THE IMPACT OF IMPOSING LIBERALISM ON CANADA'S FIRST NATIONS

BY TAYLA HAMILTON

Case Study: Residential Schools- Joanna Tall

Joanna Tall is a Lakota woman who experienced the horrors of residential school as a 12 year old girl. She describes her experience of being beaten for trying to run away from the residential school where she stayed because of her dislike for the indoctrination of Christian teachings and the assimilation of First Nations children. After she was caught trying to run away, she was beaten until she could not get up and was told that "god loved her".

Case Study: Residential Schools - Imposing Liberalism

Who was imposing liberalism?: At the time when Residential schools were in place, the Europeans imposed liberalism on the natives and their children in order to "remove the indian out of the child".

Which liberal principles were being imposed?: The concept of continual progress and modernism was being imposed on natives.  Assimilation was also imposed on aboriginal peoples.

Why these principles were being imposed?: Continual progress was being imposed because of the assumption that a pattern of change exists in the history of mankind which creates improvement in society. Assimilation was being imposed because of the European's want for Aboriginals to adopt a European way of life which included Western cultures and traditions.

Case Study: Residential Schools - Successful or unSuccessful?

 Residential school's which were a form of the imposition of liberalism, as heard from Joanna Tall's point of view, has had a long-lasting negative impact on her. Because of this she will never forget the horrific memories of being tortured and beaten just for being a native. In this case, the imposition of liberalism did a successful job in creating division between the Europeans and Natives as well as assimilating native children to western traditions and culture in order to forget their true identity. Residential schools were unsuccessful in promoting liberalism in relation to individual rights and freedoms as many rights and freedoms were forcefully removed from thousands of natives.

Case Study:  Legacy of imposing liberalism

The imposition of liberalism has caused more negatives than positives because it has mostly brought on feelings of self-interest and disregard to the traditions and beliefs of other groups of people such as natives. Because of this, the imposition of liberalism lead to many misunderstandings in areas such as land ownership, work, education, and governance. First Nations for example only wanted peace between themselves and the Europeans however they also wanted to protect their own way of life. The imposition of liberalism however did not do this as many natives were assimilated out of their own will.   Another example is the Rwandan genocide which was caused by the imposition of liberalism on Rwandans. This caused a huge amount of deaths because of the fact that it brought the people of Rwanda to fight against each other since one group of people (the Tutsi's) were seen as having more power and authority than the other group (the Hutu's). The few positives that the imposition of liberalism has given in later times was for example the liberation of Hong Kong in 1997 which allowed for China to re-gain its laws and sovereignty. This in turn has brought Hong Kong economic freedom.

In Conclusion, the imposition of liberalism has not had a positive impact on many people around the world in terms of real progression (resolving issues, removing long-lasting effects, restabilization) . We saw that the natives/aboriginals had extremely negative impacts from tools of assimilation such as Residential Schools.  When I asked myself the question, has much changed in terms of the imposition of liberalism on Aboriginals/First Nations? I saw that even though today as residential schools are no longer in effect, First Nations and their families still have trauma and pain from past experiences which continue to affect the later generations as they are still looked down upon. As I saw this I asked myself more questions about if the new form of liberalism, modern liberalism, has actually helped in the progression of First Nations. After extra research, I found that even though forms of assimilation and "progression" had been removed there is still a hidden hierarchy between the First Nations and Europeans which has caused countless problems which still need to be resolved.

Case Study:  Conclusion

Bibliography

1. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/residential-schools-to-blame-for-problems-plaguing-aboriginals-truth-and-reconciliation-commission

2. Perspectives on Ideology Textbook

3. https://youtu.be/p1tiQB8gt5g