Abstract This paper reports that 8.4 per cent of the total 661,730 population of Winnipeg is aboriginal, which is the second highest percentage of the 13 major Canadian cities. The author points out that the young age of the majority of the aboriginals in Winnipeg is very important because it can have a major impact on the need for more educational and welfare services. The paper stresses that the effects of poverty and housing issues may be a major cause of poor health among aboriginal people in Winnipeg. The author relates that the demographic profiles seem to indicate that social and economic disadvantages facing aboriginal people in Winnipeg have been limiting their educational achievements. The paper includes several quotations.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Aboriginal Population of Winnipeg
Income, Employment and Poverty
Housing Issues
Health Issues
Education Issues
Conclusion
From the Paper "The differences in incomes between aboriginal people and non-aboriginal people in Winnipeg can be partially explained by differences in employment and unemployment rates. The total employment rate for Winnipeg in 2001 was 64.8 per cent and the unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent. The employment rate for aboriginals in Winnipeg is only 55.1 per cent and the unemployment rate is 14.3 per cent. This would seem to indicate that the higher unemployment rate in the aboriginal population of Winnipeg is a major factor in the poverty of that population."
Abstract This paper attempts to address the problem of Aboriginal unemployment within the context of government policy. Although government monies have increased to the First Nations steadily in the last ten years, it has put a very small dent in the problem. The Canadian government has used a variety of measures to address the problem of Aboriginal unemployment, including entrapreneuralship programs, education, and fostering mega-projects such as Voisey Bay and northern gas pipelines.
Abstract The essay discusses aboriginal housing issues and homelessness. The paper looks at both issues in both urban areas and the reserves. The paper argues the point that the practices of the Canadian government resulted in poverty that in turn has led to housing issues for its aboriginal population.
From the Paper "Aboriginal Housing Issues and Homelessness Housing is a fundamental human need. In general it can be argued that Canadians are well housed. However, not everyone has access to affordable housing. In The Canadian Housing System, James McKellar et al state, Although, overall, Canadians are well housed, a minority of households are unable to obtain market housing that is suitable, adequate, and affordable without paying more than 30 percent of their income (McKellar et al 11). This means that three major issues occur in terms of housing. These are obtaining housing, obtaining affordable housing and obtaining adequate housing."
Abstract The paper examines the over-representation of Aboriginal people in Canadian correctional institutions. It outlines the statistics of those incarcerated compared to the non-Aboriginal population and explains the causes behind this, which include demographics, racism, discrimination and social issues. Sources include government commissions and reports covering primarily the Western Provinces.
From the Paper "This paper will briefly address the question as to why there is a disproportionate number of Aboriginal (native) people in Canadian institutions and demonstrate that multiple factors including population demographics, over-policing, and social conditions are partly to blame. For the purposes of this paper, the scope of Canadian institutions will be limited to jails and correctional institutions as opposed to hospitals or psychiatric institutions etc. The Problem Stated The evidence for the high proportion of aboriginals in jails and correctional institutions in Canada has been well researched and has been the subject of extensive public enquiries and commissions."
Abstract This paper reviews different literature on the topic of Black and Aboriginal women in the work place. It discusses the paper, "Black Feminist Statement", in which Eisenstein argues that the unique and specific situation of black women makes it necessary for them to employ identity politics to battle their oppression. The author of the paper contends this view point and expands on further examples where this specific approach is demonstrated. The paper explores Plewes and Downe in their paper's, "Perils of the Past" and "Strong Women: Contemporary Challenges and Promises for the Future of Aboriginal Women."
From the Paper "In her paper, "A Black Feminist Statement," Eisenstein argues that the unique and specific situation of black women makes it necessary for them to employ identity politics to battle their oppression. It is argued here that this is correct, and furthermore that this is demonstrated by the specific approach taken by Plewes and Downe in their paper, "Perils of the Past and Strong Women: Contemporary Challenges and Promises for the Future of Aboriginal Women." In this paper, "identity politics" will be taken to mean the notion that people need to organize not only around specific parties or ideologies, but also around the unique context of a specific marginalized group. The specific marginalized group that Eisenstein ..."
Abstract This paper discusses the prevalence of major depression and mentions bipolar disorder in Toronto Aboriginal population. The writer looks at problems of diagnosis and notes the frequent error of mistaking depression due to addiction for depression due to other causes.
From the Paper "Probably no community has had as much assumed about it, over time, as Canada's diverse Aboriginal population. This paper examines what nurses need to know about Major Depression in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Native community, noting several facets that are helpful when meeting members of a GTA Native population that may be as high as 90,000 and in which mood disorders are fairly common, in keeping with other Aboriginal concentrations. A generally important theme is one of being careful not to assume when approaching Aboriginal patients, and with regard to depression, never presuming one knows its origin."
