Shelley Niro, The Shirt, 2003. Image courtesy Shelley Niro.
Why do people move to Canada?
Where does Canada’s high standard of living come from?
Generating land based revenue from property and resource extraction taxes (Herman, 2013), Ontario allocates equitable funding among provincial schools, but consistently underfunds schools on reserve.
Six Nations reserve near Hamilton, Ontario is one of 78 First Nation communities that lacks clean running water. Meanwhile the province divvies government funding– acquired from natural resources of Indigenous territories— among non-Indigenous communities to ensure infrastructure for their running water.
In 2016 the Human Rights Tribunal ruled that Canada discriminates against First Nation children after a nine year court case brought forward by Cindy Blackstock. After four non-compliance orders, Canada still refuses to pay First Nations children equally for social services relative to what Canadian children receive.
Apartheid is a term for systemic racism in South Africa established in 1948. It was inspired by the Indian Act of 1876.
Historical Thinking Questions
Check out the links below and answer the following questions:
Walkerton Inquiry From tragedy to high technology
1. Compare Canada’s capacity for problem solving when Canadians are at risk, with its capacity for problem solving when Indigenous communities are at risk. (Cause and Consequence)
2. How do Shannen Koostachin and Cindy Blackstock help us understand the impacts of Canada’s settler colonialism? (Historical Significance)
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society – What you can do
3. Explain how Indigenous activism can elicit positive change in Canadian society that could put an end to settler colonialism. (Historical Significance)
4. Explore the “What you can do” page to find out what you can do with your classmates to raise the political will to end apartheid in Canada. (Historical Significance)