Colonialism In Canada

In the fact sheet from Native Women's Association of Canada it discusses missing and murdered Aboriginal girls and women in Canada, this organization researches different cases on this topic. Did you know that sixty seven percent of these cases are murder cases (Native Women's Association of Canada, 2010)? By exploring the classical conflict theory and the contemporary anti-racist theory, these two theories will provide an explanation for the issues occurring regarding this report. Conflict theory is the classical framework that says that "society is grounded on inequality and competition over scarce resources that result in conflict" (Ravelli, B and Webber, M. 2013). Conflict theory can explain this situation because it helps to understand why this issue is occurring, the ruling class is the government and they were not doing anything to help protect these Aboriginal women and girls.

Gabriel, along with other speakers at the march, highlighted Canada’s colonial past for how indigenous people have gotten trapped in this cycle of oppression. Colonization involves the process of “othering”; that is, centering Eurocentric ideas and people at the top of the hierarchy. From the inception of Canada, ingenious women were “othered” and viewed as an extension of the land, to be colonized, dehumanized, and fetishized by the colonizers (Alexander M.J. et all, 39; Native Women’s Association, “Root Cause” 3). This attitude has been passed down for generations and compacted with the lasting effects of the 60s scoop and residential schools have left indigenous communities, especially women, vulnerable by disrupting their values, roles, and traditions (Native Women’s Association, “Root Cause”

Crenshaw proves that all forms of oppression must be taken into account, as is the case in pinpointing the root causes of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. In her analysis, she explains how in society, the treatment of women of colour differs greatly from that of white women because of stereotypical depictions of women of colour in media. Although she mainly cites this by delving into the stereotypical representation of Black women, this treatment is crucial to Indigenous women as well. Indigenous women are often seen as negative stereotypes of their cultures, which contributes to the disproportionate rates of violence against them. Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality is integral in addressing this systemic and institutional

But, where the government is truly at fault is in not supporting the numerous problems within these Aboriginal reserves that have been building for decades and as a result, created the current turmoil dealing with missing and murdered Aboriginal women. The current crisis of the murdered and missing Aboriginal women of Canada is a symptom of larger issues within Native reserves that have gradually over time become more pronounced and consequently inhibited the growth of women in these communities; these issues being, the widespread third world living conditions, early childhood sexual abuse that results in later domestic violence and the cycle of substance abuse.

Despite representing a small portion of the population, Indigenous women are overrepresented as victims of violence, including physical, sexual and IPV (Brownridge, 2008). In a study conducted between 1999-2004 which measured the prevalence of physical violence in domestic settings among Indigenous and non-Indigenous women in Canada, Indigenous women were found to have experienced a significantly higher incidence of violence than their non-Indigenous counterparts (Brownridge, 2008). Findings from the study also suggested that during the five years prior to 2004, 10.5% of Indigenous women reported violence relative to 3.5% of non-Indigenous women (Brownridge, 2008). The study also examined risk factors that contributed to the likelihood of experiencing violence. They identified the following as risk factors: high rates of unemployment, co-habilitation/common-law partnership, rural residence, alcohol abuse and patriarchal dominance.

First off, I will tell my friend that we are all responsible, and it’s a fact and an debated opinion. Partaking in Canada’s systems and institutions is us directly contributing to the modern-day dehumanization and genocide that is happening towards Indigenous people today. Indigenous Canadians are not being treated equally; they’re treated worst. Only recently after several years of disappearance, the Canadian government has begun to discuss and bring awareness towards the murdered and missing Indigenous woman of Canada. (Anderson, 2016, p.90) While, some can only perceive that the negative stereotypes surrounding Indigenous daughters contributed to the lack of government attention, in comparison to other women. Thus, these stereotypes created

Historically it has always been the trend that people are in constant competition for power so that they may impose their ideologies on the rest of society. The government has imposed political and social structures that are in line with their views but they have been shown to promote social inequalities at Indigenous women’s expense. The overrepresentation of Indigenous women in the Criminal Justice System is seen though history, and discrimination can be found at The Canadian Justice system’s actions as an agent for society as a whole has contributed to the devaluation of Indigenous Women. There have been numerous studies and reports done on the relationship between the Canadian government and Indigenous women which has shown the negative impacts of policies enacted. These actions have proved to

Missing and Murdered Women and Girls has a huge impact on native women such as myself. It causes a lot of built up anger, distrust and pain. Hearing about the life of Helen Betty Osborne is devastating because just like all of us, she had goals and the drive to be prosperous in life. She had plans on succeeding, creating a family and help maintaining it. Unfortunately, her journey was ended due to the lack of awareness that should be out there. All aboriginal woman are subjected to sexism and racism one point in our lives and it seems that murdered and missing woman aren’t being fully focused on. This is a problem that needs to be addressed because there are underlying and systematic reasons that should be the discussed rather swept under

