Resdietial schools

This explaining what Residential Schools did for all these years. In the 19th century the Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and care for the countrys aboriginal people. It though that native people best chance for success was to adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. This event was trying to make Aboriginal children talk, dress, think and act like Canadians.

Children were the main targets, because it was believed that it would be asier to change a young child as opposed to an adult. At the time, the government and churches believed that residential schooling was the right thing to do for the Aboriginal children to be better and wiser people. “In order to educate the children properly we must separate them from their families… Some people may say this hard, but if we want to civilize them we must do that. (A federal Cabinet Minister, 1883, CBC Learning DVD) Government and churches believed in the movement, due to their intent of educating, assimilating and integrating the Aboriginal people into Canadian society. The system was designed to “kill the Indian in the child. ” Aboriginal families all across Canada were affected by the Residential Schools system, and still are affected. Children were forced to attend and live year round at these schools. Parents had to accept that their children would no longer be in their care and that they would be looked after by churches and funded by the Canadian government, or face imprisonment.

The importance of this issue is that, Residential Schools had a high impact at the time to destroy the close ties in Aboriginal families and the strong sense of culture in communities. Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada… that has not been absorbed unto the body politic… and there is not Indian question and no Indian Department”(Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs Jan 1,1920, CBC Learning DVD) The government wanted to blend the aboriginals in to the “norm” of Canadian society.

If you are an “outsider” like a First Nations person, you are expected to follow to rules and social normalities of a Canadian. Life at Residential Schools was hard for the first nation’s children. Children were taught that their spiritual practices were vil, and were banned from their practices. They were forced to speak English, and were punished if they spoke their own native languages. Many suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse while living in the residential schools.

Some children died from how horrible treatments were at the Residential schools. They couldn’t take the abuse or the poor poverty anymore. Very few of the teachers were qualified to teach therefore the education was poor. It’s important to note that the Residential School programs were disgraceful, not Just from the perspective of our times, but rom the perspective of their own. This policy has had a lasting and damaging impact their homes, separate from the cultures and traditions that are created for many lives and communities.

They government now recognize that, these institutions gave rise to abuse and you shouldn’t change a culture Just because they are living in Canada. “As Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal Canadians seek to move forward together in a process of renewal, it is essential that we deal with the leagues of the past affecting the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, including the First Nations, Inuit and M©tis. Our purpose is not to rewrite history but, rather, to learn from our past and to find ways to deal with negative impacts that certain historical decisions continue to have in our society today. (A Day at Indian Residential Schools in Canada, DVD) Many Aboriginal people had enough and wanted to take power over this issue. Families couldn’t be a proper family anymore because they couldn’t communicate with one another. The Residential Schools broke the. Children coming from Residential Schools, grew up, got married and had kids. But they couldn’t be good parents because they didn’t now how. They didn’t have a role model of being a good parent when growing up in Residential Schools. A Day at Indian Residential Schools in Canada, DVD) This caused even more problem to the Aboriginal People. Protesters by Aboriginal parents, National Brotherhood and Inspectors from Indian Affairs making this world wide for Government to hear the people and know about this horrible issue the Aboriginal People had to go through. “Sadly, our history with respect to the treatment of Aboriginal People is not something is in which we can take pride. Attitude of racial nd cultural superiority led to a suppression of Aboriginal culture and values.

As a country we burdened by past actions that resulted in weakling the identity of Aboriginal peoples, suppressing their languages, cultures and outlawing spiritual practices. We must recognize the impact of these actions thatonce self- sustaining nations that were disaggregated, disruned, limited or even destroyed. “(A Day at Indian Residential Schools in Canada, DVD) After years of protests by Aboriginal parents, leaders, organizations, and the many the many reports of problems, the federal government knew that the Residential School system was being coming a big problem.

Regional Inspectors from Indian Affairs recommended that the Residential School should be over and done with and they made sure the Government heard the voices about the issue. The National Indian Brotherhood’s position paper of 1972, “Indian Control of Indian Education,” proposed to implement two principles of education that would make school more relevant to students and their communities: Parental responsibility and local control of education, including the right to hire staff and develop curriculum. (Aboriginal People in Canada, pg. 33-358) this went worldwide.

The federal government and now recognizing that, what they did before was wrong and that the Aboriginal People should take over. The Residential School system failed as a system of education for three reasons: Server underfunding, particularly during the two World Wars and the Depression, Inadequate management due to the rapid growth of the system and students. (Aboriginal People in Canada, pg. 358) Aboriginal People were not satisfied with Just the closure of Residential Schools, individuals and communities took action. In 1988, Residential School survivors from St.

George’s Residential School in Lytton, British Columbia, filed lawsuits against the Anglican Church for damages for sexual abuse. Canadians were shocked by news reports about routinely abuses by the Catholic Church. This case opened the accounts of abuse in the Residential school across Canada and, finally, national attention focused on the damages that this system had inflicted. Non- Aboriginal leaders and citizens condemned the abuse that had taken place for so long. It was time for the churches and government to respond, take action about the problem and hear the voices (Aboriginal People in Canada, pg. 8) The treatment of children in Indian Residential Schools is a sad chapter in history of Canada. Indian Residential Schools separated over 1 50,000 Aboriginal children from their families and communities. The primary objectives of Residential Schools system were to remove and isolate, transitions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. The government now recognize that this policy was wrong, had caused great harm and has no place in Canada. The legacy of Indian Residential Schools has contributed to social problems that continue to exist in many communities today.

The government also recognizes the consequences of Residential Schools policy was negative and that it has had a lasting and damaging impact on Aboriginal culture, heritage and language. “On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, I stand before you, in this Chamber so central to our life as a country, to apologize to Aboriginal Peoples of Canada’s role in the Indian Residential Schools system. “(Stephen Harper, CBC Learning, Stolen Children) Government policy destroyed the fabric of family in first nations, M©tis and Inuit communities.

Parents and children were made to feel worthless. Parents and grandparents were given no choice. Their children were stolen from them. “Today we live in a reality created by the residential schools system, stole from them. “Today we live in a reality created by the residential schools system, a present that is haunted by this tragic and painful heritage from those first nations, M©tis and Inuit children, from their families and their communities, a dark and painful heritage that all Canadians must accept as a part of our history. (St©phane Dion, CBC Learning, Stolen Children, DVD) For a pretty long, Canadian governments chose denial over truth, and when confronted with the eight of truth, chose silence. Canadian governments also refused to acknowledge their role in creating the residential schools system and perpetrating the goal of wiping out aboriginal identity and culture.

Canadian governments ignored the consequences of this problem. Instead of trying to understand the Aboriginal People’s suffering that continues to this day, they went into silence. Today, we, representatives of the Canadian people, apologize to those who survived residential schools and to those who died as a result of the laws enacted by previous governments and parliaments. By speaking directly to survivors and victims’ today on the floor of the House of Commons, we apologize to those who died waiting for these words to be spoken and these wrongs acknowledged. ” (St©phane Dion, CBC Learning, people for accepting the apology that they are getting from Canada. Together we remember and honour them for it was they who suffered the most as they witnessed generation after generation of their children taken from their families’ love and guidance. for the generations that will follow us, we bear witness today in this House that our survival as First Nations peoples in this land is affirmed forever. (Phil Fontaine National Chief, CBC Learning, Stolen Children, DVD) The First Nations now significance of the day of apology is not Just about what has been done, but equally important, what id to come.

They know that never again will the House consider the First Nations the Indian problem for Just being who they are. The first Nations heard and know that the Government of Canada will take full responsibility for this dead chapter in their shared history. they heard the Prime Minister declare that this will never happen again. They finally heard Canada say it is sorry. “Everyone has still have o struggle, but now they are in this together. ” (Phil Fontaine National Chief, CBC Learning, Stolen Children, DVD) The effects of Residential School last generations and healing will take as long.

If is not possible for communities, families and nations to heal within a few years and will continue to grow. Steps to Healing that I think is good: Creating safety from violence, Showing respect and tolerance for differences, Being responsible and holding others responsible for actions and recognizing the hurt and the need to change. In conclusion, I think Residential School shouldn’t been built in the first place. Even if you were trying to change a cultural to become Just like yours.

There were different ways to d it; like teaching them your ways on your own time. Instead of doing it a whole culture and causing so much problems. Or not doing anything about the issue at all. When Canada was apologizing to the Aboriginal People, In my opinion, I think Canada’s attempt was trying to close the Aboriginal identity and culture by taking away from their families when they were children and by building a system to punish them for whole they were. They didn’t value the Aboriginal people as parents. Didn’t trust and respect them.

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Destruction Of The First Nations Culture By Indian Residential Schools

The Indian Residential Schools non merely were the cause of much agony to the First Nations people during the 18 and 19 100s, but they have besides extended this agony to all coevalss that have followed. These schools have played a big function in the loss of traditions, linguistic communication, and beliefs that First Nations people held in such high respect through humiliation, force, and isolation.

Anglican and Catholic churches managed the Indian Residential Schools from the 1870 ‘s to the early 1980 ‘s by following the legislative authorization that they were given by the Canadian Government ( Meseyton, 2005 ) . Kipling and Stout ( 2003 ) say that “ by 1930, 75 per cent of First Nations kids between the ages of 7 and 15 old ages were enrolled in one of 80 such schools across the state and in the 1940s, attending was expanded to include Inuit kids every bit good ” ( p.29 ) . There were about 150, 000 Frist Nations, Inuit, and Metis kids taken from their places and put in Indian Residential Schools ( CBC New, 2009 ) . In Nova Scotia, there was one Residential School for First Nations people, which resided in Shubenacadie. The Shubenacadie Residential School opened in 1930 and it closed its doors in June of 1967 ( Knockwood, 1992, Paul, 2006 ) .

The object of the Indian Residential Schools were used as a portion of colonialism to absorb the First Nations people by destructing their civilization, linguistic communication, individuality, history, and spiritualty ( Longboat, 1987 ; Meseyton, 2005 ) . Taking away the First Nations heritage was seen to alter whom they were and do them intermix in to Canadian Society. Battiste ( 1986 ) explains that the Indian Residential Schools were evaluated based on their “ ability to transform the Indian ” ( p. 35 ) . This transmutation came with barbarous force and no respect to the kids ‘s self-pride because they were portrayed as barbarians, pagans, heathens and wild Indians ( Knockwood, 1992 ) .

