Discrimination Against Aboriginal People Essay

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Discrimination Against Aboriginal People In Canada:
The Fight Isn’t Over The lives of the Aboriginal people in Canada have never been the same since European settlers unjustifiably stole their native land right from under their feet. Life for Aboriginal people will always be affected by the European colonization of Canada, and discrimination against the first nations community still exists to this day. Canadian history is still impacting the Aboriginal population, including the missing and murdered Aboriginal women, and the discrimination in government and law. Some may argue that all discrimination against Aboriginal people has dissipated over the past decade or so, but many incidents and studies show that this discrimination is alive and
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Many treaties were made to help keep peace between the communities, but as the European colonization progressed, conditions for First Nations became worse. Since most agreements between the Europeans and the Aboriginals were spoken-word, it was not hard for the settlers to go back on their promises (Tunstall 1). They began forcing the Aboriginal communities off their land and onto reservations. These reservations were known to have substandard housing and lacked clean drinking water. Many Native tribes resisted against the ways of the settlers, but such resistance only resulted in countless deaths despite the fearless warriors of the Native tribes. This was just the beginning of the intolerable discrimination that continues to plague Aboriginal people today. Residential schools are one of the worst things to ever happen to a culture in Canadian history. They were created to assimilate the Native children, as the federal government believed it was best that Native cultures become extinct (Renneboog 1). Some may believe that these schools are a thing or the past, but the effects that the residential schools had on Aboriginal communities still resonates in the First Nations population today. The children who were taken from their families at a young age were raised not by their parents, but by the churches that ran the residential schools. This led them to …show more content…
This is not including the 164 missing Indigenous women whose cases have yet to be resolved. Aboriginal women are four times more likely to be murdered than all other races of women (Benjamin 1). Over one-third of Aboriginal women live in poverty. This makes them more susceptible to unfit or abusive housing situations, and some may become sex workers even in dangerous places to try and escape extreme poverty (Missing 1). It is a very sad reality that Aboriginal women are targeted in situations like these. Unfortunately, discrimination plays a part in these cases even past the point of the murder. Racial stereotypes are making it so some Aboriginal women have distrust in Canadian authorities, in fear that they will not take their cases as seriously. However; these assumptions are not far from the truth. In many cases, reports of missing and murdered Aboriginal women get less attention from media and the police force than other races of women (Missing 1). Not all cases involving missing and murdered bAoriginal women and girls are properly investigated to the RCMP’s full ability (Benjamin 1). For example, Tina Fontaine, a fifteen year-old Indigenous girl, was pulled from a Winnipeg river last year. This sparked numerous phone calls from women’s and Aboriginal organizations, but to no avail. Led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Federal Government rejected calls for a national inquiry of missing and

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