https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf Will King en-us 2017-04-04 16:39:20 UTC 2017-05-09 17:08:09 UTC hello@padlet.com william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/164675973 The tale of residential schools in Canada is becoming more well known and there have been positive steps to make up for what was done to around 150,000 thousand native Canadians. The article by the CBC A history of residential schools in Canada recounts what Residential Schools were, the effect on the native population, and what is or has been done to make up for them. Residential schools were predominantly, church run, government funded industrial institutions with the aim of aggressive assimilation of the young native population. The government's hope was that natives would learn English or French, adopt Christianity, and embrace what they viewed as Canadian Customs. However, this goal was pursued in a shock harsh manner as Children from the ages of 4-16 were taken from their families and forced to attend boarding schools all year round. They were often subject to physical, emotional and even sexual abuse. Although the aim was to allow native children to be successful they were taught substandard skills that made it difficult to function in urban settings. The devastating effect on the children's heritage and culture meant if they returned to a reserve, they felt as if they didn't belong. In some cases, they didn't even know the language well enough to communicate with their parents. Residential Schools are no doubt a dark time in Canada's past, but the consequences are still very much present. So what is being done to help those that were affected by these schools? In 2007 the federal government formalized a $1.9 billion package that will provide compensation for those that were forced to attend residential schools. Much of this money has been used already to compensate over 100,000 cases, but the remaining money will go to foundations that support the learning of aboriginal students. This combined with formal apologies from the Prime Minister of Canada in 2008 and over five churches in Canada that took part in residential schools in Canada. However, this is not enough apologies and financial contribution can not make up for what some call cultural genocide. New efforts must be made to give opportunities to learn about aboriginal history and culture. So far there has been a good start as there are programs in school that focus on aboriginal studies, and foundations that support learning of aboriginal culture. ]]> 2017-04-04 17:01:47 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/164675973 william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165369861 2017-04-07 13:00:29 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165369861 william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165370172 2017-04-07 13:01:37 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165370172 william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165371330 The crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women is fast becoming another sad chapter in the Canadian Governments treatment of their aboriginal citizens. The article I chose exams a report published by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The report strongly suggests the Canadian Government needs to take more serious measures in preventing the crimes against aboriginal women. The report sheds light on how the police have failed to adequately protect these indigenous people and puts forward a very worrying statistic that 16% of the victims of female homicides in Canada are aboriginal women while they account for barely 4% of the female population. However, it is easy to jump to conclusions and immediately blame the government for prioritizing other groups of Canadians over aboriginals. This would be falling victim to a single story. Granted the Canadian Government has a terrible past with native people, but it is actively trying to improve. In 2014 the  Government authorized a five-year plan to address the violence against aboriginal women and girls. Although this is clearly not enough and there needs to be a continued effort to increase what is being done to protect aboriginal women and girls. To do this, the report put forward a number of recommendations. They include providing safer public transport, mandatory training for government employees in how to prevent gender-based violence, and a national public inquiry in consultation with indigenous peoples. There are typically over 600 homicides a year in Canada including the approximate 30 a year to do with aboriginal women. This no doubt makes it difficult for the Canadian police force to handle all homicide cases thoroughly. The question remains how many of these proposed actions the government will follow through on, but it is a good start to a long process. The crisis of missing and murdered aboriginal women begs the question: how did society slip into this mess? Societal values have no doubt impacted the way in which crimes against certain groups of people get handled. In the case of missing and murdered aboriginal women, it is all too likely that these cases were shunted to the side and ignored. This is not to say this was the police officers fault, but rather societies as a whole. There are constant examples of how minorities within our society are constantly being put down. A study found that people with white-sounding names were more likely to obtain interviews for jobs than those with foreign sounding names. We must endeavor to dispose of our predisposed judgments of minorities as who are we to put a value on life? ]]> 2017-04-07 13:06:05 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165371330 william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165372559 2017-04-07 13:10:51 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165372559 william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165402684 2017-04-07 14:45:01 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165402684 william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165406226 2017-04-07 15:00:08 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165406226 william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165407365 2017-04-07 15:05:19 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165407365 william_king4 https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165408189 The federal government is constantly under immense amounts of scrutiny when it comes to spending taxpayer's money. They must always ensure that it is done wisely and responsibly. But this often leads to various levels of governmental bureaucracy each tasked with double-checking the other. Unfortunately, this became the case in the federal initiative to fund repairs for first nation infrastructure. Take for example water systems on reserves. In 2011 a report was published that stated the majority of water systems were low risk. One year later another report was published that found that 39 percent of first nations water systems are high risk affecting 25% of the population living on reserve. Ottawa would need $1.2 billion in repairs, better infrastructure and training to fix the problem, as well as an additional $4.7 billion over 10 years to keep pace with growing demand. First Nations chiefs have complained repeatedly that they are subject to countless layers of accountability and federal bureaucracy while their communities grow poorer. So the federal government is under pressure to back off and allow band chiefs and councils more leeway to spend federal allotments as they see fit. But giving sole power to chiefs would make it very difficult for the government to make sure taxpayers money was being spent appropriately. The government is not the only problem, however. There have been accusations towards native organizations for mismanaging funds. The combined effect of governmental and native mismanagement has lead to target standards being inconsistently applied and often ignored throughout reserves. As a result, the quality of life on reserve have drastically dropped. The issue of how to reduce bureaucracy and increase efficiency has plagued governments for decades. A viable solution for this problem relating to reserves can be created by the close collaboration of government officials and first nations people. By doing this long-range plans can be funded and become reality. This would enable reserves to prevent future problems from happening instead of just fixing the current issues. There are always multiple sides to any story and it is fundamental to take them into account when analyzing problems that face this country. Solutions need to be created that help all groups within Canada, we can not afford to alienate members of out society. ]]> 2017-04-07 15:08:42 UTC https://padlet.com/william_king4/wajj2m6bb4jf/wish/165408189