Support NeoGAF

[OpinionatedCyborg]

It was tough for my girlfriend who moved out to Alberta about a year ago. Before moving she couldn't understand the racism and thought people out west were just ignorant. Then in a span of about two months she was verbally assaulted a dozen times, had a beer can thrown at her, had sexual remarks shouted at her, seen multiple arrests, people drunk during the middle of the day, etc. She called me to complain and though she was educated about Canada's sordid history with indigenous people, she felt bad because she felt like she was losing her empathy for them. Very sad.

I've heard this story time and time again. It's very common among health care professionals and police as well. If you're working at an inner city hospital, a disproportionate number of patients in the ER are going to be aboriginal. It's easy to stereotype people, develop racist attitudes, and lose empathy unless you make a conscious effort not to.

e: also very common among those whose work brings them to reserves and northern communities.

 

[killer rin]

Ouch. I admit, I had no idea the racism was so bad. We have very few aboriginals here in Montreal (and Québec in general) so it's not in the news as much, I guess. Hell, I think I only met like, one aboriginal person in my whole life, a Métis girl in high school. That's all I can think of. I asked my boyfriend if he's ever met a single aboriginal person in his life and he thought for a while and said "no, I don't think so".

I knew of course about the reserves and the cultural genocide of the past, but the part with that comedian getting death threats in Alberta really shocked me, holy shit. So much for the smug Canadian superiority over the Americans and their treatment of black people. :\

This is pretty much my experience as well. I'm in an area with incredibly few aboriginals, or if they are here I don't know about them and its just sort of an out of sight-out of mind kind of thing. I can honestly say that the first aboriginal person that I met was a guy (I don't remember the tribe) who was my one of my best friends in high school. Aside from that, I can't remember any other experiences.

I of course knew about the cultural genocide, though I think that's mostly because I had amazing history teachers who went outside the curriculum once we got to Post-WW2 and modern history.

Though I can say that it wasn't until recently in my life that I have become aware that Canadian society is completely racist towards aboriginal people (even if its only what I read online about the issue), which is good for me because having not grown up in that environment I can see how ignorant the entire racism thing is. Especially since their problems mostly come from what we did to them in the past. We can't slight them and then complain about what happened to them as if the problems aren't our fault. We can't have it both ways.

I do think things will eventually get better for aboriginals, and the fact that Trudeau is seemingly dedicated to take this head on is a big plus that things will hopefully get better for them in time. The healing wont be immediate, but with effort they will get better

 

[OpinionatedCyborg]

This is pretty much my experience as well. I'm in an area with incredibly few aboriginals, or if they are here I don't know about them and its just sort of an out of sight-out of mind kind of thing. I can honestly say that the first aboriginal person that I met was a guy (I don't remember the tribe) who was my one of my best friends in high school. Aside from that, I can't remember any other experiences.

I of course knew about the cultural genocide, though I think that's mostly because I had amazing history teachers who went outside the curriculum once we got to Post-WW2 and modern history.

Though I can say that it wasn't until recently in my life that I have become aware that Canadian society is completely racist towards aboriginal people (even if its only what I read online about the issue), which is good for me because having not grown up in that environment I can see how childish the entire racism thing is. Especially since their problems mostly come from what we did to them in the past. We can't slight them and then complain about what happened to them as if the problems aren't our fault. We can't have it both ways.

I do think things will eventually get better for aboriginals, and the fact that Trudeau is seeming to be dedicated to take this head on is a big plus that things will hopefully get better for them in time.

yeah, it's a very embarassing history.

when you look back, there were many periods when relations were good and reasonable promises/contracts were made. and then the government wouldn't follow through with their side of the bargain. or the government would follow through their promises in a way most destructive to the lives of first nations. if the treaties had been followed properly, first nations people would be way better off today. you can't just fuck around with people and not expect their to be some consequences. this is the fact that a lot of canadians don't realize. the federal government failed to live up to its side of the bargain with first nations peoples in the past, present, and likely future.

 

[Pancake Mix]

Pretty bad legacy, though some problems have been worsened within communities by corrupt band officials. That is definitely the cause of certain current problems and not a result of racism, not excusing the racism of course but pretty much every prior post in the thread has already noted what I could have said there.

