Lubicon Cree Argumentative Essay

Canada has a very rich history, despite being a younger country than most. This history constitutes many different methods, good or bad, that Canadians have tried in order to develop a significant national identity. For instance, Canada played an important role in both of the World Wars in attempts to establish a distinct national identity on the global stage. After World War Two, Canada joined the United Nations and began performing peacekeeping missions to provide aid to countries, thus creating a new facet to the Canadian national identity. However, Canada has also used unjust methods, such as establishing residential schools as a way to assimilate the First Nations into the government’s idea of what Canadian national identity should be.

In Prisoner B-3078 by Alan Gratz, Yanek is a young boy who gets captured by Nazis and brought to the holocaust. As months come he gets transported to different concentration camps daily. Yanek finds ways to survive the holocaust, using courage, determination, and being fortunate. These traits help him succeed in his main goal, survival.

Decisions made in the 1850s ultimately decided the United States fate. From the election of 1856 to the Dred Scott case, the nation would become divided into two. The South was pro-slavery and supported the idea of slavery expanded into western territories, while the North opposed of the idea and was mainly against expanding slavery. Until the 1850s the nation barely balanced the slavery issue.

"Reconciliation will not work if it puts a higher value on symbolic gestures rather than the practical needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in areas like health, housing, education and employment."

Richard Wagamese brings to light the troubles of aboriginals living in Northern Canada in his book Indian Horse. Wagamese demonstrates the maltreatment aboriginals have faced at the hands of the Zhaunagush and their residential schools. The disgusting truth of the treatment of aboriginals in Canada is shown through recovering alcoholic, Saul Indian Horse, who recounts his life from the time he lived in the bush with his native family, the Anishinabeg, to the the time he checked into The New Dawn Treatment Centre.

The Ngunnawal People have been living within the borders and surrounding mountains of the Australian Capital Territory for over 25,000 years. The way the Indigenous people used the land to live off was extremely efficient and sustainable. They had a bounty of knowledge about the land surrounding them, and over generations, devised resourced management skills to ensure maintenance of the animals and plants, and most importantly, the land in which provided these things. Aboriginal culture existed long before Captain Cook arrived in Australia in 1770. He claimed the land to be "Terra-Nullius", meaning that the land did not belong to any person. This claim obviously seemed ludicrous and crazy to the Indigenous people whom already lived on the land.

In the 1900s there was a lot of conflict between the Native Americans and America, the Native Americans have been around longer than the other explorers who came after some time and decided to take their land and, there was conflict between the Japanese after the Japanese had bombed an American base in Hawaii (Pearl Harbor). But who was treated the worst? The Native Americans were. This was because they had their children taken from them, were forced onto reservations, and they only had the clothes that were on their back.

The Eastern Woodland Indians lived in a lifestyle that was greatly affected by their area of living. The food they ate, the clothes they wore, and the kind of homes they lived in were all a result of where they lived. The environment that the Eastern Woodland Indians lived in was filled with trees, animals, plants, rivers, lakes, and wildlife. Some of the tribes that lived in the Eastern Woodlands area were the Mohicans, Iroquois, Powhatan, Mohawks .

I would like to begin, sirs, by announcing; I am not the first with these thoughts. Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine – only a few of the men that share the same notion. It is true; I do not hold the reputation of these men. Nonetheless, I have been involved in American Politics for the past decade . We have passed the simple point of peace. We have tried many a ways to end this peacefully. Our pleas, petitions, protests – all flouted at the will of the King. Is what we ask, to be treated equal and fair, too much to grant? Too much for our people, yet easy enough to give to our northern brethren? I should say not. But here we are. We have been treated immorally – first in our markets, then in our governing bodies, in our homes,

The article “Tarmageddon”, written by Andrew Nikiforuk,starts by stating how Europeans felt towards Canada before and continues by explaining what has changed their stance towards Canada. He then bulges on by describing oil and the specifics of the oil Canada is refining while perceiving its problems along the way while portraying how Canada changed, explaining why those changes happened. Towards the end of the article Andrew looks into the government’s approach on the matter and how it is ignoring the entire incident. Finally, in the end he comes to his conclusion and warning about the country’s future and how it will become if nothing is done. In short Nikiforuk, elaborates about the negative effects of the tar sands on Canada.

Thomas Johnson bought land from Native Americans and then it was given to his descendants. William M’Intosh obtained the same land through a land patent from the United States federal government. The property of land had two grants permitting ownership of the same land and both parties wanted to keep the land.

Our topic, the influence of the Kinzua Dam on the Seneca Nation, was chosen after weeks of deliberation. To begin finding a topic, we researched and bounced ideas off of each other to see what to consider more seriously later on. Our previous topics have been near the early 1900s, and we looked more closely at topics near there. However, despite a lack of specifics, the Native Americans began to interest us. In September, the Erie Times-News published an article for the 50 year anniversary of Kinzua Dam, including details of the Seneca Nation’s removal. This sparked our interest and seemed to fit the theme very well, so we soon settled on the Seneca Nation and Kinzua Dam.

In Chapter eight of Byron Williston’s Environmental Ethics for Canadians First Nation’s perspectives are explored. The case study titled “Language, Land and the Residential Schools” begins by speaking of a public apology from former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He apologizes for the treatment of “Indians” in “Indian Residential Schools”. He highlights the initial agenda of these schools as he says that the “school system [was] to remove and isolate [Aboriginal] children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them[…]” (Williston 244). By doing this, colonial Canadians assumed that aboriginal cultural and spiritual beliefs were invalid in relation to European beliefs (244). The problem with ridding the First Nations Peoples of their languages, as Williston points out is to “deprive them of the sense of place that has defined them for thousands of years” (245). The private schooling system was an attack on First Nations identities, and their identity is rooted in “a respect for nature and its processes” (245).

Indigenous people are restricted to small lands without the establishment of a plan, infrastructure, or economy. The destruction of the traditional way of life, combined with the lack of organization, the establishment of reserves lead to poor people to prepare. Many indigenous people died due to the lack of housing, food, health care, and money. In order to make the problem worse, the Canadian government put forward strict restrictions on the relief efforts of the reserve, resulting in a higher level of

After the Red River Rebellion, the Metis received many of their demands in the Manitoba Act, but because of the scrip system, many didn’t receive the land they were promised causing them to move west into nowadays Saskatchewan. While living in the west, the Metis were losing patience with the Canadian government to gain title to their land. The government had surveyed the land out to pay for the Canadian Pacific Railway, which the Metis didn’t know, and wouldn’t give any away. The government was treating the Aboriginals cruelly; they let them starve and didn’t keep their promises to help them flourish in the western economy. The Metis had had enough with the government and decided to bring back Louis Riel from Montana. With Riel back in Canada, the government was worried about the uprising of another rebellion.