Research about Canadian Ethnic Group: Aboriginal Canadians
Aboriginal Canadians
Aboriginals in many books are defined as a group of people who are the original inhabitants of a particular region. They are considered as indigenous because of the nature of their living condition and the state of culture for which seems to be ancient for the modern people. In Canada in particular, there are a groups of aboriginals who are considered as the original and the first group of people that inhabited the country about 30,000 years ago. Most historians believe that aboriginal Canadians came all the way from Asia through land bridges during the last ice age passing through between Alaska and Siberia. One of the first known groups of aboriginal people in Canada is called the Inuit’s. The Inuit’s settled at the Northern parts of Canada and was able to survive the extreme cold weather and their means of living is by hunting caribou, whales, polar bears and seals (Craigmarlatt.com N.D).
In 2001 the Census report showed that there are about 976, 305 people in Canada considered they are part of the three major aboriginal groups. The Aboriginals in Canada is consists of three groups the Inuit, American Indian and the Métis. The statistics suggests that about 3.3% of Canada’s population belongs to the aboriginal ethnic groups. This number has increased by 22% in the past five years. The aboriginal population is also divided into age groups to determine the ratio between the modern populations versus the aboriginals. About one-third of the said population is children below 14 years old. This percentage represents 5.3% of the total population in the same age bracket in the country. The majority of the aboriginal Canadian’s can be found in Ontario which contributes 2% out of the province’s total population. The second largest concentration of aboriginals can also be found in Manitoba and Alberta (Ccsd.ca N.D).
The importance of identifying demographics of aboriginal population in Canada is crucial for social scientists to determine the impacts and issues that the community surrounding the aboriginals may arise. The mix of aboriginals and non-aboriginals in a certain area might spark social issues that will lead to the subject of inferiority and dominance among the two groups. Minorities like aboriginals, have slight difference in their way of living as compared to the normal inhabitants. Social scientist needs to establish the situations that aboriginals are facing in order to assess policies that will protect them and community services that needs to be provided for this ethnic group.
In the 17th and 18th century, aboriginal Canadians experienced the act prejudice from European colonizers because of how the white people see them as savages and soulless barbarians. This was changes when the pre-confederation Canada established the Fur Trade for which the aboriginal peoples are given a tolerable treatment in terms of working condition. When the mass settlement began and started to deteriorate this relationship because aboriginals were perceived as hindrance rather than a mechanism for economic progress. One of the challenges that aboriginal people faced during the pre-confederation period is imperialism and discrimination. Europeans are regarding as desirables and non-whites are considered as inferior and inassimilable. Ethnic groups including the aboriginals on the other hand are deprived of their political rights, to receive education degree and denied access to government services. They were seen as illiterate, morally lax, poor, diseased and deficient in religion (Driedger, Leo Palmer, Howard. N.D).
Aboriginal peoples of Canada had greatly influenced the today’s culture of the country because of the traditions and craftsmanship that this ethnic minority shared with to their society. One of the most prominent areas in cultures where aboriginals made contributions with is in art. Just before the European colonists arrive, natives are already making traditional artworks ranging from shaman’s mask to the ceremonial clothing’s. The diverse visual richness of their art creations existed thousand of years before the settlers. Music is also one of the major contributions of the aboriginals to the society, their musical traditions encompasses relevance to religious and ceremonial gatherings. Most of the music created by aboriginals came from rattles and drums made from gourds, animal horns and birch bark. The music is often performed during an important occasion such as Midewivin ceremonies and Sun Dances. Last but probably the most important cultural contribution of the aboriginals to the Canadian culture is language and several dialects.
In total there are about 11 aboriginal dialects still actively being spoken in Canada. But there are only three surviving dialects being spoken widely as of today namely Inuktitut, Ojibway and Cree. Among the three dialects Cree is the most widely spoken dialect even on the non-aboriginal individuals. There are currently 99,950 Canadians that can speak the language fluently and about 50% considers Cree as their home language (Cook, Eung-Do. Flynn, Darin (N.D.).
Given all the facts about the aboriginal peoples of Canada, for an instance an anthropologist would be given a chance to ask questions to an aboriginal Canadian there are three important questions to ask. First is their history ancient legacy, what are the traditions though to them by their ancestors that is long been extinct and lastly what are they doing to ensure that the old traditions are preserved. If a psychologist would ask an aboriginal three questions, the most important things to ask is, are they still experiencing racial discrimination and how they feel about it, second is how they deal about the situation and lastly ask the aboriginals about their sentiments about the issue. If for example a sociologist asked aboriginals three important questions as well, they would only be asked if they feel that they are being treated equal with the whites, how does the society see them or treat them in Caucasian controlled establishments and if there are differences on the level of service they are getting from government agencies.
Those questions are paramount in establishing the current situation that the aboriginal population in Canada is at in this modern era despite of the existing laws and policies protecting them. If the answers to those questions seemed negative in nature it means there is a problem with the current policies and it needs ratification. Now, given all the information about the aboriginal Canadians there is a strong need to do a quick check and ask if the current situation is indeed better from better and what are the existing challenges the aboriginal people are still facing. For those questions to be answered they should be asked what do they know about their history, are they getting discriminated and lastly how the society see them as a whole. By those questions, we can determine if the past is just repeating itself in another form.
References
Craigmarlatt.com. (N.D.) Aboriginals Web Retrieved on January 27, 2012 from http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/history&people/aboriginals.html
Ccsd.ca. ABORIGINAL POPULATION (N.D.) Demographics of the Canadian Population Web Retrieved on January 27, 2012 from http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/history&people/aboriginals.html
Driedger, Leo Palmer, Howard Prejudice and Discrimination (2000 Treatment of Aboriginal Groups Web Retrieved on January 27, 2012 from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/prejudice-and-discrimination
Cook, Eung-Do Flynn, Darin (2000 Nine Aboriginal languages of Canada Web Retrieved on January 27, 2012 from http://www.ucalgary.ca/dflynn/files/dflynn/CookFlynn08.pdf
