Persistence of Colonial Practices in Canada against Indigenous communities

Contemporary Canadian society and it's national identity is built upon multicultural values, however, colonialism and colonial ideologies remain present today. However, rather than in overt forms such as through explicit discrimination and hatred, it is continued in covert forms. The effects of covert colonialism and discrimination are very harmful and dangerous for Indigenous communities, and especially Indigenous women in Canada.

History of Multiculturalism in Canada

Multiculturalism in Canada emerged directly as a result of the the 1960's Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and later the October Crisis in 1970's. The October Crisis was critical towards the creation of multiculturalism because it was ultimately the fight for the preservation of the French-Canadian language, independence, and autonomy. Following the October Crisis, Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau adopted a multicultural policy in 1971, which developed into the Multiculturalism Act in 1988 and was an official policy that was focused on preservation of one’s culture and ethnicity, social participation, and national unity.

Covert Discrimination

Covert practices of discrimination can be defined as less noticeable or ambiguous behaviours, such as being less friendly towards minority members or placing a larger distance between yourself when talking with minority members than with majority member individuals. These behaviours are subtle and passive so that they cannot be identified and related to prejudice or discrimination. As a result, individuals use covert forms of discrimination because they feel safe doing so since these behaviours give the impression that they are non-prejudiced themselves.

Covert Discrimination Practices used Against Indigenous Peoples

Guise of Multiculturalism

With Canada’s multicultural history, it has become increasingly important in recent decades to integrate diversity into key aspects of Canadian society. One example of this is the use of Indigenous groups and their traditions in popular ceremonies such as the Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies in Montréal, Calgary, and Vancouver. While formally, this integration of Indigenous cultures can be viewed as a step towards a more plural, egalitarian society, it is in practice and at its core deeply tied to colonial and neo-colonial ideals and values. This can be explained since Canada can be described as a “brand state”, one that is preoccupied with transforming their national narratives in order to present distinctive images in order to attract foreign investment and skilled labour. Ultimately, Canada uses the Olympic ceremonies as a way to present and brand itself as a multicultural and inclusive nation. In that, claiming that Canada is a multicultural nation is in itself a covert form of discrimination against Indigenous groups in Canada. This is because by claiming the nation as multicultural, we are homogenizing Indigenous peoples with the rest of Canada and stating that everyone is equal, when Indigenous communities are sovereign nations within Canada. Therefore, by using the guise of multiculturalism, it is used as a way to try to “smooth over social anxiety regarding the solidarity of national boundaries” and is used as a tool where the nation can hide its prejudice views while “maintaining its core ethnic genus”. In sum, incorporating indigenous groups in these Olympic Ceremonies is a way for Canada to rebrand itself globally, as an “urbane, cosmopolitan, and at the cutting edge of promoting racial and ethnic tolerances”, while it is truly a new form of white supremacy, that is fashionable and politically acceptable.

Laissez-Faire Racism

Laissez-faire racism can be defined by the stereotyping of Indigenous peoples, blaming of Indigenous poverty and social problems on Indigenous people themselves, and the resistance to meaningful policy efforts to ameliorate [Canada's] racist social conditions and practices. Laissez-faire beliefs are ultimately "rooted in perceptions of threat and the protection of collective group privileges" . Therefore, Laissez-faire racism can be identified as a covert form of racism and or discrimination as it subtly continues to maintain a system of disadvantage for Indigenous peoples. There are three main behavioural processes that work to uphold the white majority's sense of superiority and justify racial inequality; subtyping, ideology-based homophily, and political avoidance. Subtyping is the process in which, individuals who disconfirm stereotypes are viewed as exceptions that prove the rule. Therefore, Indigenous individuals who are perceived as "better" than the stereotype are exceptions in Canadian society, which ultimately justifies the social hierarchy and white's sense of group superiority. Ideology-based homophily is the tendency to befriend others with similar ideologies, regardless of their race. This exemplifies a covert form of racism because, for example, one can have an Indigenous friend who has similar racial views and can be subtyped as a "good Indian" . This reinforces the social order because the original stereotypes of Indigenous peoples remain, which allows white's to maintain their position. Finally, political avoidance is where public discussions of racism and colonization are taboo within society. This is extremely dangerous because Canadians like to be perceived as "polite" and "nice", especially in comparison to other countries, however, the invisibility of these topics allows for injustices to persist within society due the lack and willingness to understand the issues. As a result of laissez-faire racism, social problems and inequities will continue to persist because most often, individuals engaging in these behaviours are unaware and will not change them.

