First Nations: Walking the Path of Social Change

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First Nations Walking the Path of Social Change
Dreams of the Past, 1928. Photographer Henry
Metzger (1876-1949), National Archives of Canada
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Defining an Aboriginal

• Under the Canadian Constitution of 1982
  aboriginal Canadian are defined as status Indian,
  Inuit and Métis
• The term Indian is a legal term employed by the
  federal government that places individual with
  this label in a special category, subject to the
  rules and regulation of the Indian act.
• "Inuit" is the term which Eskimo have for
  themselves and means "The People".  The term
  "Eskimo" was given the Inuit by the Cree and
  meant "Eaters of Raw Meat".
• The term Métis represents the offspring of
  Indian-European marriages

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History

• Aboriginal peoples served as partners in
  exploration and trading
• Land Treaties
• Colonization
• subjugation of anothers culture
• Assimilation
• to prepare Aboriginal Peoples for absorption into
  Canadian society
• Christianization
• Enfranchisement
• the method envisioned for Indians to obtain
  citizenship and thus be fully recognized a
  Canadians
• Land Surrender
• Government Authority

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Indian Act of 1876

• Legislated Colonization
• Concentrated Gov. Authority
• Defined Enfranchisement Process

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Changes in the Indian Act

• The three principles that guided the amendments
  to the Indian Act were
• removal of discrimination
• restoring status and membership rights and
• increasing control of Indian bands over their own
  affairs.

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Health

• Infant Mortality Rate

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Life Expectancy for Indian and Total Canadian
Population (Men)
Source Statistics Canada, Age and Sex,
Aboriginal Data
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Women
Source Statistics Canada, Age and Sex Aboriginal
Data,
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Education

• In fact, an Indian youngster growing up in
  Canada has a better chance of being sent to
  prison than of going to university.
• Canadian Human Rights Commission

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Barriers to Education

• Historical
• Residential Schooling
• Historically, the formal schooling of Aboriginal
  people was dominated by a philosophy of
  assimilation, whereby indoctrination into a
  European, Christian worldview was the means
  toward "civilizing" the Indian. Jurisdiction over
  Aboriginal education was federal, under the
  government's constitutional responsibility for
  "Indians and Lands reserved for the Indians", and
  guided by provisions in the Indian Act. The
  Indian Act, passed in 1876, remains the
  cornerstone of contest over the rightful place of
  Aboriginals within the Canadian federation.
• Federal policy for Aboriginal education
  established and administered day schools on
  reserves, and residential schools beginning in
  1874. The residential schools were located away
  from Aboriginal communities, forcing the
  separation of children from their families.
  Christian religion was the foundation of
  teachings, and many children endured significant
  physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The closing
  of residential schools began in the 1960s in
  conjunction with the increasing political
  organization of indigenous nations in Canada,
  however the school system remains a source of
  pain and bitterness for Aboriginal people. This
  experience contributed to many of the social
  problems facing indigenous communities today.

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Barriers Contd

• Societal
• lack of role models in community
• Discrimination
• In interviews done with Aboriginal university
  graduates for a 1992 report on a transition
  program at the University of Manitoba,
  respondents felt that among the key factors that
  dissuaded Aboriginal Peoples from entering
  university were the lack of role models who had
  undertaken university programs and inadequate
  schooling before university. Interviewees felt
  that the lack of role models meant university
  was generally not seen as a viable option for
  Aborigianl people.
• Weak standing of Aboriginal groups at
  post-secondary level reflected a poor foundation
  at the early and secondary levels of education.
• Researcher Kirkness and Barnhardt suggest that to
  Aboriginal people, the university represent an
  impersonal and hostile environment in which their
  culture, traditions and values are not
  recognized, and their expected to leave their
  culture behind and assume the trappings of a new
  form of reality

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Barriers Contd

• Geographic and Demographic
• poverty and lack of financial support
• Aboriginal students often leave financial and
  care networks to attend universities and
  colleges.
• Most programs offered that are specific to
  Aboriginal learners at the post-secondary level,
  other than those offered through community
  delivery, are in urban centres where the cost of
  living is higher.
• Statistical evidence and interviews indicate that
  family responsibilities often keep Aboriginal
  students from staying in school.