The Shubenacadie Residential School followed the Nova Scotia course of study with a few alterations in the faith class and they were besides taught to be ashamed of who they were ( Paul, 2006 ) . Paul ( 2006 ) besides says that the “ kids were taught about all the advantages of Caucasic life and all the immoralities of First Nations ‘ isolation, linguistic communication and civilization ” ( p. 283 ) . First Nations kids traveling into the residential schools were non allowed to talk their ain linguistic communication. Knockwood ( 1992 ) says, “ Talking Mi’Kmaw was non permitted in the school because it held kids back in the schoolroom in reading, articulating and composing English ” ( p. 26 ) . Taking the kids from their households and coercing them non to talk their linguistic communication was the first stairss in taking away their individuality.

Even though the churches and Government made the First Nations people believe that they had a pick to direct their kids to school, this was non the instance. Harmonizing to Daniel Paul ( 2006 ) , because of how the Indian Act was written, the kids were considered wards of the Crown and did non hold Torahs to protect them so households could make nil. Families filled out signifiers to let their kids to go to these schools, but Paul ( 2006 ) says that it did non affair because these signifiers were merely “ window dressings ” and the Indian Agents did non necessitate the parents ‘ permission and could make whatever they wanted with the kids.

Maltreatment of the First Nations kids was normally used in the Indian Residential Schools for control and assimilation. The kids were forced to give up their individualities through whippings, menaces, and isolation. Isabelle Knockwood ( 1992 ) conducted an interview with Peter Julian, former pupil at the Shubenacadie Residential School, that said by the clip he left the school he was ashamed to talk his ain linguistic communication for the small spot that he could retrieve. Talking the Mi’Kmaw linguistic communication was non the lone thing that brought on maltreatment. Isabelle Knockwood was besides a former pupil of the Shubenacadie Residential School. She can retrieve watching a nun shingle a small miss while shouting, “ Look at me ” because the nun did non recognize that direct oculus contact between a kid and an grownup was considered chesty in the native civilization ( Knockwood, 1992, p. 50 ) . The maltreatment made the kids forget about their civilization though fright. Knockwood ( 1992 ) says we “ were forcibly disconnected from everything our parents and seniors had taught us, and everything new was learned in an ambiance of fright ” ( p. 50 ) . At times physical and sexual maltreatment was used together. The kids were being sexual abused by the nuns and priest and if they did non follow with it, they would be all in ( Knockwood, 1992 ) .

Physical and sexual maltreatment was non the lone signifiers of penalty used in the Indian Residential Schools. As stated earlier, isolation from households were besides used to absorb the First Nations kids. Children were non allowed to see their households frequently and for some they did non acquire to see their households at all because of the going distance to the school. During the Christmas interruption, the kids were forced to remain at the school alternatively of being place with their households ( Knockwood, 1992 ; Paul, 2006 ) . Even though the kids could non travel place for Christmas, they remember lovingly being able to pass it with their siblings that were at the school besides. Knockwood ( 1992 ) remembers this as the merely good thing about Christmas and says, “ we ‘d acquire our nowadayss from place and acquire to sit with our brothers and sisters ” ( p. 38 ) . However, Doug Knockwood remembers one Christmas were his male parent travelled to the school to convey Christmas gifts and the nuns refused to let the kids to hold them and made him take the gifts back place ( Knockwood, 1992 ) .

Christmas is one of the major vacations where households are near. This was a manner to unplug the bonds between the kids and the parents and take away the felicity associated with it. The kids ‘s gifts were the lone thing left that made them experience like kids. Harmonizing to Knockwood ( 1992 ) , the kids were merely allowed to play with their gifts until January 6 and so they were packed up and ne’er seen once more. Taking these gifts from the kids would be like taking them from their households once more because these gifts were the lone thing every twelvemonth that connected them to and reminded them of their households.

Many of the parents besides had trouble accepting that their kids could non come place for Christmas. These parents would compose letters or hire attorneies to acquire their kids place, but all they would have was ill-mannered letters from the school denying them ( Paul, 2006 ) . Other households stuck together as a community to seek to acquire their kids place. Paul ( 2006 ) explains briefly that the Cambridge Reserve hired a adult male to travel to the school to pick their kids up but the Principal would non allow them travel. These are illustrations of how determined the churches and Canadian Government were in absorbing the First Nations people.

The Indian Residential Schools did non supply the instruction that other Nova Scotia schools provided. The pupils were taught really basic instruction and the remainder was manual labor ( Knockwood, 1992 ) . Learning merely the basic instruction was so First States people could acquire by life in society by understanding English, but non have excessively much instruction so they obtain callings such as attorney, instructors and physicians. Making them make manual labor was in some manner ‘killing two birds with one rock ‘ . The Government could absorb them into Western Society and non hold to pay anyone to make the manual work at the school. The kids that attended these schools were non trained to make the work and most clip they were in the place to make manual work that was insecure. Knockwood ( 1992 ) describes that many of the kids got physically hurt because they were excessively little or untrained to run the machinery.

There was really small clip to make anything merriment at the school. Knockwood ( 1992 ) remembers being able to play baseball and traveling skating. For the kids that attended these schools, keeping on to the memories of these times is what helped them do it through each twenty-four hours. This was one of the times, other than Christmas, that the kids that had brothers or sisters at the school would acquire to see them even for merely a few proceedingss ( Knockwood, 1992 ) . These tactics were ways that the churches and Government thought would insulate the kids and cut bonds with other household members.

This was non the lone manner that the Indian Residential Schools managed to deprive First Nations kids of their individuality. The kids did non hold the chance to turn up and see what a normal household life would look like because they were at school for 10 months a twelvemonth with no parental contact other than letters, which were no usage, because they were written in English so the parents could non read them ( CBC News, 2009 ) . This farther goes to demo how isolation was used to take the bonds within the households so they could suit into Canadian society more expeditiously.

There were besides residential twenty-four hours schools and some kids were sent away to schools in other states so they would larn to “ reject their traditional cultural ways in favor of the life of the person in the dominant Canadian society ” ( Battiste, 1986, p. 36 ) . No affair where the First Nations kids were sent for instruction, the chief result the Canadian Government desired was assimilation of the ‘Indian ‘ . Daniel Paul attended an Indian Day School on the Indian Brook Reserve where assimilation was still in advancement ( Paul, 2006 ) Paul ( 2006 ) recalls his clip in this school and says he “ can non remember any attempt being made – except for a brief mention to basket weaving and other traditional trades – to learn us about heritage and civilization ” ( p. 291 ) . The deficiency of instruction of the First Nations heritage and civilization in the Indian twenty-four hours schools was merely another effort of the Canadian Government to absorb the First Nations people.

Assimilation of the First Nations people did non travel like the Canadian Government planned. There are still First Nations people widely spread all across Canada. Did the Indian Residential Schools affect the First Nations civilization and their individuality? Harmonizing to Kipling and Stout ( 2003 ) , the parents that grew up in Indian Residential Schools create what they call “ intergenerational ” Survivors by go throughing the injury they experienced down to their kids ( p. 51 ) . The effects of the schools non merely affected the First Nations people in them at the clip but for coevals to come. Kipling and Stout ( 2003 ) explains this to be “ like a pebble dropped in a pool, traumatic effects tend to ruffle outward signifier victims to touch all those who surround them, including kids and grandchildren ” ( p. 51 ) .

The subsisters of the Indian Residential Schools ne’er had a opportunity to go near with their households and larn what healthy relationships were. Kipling and Stout ( 2003 ) suggest that the force that the subsisters encountered at the schools was used towards their ain kids subsequently in their lives because they did non cognize how to show fondness. This is what causes a rhythm of maltreatment. Unless this rhythm is stopped, every coevals will endure the same sort of force from their parents. The maltreatment can besides stem from defeat. When kids were old plenty they returned place to their parents where they felt like they did non belong because they did non hold the accomplishments to assist their parents out and ended up going ashamed of who they were ( CBC News, 2009 ) .

Not everyone experienced the same things in the Indian Residential Schools. Some First Nations people believe they learned valuable accomplishments such as talking English, how to maintain their places in good form, stitching, cookery and praying, while others thought it was the most atrocious topographic point to be ( Knockwood, 1992 ) . Knockwood ( 1992 ) besides explains that some of the pupils thought the whippings were deserved, while some thought it was a safety from place because their parents abused them, and some pupils were the priests and nuns front-runners so they did non endure the penalties. Even though there were some First States people that seen the schools as a good topographic point to be while they were at that place, this did non halt the agony of the First Nations civilization and individuality.

The First Nations civilization and linguistic communication are threatened because “ several coevalss of kids holding grown up in a scene where any manifestation of Aboriginality was disparaged and devalued ” ( Kipling & A ; Stout, 2003, p. 34 ) . Kipling and Stout ( 2003 ) besides suggest that many subsisters are seeking to get by with both the maltreatment they suffered at the Indian Residential Schools along with the loss of their civilization. First Nations communities need to lodge together to mend if they want to convey back the civilization and linguistic communication of their ascendants. Without the instruction of traditions and linguistic communication, the First Nations individuality will be wholly gone.

Randolph Bowers considers himself a Mi’kmaq adult male that is seeking to detect his ain individuality while seeking to assist others understand themselves better by bring outing their ain individuality ( Bowers, 2008 ) . The Indian Residential School did non affect Arbors straight but he states how it affected his household indirectly by stating:

My household was non impacted by the residential school epoch straight. We were influenced indirectly. My grandma Honora Elizabeth Richard-Bowers lived during an epoch when the residential schools were enforced in Nova Scotia. For Metis households I suspect there was a changeless fright of authorities functionaries. Foster places, wards of the province, and residential schools were non far distant worlds for comparatively hapless Acadian households. Hiding their Aboriginal lineage was most likely really necessary during the late 1800s and early 1900s ( Arbors, 2008, p.37 ) .

This shows that the Frist Nations people did non hold to be forced into an Indian Residential School to be stripped of their civilization and linguistic communication. Some of the households felt giving up their individuality was better than the alternate. Arbors ( 2008 ) goes on to state, “ My experience is of being a non-status Indian turning up in a household that had about lost our connexions to Aboriginal heritage and civilization. There was ever a nothingness in my bosom, a immense portion of me that was losing ” ( p. 29 ) .

Arbors shows us that cognizing your heritage is of import in cognizing who you are. The grounds proves that the Indian Residential Schools took something from the First Nations people that was really of import to their individuality. It is of import for anyone to cognize who they are and where they came from, but for the First Nations people it is highly of import because happening their individuality though their traditions and linguistic communication aid mend the agony brought on by the Indian Residential Schools.

