Chronological History

Chronological Indigenous History

1690-91----------- Henry Kelsey”His descriptions of cultural practices of the people with whom he travelled include that of a funeral pyre, when an Assiniboine man’s “body was burned according to their way they making A great feast for him.” In 1690-91,the twenty-threeyear-old Englishman was sent by the HBC to the area west of what is nowThe Pas,Manitoba, in an attempt to convince the First Nations of the plains to trade with the company, which had been granted control of the land by the British Parliament.With a group of Assiniboine men and their families, Kelsey travelled south to the Touchwood Hills in 1690

1690 AD--------- Henry Kelsey did not note horses in Western Canada

Early 1700’s------------return of the horses via the Spaniards

Between 1730-50----Saukamapee (Cree Warrior) relates a story to David Thompson(explorer) in which he claimed to have recruited Stone(Stoney, Nakoda, Assiniboine)People along the Bow River to join their war party.

1754---------------------Anthony Henday noted horses with the Blackfoot People who were the last of the plains people to get horses.

1763---------------------Royal Proclamation. Process to acquire Indian land(Turtle Island), Indian people on Indian lands are to be protected from unscrupulous land speculators and traders.

1795---------------------Rocky Mt. House was established(Northwest Co.)

1799---------------------Hudson Bay fur co. takes over Northwest co.

1800---------------------Bison are starting to disappear

1812---------------------War of 1812. Indians played significant role in the protection of the Province of Canada.

1842----------------------Rev. Robert Rundle meets Stoneys at Rocky Mt. House starts to convert them; he spoke Cree

1850----------------------Province of Canada pass legislation for defn of Indian and establish practice of no taxes levied on Indians living on Indian land.

1857----------------Gradual Civilization Act is passed in Canada

1858----------------Paliser Expedition comes to Bowfort and meets with Stoneys to hire a guide to cross the mountains. Stoneys were reported to be singing Bible hyms in Cree every morning. For Sunday they sang morning and evening and were not allowed to hunt. There is a story that Paliser had an accident and almost died.

1859-----------------The Earl of Sussex comes by and meets the Yethka Nakoda(Stonies) at the Old Bow Fort. He was surprized to hear them singing Bible Hyms in Cree.

1866----------------American whiskey traders set up at Fort Pelly

1867----------------Canadian Confederation, North America Act British. This legislation, passed by the British Parliament, created Canada as a new, domestically self-governing federation, consisting of the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec, on July 1, 1867.

1869----------------The Gradual Enfranchisement Act is passed.

1869----------------The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike[1]) is the ceremonial final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. The demise of the bison was excelerated by the railroad as people started deliberate slaughter from the railway cars and contests were held to kill as many bison as possible. As a result more Indigenous people began starving.

1873----------------Rev George Mc Dougal arrives “From a very high Foot Hill we gazed on this prospect with admiration and wonder. Within three miles stood the grand old mountain, the wild goat and sheep sporting on its highest summit. At the foot of the hill, and in perfect ignorance of our presence, a band of buffalo were feeding on the richest pasture. To the right of us, and on the north bank of the river, lay the location which we have selected for our new mission.

1876--------------------Official arrival of Rev George Mc Dougall

1876---------------------Indian Act is passed.

1.denied women status;

2.introduced residential schools;

3.created reserves;

4.renamed individuals with European names

5.restricted First Nations from leaving reserve without permission from Indian Agent (update: 18/04/16 - the pass system was a policy endorsed by the government; it was never an Order In Council or Regulation but was definitely designed to keep First Nations on the reserve and it did)

6.enforced enfranchisement of any First Nation admitted to university;

7.could expropriate portions of reserves for roads, railways and other public works, as well as to move an entire reserve away from a municipality if it was deemed expedient;

8.could lease out uncultivated reserve lands to non-First Nations if the new leaseholder would use it for farming or pasture;

9.forbade First Nations from forming political organizations;

10.prohibited anyone, First Nation or non-First Nation, from soliciting funds for First Nation legal claims without special license from the Superintendent General. (this 1927 amendment granted the government control over the ability of First Nations to pursue land claims);

