KPE 240

What is The Constitution Act (1982)

Most recent legislation that created Canada as a standalone entity from colonial history

Section 35 - recognized and affirmed the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples and theri Aboriginal and Treaty rights

What is Section 91(24) of the British North American Act (1867)

1st time “Aboriginal” was encoded into law

Set Indian and Indian lands under the authority of the federal government

What is the Royal Proclamation (1763)

Legal framework that helps understand Indigenous and settler relationships in Canada

Recognizes Indigenous sovereignty across what we now call Canada

Prevents IPs from being disturbed in the land west of what has already been established colonies and prevents colonial governors from taking more land from IPs

What is the Treaty of Niagara (1764)

Treaty signed between IPs and the British Crown

Agreement confirmed that IPs would not have to deal with local colonial government in matters of land and resource use and that the Crown would empower its own representatives to deal with it

French King used his knowledge of Indigenous practices to “perform” according to Anishnaabeg alliance-making protocols so that he could take the land

Similar treaties of ““consentful” giving up of land were signed after this

What are the ways IPs have been referred to and what is associated with each?

Indians (1800s - 1982): derogatory and defamatory (not for some older generation IPs), legislated in law so it will never to gotten rid of

Aboriginal Peoples (after 1982): Includes FNs, Métis, and Inuit people, in the law after 1982, not the greatest to use but sometimes found in older documents

Indigenous peoples: Use this, “s” signifies that they are human beings and have the right to self-determination, sovereignty, and that they are sovereign nations

Native: Not wrong, just not used

First Nations, Métis, Inuit: specific identities

Native American: in the US

North American Indian: used in historical documents, used to be the favored term at some point

Canadians, citizens plus: Can also identify as Canadians, because IPs have their own laws, language, systems of governance, can choose to identify or to not identify as Canadian

What is a status indian?

Racist administrative and legal category used by the federal government to manage fiduciary duty and control FNs people

Determines eligibility for registration, specific rights, and federal benefits

What is the Indian Act (1876, 1985)

1876 - Used to identify who the government was responsible for by quantifying who is an Indian.

1985 - last iteration of the Indian Act, removed gender discrimination

What is the Gradual Civilization Act (1857)

Created the term “status indian”

Precursor to British NA Act and Indian Act

Designed to assimilate IPs to reduce the number of IPs through enfranchisement (giving up legal Indian status) so that the government were responsible for less people

What are the levels in the entitlement chart?

6(1) - FN who’s parents are both FNs

6(2) - FN who has a FN and a white parent

Child of 6(2) and a white parent loses status

What were the amendments to the entitlement chart?

Bill C-31, C-3, S-2

Removed sex discrimination

Previously, if a FN man married a white woman, she would gain 6(1) status while if a FN woman married a white man, her and her children would lose their status

What are Nations?

Group of IPs that share a governance, language, understanding of law and history, ceremony practices, etc.

Eg. Anishnaabe Nation which is made up of many groups of IPs (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Chippewa, Saulteaux, Algonquin)

What is the difference between Métis and metis?

Métis: Decendants of the People of the Red River who have their own language and process of governance

metis: mixed identity background, people who claim a long-lost FN ancestor but not part of the Métis nationhood/not claimed by any FN

Who are the Inuit People?

From the Inuit regions north of the 60th parallel (Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, Inuvialuit)

How were Inuit people colonized?

Residential schools, killing of their sled dogs to force them into reserves, disruptions in the way of living

What were IPs’ lives like pre-contact?

Food: Hunting, fishing/netting, medicines, gardens

Oral traditions

Deep connection with the land, the land and the environment were their relatives

Active lifestyles

Well-balanced, high in protein and healthy fats diets

Moved with the seasons (not nomads), know their territory well and the cyclical cycle of nature

Healing from medicine people, midwives, healers, shamans

Intricate network of kinship and extended family

What is the Indigenous worldview?

Cyclical/holistic

Focus on the process and relationality

The universe is in constant motion and everything has a spirit/is alive

“All my relations”: everything is a relative that must be cared for, they all have spirits and have agency

Cyclical renewal process through stories, ceremonies, gatherings, songs, and relationships

What are key Indigenous teachings

Honesty, truth, kindness, strength (spiritual and physical), generosity

What is Mino-Bimaadiziwin

To live a good life

What is the medicine wheel?

Teaching on how to achieve holistic health

North Direction (white)

• Winter

• Cycle of Life: elder

• Medicine: sweetgrass

• Spirit animal: bear

• Element: fire

East Direction (yellow)

• Spring

• Cycle of Life: infant

• Medicine: tobacco

• Spirit animal: eagle

• Element: air

South Direction (red)

• Summer

• Cycle of Life: Youth

• Medicine: cedar

• Spirit animal: wolf

• Element: earth

West Direction (black)

• Fall

• Cycle of Life: adult

• Medicine: sage

• Spirit animal: buffalo

• Element: water

What are the 7 grandfather teachings

Central teachings about wellness, how to live with wellness, how to be a good person

Humility, courage, respect, love, honestly, truth, wisdom

What is smudging?

