To what extent did the canadian government attempt to assimilate the aboriginal people of canada?

Show all answers

JuanB

Well, my Mom and Aunts and Uncles just got a sizable government payout to settle the Residential School lawsuits. Sizable, yet many missed it because they have died, as many are over 60 now. But sizable is only a fraction of what people who took the case to court are winning.

They were forced to leave their home and go to religious boarding schools. There, religion (obviously) was forced on them and IF they spoke a single word in their native tongue they were severely punished. It didn't matter if it was your first day there and didn't know a word of English yet, you still were beaten. The kids were also worked hard, starved, along with the mental, physical and sexual abuse. Many problems in the Aboriginal community today can be traced back to these people that had horrible childhood experiences in the residential system. The schools lasted into the 1960's.

kent_shakespear

1. reserves/partitioning land; forcing a number of plains nations to adapt to agriculture.
2. Government-appointed "Indian agents" controlled finances; for a long time natives were not allowed to spend their own money without governmental approval.
3. The Indian Act stipulated who had access to benefits and who did not; those who served in the armed forces, became literate, or met other arbitrary regulations lost official status and were forced off of reserves.
4. Residential schools took generations of young children, seperated them from their family, language and culture, and forced white culture upon them. Many schools were extremely abusive.
5. Government services, off-reserve jobs and commerce were all in English.
6. Natives were long barred from having standing in court.
7. As the government owns reserve land, natives have a hard time obtaining private-sector financing for economic development; thus relying more upon government systems.
8. Tradtional native practices have been extremely undermined; not only in curtailled access to land, but ignoring traditions of commerce (many laws pretend that native economies were only about self-sufficiency; in truth there was enormous trade); and even when hunting/fishing rights have been recognized, these have excluded other traditional land uses.
9. Nations varied in terms of male/female roles, power and activities, but white legal and economic systems of the 1800s (and beyond) eroded women's traditional roles/voices, mirroring a similar disempowerment in white society.

nyninchdick

The Canadian government did all the things that other colonizing governments did and then some. Reservations, theft of traditional lands, denial of rights, apprehending children to residential schools (which remained open until 1984, by the way), implementing a paternal system of social rights that excluded Aboriginals from the same rights as immigrant Canadians, etc. etc. etc.

ole man is back

not enough obviously

Audrey, Start the revolution

i like learned this in social
they had residential school
the government funded them but like the church or w/e ran them

nbr660

The government has bent over backwards to try to please that group but they don't want peace.

Nate W

you mean those French Canadians

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: