Indigenous Crim Midterm

1. What is colonialism?

A structured relationship of domination and subordination where one group gains political, economic, and social control over another group and exploits their land and resources.

2. According to Arthur Manuel, what are three consequences of colonialism?

Dispossession, dependency, and oppression.

3. What did Duncan Campbell Scott mean by wanting to "get rid of the Indian problem"?

He wanted Indigenous peoples to be assimilated into Canadian society so there would no longer be a separate Indigenous identity or "Indian question."

4. How are Indigenous peoples overrepresented in Canada's criminal justice system?

Indigenous peoples are overrepresented as both offenders and victims, despite making up a small percentage of Canada's population.

5. What is the difference between "The Indian Problem" and "The Colonial Problem"?

The "Indian Problem" blamed Indigenous peoples, while the "Colonial Problem" recognizes that colonial policies and actions created many of the injustices Indigenous peoples face.

6. How has terminology evolved for Indigenous peoples in Canada?

Indian → Native → Aboriginal → Indigenous

7. What does the term Indigenous refer to?

The three distinct groups: First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.

8. What symbols are associated with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples?

• First Nations = Eagle Feather

• Inuit = Inuksuk

• Métis = Infinity Symbol

9. Why is Indigenous generally the preferred term today?

Answer: It was not imposed by colonizers and means "sprung from the land."

10. What is the difference between a Status and Non-Status Indian?

Answer: Status Indians are legally registered under the Indian Act; Non-Status Indians are not.

11. What is the Indian Register?

Answer: The federal registry used to officially recognize Status Indians under the Indian Act.

12. Why is identity an important issue in Indigenous studies?

Answer: Governments have historically controlled who is recognized as Indigenous, often for political and economic reasons.

13. What are Blood Quantum, Indian Status, and the One Drop Rule examples of?

Answer: Government-controlled systems used to define identity and maintain power.

14. How were identity rules used differently for Indigenous peoples and African Americans?

Indigenous ancestry rules often reduced the number of Status Indians, while the One Drop Rule increased the number of people classified as Black for enslavement.

15. What is internalized oppression?

Answer: When people accept negative stereotypes about their group and incorporate them into their self-image.

16. What is Indigenous Criminology?

Answer: A perspective that examines Indigenous peoples' experiences with crime and justice within settler colonial societies and seeks decolonization.

17. What is decolonization?

Answer: The process of challenging colonial beliefs, systems, and assumptions while centering Indigenous perspectives and knowledge.

18. Why should Indigenous Criminology not be confused with Restorative Justice?

Answer: Indigenous Criminology is a theoretical perspective, while Restorative Justice is a method of responding to crime and conflict.

19. What is Restorative Justice?

Answer: An approach that brings together victims, offenders, and community members to address harm and repair relationships.

20. What are the three principles of Indigenous criminological research?

Answer:

1. Indigenous peoples can conduct meaningful research for their communities.

2. Research must understand the impact of colonial institutions.

3. Research should come from Indigenous communities rather than be done on them.

What are Indigenous Teachings?

Answer: Spiritual and intellectual wisdom shared by Elders and knowledge keepers that include values, beliefs, lessons, philosophies, and guidance for living.

22. What is Walking the Red Road?

Answer: A way of living based on respect, truth, wisdom, forgiveness, responsibility, community values, and harmony with nature.

23. What are the Four Sacred Medicines?

Answer: Tobacco, Sweetgrass, Sage, and Cedar.

24. What is reciprocity?

Answer: The practice of exchanging and sharing resources, knowledge, or gifts for mutual benefit and respectful relationships.

25. What roles do Elders play in Indigenous communities?

Answer: Elders serve as knowledge keepers, educators, cultural carriers, advisors, ceremony leaders, and transmitters of oral traditions.

Where were the Numbered Treaties?

• Included all parts of Ontario, BC, Yukon and NWT

• Included all of Manitoba, Saskachewan and Alberta

What did John A Macdonald say is the easiest way to assimilate Indigenous people

Through revoking the Indian Status of women and their children

True or False: Was it illegal for Indigenous peoples to hire lawyers during the Indian Act

True

True or False: Was Indigenous womens status contingent on their fathers and husbands

true

During the Indian Act what were women not able to participate in

in government

True or False: Indigenous people were allowed to vote during the Indian Act

False - Indigenous peoples were denied the right to vote

Why was Section 67 of the Human Rights Act important?

