This depiction of the Frog Lake Massacre created in 1885 , shows an Aboriginal shooting Father Fafard, and Mrs. Gowanlock weeping over the death of her husband. One could say that this picture is an inadequate representation of the events that took place during the Aboriginal Resistance. Like many other representations of the Frog Lake Massacre, this publication also illustrated a biased portrayal of the Aboriginals and the battles that took place. This image does not show the Canadian Government’s harsh treatment of the Aboriginals and the anger that eventually lead to Wandering Spirit attacking the people of Frog Lake. An English-Canadian artist of the Canadian Pictorial and Illustrated War News created this piece as a way to portray …show more content…
The artist portrays the Aboriginal man to be dominant over the white people by having him stand tall over the helpless and scattered white people, making it appear that they have been brutally murdered. The artist also portrays the Aboriginal as merciless for the people he has murdered as he ignores the weeping Mrs. Gowanlock, caring for her husband. Typically, creations such as these, “inflamed the passions of the white people and hardened their hearts” against showing tribulation for the Aboriginals. This was the goal of the author, to anger white people, perhaps to the point where they would act against the Aboriginal people. However, the perspective that this piece does not show is the Aboriginals, who were facing starvation due to a decrease in the buffalo population, and needed to find other sources of food. Most tribes signed land treaties to receive food rations from the government, but Big Bear, when asked to move to a reserve, refused to do so, and therefore received no rations for his people. It is said that Wandering Spirit, leader of the Frog Lake Massacre, only went to Frog Lake in an attempt to obtain food and supplies. One could not tell this from the depiction. The Aboriginal appears to be healthy and stronger than most people in the picture, when he was thin, weak, and starving for food …show more content…
This is because the artist made the Aboriginal a focal point by painting him in traditional and obscure clothing in comparison with the other people in the painting. One can also see that the Aboriginal is the only one standing upright, making him the focal point of this piece. The artist made sure that people are directed to the Aboriginal holding the gun. In this piece, the Aboriginal is the only one with a gun, making the people on the ground look helpless and defenceless. It shows that he is not trying to protect himself from these people, but rather brutally hurt them, all while doing this with a straight face. This depicts him as showing little remorse for the actions taken place. Additionally, one might also say that the Aboriginal man is ruthless in killing the people in this photo. The artist, in order to do this, shows the cross of the priest flying out as he is being shot. The audience can then make religious connections. The audience would see the Aboriginal as a cruel man for killing a man of God. Due to religion being an important part of people’s lives, more so than it is today, people would become infuriated by this. The artist also added the smoke of the gun behind the Aboriginal to further make it look like a horrible incident. Overall, with the gloomy portrayal, the
The case of the so-called “Black Donnellys” is indicative of social and community relations during the nineteenth century in Upper Canada. Characterized by frontier agriculture, a growing but weak authority structure, and an influx of emigration, mob justice complemented the legal system nefariously. The arson of the Donnelly's home, as well as James Senior's imprisonment demonstrate the role of these two powers in society. I will argue that Upper Canada during the mid to late nineteenth century reacted to increased crime with both community power, in the form of vigilante justice, and legitimate authority, in the form of the penitentiary system; this uptick in crime coincided with settlement of the land by British emigrants. The factors that surrounded this phenomenon were emigration, land, crime, vigilante power, and legal enforcement, particularly the role of the Kingston Penitentiary.
This again shows the traumatic effects of residential schools and of cultural, psychological, and emotional upheaval caused by the intolerance and mistreatment of Aboriginals in Canada. Settlers not only displaced Aboriginal people from their land and their homes, but they also experienced emotional trauma and cultural displacement.
When chief Sitting Bull and his people ran away from their native lands to Canada, they lost all the resources they had once relied on. This led to multiple deaths due to the lack of food, warmth, and much more. A little girl of the Sioux died due to hunger and the harsh weather. M...
The negativity seen in today’s society and the awful stereotypes about Aboriginals would never exist if was not for all the racism and savagery they had to endure. Zen Master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh said, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” A reader can identify that one of the main messages to be taken from Indian Horse, is that hope drove Saul to keep on working hard and that residential schools were never able to take away Aboriginal people’s hope. A reader would think that Saul’s acceptance of coaching the Moose is not for his own gain, but also to help the kids who play on the team, both physically and
The Oka Uprising was initially a peaceful protest over the expansion of a golf course on Mohawk territory that turned violent after Quebec’s provincial police, the Sûreté du Québec, responded to the protest with tear gas and flash-bang grenades, eventually escalating to a gun battle between protesters and police. Years after the stand-off, revisionist military historians have praised the Canadian military for avoiding bloodshed because of their “personal commitment [and] calm and attentive approach to native reality,” in which they ought to be commended for “carrying the burden of peace” (Conradi 548). However, Robinson rejects this notion and instead proposes a re-imagining of the Oka conflict through the “adjustment” of First Nations people who fought at Oka with the “bombing of the last Canadian reserve” (Robinson 211). Through “carrying the burden of peace” the Officers are given the power to destroy any semblance of Indigenous tradition, such as the potlatch, and to violently corral all First Nations people to sectioned off “Urban Reserves”. By disrupting popular Canadian perception of law enforcement Robinson succeeds in creating a dystopian image of corrupted power that allows readers to sympathize with the subjection of First Nations people of
Generations of native people in Canada have faced suffering and cultural loss as a result of European colonization of their land. Government legislation has impacted the lives of five generations of First Nations people and as a result the fifth generation (from 1980 to present) is working to recover from their crippled cultural identity (Deiter-McArthur 379-380). This current generation is living with the fallout of previous government policies and societal prejudices that linger from four generations previous. Unrepentant, Canada’s ‘Genocide’, and Saskatchewan’s Indian People – Five Generations highlight issues that negatively influence First Nations people. The fifth generation of native people struggle against tremendous adversity in regard to assimilation, integration, separation, and recovering their cultural identity with inadequate assistance from our great nation.