In fact, this was less than 20 years ago:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-timeline-of-residential-schools-the-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-1.724434

November 1996

The Gordon Residential School, the last federally run facility, closes in Saskatchewan.

A lot of people have had negative, often violent experiences with aimless Native youth and alcholics though so I really don't know what to say. That could cause some to develop a prejudice.

 

[Walpurgis]

I think the fact the government actually acknowledged the residential school atrocities and issued reparations (the Commen Experience payments), shows we are actually doing a much better job in terms of not glossing over the past.

Though i would debate the usefulness of those payments in terms of moving past the issue heavily.

If we compare ourselves to the treatment of African Americans in U.S., we might be doing better but that's not tough competition to beat and it's not a standard that we should strive to achieve. There is much much more that the Canadian government can do for Aboriginal people and currently, they aren't doing it.

To further illustrate how recent this all was:
Indian residential schools: 5,300 alleged abusers located by Ottawa

Investigators hired by the federal government have located thousands of people accused of physically and sexually abusing students at Canada's Indian residential schools — though they may never face criminal charges.

As part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement agreement, the government located 5,315 alleged abusers, both former employees and students.

Seventeen private investigation firms were contracted, at a cost of $1,576,380, beginning in 2005, according to information provided by Indigenous and North Affairs Canada (INAC).

The alleged perpetrators, however, weren't tracked down to face criminal charges — it was to see if they would be willing to participate in hearings to determine compensation for residential school survivors. The Independent Assessment Process (IAP), not involving the courts, was set up to resolve the most severe abuse claims.

"There's not a lot in it for them to come forward," says Bill Percy, a Manitoba-based lawyer who has represented numerous residential school survivors.

That's because participation in the IAP hearings is optional.

Based on the total number of people found, so far, 4,450 have declined to participate in the IAP, with only 840 persons of interest indicating a willingness to participate.

Only 708 alleged abusers — who are among the more than 5,300 located by investigators — have taken part in hearings since last November, with another 22 hearings scheduled.

"I think some of them … could be fearful there might be further repercussions, even criminal charges," said Percy.

Percy also said many of these alleged perpetrators may have died, aged, or are living with some kind of medical condition, making it difficult for them to participate in an IAP hearing.

The identity and names of alleged perpetrators who want to participate in the IAP are kept on a secure server with other data related to IAP claims. They are not disclosed to anyone, other than the adjudicator in each specific claim, and to the Department of Indigenous Affairs.

Information would only be released if the adjudication secretariat is served with a search warrant, or if it's believed a child could be at risk.

An alleged abuser is entitled to be notified of the claimant's name and the allegations made by the claimant in the IAP application, but that person will not be given the claimant's location, contact information, or any of the claimant's personal information or records.

Percy says there is more former students can do, if they choose.

"There's nothing to stop the individual survivor to go to the police, even though they told their story through this process," he said.

Few, it seems, ever have.

Through the history of residential schools — which lasted over a century, with tens of thousands having suffered abuse — fewer than 50 people have been convicted for crimes related to the schools.

In the case of St. Anne's Residential School, once located in Fort Albany, Ont., six school officials were criminally convicted following a five-year OPP investigation into the school during the 1990s.

That article is from two weeks ago.

 

[Yawnier]

I've lost track of how many people I've heard over the years in school and at my past workplace(s) who made racist and mean spirited comments about first nations/aboriginal people and them not knowing I'm part aboriginal myself (mi'kmaq). I don't even live on or near a reserve either.

One time I called out one of my buddies in high school, told him I was native (he didn't know) when he said something along the lines that all aboriginal people are useless drunks or something. He was pretty surprised but w/e.

 

[espher]

The CBC comments were always like that. In my experience, they were at their worst in Aboriginal articles and articles about Syrians/Muslims.

