rez sisters- how being tied to a culture can be detrimental to an individual
In Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters, Pelajia Patchnose is always complaining about the arguments about the lack of paved roads in her reservation. I believe she is so upset about the paved roads because the township refuses to give them such a simple thing that most other places in Canada have. It signifies the lack of equality towards the indigenous reserves compared to other cities like Toronto or Sudbury with their luxurious lives and paved roads. While it is just a simple gesture, the seven women are tied to their culture by force because of the fact that the government is not doing anything to make them feel welcome in the country. This lack of equality towards the indigenous culture is really detrimental towards indigenous people just because the government and country are relaying the message that their lives are of less value than people who follow other beliefs. In real indigenous communities, the lack of equality isn’t as metaphorical as a lack of paved roads. Indigenous reservations in Canada face other issues every day that illustrate the lack of equality towards them such as unemployment rates in indigenous communities exceeds 80% in some communities, the suicide rates are between 5 and 8 times higher than other Canadians and many more crucial issues. When the Canadian government signs treaties for indigenous land, all of them have been breached in some way or form, illustrating that Canada does not see Indigenous people as people, they see them for their land or assets. I think that If the country I live in was treating my town, culture and family as though they are worse just because they are indigenous would be really traumatizing for me because I would be under the impression that because of the fact I was tied to my culture, I was lesser than the rest of the country. Below I have included the definition of the word treaty, which is like a contract.
If the country of Canada is ignoring the treaty rules of something that was signed in unison, I would be really confused and hurt that something so sacred to my culture is something that the government does not care one bit about. Canada is trying to make things better but after a past of horrible circumstances and relationships it is not something that can be fixed overnight, making the indigenous people still suffer more and more because the issues they face every day are not yet solved and they still have to feel the pressure of the detrimental side of their culture from what happened years ago. I believe that while the paved roads and real indigenous issues do not directly relate, they still are big issues and significations of inequality from the rest of Canada. Being treated equally would be a start for the indigenous people to not be as traumatized for being themselves, and doing what their families always taught them was right despite what the rest of the country thinks. The fact that the Indigenous people still need to worry about being treated unequally when going out is absolutely insane because of the fact that it should have been made better so long ago and nothing was ever done about it up until
recently. I think that the behaviour
towards indigenous people needs to change and Canada needs to take action for the damage that has been done. By being tied to their culture, these indigenous people are getting hurt by the actions of the country that they found and later got invaded by the people who called it their own.
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I completely agree with you. The government has not provided enough aid towards those on reserves. It is almost like they have stuck them on these reserves to forget about them. I feel like they think that the have done enough, but they haven’t. How come they are treated with less respect than everyone else in Canada? The lack if equality leaves the indigenous people to feel unwanted and uncared for. The unemployment and suicide rates are extremely alarming. With all this research one would think it should be more of an issue that needs to be fixed. The amount of awareness made is very informative, but it hasn’t done much to affect the government’s decisions. You said how you wouldn’t like it if the government was treating our town like the reserves, but isn’t that the problem? The “If it isn’t happening to us, it doesn’t matter” mindset leads towards the suffering of the people on the reserves. I think the government should put themselves in the same position. The problem is that indigenous people are a minority, they have been continuously ignored, and are treated horribly. There needs to be more done prevent the discriminatory ways. A culture should be treated like religion. Free to believe and practice their own cultures. I haven’t seen the government ever put Christians on a reserve only due to their beliefs. The last time something like that happened was in World War Two. Unfortunately they are not treated the same. Being tied to a culture is very detrimental to a person. This inequality needs to stop.
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