Healing is an of import measure in recovering the civilization and linguistic communication of the First Nations people. Knockwood ( 1992 ) explains that it is of import that the subsisters of the Indian Residential Schools talk with other subsisters to assist with the healing procedure. Moayeri and Smith ( 2010 ) conducted interviews with two First States female parents that were former pupils at the Indian Residential Schools. These adult females have lost their individuality because of the maltreatment they suffered and the isolation they endured. In these interviews, the adult females explained that they were seeking to recover their individuality back by taking some power over their lives ( Moayeri & A ; Smith, 2010 ) . Many pupils are still seeking to mend themselves in one manner or another and with the support of their First Nations communities, the procedure of mending would profit the subsister every bit good as coevalss to come.

In decision, the Indian Residential Schools along with other efforts of assimilation of the First Nations heritage, civilization, linguistic communication, and individuality have affected the First Nations people. Arbors ( 2008 ) says, “ We are Canadians, but if we do non cognize where we come from and who we are, we are nil ” ( p. 38 ) . Reconnecting with the First Nations communities and larning about their lost heritage will assist mend the agony for the future coevalss of First Nations kids. Reclaiming their individualities will do the First Nations communities stronger to contend any other signifiers of assimilation that may happen in the hereafter.

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The Sixties Scoop in Canada

This paper examines issues concerning First Nations peoples and the child welfare system, and their implications for social work today. It explores the Sixties Scoop to illustrate the devastating impact such policies and practices had on Aboriginal children, families and communities. Cultural genocide is part of this legacy.

To deliver more culturally appropriate services, awareness about and acknowledgement of these mistakes can assist social workers to incorporate a social justice perspective into their practice with Aboriginal clients. As well, implications for social work education regarding professional training, curriculum content and course delivery by Aboriginal faculty members are highlighted The Sixties Scoop: Implications for Social Workers and Social Work Education Religious leaders and the government of Canada have apologized to First Nations peoples for the abusive experiences they endured in the residential school ystem. However, the closure of the residential schools did not end the attempt to assimilate Aboriginal children into mainstream Anglo-Canadian society through separation from their families. A sudden acceleration in child welfare workers removing Native children from their Aboriginal communities coincided with the dismantling of the church run education system. As the next painful chapter in the history of the colonization of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples, the Sixties Scoop quickly evolved into an aggressive tool for assimilation and cultural genocide.

Its legacy has implications for social work practice today. Origins of the Sixties Scoop Governments in the mid 20th century viewed Aboriginal people as “child-like creatures in constant need of the paternal care of the government. With guidance, they would gradually abandon their superstitious beliefs and barbaric behaviour and adopt civilization” (Titley, 1992, p. 36). Segregated day and residential schools had failed to meet the goals of assimilation: most former students did not embrace the Euro-Canadian identity.

The Parliamentary committee examining the Indian Act between 1946 and 1948 rejected the existing policy and proposed Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 54 Alston-O’Connor instead the integration of young Indians into public schools (Titley, 1992). Concurrently, the Department of Indian Affairs created agreements with the provinces to take primary responsibility for children’s general welfare within their own provincial agencies (Armitage, 1995). As residential schools became discredited, the child welfare system became the new agent of assimilation and colonization (Johnson, 1983).

Returning to their reserves and bands, many residential school students felt alienated and overwhelmed. Growing up in the residential school system, Aboriginal children were not given role models to look up to. They were not shown affection nor taught how to love or care for others. They had few traditional child-rearing skills from their own parents and relatives to rely on (Armitage, 1995). This had detrimental effects on the families of survivors of the residential schools for the generations of children who followed (Fournier and Crey, 1997).

During the era of the Sixties Scoop, Kulusic (2005) suggests that “power, privilege and poverty are complexly related to the disproportionate number of Aboriginal children who were removed from their own communities” (p. 26). Unfamiliar with extended family child-rearing practices and communal values, government social service workers attempted to ‘rescue’ children from their Aboriginal families and communities, devastating children’s lives and furthering the destitution of many families.

Culture and ethnicity were not taken into consideration as it was assumed that the child, being pliable, would take on the heritage and culture of the foster/adoptive parents (Armitage, 1995). The forced removal of children and youth from their Native communities has been linked with social problems such as “high suicide rate, sexual exploitation, substance use and abuse, poverty, low educational achievement and chronic unemployment” (Lavell-Harvard and Lavell, 2006, p. 144).

Newly designated funds from the federal to the provincial governments were “the primary catalysts for state involvement in the well-being of Aboriginal children…as Ottawa guaranteed payment for each child apprehended” (Lavell-Harvard and Lavell, 2006, p. 145). Exporting Aboriginal children to the United States was common practice. Private American adoption agencies paid Canadian child welfare services $5,000 to $10,000 per child (LavellHarvard and Lavell, 2006). These agencies rarely went beyond confirming the applicant’s ability to pay, resulting in minimal screening and monitoring of foster or adoptive parents (Fournier and Crey, 1997).

In 1959, only one percent of all children in care were of Native ancestry. By the late 1960s, “30 to 40 percent of all legal wards of the state in Canada were Aboriginal children, even though they formed less than 4 percent of the national population” (Fournier and Crey, 1997, p. 83). At the height of the Scoop, one in four status Indian children were separated from his or her parents for all or part of their childhood; for non-status and Metis children, one in three spent part of their childhood as a legal ward of the state (Fournier and Crey, 1997).

Social welfare policies allowed government agencies to “continue to remove Aboriginal children from their homes and communities and damage Aboriginal culture and traditions all the while claiming to act in the best interest of the child” (Johnson, 1983, p. 24). The permanent removal of thousands of Aboriginal children during the Sixties Scoop laid the foundation for more complex, destructive effects on First Nations communities and culture with repercussions extending beyond their lifetimes. Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 1, No. 1 55 Alston-O’Connor Cultural Genocide and Loss of Identity The loss of their children caused irrevocable mental, emotional and spiritual harm to individuals, families and communities. “Indian children were taken away like souvenirs by professionals who were supposed to be helping the whole family” (Fournier and Crey, 1997, p. 91). The actions of child welfare workers destabilized traditional First Nations culture, quickly stereotyping Aboriginal women as unfit mothers and living off the land as uncivilized.

Welfare agencies played a very important role in “defining, transmitting and shaping what were seen as legitimate or normal cultural expectations and practices” (Ward, 1984, p. 22). The acceptable home criteria reflected a nuclear, middle class lifestyle. Once an Aboriginal child was placed, social agencies did not offer support to the newly formed families even though research has shown that transracial adoption is more problematic because children lose their cultural heritage and their true identity (Kulusic, 2005).

Permanent estrangement from one’s roots was inherent in the Sixties Scoop adoption structure. Aboriginal names, like postal codes, signify which First Nations their family belongs to (Cuthand, 2007). With legal adoptions, children’s birth family names disappeared as the adoptive surname was issued on all records. Sealing their case files erased any past family history and made repatriation nearly impossible for the adopted child and their grieving families. Some reserves lost almost an entire generation of their children to the welfare system (Johnson, 1983).

Many children were placed in distant communities, exported to other provinces or across the US border to the homes of middle class white families (Kulusic, 2005). Scattering children across the continent undermined identification with the close-knit traditional Aboriginal culture and destroyed its kinship network. The legal rights of Aboriginal children were forgotten. With the erasure of their ancestry, the knowledge of being a treaty Indian child was suppressed. Special privileges available as a result of their Native status were lost through the apprehension and adoption process (Kimmelman, 1985).

In accordance with treaty rights, one might expect that child welfare agencies would place the child in a culturally appropriate environment, focused on healthy development as an Aboriginal child. Such considerations were routinely ignored (Kimmelman, 1985). This large-scale removal of Aboriginal children to non-native families throughout the 1960s and 1970s damaged the cultural legacy of all First Nations peoples. The long-term implementation and destructive intergenerational impacts of Canadian government policies during the Sixties Scoop are consistent with the United Nations definition for cultural genocide.

Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as, “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group” (Office of the High Commissioner). Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 56 Alston-O’Connor Under the misguided goal of assimilation, Aboriginal children were forcibly relocated to non-Aboriginal communities. Placements with families who could not offer socialization within an Aboriginal framework of traditional knowledge and pride of heritage destroyed one of the most important intergenerational processes for cultural knowledge and continuity. Individual Suffering and the Plight of the Family Many of the legal adoptions throughout the 1960s and 1970s were unsuccessful.

Alienated children became runaways, turned to street life for support and experienced an overwhelming sense of lost identity, “a sense of social isolation greater than that which they had experienced in the church-run schools” (York, 1990, p. 205). Anxiety and culture shock were common after moving from remote, rural areas into suburban settings to live with strangers. Many children had difficulties developing attachments to their new parents, had an inability to connect and were distrustful (York, 1990). Some adults, adopted as children, reported physical, sexual and emotional abuses. Others were even treated as domestic servants (Fournier and Crey, 1997). Children are so highly valued in Aboriginal culture that those without children are considered disadvantaged (Johnson, 1983).

Research confirms that Native families who “approached child care agencies in search of help for funds to supply food and shelter ended up losing their children … Often times they were only offered one option: to relinquish custody of the child” (Kimmelman, 1985, p. 196). Problems of alcoholism, emotional stress and low selfesteem were compounded with the increased formal scrutiny and likelihood that other children would be removed from the family (Johnson, 1983). The actions of the social welfare agencies “weakened the traditional family structure, and in doing so, weakened Aboriginal society as a whole” (Johnson, 1983, p. 61). Implications for Social Work Practice Today Client Contexts The impact of the Sixties Scoop is multi-layered.

Understanding the specific nature of this colonial oppression of Aboriginal peoples requires current social workers to incorporate a social justice perspective when addressing specific issues with Aboriginal clients. It provides insight into how the colonizing process has pressured people to “detach from who they are but left them with no means to alleviate the pressure” (Hart, 2007, p. 27). In our role as counselors, this framework gives us the ability to reject assessment tools that merely label, personalize and pathologize individual expression and relate these problems to the larger socio-political reality (Hart, 2007). We are better prepared to identify how media stereotypes and social prejudices translate into everyday life for thousands of First Nations people.

