Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that the undertakings of dominant groups in Canada, such as Canadians of European descent, have systematically destroyed traditions, values, languages and many other elements associated with the indigenous population of Canada. The writer points out that the apt terminology for the destruction that has been wrecked upon the Native Canadian population is 'cultural genocide'. The writer then discusses that scholars have argued that the Canadian government and its European dominated population have perpetuated policies that engender genocide to aboriginal culture. In this study, the above areas are examined in detail to create a holistic picture of the cultural genocide perpetuated against Canada's aboriginal population. The writer concludes that it is now the responsibility of the Canadian government to rectify these wrongs through promoting greater efforts to increase respect for aboriginal culture and provide greater aid to their cause of re-defining and finding their lost heritage.

From the Paper:

"At the core of Canada's aboriginal appeasement policy in the wake of land grabbing through Canadian migration, is the concept of reserves. The concept of reserves and "nation to nation" treaties are intended to preserve and promote cultural distinctness at the surface level. However, reserves face severe problems that have actually led to the disintegration of aboriginal culture, and in the final analysis, cultural genocide. Reserves have systematic unemployment and welfare dependency, and lacking a self-sufficient infrastructure forces aboriginals to live by the whim of government subsidies and general dependence. As a result, the conceptual understanding of reserves have changed form a Utopian vision to something that has changed dramatically, as aboriginals continue to migrate into city slums. Although a small urban aboriginal middle class have emerged in the past decade, the majority of Aboriginals still live in the shadows in created "ghettoes" in which aboriginals congregate. In essence the Canadian government has used its "reserve" policy to ignore the pragmatic needs of aboriginals, especially those who are force to migrate into the cities."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Crosby, Marcia. "Construction of the Imaginary Indian" in Vancouver Anthology: The Institutional Politics of Art. Stan Douglas (Ed), Vancouver: Talonbooks, 267-291
• Yellow Bird, Pemina and Kathryn Milun. "Interrupted Journeys: The Cultural Politics of Indian Reburial" in Displacements: Cultural Identities in Question.Angelika Bammer (ed). Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994,3-24
• Residential Schools". Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Vol. 1, s. 10, 333-385
• Knockwood, Isabelle. "Resistance" in Out of the Depths: The Experiences of Mi'kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Lockeport,NS: Roseway Publishing, 1992, 111-126
• "The Family". ". Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Vol. 1, Ch.2, 25-53

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