Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from September 1995

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from September 1995

From paternalism to empowerment. (rights of Canada's native tribes are being recognized by courts and society)(Native People - Comment)
September 1, 1995... Eurocentrism is a nineties word. It was coined to describe the belief among those of European ancestry that their way of doing things is superior to all others. Eurocentrism created an attitude of mind that governed relations between whites and...

Terra nullius. (first European name for North America was Latin and meant empty land)(Native People - Comment)
September 1, 1995... When the Europeans arrived in North America they called it "Terra Nullius," Latin for empty land. This ignored the reality that almost all the land was occupied by the up to two million Native Indians who lived here. In his book, People of Terra...

Rebirth. (of Native American culture)(Native People - Spirituality)
September 1, 1995... A Cree from the James Bay region of northern Quebec remembers her troubled childhood in an Anglican residential school in the 1940s and '50s. "For twelve years I was taught to love my neighbour -- especially if he was white -- but to hate myself....

School of grief. (how Native American children responded to the loss of their culture when placed in education system)(Native People - Spirituality)
September 1, 1995... Psychologists coined the phrase "residential-school syndrome" when they noticed a distinctive set of symptoms in their Indian clients. They compare it to the grief cycle that a person undergoes after the loss of a close relative. But, instead of...

A sad chapter. (treatment of Native American children in Canadian school system)(Native People - Spirituality)
September 1, 1995... One of the blackest parts of Canada's history was the way in which Aboriginal children were treated in residential schools. The schools were run mostly by religious orders under contract to the federal government. In many schools the children...

How civilized. (Micmac tribe in Canada was massacred by Europeans; their language had a greater vocabulary than English)(Native People - Spirituality)
September 1, 1995... When the first European explorers arrived five centuries ago, there were about 10,000 to 35,000 Micmacs living in eastern Canada. They had their own political structures, boundaries, laws, and a sophisticated culture and language. Their language,...

Wasted lives and wounded people. (Native Americans in Canada)(Native People - Social Conditions)
September 1, 1995... Native people die younger than other Canadians. In a morbid way, that's the good news. The reason is that living conditions for many of Canada's First Nations are so dreadful that an early death might seem like a happy release. And, that's an...

Population explosion. (high birth rate of Inuit people in the Eastern Arctic will likely cause economic problems for the region)(Native People - Social Conditions)
September 1, 1995... The birth rate among the Inuit of the Eastern Arctic is about four times higher than the national average. The reasons are not hard to figure out. In Inuit culture, children a greatly cherished. Teens become sexually active early, and there is no...

The lure of the bright lights. (Native Americans who move to the cities do not gain economically)(Native People - Social Conditions)
September 1, 1995... Many Natives move to cities in an attempt to escape the poverty of the reserves. But, the story often remains the same. A 1995 federal study found that more than half the off-reserve aboriginal families living in Dryden, Ontario were getting by...

Early graves. (mortality rates for Native Americans)(Native People - Social Conditions)
September 1, 1995... The first nationwide study of death among Canadian Natives came up with some grim numbers. In 1992, the study found that Natives are: * three times more likely than non-natives to die a violent death before age 65; * five times more likely...

The politics of the barricade. (tactics used by Native Americans to gain rights and political influence)(Native People - Politics)
September 1, 1995... On 11 July 1990, a force of 100 Quebec Provincial Police armed with automatic rifles, concussion grenades, and tear gas assaulted a blockade defended by Mohawks at Oka, a small community near Montreal. The attack ended in a fierce exchange of...

Sink the sovereignty canoe? (separatist desires by Quebec do not take into account the desires of the Cree, who have more legal right to their homeland than the Quebec government)(Native People - Politics)
September 1, 1995... The 373,000 [km.sup.2] Cree homeland comprises 25% to 30% of Quebec's total land area. Its northern boundary juts out of the mouth of James Bay and extends east to the Labrador border. The southern boundary runs east for about 200 kilometres from...

Running their own show. (self-determination of Native Americans)(Native People - Politics)
September 1, 1995... Since Confederation, the Indian Act has made the Minister of Indian Affairs the "Great White Father"--the person who oversaw almost every aspect of the lives of status Indians. The federal government provided shelter, health care, education, and...

Self-government the minimum. (desire by Native Americans to self-govern)(Native People - Self-government)
September 1, 1995... In 1992, Chief Ted Moses, described as the ambassador of the Cree Nation, spoke to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. He set out what he saw as the minimum elements for Native self-determination. He said he had drawn his list up from...

This land is who's land? (Native Americans claim land in Canada)(Native People - Land Claims)
September 1, 1995... Canada's aboriginal peoples were here first; the very word "aboriginal" means "from the beginning." But, might became right. And Europeans, better armed and organized, pushed aborigines off much of the territory they had once roamed. They were...

Talk, talk, and more talk. (endless negotiations between Canada and Native Americans ends up costing money without resolving issues)(Native People - Land Claims)
September 1, 1995... Philip Goulais believes that millions of tax dollars are being wasted in negotiating Native land claims. Mr. Goulais is the one-man Indian Commission of Ontario, an independent body that acts as a mediator among parties negotiating land claims....