As Fournier and Crey (1997) note, the current generation is suffering the effects of hundreds of years of colonialist public policies. By situating the client’s presenting problem in a societal context, we set the stage to identify strategies to offset the impoverishing effects of these social justice issues. As social workers, it is our ethical duty to look beyond individual risk factors and to change society’s foundational inequalities and constraints (CASW, 2005). One of the ways to address the power imbalance between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal culture is to incorporate Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 57 Alston-O’Connor Indigenous knowledge.

Battiste (2002) argues it can only be fully learned and understood when learned in context, taught through Indigenous teaching methods, including sharing circles, experiential learning, meditation, prayer, ceremonies and story-telling. Thus social workers must become familiar with and support traditional healing processes. Hart (2007) believes “… if the helping professions respected Aboriginal perspectives, they would incorporate methodologies which directly address the effects of genocide, colonization and oppression. ” (p. 31). Native Elders have been speaking about relationships between individuals, families, communities and the world around them for generations. They can serve as role models for positive growth and well being (Hart, 2007).

Their wisdom and knowledge can contribute support, direction and spiritual resources to aid both individual and collective problem solving and healing. Social workers must take an active role in encouraging direct participation in rituals and ceremonies with First Nations clients. The blessing of an event, attending a sweat lodge or going to a sharing circle establish oneness within the group and have symbolic importance. Spirituality and connecting with one’s roots play a powerful role in building a strong sense of Aboriginal identity and hope. These practices are not part of a theoretical approach designed by academics to help Indigenous Peoples.

They are meaningful expressions of Aboriginal culture and need to be recognized as valid approaches within the helping process. Effective social work practice must support the self-determination of clients to choose traditional approaches and must not be limited by textbook theory or policy driven programs to resolve issues (Hart, 2007). Culturally Appropriate Practice Analysing the impacts of the Sixties Scoop is essential to changing the social realities for Aboriginal peoples today. Practicing from an anti-oppressive philosophy, our mandate includes identifying stereotyping and over generalizing. Misperceiving traditional practices can have a negative effect on the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal working relationship.

To counteract the colonial mentality of our Anglo-Canadian society, social workers must become knowledgeable about Aboriginal perspectives and how they are reflected in traditional and urban Aboriginal culture. Past personal and generational experiences are important as well as present events that will affect future generations (Hart, 2007). Social workers who work with Aboriginal clients must respect and appreciate their worldview. Openness and sensitivity to nuances related to culture, education, and ways of communicating are essential skills. Individuals must be self aware and alert to the possibility that the social workers’ own life experiences will affect the way they view this population (Levin and Herbert, 2004).

Positive cultural attributes such as intergenerational strength of spirit and collective resilience are qualities to celebrate and build upon when social workers partner in the journey toward Aboriginal healing and community renewal. The cultural view of the collective is a core Aboriginal belief that affects social work practice. First Nations culture and communities place an honourable emphasis on kin and its strengths and meaning. Immediate family often includes extended family members and distant relatives. The community is seen as another extension of the family and needs to be included in any healing process. It is crucial to be aware of this collective belief and its manifestations within the community as it affects the language, the terminology and the focus used by the social Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 58 Alston-O’Connor orker with the client and their relatives when discussing issues and communicating about programs and options. Trust issues may be a concern when working with First Nations peoples. Research findings by Levin and Herbert (2004) identified fear and a lack of trust in health care settings due to discrimination and stigmatizing actions. They also reported that Aboriginal women, in particular, lacked trust in health care workers, be it doctors or social workers, due to the inexperience of workers, lack of communication with patients, cultural insensitivity, and absence of knowledge or understanding of Native healing practices (Levin and Herbert, 2004).

Often service providers have inadequate information about the experiences of living in poverty or the needs, perspectives, cultures and traditions of First Nations clients. Mistrust has grown out of lived experiences such as the Sixties Scoop. Lack of understanding of this influencing factor creates substantial barriers to the establishment of a trust-based relationship between service providers and clients. This lack of trust has implications when trying to develop or implement community based initiatives as trust is vital to its success (Levin and Herbert, 2004). Legacy Lessons The destructive effects of the Sixties Scoop have important lessons for social workers today.

Past mistakes in terms of the cultural context of First Nations children in care must not be repeated. Social workers uphold the fundamental child welfare principle that children should not be removed from their families solely on the basis of poverty. However, this core principle has not been equitably applied in provincial child welfare practices towards First Nations parents and children. The overrepresentation of First Nations children in care continues to be placed in nonAboriginal families (MacDonald and MacDonald, 2007). Caucasian families without cultural supports for Aboriginal children in their care may be unaware of how to address issues such as racism, prejudice and loss.

As noted by Sinclair (2007) “…several studies found that a positive parental attitude towards the child’s ethnic group, as well as some form of social involvement with that ethnic group in the family’s life is significantly correlated with a child’s positive adjustment and positive sense of identity” (p. 70). While pride in the child’s Aboriginal heritage can be encouraged when specific cultural involvement plans are in place, many agencies and communities do not have the personnel to share these traditions and values. In some regions, cultural identity considerations have led to the development of policies that prioritize placement with extended family members or with foster care providers within the same community when children are removed from their parental home (McKenzie and Morrissette, 2003).

The ongoing development of culturally appropriate child welfare services needs to include provisions for personal involvement with Aboriginal heritage languages, cultural traditions and values if apprehended children are to avoid the alienation and identity loss experienced by Aboriginal children from the Sixties Scoop. Professional Training It is clear that the social work profession and the Schools of Social Work have not been ‘neutral’ in the education and training that produced past social workers (MacDonald and MacDonald, 2007). Social workers’ Euro-centric assumptions sanctioned the destructive role of child welfare agencies in relationship to Aboriginal culture. The government’s assimilation goals Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 59 Alston-O’Connor for First Nations peoples were congruent with the professional criteria for “the best interests of the child” during the Sixties Scoop.

MacDonald and MacDonald (2007) note that social work education programs today play a key role within the colonizing mentality of child welfare agencies. “Through a social justice lens, the Schools of Social Work need to examine their role in the colonial processes that continue to impact on First Nations people in this country” (MacDonald and MacDonald, 2007, p 43). Social workers can be pro-active in calling for changes in their professional faculties. It is important to consider the method in which social work students are receiving their education. Tensions and stereotypes must be discussed openly. While the Sixties Scoop may be a potential factor in many of our clients’ lives, it is also one in many of our social work students’ lives. There is a need for supports to reflect on the needs of all Aboriginal students including those who know their culture, and those who are new to their culture, as well as those who practice tradition and those who were raised within the church” (Clark, Drolet, Arnouse, Walton, Rene’ Tamburro, & Mathews, 2009, p. 305). Culturally relevant education, training and curriculum development are critical to help inform empowering approaches. The inclusion of Elders in the field education programs, incorporation of spirituality and ceremony into all classrooms and an emphasis on Aboriginal leaders facilitating these practices can provide deeper insight into the Aboriginal culture and its rich history. In addition to First Nations child welfare agencies and National First Nations organizations, the schools of Social Work need to play an active role in the development of culturally appropriate social work education (MacDonald and MacDonald, 2007).

They need to ensure that Aboriginal faculty teach decolonizing practices to all social work students. Recommendations on how to make the curriculum and the Schools of Social Work more reflective of and relevant to First Nations students’ needs must be implemented. As well, social worker associations need to advocate for future social work graduates to be equipped to partner with the Aboriginal community in their work toward social justice. During the Sixties Scoop, the basic principles of intrinsic human value and the right to self-determination were erased by a government intent on cultural genocide. By forcibly reassigning First Nations children to non-Aboriginal families, kinship affiliations were obliterated.

Its multi-generational legacy of grief and loss in relation to family, identity, culture, heritage and community profoundly is still being felt today. As agents of child apprehension, social workers must examine their role in this tragedy and in the colonization of Aboriginal peoples. A commitment to implementing culturally relevant social work practice with First Nations clients is essential for the profession. We have the opportunity to critically evaluate current issues and to partner with members of the Aboriginal community in identifying best practices to challenge the myriad of social, political and personal issues that resulted from the Sixties Scoop.

As progressive agents for social justice, it is one of our responsibilities to create changes to ensure that Aboriginal peoples and their communities have the appropriate resources to flourish and grow.

References

  1. Armitage, A. (1995). Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation: Australia, Canada and ew Zealand.
  2. Vancouver: UBC Press. Battiste, M. (2002). Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy in First ations education: A literature review with recommendations. Prepared for the National working group on education and the Minister of Indian Affairs, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). Ottawa, ON. Retrieved March 9, 2010, from: http://www. ainc-inac. gc. ca/pr/pub/krw/ikp_e. html. CASW (2005). Social work code of ethics. Ottawa: Canadian Association of Social Workers.
  3. Clark, N. , Drolet, J. , Arnouse, M. , Rene’ Tamburro, P. , Walton, P. , & Mathews, N. (2009). ““Melq’ilwiye” Coming Together in An Intersectional Research Team – Using Narratives and Cultural Safety to Transform Aboriginal Social Work and Human Service Field Education. ” Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health 7. 2, 291-315. Retrieved March 10, 2010 from: http://www. pimatisiwin. com/online/wp-content/ uploads/2010/jan/08ClarkeDroletArnouseMathews. pdf.
  4. Cuthand, D. (2007). Askiwina: A Cree World. Regina: Couteau Books.
  5. Fournier, S. & Crey, E. (1997). Stolen From Our Embrace.
  6. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntrye. Hart, M. (2007). Seeking Mino-Pimatisiwin: An Aboriginal Approach to Helping.
  7. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. Johnson, P. (1983). ative Children and the Child Welfare System.
  8. Toronto: Lorimer. Kimmelman, E. (1985). o Quiet Place: Final Report to the Honourable Muriel Smith, Minister of Community Services/Review Committee on Indian and Metis Adoptions/Placements.
  9. Winnipeg: Manitoba Community Services. Kulusic, T. (2005). “The Ultimate Betrayal: Claiming and Reclaiming Cultural Identity”. Atlantis, 29. 2, 23-28.
  10. Lavell-Harvard, D. M. & Lavell, J. C. (Eds. ). (2006). Until Our Hearts Are On The Ground: Aboriginal Mothering, Oppression, Resistance and Rebirth.
  11. Toronto: Demeter Press. Levin, R. & Herbert, M. (2004). The Experience of Urban Aboriginals with Healt Care Services in Canada: Implications for Social Work Practice”. Social Work in Health Care, 39. 1, 165-179.
  12. MacDonald, N. & MacDonald, J. (2007) “Reflections of a Mi’kmaq social worker on a quarter of a century work in First Nations Child Welfare”. First Peoples Child & Family Review, 3. 1, 34-45.
  13. Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1 61 Alston-O’Connor McKenzie, B. & Morrissette, V. (2003). Social Work Practice with Canadians of Aboriginal Background: Guidelines for Respectful Social Work. Envision: The Manitoba Journal of Child Welfare, 2, 13-39. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  14. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Retrieved May 13, 2009. http://www. unhchr. ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci. htm
  15. Sinclair, R. (2007). “Identity Lost and Found: Lessons from the Sixties Scoop”. First Peoples Child & Family Review. 3. 1, 65-82.
  16. Titley, E. B. (1992). A arrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott and the Administration of Indian Affairs in Canada.
  17. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. Ward, M. (1984). The Adoption of ative Canadian Children.
  18. Cobalt: Highway Book Shop. York, G. (1990). The Dispossessed: Life and Death in ative Canada. Toronto: Little Brown. Critical Social Work, 2010 Vol. 11, No. 1

