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A house in the First Nations community of Pikangikum in northwestern
Ontario (Stastna). |
Being tied to a culture can be detrimental to an individual because it can affect how they are treated by others. Through the years, land has been taken from and reassigned to Natives, pushing them further out and away from the growing economy of Canada, and now those who are tied to the Native culture in Canada likely live on reserves. It has become the norm to take from First Nations and never give back because it was learnt in Canadian culture that the Natives didn’t deserve the things we were taking from them. Through history, First Nations have been treated poorly, and there is no exception with the land they are forced to live on. The conditions of reserves today in Canada still have not improved enough for the people living on them. In a CBC news article, Kazi Stastna addresses the conditions of First Nations housing on Canadian reserves. She wrote that “41.5 percent of homes on reserves need major repairs, compared with seven per cent in non-aboriginal households outside reserves” (sec.4). This percentage indicates that the houses on Canadian reserves today are substandard, as she says that most of them are in need of repair. Stastna also includes a quote from Kim Baird, the chief of the Tsawwassen First Nation. Baird shares that, "a lot of contractors that came here thought that because it was on reserve, they didn't need to worry about quality as much" (Stastna, sec.12). This proves the neglect the First Nations still experience. This treatment is detrimental to the Native people because it is an unhealthy, and unfair, state to be living in.
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Residential schools stripped Native culture,
and forced Christianity onto the children
(Where Are The Children) |
In The Rez Sisters there are themes of loss of culture, as well as forced culture. This is one of the reasons why being tied to a culture can be detrimental because if that culture is being discriminated against, and eradicated, then that would be taking a part of them away. Additionally, it is detrimental because another culture was forced onto them, in replacement of their native culture. The culture forced onto them is European culture, including Christianity. In Thomas Highway’s play, The Rez Sisters, it shows that the sisters have been influenced by Christian culture when Marie-Adele “makes a quick sign of the cross without skipping a beat” (Highway p.26). She does this without a second thought, which shows how much this European culture has been forced onto them, and their own native culture stripped from them. On the reservation, it seems as though they have lost connection with their culture. Pelajia says “the old stories, the old language. Almost all gone… was a time Nanabush and Windigo and everyone here could rattle away in Indian fast as Bingo Betty could lay her Bingo chips down” (p.5). This implies that they used to have a strong connection to their culture, but since being on the reserve it has been drained from them. They no longer feel like they truly belong somewhere because nearly everywhere and everything has been taken from them. The people on the reserve seem to lack motivation and belonging, as they have “nothing to do but drink and screw each other’s wives and husbands and forget about our Nanabush” (p.6). This shows how it can be detrimental to be tied to a culture that has been stripped through generations, and now having lost touch with it causes people to feel out of place or lost.
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Graph comparing suicide rates in Canada between
First Nations and Non-aboriginals (The Globe and Mail) |
In Canada, the needs of the First Nations people are often neglected, and they don’t receive the support they need. In a Global News article, Andrew Russell examines the lack of mental health support one year after the suicide crisis in Attawapiskat. In Russell’s article, Jackie Hookimaw says “I think it was just too much for a little girl who didn’t have enough support by the system where she was supposed to be taken care of,” referring to her grand niece, Sheridan Hookimaw, who she unfortunately lost to suicide that year (sec.5). Jackie Hookimaw also added that “suicide is a symptom of oppression that we live through” (sec.35). This communicates that Natives on reserves are not given sufficient mental health support because they are neglected and not given priority, because of where they live and who they are. The topic of suicide also comes up in Thomas Highway’s play, The Rez Sisters. In The Rez Sisters, Emily Dictionary mentions she was a part of a motorcycle gang while she was away from the reservation. While driving to the bingo tournament with her sisters, she shares of how she lost someone she loved. “She was always thinkin’ real deep” Emily says about her lover, “And talkin’ about bein’ a woman. An Indian woman. And suicide. And alchohol and despair and how fuckin’ hard it is to be an Indian in this country. No goddamn future for them, she’d say” (Highway, p.97). Emily’s lover, Rosa, stayed in the way of an 18-wheeler while driving along the highway. Rosa was not given support to help her overcome the barriers and problems she was dealing with, which were caused by the fact that she was an Indian woman, and ultimately drove her to commit suicide. Highway depicts this to show how difficult it can be for Natives who are discriminated against and who don't receive enough support, which is why he adds there is “no future” for Natives in this country because of how they are treated. This shows that being tied to a culture can be detrimental to an individual as it can affect their mental health, and drive them to do extreme things to cope with their loss and emotions.
Overall, the messages in the play The Rez Sisters, as well as the condition of life on reserves in Canada today, demonstrate how being tied to a culture can be detrimental to an individual.
Works Cited
The Globe and Mail, and Health Canada. Graph comparing suicide rates. The Globe and Mail, 12 Nov. 2017, www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/attawapiskat-four-things-to-help-understand-the-suicidecrisis/article29583059/.
Highway, Tomson. The Rez Sisters: A Play in Two Acts. Saskatoon: Fifth House, 1988.
Russell, Andrew. “1 year after suicide crisis, Attawapiskat still lacking mental health resources.” Global News, 15 Apr. 2017, globalnews.ca/news/3373928/1-year-after-suicide-crisis-attawapiskat-still-lacking-mental-health-resources/.
Stastna, Kazi. “First Nations Housing in Dire Need of Overhaul.” CBC News, 28 Nov. 2011, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/first-nations-housing-in-dire-need-of-overhaul-1.981227.
---. A house in the First Nations community of Pikangikum in northwestern Ontario. Global News, 12 Apr. 2014, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/first-nations-housing-in-dire-need-of-overhaul-1.981227.
Where Are The Children. Children in a residential school writing on a chalkboard. wherearethechildren.ca/en/timeline/research/.
I completely agree with what you are saying,it is not fair at all that the indigenous people are basically forced to feel like they are alone and that they are losing their culture etc because of what Canada has done to them. Do you think that if support for the indigenous people had been introduced earlier, such as in the 1980's when all of the information about residential schools had been released about what they were doing to the children who were forced to go there, that the quality of life from indigenous people would be better? I think that you have a really good point about the housing because for anyone else the government almost tells you that you have to fix your house or gives you something to compensate for damage. In reserves, they don't even care about what the houses look like and they do not care about who lives in them and how they feel. I noticed you included a statistic about the suicide rates between aboriginal people and non aboriginal people, and I think that is really horrible that the living conditions of the people who were here before anyone else are making them commit suicide almost 10 times more than someone who isn't indigenous. Why do you think the suicide rates are so high for the men compared to the women? I liked your point about the lack of support for Rosa because I can only imagine how hard it would have been to be so done with everything while on a trip with your sisters and then to take your own life. It is an unfortunate reality and it is really saddening to see that it happens in the indigenous culture more than any other culture.
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