Under the Wire: Canadian Aboriginals

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 19^th 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?