Canada and the World

Hi! For whatever reason I am not able to post my comment for the article below, so I'll post is as a new post!

Let me ask something to anybody who is reading this blog post right now. I am certain that most of you knew that Aboriginals were the original founders of our nation, Canada and that they were the first group of Canadians; however, how many of you know that they are considered as one of the founding nations of Canada in the Constitution, along with the English and French. Few Canadians are also unaware that up until the 1983-87, the First Nations People were excluded from taking part in the Constitutional developments of Canada. On top of that, First Nations peoples have had to deal with conditions of extreme poverty and isolation, and geographical dispersion, not only from the rest of Canada but within diversity of aboriginal cultures, languages and political views. Hence, it does not come as any surprise to me that now, almost a decade after the world stepped into the 21st century; Aboriginal women still have to run away from their homes in order to make their own choices about motherhood. It is ridiculous and preposterous to see that in a nation where the Charter of Rights created by Pierre Trudeau and signed into law by Queen Elizabeth II of Canada on April 17 1982 plays such a significant role in every aspect of the country, the original founders of Canada does not have the freedom to make maternal choices. I believe that if there is anybody to be blamed for this then it is the dark chapters of Canada’s history.
In the early 1970s, the Indian Act was passed and this prevented the First Nations to not only form their own political parties but to even speak in their own language and follow their traditions. Going farther back in history, around 1928, innocent Aboriginal children were sent to government-funded and Christian run residential schools were the children were taught to be “civilized.” Here, the children started each morning with prayers and other Christian religious services followed by classes were they learned to “fit” into the Canadian culture. How ironic is it that the founders of Canada themselves have to rebuild and change themselves to fit into a different culture created by “foreigners” who took over their land? Moreover, in these schools were they were supposedly being taught to be civilized and good Christians, the children faced tremendous physical, emotional and yes, sexual abuse as well. Nonetheless, that was history and now the Aboriginals are now considered to have the same rights as any other Canadian. Nonetheless, the reason why I blame this cruel history for these women’s pain is because if it was not for the isolation that these Aboriginals faced for generations now, their thoughts would have progressed and become more liberal and acceptant of abortion and single motherhood. Since they have been excluded from the fast progressing Canadian society, their values and beliefs did not get a chance to develop fast enough to match the rights that a Canadian woman that is not of the Aboriginal descend.
If you think about it, this is really quiet sad and pathetic and it is not enough for the government of Canada to just have the abortion facilities in the reserves. I also wonder how long can Yee, the woman mentioned in this article continue to help these young females single-handedly. I believe that the government of Canada should expose Aboriginals to more progressive Canadian thinking and by that I do not mean that send them to residential schools again. What I mean is that we should give them time to get used to these new ideas of rights and freedom. I believe to some extent they are also constantly battling the fear of losing their culture again like many groups of First Nations have through the torturous history and hence feel that it is important to hold onto traditional values. As a result, we need to assure them that their values, culture and beliefs will not be snatched away from them and slowly allow them step out of their shells. One of the first steps towards doing this is to give them more opportunities to come out of the isolated reserves and try to adapt to the new lifestyle changes. It might be a lot to ask for; however, in the long run, it might actually be a good idea.
I chose this article because a lot of times this group of people is ignored. It is not enough to give their history a couple of pages in the history textbooks. Canadians should know about them thoroughly and completely. It is a dark past of Canada and in some ways, a lot of the story is untold and I believe that it is time to make their problems, negligence and hardships known to the rest of the nation.