Colonialism and Aboriginal History For long years, the First Nations of Canada, the countrys indigenous people, fought for political autonomy and self government. They were fighting against complete assimilation that would result in total destruction of their original culture, lifestyles and traditions. While some individual groups have lost their cultural heritage due to assimilation process, the rest keeps on their struggle for retaining their culture and getting recognized by the government of Canada, which is not an easy task, because they have been simply overwhelmed by the European society and almost totally subdued to their rule. Aboriginal people in Canada are expected to live under Canadian government when they are a different people than those who attempt to preside over them. These Aboriginal people have to come to believe that the respective governments should grant autonomy and that they should be able to be their own separate entity within the already established borders of Canada. (Dalton, p.
114) Frequently in Canada, Aboriginal peoples rights and title to land have been disregarded as the government forces compliance from them. They are dealt with unfairly by the administration that directs this country as several of their claims to land and resources go unnoticed or are retracted when the government chooses. It is treatment like this that harvests frustration in a person, which in turn, leads to fanatical behavior and violent outbursts similar to the one that transpired in the Municipality of Oka in 1990. (McNab, p. 89) When various levels of government failed to come to terms with the issue of land claims with the Mohawk people of Kanesatake and a golf course expansion was planned to go on their land, they decided to take action. It seemed unlikely that these residents of Oka would be able to achieve any results by using conventional methods of participation, so they decided to take a more radical approach.
The Essay on Should There Be Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada/United States of America?
... is that of aboriginals in Canada. The question that is asked is should there be an aboriginal self-government? If the government were to go ... this issue of aboriginal self-government. They expect everyone to believe that they’re doing this for the native people because of back ... in who knows when, when the natives willingly gave up their land to the European settlers in Canada. ...
Many feel that this manifestation of anger was a logical and inevitable outcome of five hundred years of inequality, but what did it accomplish? (McNab, p. 94) The events of the Oka crisis can be viewed as a success on some levels, but also as a failure on others. Several Aboriginals believe that the standoff was successful in drawing attention to Aboriginal issues on land rights, as others that watch the events from the outside feel that the serious issues that provoked the Oka crisis have not been resolved. (McNab, p. 111) Learning about Canadas history lends some background on how the native peoples there became repressed. Surprisingly enough, European settlers and explorers first treated the Natives of North America as a sovereign nation, completely equal in law. Relations between Europeans and Natives varied from friendly trades to hostile battles, yet the Natives were never defeated or surrendered in any way. Conversely, many Indian groups did end up signing treaties with Europeans that would continue to haunt them for generations to come. Once the Natives came under settler rule, the Europeans planned that eventually find a place for Aboriginals in the social contract.
(Sprague, p. 75) Still, this posed a problem for both groups because European settlers could not see the Aboriginal people as fit for inclusion in their society. Instead Indians were seen as a primitive civilization with no rights to citizenship. Soon after, a Royal Proclamation was issued which set the boundaries of Quebec and the guidelines of conduct towards Aboriginals. (Dalton, p.155) This proclamation stated that England would have sovereignty over the Indians and its claim also took away a large amount of Indian land for its European settlers. This gave way to more legislation that would be passed against the Aboriginal peoples. The Constitution Act in 1867 went on to provide the Canadian government with rule over Indian lands and lands reserved for Indians.
The Term Paper on Aboriginal Self Government And The Canadian Justice System
Through the many inquires which have been made over the past decades in to the Canadian justice system (Brizinski, 1993, 395) it has over and over again been stated that the present justice system has and is failing Aboriginal people. It is not suited for their cultural needs and does nothing to rehabilitate offenders but rather does the offender more harm then good. It does not address the ...