In order of targets of 'shit-talking' and offensive speech in CBC comments, it basically went

1. First Nations
2. The current dominant refugee population (in the last few years that would be, as you note, Syrians/Muslims)
3. Quebec/NB francophones
4. Liberals
5. Toronto Maple Leafs (bonus points if it's an article about a roster player who is French Canadian or Kadri, who is Muslim, where you get the two-for-one hate)

You look at where the people posting this hate are from and it's predominantly Western Canada, but there's a fair share of it on the Eastern end too. Comments from people here in the Maritimes seem to focus on shit-talking the Liberals and shit-talking First Nations people (edit: with the odd anti-French sentiment, though honestly that shit seems to end up going to more insular locations like private/invite-only Facebook groups -- and I know how horrible that shit is because some of my now-former friends have tried inviting me to them since I'm anglophone ignoring the fact I'm Acadian and bilingual).

Over the course of my life I've noticed a ton of passive racism towards First Nations people here -- outside of drunk shit around bars, I've rarely witnessed open hate or violence in my city, but there's a lot of negative stereotyping and offensive jokes being made (I count a few First Nations folks in my close circles of friends and they've told me some pretty surprising stories), and incidents of violence definitely happen when you hit rural areas. The French/English divide is also particularly heated here in New Brunswick -- the latter is like the US/Mexico 'dey took our jerbs' thing amped to eleven. Homophobia is also really bad here in the Maritimes, even if a lot of it is 'behind closed doors'. Rural Canadians' politeness can often be of the "it's not that we're too nice to hate you, it's that we're too nice to say it to your face" variety.

 

[nicanica]

It was tough for my girlfriend who moved out to Alberta about a year ago. Before moving she couldn't understand the racism and thought people out west were just ignorant. Then in a span of about two months she was verbally assaulted a dozen times, had a beer can thrown at her, had sexual remarks shouted at her, seen multiple arrests, people drunk during the middle of the day, etc. She called me to complain and though she was educated about Canada's sordid history with indigenous people, she felt bad because she felt like she was losing her empathy for them. Very sad.

Unfortunately this. I was one to take aboriginal sides and say "you don't know what you're talking about". But then the more I took in peoples(who grew up/work near native concentrated communities) stories, the more I just started realizing. "Yes they do know what the fuck they're talking about and they're making a comment on their experiences."

My cousin god bless him has been mugged on several occasions and never pressed charges beyond filing the report. His reasoning is that

"Native teens don't have any goals or guidance in life. It's not they're fault they're confused and lash out poorly. Why am I going to ruin their lives further? The legal system isn't going to teach kids anything who aren't afraid of anything."

 

[pr0cs]

You look at where the people posting this hate are from and it's predominantly Western Canada,

Has the cbc come out and said or proven this is the case?

 

[Walpurgis]

My cousin god bless him has been mugged on several occasions and never pressed charges beyond filing the report. His reasoning is that

"Native teens don't have any goals or guidance in life. It's not they're fault they're confused and lash out poorly. Why am I going to ruin their lives further? The legal system isn't going to teach kids anything who aren't afraid of anything."

Wow. You have a very cool cousin.

 

[espher]

Has the cbc come out and said or proven this is the case?

I don't think so, and my experience with that is admittedly anecdotal, but I don't think it's unreasonable and is likely driven by pop distribution. Maritime pop is small, even if much of the population has the same attitudes/feelings towards refugees/First Nations/French Canadians, and much of that pop ended up going to Alberta for work, which probably further skews things. "From" may be a poor choice of words, but it's a lot of MB, BC, AB cities (when people opt to ID themselves). I'd wager the French Canadian populace that is posting these sorts of things (be it PQ or NB or otherwise) isn't posting on the English-language CBC site much either.

 

[nicanica]

Wow. You have a very cool cousin.

One insane story was when he was talking to his mother in-law over the phone about dinner the next night, then sees a group of teens with something shiney in their hands yell at him and start running at him. He took off and was being actively chased for 20 mins through neighborhoods, hopping fences through yards and shit screaming for help,
He climbs some stairs and gets cornered on top of someone's upper deck balcony as he's knocking on the door to be let in, but the teens had a knife and got him cornered as they come up the stairs.

As they closed in on him, the cops show up with sirens blaring.
Looks in his hand the phone is still on and the mom in-law is crying and screaming if he's alright as she was on the line the whole time.

And he still didn't press charges.

