The Canadian North, a rugged landscape often glamorized as a land of adventure and promise, hides a dark history. From the early day’s of the gold rush, when the land was first colonised, to the attempted cultural assimilation of the indigenous peoples through residential schools, the people native to the area are still in a struggle of identity and culture, and the resulting effects such as high suicide rates, poverty and drug abuse,. It is through this lens that I will examine the work of Ted Harrison, a prolific English artist who spent the majority of his life living in the Yukon and painting the contemporary society that he saw around him. There is no doubt that his work was highly intertwined with the indigenous culture, and as such his identity brings up questions regarding the appropriation of native american culture. To that end, this essay will look at the context of his biography, the subject matter of his work, and compare it to contemporary Native American artists in order to clarify the nature of his art.
Ted Harrison was born in England in 1926, into a dreary coal mining town. He took an early interest in art, and after high-school entered the West Hartlepool School of Art for a degree in design. Partially through his degree, Harrison found himself conscripted for the army, and began a lifelong fascination with other cultures as he spent 2 years stationed in India and various African countries. In 1950, Harrison completed his art degree, and moved on to the
Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian tells the story of Indigenous people in Canada and the United States, it challenges the narrative on how Indigenous history is taught and explains why Indigenous people continue to feel frustrated. King’s seeks to educate the reader as he provides a detailed accounts of the horrific massacres Indigenous people endured, yet he simultaneously inserts humorous moments which balances out the depressing content and enhances his story. The books highlights the neglect and assimilation that Indigenous were subjected to and how their survival was seen as an inconvenience to western culture. King directs his message at a Euro-centric audience to offer an accurate explanation of Indigenous culture and
The provincial basis for Confederacy was a vital component of unifying the various differences between Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. In this instance, the religious and ethnic conflict in the Quebec Resolutions was based on the inability of Francophone or religious groups to put forth grievances under the British construct of Upper and Lower Canada. In this instance, the bonding part of the new Confederacy would have to allow greater provincial autonomy to oppose any biases against Francophone rights or religious liberties, especially in the struggle for educational diversity in the conflict of Protestant and Catholic educational school systems. More so, the Maritime regions would receive special per capita subsidies for being under federal
Furthermore, while he was honored and recognized by the inherent value of Native American history and the unbroken connection Indigenous peoples have with their roots, his art work is not the result of a desire to depict a romanticized and stagnant expression of a bygone historical era. His work and hope were capturing movement which made his art served as a metaphor for the viewer which boldly states that Indigenous American cultures while intimately connected to their history are in fact contemporary, alive, and constantly
Tommy Douglas is considered to be ‘the greatest Canadian,’ considering that he revolutionized the country because of the healthcare system, welfare benefits, and the bill of rights. Without Tommy's effort towards the benefit of Canada, we would be far from where we are today so much as even the little things he affected and changed created the biggest impact.
Richard Wagamese explains in his essay, “What We Share”, how he found peace in his once troubled life. Wagamese described a time where he felt that his First Nations roots assured that he would live in agony. He felt that the Canadian society was responsible for his anguish, as they were the ones who persecuted his culture. This vendetta against Canada resulted in Wagamese living a life of payback; Every action he took was to spit in the face of society and say, “Look what I can do despite of you” (Hodgkinson, Aker, and Anderson, 18).
The “Sons of Freedom” are a small radical group that diverged from a religious sect known as the Doukhobors. This zealous and revivalist subsect evolved from the Doukhobors only to gain the government’s attention for their extremely radical acts. They have initiated bombings, arson, nudist parades, and hunger strikes, all in protest to the land ownership and registration laws of Canada. Such obscene and violent demonstrations have caused a great deal of conflict between the Sons of Freedom and the Canadian government’s legal system and have also generated much public resentment. However, should the State of Canada have imposed laws upon this minority group that blatantly conflicted with their religious beliefs?
Pierre Trudeau is the greatest Canadian of the twentieth century due to the fact that he declared Canada’s independence from Great Britain, he abolished the death penalty, and he created the Official Languages Act, making our nation entirely bilingual.
