ABORIGINALSPAST AND PRESENT

Brian 804

Indian Act (Past- Political)

During the Indian Act, First Nations became wards of the states who lived on the reserves. This means the Aboriginals were under the protection from the government. The aboriginals who lived on the reserves got Indian Status and Aboriginals who didn’t live on the reserves got enfranchisement. First Nations weren’t allowed to vote or drink alcohol because the government didn’t believe that the Aboriginals were equal as them. The Aboriginals weren’t allowed to vote until 1963 because of their religious beliefs. Also, the government introduce a new policy enfranchisement. This means the only way for the Aboriginals to vote was to give up their Indian Status. A very few Aboriginals were enfranchisement from 1876 to 1918 with 102 Aboriginals. The government did this because they wanted to eliminate the Aboriginals lifestyle. When a first nation women married a non-first nation man, the first nation women would lose the Indian Status because the first nation women is leaving the reserves. When a non-first nation women married a first nation man , the non-first nation women wouldn’t gain the Indian Status because the non-first nation women would leave the reserves. Therefore most of the Aboriginals loss their Indian Status.

Indian Act (Past part 2- Political and Social )

The government set licenses allowing timber to be cut and removed from the Aboriginals land. The Aboriginals were confused because they were giving their land for settlement and didn’t understand the government can take their resources from them. The government did this because they wanted more recourses to build the railroad to B.C. The government also banned Potlatches which was one of the most important Aboriginal dances in the west. Aboriginals went against the law doing Potlatch ceremony. Therefore 50 Aboriginals got arrested, 22 Aboriginals went to jail for 2 months and 100 of Potlatch items were confiscated. In 1951, it was legal for the Aboriginals to do their Potlatch ceremony dance. The government did this because after World War 2 Canadians became more aware of human rights. This created the Indians to practice their customs and culture. In 1969, Prime Minister Trudeau proposed a white paper policy of achieving greater equality for Indians. To do this, he proposed to eliminate the Indian Act and dismantle the Department of Indian Affairs. Indians would essentially become like other Canadian citizens. Many of the Aboriginals rejected the white paper because they felt that assimilating into mainstream Canadian society was not the means to achieve equality. They wanted to maintain a legal distinction as Indian people. Due to this widespread resistance against the white paper, the policy was eventually abandoned by the federal government.

Buffalo and Caribou Road (Past-Economics)

When the Aboriginals gave up their land in return the French help the Aboriginals in the fur trade by trading buffalos. This created the French to be trusted. The British used treaties to trade with money and goods such as guns and blankets. Guns can kill the buffalo more quickly and blankets can give warmth. Buffalo is a sport in Canada and the US causing the buffalo to decrease and the Aboriginals will have a harder time hunting the buffalo. The farmer killed the buffalos because the buffalos were stepping in their crops causing them to decrease.Miners ignored the Aboriginals land to find new gold to afford the Caribou Road because it cost about 1 million dollars. They had the lumber from taking it from the Aboriginal land. This affected the Aboriginal’s fishing weirs, the miners raided their villages and destroyed scared burial sites by getting the gold. Building the Caribou Road pushed the Animals way. Such as the buffalo causing it to be difficult to hunt the buffalo.

Residential Schools (Past- Political and Social)

The objective of the residential schools were to remove children from their Aboriginal’s families. They did this because the government wanted the children not to be influenced of their families traditions and culture. The government wanted the children to understand their culture and not the Aboriginals. Many of the residential schools took place in churches. Many children died in residential schools from the unhealthy condition. For example, 24%of Aboriginals children across Canada were dying in residential schools. Also, 47% to 75% of children who were discharged from residential schools died shortly when returning home. During the residential schools many children get abused physically, emotionally, sexually and psychologically when rules are broken. One of the rules would be speaking their language. This is a rule because residential schools want to get rid of their culture. They abuse the children because they’ll get scared so they won’t escape the residential schools. The residential schools make it difficult for the children because they’re not breaking the cycle of poverty. Also when they get discharged from the residential schools, they don’t believe they belong anywhere because they hate the white culture and don’t remember the their aboriginals culture because they grew up understanding the white culture.

