Anishinabe Social Movement - Essay Example

Anishinabe Social Movements Anishinabe Social Movements The period of 1950s and 1960s characterized a period of civil rights movement where a majority of Native Americans adopted civil rights resistance with an aim of fighting for their rights. The rights had already ben guaranteed by the previous governments of the 19th century providing the tribes with well stipulated rights (Murton et al, 2009). Various civil movements focused on different approaches in the road to the fight for the civil rights. It is also important to focus on initial traditional beliefs that limited or rather humiliated specific groups within the society towards the road to civil rights achievements. Not only did the traditional Acts like the Indian Act undermined the achievements of the Anishinabe during that period, but the influence of the Act still exists today while new others have been established. The new establishments are in a way hindering the Anishinabe’s expectations towards achieving a society where equity among all is considered. These current actions include C51 Bill that impacts both the Anishinabe as well as non-Anishinabe social movements. The paper therefore examines the achievements and what the Anishinabe expects to achieve while also considering traditional tools of oppression and current government actions. The colonial rules perpetuated ideas across the colonized nations to ensure a continuous discrimination towards a certain group or groups of individuals. The Indian Act is among the major discriminatory ideas that led to the discrimination of Aboriginal women in Canada all through since its introduction. The discrimination is still evidenced today within various means that in return continue to hinder the goal of Anishinabe’s (Smith, 2008). The Indian Act continues to normalize as well as perpetuate gender discrimination in three broad areas through regulation of the family, political exclusion as well as the reserve system together with exclusion as a result of geographic coverage. The Indian Act is thus essential in understanding the historical as well as the current socio-political movements in Canada. Since its creation in 1876 by the federal government, The Indian Act focused on presenting a colonial idea that depicted men as society leaders owing to their household leadership roles portraying women as their husbands’ dependants. The Act denied women against possessing material property unless for widows who were allowed such possession upon the death of the husband under the reverse system. It is however important to note that the widow never inherited anything from her husband as all the belongings of the husband upon death belonged to the children legally until the amendment of the Act in 1884. The amendment allowed the husband to will their land and properties that included to their wives but again restriction of inheritance for women was determined by a good moral character. The particular article remained under the Indian Act until 1951 but the current situation allows men to hold exclusive rights to the property even in situations where the relationship comes to an end. The Anishinaabe social movements and education focused on attaining nation that protects lands for foods, education as well as clean water not only for the existing generation during the beginning of the movement, but also for the future generation (Corbiere et al, 2012). The movement accused the state failure in recognizing as well as implementing the indigenous treaty rights that led to basing the leadership of the nation on colonial tactics that aim at dividing the nation. The situation is much more extreme going beyond the colonialist politics that led to the creation of geopolitical lines. The struggle for the civil rights by the Anishinaabe is therefore not only focused on the Canadian achievements, but is a form of inclusive fight for struggles of tribal nations across the mythical divide. The ancient Anishinabe had for long enjoyed rights to food and other social interactions until the interruption of the white leadership where everything turned against their usual daily operations. They made treaties in the 19th century that prompted for protection of their land and other benefits but that failed to materialize over the years. The awareness among the Anishinaabe-Ojibwe people was high with their understanding of corporatism dating back to the 1600s (Corbiere et al, 2012). From their history, when the French visited the Anishinaabe land that comprises of Minnesota, Wisconsin as well as Michigan in search for copper, the community never revealed to them. it is attributed to the fact that the communities within the region remained aware that the French need for the mineral deposits would only serve to economically benefit the French as they deprived the natives. The 1826 treaty from the Anishinabe’s societies and the U.S where the U.S only had the right to search for metal and any mineral materials but the situation changed over time leading to settler’s settlements that disrupted the natives of the region. The continued struggles ensured formation of treaties from the government and the natives of protection and provision of human and civil rights and environmental protection among the communities while education remains a priority over time. The continued injustices that the colonial masters planted upon the natives led to the fight for unsufructuary rights among the Anishinabe’s that would enhance fishing, hunting as well as gathering in the 19th century. By the close of the 19th century, those rights already became abrogated but by the end of the civil rights era, various groups among them the Native Americans became determined to focus on robust but non-violent means in ensuring attainment of their human rights as well as treaties. One of the major achievements in the 20th century towards the goals of Anishinabe’s is attributed mostly to the Tribble brothers and their focus on the use of non-violent means generated significant achievements. Their first action started with committing an act of civil