Research Proposal on "Aboriginal Connection to Environment"

Research Proposal 10 pages (2861 words) Sources: 0 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

edition of the Globe and Mail, Report on Business, titled Native Group Calls for Pipeline Boycott, regarding Canada's plan to find an "alternative" to export oil sands-crude to Asia for processing as an alternative to the United States, because U.S. legislators are making Canadians nervous with climate change legislation; is an effort by the B.C. "first nation" to rally environmentalists to their cause. It should work, too, because the potential harm to the environment, and especially an environment that is vital to salmon, is something that we should all be concerned about.

The project is the Northern Gateway pipeline, and it would involve a 140km gateway would be built on Wet'suwet'en traditional territory. That 140km gateway would involve altering the natural environment, potentially damaging the environment as a result, which is "pristine, salmon-rich." As most of us know from the prices we pay for salmon at the supermarket, salmon have certain breeding habits that have already impacted their numbers as a result of over-fishing and environmental damage to waterways facilitating their unique habits to swim upstream to breed. The problem of the potential harm to these pristine salmon spawning waterways should be enough to gain a momentum of support not just in Canada and B.C., but in the United States, too, where environmentalists will rally to the Wet'suwet'en support.

The Wet'suwet'en call for a boycott of the energy companies choosing to participate in the gateway plan is a clever move, because people who might not otherwise be interested in the fact that the plan would be a violation of Wet'suwet'en rights, might be interested in the rights of the salmon. The Wet'suwet'en are pursuing the course that would present them less in an angry or contentious light, appealing to the separate and government independent manufacturers who would be directly involved in creating a potential environment disaster, and even bringing ruin to the salmon industry. This focus on salmon is certain to gain some support from the fishing industry too.

By calling a boycott of the petroleum manufacturers, and protesting to the U.S. And Chinese Consulates, it brings the government officials of the U.S., whose oil processing industry would be affected by the Asian "alternative," into the fold. But for the boycott and bringing the U.S. Consulate into the picture, news of what could be thousands of jobs lost to Asia will certainly bring about some support from that sector for the Wet'suwet'en cause too -- and perhaps even U.S. President Obama's administration, because, until now, the impact of climate change, which has become controversial of late, has not been considered by most Americans, and certainly not the President, who is emphasizing his administration's efforts to create and restore jobs; in terms of job losses as a result of climate change legislation.

The response of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to the Wet'suwet'en's action, and, ostensibly call to action, rings of political rhetoric. It conveys the message that the Agency will pursue business as normal -- which could mean without the support of those who rally to the Wet'suwet'en because of the industries impacted, and potential job loss in the States, would really result in little concern for the violation of the Wet'suwet'en rights or their lands. This really is maximizing the system, and is, again, a very clever and non-contentious approach by the Wet'suwet'en.

Certainly the Wet'suwet'en could also pursue their legal rights, and tie the Canadians and other companies involved up in legal wrangling, which, should it come to that, with support of the industries and environmentalists, might be a finding in favor of the Wet'suwet'en.

The Healing Power of Huskies

Marie Varden's (2006) Star.com article, the Healing Power of Huskies, brings into focus the harsh and even inhumane treatment of Canada's aboriginal Intuit people. For the past 100 years, the Canadian Government has reflected the attitude of its non-indigenous people to the aboriginal people through their attempts to alter the Intuit way of life. During the 1960s and 1970s, Varden reports, these efforts manifested in a controversial killing of the Intuit's husky dogs, which are a cultural icon to the Intuit as much as they are a way of life. The reservation life of the Intuit is life lived in harsh cold and frozen conditions, and the strong Husky work dogs are essential to their survival in those conditions. Authorities claimed the animals they destroyed were diseased, which, if true, posed a health hazard to not just the Intuit, but to wildlife and other people.

The Intuit have experienced a cultural devastation through the efforts of the Canadian Government, on behalf of Canadians, to assimilate them -- although by action, according to the article, it might be more akin to attempting to annihilate them. Relocating the Intuit to large reservation centers has impacted their freedom, and their ability to be self-sustaining, because it impacted their cultural traditions, all of which are tangential to their survival. The Intuit are hunter-gathers and once relocated to larger centers, they found themselves without the resources they once had, and were forced to alter their way of life. This was especially true in the case of hunting, because when they were relocated, it was to a center that did not have the wildlife they had previously depended upon for food.

Going back in history of the settlement of Canada by Europeans and European descendents, Varden recounts the events that occurred when white Christian settlers of the country met with what they perceived to be pagan practices by the aboriginals. This, as history tells us -- and we have seen this repeated in other geographic locations where Europeans settled -- was not acceptable to the Christian settlers. Efforts by the settlers to bring the aboriginals into the fold of Christianity only served to further traumatize them, and to weaken them as an ethic culture.

Varden's account of the treatment of the aboriginals is one that plays on the conscience of the reader, because we know it to be true. North and South American aboriginal people have been ignored by the ruling governments and by the European descendants who would prefer not to talk about them. Grouping them into reservation life, it is easy to forget they are there, and it is too convenient to wave away the social ills of those communities by perhaps saying that what they are experiencing in their reservation life is no different than what other non-indigenous communities are experiencing in today's world. However, by eliminating the cultural traditional ceremonies that were the aboriginal's way of life, we have truly assimilated them, because now drugs and alcohol are not something that give way to a religious experience, but have become social ills on a devastating scale.

The Canadian aboriginals, like those in America, struggle in the modern world on community budgets and funds provided by their government that are far less than what other communities the size of the reservations survive on, especially since the aboriginal peoples ability to create and sustain economies are impacted by their tribal locations and laws that impact their relationship with the world outside their communities. They have been isolated, left to their own devices in communities that afford them little opportunity to pursue life in the way that their ancestors did. This is the assimilation that has been forced upon them.

Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail 2010 article titled B.C. Band Finalizes Treaty Agreement, demonstrates the time-consuming negotiations between the government and the aboriginal people to restore autonomy to the aboriginals in Canada. Under the agreement, the Yale First Nation, a 155 member "band" will be given some pristine land, including the mineral rights, forestry, and domestic fishing control of the land. It is touted as an opportunity for the Yale to be self-sustaining and self-governing, and includes a financial package worth about $12 million. They will make decisions for their selves in healthcare, education, and child-welfare. While it is a small step in the right direction, it is a step that has taken sixteen years, and if it continues to move at that pace we can expect to see it take as long for the aboriginals to gain back some of their lost lands and rights as it did to take it away from them.

Only one other agreement has been finalized under the program, but the article does not give us enough information to understand which groups, and how many aboriginals the restoration program impacts. The information is as scarce as the remaining aboriginals themselves -- and the financial compensation is far too inadequate to sustain the self-governing responsibilities of the aboriginal people. In the time it takes for the aboriginals to create their economies and to begin realizing gain from the natural resources they will now have access to, they could be in financial ruin, and their future only further at risk if they are not able to achieve success in healthcare, education, and child-welfare.

Additionally, this agreement, which, again, took sixteen years to finalize, could be… READ MORE

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