Three Founding Nations
When asked, “Who founded Canada?” the tendency is for people to reply with the notion that there are two founders: the French and English. It is due to negligence that people overlook the first residents of this land, our land; the land of the aboriginal peoples. My people where from the Plains land in the west, where we hunted buffalo and lived in tepees. It was us, along with other Native groups who were here before any Frenchman, Briton, or even Spaniard arrived here. Throughout our rich history, we have seen health and disease, wealth and poverty, prejudice and impartiality; all this could define the life of the Plains Indians, as well as the life of our aboriginal brothers and sisters. This is the story of …show more content…
My people would use every part of the buffalo; nothing was left out. With the arrival of the settlers, we risked starvation. The extermination of the buffalo was strongly encouraged by the U.S government as a way to extinguish our people’s presence in the territory. As U.S. General Sheridan put it, "Let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo are exterminated. Then your prairies can be covered with speckled cattle and the festive cowboy" (Buffalo Slaughter, CBC). To avoid starvation, we would have to comply with the demands of the settlers and the government, further reducing our way of life, and Canada was set on settling their west. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald sent the North West Mounted Police to maintain law and order. We had great respect for these red-coated men, who would encourage us to sign treaties with the government. We had no choice and in the 1870s, we signed several treaties, some of which promised us insurance from starvation. We were making an honest deal with the government, only to see it develop into a plan for the country to own our way of life. Many of our people died from starvation and we were forced to learn the European ways of …show more content…
Aboriginal children were separated from their families, who had almost no contact with them. From boy’s hair length, to separating genders; the schools did anything possible to turn them into civilized individuals. The educational curriculum was no different. All that children learned were classes such as sewing and cooking, with students working more for the schools than actually learning. Shocking enough was the abuse involved in the process. There were reports of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse towards aboriginal children. All of this in a country like Canada? It is hard to believe! 1986 marked the last time a school of this nature towards aboriginals existed. Nevertheless the negative impact was so great that it still affects us today. In 2008 the Conservative government at the time issued an official apology to all the aboriginal families who were affected by this prejudicial institution that has caused heartbreak to so many of our people. It marked the beginning of what we hoped would be a new relationship between our people and the
When asked, “Who founded Canada?” the tendency is for people to reply with the notion that there are two founders: the French and English. It is due to negligence that people overlook the first residents of this land, our land; the land of the aboriginal peoples. My people where from the Plains land in the west, where we hunted buffalo and lived in tepees. It was us, along with other Native groups who were here before any Frenchman, Briton, or even Spaniard arrived here. Throughout our rich history, we have seen health and disease, wealth and poverty, prejudice and impartiality; all this could define the life of the Plains Indians, as well as the life of our aboriginal brothers and sisters. This is the story of …show more content…
My people would use every part of the buffalo; nothing was left out. With the arrival of the settlers, we risked starvation. The extermination of the buffalo was strongly encouraged by the U.S government as a way to extinguish our people’s presence in the territory. As U.S. General Sheridan put it, "Let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo are exterminated. Then your prairies can be covered with speckled cattle and the festive cowboy" (Buffalo Slaughter, CBC). To avoid starvation, we would have to comply with the demands of the settlers and the government, further reducing our way of life, and Canada was set on settling their west. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald sent the North West Mounted Police to maintain law and order. We had great respect for these red-coated men, who would encourage us to sign treaties with the government. We had no choice and in the 1870s, we signed several treaties, some of which promised us insurance from starvation. We were making an honest deal with the government, only to see it develop into a plan for the country to own our way of life. Many of our people died from starvation and we were forced to learn the European ways of …show more content…
Aboriginal children were separated from their families, who had almost no contact with them. From boy’s hair length, to separating genders; the schools did anything possible to turn them into civilized individuals. The educational curriculum was no different. All that children learned were classes such as sewing and cooking, with students working more for the schools than actually learning. Shocking enough was the abuse involved in the process. There were reports of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse towards aboriginal children. All of this in a country like Canada? It is hard to believe! 1986 marked the last time a school of this nature towards aboriginals existed. Nevertheless the negative impact was so great that it still affects us today. In 2008 the Conservative government at the time issued an official apology to all the aboriginal families who were affected by this prejudicial institution that has caused heartbreak to so many of our people. It marked the beginning of what we hoped would be a new relationship between our people and the