The Situation of Canada's Indigenous People
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The Situation of Canada’s Indigenous People Problem Areas and Conflicts Throughout the Past Two Hundred Years Vorwissenschaftliche Arbeit verfasst von Ella Stukenkemper Betreuer: Prof. Gerald Michael Schwarz 8e / 2020 Musisches Gymnasium, Haunspergstraße 77, A – 5020 Salzburg Abstract A great tragedy has been present in Canada for over 200 years and is still, to this day, a very pressing and current topic within the major first-world country: The injustice that Indigenous peoples in Canada have had to face for a long time and that is still not being worked against sufficiently by the government. This pre-scientific paper examines in what way the occurrences of the past, with European settlers claiming Indigenous lands and trying to assimilate the First peoples to European culture, have shaped the Aboriginal population of Canada and their problems today. Through looking into the topic of residential schools in depth and putting it into relation with the present-day topic of the “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women” (MMIW), this paper aims at finding an explanation to which extent the well-being of Aboriginal peoples in Canada still depends on the occurrences of the past. Thorough literary research was carried out and a survey was conducted at a high school in Vancouver, Canada, in order to present hard facts but also support them with present- day happenings and the opinions of students. Seit über 200 Jahren ereignet sich in Kanada eine Tragödie, die bis heute eine große Bedeutung für das ganze Land hat und ein sehr aktuelles Problem darstellt: Die Diskriminierung, mit der die indigenen Völker in Kanada seit Langem konfrontiert sind und der die Regierung bis heute nur unzureichend entgegen wirkt. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Situation der Eingeborenen Kanadas, seit europäische Siedler ins Land kamen und indigene Territorien beanspruchten. Die Maßnahmen der Siedler, die indigene Bevölkerung an die europäische Kultur anzupassen, hatten großteils dramatische Auswirkungen auf die Urvölker des Landes. Die gründliche Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema der „Vermissten und Ermordeten Indigenen Frauen und Mädchen“ soll erklären, inwieweit das Wohlergehen der Ureinwohner Kanadas noch immer von den Begebenheiten der Vergangenheit geprägt ist. Im Zentrum der Arbeit steht eine Literaturforschung zur Thematik, die mit Umfrageergebnissen unter Schülern einer kanadischen High School ergänzt wird. 2 Preface In 2018 I spent the summer semester in Point Grey Secondary High School in Vancouver as an international student. Before going to Canada, I had hardly known anything about Indigenous peoples and was very excited to learn about them and their culture. However, when I arrived and had gone to school for a few weeks, I realized that the Indigenous culture is hardly present in the school curriculum. Even teachers could often not answer my questions and all the news were either about Brexit or Donald Trump. It seemed very odd to me how this country, that is known for its open people and well-integrated Aboriginal culture, did not seem to fit into the drawer that we, in Europe, usually put it in. At the time I was there, the only two contacts I had with First Nation peoples were firstly, marches in Downtown Vancouver where they demanded and fought for justice for missing girls and women and secondly, a walk through East Hastings, a very poor neighbourhood with high crime-, drug abuse- and suicide-rates. East Hastings has a dense Indigenous population who lives under dreadful conditions. The whole circumstance and the unwillingness of people to learn, talk or teach about this topic shocked but also intrigued me to start conducting research. After a few weeks I came to the conclusion of writing my paper about it in order to bring awareness about this incomprehensible situation to the people that read my paper here, where we know even less or simply nothing about it. I want to give thanks to the students at my school in Canada who answered my survey, to my tutor, Prof. Gerald Michael Schwarz, for supporting me through the process of writing, to my mother Elisabeth Stukenkemper and my boyfriend Elliott Ambrose for proofreading my paper. 3 Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 2 Preface .............................................................................................................................. 3 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 6 2 Current Issues in the Indigenous Population of Canada ..................................... 10 2.1 Social Exclusion and its Consequences ................................................................... 10 Racial Prejudices ................................................................................................................. 10 Drug and Alcohol Abuse .................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Canada’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women ......................................... 12 Survey ................................................................................................................................ 12 Facts .................................................................................................................................... 13 Femicide .............................................................................................................................. 13 Reasons ............................................................................................................................... 14 Victims ................................................................................................................................ 15 Criminal Offenders and Murderers ..................................................................................... 17 The Highway of Tears ........................................................................................................ 20 3 Residential Schools - Looking Back to Move Forward ........................................ 21 3.1 The History ................................................................................................................ 21 Survey ................................................................................................................................ 22 Chronology ......................................................................................................................... 23 The Intent of Residential Schools ....................................................................................... 25 Statements from Survivors .................................................................................................. 25 3.1.4.1 Life before the Residential School ............................................................................ 26 3.1.4.2 Being taken away from Home ................................................................................... 27 3.1.4.3 The Journey to the Schools ....................................................................................... 28 3.1.4.4 Arrival ....................................................................................................................... 29 3.2 Schooling .................................................................................................................... 30 Education ............................................................................................................................ 30 Work ................................................................................................................................... 31 Food .................................................................................................................................... 32 Health .................................................................................................................................. 32 Abuse .................................................................................................................................. 33 Resistance ........................................................................................................................... 34 4 4 Reconciliation ........................................................................................................ 35 4.1 Cultural Uprooting ................................................................................................... 35 4.2 Actions and Apologies by Governments and Churches ........................................ 36 4.3 Organisations ............................................................................................................ 38 4.4 Calls to Action ........................................................................................................... 39 5 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 40 6 Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 42 6.1 Print Sources ............................................................................................................. 42 6.2 Internet Sources ........................................................................................................ 42 6.3 Sources without Author ..........................................................................................