Discrimination Against Indigenous People

Overview

There is plenty of research done on the experience of racism with certain ethnic groups, but there is limited research depicting the same experiences on Indigenous populations and the adverse psychological effects. To the same degree, very little research has looked at the different economic circumstances of Indigenous populations within a society. The fact that Indigenous groups earn significantly less their their non-Indigenous counterparts is a continuous, established, but not well understood reality. Identifying the effects of discrimination against Indigenous groups and the ways in which the ethnic wage gap is maintained is crucial for future policy initiatives.

History of Colonization

Colonization can be defined as some form of invasion, dispossession and subjugation of a group of people. As is the case in Canada, the invasion of European settlers resulted in the dispossession of an immense amount of land from its original Indigenous inhabitants.

Historically, through various legal means such as treaties and the Indian Act, Indigenous groups have lost some 98% of their original lands. The colonizer benefits from this unequal colonizer/colonized relationship at the expense of the colonized and creates institutionalized inequality. The invasion of Europeans resulted in a forced assimilation of Indigenous groups to European ways. Residential schools are a tragic and horrific example of such assimilation. Residential schools became the dominant institution in Indigenous communities across Canada, where the churches assumed complete control of Indigenous education. The church and government believed that Indigenous culture was barbaric and savage and, therefore, the children's education needed to be assumed by ‘civilized’ people. This notion of Europeans as 'civilized' and Indigenous groups as 'savages' is still largely evident today in the many forms of racism Indigenous people experience.

Racial Discrimination

Racial discrimination is the unfair treatment of members of a particular socially defined racial group because of their membership to that group. Among minority populations, it is an established life course that is a social determinant of heath associated with adverse psychological outcomes. A variety of health outcomes, such as substance use disorders, mental illness, breast cancer, obesity, and coronary artery calcification have been linked to the experience of discrimination by prospective studies. Much of this research has been done with African Americans and has demonstrated the health disparities this group experiences are attributed to social stressors, most prominently the experience of racial discrimination. Research with Indigenous groups is revealing a similar trend.

Levels of Racism

Institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism are the three levels in which racism and its effects have been determined to occur at. Institutional racism is expressed through economic and political systems and is maintained by the policies and practices carried out by government and other institutions that reproduce avoidable and unfair inequalities across racial/ethnic groups. Interpersonal racism is the discriminatory interactions between individuals either within their institutional roles or as private individuals. Lastly, internalized racism is the internalizing of attitudes, beliefs or ideologies by an individual about the inferiority of their own group.

Experience of Racial Discrimination

One study showed that up to 80% their sample of University students experienced racial discrimination in their lives, with two-thirds experiencing high levels of racism. Additionally, the same study showed that in comparison to Latino and African Americans, Aboriginal students experienced racism 2 to 3 times more frequently across life situations. However, Aboriginal male and females experienced different forms of public racism. Females reported higher rates of being shamed, which included things like being perceived as a prostitute or on social assistance, and males described more experiences that were threatening and violent at times. Evidently, being an Indigenous male or female affected the type of racism they experienced.

Reactions

Indigenous students report helpless and hopeless reactions to being discriminated against. The uncontrollable and unpredictable nature of these experiences makes it difficult for these students to want to succeed. Racial battle fatigue refers to the depletion of mental and physical resources caused by stress response systems that are constantly switched on as minorities strive to cope with ongoing discrimination. This includes constant anxiety and worrying, hyper-vigilance, intrusive thoughts and images, and difficulty thinking coherently. Studies consistently support that the experience of interpersonal racism is associated with poorer health and that Aboriginal people consistently report poorer physical and mental health.

Wage Inequality

Discrimination can be applied to the connection between ethnicity and economic inequality. Studies show that Indigenous workers' earnings are less than half those of non-Indigenous workers. A major disadvantage to the economic well-being of some Indigenous people is their rural location, yet the negative impact of rural location does not affect non-Indigenous workers. For the same amount of work and labour, Indigenous people are paid less than non-Indigenous people. Table 3 shows research results from Peru and demonstrates that the ethnic wage gap was remarkably wider than the gender wage gap throughout the period of 2005-2011. Evidently, the gender wage gap is much more significant among Indigenous workers than among non-Indigenous workers. What's more, the study also found that Indigenous women are at a particular disadvantage; they earn less per hour than both non-Indigenous women and Indigenous men, as evidenced by table 2. Table 2 also indicates that Indigenous women are paid the lowest absolute wages and have seen little, if any, improvements over time, despite improvements in wage earnings observed for Indigenous men. Disparities in education, location, terms of employments and occupation are all factors that create and maintain the ethnic wage gap.

Table 2. Unadjusted ethnic hourly wage gap by sex, 2005-11 (percentages)

Year	Men	Women	All
2011	79.7	56.5	73.1
2010	73.5	53.0	68.0
2009 .	73.9	55.5	68.5
2008	72.3	48.1	65.3
2007 .	73.5	53.2	67.9
2006 .	67.1	54.6	63.1
2005	61.2	48.7	58.0

Note: Indigenous average hourly wage from main job as percentage of the corresponding non-Indigenous average hourly wage. Individuals aged 14 and above.

Table 3. Unadjusted gender wage gap by ethnicity, 2005-11 (percentages)

Year	Non-Indigenous	Indigenous	All
2011	86.7	61.4	85.1
2010	83.7	60.4	82.4
2009	82.7	62.1	81.2
2008	86.1	57.3	84.4
2007	88.2	63.8	86.8
2006	86.1	70.1	84.7
2005	83.6	66.5	83.0

Note: Female average hourly wage from main job as percentage of the corresponding male average hourly wage. Individuals aged 14 and above.

Implications

Canada prides itself on being multicultural but researchers have suggested this pride has led to reluctance to examine whether minority groups, including Indigenous people, experience discrimination in Canada. On a national stage, the suffering of Aboriginal people has and continues to be visible, but the crucial and underlying reasons for this suffering remains unaddressed. Policy initiatives should be directly aimed at improving the education of Aboriginal youth as this has great potential to reduce the wage gap. Higher education would help them achieve high paying occupations. It is essential we determine the pathways by which internalised racism affects health and identify factors that protect and exacerbate the effects of racial discrimination. Implementing effective policies in mainstream institutions to change racist attitudes is a potential start.