Something that really worries me is how little
Canadians know about the issues that are occurring in their own
backyard. I must say I am not perfect, and I am constantly learning,
which is what everyone should do. This is why I have set out this summer
to learn as much as I can about the issues aboriginals face within
Canada. In international development we are constantly learning about
other countries and the trials and tribulations the people in different
ethnic communities have. Not once have we learned about aboriginal
history or the current day problems they incur. It is not right. Since
taking my environmental assessment classes I have begun to be very
interested in the issues facing aboriginal communities and increasingly,
their culture. My Canadian geography class (that I took with
Kelsey Herglotz)
opened my eyes to the different core and periphery regions of Canada
and I realized how fortunate I am not only to be Canadian, but to live
in Southern Ontario. I hope to continue my learning and hopefully do a
masters in northern environments and culture, it truly fascinates me.
Recently I did a presentation on Aboriginal issues
in Canada for my geography class. It felt so good to express what I find
to be such an important topic. I hope people learned something from it,
just like I learned something from their presentations.
A little summary from my presentation:
A meaningful quote:“ The adoption at
treaty of your family by mine held promise of a good future for our
children… You became my relative at this treaty, you are my relative
today, and our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and
so on, will be relatives in the future. We have an obligation,
Kiciwamanawak, you and I, to make things right between us so that the
future generations do not inherit our missed opportunity” -–Harold Johnson Two Families treaties and government
Colonization
Once again we hear about the white man going over
to what they think is a new place (when it’s actually already
inhabited!) and abusing it. The aboriginals opened the Europeans with
open arms; offering them food, materials, and everything they had to
share with them, but instead the Europeans diminished the aboriginal’s
wildlife so they had no food, spread disease, and on top of all that
made written treaties. What’s wrong with treaties? Well a) they were
written in a foreign language b) aboriginal culture supports oral
agreements that are not bound to forever and c) yeah they’ll give you
all their land and move on reserves while you exploit all the resources
they have. That sounds like fun. Sign me up. NOT. Anyways so that’s the
summary of treaties/colonization from this girl but there’s a lot more
info out there.
Residential Schools
This was not a proud moment for Canada. If you
haven’t heard about residential schools you need to listen (or read I
guess) carefully. Starting in the 19th Century and peaking
around 1934 the government decided that “modernizing” aboriginals and
making them like all other Canadians was what was best so they created
residential schools. They figured that children were ‘easiest to mold’
so they took thousands of aboriginal children out of their homes and put
them in schools that would teach them English and Christian &
Canadian customs. Children spent about 10 months of the year in poor
living conditions and abused regularly and then dropped back into their
communities. It was very hard for the aboriginal students to try and
deal with going back into a culture that they have been taught to hate.
The effects of residential schools, in my opinion, are still being felt
to this day and some forms of this same “assimilation” is still going on
within the school system.
Unemployment
One last thing that I want to talk about is the
unemployment/labor participation rate. The unemployment rate for
aboriginal people is more than double than the Canadian average. Many
unintelligent people would look at this and huff and puff and say that
it’s all their fault for not working and they get so much from the
government and blah blah blah (I’ve had this argument before). This is
far from the actual story. If you look at the labor force participation
rate, which is the amount of people working and looking for work, the
difference between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians is not much
different. Also, there are many more obstacles that aboriginal people
face such as job market discrimination. I just want to point out that
there are always two sides to the story.
All in all I just want to say, just like mentioned
in the quote, we need to work together to conquer the problems that
happening in our country. It is not all on the government (let’s be
real…….they’re not awesome at it) or all on the aboriginal people or
even all on us; we need to collaborate and promote equality. I can’t
help but take on a little responsibility for what the Europeans did when
they first arrived because I enjoy so many of the benefits that Canada
has to offer as a developed nation. We can’t reverse everything that
happened in the past, but we can change our attitudes and do something
productive instead of destructive (educate yourself!).
If you want a good read the expresses aboriginal history through an aboriginal Canadian’s perspective read the short book: Two Families treaties and government by Harold Johnson. It’s a really easy read.
What are your feelings about the issues Aboriginals face in Canada?
What are the most prevailing issues? What should we be doing?
