How Being Tied to a Culture Can Be Beneficial/Detrimental

The “Colonization Road” and ‘The Oka Legacy” documentaries provide contrasting evidence of how being tied to a culture affects a person. In “Colonization Road”, being tied to a culture is detrimental to people, whereas in “The Oka Legacy”, it has a more positive affect in the long run.

Being tied to a culture negatively affects Indigenous people in Colonization Road. The colonization of western Canada resulted in the destruction of Indigenous land and culture. Because of their cultural identity, Indigenous peoples were subject to many acts by the settlers that were detrimental to them. They were aggressively displaced from their lands, in part to make way for colonization roads to the west, but also for resource extraction. They signed treaties, and were made to live on less than substantial reserves. As their culture was not accepted, their children were forced to attend residential schools in an attempt to enforce European culture. Over the generations, the culture of Indigenous people was greatly lost. Even though colonization and residential schools are a thing of the past in Canada, Indigenous people still live with the effects today. Though the children and youth of this generation may not have experienced the destruction caused by colonization, they remain exposed to the hardships due to their cultural ties. According to the CBC, a recent study found that 60% of First Nation children on reserves live in poverty, the highest provincial rates being Manitoba (76%) and Saskatchewan (69%). Other disadvantages include lower income, higher unemployment, and lower levels of education. In fact, children First Nation children on reserves receive 30% less education funding for education than children outside of reserves. For Indigenous children, these problems have become an inherent part of their lives for simply being of their culture.
To make matters worse, reconciliation between Canada and its First Nations is not easily achieved. In the documentary, reconciliation efforts were described as Canada asking for forgiveness without physically doing anything to fix the problem; as if they are just asking First Nations to accept the apology and move on. Until sufficient action is taken towards reconciliation, these detrimental problems will continue for Indigenous people.

In “The Oka Legacy” documentary, being tied to a culture has a more positive aspect. The Oka Crisis was a standoff between Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec, along with police and armed forces, over the proposed expansion of a local golf course onto sacred Mohawk land. After a tense 78 day standoff at barricaded roads, a deal was reached between the two sides that would cancel the construction of the golf course if the barricades came down. The events of the crisis were terrifying for many Mohawk people, especially those who unintentionally got caught up in the conflict. In the middle of a crowd, carrying her young sister, Waneek Horn-Miller was stabbed close to the heart with a soldier’s bayonet and was lucky to survive. The crisis had a profound effect on her. Initially, she let it bring her down, but in the aftermath, she was determined to prove that the events of the crisis had strengthened her, rather than beaten her. She became an olympic athlete in water polo, and an activist for Indigenous rights. Waneek and Aboriginals across the country felt great pride that their people had taken a stand and shown they would not let their land be taken any longer. The event was a rallying cry and an inspiration for all Indigenous people in Canada, and it raised national awareness of land claims and the controversy surrounding them. Being tied to a culture was beneficial to the Indigenous community in this case, as it was a time of change and hope for their people all across the country.


http://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/colonization-road
https://www.eyeoncanada.ca/film/details/the-oka-crisis-legacy