11.prohibited the sale of alcohol to First Nations;

12.prohibited sale of ammunition to First Nations;

13.prohibited pool hall owners from allowing First Nations entrance;

14.imposed the “band council” system;

15.forbade First Nations from speaking their native language;

16.forbade First Nations from practicing their traditional religion;

17.forbade western First Nations from appearing in any public dance, show, exhibition, stampede or pageant wearing traditional regalia;

18.declared potlatch and other cultural ceremonies illegal;

19.denied First Nations the right to vote

20.created permit system to control First Nations ability to sell products from farms;

21.is a piece of legislation created under the British rule for the purpose of subjugating one race - Aboriginal people.

Everybody in Canada is a Treaty person.

1876……………………….Treaty No.6 is signed at Fort Carlton

1877---------------------Treaty No.7. An agreement between the British Crown and the First Nations of Turtle Island for peace and sharing of the land and its resources.

1883---------------------Orphanages were established to take children and start assimilating

1883--------------------Start of Industrial Schools

1884---------------------Traditional Practices are banned as they conflicted with the process of assimilation. Authorities did not like the idea of the give-away at Potlatches and Sundances in particular.

1885---------------------Needed permit to leave reserve. Initially imposed on “rebels” Riel Rebellion but became imposed on all Indigenous.

1890---------------------Only 500 Bison left in Montana on a private ranch. Bought by the Canadian Government and sent to Wood Buffalo National Park.

1889---------------------Rev John McLean (1851-1928) Although Maclean clearly adhered to contemporary theories about the vanishing Indian and was later criticized for superficial fieldwork, he treated native peoples as humans who were capable of spiritual depth and sincerity. On 10 April 1889, for example, he wrote to his wife:

“Listening to the song and story of my dusky friends my heart is bounding with delight.

. . . . Like innocent children they asked me whether or not I had seen any buffalo

. . . . The shadows are falling over their pathway

. . . . And they bow to the inevitable lot imposed upon them by the white race

. . . . [they] await the time when the Great Spirit shall call [them] away.”

At his death three of his books, The Indians: their manners and customs (Toronto, 1889), The Blackfoot language ([Toronto?, 1896?]), and Canadian savage folk: the native tribes of Canada (Toronto, 1896), were considered the best on their subjects. Besides his many works on native peoples and missionaries, some of which were published under the pseudonym Robin Rustler, he published numerous ethnological pamphlets and he was a regular contributor to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s magazine Beaver (Winnipeg) from 1924 to 1927.

1918---------------------Spanish Influenza hits Reserve

1920---------------------Residential schooling was made compulsory; now the police and churches are involved

“What happened in residential schools was not "cultural genocide". It wasn't "language genocide". And it wasn't "almost genocide". What happened in residential schools was genocide. Canadian officials targeted Indians for assimilation and elimination purely for economic and political reasons. Scalping bounties on certain Indigenous nations are indicative of such a lethal mentality.” (Pam Palmater, Lawyer)

Physical genocide is the mass killing of the members of a targeted group

Biological genocide is the destruction of the group’s reproductive capacity.

Cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized, and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. And, most significantly to the issue at hand, families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next.

1927---------------------Legal assistance for land claims are banned

1877-1950’s---------- Some of us were trying to assimilate and we were out-competing the Settlers but the Settlers complained to the government and had provisions put in place to make it impossible to have us to compete eg: we could not sell our products, no access to the latest equipment for farming and ranching, no subsidies, loans, grants…etc

1920-1951 ------------A shift had been occurring: “Noble savage”, Locke, Paine, Michel de Montaigne (Indian society as the best society that ever was, real or imagined, because they are "still very close to their original naturalness" and thus live in a "state of purity“). Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), François Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694–1778), and Denis Diderot (1713–1784) praised the Indians as naturally good and happy, in contrast to European artificiality and corruption.
1951---------------------New Indian Act is passed. Ban of Traditional Practices are lifted, ban on land claims is lifted, elective system is put in place

1951---------------------Unfortunately a new provision is established: the loss of women Indian status if they married non-Indians

