Olympics Four Aboriginal groups were official hosts of the
Olympic Games
Slide 5
8 th Fire A CBC series dedicated to understanding the plight of
first nations in Canada. Handout
http://www.cbc.ca/8thfire//2011/11/its-time.html
Slide 6
Asian Origins Bering Strait is a waterway that now separates
Russia from North America Submerged landmass once connected
Siberian mainland with North America People are believed to have
moved across the land bridge 10,000 to 30,000 years ago
Slide 7
Why and How Why did they come to America (not called America
then)? They followed the food elk, deer, bison and even wooly
mammoths How do we know this? Fossil evidence reveals that they
travelled as far as Chile by 14,000 ya
Slide 8
Aboriginals InuitMtis Status IndiansNon-Status Indians Wab
Kinew of 8 th Fire
http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire/2012/01/wab-on-rethinking-the-relationship.html
First Nations Between 1971 and 2011, the Aboriginal Ancestry
population grew by 487% while the Canadian population grew by
52%.
Slide 9
First Nations Group of aboriginal people who share the same
culture and heritage www.afn.ca www.afn.ca Status and non-status
Indians National Chief Perry Bellegarde
Slide 10
Status Indians registered as an Indian under the Indian Act are
exempt from paying income tax on any income they earn on a reserve
are not required to pay Ontario Retail Sales Tax (RST) on most
goods or services that will be consumed or used on a reserve.
personal property of a status Indian cannot be seized if it is
situated on a reserve
Slide 11
Non-status Indians Not registered under the Act, but
self-identify as native
Slide 12
Mtis French word meaning mixed blood people of mixed ancestry
Children of French fur traders and Cree women in the prairies and
of English and Scottish traders & Dene women in the North
Recognized as Aboriginal since 1982 Controversial as to who belongs
Mtis flag oldest flag in Canada. Used before 1816. Has an infinity
sign with two different backgrounds: Red was the colour of the
Hudsons Bay Company, Blue was the colour of the North-West
Company.
Slide 13
Inuit Natives originating from the region between Labrador to
Northwest Territories 50% live in Nunavut Inuit Register defines as
Inuit all children born to an Inuk and a person of another race,
regardless of the second persons race 59,115 in 2012 Census Median
age of 21 http://www.airinuit.com/en/index.aspx
Slide 14
Slide 15
Slide 16
Aboriginal Identity Percentage
Slide 17
Aboriginal Issues Problems ignored or glossed over by history
textbooks. Suicide rate Substance abuse Conditions of extreme
poverty and isolation Land Claims Attawapiskat, Ontario
Slide 18
Residential Schools Abuse and cultural loss involving
residential schools About 150,000 aboriginal, Inuit and Mtis
children were removed from their communities and forced to attend
the schools. Church-run, government-funded boarding schools
Churches: Anglican, United, Presbyterian and Catholic (75% ) Chief
Phil Fontaine and Prime Minister Stephen Harper during official
apology for residential schools abuses 2008
Slide 19
The Schools The conditions The apology
Slide 20
Residential School Problems Students lived in substandard
conditions and endured physical and emotional abuse. Many
allegations of sexual abuse. Students at residential schools rarely
had opportunities to see examples of normal family life. They were
in boarding school 10 months a year, away from their parents. All
correspondence from the children was written in English, which many
parents couldn't read. Brothers and sisters at the same school
rarely saw each other, as all activities were segregated by gender.
When students returned to the reserve, they often found they didn't
belong. They didn't have the skills to help their parents. Students
were discouraged from speaking their first language or practising
native traditions. If they were caught, they would experience
severe punishment. Students became ashamed of their native
heritage.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2008/05/16/f-faqs-residential-schools.html
Slide 21
Common Experience Payment The Indian residential schools
settlement has been approved. The healing continues.
Slide 22
Residential School Compensation $1.9 billion compensation
package for those who were forced to attend residential schools set
aside in 2007 Common Experience Payment: Former residential school
students were eligible for $10,000 for the first year or part of a
year they attended school, plus $3,000 for each subsequent year.
Deadline to submit Sept. 2012 Any remaining money to support
learning needs of aboriginals. As of Sept. 30, 2012, $1.55 billion
paid, representing 75,800 cases. United Church of Canada formally
apologized in 1986 Presbyterian Church statement of apology in 1994
Anglican Church of Canada apology in 1993 In April, 2009, Pope
Benedict XVI expressed his "sorrow" to a delegation from Canada's
Assembly of First Nations for the abuse and "deplorable" treatment
that aboriginal students suffered.
Slide 23
Aboriginal Voices Wab Kinew, interviewed by George
Stroumboulopoulos
http://www.cbc.ca/8thfire/2012/01/wab-on-rethinking-the-
relationship.html LINK
http://www.cbc.ca/8thfire/2012/01/wab-on-rethinking-the-
relationship.htmlLINK Who is Wab? 8 th Fire: Aboriginal Peoples,
Canada and the way forward 500 Years in 2MIN LINK to 8th Fire INTRO
10 MIN So, what went wrong? WAB on RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLSRESIDENTIAL
SCHOOLS Explain Paul Martins comments at the end:
Slide 24
The Trials of Nunavut In extremis stats & video of crime
surge Capital Crime gallery and northern patrol, Iqaluit Culture
and Clash home & art, Cape Dorset Road to Redemption Leo &
Repulse Bay http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/natio
nal/nunavut/
Slide 25
In 2007, the United Nations passed a resolution called the
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Self-determination
and self-government; Pursue economic, social, and cultural
development Own and manage lands and resources; and, A nationality.
Article 2 of UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide In the present Convention, genocide means any of
the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in
part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a)
Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental
harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the
group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to
prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children
of the group to another group.
Slide 26
Im not the Indian You Had in Mind
http://www.nsi-canada.ca/2012/03/im-not-the-indian-
you-had-in-mind/
http://www.nsi-canada.ca/2012/03/im-not-the-indian-
you-had-in-mind/