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Arthur Black

Arthur Black is a very opinionated man. In his essays about Canada, he has many short pieces about the differences between Canadians and Americans. He states how there is never anything bad said about Canada, and that Canada could even be considered a “wallflower”. In his essay Canadian Passion Not Flagging, Black talks about how the Americans wave their flag and Canadians do not. Americans have their flag everywhere; hanging inside malls, and even at the gas stations. In his essay Canada: Too Polite to Live, it says how the American Declaration of Independence demands life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Canadians have settled for peace, order, and good government. Another difference between Americans and Canadians according to Arthur Black is that the Americans know much more about their countries history than Canadians know about theirs. Toronto is definitely not one of Arthur Black’s favourite places to be. He explains in the essay Toronto: Not Quite Ready for Prime Time, Black says how “it doesn’t have the easy beauty of Vancouver, or the joire de vivre of Montreal. It lacks the architectural grace of Ottawa and the mountainscape backdrop of Calgary”.

Black says it feels fast, brittle, cold, and arrogant, and that it is all about money. He says how Torontonians do not look like they are having a good time, and at sporting events the fans are much quieter than other cities in Canada. Arthur Black also says how Toronto people do not really care about the meaning of things; they just want it to be productive. Black says how they think ‘The Rock’ (massive slab of Muskoka granite) is a waste of space in the downtown park. It is pointless and they would rather have something there that would make money.

Toronto would not be the place Arthur would choose to live in for the rest of his life. Arthur Black would define Canada as a lot of things. He says how Canadians don’t know their own national anthem, and in the article O Cana-a-do (re, mi) Arthur talks about how if a Canadian is accused of being an American, they will fight until it is proven otherwise. Also, to be Canadian, it is almost a must to have an interest in hockey. Hockey is the one sport Canada can safely say they are the best at. People from Canada know a different level of cold than places like the USA.

In the article A Samaritan with Jumper Cables, Black says how “this aint a country; this is winter. ” Also in that article, he tells some stories about how polite and kind people from Canada are and how if the car spun off the road or ran out of gas, Canadians would be there to help right away. Arthur Black’s main classification of Canada is polite, and that is most likely the rest of the world’s opinion also. Your Canada Winter in Canada is much different than winter in other countries. For one, it is much longer.

Winter lasts about six to eight months, and it can be unbearably cold. The days are significantly shorter than summer, which makes it that much harder to wake up for the day at school or at work. Having to shovel the driveway isn’t Canadians favorite pastime at seven in the morning when they are going to be late for work. Also what needs to be taken into account is making sure the car is plugged in during the night. When that is forgotten in the cold days of winter, it is pretty hard to get anywhere because no car would start if it was sitting outside.

The season of winter in Canada isn’t all bad though, it is very pretty at times. Waking up and looking out the window to a fresh blanket of snow is one of the greatest sights for a Canadian. Also, sitting by the fire place with it white outside, drinking a warm cup of cocoa is the best on a snowy day. Winter for Canadians also means hockey. Whether it is hockey in a rink or shinny on a frozen pond, Canadians love their hockey. For many Canadians, being active in winter is an important part of enjoying life.

There are many other outdoor winter activities, including skiing, ice fishing, walking, skating and tobogganing, amongst others. Winter also means Christmas. Christmas is the longest break for students in school, so it is a much anticipated holiday. It seems like everyone is in a much better mood when Christmas is coming, it might be because they get to see family and they get time to put up their feet and relax. Sometimes people from other countries will ask “how do you tell people apart when they bundle themselves with a winter jacket”, but the truth is, that’s exactly how to tell people apart.

People around the city get to know what jacket others have, and that becomes their identity. It sure saves a lot of time picking out an outfit to wear for the day when a winter jacket ends up covering it up anyways. The cold winter days are also a great time to catch up on the missed TV shows. In the summer, there is always something to do because the days are bright so long. In winter, it gets dark at around six, which leaves plenty of time to catch up on favorite TV seasons. Canadians are winter experts and know how to make it the best it can possibly be.

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The Inequality Between the Low and High Class in Brazil

Brazil is the largest country in South America and it has the strongest economy in Latin America. The country has the seventh largest economy in the world by nominal GDP. Brazil is rich in natural resources and it focus on agriculture and industrial power. Despite the improvement on income distribution and bringing the middle class population to 95 million people which is a little bit more than half of the population in the country, poverty in rural areas are still very severe in Brazil. According to Rural Poverty Portal, “In the country as a whole, about 35 percent of the population lives in poverty, on less than two dollars a day. (1) The population in Brazil is about 197 million and with 35 percent of population living in poverty is equal to two times the population in Canada.

Most of the poverties in Brazil are concentrated in the North East region of Brazil and it can be considered the single largest concentration of rural poverty in South America. The North East region in Brazil is the undeveloped part of the country where the population have no access to education, health care, technology and even clean water. Several causes of poverty in Brazil are land tenure, lack of access to a good education and also skill training.

Through the literary short stories and Brazilian made films, we can somehow picture how different is the life between the lower and higher class families. The inequality is a very big issue in the country and even though the stories and films are fiction, it still shows us a reality that Brazil has been facing for a long period, which is the big gap between the rich and the poor. One of the films that shows the poverty in the rural areas of Brazil is “Behind the Sun”, directed by Walter Salles. We can see how the violence is a very big problem in the story because of a land dispute between a family and neighbour.

According to Scielo, “It is customary to state that the poorer strata of the population are more violent and that they cause the social disorder and disturbances that assail the country. ” ( Minayo, 1) It is true that the lower class would be more involved in violence since they are tired of working so hard and not getting anywhere, and it affects them emotionally. Furthermore, the film starts with a background of very dark orange which may represent the very hot weather in Brazil and it makes the viewers to somehow feel the tiredness, the hard working people in rural areas in Brazil.

The film begins with a very depressing color which almost represents “hopelessness”. The scene that most caught my attention and I think it was very meaningful to the viewers is when the oxes start to turning in circle over and over again. It brings a significant message of no matter how hard the people work in rural areas; they will always be in the same routine and will never be able to have the chance to succeed in life. Moreover, as we could see, one of the main characters, Pacu, a very simple and humble boy, speaks a Portuguese with several grammatical errors such as “mais melhor” and “eles que tava perdido”.

Illiteracy is another big problem in Brazil, especially with the lower class population, who live in the rural areas. Lower class people that live in the interior do not value education as much as people from higher classes. Sometimes it is because they are so focused on working to support their family that they do not have time to think about educating their children. Other times, they do not even have money to buy food, so how are they going to support their children to go school?

Many children who are born in lower class families do not have the opportunity to be educated, not because they do not want; however, it is because their parents cannot afford and they are incapable of sending them to school. There are approximately 14 million people that are illiterate in Brazil; which means that they cannot read and write. Fortunately, in 2003, Brazil launched the “Bolsa Familia”, where the government support poor families with 140 Reais which is equivalent to 80 dollars to benefit the family to send their children to school, accessing health care and other social assistances.

In addition, the literary story “The Hour of the Star” by Clarice Lispector also helps the reader to imagine how the lower class women’s lives seem like. In recent years, women had played a big role in the contribution to the Brazilian economy. Today, Brazil even has a woman president in charge of the country, Dilma Rousseff. Wealthy women in Brazil seem to always be able to have a free pass to succeed in life, although many lower class women in Brazil do not receive the same opportunity. Higher class women always succeed thorough high society connection or using the power of the money.

Macabea, the main character, from “The Hour of the Star” can represent all the lower class women in Brazil. Since Macabea lost her parents when she was very young, she became an orphan. Therefore, that is probably one of the reasons why she had difficulties succeeding in life due to the absence of parents supporting and guiding her. According to SOS Children’s Village, “In regions that are marked by high unemployment rates, children often face a substantial risk of growing up in an unstable domestic environment. “(1) It is possible to imagine how an orphan girl would need to go through without parent’s guidance.

Moreover, the story also highlights that due to Macabea status of being poor, her lover, Olimpio, believes that he would not have any chance of advancing in life being with her. Instead, he chooses to date her co-worker, Gloria, who was smarter and prettier than Macabea. In addition, the title of the narrative, “The Hour of the Star”, is about Macabea who wanted to be a cinema actress. Unfortunately, people would not pay attention on her and the fact of her being poor, there was almost no chance for her to become who she wanted to become, which is a very sad reality that actually exists in Brazil.

In Brazil, the poor still suffers inequality, they have almost no chance to succeed in life and they are pretty much ignored by the society. The poor is almost invisible to the society and the poor keeps getting poorer. For Macabea, she only sort of becomes famous after being hit by a Mercedes Benz, which is a “luxurious and imported item”. She did not become “famous” because she was hit in an accident, but the fact is because the “Mercedes Benz” was involved in it. People are always curious about the rich and the famous.

They are not interested in the “insignificant” lower class people that are considered a burden to the Brazilian society. According to a journal article, “For upper-class women, the result is a life of almost total leisure, in which they have servants to do all the work. For lower-class women, their survival often depends upon their ability to obtain one of these jobs. Approximately one-third of the women employed in Brazil work as household workers, including cooks, housekeepers, and child care workers”. (Brazil, 1987) Most of lower class women in Brazil work as housekeepers and child care workers to middle and high class families.