1951 --------------------The elective system is recommended and carried out by the different First Nations

Historical Leadership

Leadership developed naturally under natural law. At that time a persons life depended on who he or she chose to follow. The leader was responsible for the life and livelihood of his/her followers. The problem with todays system is that a person can live on income support all their lives and not really depend on the leader. This creates many problems on Reserves one of which is apathy. The leader once elected can do whatever he or she wants and the people do not have to do what the leader asks of them because neither lives are depended on the other. There were also different leaders in place for different functions such as a War chief for war or a Medicine man for the Medicines and Spiritual leader Sundances or a Headman for harvesting animals…etc. There was no supreme leader for everything.

We also had social structures in place that were based on maternity. The women ran the camps and gathered medicines, vegetables and fruit. They were responsible for the initial upbringing of the people. The men defended and procured animals for food, shelter and clothing. Two things important in this system was the Kinship relations and the Rites of Passage ceremonies to instill unity. Unity was very important as more people means more power, stability and security.

What Actually Happened

Exposed to abuses that create cycles of intergenerational family abuse
It did not provide the education intended
There were thousands of student deaths
There was sexual abuse on the children by everybody involved including the priests
The children were subjected to cruel punishments including electrocuting
There were nutritional experiments done on them
Loss of parenting
Lateral violence becomes the survival release of expression
Loss of Rites of Passage
Loss Kinship system
Loss of Indigenous names
Loss of voice

Results of what happened still continuing today

1. Alcohol and drug abuse;
2. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and fetal alcohol effect (FAE);
3. Sexual abuse (past and ongoing);
4. Physical abuse (past and ongoing; especially, but not exclusively, of women and children);
5. Psychological/emotional abuse;
6. Low self-esteem;
7. Dysfunctional families and interpersonal relationships;
8. Parenting issues such as emotional coldness, rigidity, neglect, poor communications and abandonment;
9. Suicide (and the threat of suicide, cutting);
10. Teen pregnancy;
11. Chronic, widespread depression;
12. Chronic, widespread rage and anger;
13. Eating disorders;
14. Sleeping disorders;
15. Chronic physical illness related to spiritual and emotional states;
16. Layer upon layer of unresolved grief and loss;
17. Fear of personal growth, transformation and healing;
18. Unconscious internalization of residential school behaviours such as false politeness, not speaking out, passive compliance, excessive neatness, obedience without thought, etc.;
19. Post-residential school community environment, seen in patterns of paternalistic authority linked to passive dependency; patterns of misuse of power to control others, and community social patterns that foster whispering in the dark, but refusing to support and stand with those who speak out or challenge the status quo;
20. The breakdown of the social glue that holds families and communities together, such as trust, common ground, shared purpose and direction, a vibrant ceremonial and civic life, co-operative networks and associations working for the common good, etc.;
21. Disunity and conflict between individuals, families and factions within the community;
22. Flashbacks and associative trauma; i.e., certain smells, foods, sounds, sights and people trigger flashbacks memories, anxiety attacks, physical symptoms or fear; e.g. the sight of a certain type of boat or vehicle (especially containing a social worker or RCMP), the sight of an old residential school building, etc;
23. Educational blocks - aversions to formal learning programs that seem "too much like school," fear of failure, self-sabotage, psychologically-based learning disabilities;
24. Spiritual confusion; involving alienation from one's own spiritual life and growth process, as well as conflicts and confusion over religion;
25. Internalized sense of inferiority or aversion in relation to whites and especially whites in power;
26. Toxic communication - backbiting, gossip, criticism, put downs, personal attacks, sarcasm, secrets, etc.;
27. Becoming oppressors and abusers of others as a result of what was done to one in residential schools;
28. Dysfunctional family co-dependent behaviours replicated in the workplace;
29. Cultural identity issues - missionization and the loss of language and cultural foundations has led to denial (by some) of the validity of one's own cultural identity (assimilation), a resulting cultural confusion and dislocation;
30. Destruction of social support networks (the cultural safety net) that individuals and families in trouble could rely upon;
31. Disconnection from the natural world (i.e. the sea, the forest, the earth, living things) as an important dimension of daily life and hence spiritual dislocation;
32. Voicelessness - entailing a passive acceptance of powerlessness within community life and a loss of traditional governance processes that enabled individuals to have a significant influence in shaping community affairs (related to the psychological need of a sense of agency, i.e. of being able to influence and shape the world one lives in, as opposed to passively accepting whatever comes and feeling powerless to change it.

