Indigenous communities across Canada have their own distinct cultures, customs, and languages. Despite being unique, the communities share some of the unpleasant struggles they had to cope with. Before European contact, the communities were self-sustaining and healthy, comprised of members who were confident in their position in society. However, that did not last as with contact came struggle for the indigenous communities. Today, society still seem to be ignoring the pain that many, if not all indigenous groups had to face. Although society has become more educated in indigenous history, we still have a long way to go to fully understand the amount of struggle that indigenous communities faced.
Canada has always been considered a prestigious …show more content…
Sometimes colonialism focuses mainly on exploiting the natural resources or other sources of wealth from an asserted colony to the benefit of the colonizing country. Although it has commonly gone unnoticed, the British colonialism is an excellent example of this. As the Canadian national identity is deeply rooted in the notion of Canada as a vast northern wilderness, the possession of which makes Canadians unique and “pure” of character (Lawrence 23). For Canadians to maintain their self-image as fundamentally “decent” people innocent of any wrongdoing, the historical records of how the land was acquired—the forcible and relentless dispossession of Indigenous peoples, the theft of their territories, and the implementations of legislation and policies designed to effect their total disappearance as peoples—must also be erased (Lawrence 24). This lead to “Native history” becoming only accounts of specific intervals of “contact”, accounts which neutralize processes of genocide, which not only takes part in the devastating and ongoing implications of the policies and processes that are so neutrally described. Writing from the perspective of the indigenous nations help the communities give a full and honest account of their struggles with …show more content…
Colonialism has served as a stimulus to industry and production in the colonizing nation by “introducing new lands and raw materials from which to draw wealth, potentially new sources of easily exploitable labour, and new market opportunities” (Belanger 84). Acquiring new territories has also been one way for a nation to show its superiority; additionally, colonies also become areas where the “surplus” population from the colonizing country can be exported. Under colonial conditions, “the Indigenous populations of the lands in question are viewed as a threat to the colonizer” (Paul 115), so in turn many racialized myths are employed to justify their dispossession. Colonialism has been carried out in different parts of the globe throughout history. Over the last few hundred years, Western European nations have been centrally involved in colonizing many areas of the world. In each case, the process takes place in its own unique historical, social, political, and economic context. However, in these instances, colonialism has played an integral role in the expansion of capitalism and the accumulation of wealth by some at the expense of others. Indigenous peoples were excluded from nation-building partly based on “notions of racial inferiority and
Canada has always been considered a prestigious …show more content…
Sometimes colonialism focuses mainly on exploiting the natural resources or other sources of wealth from an asserted colony to the benefit of the colonizing country. Although it has commonly gone unnoticed, the British colonialism is an excellent example of this. As the Canadian national identity is deeply rooted in the notion of Canada as a vast northern wilderness, the possession of which makes Canadians unique and “pure” of character (Lawrence 23). For Canadians to maintain their self-image as fundamentally “decent” people innocent of any wrongdoing, the historical records of how the land was acquired—the forcible and relentless dispossession of Indigenous peoples, the theft of their territories, and the implementations of legislation and policies designed to effect their total disappearance as peoples—must also be erased (Lawrence 24). This lead to “Native history” becoming only accounts of specific intervals of “contact”, accounts which neutralize processes of genocide, which not only takes part in the devastating and ongoing implications of the policies and processes that are so neutrally described. Writing from the perspective of the indigenous nations help the communities give a full and honest account of their struggles with …show more content…
Colonialism has served as a stimulus to industry and production in the colonizing nation by “introducing new lands and raw materials from which to draw wealth, potentially new sources of easily exploitable labour, and new market opportunities” (Belanger 84). Acquiring new territories has also been one way for a nation to show its superiority; additionally, colonies also become areas where the “surplus” population from the colonizing country can be exported. Under colonial conditions, “the Indigenous populations of the lands in question are viewed as a threat to the colonizer” (Paul 115), so in turn many racialized myths are employed to justify their dispossession. Colonialism has been carried out in different parts of the globe throughout history. Over the last few hundred years, Western European nations have been centrally involved in colonizing many areas of the world. In each case, the process takes place in its own unique historical, social, political, and economic context. However, in these instances, colonialism has played an integral role in the expansion of capitalism and the accumulation of wealth by some at the expense of others. Indigenous peoples were excluded from nation-building partly based on “notions of racial inferiority and