Canadian Arctic Sovereignty is currently a pressing issue has raised many questions about who owns and who has control over the Arctic and its precious resources. The posing question is; to what extent should Canada protect its Arctic Sovereignty? There are many reasons why Canada must go forward in defending and protecting the Arctic to a moderate extent even though it will be a challenging mission considering that the Canadian military currently needs more resources in order to properly defend the Arctic. They must defend the population of Inuit that currently reside in the Arctic must be protected because their way of life is changing due to their changing landscape. The gain
Scott’s poem, “The Onondaga Madonna”, is such an example of a racist piece of literature that rejects the acceptance of a multicultural and cultural diversity within society. It emphasizes the differences between the Euro-centric society within Canada and the savage society of the Onondagas and promoted Scott’s belief that the death and eradication of Indigenous culture were “beneficial to individual Indians” (Weis 28). He believed that the government could educate and mould Aboriginals into “a fully enfranchised and Westernized member of English-Canadian society” (Weis 30), and he pushed forth his beliefs to his readers through “The Onondaga Madonna.”
Duncan Campbell Scott was a Canadian bureaucrat in the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA), who was born and lived all his life in Ottawa, Ontario. By profession he was known as Deputy Superintendent General of the DIA and was tasked with overseeing the Residential of the Canadian Government. By pass time, Scott came to be known as a famous poet who, at the height of his poetic career, was even acclaimed as the “poet laureate” of Canada (CLASS MOVIE). His poetry to an ignorant audience is artistically written, with emphasis on the beauty of Canada’s landscape and culture. To those with deeper knowledge of Scott in his personal and professional livelihood, however, his poetic work is filled with racism, hypocrisy and grave injustice to the Indigenous people of Canada. At the time of his writing, his views on the assimilation, or more bluntly the eradication, of the Indigenous people of Canada was not uncommon. As Canadians have become more socially minded and aware of the inequality and inhumanity that history brought upon this group, his previously celebrated works have been widely debated.
Before a person is well recognized in society, they need to go though a lot of trouble, discrimination, and change to get there. No one judges them by their individual merit. This also applies to countries. The government of a country is always trying to get themselves in a higher position around the globe. This is done so they are well established for their good qualities. Canada is also a name in the list of such nations. Recognition was really hard for Canada to get because of the fact that it is one of the younger countries. Over the years, Canada has really shaped as a nation politically, economically, and socially. These three factors have affected the nations past, affecting the present, and will definitely affect the future. For
The great war was a big influential period for canada, a lot of things happened that affected canada in a positive way, without these monumental experiences it is very possible that canada would be different today in many ways. World war one will forever be a defining moment in canada's history but not just for canadians but for everyone who was affected directly by the war. Following our very important involvement in the war , canada economy improved, canadian women were granted more right and canada was seen and feared as a strong independent country.
For civilization to evolve, changes must be made. Imagine what the world would be like if the Natives were just alone and no country migrated to North America. Would technology even exist? Would the main weapons be just spears and arrows? Would medicine be invented so people could live long lives without dying of diseases? These are questions that will never have to be answered because the world evolved into a much bigger and better place. The English changed North America no matter what the cost was. Some may argue that the English are the ones to blame for King Phillip’s War, but that is not the case here. The Indians did not want change and overall, it did not work out real well for them. In this case, the war was brutal on both sides. The Natives did not change their customs as much as the English wanted them to. By not assimilating to European values and customs, the Natives caused the war over hatred of English values and traditions and made the world a dangerous place to live in.
Conflict between Canada and the First Nations has been going on since the Europeans first arrived. After their arrival the First Nations way of life was hindered severely; The Europeans brought many diseases that the Aboriginal people were unfamiliar with and had no resistance to, or cure for. “By the 16th century about 80% of Canada's Native population had died from the various diseases (Renneboog, 5).” The Europeans also came to Canada with the intentions of taking all of the land for themselves, disregarding the people who occupied the land before them. Over time the Europeans had manipulated the First Nations to their will and the Aboriginals were discriminated for their different complexion, culture, customs, and way of life. But
April 1st, 1999 a new territory was created when new boundaries were drawn in Canada’s northern territory, the Northwest Territories. The Inuik people that lived in the Northwest Territories were the reason behind the motivation for the separation. After a long hard process, filled with agreements and disagreements, Nunavut was finally declared its own territory and was separated from the Northwest Territories.