It prevented complaints against the Indian Act, meaning Status Indians could not challenge Indian Act discrimination through human rights law.

It was repealed in 2008.

Who are the three parties involved in modern treaty negotiations in BC?

• Canada

• British Columbia

• First Nations

What happened with the Douglas Treaties?

Indigenous leaders believed they were sharing land, while written versions suggested they sold land.

. What were problems with treaty negotiations?

• Language barriers

• Oral agreements differed from written documents

• Many Indigenous people could not read English

• Some nations never signed treaties

What is the Royal Proclamation (1763)?

A document recognizing Indigenous land rights and stating lands not ceded or purchased remained Indigenous lands.

Also called:

• "Indian Magna Carta"

• "Indian Bill of Rights"

What did treaties represent from Indigenous perspectives?

Agreements to share land and resources, not necessarily surrender ownership.

What are treaties?

Constitutionally recognized agreements between two sovereign nations.

Did Indigenous peoples surrender their land through conquest?

No. Indigenous peoples were not conquered in war and did not simply surrender their land.

What are the Salt-water Thesis and Settlement Thesis?

Salt-water Thesis:

• Self-determination only applies to colonies separated by oceans.

Settlement Thesis:

• Land considered "empty" could belong to settlers.

What is the difference between Indigenous and European views of land?

Indigenous:

• Stewardship

• Relationship

• Responsibility

European:

• Ownership

• Property rights

• Economic use

What was terra nullius?

Answer: The belief that land was "empty" and belonged to nobody.

What was the Doctrine of Discovery used to justify?

Answer: Colonization, dispossession of Indigenous peoples, and claiming land.

What were the Doctrines of Discovery and Conquest?

Answer: Ideas and policies based on European superiority that justified taking Indigenous lands.

What is Wétiko?

A Cree concept meaning a disease of aggression and consuming others’ lives/resources.

What are the three types of colonialism?

Internal colonialism

• Control through laws and systems

• Example: Indian Act, reserves

Exploitation colonialism

• Taking resources for wealth

• Example: mines, pipelines

Settler colonialism

• Settlers replace Indigenous societies and claim land

Why is reintegrative shaming controversial?

Answer: Some argue it is cruel or ineffective, while others argue social accountability can prevent crime.

What is reintegrative shaming?

Using community disapproval to discourage harmful behaviour while allowing the offender to return to the community.

What are reparations?

Making amends for harm caused.

Examples:

• Wampum

• Aid

• Compensation

What is a vision quest?

spiritual journey where a person seeks knowledge and strength from the spirit world

What is traditional banishment?

Removing an offender from the community to protect others.

What are examples of traditional justice responses?

• Restorative approaches

• Banishment

• Prevention through teachings

• Reparations

• Social control

How did Indigenous communities traditionally respond to crime?

Through community-based approaches focused on restoring balance, mediation, and reconciliation.

What areas can Indigenous self-government include?

• Education

• Language

• Healthcare

• Social services

• Police services

• Housing

• Child welfare

What is UNDRIP?

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Article 3 recognizes Indigenous peoples' right to self-determination.

What is self-determination?

The right of a people to govern themselves and control their political, cultural, and territorial affairs.

What is the difference between hereditary Chiefs and elected Chiefs?

Hereditary Chiefs:

• Leadership passed through generations

Elected Chiefs:

• Chosen by band members

• Often administer the Indian Act system

What is the difference between traditional Indigenous leadership and Western leadership?

Traditional:

• Responsibility

• Contribution

• Stewardship of land

Western:

• Control

• Ownership

• Personal gain

How did colonial governments change First Nations governance?

Answer: Laws like the Indian Act imposed colonial systems of government and restricted traditional governance.

What is Aboriginal Law?

Laws created through Canadian courts and government about the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Crown.

Example:

• Aboriginal and Treaty rights under Section 35 of the Constitution Act.

What is Indigenous Law?

Laws and legal processes created by Indigenous peoples to govern relationships, land, waters, and conflict.

Example:

• Great Law of Peace

Which nations were part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy?

• Mohawk

• Oneida

• Onondaga

• Cayuga

• Seneca

• Tuscarora

What was the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace?

A traditional governance system/constitution of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy that was passed orally and recorded through wampum belts.

What is a clan system?

Answer: A social group connected through shared ancestors, often named after animals, that helped organize relationships, property, and marriage rules.

Define matrilineal and matrilocal.

Matrilineal:

• Wealth, power, and inheritance pass through the mother.

