Week 12: Culture Part 2 (Indigenous/Spirituality) Flashcards
What percent of the Canadian population are indigenous people?
4.3%
What are the 3 indigenous groups?
First Nations
Metis
Inuit
To which indigenous groups does the legal term Indian apply?
All except Inuit
What is unique amongst each indigenous group?
Each has its own language, heritage, cultural practices, and spiritual beliefs.
Explain the difference between Status, Non-Status, and treaty Indians:
Status Indians: registered under the Indian Act
Non- Status Indians: not registered under the Indian Act
Treaty Indian: Status indian who belongs to the First Nation who signed a treaty with the Crown.
What is the Indian Act?
It regulates management of resources and sets out certain federal obligations
What is Daniels Decision?
A federal decision made to include non-status and Metis as part of being “Indian” and to include them in the federal jurisdiction.
Why was Daniels Decision important for Non-Status and Metis?
They became part of “Indians” which allowed them the right to be consulted by, and to negotiate with, the federal government over needs, rights, and interests as Indigenous peoples.
What is the largest and most widespread language family for the Indigenous peoples?
Algonquian
Pre-European Contact: Indigenous people were composed of distinct cultures from what regions?
Artic, Western Subartic, Eastern Subartic, Northeastern Woodlands, Plains, Plateus, and Northwest Coast
What part of Canada did the Inuit inhabit pre-european contact?
Northern Canada (Northwest Labrador, Northern Quebec, the territory of Nuanavut, and Northwest territories)
Where are the Metis noted as a distinct Indigenous group?
Born from union of Indigenous women and European men during the fur trade, post-contact but precolonially.
What legal term is used to refer to a Status Indian?
Indian
What was the purpose of the Indian Act?
To assimilate First Nations people into Canadian society.
It sets out federal obligations toward “Indians” and regulates management of reserves, money, and other resources for “Indians”
Is the term Indian preferred by the Indigenous people?
NO. First nation/s is preferred.
What is a reserve?
Land set aside by the federal governmnt for the exclusive use of an Indian band or First Nations.
Are Inuits indians?
No. They are first peoples and aboriginals but not first nations (who are indians)
Where did the Inuits mainly reside?
Northern Canada
Historically, how did the Indigenous communities experience healing and well-being?Give examples:
Hollistic view of health - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Traditional shamas, hebalists, and specialized healers.
What term refers to: Institutions and policies concerning Indigenous peoples developed by European imperial and Euro-American settlers?
Colonialism
What role did the government play in colonialism?
Oppressive and suppressive policies implemented to assimilate Indigenous people to Canadian society.
How do Indigenous people suffer in terms of mental health due to colonialism?
Historical trauma
How did colonialism impact the health of Indigenous ppls and how?
Brought in diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis (TB), and measles which killed thousands of Indigenous ppls. Dimished ppl, malnutrition, starvation and alcohol consumption made circumstances worse.
Post-european contact what colonial practices in Canada were put in plae to assimilate Indigenous people (especially kids)? Effects of it?
Residential schools.
Effects: Intergenrational trauma and a cultural genocide
What was the purpose of residential schools?
ASSIMILATE them to mainstream Canada society. Elimilate Indigenous people as a distinct group. Motive was to avoid legal and financial obligations that the federal government had with Indigenous ppls, as well as gain control over their lands and resources, thereby eliminating treaties, reserves, and Indigenous rights.
Describe the conditions of residential schools:
- poorly built and maintained buildings led by churches
- low staff
- harsh disciplines such as forbidden to speak their own language, or take part in any cultural activity (even spirituality)
- physical and sexual abuse
- inclining diseases and malnutrition = deaths
- dead bodies not sent back home or to communities
- many escaped and froze to death
What happened to the surviors of residential schools?
Intergenerational Trauma.
Suvivors grw up in institutional upbringing so they didn’t know how to parent or be parented and became abusive themselves.
What is TRC?
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
What was the purpose of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)?
- common experience payment (10,000 + 3000/year of school attended)
- financial settlements for those who suffered abuse of neglect
- commemoration initiatives ($$ set aside for services, memorials, etc)
- funding for the AHF (Aboriginal Healing Foundation). To address the healing needs of Aoriginal people who were affected.
What is the sixties scoop?
The Sixties Scoop refers to a practice that occurred in Canada of taking, or “scooping up,” Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes or adoption. Despite the reference to one decade, the Sixties Scoop began in the late 1950s and persisted into the 1980s.
Why was the sixties scoop a form of structural racism towards the First Nations?
In hopes of saving them from the effects of crushing poverty, unsanitary health conditions, poor housing and malnutrition, children were places in non-indigenous housing which didn’t consider the importance of family and culture and as a result First Nations lost almost an entire generation of children.
Althoug residential schools were being phased out, how was assimilation still happening?
Child welfare system - removing Indigenous children from families “in the best interest of the child”. SIXTIES SCOOP.
How did the children who were placed in non-indigenous homes suffer?
- abuse/neglect
- racialized power dynamics
- loss of culture and identity
- low self identity and low self esteem
- self harm/suicide