 

[Yawnier]

Over the course of my life I've noticed a ton of passive racism towards First Nations people here -- outside of drunk shit around bars, I've rarely witnessed open hate or violence in my city, but there's a lot of negative stereotyping and offensive jokes being made (I count a few First Nations folks in my close circles of friends and they've told me some pretty surprising stories), and incidents of violence definitely happen when you hit rural areas. The French/English divide is also particularly heated here in New Brunswick -- the latter is like the US/Mexico 'dey took our jerbs' thing amped to eleven. Homophobia is also really bad here in the Maritimes, even if a lot of it is 'behind closed doors'. Rural Canadians' politeness can often be of the "it's not that we're too nice to hate you, it's that we're too nice to say it to your face" variety.

I've lived here in New Brunswick since I was a little kid (and am aboriginal too) and find a lot of this to be very true.

 

[squidyj]

I've never felt as awkward as one day on my way home from Uni, waiting for the bus I see this kid attacking this old guy, anyways i try to pull the kid off of this guy and another individual there steps in to help as well and the kid's friends are telling him to back off, and finally they all split.

Later on on the bus home one of the other people who was there was like "man, those fucking natives, eh?" Like I was supposed to agree with him. I didn't even say anything I just looked at him.

 

[Shaanyboi]

Not surprised. The CBC comments are a cesspool of fucking awfulness.

 

[Fallout-with-swords]

It's been my experience that there is a lot of animosity between Aboriginals and whites in Canada. I really think it steams from the current state of reserves. They seem to create an us vs. them mentality from the get go. The reserves themselves don't seem to be getting enough funding, for schools, infrastructure, etc. I've never driven through one that hasn't looked like a really run down area of town. They are essentially ghettos.

It's a commonly held belief that the aboriginal leaders aren't giving all the money regulated for reserves by the government to the reserves. No idea if that's true but I've been told that a lot.

Trying not to sound like a dick. But it seems to me that the reserves aren't a good place grow up and become a well rounded person, they are extreme low income areas, which increases alcoholism, drugs, crime. Then you have, shitty schools and general animosity to the outside world which is reciprocated by a lot of white people who think Aboriginals shouldn't be getting the government benefits that they do. This seems to lead to generations and generations of resentment.

Regardless, Aboriginals are treated like in shit in Canada and it sucks. For example, my Grandparents live out West and adopted 5 native children after miscarrying on their second baby, two of them are dead and another presumed dead, she is on the huge list of missing aboriginal women, she has been missing for years... I can't think of two nicer people than my grandparents and from the stories that family members have told me those three adopted kids never got along with them, the word that gets thrown around a lot is again, resentment.

 

[yodathesoda]

Natives aren't even taken care of by their own leaders in many reserves and tribes, let alone the Cdn government.

Let's be honest. Systemic issues from the Canadian Government from day 1 have caused their people to be much more likely to be the drunk homeless guy screaming at you or acting unpredictably and violently while sniffing glue.

That's where the resentment comes from by other Canadians and it's sad.

 

[jstripes]

Not surprised. The CBC comments are a cesspool of fucking awfulness.

The CBC's comments are full of people who hate and never even watch the CBC.

 

[mugurumakensei]

Americans aren't really outwardly racist towards Native Americans in that way (outside of our pro football team being named the 'Redskins'), we just killed most of them off, stole their land and now let them live in alcohol induced squalor (after giving a select few the privilege of becoming filthy rich off of casinos).

NOONE gives a shit about them in the US and it's really sad. Seems to be the case in Canada as well w/ a more racist tint.

It should be noted that Native Americans are the second most likely group to be killed by police. It also oddly accepted of people to do the whole mouth bit to mimic some kind of old stereotypical battlecry. Racism is very much alive against Native Americans. It just isn't covered that often.

 

[Joel Was Right]

Is there a link between paid subscription and higher quality comment sections? I'm subscribe to the New York Times and always find the comments there to be insightful, or at the very least, reasonable and well written.

 

[nicanica]

Regardless, Aboriginals are treated like in shit in Canada and it sucks. For example, my Grandparents live out West and adopted 5 native children after miscarrying on their second baby, two of them are dead and another presumed dead, she is on the huge list of missing aboriginal women, she has been missing for years... I can't think of two nicer people than my grandparents and from the stories that family members have told me those three adopted kids never got along with them, the word that gets thrown around a lot is again, resentment.