History Continued

1960--------------------Sixties scoop: Impacts of the Sixties Scoop. The so-called scoop happened between the 1960s and the 1980s and saw thousands of aboriginal children taken from their homes by child-welfare service workers and placed with mostly non-aboriginal families. In some cases, children were sent to live with families in other provinces, the United States and the U.K., often without the consent of their parents. Children growing up in conditions of suppressed identity and abuse tend eventually to experience psychological and emotional problems. For many apprehended children, the roots of these problems did not emerge until later in life when they learned about their birth family or their heritage. Social work professor Raven Sinclair describes these experiences as creating “tremendous obstacles to the development of a strong and healthy sense of identity for the transracial adoptee.” Feelings of not belonging in either mainstream Euro-Canadian society or in Aboriginal society can also create barriers to reaching socio-economic equity.

1960--------------------Federal vote is given

1961--------------------Compulsory Indian Enfranchisement is deleted

1965--------------------First Nations allowed to vote in Alberta Elections

1967--------------------Alcohol opened to the First Nations as well a vote to have it on Reserves or Not(Dry reserve)Every voted for a Dry Reserve.

1967--------------------Residential schools start to close down

1969--------------------The White Paper is introduced(next slide)

The White Paper Published in 1969, The White Paper was the Trudeau Government’s clumsy attempt to address the systemic inequalities between Indigenous people (referred to as Indians) and Settlers (referred to as Canadians). The proposed plan of action was intended to replace The Indian Act. Instead of actually dealing with problems of entrenched institutionalized racism The White Paper proposed that the government should eliminate the category of “Indian” over a five-year period.

What it meant

To accomplish this they intended to fast track the investigations of outstanding land claims and then terminate all treaties. After this the department of Indian affairs would be dissolved and Indigenous people stripped of their status en masse. It was in effect a proposal to speed up the assimilationist mission of The Indian Act, which has been slowly chipping away Indigenous communities since it’s creation in 1876. The reserve land would be transferred to the Bands and the residents would be subject to the provincial and territorial laws that apply to settler Canadians. They would also receive the same services both provincial and federal. The reserves would have essentially become municipalities.

Fighting Back

Indigenous peoples immediately, and soundly rejected this plan of action. Indian National Brotherhood issued a statement of opposition to the White Paper declaring:

“We view this is as a policy designed to divest us of our aboriginal, residual, and statutory rights. If we accept this policy, and in the process loose rights and our lands, we become willing partners in culture genocide. This we cannot do.”

Citizen Plus (Red Paper) was introduced to counter all points of the White Paper. Opposition to the White Paper led to a great deal of research and discussion about the relationship between the settler society and Indigenous people and resulted in a more or less united Indigenous political opposition and the growth of Native political Organizations. It also had the curious and unintended affect of introducing the concept of “aboriginal rights” into the discourse. The Trudeau government formally retracted The White Paper March 17th 1971.

1969--------------------Tribal Custom recognized by the Federal government

1970--------------------Alberta Oil boom begins and money is distributed as PCD(Per Capita Distribution

1973--------------------Many First Nations begin to benefit from oil boom. But many suicides start to occur. Fallout of the Residential schools appear as alcohol use runs rampant creating dysfunction leading to an array abuses. Money in its self was not the answer to our problems.

Personal account (5min)

1977-------------------The Canadian Human Rights Act (the Act) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be victims of discriminatory practices based on a set of prohibited grounds such as sex, sexual orientation, race, marital status, gender identity or expression, creed, age, colour, disability, political or religious belief.