Residential Schools (Present - Political and Economic)

On June 10 2008, Harper apologize for how they acted to the aboriginals in the past because more than 150,000 Aboriginal children were taken away from their families to go to the residential schools. About 80,000 former residential schools have suffered from social problems. Harper apologized because the residential schools made the aboriginals children lose its cultures. During the residential schools, the aboriginals were forced to ban their religion. Many of the children were physically, emotionally, sexually and psychological abused. This created the children to be unhealthy. These are the reasons why Harper had to apologize to the Aboriginals. In 2007, the Federal Government gave $1.9 billion compensation package for those who were forced to attend the residential schools. The students who went to the residential schools received about $10,000 for their first year if they were still alive until May 30 2005. Any money that was left over from the $1.9 billion compensation package went to Aboriginal students who were in need.

Residential Schools and Poverty (Present - Economic)

Most of the Aboriginals are in poverty because they have no education . They have no education because the residential schools made them not belong anywhere. This created many of the aboriginals to be unemployed causing them to be in poverty. For example, 55.6% of Aboriginals people were living in poverty in Canadian cities in 1995. Regina has the largest population of aboriginals and 24% are in poverty. This means after the residential schools were close most of the aboriginals are in poverty. The unemployment rate for the aboriginals has remained at 15% between 2005 and 2010. There are 44.1% of aboriginals people who do not participate in the labour work force. Many aboriginals have lower employment because they don’t have education, training and skill levels. The aboriginals are in these conditions due to residential schools and reserves.

Court Cases (Present – Political)

Corbiere v. Canada (1999) — John Corbiere and other members of the Batchewana band near Sault St. Marie, Ont., took their band and the federal Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs to court challenging the Indian Act provision that denied band members who lived off reserve the right to vote in band elections. They argued that Sec. 77(1) of the Act violated the equality provision of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.The Supreme Court of Canada agreed, declaring the part of the Act that required electors to be band members "ordinarily resident on the reserve" unconstitutional. The decision led to the changing of the Act, which now defines an elector as someone who is at least 18 and a registered member of the band, and impacted the way some bands formulated their own rules governing membership

Court Cases (Present – Political)

McIvor v. Canada (2009) — This B.C. Court of Appeal decision forced the federal government to amend the Indian Act to eliminate discrimination against the wives and children of non-status Indians. The case was launched by Sharon McIvor, a B.C. aboriginal woman who had married a non-status Indian, and her son, who was married to a non-Indian and could not legally pass on Indian status to his children.McIvor and her son, Charles Grismer, launched a Charter challenge alleging that Sec. 6 of the Indian Act violated the right to gender equality under Sect. 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Prior to 1985, aboriginal women who married a non-status Indian lost their status while men who married a non-status woman remained status Indians and could confer this status onto their wives and children. The court found that an 1985 amendment to the Indian Act eliminated this provision but left in place provisions that still discriminated against some children of non-status Indians by conferring status to those whose Indian grandparent was a man but not to those whose Indian grandparent was a woman.

Difference Between Aboriginals and European Culture (Past – Social)

Aboriginals Culture

System based on belief and mysticism. Society operates in a state of related. Everything and everyone is related. There is real belief that people objects and the environment are all connected. Law, kinship and mythology reinforce this connectedness. Aboriginal people are, happy to fit in with and exist with the environment and what's happening now. Time is non-linear, cyclical in nature. Time is measured in cyclical events. The seasons are central to this cyclical concept. Authority is based on age, cultural knowledge, and relationship with people. Small-scale authority system. Bureaucratic structures s'et up by outsiders in Aboriginal communities omen fail because those set up in positions of authority can only really have an influence over those that they are related to. Feeling comfortable is measured by the quality of your relationships

Difference Between Aboriginals and European Culture (Past – Social Part 2)

European Culture

Scientific, sceptical. Requiring proof as a basis of belief. Suspicious of mysticism. Compartmentalised society, becoming more so. Identity comes from jobs and material possessions. Do-ers, progress is important. Life seen in term of `getting on". Utilising the environment Time is usually linearly structured and future orientated. The framework of months, years, days etc reinforces the linear structure. Large scale authority systems. Authority given through roles and bureaucracy. A relationship is established by the role. Feeling comfortable is related to how successful you feel you have been in achieving your goals.