This, in turn, made way for the Indian Act, which would be the basis for Canadas Indian policy. This policy was of assimilation until the 1960s and had four components: conversion to Christianity; removal of land by treaty and confinement to reservations; education of Indian children in residential, Christian schools; and introduction of Western-style self-government to the Indians as temporary locations, pending assimilation. (Henderson, p. 132) Some Indians attempted to rebel against these suppressions, but overall they were too weakly organized to accomplish a successful protest. Not until 1969 was the Indian Act repealed, supposedly giving Indians the same rights as all Canadians had. (Dalton, p.171) During this time Natives began to fight the Canadian government for rights to self-government and autonomy. In 1982 Canada issued the Constitution Act, which catered to Indian rights: Nonderogation of Aboriginal rights and treaty rights according to Charter; Gender Equality; Entrenchment of Aboriginal and treaty rights; The promise of a constitutional conference after partition to formulate provisions for Aboriginal rights and self-government that would be added to the constitution as amendments. (Henderson, p.
155) This constitutional conference helped bring Aboriginal autonomy to a new level of recognition. In the eyes of the Aboriginal Canadians, self-government was logically the best way for them to determine their own course in life. Rightfully so, the Indians saw autonomy as a right that they deserved based on the fact that it was well-established in Canada long before any Europeans set foot on their land. Furthermore, the Aboriginals had no recollection of ever surrendering their right to autonomy either. Some were left to feel as if it had been swept out from under their feet without them noticing. Not only was obtaining the rights to self-government a challenge to the Aboriginals, but it was also a challenge to execute.
Natives had to go through the Canadian government to achieve this and begin to deal with their problems of people, place, resources and authority. (Dalton, p.175) For example, the Aboriginal people wanted the ability to decide membership of their cultures, whereas Canadian government currently held that ability through the Indian Act. Also the Aboriginal peoples wanted to become part of Canadas redistribution of wealth that came from Ottawa. The reservations wanted that they could profit from their own lands and also receive resources from Canadian supplies because of its need for equality with the rest of Canada. All these demands from Aboriginal peoples stem from a desire to preserve a traditional way of life and adapt it to contemporary conditions, as Aboriginal peoples see fit, without interference. (Henderson, p. 170) The Aboriginal fight for rights in Canada would continue and still continues to this day.
The Essay on Democracy People Indian Government
Democracy may be a word familiar to most, but still I would like to mention the fact that demos means pertaining to people and k ratios means to rule. Thus this word original coined by the Greeks means rule of people as a whole and not by an individual or a privileged soul. It is a concept still misunderstood and misused in some parts of the world where totalitarian regimes and dictatorships have ...
The Aboriginal peoples of Canada have struggled for decades over the very things that they had no reason to fear losing before the Europeans began to settle in North America. Native peoples saw a foreign body come into their land, spread disease and steal their sacred land from them. The indigenous people were nearly destroyed both by disease and culturally. When these people were finally able to organize themselves despite all the death and assimilation tactics by the European invaders, they were denied the right to have what was rightfully theirs in the first place. This is a disastrous chain of events and it is surprising that even in present times it seems as though things have not been entirely mended. The fight for self-government and autonomy by the Native people continues, accomplishments have been made, such as Canadas continued Acts attempting to assist the indigenous peoples.
This battle between the Aboriginal people of Canada and their government is far from over. The indigenous people are still not treated as they should be. Many more things must be accomplished before Natives can truly consider themselves successful in their goals of self-government and autonomy. It is interesting how white society that has colonized a country that belonged to the First Nations of Canada is reluctant to grant complete autonomy to them, and this issue will continue to trigger contradictory responses within the next couple of decades. Words Count: 1,308.
The Dissertation on Canada Aboriginal
Canada Aboriginal Self Government Recognition of Aboriginal Self Government The Canadian government recognizes inherent rights as based on the understanding that the Aboriginal peoples of Canada have the right to govern themselves on matters internal to their communities. The Crown states that exact litigation over inherent rights would be a difficult, prolonged and costly exercise that could ...
Bibliography:
Dalton, R.
Citizen Politics. New York: Chatham House Publishers of Seven Bridges Press, 2002. Henderson, William B. Canada’s Indian reserves : the usufruct in our constitution. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1990. McNab, D. Circles of Time. Waterloo, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999.
Price, Richard. The Spirit of the Alberta Indian Treaties. Alberta: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1987. Sprague, D. Canada’s treaties with aboriginal people. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, Faculty of Law, Canadian Legal History Project, 1991..