Due to low or no education, they are only able to afford low skilled jobs. Yet, about two years ago, Brazilian television program has launched a reality show named “Mulheres Ricas”, which means rich women. The reality show is about five very wealthy women who travel by private jet, eat from gold plates and women who would spend many thousands of dollars in clothing and imported bags. The show has been criticized internationally by comparing them to 11. 5 million Brazilian living in slums. The reason of the criticism is because it somehow proves hat the higher class only care about their own comfort by ignoring the real issues that is occurring in the country, which is the severe poverty. In Brazil, there is definitely a very big gap between the poor and the rich. Although the poverty is a big issue in the country, according to a recent report, Brazil has been creating 19 millionaires a day since 2007. Yet, the poverty in Brazil is causing several other problems such as the drug traffic. Most of the times, the people who are involved in drug traffics, are the lower classes people.

We can find people from all ages involved in the traffic. According to SOS Children’s village, “In the country’s largest cities, particularly in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, children without parental care often end up on the streets where they are vulnerable to gang violence, sexual abuse and drug addiction. “(1) Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city in Brazil, has a place called “favela” where the drug traffic has been a problem for several years. The movie, “Elite Squad: The Enemy Within” by Jose Padilha, illustrates a “fiction-reality” that occurs in Rio de Janeiro.

The movie unquestionably shows to the viewers that “human rights” do not exist in Brazil, since the higher class people are the ones that hold all the power while the poor are not even recognized by the society. In the film, it mentions that the police would invade the “favelas” killing all the poor people involved in the drug traffic; however, they would not invade luxury apartments killing or arresting people because they receive some commission from the rich. In other words, the police officers are tipped with the money from the drug traffic from “higher class” people.

Most of the times, if a person from a higher class commit a crime; they would use their money to avoid getting arrested and going jail. According to The Guardian, the Brazilian jail’s population has doubled since the year 2000 due to the drug traffic. Of course, the majority of people who are in jail are from the lower class. Additionally, there is a scene in the film that might have caught many viewers attention. It is when the military killed one of the members in jail. The scene somehow send us a message by saying that it was not a big deal killing one of them since they are “trouble” anyways.

I believe that the movie certainly try to send a message by saying that Brazil needs to start listening to the lower class opinion and do not ignore or kill them without any reasons. The lower class and higher class people in Brazil share something similar and that is: both are humans. “Human rights” should be more clearly addressed in the country and the “Rich rights” should be banned. Most of Brazilian literary narratives and movies that we have watched in class, it involves children and adolescents working and not receiving any education.

According to SOS Children’s Village, “Quite frequently, young children have to engage in labour activities in order to put food on the table for an entire family. In the state of Piaui, approximately 26 per cent of children between 10 and 15 years of age are working. ” (1) Looking at the Brazilian demographic, Brazil is certainly a very young country with 25 percent of the population being under 15 year old. The country depends on these young populations for the economic and social growth in the future. Yet, looking at the national estimates, about 24,000 children and teenagers call the streets their home.

The lower class children definitely have the disadvantage of not getting any education and no hope for a better future. While the higher classes children will still be the ones to succeed in life and dominate the country. If the inequality between the rich and the poor in Brazil does not change, the poor will always remain poor and it is possible that the problem can become more severe in the future. Even though many literary stories and movies composed by Brazilian authors are “just stories” or “fantasies”, some of them still try to send an indirect message to the public that “social class” in Brazil is a problem and it needs to be changed.

In addition, the movie, “Four days in September”, directed by Bruno Barreto, is about a reality that happened in Brazil years ago, involving the MR8 group, who was fighting against the military dictatorship and fighting for human rights. The group was formed by some young members, who were very naive, did not have much experience in life and did not think about future consequences that they could face by being involved” in this type of activity. Thankful to this group formation, Brazil has overcome the military dictatorship.

Although, the country has overcome the dictatorship, human rights are still a problem. Showing that you have money is a way to receive respect from people. In the movie, there is a scene where one of the young members of MR8 goes to a bakery to buy bread; however, the baker underestimated him by asking if he had enough money to buy. The way you dress, the way you speak and the amount of money that you hold is the way that people are going to treat you. If you dress badly and is considered part of lower class, your opinion will not even be considered and there is almost zero respect towards you.

Therefore, I believe that many people in Brazil are confused between “human rights” and “class”. According to the federal government in Brazil, “The following human rights problems have been reported: unlawful killings, excessive force, beatings, abuse, and torture of detainees. ”(1) Most of the times, the people who are suffering under those problems are the innocent lower class population, who is sometimes always blamed for any issue that occur in the country. In, it is correct to assume that “money” can solve anything.

On the other hand, since the lower classes do not have enough money, they get severely punished for their actions or even blamed for things that they have not committed. All in all, even the literary stories and movies are fictional, the Brazilian authors or directors seem to always try to incorporate the fiction with the reality that is faced in Brazilian society. As we could see from the short stories and movies, “class” is a very big issue and it is confused with “human rights”. The poor still face several consequences while the higher classes ignore the surrounding by using “money” to solve most of their problems.

Inequality between the lower class and higher class is a big issue in Brazil that has to be solved before getting worse. It is also crucial for the country to understand the difference between “human rights” and “class”. I believe that if the poor is listened and given more opportunities in the society, they will also be able to succeed in life. It will not only decrease the poverty in the country, but it will prove to the people that the people from the lower classes also have the potential, but the only thing missing is the opportunity given to them.

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Canada Great Britain Comparison

Comparative Analysis of Canada’s Relationship Between Great Britain and the United States Introduction For centuries, the British Empire was comprised of multiple dominions, colonies, and territories ruled by the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The British Empire was present in areas all over the globe. Around the early 1900’s the Empire was said to govern a total population of almost 500 million people, and covered about one quarter of the total land mass on Earth, which was spread all around the world.

This empire was known to be the largest formal empire that the world had ever seen. The empire reached its greatest extent at the end of World War I, and at that point the empire included some of the following land territories: British Isles, British West Indies, British Guiana, British West Africa, British East Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. Around the end of the 19th century, the economic lead that Britain had successfully kept for many years was beginning to become eroded.

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With this erosion of leadership came a great decolonization movement by most of the territories that were under control of the British Empire. Both World War I, and World War II put extreme financial and population strains on Britain, and even with the large amount of territorial extent the Empire no longer had the industrial or military power it once had. The empire relied heavily on the territories till the end of the Second World War. By the end of World War II, the Empire had no choice but to grant independence to most of its territories, which most joined the British Commonwealth of Nations.

The Commonwealth of Nations is known as an intergovernmental organization of 54 independent states that were once part of the British Empire. Within in the Commonwealth the states cooperate with a framework of common values and goals, which include the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism and world peace. There is no political union in the Commonwealth, but the groups of states are regarded as equal in status.

The “Head of the Commonwealth” is considered to be Queen Elizabeth II, who also is considered as reigning constitutional monarch of 16 different Commonwealth members, including Canada. In this paper I want to focus on the important historic relationship between Canada and Great Britain, and also touch on the growing relationship of Canada and the United States. Also, I want to examine what Canada might be doing in the future within the international community. Canada was a very unique member within the Commonwealth.

Canada was considered to be a senior player in the Commonwealth of Nations, because until the early 1900’s it carried the title of ‘dominion’ alone. It wasn’t until the British Colonial Conference that the title of dominion was given to any other independent state. Canada was considered to be the most advanced member of the Commonwealth in terms of population and economic development, and also its relations with Britain were the most complex due to it’s geographical location with the United States. The relationship between Britain and the Canadian Dominion moved along a ‘decentralist’ path very quickly.

Canada is known to be the largest member of the Commonwealth in total landmass, and its border with the United States is known to be the longest border in the world. Canada also has the fourth largest gross domestic product in the Commonwealth with a total of 1. 5 trillion dollars, and ranks ninth highest in the world. Canada ranks very well in the international rankings for education, quality of life, governmental organization, and economic freedom. Canada was first of Commonwealth Nations to participate in large economic groups such as the G7 and G8. Association With Great Britain

In 1867, after Canadian delegates discussed the details of the British North America Act (BNAA) in London, the term Dominion was adopted to describe the status of Canada in the British Empire. The dominion delegates of Canada had made it obvious that they were starting to feel more independent from Britain, but even with the beginning of separation Canada still followed the parliamentary structure of Britain. After the British North America Act was adopted by Canadian officials, and was accepted in 1867 as the constitution of the Dominion, the Parliament of Canada came into existence.

The Parliament of Canada was modeled exactly from the British Parliament. The Canadian Parliament was granted limited power in regards to the amending of the constitution. When Canadian parliament sought after any amendment change of the BNAA it was required that there be a ruling by British law. As stated earlier, Canada held this status solely until the Colonial Conference in 1907, which was the time when the remaining self-governing colonies also took on the status of Dominion. After the BNAA was solidified the relationship between Canada and Britain quickly began to decentralize.

The Prime Minister of Britain, Arthur Balfour, stated to the British House of Commons “that these children of empire were now grown up, referring generously to ‘those self-governing Colonies of the Empire over which no office in this country has any control at all’,” (Wigley pg. 7). During the first decade of the 1900’s, Canadian government leaders formulated three questions in regards to their position in the Empire; rendering solicited assistance to the mother country of Britain, the extent of association with British defense and foreign policies, and the ways in which they and Britain would discuss imperial problems in confidence.

Officials then participated in conferences in order to figure out the British-dominion affairs. The Imperial Conference of 1923 was a very important conference for the British-dominion affairs. It created debates that focused on the unified partnership between Britain and the dominions, and whether they should proceed together or independent from each other in the areas of foreign policy, defense, economic affairs, and the making of international treaties. After the 1923 Imperial Conference, another conference was held in regards to the economic standings between Canada, other dominions and Britain.

For both political and ideological reasons, the conference obtained a theme of independence, and there seemed to be no hidden implications for Canadian autonomy. Britain and Canada stood side by side with each other, and accepted their equality as commonwealth partners. All dominions, including Canada, felt as though their own particular conditions were required to be dealt with in the best interests of the Empire, but could be promoted by allowing for each to do with the conditions what they wished.

During the 1930’s and 1940’s, Prime Minister William Mackenzie King had been working hard and successfully to obtain national unity in Canada. He felt that that Canada needed to be cautious with its foreign policy and should avoid commitments. This is why many believe that Canadian policy during this time was summed up in two words ‘no commitments’. Many thought it was best to avoid controversy and division in Canada since unity was so fresh in the minds of the Canadian people. The Canadians had become very comfortable with their autonomy, which was made very apparent at the start of World War II.