According to conservative conflict theory, society is a struggle for dominance among competing social groups defined by class, race, and gender. Conflict occurs when groups compete over power and resources. (Tepperman, Albanese & Curtis 2012. pg. 167) The dominant group will exploit the minority by creating rules for success in their society, while denying the minority opportunities for such success, thereby ensuring that they continue to monopolize power and privilege. (Crossman.n.d) This paradigm was well presented throughout the film. The European settlers in Canada viewed the natives as obstacles in their quest of expansion by conquering resources and land. They feared that the aboriginal practices and beliefs will disrupt the cohesion of their own society. The Canadian government adopted the method of residential schools for aboriginal children for in an attempt to assimilate the future generations. The children were stripped of their native culture,...
As European domination began, the way in which the European’s chose to deal with the Aborigines was through the policy of segregation. This policy included the establishment of a reserve system. The government reserves were set up to take aboriginals out of their known habitat and culture, while in turn, encouraging them to adapt the European way of life. The Aboriginal Protection Act of 1909 established strict controls for aborigines living on the reserves . In exchange for food, shelter and a little education, aborigines were subjected to the discipline of police and reserve managers. They had to follow the rules of the reserve and tolerate searchers of their homes and themselves. Their children could be taken away at any time and ‘apprenticed” out as cheap labour for Europeans. “The old ways of the Aborigines were attacked by regimented efforts to make them European” . Their identities were threatened by giving them European names and clothes, and by removing them from their tra...
In the past, many things have influenced me of how the Native Americans had to survive. For instance, some types of material that helped me realize just what the Native Americans had to endure in order to survive were history classes, books, the Internet, movies, television shows, and this article. In Black Elk’s article, the account of Custer’s Last Stand only reinsured my views. Black Elk explains some of the suffering and how the Native Americans had to search for a new location constantly. Black Elk also shows that the military drove the Native Americans out of their homelands, and how badly the Native Americans were treated.
Canada likes to paint an image of peace, justice and equality for all, when, in reality, the treatment of Aboriginal peoples in our country has been anything but. Laden with incomprehensible assimilation and destruction, the history of Canada is a shameful story of dismantlement of Indian rights, of blatant lies and mistrust, and of complete lack of interest in the well-being of First Nations peoples. Though some breakthroughs were made over the years, the overall arching story fits into Cardinal’s description exactly. “Clearly something must be done,” states Murray Sinclair (p. 184, 1994). And that ‘something’ he refers to is drastic change. It is evident, therefore, that Harold Cardinal’s statement is an accurate summarization of the Indigenous/non-Indigenous relationship in
The Indian act, since being passed by Parliament in 1876, has been quite the validity test for Aboriginal affairs occurring in Canada. Only a minority of documents in Canadian history have bred as much dismay, anger and debate compared to the Indian Act—but the legislation continues as a central element in the management of Aboriginal affairs in Canada. Aboriginal hatred against current and historic terms of the Indian Act is powerful, but Indigenous governments and politicians stand on different sides of the fence pertaining to value and/or purpose of the legislation. This is not shocking, considering the political cultures and structures of Aboriginal communities have been distorted and created by the imposition of the Indian Act.
The Red River Colony was changing, but it wasn’t the only one, all of Canada were changing, because in the late 1860s Canada entered a new era and the changes and events that occurred in the Red River was only the beginning of many more conflicts and circumstances to come that would help shape and define this age Canada has entered. Although the Red River Rebellion had ostensibly achieved most of its major objectives, the Metis would soon find themselves at a disadvantage. They would rise yet again for another rebellion called The North-West Rebellion of 1885 to assert their nationality once more.
Thomas King uses an oral story-telling style of writing mingled with western narrative in his article “You’re Not the Indian I Had in Mind” to explain that Indians are not on the brink of extinction. Through this article in the Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada textbook, King also brings some focus to the topic of what it means to be “Indian” through the eyes of an actual Aboriginal versus how Aboriginals are viewed by other races of people. With his unique style of writing, King is able to bring the reader into the situations he describes because he writes about it like a story he is telling.
The Cree people have a rich and diverse history. Through methods of written and oral teachings, a greater understanding of the Cree people and their history has become apparent. In the following, I will highlight portions of Cree history to establish an understanding of such a rich culture. As a guide, I will use ideas highlighted in Jim Kanepetew’s (n.d) teachings of “The Ten Treaty Sticks”. Underlying concepts from “The Ten Treaty Sticks” have implications on both past and current practices of the Cree people. Since a large portion of the final exam is a chronological list of happenings, I will examine and extend the teachings of “The Ten Treaty Sticks” and how these align with teachings throughout the course. Using “The Ten Treaty Sticks” as a guide, I
Growing up Black Elk and his friends were already playing the games of killing the whites and they waited impatiently to kill and scalp the first Wasichu, and bring the scalp to the village showing how strong and brave they were. One could only imagine what were the reasons that Indians were bloody-minded and brutal to the whites. After seeing their own villages, where...