Matrilocal:

• A child belongs to their mother's clan/community.

What does it mean that Indigenous gender roles were complementary rather than hierarchical?

Men and women were respected for different strengths instead of one gender being viewed as superior.

What roles did Indigenous women traditionally hold?

Indigenous women held important leadership and political roles.

Example:

• Haudenosaunee women chose Chiefs and could remove them.

What does egalitarian mean?

Answer: A society where people are viewed as equal and everyone has a role to play.

According to Taiaiake Alfred, what were characteristics of Indigenous societies before colonization?

They promoted:

• Communal responsibility

• Respect for the earth

• Equality

• Individual freedoms

• Everyone having a role in society

How did relationships with land influence Indigenous governance?

Indigenous governance was based on stewardship, responsibility, and relationships with the land rather than ownership.

How did Indigenous societies govern themselves before European contact?

Indigenous peoples lived in diverse, self-governing, sovereign societies with their own legal, political, economic, and social systems.

What was the purpose of the Davin Report (1879)?

To investigate industrial schools for Indigenous Peoples in the U.S. and recommend a similar system in Canada.

What were the main conclusions of the Davin Report?

Indigenous adults could not be "civilized."

Indigenous children could be assimilated.

"We must catch them very young."

What policy did Nicholas Davin promote?

"Aggressive civilization."

Approximately how many Indigenous children attended Residential Schools?

About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children.

What was Churchianity?

The destructive indoctrination of Indigenous children into Christianity through residential schools.

What were conditions like in Residential Schools?

Overcrowding, poor sanitation, malnutrition, disease, abuse, and inadequate education.

What types of abuse occurred in Residential Schools?

Physical, emotional, sexual, spiritual, and cultural abuse.

What were the nutrition experiments conducted in Residential Schools?

Some children were deliberately kept malnourished while others received vitamin supplements to study the effects.

What was the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA)?

The 2006 settlement that compensated survivors and funded the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

What was the Sixties Scoop?

The large-scale removal of Indigenous children from their families and placement into non-Indigenous foster or adoptive homes.

Why did the Sixties Scoop begin?

1951 amendments to the Indian Act gave provinces authority over Indigenous child welfare.

What is the Millennium Scoop?

The continued overrepresentation of Indigenous children in government care today.

What important fact shows the seriousness of the Millennium Scoop?

There are more Indigenous children in government care today than at the height of the Residential School system.

What was the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal case filed in 2007 about?

Federal underfunding of First Nations child welfare services.

What did the tribunal rule in 2016?

Canada discriminated against Indigenous children by underfunding child welfare services.

What is intergenerational trauma?

Trauma passed from one generation to the next through families and communities.

How did Residential School abuses become intergenerational?

Many survivors learned abusive behaviours and lost parenting skills, passing trauma to future generations.

What is Historical Trauma?

Cumulative emotional and psychological wounding across generations caused by massive group trauma.

What is a Historical Trauma Response (HTR)?

Behaviours resulting from trauma such as depression, substance abuse, anxiety, anger, and suicidal thoughts.

Why is Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system often linked to trauma?

The outcomes of historical and intergenerational trauma are also risk factors for crime.

Why is Indigenous identity considered a risk factor for violent victimization of women?

Indigenous women experience higher rates of violence even when other risk factors are controlled for.

What forms of gender discrimination existed under the Indian Act?

Women excluded from positions of power

Women lost status through out-marriage

Denied rights to land and marital property

Status depended on an Indian Agent's judgment of "good moral character"

What did Bill C-31 (1985) do?

Introduced two registration categories under Section 6 of the Indian Act.

What is the difference between Section 6(1) and 6(2) status?

6(1): Two status parents → can pass status to children.
6(2): One status parent → cannot pass status unless the other parent also has status.

What did Bill S-3 address?

Further sex-based discrimination in the Indian Act and expanded status rights.

What does the government claim about sex-based inequities in the Indian Act?

That all sex-based inequities were addressed by 2019 through Bill S-3 amendments.

What is interjurisdictional immunity?

A constitutional doctrine that protects the core powers of one level of government from interference by another.

What is cultural appropriation?

The use of sacred Indigenous symbols or objects by non-Indigenous people, often for fashion or entertainment, without understanding their significance.

What did the Vancouver prostitution study find?

• 52% of participants were First Nations

• 82% experienced childhood sexual abuse

• 90% were physically assaulted into prostitution

• 72% met criteria for PTSD

• 95% wanted to leave prostitution