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Barriers Contd

• Cultural barriers
• Often little of what Aboriginal students bring in
  the way of cultural knowledge, traditions and
  values is recognized or respected in the
  post-secondary system.
• University world is very different from
  Aboriginal reality.
• Almost all faculty are from different cultural
  and socio-economic groups than Aboriginal
  students. Most do not have any depth or
  understanding of Aboriginal culture, traditions
  and core values, neither do they recognize they
  diversity of Aboriginal communities.
• The percentage of Aboriginal staff at the
  post-secondary level does not reflect the general
  population.

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Barriers Contd

• Individual/personal barriers
• Poor self-concept and motivation were central
  themes in literature and interviews. They were
  manifest in a sense of powerlessness, apathy,
  poor mental and physical health, anger and
  frustration.
• Home communities may also have insufficient
  family or institutional support to assist them in
  terms of development.

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• Aboriginal Peoples face a variety of barriers
  that
• limit their participation in post-secondary
• education. Institutions must develop a greater
• understanding of Aboriginal people, and the
• historic and social barriers they face, before a
• real difference will be seen in the number of
• Aboriginal people who succeed in pursuing
• higher education.

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• to suggest that Aboriginal rights should be no
  different from those of other Canadians denies
  history. It ignores the original agreements by
  which this land was opened up. Those agreements
  confirmed rights and obligations.
• Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

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Land Claims

• Land claims have been a major issue with
  Aboriginals for well over two centuries and a
  significant portion of land in Canada is being
  disputed by Aboriginal Peoples.
• Comprehensive claims
• - Aboriginal Peoples traditional use and
  occupancy of land
• - Land title
• - Specified hunting, fishing and trapping rights
• - Financial compensation
• Specific claims - Obligations under the treaties
  and the Indian Act not being met by the Federal
  Government

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• Peace and Friendship Treaties were attempts to
  resolve land ownership, however were not meant as
  negotiations over these land ownerships.
• In 1927, Section 141 of the Indian Act prohibited
  status Indians from raising money or retaining a
  lawyer to pursue a land claim.
• By 1930s, Aboriginal Peoples acquired sufficient
  land for agricultural, residential and industrial
  development.

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• In 1990, a Trilateral Structure was introduced.
• - A six-stage process for ending the completion
  of a treaty
• - Involving Federal, Provincial Governments and
  First Nations
• Federal Governments aim to secure title to the
  land and extinguishing all claims.
• Aboriginal Peoples aim wanted the comprehensive
  claims agreement to affirm their aboriginal
  rights and to increase economic development and
  help Aboriginal communities achieve
  self-sufficiency.

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• December 1997, Supreme Court of Canada ruled that
  Aboriginal Peoples have a constitutional right to
  own their ancestral lands.
• Aboriginal right to title cannot be sold except
  to the Crown and land is communally owned by
  Aboriginal Peoples and have exclusive right to
  use the lands.
• Overall, Aboriginal title must be taken into
  account when any form of development takes place.
  The Commission concluded that adequate lands and
  resources are imperative if Aboriginal Peoples
  are ever to escape the cycle of dependency and
  take their rightful place in Canadian Society.

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IPPERWASH / HARRIS

• The United Nations agency reported that it was
• deeply concerned that the State party so far has
  failed to hold a thorough public inquiry into the
  death of an Activist who was shot dead by
  provincial police during a peaceful demonstration
  regarding land claims in September of 1995 at
  Ipperwash. The Committee strongly urges a public
  inquiry into all aspects of the matter, including
  the role and responsibility of public officials
  (1999)

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Conclusion

• Renegotiating Aboriginal peoples relationship
  with the Canadian government and Canadian society
  is occurring alongside a renegotiation of Native
  identities. There are several monumental tasks
  confronting Canadas aboriginal communities.
  These tasks must overcome a history of domination
  and paternalism, and maintain ties to ancestral
  knowledge and traditions, all the while
  participating in a modern, global environment