Indigenous ceremony of burning medicinal plants (sweetgrass, tobacco, cedar, sage)

Smoke carries prayers to the creator and cleanses your emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual beings

What is the Peace and Friendship Era?

1600-1700s

Created Peace and Friendship Treaties - era of new alliances

Settlers wanted to learn from the IPs how to live on the land

Formed kinship relationships and respected each other as sovereign nations

IPs taught how to live and thrive on the land

Indigenous Nations became allies in the French Canadian War

What occured in the 1800s-early 1990s?

Writen treaties were established and signed with the IPs’ clan systes

Emergence of ceding of land and colonial ideas

What happened in the late 1800s-1969?

Intense colonial and paternalistic control (colonialism)

Taking of land, reserve system, residential schools, racism

What has been occurring from 1996 to now?

Acknowledgement of colonial harms

Re-establishment of Indigenous governance, laws, and languages that were previously outlawed

More treaty relationality with IPs

Indian Act is still enforced

How does IPs’ health differ from non-IP health?

Shorter life expectancy, lower self-reported general health, lower reported mental health, greater risk of chronic health conditions

Experience T2 diabetes 2-3x more

Greater risk for heart disease and arthritis

Cancer is the leading cause of death for FNs

What is colonization?

Formal and informal methods that maintain the subjugation and/or exploitation of IPs, land, and resources

Persistent and complex intersection of environments, systems, and processes that entrench social, political, and economic determinants that benefit white settler societies at the detriment of Indigenous Nations.

What is settler colonialism?

Ongoing colonial structure where settlers disrupt, exploit, eliminate, assimilate, and steal from Indigenous populations

How has settler colonialism affected the health of IPs?

Outlaw of governance systems and ceremonies

Dependence on inferior food due to prevention of hunting

Substance misuse, PTSD, disposition from land

Intergenerational trauma, chronic illness

T2 diabetes

Greater mortality/morbidity

Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, CVD, chronic renal disease

What are examples of systemic racism in healthcare?

Brian Sinclair: left to die in the waiting room because he was ignored by staff, never properly registered to see a doctor, assumed to be homeless or intoxicated

Joyce Echequan: livestreamed her final moments, nurses and doctors labelled her a narcotic addict, she was mocked, ridiculed, and labelled as mainuplative, theatrical, and difficult

What is the reserve system and the effects of it?

Tool of assimilation/colonization

IPs were forced to settle in a spot chosen by the Crown once they were weakened by disease and starvation

Could not leave unless they had a pass from an Indian Agent (Pass system ended in 1950s)

Made it easier for settlers to disrupt kinship and governance systems and assimilate IPs

Clearing IPs from their land allowed settlers to take over easily

When did residential schools start and end?

1831-1997

What are residential schools?

"Schools” used for assimilation and cultural genocide

Attempt to erase IPs culture, killed them if they couldn’t erase

Children were kidnapped and forced into these schools

Subjected to extreme violence, abuse, disease, and neglect

What is the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples?

1st academic study funded by the government to investigate the relationship between IPs and the government, and the effect of colonization

1st time residential schools became publicly known

What is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

2008-2015 Commission to document the history of residential schools and colonization and foster reconciliation with FNs

Created 4 Calls to Actions

Found 215 unmarked burials in Kamloops Indian Residential School in 2021

How is disability viewed by IPs vs. colonizers in residential schools?

Saw children with disabilities as a gift from the creator

They were subject to violence, alienation, shame, silence, and isolation, which led to intergenerational mental illness, substance misuse, and selfharm

How was sport used as a tool for assimilation?

Boys were indoctrinated into European ideals of PA (calisthenics, military drills, hockey, baseball)

Used to promote individualistic and materialistic desires for wealth

Banned from playing Indigenous sports

Lacrosse was banned and eventually taken and changed into a Euro-Canadian sport

Girls weren’t allowed to participate (enforced strict gender binaries and patriarchy)

What is Reconciliation?

Establsihing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between IPs and non-Indigenous people.

Awareness of the past, acknowledgement of the harms, atonement for the causes, and actions to change

What has the government done for reconciliation?

Statement of apology by PM Harper in 2008

Reconciled abuse grievances from the residential schools (largest class action settlement in history)

Created 94 Calls to Action and called for truth-telling across Canada

Ongoing funding for language, culture, etc.

Why is reconciliation still not sufficient?

No returning of land

There is still a taking of land (eg. RCMP, mining, army forcing into communities to build a pipeline)

What were the truth-telling events?

Senator Murray Sinclair-ban, Cheif Dr. Wilton LittleChild, Dr. Marie Wilson travelled across Canada for 6 years to listen to the stories of survivors

>6500 witnesses

7 national events to engage the public and educate people about the history and legacy of residential schools and honor the experiences of former students and families

What are the health calls to action?

