Indigenous people aren’t stereotypes: Addressing some of the most common | 24CA News
People usually wield the identical racist remarks and stereotypes in response to Indigenous needs-based tales or at Indigenous individuals.
When communities want assist you’ll usually hear, “Isn’t living tax-free enough?” “Jobs are available everywhere,” “I’m tired of ‘natives need this, natives need that,’” “I worked hard and bought my house without taxpayer handouts, so should everyone else,” or, “You seem to think working people are just your disposable cash cows.”
There are additionally basic misconceptions, like: Indigenous individuals don’t pay taxes and get free training, most Indigenous individuals dwell on reserve and in neighborhood, they’ve accomplished this to themselves, and so forth.
As these racist remarks and stereotypes abound, there’s context and common information that non-Indigenous individuals appear to be lacking.
‘They did it to themselves’
“Indigenous people did not do this to themselves; the government, the state and the churches (did),” stated settler-historian and Douglas College professor Carling Beninger. “Canada was set up from the beginning to enforce assimilation and genocidal policies.”
Beninger outlined how settler colonialism and plenty of authorities insurance policies tried to dispossess and assimilate Indigenous individuals.
“The state wanted Indigenous people to cease to exist and a way that they did that is they set up the residential school system,” she stated.
“They wanted to assimilate Indigenous (people) by destroying Indigenous culture, traditions and language through cultural genocide.”
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Beninger stated that whereas the residential college system was a giant a part of what Canada was making an attempt to realize, there have been additionally different measures.
“There was forced relocations of Indigenous populations, outlawing Indigenous spiritual practices, the pass system that restricted movement of Indigenous people and forcing government structures as outlined in the Indian Act and failing to live up to treaty obligations.”
While the federal government wasn’t profitable, stated Beninger, the trauma from Canada’s makes an attempt has left lasting impacts.
“It’s really important to understand intergenerational trauma. So even if a person didn’t go to residential school, but their parents did, or their family or community did, that trauma can be brought back to the community and impact everyone,” stated Beninger.
‘I would not complain if I did not need to pay taxes’
“It’s not true, that’s a myth,” stated Kyle Willmott, an assistant professor of sociology at Simon Fraser University and Tyendinaga Mohawk. “Section 87 of the Indian Act ‘tax exemptions’ cover a limited amount of monies that would be taxed.”
Willmott stated tax exemptions cowl revenue earned on reserve and a restricted quantity of gross sales taxes.
“This idea that every Indigenous person has access to those legal rights is part of the myth. Because you have non-status people, you have Métis and Inuit who don’t have access to those things. It’s only people with status.”
Willmott’s analysis appears on the foundations of why individuals assume there’s a giant, blanket tax exemption.
“Settlers hear these myths constantly, they come to see themselves, Indigenous people through the lens of their alleged fiscal relationship,” stated Willmott.
“So you hear, ‘Indigenous people don’t pay tax,’ ‘They’re all on welfare,’ all of these pernicious myths but it really comes down to this kind of possessive desire. And, ‘My tax dollars are supporting you, therefore, I get to I get to control how it is that you should be living.‘”
Willmott stated that even when it have been the reality, it shouldn’t be an issue.
“This is the result of the colonial relationship that Canada has foisted upon on First Nations.”
‘Free post-secondary training should be good’
“Post-secondary education is not free, it really is a case-by-case basis, depending on the community and if they’ve been able to allocate funds,” stated Elliott Young, Indigenous engagement director and Nêhiyaw from Ermineskin Cree Nation.
“For my community, they were able to use money from oil royalties back in the ’70s and ’80s and put it into a trust fund that is now called the Ermineskin Education Trust Fund,” he continued. “They use the interest and the dividends from that trust fund to help pay for post-secondary students or education for community members. But it’s very limited.
“They have a tiered system to ensure that they’re funding students that are most in need.”
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And it truly is case by case — some communities aren’t capable of fund their college students to attend post-secondary in any respect, whereas others are restricted to who they will assist, or there are guidelines, like you possibly can’t cease finding out in order for you funding to proceed.
Young says stereotypes like these perpetuate poisonous rhetoric.
“There’s this concept that the relationship between Indigenous people and the federal government has led to some type of ‘benefits’ that Indigenous people have and that somehow these ‘benefits’ outweigh the impacts of colonization and assimilation and cultural genocide of residential schools,” stated Young.
‘All Indigenous individuals are the identical’
“The simplest answer is no,” stated Young.
In Canada, there are greater than 630 First Nation communities, which symbolize greater than 50 Nations and 50 Indigenous languages. There are additionally Métis settlements and greater than 50 Inuit communities.
“There are so many different cultures and languages. There’s so much diversity and amazing culture, language, experiences, stories, teachings and narratives that these communities hold,” stated Young. “There’s just so much to learn.”
Beninger commonly tells her college students that Indigenous individuals aren’t homogenous.
“That whole ‘Indigenous people are the same’ really came from settler colonialism,” she stated. “They homogenized First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals as a result of their coverage was arrange that method.“
“Encountering stereotypes has negative impacts on Indigenous people,” stated Iloradanon Efimoff, an incoming psychology school member at Toronto Metropolitan University and Haida-European researcher. “Research shows that hearing stereotypes about Indigenous people can make (them) feel angry, annoyed, degraded, demeaned, helpless, hopeless, insulted, irritated, judged and unsafe.”
While not realizing the one greatest method of coping with these stereotypes, Efimoff’s analysis exhibits that Indigenous individuals endorse training and relationships as an efficient strategy to problem racism.
“It can be easier to correct someone’s stereotypes about Indigenous people through education if you have a relationship with that person,” stated Efimoff.
Beninger agrees that training is the precise path, however taking that on can usually be quite a bit and it shouldn’t at all times be left as much as Indigenous individuals to do the work.
“It’s exhausting for people that have to deal with it, and I know there’s been a movement to call on people like me, settler historians, to help take up that space,” stated Beninger.
“There’s a need to take some of that work away from Indigenous people if they don’t want to do it.”
