Research Paper Example: How Have the Aboriginal People in Canada Experienced Racism in the 1930's and 1960's?

Canada is nation believed to be highly reputable and considered blemish less of any racial discrimination, but is this belief entirely correct? This paper is intended to challenge this notion by providing historical evidence and facts that Aboriginal population experienced racial discrimination in the periods of 1930's and 1960's particularly in the levels of federal legislations, schooling and education systems and eventually in the social and economic aspects of living. First federal provisions of the Indian Act were enacted by the Euro-Canadian government, and these laws not only purposed to demean but also to oppress the native community based on the fact that they were culturally different. The legislations served its object by providing limitations at the level of self- government, property rights, legal offenses, and enfranchisement. Secondly, the establishment of residential schools, where a high number of students were of native origin acted as breeding for human atrocities. The students suffered abuse in various aspects including sexual, emotional and language. The native students were discriminated against based on the fact that they were of different cultural backgrounds and at worst the existing rules at that time encourage the perpetrators of these hideous acts to indulge in their ways without any action taken against them. Lastly, social hierarchy served as a conduit that enables racism against the Aboriginal people to flourish. Stereotypic assumptions and racial preference in securing of employment, violence against Aboriginal women and disparity in healthcare systems are among the many issues that supported racism against the native person. The result of this racial discrimination is that the Indigenous community suffered mental and emotional depression that denied them the ability to self-determination and eventually culminated to a low standard of living and disproportionate disease burden.

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Research notes

The 19th century seems to be the focal point of racism especially if we consider the events that that occurred in the period of 1930's and 1960's. In this paper, I will attempt to give examples of historical facts that contradict this Canadian belief and argue that among the communities that belong to this nation, the Aboriginal people are the ones who have suffered greatly and even up to date they are still trying to recover from effects that racism impacted on them.

To begin with, disparities in political, economic and healthcare systems due to racial discrimination have significantly contributed to the mental and ill-health of aboriginal people and have substantially reduced their ability to self-determine and self-government (Simpson, Eaton and Yinger 91).

First, the federal legislations enacted by the government not only restricted their rights but also purposed to infringe on their cultural aspects of life (Lavoie et al. 125). These laws provided limitations to the Aboriginal people at various levels including,

self-government by dismantling and prohibiting traditional customs that formed the basis of leadership (Irlbacher-Fox and Stephanie 133).

restricting land right by allowing the native people only to purchase but not pre-empting of land (Flanagan et al. 55).

banning sales of agricultural products derived from the acquired land (Brook 1).

infringing on the rights to will and inheritance of an estate (Edmond 19).

putting up special penalties for Indians who committed offenses like sales of liquor or just by conviction (Bracken et al. 65)

restricting the utilization of government privileges unless the native persons embrace enfranchisement which purposed to eradicate their culture (Hall 75).

Secondly, the system of residential schools contributed to the perpetuation of unethical behavior like sexual, emotional and language abuse that the native children faced in pursuit of civic education. There are various ways that this type of system oppressed the native students, and they include some of the following;

Application of half-day system of education was meant to reduce the cost of operating schools instead of benefiting the students in terms of education (Nagy, Rosemary and Sehdev70).

the students also suffered sexual, emotional and language perpetrated by who charged with the responsibility of overseeing their affairs in school (MacDonald, David and Hudson 430).

incarceration as early as the age of 6 and abuse at the correction institution. Also, the parents of the convicted child were to be arrested if they failed to comply with this policy (Dorell 32).

Lastly, the Aboriginal population was racially discriminated in the aspect of social and economic status. This manifested in the following ways;

Stereotypic assumptions and racial preference in recruitment and selections for employment opportunities (Friedel, Tracy 1).

Aboriginal women also suffered a great deal of social violence which was as result of the colonial ideology of racial misogyny. Aboriginal women were treated as social misfits and were considered to be of low social status. This translated to devastating effects of both physical and social violence with reports of missing women and murder cases as well (Lund 49).

Disparities in health care served to demoralize aboriginal people and made the loose trust in the healthcare system, which consequently translated to disproportionate disease burden and low life expectancy. The dominant groups justified these societal crimes by claiming that they were sacrifices that had to be made in the pursuit of advanced civilization (Haskell, Lori and Randall 1).

