The Perpetuation of Subordination - Challenges to Aboriginal Employment Opportunities

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Recommended: The role of hidden curriculum

The discussion of a hidden curriculum (Eisner, 1985; Jackson 1968) wherein students learn more in the public school system than what the direct or written curriculum intends - or intentionally leaves out - is oddly appropriate in the context of looking at the experience of the Aboriginal working-age populations in Canada. Bowles and Gintis (1976) suggest that schools maintain the dominant capitalist system of mainstream society due to particular social relations taking place in school communities. If public education in Canada is not correcting historical and social biases, it perpetuates prejudice and the placing of Aboriginal peoples at a lower social standing in Canada. How then are they expected to be successful in avenues like the employment market? Jean B. Miller’s discussion of the dominant/subordinate issue between men and women (1995) is an excellent template to analyze the plight of Aboriginals and employment obstacles in Canada. Aboriginals have been subordinate to the colonizing powers for centuries. Morrison (1995) outlines many barriers to diversity in the workplace, but “the single most frequently mentioned barrier is prejudice” (235). It is no surprise then that despite recent gains in education-level completion, Canada’s Aboriginal populations are not seeing corresponding gains in employment.

The last four centuries of Canadian history have seen many dark periods for the experiences of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis. Topics such as treaty disputes, the residential school system, armed stand-offs over territories, or disease, substance abuse, and the situation on reserves dominate provincially recommended textbooks. These discussions of their past, however, contain little to no Aboriginal perspective. ...

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...tagne, F. (2004) The Aboriginal Workforce: What Lies Ahead - CLBC Commentary. Ottawa, Canada Labour and Business Centre.

Mendelson, M. (2004) Aboriginal People in Canada’s Labour Market: Work and Unemployment, Today and Tomorrow. Ottawa, Caledon Institute of Social Policy

Miller, Jean B. (1995). Domination/Subordination. In Wren, J. Thomas (Ed) The Leaders Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages. (pp. 222-230) The Free Press: USA.

Morrison, Ann M. (1995). Challenging the Barriers to Opportunity. In Wren, J. Thomas (Ed) The Leaders Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages. (pp. 231-242) The Free Press: USA.

Saul, J. R. (2008). A Fair Country: Telling truths about Canada. Toronto: Penguin.

Thomas, R. R. (1990) From Affirmative Action to Affirming Diversity. Harvard Business Review. March-April, pp. 107-117.

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