Abstract This twelve page undergraduate paper examines how throughout Canadian history the traditional educational system for aboriginal people offered some basic benefits for their children as they sought to achieve an education that would prepare them for adulthood. The writer notes that the system like any educational system was not without its flaws mutual misunderstandings and divisive debates. The writer concludes that as policymakers have sought to improve First Nations education, a more modern educational system has evolved which is more responsive to the special circumstances of First Nations children.
From the Paper "Throughout Canadian history, the traditional educational system for aboriginal people offered some basic benefits for their children as they sought to achieve an education that would prepare them for adulthood, but the system, like any educational system, was not without its flaws, mutual misunderstandings, and divisive debates. As policymakers have sought to improve First Nations education, a more modern educational system has evolved which is more responsive to the special circumstances of First Nations children. But in the eyes of many First Nations people, modern education in Canada is still in need of further reform."
An overview of the debate concerning aboriginal self-government in Canada, looking at the major issues in the debate as well as arguments on both sides of the debate.
1,125 words (approx. 4.5 pages), 5 sources, 2006, $ 44.95
Abstract There can be little question that Canada is a nation wherein group identities are a significant part of the political discourse. That is to say many of our contemporary issues revolve around group rights responsibilities and even privileges. With this in mind, this paper briefly explores the on going debate about aboriginal self-government in Canada.
Abstract This paper examines how, since the 1980s, the idea of Aboriginal sovereignty has been a subject of growing debate in Canada and how centrally at issue is the dispute over Aboriginal rights. It discusses how there is a contrast between traditional Aboriginal values and those of modern-day society and how within Canada there exists a prevailing tension between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals on many levels. It analyzes how the government is in need of serious revision and why some Canadians feel that the only solution to the crisis the Aboriginal peoples presently find themselves in is some form of Aboriginal sovereignty. It shows how these Canadians believe that the best way to address the crisis is to have First Nations peoples control their own destiny through self-determination in order to confront current challenges successfully and ultimately lead to a greater state of well-being for its peoples.
From the Paper "In addition to the Indian Act, which was subsequently amended multiple times, other influential policy documents were developed including the Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy (1969), also known as the White Paper and Citizens Plus (1970) which "presents a counter-policy written by the Union of Alberta Indians, a treaty Indian group, in reaction to the federal document" (41) and called for Aboriginal self-determination. The White Paper's aim "was to outline a strategy that would integrate Indian peoples into mainstream society" (43). Conversely, "The guiding principles for economic development, proposed in Citizens Plus, suggest a reliance on a combination of government assistance and private enterprise [in order to] make reserve communities into centres of profitable and productive private industry" (49)."
Abstract In this article, the writer explores the music of the Aboriginal people of Australia. The writer discusses that Aboriginal music has significant meaning and tells the story of a people throughout history. The writer demonstrates that Aboriginal music is extremely important to Aboriginal Australians regardless of which tribe they belong to. At times the music is sacred and at other times entertaining. The writer concludes that it is apparent that music serves as an anchor for the Aboriginal people by connecting them to their past while moving forward in the present.
Outline:
Introduction
History of Aboriginal Music
Musical Instruments
Summary
Works Cited
From the Paper "The authors further explain that clan songs are usually song openly for the purpose of entertainment alone. However cult songs are inclusive of songs for rain making, love magic and love stopping. The cult songs are meant for the purposes of either healing r harming. The authors assert that these songs are extremely powerful and only those individuals that have been initiated are allowed to sing them. In addition, individually owned songs were songs that were song by certain individuals and often were believed to possess more power when song by a particular individual.
"According to an internet article entitled "Australia Aboriginal Music", the music of aboriginal people is very much tied to their ancestors. To understand the music one must have some understanding of aboriginal beliefs."
Abstract This paper examines the Aborigines of Australia who are said to have arrived on the continent over 50,000 years ago, blending into the already existent population and thus creating perhaps the most physically diverse population in the world. This paper details the differences in conceptions of land ownership between the Australian Aborigines and European colonists. The writer of this paper describes how the Aborigines had developed their own society, culture and rules for land ownership which were inexcusably overlooked by the European invaders. When Europe began to encroach upon the territories of the Aborigines, the latter group simply adapted resourcefully and made new claims. This paper explores the various countries and nations that laid claim to Australia, including the Dutch, British and Spain While the Aborigines claimed Australia through ancestral travels, the Dutch and British justified their possession by initial landing rights and the Spanish laid their claim based on religious doctrine. The British extended their claim to the entire continent by 1826 with the stroke of a legislative pen. This writer of this paper describes how the conflict was furthermore exacerbated by the fact that Aborigines and Europeans had differing conceptions of private property.
