Examples Of Impoverishment On First Nation
Pamela Brown
Professor Ferguson SOCI 1015EL 10
10 November 2014
Impoverishment on First Nation Reserves
The fact that First Nations peoples' lives may begin on a reserve, a place of poverty and very little growth or stimulation, results in the individual born and reared there, facing a disadvantageous beginning. Not surprisingly, First Nations "children and youth are more likely than other Canadians to experience the most prolonged and severe poverty." (BRYM 121) In only some examples of poverty on "remote reserves, poor children are likely to live in cramped conditions, with substandard heating, too little hot water, improper ventilation," and so on. (BRYM 121) Poverty is not simply a measure of income. Impoverishment stems from a lack of social services, up-to-date infrastructure and a cultural identity or pride that most communities can count on to sustain normal challenges in everyday life. From life on a reserve and for generations since, First Nations peoples face a crisis of socioeconomic marginalization and as a result of that, wasted potential.
First Nations people are a …show more content…
The Indian Act is a list of rules and regulations that the Aboriginal people were expected to uphold. The statutes took away the First Nations peoples identity by dictating how they could lose their status and who owned property rights to their land. The Indian Act states that “any Indian woman marrying any other than an Indian or a non-treaty Indian shall cease to be an Indian in any respect within the meaning of this act” (p1, sec 3c, Indian act). This rule took away a women’s identity if she loved someone who was not the same nationality as she was. She could go from being Indian to non-Indian in an instant. This is a clear example of how the government took away a woman’s identity. This rule did not apply to men and can be seen as giving men more privilege and power then women on the
Professor Ferguson SOCI 1015EL 10
10 November 2014
Impoverishment on First Nation Reserves
The fact that First Nations peoples' lives may begin on a reserve, a place of poverty and very little growth or stimulation, results in the individual born and reared there, facing a disadvantageous beginning. Not surprisingly, First Nations "children and youth are more likely than other Canadians to experience the most prolonged and severe poverty." (BRYM 121) In only some examples of poverty on "remote reserves, poor children are likely to live in cramped conditions, with substandard heating, too little hot water, improper ventilation," and so on. (BRYM 121) Poverty is not simply a measure of income. Impoverishment stems from a lack of social services, up-to-date infrastructure and a cultural identity or pride that most communities can count on to sustain normal challenges in everyday life. From life on a reserve and for generations since, First Nations peoples face a crisis of socioeconomic marginalization and as a result of that, wasted potential.
First Nations people are a …show more content…
The Indian Act is a list of rules and regulations that the Aboriginal people were expected to uphold. The statutes took away the First Nations peoples identity by dictating how they could lose their status and who owned property rights to their land. The Indian Act states that “any Indian woman marrying any other than an Indian or a non-treaty Indian shall cease to be an Indian in any respect within the meaning of this act” (p1, sec 3c, Indian act). This rule took away a women’s identity if she loved someone who was not the same nationality as she was. She could go from being Indian to non-Indian in an instant. This is a clear example of how the government took away a woman’s identity. This rule did not apply to men and can be seen as giving men more privilege and power then women on the