1982---------------Canadian Constitution is passed

1982---------------Treaties are entrenched into the Canadian Constitution

1984---------------Nakoda/Stoneys take over their own education

1985---------------Decline of money

1985---------------Fired from job

1985---------------Bingo starts to replace alcohol as an addiction. It becomes a more socially acceptable form of escape and results in neglect of children.

1985---------------Unfortunately, prescription drug addiction starts to become prevalent.

1989---------------Sobriety

1990 --------------Oka Crisis The Oka Crisis was a 78-day standoff (11 July–26 September 1990) between Mohawk protesters, police, and army. At the heart of the crisis was the proposed expansion of a golf course and development of condominiums on disputed land that included a Mohawk burial ground. Tensions were high, particularly after the death of Corporal Marcel Lemay, a police officer, and the situation was only resolved after the army was called in. While the golf course expansion was cancelled, and the land purchased by the federal government, it has not yet been transferred to the Kanesatake community.

1991---------------Roman Catholic’s apology for the Residential schools

1992---------------Beginning of mentorship

1993---------------Mentor sings White buffalo song at Stoney Indian Park where we have a herd of buffalo

1993---------------Anglican church apology for the Residential schools

1994---------------First White Bison in over 60 years born in USA. Gives Indigenous people Spiritual hope

1994---------------V.L.T.’S approved in Alberta

1996---------------Royal Commission on Aboriginal people is done as a result of the Oka Crisis

Major recommendations included the following:

legislation, including a new Royal Proclamation stating Canada’s commitment to a new relationship and companion legislation setting out a treaty process and recognition of Aboriginal nations and governments;
recognition of an Aboriginal order of government, subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with authority over matters related to the good government and welfare of Aboriginal peoples and their territories;
replacement of the federal Department of Indian Affairs with two departments, one to implement the new relationship with Aboriginal nations and one to provide services for non-self-governing communities;
creation of an Aboriginal parliament;
expansion of the Aboriginal land and resource base;
recognition of Métis self-government, provision of a land base, and recognition of Métis rights to hunt and fish on Crown land;
initiatives to address social, education, health and housing needs, including the training of 10,000 health professionals over a ten-year period, the establishment of an Aboriginal peoples’ university, and recognition of Aboriginal nations’ authority over child welfare.

However, because of barriers, or reluctance, to constitutional change, the Report's long-term value will be more likely as a major research effort than as a master plan for change.

1996---------------There are now 200,000 bison in North America

1997---------------Judge Reilly delayed sentencing and ordered an investigation into "social conditions, political corruption and financial mismanagement" on a reserves

This was not very well taken by the Canada’s Indigenous leadership. He wrote a book called “ Bad Medicine”.

2001------the federal Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada was created to manage and resolve the large number of abuse claims filed by former students against the federal government.

2004------Assembly of First Nations Report on Canada’s Dispute Resolution Plan to Compensate for Abuses in Indian Residential Schools led to discussions to develop a holistic, fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools.

2005------Canadian federal government announced the IRSSA(Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement) compensation package. It represents the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history.

Indian Residential Settlement Agreement

With the support of the Assembly of First Nations and Inuit organizations, former residential school students took the federal government and the churches to court. Their cases led to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history. The agreement sought to begin repairing the harm caused by residential schools. Aside from providing compensation to former students, the agreement called for the establishment of The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)of Canada with a budget of $60-million over five years.

The TRC is a component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Its mandate is to inform all Canadians about what happened in Indian Residential Schools (IRS). The Commission will document the truth of survivors, families, communities and anyone personally affected by the IRS experience.

2008---------------Canada’s apology for the Residential schools.

2008---------------Class action lawsuit #1 against Alberta Child Welfare

Failing to help children in care

Settlement: a very disappointing $15,000 - $30,000 each. They became victims of the system again.