For the first time, Canada had made a decision to declare war separate from Britain. The Canadian government felt that cooperating too closely with Britain at that point might negatively affect constitutional developments for Canada in later years. Throughout the 1940’s the Canadian parliament kept putting up a wall in between Canada and all other dominions and Britain. Prime Minister King would not meet with any of the dominion prime ministers or British parliament other then for personal consultations, and rejected to offer new support for the Commonwealth.

One might conclude that highlight of Canadian independence had come from the interactions during World War II. Canadian Participation in The World Wars In the early years of the 1900’s, when the problems that started World War I were beginning to brew, the relations between Britain and the dominions remained in a highly unresolved state. The British Empire, even though had granted dominion independence to Canada, still relied heavily on their military support. During this time the British parliament created the Imperial War Cabinet.

The purpose of the cabinet was to register the dominions’ claims as regards to their constitutional and functional place in the empire, to brief their representatives on current problems. The cabinet brought all overseas dominion and colonial government officials together during the Imperial War Conference in 1917. In 1914, Britain had declared war on Germany, and by doing so the British forces called for the Empire’s support. While many British leaders thought that there would be little participation from Canada, they were surprised to see the willingness Canada had to participate right from the start of the war.

After two months from the start of the war Canada had armed around 30,000 men and sent them to Britain. In 1910, Britain had given control of Canadian Naval defense completely to the Canadian Parliament, which allowed for Canada to have completely control over navy bases located in Halifax and Esquimalt. By 1918, there were a total of 619,636 men and women who had served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Out of all the dominions and colonies, Canada’s contribution, for a population of less than 8 million people, was considered to be an outstanding contribution. Canada’s participation in the ar was to support its mother country of Britain, but by the time the war ended Canada had become a unified nation, proud of their achievements and sacrifices. They were ready to play a larger role in the international community. During the years after World War I, Canada and other dominions had continued to meet with the British Parliament in regards to the autonomy of their countries. In 1939, British Parliament passed the ‘Statute of Westminster, which gave Canada and the other dominions the constitutional right to make their own decisions in all of their affairs.

So when it came time to commence the Germans again in 1939, Canada was not so quick to jump up to show support. The Canadian Parliament had decided that if Canada was going to show support in the war they wanted to do so as an independent declaration. The purpose behind this later declaration of war was to formally underline Canada’s independent status. When Canada declared war the idea was to contribute mostly in the form of war materials, there was no immediate decision to secure a large army for the use overseas.

The Canadian Parliament created a set of goals to do the following: Maintain defense and security of Canada including the development of the Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy, provide vital food supplies to Britain, create an industrial program for weapons and ammunition, provide training courses for Allied pilots. Also, proposals for a British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was implemented in December of 1939, which allowed for the building of 65 training schools in Canada for Commonwealth countries.

As in the First World War, Canada quickly sent around 23,000 untrained ground troops to Britain while Canada’s Air Force and Navy was built. In the Early 1940’s, the Royal Canadian Air Force grew substantially to around 206,000, which ended up playing a major role in the war against Germany. The Royal Canadian Navy also played a major role all around the world. The Canadian ships were helpful in operations not only in Europe but also in the Mediterranean and Pacific Ocean. Canada was applauded for keeping the lifeline to Britain open in the Atlantic. If Canada had not generously contributed men, aircraft, and ships to the battle, and if the ports of Canada and Newfoundland had not been available, the war would certainly have dragged on much longer,” (Munro pg. 60). The wars benefited Canada on an economic level, as well as a military level. Although Canada was showing signs of industrial economic growth before the wars, the growth was very slow. At the state of the First World War, industrial and agricultural products were in great demand by the Allies, Canada gladly offered up their products. Also the wars forced the government to create wartime regulations for the economy.

By the end of the Second World War the standard of living for most Canadians became higher then ever before, vastly exceeding those of other dominions in the Commonwealth. Growing Relationship With The United States During the first two decades of the 1900’s, the United States had drastically grown to become a world power. With the global emergence of the US, and the steady decline in power of Great Britain, Canada was affected more then any country in the world. The growth of a relationship between Canada and the United States seemed to be inevitable, because of the geographical location of the two.

Especially since the two countries shared borders, fisheries, and natural resources, which made the relations between the US and Canada become much more solidified, and the fact that the US economy had quickly boomed was an attraction for the Canadians since the Canadian economy had a much slower start at the beginning compared to the US. A big problem that Canada faced was the fact that some of Canada’s “best and brightest” had left Canada to go to schools, and find jobs in the United States, and never returned.

In 1908, the International Boundary Commission was created as a permanent organization, which was responsible for maintaining the border between the United States and Canada. This was the first important initiative noted for the beginning relationship between Canada and the US. With the solidified border came some issues that presented themselves. The fishery disputes had remained to be the biggest problem for the relations between the US and Canada, which had ended up lasting for a long period of time.

Since many of the rivers flowed from Canada directly across the American border the two countries had to create regulations to try and resolve the fishing issues. So the United States, Britain, and Canada worked together to create the International Fisheries Commission, which worked to settle disputes. One very large problem had come between the two countries, and almost ruined relations between them, this was the Alaskan Boundary dispute. The two countries worked with Britain’s cooperation to come to an agreement by signing 8 treaties, which would help to “clean the slate” of long-standing quarrels.

At the start of the World Wars, Canada and the US had joined forces in the defense of North America. The Canadian parliament and the US government worked together to create a joint board of defense, which would continue to grow and become useful even after the World Wars. When the wars were over, the economic boom allowed for Canada to pull itself out of a depression and allowed for closer ties to be created with the United States between the two economies. Canadians welcomed investment into Canada from the United States, which had grown immensely over the beginning of the 1900’s.

It seemed that less and less British trade unions were located in Canada, but more and more US unions where popping up all around Canada. It was starting to look as though American firms were beginning to take control of the Canadian industry, but it seemed for the time being that Canadians were unconcerned with this economic control. While many Canadians began to worry about the Americanization of Canada, they still had a strong ‘craving’ for reciprocal trade between the two. During the time when Canada was awarded an independent seat in the League of Nations they urged the Americans to also join.

When the US rejected Canadian leaders were disappointed. The Canadians felt as though the overall positive relationship that was had with the US was a prime example to Europe of how they should get along with each other. Canadian delegates reshaped the League by using the relationship that they had with the United States, expressing that “the world could learn from, ‘three thousand miles of undefended frontier’ between the US and Canada,” (Thompsan/Randall pg 101). After the end of World War II, the United States had complications arise with the Soviet Union, which began the Cold War.

Canada became an important player in the Cold War not necessarily by choice. Canada was located directly between the two rivals of the Cold War, which made it very hard for Canada to stay neutral. Also, in 1945, Canadian public opinion was swayed against the Soviet Union when documents were defected proving a Soviet spy ring was in Canada. Shortly after this the two neighboring countries sign a plan for joint air defense known as the North American Air Defense Agreement (NORAD), which was later changed to North American Aerospace Defense Command.

This combined the air defenses of the United States and Canada. The agreement brought the U. S. and Canada closer during the Cold War, because they relied on each other for detection of nuclear missiles. Even though the two countries quickly grew closer during World War II and the beginning of the Cold War their relations began to deteriorate around the time of the Vietnam War. The newly elected leaders of Canada did not feel that they could supply the support needed to the United States during the Vietnam War, and they openly expressed disagreement with American policies in Southeast Asia.

Many Canadians demanded that American influence be significantly reduced. For about twenty years after the Vietnam War the relations between the two countries stay strained. It was obvious that the governments had different perceptions on international events. Finally, in the late 1980’s, Canada and the United States reached a tentative trade agreement that would change the economic relations between the two. After the agreement came into effect trade between the two grew dramatically. The United States was taking around 80% of Canada’s exports, and Canada was receiving 70% of imports from the United States.

The agreement grew with the addition of Mexico in the 1990’s, which became known as the North American Free Trade Agreement, and trade between the U. S. and Canada remained high even to the present day. Now the economic relationship is known to be the largest in the world. The imports and exports between the countries still remain extremely high. Canada still remains the largest market for U. S. exports. The economies have become so intertwined that many businesses have developed internal production chains that operate back and forth across the border.

It has continuously been made obvious that the relationship between the United States and Canada has continued to grow. In 2011, the two countries released the ‘Beyond the Border’ agreement. This agreement basically deals with the security perimeter on both sides of the border. After 2001, the United States tightened its border, which made the bilateral trade relationship more difficult to maintain. The agreement allows for more participation with security forces between the U. S. and Canada, and creates trusted travel of manufacturers across the border.

This agreement has opened up the possibilities in the future for the United States and Canada to work closer with each other in order to harmonize rules in agricultures, food, energy, and the environment. What The Future Holds In present years, Canada has expressed great excitement in maintaining a relationship between both the United States and Britain. Current Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stated that he looks forward to working with the United States, while keeping communication with Great Britain.

One has to wonder how the relations between Canada, Great Britain and the United States will progress. Currently, Canada shows no signs of letting its relationship with Great Britain deteriorate. The Canadian people understand that their relationship with Britain is deeply rooted, and that they share common history and values. In late 2012, the two leading government officials of Canada and Great Britain came together and signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding for Enhancing Mutual Support at Missions Abroad.

The signatures promote the co-locations of embassies, joint provision of services, and common crisis response. It is explained that their partnership on multiple global issues has caused the relationship between them to show an increase of strength. Canada still shows feelings of loyalty to the commonwealth, and is excited to maintain membership in it while making plans to work with Britain for future reform of the commonwealth. Canada could be considered the daughter of Great Britain who ended up marrying the United States.

The relationship between the United States and Canada is also deeply rooted, and the two countries understand each other very well, because they share similar cultures, norms and values, and share an economic relationship like no other two countries in the world. Also, growing numbers of people move back and forth for education and work. Another obvious reason why the relationship seems to have no future of deterioration is the fact that the two share the worlds longest, unprotected border, and share security of the border.

In years to come it seems that Canada will continue to work closely with the United States to build up its security alliance, and also reinforce the role as most trusted ally to the U. S. By doing this we would see a large focus on cooperation on trade issues, international policy and promotion of democratic norms. If this was to happen then we might see Canada address problems that they have with NAFTA, and strengthen their military relationship with the United States. Also, they might base their global relationship more on their relationship with the United States.

Since the world is changing, Canada needs to protect itself and reduce the likelihood of failure. While the political powers and economy of the U. S shows signs of becoming weaker and less vigorous, Canada should create options as a backup plan. Growing countries such as China could benefit from creating an economic relationship with Canada. Realigning some of its assets and interests with new rising powers makes good economic sense. Prime Minister Harper has recently met with the Chinese president to create an agreement that would better protect Canadian businesses that might want to capitalize on their growing economy.