crime where they engaged in fishing in off-reservation waters as the game wardens witnessed (Corbiere et al, 2012) . Their arrest led to prosecution as a result of breaking the treaty rights but the appeal and actions from the public for use of non-violent means played a significant role towards the attainment of their victory. Over time, both the Anishinabe’s as well as other Anishinaabe social movements have continued to fight for the civil and human rights as well as education. The current trends employed by these groups however relies on the use f non-violent means to ensure attainment of these fundamental rights within the society. The traditional and current government acts and legislations are however influencing the goals of the social movements in these first nations. The most recent changes in the Canadian system that affects both the Anishinabe’s and non-Anishinabe’s social movements is the C51 Bill that has attracted criticism across various divides. While the government through the Prime Minister continues to provide spirited defense for the bill indicating that it serves for the benefit of the Canadian citizens, civil rights groups are on the view that it serves to humiliate the public and works against the freedoms and rights of individuals. The C-15 Bill refers to the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act, 2015 that provides for various adjustments including the powers of security agencies as well as new environmental laws (Ray, 2014). The increased opposition to Bill C-15 from the social movements is attributed to the Bill’s strategy of treating public members involved in social issues across the country as terrorists. Consequently, the growing inde7pendent media coverage of these individuals engaging in social issues will be referred as enemy propagandists. Some of the provisions within the bill if signed to law allows for the law enforcers to take specific actions against specific individual organizers of social and environmental movements. Passing the bill to law will make the law enforcers capable of disrupting such individuals work while also monitoring the private life of individuals. The Bill will for a great extent destroy the resistance communities across the nation through legally depriving these communities their key organizers as well as tools that has continued to remain essential since the era of the social movements in the 1920s. Although the first worlds are believed to be better off while compared with their counterparts from the developing nations in terms of social movements and education, much is still required to ensure full achievements of these goals. A specific focus is the goal of the Anishinabe goals for the Canadian society that dates back to hundreds of years ago. While the 19th century seemed a breakthrough towards attainment of civil rights, the 20th century marked the real struggle towards the real achievements across various groups across the nation. The focus of the Anishinabe’s towards achievement of the goal is pretty important through the use of non-violence. It is therefore important to recognize the major efforts achieved in various perspectives. These include education and voting rights for all, the women’s movement empowerment and the rise of labor unions fighting for the rights of workers (Keller and Cantlon, 2010). It is however important to note the underlying challenges behind these achievements that include the traditional Indian Act and the current government legislations with Bill C-15 a leading example. These legislations are responsible for the increased challenge of ensuring attainment of the social and human rights of the citizens across the different societal divides. In conclusion, the Anishinabe social movements have played a significant role in fighting for both individual and environmental rights despite the challenges experienced across a long period of time. Much of the achievements relates mostly to the freedoms and rights of individuals, women rights to own property and rights for equal representation among others. Previous legislation among them the traditional Indian Act have for long acted as a hindrance to the focus of the social movements goals. The challenge from the Indian Act is mostly attributing to the societal setup in a patriarchal manner that to a broad perspective moulds the society in a negative manner. The government’s legislation with Bill C-15 the latest action will hinder the goals, fight and continued spirited move of the Anishinabe social movements and other social movements. References Canada. (1857). Return to an address of the Honorable Legislative Assembly dated 16th March, 1857: Requiring copies of any charters, leases, or other documents under which the Honorable Hudsons Bay Company claim title to the Hudsons Bay Territory or any maps relating thereto in the possession of the government. Toronto: Printed by Stewart Derbishire & George Desbarats. Corbiere, A. O., McGregor, D., Migwans, C., & Ojibwe Cultural Foundation. (2012). Anishinaabewin Niizh: Culture movements, criticial moments, 2011 : a selection from the proceedings of the 2011 Anishinaabewin Niizh multidisciplinary culture conference, held in Sudbury, Ontario. MChigeeng, ON: Ojibwe Cultural Foundation. Keller, R. S., Ruether, R. R., & Cantlon, M. (2010). Encyclopedia of women and religion in North America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Murton, S. C., Queens University (Kingston, Ont.), & Queens University (Kingston, Ont.). (2009). Salvation from empire: The roots of Anishinabe Christianity in Upper Canada 1650-1840. Kingston: publisher not identified. Ray, W. (2014, January 31). Canada: Bill C-51 Could be Used to Stifle Social and Environmental Movements, Accuse Citizen Media Groups of “Supporting Terrorism” | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization. Retrieved from http://www.globalresearch.ca/canada-bill-c-51-could-make-activities-of-activists-and-citizen-media-groups-acts-of-supporting-terrorism/5429060 Smith, M. C. (2008). Group politics and social movements in Canada. Peterborough: Broadview Press. Read More