This reminds me of my best-friend's-sister in law. They are part native and have been trying to adopt a native child for a decade now. However, the restrictions on adopting a native child are pretty crazy.

From what I remember from the story:
-Gotta have a house with a yard (good luck finding both of those that are affordable in Downtown vancouver)
-Being part native you need to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt of your heritage (non-natives CANNOT adopt native children)
-Proof of native education for the child and visits of native culture to your home.
-Native cultural meals
-She's married to a middle eastern man who was a former muslim and they're grilling her on that.

She's appealed for years (I think she started in 2003?) and hasn't been able to have a native child adopted and she's pretty much given up.

Instead of a stable home native children are raised in non-native foster homes anyway.

 

[WrenchNinja]

Growing up in Toronto I never really heard much about Native Americans, and I didn't know any personally. The only reason I probably know as much as I did before is cause my elementary school was named after Grey Owl, and even that was weird since he was a white dude who faked being one. Coming to Vancouver though you hear about it a lot. Just seems like such a huge issue over in the west. I keep listening to cbc radio and it comes up a lot, I first heard about those fucked up schools all those poor kids got forced into and abused in through that. Seriously fuck those commenters. Closing the comments is the best thing to do here.

 

[Fuchsdh]

One insane story was when he was talking to his mother in-law over the phone about dinner the next night, then sees a group of teens with something shiney in their hands yell at him and start running at him. He took off and was being actively chased for 20 mins through neighborhoods, hopping fences through yards and shit screaming for help,
He climbs some stairs and gets cornered on top of someone's upper deck balcony as he's knocking on the door to be let in, but the teens had a knife and got him cornered as they come up the stairs.

As they closed in on him, the cops show up with sirens blaring.
Looks in his hand the phone is still on and the mom in-law is crying and screaming if he's alright as she was on the line the whole time.

And he still didn't press charges.

...I guess it's your friend's own business, but I fail to see how not charging violent criminals helps people. You're letting them off the hook to do the same to another individual.

Is there a link between paid subscription and higher quality comment sections? I'm subscribe to the New York Times and always find the comments there to be insightful, or at the very least, reasonable and well written.

I think it's more that the NYT's comments system is geared towards burying the nasty stuff no one agrees with, and they clearly have moderation in place (and highlight the comments they think are worth seeing.)

Most comments sections and thus the communities that form around them will become cesspools if you don't manage them, and managing them is a time-consuming job I don't blame publications for not wanting to deal with. So they turn them off completely.

 

[Mrmartel]

Pretty bad legacy, though some problems have been worsened within communities by corrupt band officials. That is definitely the cause of certain current problems and not a result of racism, not excusing the racism of course but pretty much every prior post in the thread has already noted what I could have said there.

In fact, this was less than 20 years ago:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-timeline-of-residential-schools-the-truth-and-reconciliation-commission-1.724434



A lot of people have had negative, often violent experiences with aimless Native youth and alcholics though so I really don't know what to say. That could cause some to develop a prejudice.

This is the story of my entire life growing up in rural Manitoba. Getting your ass kicked in, bullied, and robbed has negatives impacts to your attitude, especially in communities where they are large minorities or majorities.

Every coastal/big city pc (white) liberal I've known that has moved into these areas or back after long sojourns have their attitudes change from day to night, very quickly. It never fails.

Even minorities outside Canada that immigrate here have mostly negative attitudes towards them, when amongst their populations.

Not saying it's right and historical/economic reasons are apart of it, but it is, what it is. Live here first and see what happens. Maybe we are just awful people in the praries, but I know enough assholes from urban areas to know that can't be the only reason.

All that being said, after living in Australia. Canadians comparatively have better attitudes towards their aboriginals, from my experience anyways.

 

[MWS Natural]

Why is anti-Native racism (apparently) a bigger issue in Canada than the United States? Simply because indigenous people make a bigger proportion of the population?

Because white people killed the vast majority of Native Americans here and made the rest live on shitty reservations away from them.