Alberta Child Welfare Lawsuits

2009---------------Class action lawsuit #2 against Alberta Child Welfare

Inadequate service planning and kidnapping

Still in the courts

2010 --------------- Historically, Canada's Aboriginal peoples have been disadvantaged and prevented from participating in the market economy by a series of restrictive laws and ineffective government policies. As a result, many Aboriginal communities have lost their ability to control their destinies and have been excluded from the benefits of the economic growth and vitality enjoyed by the country as a whole. Canada's Aboriginal peoples face significant social, health, and demographic challenges that should be, and are, totally unacceptable in our society. Contrast the United Nations Human Development index ranking Canada in the top 5 in the world with the ranking of 78 for its Aboriginal people! If left unaddressed, this economic gap will only increase as the working age Aboriginal population grows at a rate 3 times the national average. Furthermore, the annual cost of inaction, pegged by the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples at $7.5 billion (1% of GDP) is expected to grow to $11 billion by 2016. (Honourable PM Paul Martin 2010)

MMIWG

(Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls)

2SLGBTQQIA

(Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual)

2015 --------The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has worked for more than four decades to document the systemic violence impacting Indigenous women, girls, their families, and communities. From 2005 to 2010, NWAC’s Sisters In Spirit (SIS) Initiative confirmed 582 cases of missing and/or murdered Indigenous women and girls over a span of twenty years and worked to raise awareness of this human rights issue. After funding for the five year initiative ended, NWAC was forced to find alternative means of continuing this important documentation. From 2010 to 2014, NWAC continued to raise awareness and engage with communities through the culture-based and the creation of a comprehensive Community Resource Guide with the projects Evidence to Action I (2010-2011) and Evidence to Action II (2011-2014). Throughout our work, NWAC believed the violence against Indigenous women to be much more pervasive than publicly available data would indicate. This suspicion was confirmed in 2013, when the RCMP released a report revealing 1,181 cases of missing and/or murdered Indigenous women and girls.

2015----------The Government of Canada announced the launch of an independent national inquiry to address the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, including two-spirited, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and queer.

2017----------Our women, girls, and LGBTQ2S are sacred. We would like to recognize every single family member and loved one of the missing or murdered Indigenous women, girls, and LGBTQ2S people in Canada. We want to express our deepest sympathies for your loss and we are grateful for every s tory that you will choose to share with us in the search for the truth. Over the last several months we have been determining our strategy for how best to move forward in this National Inquiry. Our mission is to learn the truth by honouring the lives and legacies of Indigenous women, girls and members of the LGBTQ2S community. This encompasses three goals:

1) Finding the truth

2) Honouring the truth

3) Giving life to the truth as a path to healing

2019 --------The tragedy, former B.C. judge Marion Buller said, is a direct result of a "persistent and deliberate pattern of systemic racial and gendered human- and Indigenous-rights violations and abuses, perpetuated historically and maintained today by the Canadian state, designed to displace Indigenous people from their lands, social structures and governments, and to eradicate their existence as nations, communities, families and individuals.“

2019 -------- MMIW Final report; “Canada is a settler colonial country. European nations, followed by the new government of “Canada,” imposed its own laws, institutions, and cultures on Indigenous Peoples while occupying their lands. Racist colonial attitudes justified Canada’s policies of assimilation, which sought to eliminate First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples as distinct Peoples and communities.”

In particular, families and survivors consistently referred to four general ways that their experiences were rooted in colonialism across First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives, as well as from the perspective of 2SLGBTQQIA people. These four pathways that maintain colonial violence are:

• historical, multigenerational and intergenerational trauma;

• social and economic marginalization;

• maintaining the status quo and institutional lack of will; and

• ignoring the agency and expertise of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

Going forward, the National Inquiry believes that the restoration of the rights of Inuit, Métis, and First Nations women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people is a pressing priority. Respecting these rights is key to ensuring overall progress in addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and to finding holistic solutions that help restore Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people to their power and place.

Hated sneaking around to do normal everyday things.

2017 ----------There are now an estimated 500,000 head of bison in North America

2017-----------Racism is starting to be more exposed with the election of latest president of the USA.

While xenophobia — or fear of those unlike ourselves — has long been a part of human cultures, the concept of race first appeared in the English language around the 17th century. North Americans began to use the term in their scientific writings by the late 18th century. Racism began to be studied by scientists in the 19th century. At the time the ideology explained some political and economic conflicts in parts of the world, and legitimized the dominant role of British capitalism in the world economic system.

