal women of Vancouver have perhaps experienced a similar and lingering attitude to those of the colonists. As well, it seems the Canadian justice system has also retained some of the same cruel and biased ideologies as its earlier colonialists. Neylan identifies a parallel here, explaining both colonists and the current justice system treat natives in a demeaning manner, disregarding the value of human life because of an indigenous lab...
Today, Native American women continue to be victimized and remain vulnerable targets within, their communities, reservations, tribal law enforcement agencies, and federal law enforcement agencies. In order to restore peace and justice for Native women we first need to have critical and substantive discussion regarding all aspects of sexual assault on r...
No community in Canada comes into conflict with criminal justice system officials more disproportionately than Aboriginals (Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.77). Indeed, Aboriginal Canadians are often subject to both overt and unintended discrimination from Canadian law enforcement due in large part to institutionalized reputations as chronic substance abusers who are incapable of reform (Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.77-78). One of the more startling contemporary examples of this is the case of Frank Paul; a Mi’kmaq Canadian who was left to die in a Vancouver alley by officers of the Vancouver Police Department after being denied refuge in a police “drunk tank”. Not surprisingly, this event garnered significant controversy and public outcry amongst Canada’s Aboriginal population who have long been subject to over-policing and persistent overrepresentation as offenders in the Canadian criminal justice system (Jiwani & Dickson-Gilmore, 2011, p.43 & 81).
The education of Aboriginal people is a challenge that has been a concern for many years and is still an issue. However, it remains the best way young people can climb out of poverty. With the colonialization and the oppression of Aboriginals, there have been many lasting side effects that continue to be affecting the Aboriginal youth today. “While retention and graduation rates have improved among urban Aboriginal population, an educational gap still remains between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in urban settings” (Donovan, 127). Many suffer from a diminished self-worth, as they do not feel valued and feel inferior to their classmates. In this essay I am going to outline the reasons Aboriginals are struggling, discuss what is being done
All through Canada hundreds of indigenous women have been going missing and turning up dead. This problem has been around for years and there are more than four hundred and fifty cases reported across Canada. After many cases where left unsolved and forgotten the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was created.