Aboriginal Women in Canada

Aboriginal Women in Canada

Introduction

In the last three decades at least five hundred Aboriginal women have disappeared from major Canadian cities. Canada, with very little concern among law enforcement officials or politicians to draw the dots between the occurrences or to show care as a society for the traumatic impact this has had and continues to have on Aboriginal communities (Razack, 2002; Smith, 2005). Inadequate access and limited health services, lack of culturally acceptable in health care, the lack of clinics in remote areas and the degradation of air quality, water and land from industrial activities not mastered are only some of the factors behind this trend.

Other socioeconomic factors such as number very alarming Aboriginal women (including Asia) who are victims of human trafficking and sold for prostitution, have resulted in the rapid spread of the HIV / AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases to indigenous communities, which the social fabric was destroyed. Changes at the level of social institutions, cultural and traditional policies have caused erosion or loss of practice and standards of conduct health that took into account the cultural context, which had favored a health strategy that respects the difference between men and women. Unfortunately, in many respects, this is a reality for Aboriginal women of Canada. Their health reflects the poor health of women Aboriginal worldwide.

Discussion

Aboriginal women face multiple levels of oppression. The primary location of oppression emerges from an ongoing history of colonialism, which contains, as a component, the introduction of patriarchal sexual relations of exploitation into what were more egalitarian gendered social relations which pre-existed European-Native contact (Mithlo, 2009). Contemporary issues of Aboriginal rights, in particular rights to self determination (government) and healing paradigms (elder circles, indigenous education) based on the animation of traditional native culture: (language, folklore, spirituality), are of the utmost importance to healing the impacts of what is defined by many Aboriginal scholars and activists in North America as historical and contemporary cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples in North America (Smith, 2005).

Aboriginal Canadians, both on and off reserve, and increasingly in “slums” of urban Canada, are struggling to define their own nations present, past, and future. Aboriginal people in Canada are coping with a huge number of intersecting problems from overall poverty and its effects on youth, to drug and alcohol addiction, under or unemployment, high levels of male and female incarceration in the criminal justice system, and domestic violence, creating a social crisis of epidemic proportions (Friesen and Friesen, 2008).

The announcement by the Government of Canada in September 2004 to the effect that $ 700 million will be invested in new funding for Aboriginal health represents a solid engagement with respect to improving the health of Aboriginal. This funding will be divided into three areas: a transition fund health for Aboriginal people (200 million), Human Resources health for Aboriginal people (100 million) and critical areas, such as diabetes, youth suicide and the health of mothers and children (400 million). In each of these areas, special ...