By Elizabeth H. Elys: Human Rights Violations in Canada
We understand them today are a
relatively modern concept. Canada as a new country established in 1867
has its own history, but also with so tragic consequences. Slavery was
practiced in the British colonies including Canada, until
it was made illegal under Slavery Abolition Act of 1883. Discrimination and de facto segregation were
commonplace in many parts of Canada, especially to Chinese, Japanese and Black
Canadians. During the two World wars, Canada interned people who were perceived
to be enemy aliens, including Eastern European, Italian, German and Japanese
Canadians.
Laws denying the franchise to
Aboriginal peoples were in place until the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960.
Aboriginal people were prohibited from filing federal Human Rights complaints
about discrimination in relation to the Indian Act until 2011.
Aboriginal issue remains one of
Canada most serious human rights concerns. Aboriginal people civil and political
rights have restricted, which was another expression of the racist attitudes
and policies that were directed at this Indigenous people. They were not only
denied many rights throughout history, but were also denied the political
system required to address the many issues that are a part of their reality.
Aboriginal people have a long and
proud history that includes rich cultural and spiritual traditions. Many
of these traditions were altered or even taken away upon the arrival of
European settlers. Aboriginal people [Indians] First Nations, Metis and Inuit
were faced poverty, poor health and substance abuse. Underlying these problems
is a loss of identity and learned helplessness from having their values
oppressed and their rights ignored.
Such tragic place in history in
Canada are Residential schools, where is written so many crimes on innocent
aboriginal children. These schools were government sponsored religious schools
established to assimilate children into Euro - Canadian culture. First residential
facilities were established after 1880. Most of these schools were in the four
Western provinces and territories, but there were also numbers of schools in
Northwestern Ontario and Quebec. Around 1930 the residential school system
totaled 80 institutions. When the United Church of Canada was formed in 1925,
most of Presbyterians and Methodist schools became United Church schools.
Aboriginal children were taken from
families, placed in unhuman conditions, many of them had no contact with their families
for long months, in some cases had no contact for years. They were isolated,
their culture disparaged, separated from their siblings and in some cases
forbidden to speak their first language. Impatience and correction often gave
way to excessive punishment, physical abuse. Some of the staff was sexual
predators, and many students were sexually abused.
According to the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, at least 4,000 aboriginal children died in
residential schools. Shortly after WWII, scientists in Canada took advantage of
malnourished children by using them as research subject to investigate the
effect of different diets and dietary supplements. In 2013, research by food
historian Ian Mosby revealed that students were in 1940s and 1950s were subjected
to nutritional experiments without their consent or the consent of their
parents, many of them died from this horrific experiences.
Former students, who survived have
claimed that officials and teachers had practiced cultural genocide and
ethnocide. Corporal punishment was often justified by a belief that it was the
only way to "save souls civilize the savage. Genocide on Aboriginal
people occurred physical genocide, biological and cultural. These act in
history in Canada have been kept disclosed from the World and has recently have
been brought to the attention of the public. Aboriginal people are struggling
to improve their lives while re- discovering their traditional value after
years of oppression.
Centuries of media silence, contributed
that hundreds of thousands of indigenous children were abused, ill-treated and
murdered. A simple apology could reconcile the Genocide and Crimes against
Humanity perpetrated over centuries? Can heal their sorrow? The legacy of
Indian Residential Schools has contributed to social problems that continue to
exist in many communities today. On Aug.6, 1993 Archbishop M. Peers offered an
apology to all survivors of the Residential Schools on behalf of the Anglican
Church of Canada. In 2009, chief Fontaine had a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI
to try obtaining an apology for abuses that occurred in the residential schools
system. Following meeting, the Vatican released an official statement on the
church's role in residential schools. On June 11.2008 the Prime Minister of Canada,
Stephen Harper made a Statement of Apology to former students of Indian
Residential Schools, on behalf of the
Government of Canada.
It has taken courage for the
survivors that have come forward to speak publicly about the abuse, torture that
they suffered. There are now many Aboriginal scholars, artists, activists and
leaders that are working to challenge the Status Quo for Aboriginal people and
create a fairer world that offers meaningful and fulfilling opportunities.
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