Canadian Tribute To Human Rights Analysis

Ottawa’s landscape is covered with momuments dedicated to signifanct events in Canada’s history. Often, these sites have great meaning to those whom are depicted. The Canadian Tribute to Human Rights was erected to recognize the importance of human rights in today’s society. Human rights refer to the rights that are rights that are inherent to all human beings. These rights are defined in the United Nations Human Rights declaration ; these rights are followed because as a nation Canada has pledged to follow these rights. The Canadian Tribute to Human Rights is dedicated to promoting awareness of fundamental human rights without espousing any particular political position. In Canada, it provides the first symbolic focus on human rights and calls …show more content…
This monument is extravgant and towers over the sidewalk, in Figure A you can see its vastness. Located on the front of the monument is the sentence “All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. When erecting this statue did the artist take into the consideration how as a country Canada has denied many aboriginal peoples their human rights, that we have stopped them from being equal and free, did they look at what Canadians did to colonize the aboriginal people? The monument holds aboriginal language plaques; these plaques depict the words equality, dignity and rights (Figure B). Among these language plaques is a large plaque stating that the monument stands on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishnabe People. However when creating this monument with the key points being the Human Rights declaration did they take a moment to consider the history between Aboriginal peoples and white people. If colonialism was taken into consideration this monument may have been built in a different …show more content…
When the European settles came to Canada they attempted to assimilate the aboriginal population and colonize them to the European viewpoint. The Aboriginal culture was deemed as inappropriate and the Europeans pushed their catholic views on them. The act of colonialism is the practice of acquiring control over another country and occupying it with settlers; this is what happened to the Aboriginal peoples . The Aboriginal peoples were stripped of their equality, dignity and justice during this process. To begin, from the moment the settlers made contact with them the Aboriginal peoples were stripped of their equality. The settlers were given more opportunities than the Aboriginal peoples. Their land was taken away by the government and given to the new settlers, their culture was deemed as insignificant compared to the Catholic culture. The whole Aboriginal culture was stripped of its importance, and one is able to still see the consequences today. Aboriginal peoples today are face with higher incarceration rates, poor health and poverty. This issues all steam from the history of exclusion as seen in the implementation of the Indian Act. The Indian Act was the stepping-stone for inequality with the Aboriginal peoples, it allowed for control over Aboriginal affairs. In regards to dignity with the implementation of the Indian Act, it stripped Aboriginal peoples of their dignity. When