 

[Sushi Nao]

I can't stand this shit. I work on the west coast, and I get a ton of racist old assholes spewing it and looking to me for confirmation. Then when I balk at it, they walk it back or try to rationalize it or get poopy-pants.

 

[Walpurgis]

This is the story of my entire life growing up in rural Manitoba. Getting your ass kicked in, bullied, and robbed has negatives impacts to your attitude, especially in communities where they are large minorities or majorities.

Every coastal/big city pc (white) liberal I've known that has moved into these areas or back after long sojourns have their attitudes change from day to night, very quickly. It never fails.

Even minorities outside Canada that immigrate here have mostly negative attitudes towards them, when amongst their populations.

Not saying it's right and historical/economic reasons are apart of it, but it is, what it is. Live here first and see what happens. Maybe we are just awful people in the praries, but I know enough assholes from urban areas to know that can't be the only reason.

All that being said, after living in Australia. Canadians comparatively have better attitudes towards their aboriginals, from my experience anyways.

I do live in the prairies and I am well aware of some of the crazy shit that happens. However, that is no excuse to be racist. You think you have it bad because you've been bullied and robbed? Think again.

 

[MrToughPants]

Natives aren't even taken care of by their own leaders in many reserves and tribes, let alone the Cdn government.

Pretty much this. The money given to the leaders is not distributed evenly and the reserves look like war zones.

I lived in Thompson for a few years and it's quite depressing to see. It's a never ending cycle in Northern Manitoba and there is no solution on the horizon... The alcohol, drugs, teen pregnancy, and violence are out of control. The crime is not fully reported, who knows how many missing or murdered there really are... The hospital staff at Thompson General being assaulted, ex-fiancee, and the only security guard at night was an old man. Gang members posing as family attempting to kill off rival gang members who were admitted to hospital after stabbings/assaults/shootings. Empty alcohol bottles litter the streets and even the Walmart store shelves...people making moonshine in the bushes just a stones throw from where children play. Many inebriated natives laying in the Canada Post office stairs every day, dozens and dozens of drunks wandering the streets all night across from the RCMP/courthouse. I've had random drunks show up in my fenced backyard which was 10 minutes from the nearest bar... The Manitoba Liquor Mart had line ups of over 30 people waiting to buy bottles of Sherry at opening, which was later banned. As a substitute teacher I saw first hand the large percentage of native children with learning disabilities, FAS symptoms, and bad parenting. Grade five students bringing knives to school and trying to stab others. One of the students in a grade four class I had stabbed another with a pencil, there was no punishment.

Thompson is the crime capital of Canada. The reasons why are many, but help is slow to come

 

[pr0cs]

I don't think so, and my experience with that is admittedly anecdotal, but I don't think it's unreasonable and is likely driven .

Yep... So...pretty much out of your neither region
IIT we generalize

 

[TwEE-N-Toast]

Things definitely don't seem as intense from either side here in Nova Scotia for some reason.

 

[keuja]

The goal was essentially to "kill the Indian in the child" and to "civilize the savages" or "save" them. This was done by kidnapping Aboriginal children from their homes and placing them in church-run schools where they were banned from speaking their mother tongue and practising their religion. In these schools they were physically and psychologically abused, as well as molested by the staff and students. Conditions were so poor that at some schools, the mortality rate was close to 70% (disease, undernourishment and murder).

This is so sad and criminal.
Did this generation get some reparation of some kind?

 

[Walpurgis]

I've seen a lot of FAS and physically deformed children as well in elementary school and when I worked at community centres downtown. Alcohol is definitely one of the worst things that Europeans brought over. I've read that Aboriginal populations have some gene that makes it more addictive or something. Couple that with the residential schools and ongoing racism from the Canadian government, and you get Thompson.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

This thread is definitely enlightening for other portions of the country. You would never know it was as bad as described. I have heard and seen some bad stuff but jesus? Some of this is insane.

 

[Condom]

Seems like news comments everywhere in the world are full of crazy people

 

[Azzanadra]

I really got to thank my middle school English and History teacher for providing me perspective on the whole issue of Native Americans- as early as the seventh grade, we learned about the physical, emotional and sexual abuse of residential schools as well as the sad state of Aboriginal affairs today. A real eye-opener, and it devastates me to think the same problems not only persist, but that the Aboriginals are the ones who are continuously blamed for all their problems. Even from supposed "liberals" I have heard some questionable remarks.