Creation of reserves that isolated the Aboriginal people from the rest of communities, denying them the ability to grow economically (Haskell, Lori and Randall 1

Introduction

The Canadian nation considers itself to be free of racial prejudice and discrimination at any level, but is this belief true? Time after time history has managed to prove us wrong and therefore it is a question of whether to assess the facts that point out to this or blindly accept this belief regardless of the historical evidence? In this paper, I intend to contest this notion and argue out the facts that Canada just like America and other European countries has a history of racial segregation and discrimination especially if we consider the Aboriginal population, who are victims of this menace. I intend to unveil the evidence of racial discrimination against the Aboriginal people based on the context of judicial legislations, schooling and educations system and the social-economic aspects of life.

Federal legislations

To begin with, we all acknowledge that federal policies are constituted not only to guide the people but also to ensure equality and justice regardless of the race, background or ethnic diversity. Therefore, in my opinion, these legislations should be fair and do not discriminate any citizen, in that they should not incline favor one community or one race and oppress the others. No one is above the law and incases of any legal offense; the penalties should apply to everyone equally. Putting this in mind, I can challenge the belief that Canada is country free from any level of racism because of historical facts, especially in the 1930s, show that the laws enacted by the federal government did not play right to the aboriginal communities, that is, the Indian Act. The laws restricted their rights and infringed on both their social and economic aspects of life. It occurred at various levels that included self-government, property ownership rights that included restrictions in pre-empting of land and sales of agricultural product, infringement in rights of will and inheritance of estate and even injustice in execution of legal offense penalties (Lavoie et al. 125).

Self-governance

The official discovery that first nations once had their legitimate political systems is quite recent. In the pre-colonial period and to great extent post-colonial, the first nations did not rely on formal systems, but instead, they had their traditional norms of organizing, operating and recording their political ideologies. Some of these standards include potlatch ceremonies and oral traditions among others. These federal government did not appreciate these systems and opted to thwart them by trying to impose a true political idea, Euro-Canadian policies on diverse native societies (Irlbacher-Fox and Stephanie 133). The federal government enacted legislations the not only undermined these systems but also purposed to nullify and do away with them as well.

First, there was a limited acknowledgment to indigenous traditions of self-government. The existing chiefs were allowed to serve their terms only until their demise, resignation or disposition by the federal government. The legislation provided limited power to the local government, for example, making decisions concerning public healthcare and managing peace, but even these decisions were subject to assessment and confirmation by the federal government. Further amendments to the legislations gave more control to the federal government, providing it a power to be the sole selector and controller of council bands, a condition in which the local chiefs had no political say, and to strip the traditional leaders of their authorities unless elected. The laws also allowed the federal government to disband traditional leaders and prohibit their reelection.

Secondly, the government made attempts to eradicate the local traditional ceremonies. To the aboriginals, these rituals, for example, the West Coast potlatch and Winter dance symbolized social-cultural and political avenues of consolidating leadership, social orders and affirming property rights like the acquisition of ownership, inheritance, and transfer of the property. The federal government deemed these ceremonies as symbols of tribalism, an issue that they were trying to eliminate and even stamped it as a criminal offense to participate in any of them. There are reports of the Canadian government Haudesaunee traditional leaders, raiding council halls and seizing official records of government and installing the Indian Act.

Property ownership rights

The Canadian government also enacted policies that not only undermined but also prohibited the aboriginal communities from property ownership. Some of these include restrictions on land ownership, restrictions in rights to sell agricultural products and constraints in wills and inheritance of estates.

First, legislations were put in place to prevent aboriginal people from pre-empting lands, that is, homesteading. The laws allowed the first nation's individual to only purchase but not pre- empty the land. It was after an incident where an Indian man offered to buy part of Crown land at a public sale in British Columbia. The sales-conducting officer, Colonel Moody was very surprised and expressed a shocking reaction that he felt the need to consult the colonial secretary via writing to provide him with guidelines. The secretary replied three weeks later after having consulted the governor that there could not be any objections. This provision was upheld until 1948. Moreover, there was a second rule that restricted any Indian individual from playing the role of an agent for homesteads as mandatory requiring of securing an available occupation vacancy. The practical effects of these legislations permitted non-native settlers to pre-empt 320 acres of land while the future reserve aboriginal people were limited to only 20 acres per head of the family of five members (Flanagan et al. 55).

Secondly, some provisions restricted the first nations individual's right to sell agricultural products. Amendments to section 1 of the Indian Act prohibited any Indian person from in sales of agricultural products that are grown from the reserves terr...