The federal government began to phase out residential schools in the 1960s and by 1974 assumed full responsibility for the residential school system. They were either closed or turned over to Aboriginal bands to operate themselves. Most residential schools ceased to operate by the mid-1970s; the last federally operated residential school closed in 1996. A major reason for this was the fact that in the 1980s horrible stories began to emerge about what actually took place at some of these schools. It was discovered that some children were the victims of physical and sexual abuse.
Aboriginal Reservations Joel Schain Sophomore English 5/13/11 Indigenous Australians, also known as Aboriginal people, were the first humans to inhabit the Australian continent and nearby islands. Aboriginal people make up about 2.5 % of Australia’s population. In 1778, the British began colonization In Australia. They took the Aboriginal people from their homes and put them in camps or reservations because they believed they did not belong in the general public. “The reserve system was designed primarily to separate Aborigines from white society,” (Aboriginal Reserves).
Being all you should be is to believe in something that you feel strongly about, then setting out into the world to make a difference. There have been many people in Australian history who have felt the need to express their vision on creating equality amongst aboriginal Australians. They continued this process until 1967 their executive was to visit Parliament house to meet Prime Minister Menzies which was when they convinced the prime minister that a referendum should be held and it was. In 1962 aboriginal people were given the vote which was a huge leap considering five years prior to this there was atomic nuclear testing in South Australia with the presence of Aboriginal people on the site. In 1982, Eddie Mabo presented the High Court of Australia with a declaration of his region’s land rights.
The 2001 Census statistics revealed that for people eighteen years or over “49.9 per cent of non-Indigenous Australians had no non-school qualification compared with 71 per cent of Indigenous Australians.” [7] This depicts the situation of Indigenous persons and the difficulties for this group to have successful results in society due to difficulties of income, access and equity within Australia. 2.7 Housing and Homelessness The type of lifestyle that the Indigenous people are able to afford differs dramatically from the non-Indigenous people, and impacts extensively on the type of lifestyle that this group is able to lead. The Census 2001 statistics showed that “the residents of households with Indigenous person(s) were much more likely to be renting than purchasing a home than owning a home outright.” [8] Furthermore the houses were much more likely to be overcrowded with “an average of 3.5 persons in households with Indigenous people, compared with 2.6 persons in other households.” [9] These statistics show the inequality in yet another element of Australia society, which is related to
Years into the Intervention; Concerns of welfare cuts that have affected women and children in the process,the stoppage of the CDEP plan that created more the 7,500 jobs before the Intervention, the poor number of sexual offenders prosecuted, and a number of limitation communal rights. The Northern Territory Intervention measures sparked many criticism both domestically and internationally saying that the Aboriginal people a being discriminated by there Government due to the 1995 Racial Discrimination Act. The Australian Government was called upon the United Nations Treaty to redesign their measures in direct of the
Treatment of Aboriginals in Canada People outside of Canada perceive Canada as a very multicultural and accepting country. As we look through Canada’s past history between Aboriginal peoples and the government this statement doesn’t seem so true. “First Nations were often stripped of their rights in the past” (Riles02, Indian Act and Canadian Treaties). They had little say in their own lives due to the creation of the Indian Act, suppressing their traditions and trying to assimilate their culture. To try and control their lifestyles the government created residential schools, and forced the First Nations children to attend.
Aboriginals were the first inhabiting civilization of this land, and have a right to be self-determining, but certain aspects have affected their legal rights. The Supreme Court has implemented these collective rights and for many years now, Aboriginals have faced injustice by the court systems and have not received full acknowledgment by non Aboriginals for the childhood that was lost during residential schools. Laws can affect people in many ways, but in the example of Aboriginal peoples, it reflects their traditional culture and way of life. It is unfortunate to know that Aboriginal cultures are identified and defined by the justice system without their presence. This unfairness has led to problems by displacing Aboriginal’s cultural
Punishments were given out to students who conversed in their native tongue. Students also came from a variety of different tribes within a school, making the easiest language to communicate in being English. It is predicted by Statistics Canada that only three of fifty prominent aboriginal languages will survive the century, (Norris, Mary Jane. Canada’s Aboriginal Languages). Residential schools played a big role in this prediction.
I have not been able to find a paper looking at the impact of alcohol on the Aboriginal community in Queanbeyan so I have looked at the above national paper. This paper and the Australian Bureau of Statistics National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey both state that 62% of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples consume alcohol compared to 73% of the general population. However Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander drinkers consume more alcohol than the general population and 51% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander drinkers consume alcohol in a far more hazardous manner putting their health at risk. From my own observations I would agree with these findings; we have a smaller number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients where I work as compared to the general population. Looking at the referrals for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, these come from local doctors due to other health issues, the Accident and Emergency Department due to any number of reasons such as falls, fights etc, and Probation and Parole due to court outcomes.
Many of the former students and their children and grandchildren sometimes go to jail, are in poverty, have lost their language and culture or have commit suicide. Aboriginals also have lower graduation rate that the national average. Many of the children and grandchildren have suffered abuse from their parents that went to these schools because the physical, mental, and sexual abuse that they suffered is passed down through their generations and many of them suicide because of this. Many of the aboriginals who attended the schools were missing or dead because of the tuberculosis infection that killed many of the children taking and living in the schools . According to the Canadian Institute of Child Health, in 2000 the suicide rate for first nations from the age of 0 to14 was double what the national suicide rate was.