 

[Valhelm]

Because white people killed the vast majority of Native Americans here and made the rest live on shitty reservations away from them.

As far as I know, this happened in Canada as well. The only difference is that there are more non-Native people here, so our issues are less visible.

 

[Aske]

I try to remind people that while most criminals may be Aboriginal; it doesn't follow that most Aboriginal people are criminals.

I would say however, that while casual racism is near-universal amongst your average non-Aboriginal Canadian in Manitoba, it's rarely the kind of racism that hates your Aboriginal boyfriend, tenses up around Aboriginal employees at places of work, or is scared of Aboriginal families moving into neighbourhoods. It's a kneejerk "fuckin' Natives" reaction to Aboriginal crime; which, while awful, is still light years away from the kind of racism that hates all people of a given ethnic background. It's not a racism that hates blood, or skin. If people had a word for "criminal Aboriginals" that specifically excluded non-criminal Aboriginals, I believe they'd use it - despite the resentment people have towards government assistance for Aboriginal people, and all the issues that spring from that.

That's not good, but I hope it illustrates that things are less horrendous than they might be. No one's going to get lynched for being Aboriginal here, even in rural communities - moronic threats in comments sections nonwithstanding.

 

[TwEE-N-Toast]

I don't think so, and my experience with that is admittedly anecdotal, but I don't think it's unreasonable and is likely driven by pop distribution.

Maybe the fact that there was only one residential school in all of atlantic Canada might play a role.

Saskatchewan doesn't have a very large population but had over 20 schools itself.

 

[trixx]

Yep they spend more time in the great depression in school curriculum for grade 10 Canadian history than anything related to the indigenous populations in Canada.

Yeah residential system happened... okay now on to....

Sad there's a lot of issues that the aboriginal populations have to face today (some are living in conditions akin to developing nations, suicide rates amongst young aboriginal males etc..)

Most people in Canada are covert racists and that extends to the systems in place as well. You'd even have people at the University complaining about aboriginals getting free education and "taking graduate positions" etc.. as if there's a significant amount of them in higher education in the first place.

 

[lupinko]

the biggest negative about Canada is the way they teach history.

Many negatives never get brought up in history class or by journalists when the wrongs of the best never get covered enough.

it is typically Canadian to gloss over dark times when it comes to history.

Nah, I got to learn about the dark times in Canadian history in school.

It depends on your teachers and school.

Unfortunately, most Canadians don't even know that things like multiculturalism and Canada's nice image didn't even really start until PET really, who pretty much shoved many of those things into law.

 

[hypernima]

With shit like Brocket 99 being made, it was no real secret to me once i learned about it in my youth.

 

[Thelonelykoopa]

This reminds me of my best-friend's-sister in law. They are part native and have been trying to adopt a native child for a decade now. However, the restrictions on adopting a native child are pretty crazy.

From what I remember from the story:
-Gotta have a house with a yard (good luck finding both of those that are affordable in Downtown vancouver)
-Being part native you need to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt of your heritage (non-natives CANNOT adopt native children)
-Proof of native education for the child and visits of native culture to your home.
-Native cultural meals
-She's married to a middle eastern man who was a former muslim and they're grilling her on that.

She's appealed for years (I think she started in 2003?) and hasn't been able to have a native child adopted and she's pretty much given up.

Instead of a stable home native children are raised in non-native foster homes anyway.

What the fuck Canada, do you think we are a type of dog.

 

[espher]

Yep... So...pretty much out of your neither region
IIT we generalize

#NotAllWesternCanadians

Maybe the fact that there was only one residential school in all of atlantic Canada might play a role.

Saskatchewan doesn't have a very large population but had over 20 schools itself.

For sure. I'm not discounting that at all.

My comment wasn't to say "lol, Western Canada", it was more to contextualize that it's still pretty bad if more veiled in Eastern Canada. You're going to see it vocalized more from Western Canada owing to pop (and other reasons) but it still exists here in the "friendly Maritimes".