Effects on Indigenous Women

Job Opportunities

Due to the implementation of the Indian Act in 1876, a Canadian federal law that "governs in matters pertaining to Indian status, bands, and Indian reserves" . More specifically, the law included assimilation policies used to "terminate the cultural, social, economic, and political distinctiveness of Aboriginal peoples by absorbing them into mainstream Canadian life and values" . While this was extremely damaging to Indigenous communities as a whole, Indigenous women particularly experienced harsh effects due to their intersections of both being First Nations and being a woman. Through the Indian Act, Indigenous women lost the status, power, and authority they once had and were removed from their high status positions they held. Moreover, as a result of their double disadvantage, Indigenous women are often discriminated against in the labour market and in politics, especially through covert forms. Cora Voyageur's 2011 study of 64 female Indian Act elected chiefs and 105 female Indian Act elected band councillors exemplifies this. Voyageur claims that these colonial ideals have been carried over and First Nations female leaders today are continuing to battle both overt and covert forms of colonial and patriarchal views rendering it much harder for them to get jobs and succeed in them . Voyageur determined that certain types of women were more likely to win an election in a reserve community based on participants age, community affiliation, educational attainment levels, and family political affiliation . She identifies these "ideal women" as "prototypical First Nations female leader", someone who is middle-aged, married, a mother, well-educated, born into the community, and a member of a politically involved family . Furthermore, when women do have these "right" characteristics, they still must prove themselves because of persisting sexist views where people either only see Indigenous women in a caretaker role or believe that these women do not belong in an elected position. Therefore, due to these deeply rooted beliefs Indigenous women are constantly trying to prove their abilities and not being elected based on covert and subtle forms of discrimination.

Portrayal in Media

Generally, media representation and coverage of Indigenous communities is very low, however, the amount and type of representation of Indigenous women in Canadian media, specifically surrounding the cases of the missing and murdered Indigenous women is dangerously low. While Indigenous women only make up two percent of Canada's population, they are overrepresented as victims of sexual and physical violence and homicide, where Indigenous women age 25-44 are five times more likely to experience a violent death than any other Canadian women . Indigenous women have been targets of high amounts of abuse since the beginning of colonialism due to the stereotype of being a “squaw”, someone who is “dirty, lazy, degraded, easily sexually exploited...and beyond rescue by christianity” . This stereotype continues to exist today and as a result, Canadian media does not report on incidents such as missing and murdered Indigenous women because the violence against Indigenous women is " deemed too routine or ordinary by newsmakers to be considered newsworthy" . Additionally, through this stereotype of Indigenous women, others view them as "bad women" who are unworthy, poor victims that are not innocent unlike other "good women" who are worth saving. These differentiations are important because more than sixty missing and murdered Indigenous women cases were framed by news outlets as "high risk". This is based on the fact that they lived in poverty in the Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, which places blame on these women because it implies they put themselves in violent situations due to their poor choices . Canadian media therefore, very clearly favours white middle and or upper class individuals and is demonstrated in articles where the placement of articles is better for white women, where thirty seven per cent of articles appeared on the front page and most often above the fold, in comparison to only twenty five percent of Indigenous women’s articles . Additionally, white women receive larger and more photos with their articles that are centrally placed and are spread over multiple pages, where Indigenous women received one small-sized photo, placed off-center in the article . Ultimately, through the covert framing of Indigenous women in this way is highly problematic because it reproduces the legitimacy of the stereotypes and allows the public to continue to look down upon these women and blame them for their poor circumstances. Furthermore, this portrayal and lack of empathy and urgency towards these women and their cases justifies the violence and brutality against them suggesting that this behaviour can be continued in Canadian society.