When we study about Canadian history through gender, racism and colonialism, we need to look relationships between Canada and Indigenous peoples. How did Indigenous communities follow their actions and decision-making based on their ideology while they tried to maintain their cultural values and identity. An effort for coexisting Indigenous people in Canada represented diverse reactions and behaviors such as the system of slavery and violence. Indigenous people (Upper Canadian slaves) did not expect this status and racialized by Caucasians. A resistance against the system of slavery was a desire of Indigenous people for a corporation with Caucasians. "

For instance, in Canada, Native Canadians have seen first hand what oppression and mistreatment of women can look like. Since the European invasion, First Nations women and children have faced prolonged cruel treatment, by being forced on nearly uninhabitable reserves. For many years, the teaching of First Nation’s culture and languages was prohibited on reserves. Aboriginal youth must leave their families in order to get a proper secondary education, but generally want to come back to help with issues on reserve.4 Notwithstanding, their portrayal in the mainstream burdened the First Nation’s people significantly. The brutal depiction of First Nation people as “drunks” may have led to a decreased motivation to succeed, as well as difficulty in getting jobs.

It is visible that the violence and discrimination experienced by Aboriginal women and girls in Canada is a national tragedy, which has sadly received meager attention in our nation. Native Women’s Association of Canada (2013) explained how this has tragically led to the number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada being excessively high. Systematic oppression and negligence from the Canadian Government to actively address this national tragedy were dominant themes that were illustrated by the absence of research and data available on this subject. Additionally, it was appalling to realize that no policies were established, but only politically charged strategies were recommended to confront this grave social problem.

Law enforcement and the government have failed indigenous women at an alarming rate which purely breaks down to racism within the organizations designed to protect them. From thousands of missing and murdered aboriginal women, Robert Pickton and general violence against women; aboriginal women have suffered a severe amount at home and away. The RCMP recently conducted a study of the police forces across Canada and found “Police-recorded incidents of Aboriginal female homicides and unresolved missing Aboriginal females in this review total 1,181 - 164 missing and 1,017 homicide victims (11)” This over a 30 year period which is much higher then the Canadian average and average for women. Many of these women have been missing for years with only limited amount of police investigation done into the disappearance of these women. This limited investigative work has been criticized by inquires done after the murderer Robert Pickton was finally brought to justice. The government inquiry into the murdered women of downtown East-side Vancouver found stated “I have concluded that the police investigations into the missing and murdered women from the DTES from 1997 to 2002 were a blatant failure (12)”. The failure of the RCMP and Vancouver police to investigate these disappearance is due to the racist opinions held of the marginalized women of these areas.

In Canada, there has been an on going concern in the matter of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Although many First nations individuals have many barriers placed upon them by society, the government and many other institutions. Indigenous women face many of these barriers very harshly. Aboriginal women are vulnerable to many different forms of abuse because of not only being female but also due to issues such as poverty. First nations citizens have been faced with extreme difficulties throughout every aspect of their lives. These difficulties ultimately include the discrimination they face daily from police services, lack of resources in order to assist their need, etc. There have been many problems which have lead up to the social problem of missing and murdered Indigenous women which include the historical upbringing of our First nations population, and unfortunately through recent factors as well. Theories like the feminist theory assist in the debunking of this problem and give us a brief insight into the situation. To this day, the very serious issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women is a key issue, which has been left with many cases unsolved. This in part clearly demonstrates the lack of efforts put in place by Canadian police in order to combat this problem. A case, which raised serious problems in North America, is the case of Lisa, a young Metis woman who at the age of fifteen disappeared walking home from a shopping trip, to which she was never found.

Women no matter where they are in the world are too often victims of violence. They face higher rates than men both if it is sexual assault, stalking, or severe spousal abuse and usually the results are that women will end up extremely injured or dead. With young women suffering the highest rates of violence, Aboriginal women in particular face an increased risk of violence compared to non-Aboriginal women. Aboriginal women in Canada are three times more likely to experience crucial and severe violence compared to non-Aboriginal women. Most of these women end up missing and murdered. The predicaments of missing and murdered Aboriginal women has brought tremendous pain and suffering in homes, in families and throughout Aboriginal communities. Many sources and factors have contributed to hindering solving this issue. Media and discrimination have long been known to have played a huge role in this tragedy.

The issue of violence against Aboriginal women is my chosen subtopic that strongly contributes to the history of Aboriginal women’s struggle for rights and identity in Canada. To search relevant newspaper articles for this topic, the databases that were used were Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, as well as Canadian Newsstand Major Dailies. The reason these two databases were chosen was because Canadian Newsstand offered articles from multiple newspapers in the country, therefore providing me with diverse news in different provinces other than Ontario. The article I obtained from Canadian Newsstand was Canada Called on to Stop Violence Against Aboriginal Women from the Leader Post newspaper in Saskatchewan. Lexis Nexus provided one article I