 

[V_Arnold]

This feels like a trap-22 to me. And I experience it in Hungary as well, towards gypsies and nowadays towards anyone not having white skin color.

Basically, it goes like this:
- If someone is a criminal, and is white, then he is a CRIMINAL
- If someone is a criminal, AND is a minority, then he is a filthy GIPSY/whatver

And since regions with more poverty (and in turn, more alcohol and drug consumption, higher crime rates, worse, and actually segregated education) contain more minorities, it becomes a self-reinforcing view. And even if you mean TONS of white alcoholic people who beat up their wives, of course they are NEVER representative of the 'white race'. But meet any badly behaving roma, and you will just use that experience as a reinforcing factor, to strengthen that already existing bias towards them.

The only way to break out of this, imho, is understanding and accepting that our minds want to think this way, because it has been incredibly useful in the past, in the animal roots where our behaviors mostly stem from. If you meet a single leopard as an antilop, you will of course associate fear with it, no matter how non-representative it is (even though, in the animal land, roles are pretty well enforced, so you will not likely meet kind predators, etc)

It is a very complicated issue that is insanely hard to tackle. My only hope is that once we come in terms with realizing we can pretty much create self-sustaning areas of life relatively soon, we should not be so defensive about social security spending of the goverment, and maybe, just maybe, some of the known psychology about backgrounds and poverty actually affecting brains will "trickle down" to become common knowledge.

I mean, we are living in the 21th century, with behaviors and presumptions that stem back decades, if not more.

 

[Dusk Soldier]

Why is anti-Native racism (apparently) a bigger issue in Canada than the United States? Simply because indigenous people make a bigger proportion of the population?

The article is kind of making it seem like it's a nation-wide problem, but it's not.

The anti-native racism mostly comes from people who live near reserves. Reserves are basically like ghettos, and many people that have grown up there have turned into drunks, criminals, etc.

Because white people killed the vast majority of Native Americans here and made the rest live on shitty reservations away from them.

Strictly speaking they don't have to live on reservations. Many aboriginals do decide that they don't want to live in or raise children on the reserves and leave.

This is so sad and criminal.
Did this generation get some reparation of some kind?

Aboriginal people don't have to pay taxes. Even sales tax they're exempt from.

 

[Flambe]

Instead of a stable home native children are raised in non-native foster homes anyway.

*raises hand* Just like to say some of us foster homes are pretty stable too =]

We have 3 foster kids (siblings) who even though have aged out of mcfd care into independent living we still support all the time with rides for their shopping, family dinners at our house, etc.
They are wonderful kids who had a real shitty start in life and they're now doing alright for themselves given their disadvantages.

Also, northern BC here so it's not all bad.

 

[Ledhead]

I've heard this story time and time again. It's very common among health care professionals and police as well. If you're working at an inner city hospital, a disproportionate number of patients in the ER are going to be aboriginal. It's easy to stereotype people, develop racist attitudes, and lose empathy unless you make a conscious effort not to.

e: also very common among those whose work brings them to reserves and northern communities.

I grew up in a town with 3 reserves either in or around city limits. The majority of my interactions with Aboriginals for most of my time here has been very negative, ranging from verbal harassment, threats of violence, to witnessing mostly unprovoked violence against others. I won't lie, I was more than a little prejudiced towards Aboriginals for a number of years.

My parents always encouraged me to try and understand the deeper issues at play. I held some unsavory views, but was conscious of them and it certainly bothered me because I didn't like to think of myself as any sort of racist. It was just so easy to judge/dislike/stereotype Aboriginals given the interactions I had had with them, but part of me felt it was necessary that I try and break away from that mindset. I took the steps to get myself educated on the subject, even went as far as taking a university course on Aboriginal history in University. For the most part, my views have taken a 180. I am now conscious of the greater historical, economic and social factors at play that have greatly contributed to the conditions Aboriginals experience to this day. I don't condone much of the activity that goes on on reserves, but it's important to examine the root causes of such behaviour, as well as understand the pervasive 'collective depression' that afflicts so many Aboriginals communities, largely a result of their treatment at the hands of government and greater society.