Racism is an ideology that either directly or indirectly asserts that one group is inherently superior to others. It can be openly displayed in racial jokes and slurs or hate crimes but it can be more deeply rooted in attitudes, values and stereotypical beliefs. In some cases, these are unconsciously held and have become deeply embedded in systems and institutions that have evolved over time. Racism operates at a number of levels, in particular, individual, systemic and societal.
Despite the fact that Canada has made much progress, unfortunately racism and racial discrimination remain a persistent reality in Canadian society. This fact must be acknowledged as a starting point to effectively address racism and racial discrimination.

2018---------------Class action lawsuit #3 against Alberta Child Welfare

Legal and factual issues common to victims of Alberta Child Welfare

2018 --------- Court cases Bushie and Fontaine

2018 --------- 5 billion allocated to Reconciliation

2018 --------- 1.5 Billion allocated to Child Services

White privilege (or white skin privilege) is a term for societal privileges that benefit white people in Western countries beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances. According to McIntosh and Lee, whites in a society considered culturally a part of the Western World enjoy advantages that non-whites do not experience.

There are many different types of privilege, not just skin color privilege, that impact the way people can move through the world or are discriminated against. These are all things you are born into, not things you earned, that afford you opportunities others may not have. For example:
Citizenship - Simply being born in this country affords you certain privileges non-citizens will never access.
Class - Being born into a financially stable family can help guarantee your health, happiness, safety, education, intelligence, and future opportunities.
Sexual Orientation - By being born straight, every state in this country affords you privileges that non-straight folks have to fight the Supreme Court for.
Sex - By being born male, you can assume that you can walk through a parking garage without worrying you'll be raped and that a defense attorney will then blame it on what you were wearing.
Ability - By being born able bodied, you probably don't have to plan your life around handicap access, braille, or other special needs.
Gender - By being born cisgendered, you aren't worried that the restroom or locker room you use will invoke public outrage.

White privilege doesn't mean that you are born into money, that's class privilege.

White privilege means that you are born into the racial 'norm', another kind of privilege. A privilege where you can;

Turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of your race widely represented.
If you wish, you can arrange to be in the company of people of your race most of the time.
If you buy “flesh” coloured items like band-aids or stockings, they will more or less match your skin tone.
If you were able to use the original suite of emoji's, the 'thumbs up' or 'peace sign' hand gestures represented your race.
You can easily can find picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and magazines featuring people of your race.
Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a life or death issue.
Being born white means that you were born into a system that validates and reaffirms that you are socially included - and being socially included, is a very valuable privilege.
And lastly, unlike class, a person cannot hide their race.

Sixties Scoop

2019 ---------- Premier Scott Moe apologizes for the damage done by the Sixties Scoop.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe apologized to survivors of the ‘60s Scoop Monday for failing them and leaving them “caught between two worlds.”
“On behalf of the government of Saskatchewan and on behalf of the people of Saskatchewan, I stand before you today to apologize. I stand before you to say sorry,” Moe said before around 200 people at the legislature.
“We are sorry for the pain and the sadness that you have experienced. We are sorry for your loss of culture and language. And to all of those who lost contact with their family, we’re so sorry.”

2017 --------- A settlement in principle was reached to resolve the sixties scoop class actions across Canada. The settlement has been approved by the courts and the claim centre is now open.

The settlement is for the loss of culture, language, and identity. It does not cover claims for abuse while in care. The settlement is for individuals:

registered or eligible to be as Indians (as defined in the Indian Act) and Inuit
who were removed from their homes in Canada between January 1, 1951, and December 31, 1991
who were adopted or made permanent wards and placed in non-Indigenous homes.

The federal government will pay up to $800 million to settle all claims across Canada. Individuals are expected to receive $25,000-$50,000 each depending on how many claimants come forward and are approved. A minimum of $50 million will be used to create a Foundation that will provide counseling and healing to class members.

Pending Issues

Child and Family Services Bill c92
Women surgeries
MMIWG
LGBT2Q
Land issues
Metis, Pretend Indians

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