18 - Governments to acknowledge the current state of Aboriginal (ill) health is a result of previous Canadian policies… recognize and implement the health-care rights of Aboriginal people as in law and under the Treaties

19 - Establish measurable goals to identify and close the gaps in health outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities, and to publish annual progress reports and assess long-term trends

21 - Funding of Indigenous healing centers

22 - Call upon those who can effect change within the health-care system to recognize the value of Aboriginal healing practices and use them in the treatment of Aboriginal patients in collaboration with Aboriginal healers and Elders, where requested by Aboriginal patients

23 - Government to increase number of Aboriginal healthcare professionals, ensure retention of Aboriginal healthcare providers in Aboriginal communities, and provide cultural competency training for all healthcare professionals

What are the sport and education calls to action?

24 - Medical and nursing schools to require all students to take a course dealing with Aboriginal Health issues

87 - Public education of Indigenous athletes

88 - Support for the North American Indigenous Games

89 - Amending the PA and Sport Act to promote PA as a fundamental element of health and well-being, reduce barriers to sports participation, increase the pursuit of excellence in sport, and build capacity in the Canadian sport system are inclusive of Aboriginal peoples

90 - National sport policies inclusive of IPs

91 - National/international sporting events respect territorial protocols and engage local Indigenous communities in planning and participating in events

What are deficit-based narratives?

View that IPs/marginalized groups are inherently lacking, at a disadvantage, have deficiencies, or failures and are in need of help

Perpetuates stereotypes of alcoholism, laziness, lack of motivation on welfare, free education, etc.

What is pathologization?

Defining or treating normal human variation as a disease, illness, or abnormality

Places the issue on the person, removes the seeing the structure as the problem

What is scientific racism?

Use of “science” to support racist ideologies

Eg. craniometry

How are IP women affected by colonialism

IP women are the most connected to the land, had women-centered/women-led socieites

Used harm and violence to get rid of women so that they could take the land

Forced sterilization after they gave birth

Many Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG)

What is the study on counter-narratives for IP women’s health?

Challenge the deficit-based logic of health on IP women

Talked to 7 Anishnaabeg women to understand their relationship to PA

Impacts of PA: personal empowerment and confidence, wellbeing for oneself, their family, and their community, importance of group emmbership

Gwekisidoon gibimaadiziwin (transforming oneself into a better life) was embodied by them and they could challenge deficit-based narratives through PA

What is the Black Diaspora?

Diaspora: spreading of spores

Spreading of people with African heritage and the sharing of culture, community, and consciousness

What is the origin and cultural foundation of Black QT+ ballroom?

1920-30: Drag circuits in London (UK) created for QT+ to congregate drink, dance, perform in a safe space

1970s Harlem New York Ball: exclusively hosted for white QT+ men, very exclusive parties where racialized individuals never won and faced racism and prejudice

Black drag queens created their own alternative spaces which led to ballroom

What is ballroom?

Ball events and houses (groups) that organize them

What are “houses”?

Place of refuge for those living at the most vulnerable margins.

Created chosen families and provided kinship, protection, and belonging

Support resilience and knowledge transfer within the Black QT+ ballroom scene

What were Black QT+ ballroom categories?

Each category was made for Black QT+ people to be seen, affirmed, and celebrated and some critiques the mainstream white, heteronormative society

Creates counter narratives to challenge, resist dominant narratives

Fashion categories: Streetwear, Labels, Best Dressed, Runway

Performance categories: Vogue Femme, Vogue Old Way, Vogue New Way

Realness: judged by their ability to pass as cis, straight, or an Executive in mainstream society

What is voguing and what is the effect of it?

Specific dance style

Old Way uses solid lines, sharp angles, and symmetry. New way is more fluid and flexible with moves such as duckwalk, spins, dips, and catwalk

Embraces queer movement and turns them into art that is celebrated

What were the main findings of the study on Black QT+ ballroom (Joseph and Bain, 2024)?

Ballroom is a safer space for Black QT+ individuals to experience joy, belonging, and wellness

Houses are chosen families that offer mentorship, affirmation, kinship, and supports for survival

Ballroom allows an exploration of gender, sexuality, racial identity, self-actualization

Artistic development builds confidence and empowerment

Fashion, dance, and performance allows for agency and for them to resist racism, homophobia, and exclusion

Challenges leisure norms by serving as a vital practice of Black QT+ cultural survival and empowerment

How was cricket used to maintain diaspora?

Built and maintained cross-border networks with other Afro-Caribbean people

Allowed them to get as close to “authentic” culture as possible (language, music, food, dialect, etc.)

What is the Black Atlantic Culture?

Triangle of trade and people between the Caribbean, Europe, and West Africa as a result of colonial ties.

There is rich Caribbean culture in these areas because of colonialism