Alien justice. (legal system of Native Americans)(Native People - Justice)
September 1, 1995... William Taylor was given plenty of time to think about what he'd done. The 28-year-old Cree man stood in the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench to learn his fate. He had been convicted of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman, a crime that...

Not your average cop. (police officer who is a Cree Indian works to resolve problems between police officers and Native Americans)(Native People - Justice)
September 1, 1995... His spirit name is White Eagle, to his fellow police officers he's Sergeant Bob Crawford. But, he never wears a uniform, has his hair in a long pony tail, and prefers to call himself a peacemaker. Bob Crawford is part of a special unit of the...

Cruel and unusual? (Native American teenager in Oregon receives sentence of five strokes from a belt after committing a crime, as the punishment is recognized by the tribe)(Native People - Justice)
September 1, 1995... A 17-year-old girl felt the sting of Native justice in September 1994. A chronic runaway, the teenager was given five strokes with a belt as punishment. A tribal court of the Warm Springs, Oregon confederation brought back the custom of whipping...

Boredom. (the reason why many Native American teenagers in isolated areas commit crimes)(Native People - Justice)
September 1, 1995... In his book, The Dispossessed, Geoffrey York quotes RCMP constable Steve Gourdeau. Constable Gourdeau explains why teenagers on isolated reserves get into trouble. "They wake up in the morning and they have absolutely nothing to look forward to....

On the fringes. (gambling is the most used way to develop economies of Native Americans in Canada; payment of taxes)(Native People - Economics)
September 1, 1995... The Pequot tribe in Connecticut scored big and many Canadian bands are hoping to do the same. The Pequot own the Foxwoods High Stakes Bingo & Casino. Open round the clock, Foxwoods attracts 40,000 gamblers a day who shove $7 million into the slot...

The warriors. (groups of Native Americans called the Native Warrior Societies see increase in membership)(Native People - Economics)
September 1, 1995... Young men have been joining Native Warrior Societies in large numbers. The stand-off at Oka was controlled largely by Warriors, and Warriors have been heavily involved in tobacco and other smuggling. They are usually heavily armed and operate on...

Nations within. (tactics taken by non-natives to gain the land and resources of natives around the world)(Native People - World Report)
September 1, 1995... A group based in London, England is dedicated to protecting the world's tribal people. Survival International says that the "key message of all Native peoples the world over is that they want control of their lands." So far, indigenous peoples...

Hollywood meets history history loses. (criticism of the portrayal of Native Americans and English settlers in the film 'Pocahontas')(Native People - World Report)
September 1, 1995... A blockbuster movie hit from the summer of 1995 was Pocahontas. It follows a current fashion in movies with aboriginal content as explained by Russell Means, cofounder of the American Indian Movement: The movie "presents a host of lousy...

Mexio's rebellion. (uprising of the Chiapas Indians in Mexico led by the Zapatista National Liberation Army in 1994)(Native People - World Report)
September 1, 1995... It has been said that Mexico loves its Indians -- so long as they are dead. The country protects ancient Aztec and Mayan ruins because they are a huge source of tourist income. However, the largest single concentration of Indians in the country...

Canada's native peoples. (population dispersal)(About Canada)
September 1, 1995... The northern part of North America that today is known as Canada was far from being a "vast empty land" when the first white people arrived. It was inhabited from the Atlantic to the Pacific by people who were mistakenly called Indians by the...

Environment and diversity. (lifestyles of Canada's Native Americans)(About Canada)
September 1, 1995... The living conditions imposed by the geographical regions--Arctic, Subarctic, Northeastern Woodlands, Great Plains, Plateau, and Northwest Coast--encouraged a variety of lifestyles. Northwest Coast society, with its secure economy, developed...

Contacts and relationships. (early history of incidents between Europeans and Native Americans)(About Canada)
September 1, 1995... Current archaeological evidence indicates the presence of humans in the Americas since at least 36,000 years ago; geology tells us that human habitation has been possible for about 50,000 years. These dates apply to the non-glaciated areas of the...

Partners in trade and war. (economic relations between Canada's Native Americans and European traders)(About Canada)
September 1, 1995... Trading networks counterbalanced nature's uneven distribution of resources. As trade could only be conducted with friends, or at the very least under the protection of a truce, much diplomatic protocol was involved. This gave great importance to...

Shrinking resources. (land rights of Native Americans abused by people and governments who sought to control resources)(About Canada)
September 1, 1995... After the War of 1812, the principal concern of the Indian administration was to "civilize" the mobile hunters by settling them down as farmers. Reserving lands for Amerindians became an established part of treaty procedure in 1850; today, there...

Government, treaties, and claims. (history of government rule of land in Canada belonging to Native Americans)(About Canada)
September 1, 1995... When Canada became a confederation in 1867, Indians and "lands reserved for Indians" were declared a federal responsibility. Amerindians had not been consulted about this, nor were they when the Indian Act of 1867 consolidated and revamped...

Self-determination and the future. (Native Americans in Canada begin to achieve some government independence)(About Canada)
September 1, 1995... Over the centuries, Native relationships with white explorers and settlers have run the gamut from welcoming hosts and advisors to fishing, hunting, and trading partners; from allies in battle to bitter foes. Later, as Europeans became firmly...