“...historically in Canada, racism toward First Nations peoples has taken the form of paternalistic policies propagated to protect “childlike” peoples incapable of managing their own affairs” (Sharma, page 15). This assumes that Aboriginal peoples are incapable of being responsible for their own survival, giving into the perception that they are lazy or stupid, which is untrue. They are still heavily disadvantaged in Canadian society. At such a disadvantage, that “half of the status First Nations children live in poverty...children in reserves under federal jurisdiction were in the worst situation, often living with poor drinking water, and in run-down homes” (The Canadian Encyclopedia). This is basically the definition of an inadequate standard of living; bad drinking water, run-down, unsafe home, most likely too young to be able to work or gain compensation from the government. There is very little they can do to fix their situation due to the circumstances, and the federal government is clearly allowing this to happen, violating the rights of immigrants and Aboriginal peoples all across Canada to the point where they have to turn to clearly unsafe environments to
“...historically in Canada, racism toward First Nations peoples has taken the form of paternalistic policies propagated to protect “childlike” peoples incapable of managing their own affairs” (Sharma, page 15). This assumes that Aboriginal peoples are incapable of being responsible for their own survival, giving into the perception that they are lazy or stupid, which is untrue. They are still heavily disadvantaged in Canadian society. At such a disadvantage, that “half of the status First Nations children live in poverty...children in reserves under federal jurisdiction were in the worst situation, often living with poor drinking water, and in run-down homes” (The Canadian Encyclopedia). This is basically the definition of an inadequate standard of living; bad drinking water, run-down, unsafe home, most likely too young to be able to work or gain compensation from the government. There is very little they can do to fix their situation due to the circumstances, and the federal government is clearly allowing this to happen, violating the rights of immigrants and Aboriginal peoples all across Canada to the point where they have to turn to clearly unsafe environments to