Violence

In Our World ...Against aboriginal peoples around the world

• Introduction   • Print Information     Statistics

Introduction

The histories of many nations include the attempted genocide and systemic marginalization of Aboriginal peoples. The forced removal from and theft of land in many countries, the biological warfare of intentionally disseminated disease in Canada, the head hunting in Australia and New Zealand, the brutal denial of water in the Americas, the systematic rape of Aboriginal women through the ages… the list of atrocities could go on and on. Currently, communities cope with a dearth of healthcare, housing, education, political power, countered by an abundance of substance abuse, poverty, disease, and self/other harm. The suicide rate of Inuit youth in Canada is eleven times higher the national average (Vancouver Sun, 2007).

State-sanctioned violence against Aboriginal peoples has taken the form of political legislation—government actions that result in discrimination and violence. Legislation can have the power to decimate traditional social structures, introducing interpersonal, often gender-based violence. The residential schools imposed on Canada’s aboriginal communities are a plain illustration of this. Marlene Starr describes their impact:

In traditional Aboriginal societies, women had a role equal to that of men; this role was destroyed by colonialism and especially the Indian Act. In residential schools we were carefully tutored, through both direct teaching and role modeling, to accept inequality of the sexes as just and right. The ‘might makes right’ philosophy of the residential schools has done immeasurable harm to our communities, and it will take years of resocialization for us to regain our equilibrium. Progress is being made in the political realm, which is almost exclusively the right of male Aboriginals. However, more than control of political structures is needed in order to restore a culture. (Starr, 2004:xi)

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Print Information

Stolen Sisters: Discrimination and violence against indigenous women in Canada
A report from Amnesty International on unacceptable conditions for Aboriginal women..

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Statistics

Social Challenges: The Well-Being of Aboriginal People is a statistical look at the systemic inequities that lead to the over-representation of Aboriginal peoples in the Canadian justice system.

The Hard Facts: Violence Against Aboriginal Women in Canada

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