Assignment based on a book - Essay Example

In the pursuit of a multicultural and tolerant Canada, it is really important. There are now increased numbers of attempts to study on and assimilate with aboriginal peoples both socially and culturally. Consequently, we must understand that why the aboriginal populations in the country declined and are still declining. Investigations are going on to understand this. In the present paper, we will enumerate some most important factors that are responsible of the decline in the population of aboriginal peoples in Canada with special focus on British Columbia.

Discussion The first and most important factor of that contributed to the decline of the aboriginal populations in Canada is European colonization. British Columbia was no exception to this. Europeans not only extended their socio-cultural influence in this region located in western Canada but also they brought their regional rivalries with them. The most prominent example of violence and imperialism can be noted as the Nookta Crisis. Nookta Crisis started in the 1790s when British and Spanish imperialists confronted each other in the region.

Both the parties sought to capture the fur trade of the region. The western coasts of Canada constituted an important trading corridor (Crump 2010). Regardless of local culture and aboriginal people, the imperialist and colonist forces started a sequence of conflicts and battles. After driving out the Spanish from this area, the British colonists now focused their attention on the aboriginal peoples in the region. Now in order to clear hunting grounds and establishing trade centers for fur trade, colonists started to take away land and property of the aboriginal peoples either through treaties or by wars.

Evidently due to these wars, several local aboriginal chiefs were disgraced and many of aboriginal fighting men were killed. Consequently, like rest of Canada, aboriginal populations of British Columbia too had to face systematic “cultural oppression and social marginalization through the actions of European colonizers and their institutions” (Healing Traditions: The Mental Health of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada 2009, p. 7). The second most important factor was the enactment of the Indian Act (1876).

This Act is in force even today (of course with minor amendments). The Act systematically restricted free movement of the aboriginal peoples. Participation in cultural festivals like Sun Dance was prohibited. Numerous techniques were implemented to Europeanize the natives. “For example, until quite recently, the patrilineal descent recognized by the Indian Act resulted in the removal of Indian status from many First Nations women (and their children) who married non-First Nations men” (Healing Traditions: The Mental Health of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada 2009, p. 11). In the above quotation, the term First Nations denotes aboriginal peoples.

Furthermore, different social strata were created to provide different facilities to the different groups of Native Indians in the country. Although the Indian Act (1876) puts emphasis on the fact that the wellbeing of aboriginal people rests with the government of the country, the Act has been often utilized to disunite and