In the coming years, it is possible that we could see Canada take some of its economic focus away from the United States, and shift it to other parts of the world to become more involved in the international community. Many are unsure of what course Canada will take into the future. The international community is always growing, and Canada has made sure to keep itself involved within the community. The future seems to hold much success for Canada as a strong economic player, whether it is to continue a close relationship with the United States or branch out and create new relationships with other strengthening countries.

Bibliography: -Canada’s World, Rising Powers: Future Directions, http://www. canadasworld. ca/learnmor/ninenewr/risingpo/futuredi. 2012 -Huffington Post, Beyond The Border: Deal to Bolster Security and Reduce Trade Barriers. http://www. huffingtonpost. ca/2011/12/07/beyond-the-border-perimeter-security-canada_n_1134463. html. 2012 -Government of Canada, Canada and the United States: No Two Nations Closer, http://www. canadainternational. gc. ca/can-am/Closer-etroites. aspx? view=d. 2012 -Lain Munro, Canada And The World Wars, Wiley Publishers Toronto, 1979.

Pgs 28-70. -Thompson, Randall. Canada and The United States, Georgia Press, 2008. Pgs 101-145. -Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Canada and the World: 1921-1939, http://www. international. gc. ca/history-histoire/world-monde/1921-1939. aspx? lang=eng&view=d 2011 -Peter Lyon, Britain and Canada: Survey of a Changing Relationship, London, England 1976. Pg. 141-150 – Philip Wigley, Canada and the transition to Commonwealth, Cambridge University Press, 1977. Pgs 1-20 -Andrew Porter, Britain’s Empire in 1815,

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Canadas First Past the Post System

In Canada Federal and Provincial First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) elections are based on single member districts or ridings. Each riding chooses one candidate to elect into parliament. In order to win a candidate must obtain the highest number of votes but not necessarily the majority of votes. The party that wins the most ridings is named the official government of Canada with the second place party becoming the official opposition. The (FPTP) system is also known as the ‘winner-take-all’ system, in which the candidate with the most votes gets elected. FPTP voting methods can be used for single and multiple member elections.

In a single member election the candidate with the highest number, not necessarily a majority, of votes is elected. This system is used in Canada, UK, US, and India. Many Canadians are not happy with the current First Past the Post system currently in place for electing parliamentary officials provincially and federally. I think that Canada’s First Past the Post parliamentary electoral system should be changed because it favors tactical voting; it has a negative effect on smaller parties; and opens up the possibility of gerrymandering constituencies.

A new electoral system that is more proportional is needed in order to address these problems. There are a few problems that arise out of the FPTP system. One of the most important problems is the tendency for FPTP to favor tactical voting. Tactical voting happens when voters cast their votes for one of the two candidates that are most likely to win. This is done because it is perceived by the voter that their vote will be wasted if they were to choose to vote for a smaller party, which they would more prefer. This is an understandable feeling by the voter because only votes for the winning candidate actually count (Blais, 2008).

The position is sometimes summed up, in an extreme form, as “All votes for anyone other than the second place are votes for the winner”(Rosenbaum 2004), because by voting for other candidates, they have denied those votes to the second place candidate who could have won had they received them. Following the 2000 U. S. presidential election, some supporters of Democratic candidate Al Gore believed he lost the extremely close election to Republican George W. Bush because a portion of the electorate (2. 7%) voted for Ralph Nader of the Green Party.

Exit polls indicated that more of these voters would have preferred Gore (45%) to Bush (27%), with the rest not voting in Nader’s absence (Rosenbaum 2004). The people, who voted for Ralph Nader despite of his staggering inability to win, effectively voted for Bush by depriving Gore of their votes even though they would have preferred Gore. With tactical voting, voters, have to predict in advance who the top two candidates will be. This can distort results significantly. One factor that influences tactical voting is the Media. Substantial power is given to the media.

Some voters will tend to believe the media’s assertions as to who the leading contenders are likely to be in the election. Even voters who distrust the media will know that other voters do believe the media, and therefore that those candidates who receive the most media attention will probably be the most popular and thus most likely to be the top two. The media can also play an important role in persuading voters to use tactical voting. This is exemplified through the use of attack advertisements in television; radio and print media. This happens in the UK. The system may promote votes against as opposed to votes for.

In the UK, entire campaigns have been organized with the aim of voting against the Conservative party by voting either Labour or Liberal Democrat. For example, in a constituency held by the Conservatives, with the Liberal Democrats as the second-place party and the Labour Party in third, Labour supporters might be urged to vote for the Liberal Democrat candidate (who has a smaller shortfall of votes to make up and more support in the constituency) rather than their own candidate, on the basis that Labour supporters would prefer an MP from a competing left/liberal party to a Conservative one (Drogus 2008).

The media holds an important role in informing and influencing the public about political candidates. This causes the FPTP system to turn into run-off voting, which is a two round voting system where voters elect two forerunners for the constituency and select one to be winner. The “first round” of the election is done within the court of public opinion, the “second round” happens with the official election. This can be seen in the example of the 1997 Winchester by-election: “Gerry Malone the former Conservative MP who had lost his seat in the general election, was criticized as a “poor loser” by the media.

The Labour Party obtained their worst ever results in a parliamentary election, in part because they hardly campaigned at all and instead focused their priorities on the by-election in Beckenham held on the same day. It is presumed that most of the Labour supporters decided to vote Liberal Democrat knowing how unlikely they were to win. ” (Farrell 1998). The Labour Party voters used their votes tactically because they knew they couldn’t win and were turned off by the Conservative candidates negative image in the press.

Another important reason that Canada should select a different election system is that the FPTP system has a large impact on smaller parties. According to Political Scientist Maurice Duverger’s Law, given enough time FPTP systems will eventually become a two party system (Duverger 1972). The FPTP system only gives the winner in each district a seat, a party that consistently comes third in every district will not gain any seats in the legislature, even if it receives a significant proportion of the vote.

This puts a heavy strain on parties that are spread geographically thin, such as the Green party of Canada who received approximately 5% of the popular vote from 2004-2011, but had only won a single riding during that time (Elections Canada). The second problem facing smaller parties in FPTP systems is related to tactical voting. Duverger suggested an election in which 100,000 moderate voters and 80,000 radical voters are voting for a single official.

If two moderate parties ran candidates and one radical candidate were to run, the radical candidate would win unless one of the moderate candidates gathered fewer than 20,000 votes. Observing this, moderate voters would be more likely to vote for the candidate most likely to gain more votes, with the goal of defeating the radical candidate. Either the two parties must merge, or one moderate party must fail, as the voters gravitate to the two strong parties, a trend Duverger called polarization (Duverger 1972).

Smaller parties will never have a fair amount of representation in proportion to their size. FPTP tends to reduce the number of viable political parties to a greater extent than other methods. This makes it more likely that a single party will hold a majority of legislative seats. Canada has had 33 majority governments out of 41 elections (Parliament of Canada) FPTP’s tendency toward fewer parties and more frequent one-party rule can potentially produce a government that may not consider a wide a range of perspectives and concerns.

It is entirely possible that a voter will find that both major parties agree on a particular issue. In this case, the voter will not have any meaningful way of expressing a dissenting opinion through their vote. These voters will have to resort to tactical voting and vote for a candidate that they mostly disagree with in order to oppose a candidate they disagree with even more. This is a compromise that the voter should not have to make in order to express them selves politically. The third problem with the FPTP system is that it is especially vulnerable to gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is the process of setting electoral districts in order to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan or incumbent-protected districts. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander (Martis 2008). This process is very controversial in Canada and is viewed negatively when attempted. Governments in power to solidify their dominance at the federal and provincial level can use gerrymandering to increase voters in a riding where they do not have as many voters, giving them an unfair advantage upon re-election.

The examples of gerrymandering and its effects can be seen in Canada today. The current federal electoral district boundaries in Saskatchewan have been labeled as evidence of gerrymandering, The province’s two major cities, Saskatoon and Regina, are both “cracked” into four districts each, when the populations of the cities proper would justify about three and two and a half of all-urban (or mostly urban) districts respectively; the map instead groups parts of the New Democratic Party-friendly cities with large Conservative-leaning rural areas (Elections Canada)

In 2006, a controversy arose on Prince Edward Island over the provincial government’s decision to throw out an electoral map drawn by an independent commission. Instead the government created two new maps. The government adopted the second of these, designed by the caucus of the governing party. Opposition parties and the media attacked Premier Pat Binns for what they saw as gerrymandering of districts. Among other things, the government adopted a map that ensured that every current Member of the Legislative Assembly from the premier’s party had a district to run in for re-election, whereas in the original map, several had been redistricted.

Despite this, in the 2007 provincial election only 7 of 20 incumbent Members of the Legislative Assembly were re-elected and the government was defeated. Pat Binns’ attempt at gerrymandering and loss of the election showed that the Canadian people do not support gerrymandering by politicians (CBC) Even though the FPTP system has many criticisms it does have some qualities that are found attractive. Firstly FPTP systems are generally good at creating majority governments because of their winner take all attitudes.

Majority governments are viewed as being more efficient because of their ability to swiftly pass laws through Parliament. However, majority governments increase their efficiency at the price of sacrificing a broader range of political views. Secondly, FPTP is a good way of discouraging extremist parties that seek to bring radical change to the government. This is because larger parties are favored to win seats so unless the party has a very concentrated electoral support the will generally never win any ridings.

FPTP has many criticisms and flaws that are easily exploited. These flaws can only be addressed by selecting a new electoral system. The FPTP’s key flaw that underlies its criticisms is that it discounts or ignores minority parties and their voters. This effectively causes only voters of the major parties to be able to accurately express them selves politically. In a democracy every vote should count not just the votes cast for the winning party. This is why FPTP is not an adequate system for Canada. The FPTP system fails Canadian voters because it favors tactical voting orcing voters to make unnecessary compromises with their political beliefs. It perpetuates dominance of one or two main parties and discourages growth of newer, smaller parties. FPTP opens up the door for gerrymandering Politicians to take an unfair advantage to solidify their dominance in the government. In conclusion I think that Canada’s First Past the Post parliamentary electoral system should be changed because it favors tactical voting; it has a negative effect on smaller parties; and opens up the possibility of gerrymandering constituencies.

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