From the Paper "Although the Aborigines lived according to such ancient beliefs for thousands of years, their fate would soon be doomed according to a very different system of territorial claims formulated 10000 miles away, in Europe. While the Aborigines justifiably had divided Australian lands into their own territories, the newly 'discovered' continent would soon come into a three-way struggle for possession as Britain, Holland, and Spain each claimed Australia separately, none of these claims based on right of ancestors, but on religious, economic, and political rationales. The Spanish and Portuguese, in search of southern trade routes and the legendary Terra Australis, had touched on the continent of Australia."
Abstract This paper relates that the Aboriginals of Australia are central to defining anthropology and to our understanding of what anthropology can say about modern man. The paper goes on to discuss how Aboriginal religion affects every aspect of Aboriginal society and how Aboriginal paintings are a expression of their religion. Lastly, the paper relates that the very survival of indigenous Aboriginal culture in Australia is a source of concern for many people for a wide variety of reasons.
From the Paper "Aboriginal paintings are expressions of aboriginal religion, of the Dreamtime, the recollection of the collective common story of these peoples. One of the remarkable features of this art is that virtually every aboriginal artist adheres to the same customs and conventions. This reflects that fact that art to aboriginals is not something that individuals do. It is a reflection of their common culture. While many individual artists may have different dreams and visions, the expression of their culture is so tightly bound to a common outlook and attitude that the commonality of the artwork is often more striking than the individuality (Price-Williams & Gaines). "
Outlines the current state of representation of the Australian indigenous people, the Aboriginals, and its interpretation especially in the media and in art.
Abstract This paper discusses the theories of representation, cross-cultural representation between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals, and representations within the Aboriginal community. The author points out that representations between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals form the basis of the dialogue between them. However, each group's level of understanding of the other is dependant on their interpretations of these representations. The paper concludes that, as the intersubjective dialogue through representation continues, each group should gain a greater understanding of the other. This is not a fixed, state of affairs, but rather, an ongoing, evolving process.
From the Paper "Furthermore, Aborigines really had no choice in Europeanising themselves as it was thrust upon them in the colonial days. On top of this, their culture was suppressed by white domination. Nowadays, Aborigines make use of technology to spread their identity and culture. ABC occasionally aired five-minute programmes that would retell old Aboriginal dream time stories. These programmes had a specific Aboriginal flavour in that the pictures were still, much like their rock-painting, and the story was told through the use of a narrator, as is the Aboriginal tradition of oral story-telling."
Abstract This paper examines how Aboriginal art in Canada is often a subversive response to the colonial representations of Canada's First Peoples that produced, promoted and cemented stereotypes. It discusses how this "othering" of Aboriginal peoples in Canada was a tool of nationalism just as much as postcolonial responses to 19th century representations were a tool of reclamation. It also looks at how Thomas King and other Aboriginal visual artists have used postcolonial responses in humorous Aboriginal art to take slices of history and place them in new and unexpected contexts to create new frontiers. The paper also shows how humour in Aboriginal visual art and literature often finds its base in the colonial past and its relationship to the postmodern present.
From the Paper "The "ethnographic photograph" is a theme that appears more than once in King's One Good Story, That One. In the title story, three anthropologists arrive, camera and tape recorders in hand, requesting stories. The narrator could be a tribal Elder; when Napiao arrives he gives the narrator tobacco, a traditional offering to Elders for their time and knowledge (SAHO 16). Evidently, the anthropologists are already familiar with the local customs; when the narrator "says to Napiao, Ka-sin-ta, in our language, and he laugh" (4), the anthropologists laugh also, although the purpose of the joke in this case, is to exclude the white anthropologists from the discourse. When Napiao finally urges the narrator to tell "old stories ... maybe how the world was put together" (5) the narrator starts with "Once upon a time. Those stories start like that, pretty much, those ones, start on time" (5). In terms of "writing back" to colonial discourse, this short introduction by the narrator is extremely problematic."
Abstract In many contemporary tribal communities, dual justice systems exist. One is based on what can be called an American paradigm of justice and the other is based on what can be called an indigenous paradigm. The paper shows that the Australian legal system is beginning to recognize the establishment of the Aborigine indigenous communities and hopes to develop programs that investigate legal issues in a more culturally sensitive manner. Canada has also encountered cultural problems in their justice system with the sentencing of aboriginal offenders and is working to implement alternative sentencing measures for Aborigine offenders. Many other countries are following Australia and Canada's lead. The paper details the Aborigine indigenous justice system which is based upon a holistic philosophy.
From the Paper "The model of the American justice system is different from the Aborigine's because there is a concentration of frequent separation of powers. Politics and religion are to remain separate states, therefore, any spiritual needs of the offender or victim are not the responsibility of the court. The victim is often overlooked, while the system concentrates on serving justice and punishing the offender of the crime. Many of those who study indigenous justice systems are beginning to advocate that the community must begin to participate actively in handling both the criminal and the victim (LaPrairie, 1998)."
