Aboriginals from Canada Battle for Their Rights

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Aboriginals are the indigenous people of Canada and have been around for thousands of years. But it has not been until recently that they have been integrated into the outsider culture. In return, Aboriginals have been protesting across battle in an effort to be recognized and have their rights adhered to. They have been raising concerns that the government and industry have failed to consult with them when it came to development projects on their land. The issues are two-fold: in the past there have been large dams built on Native territory, as they are concerned with the impacts on fish and wildlife, and the fact that it destroys rivers and jobs. Secondly, the impact the government has had on the sovereignty of Aboriginals and how development projects have generated conflict.
Across Canada, there have been several development plans for new dams, some of which have already started construction. As Aboriginals have dealt with them in the past, they refuse them being built in their territories as they did not give permission and it destroys their valuable resources. These large economic developments, involving the extraction of raw materials, has significantly weakened the Aboriginals rights to land and livelihood. Furthermore, if they do grant permission, they ask that in some cases half the employees at the dam be of local aboriginal culture - but this has almost never been upheld by the corporations and government. As a result, with these new projects the Aboriginals have grown clever and have composed small local resistance groups to oppose the construction of hydroelectric expansion projects. While many Aboriginals need to find work to sustain their lives, they are still attached to their land and want to protect it.
Dams hav...

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...ing forward. They are trying to get the industry to be part of the decision making process.
Overall, Johnson specifically hopes that the media will become less corporate oriented, truly democratic and presenting true public debates as they are actually happening without any bias. Menzies looks at the conflict from a more economic point of view, where it is very difficult to satisfy both British Columbia fishers and First Nations land claims. He claims that the government will most likely sign land claims which will not fully satisfy First Nations. Another possibility is to co-manage the fisheries between the First Nations and Canadians. All in all, both authors present an issue with the Canadian view on Aboriginals, the fact that we do not truly understand what is going on, this is evident in every day struggles, and no one is truly doing much about these problems.

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