4.15 Perspectives on the Imposition of Liberalism

Is resistance to Liberalism justified?



Big Ideas:

  • Appreciate Aboriginal contributions to the development of ideologies.
  • Appreciate how citizens and citizenship are affected by the promotion of ideological principles.
  • Appreciate that individuals and groups may adhere to various ideologies.
  • Examine perspectives on the imposition of liberalism.
  • Examine the extent to which modern liberalism is challenged by alternative ideas.
  • Evaluate the extent to which resistance to liberalism is justified.

The Aboriginal Experience with Liberalism


Liberal ideology is being challenged constantly by many aspects of society, including Aboriginal collective thought, religious perspectives, extremism, and environmentalism.

To impose liberal values means to force those values upon people or states without their permission or agreement. The imposition, or forced acceptance, of liberal ideology can occur when nations want to protect their self-interests or they want to promote liberal values for humanitarian purposes.

If a group of people or a nation of people does not agree with the imposition of liberal values because their ideology is different, should they be forced to change? How can liberalism involve imposition?

Differences in ideological perspectives of the Aboriginal people and the Europeans led to conflict, misunderstandings, mistreatment, and abuses. The superiority that Europeans felt toward the Aboriginal peoples led them to attempt to assimilate the Aboriginals to the European perspective.


© 2010 Thinkstock John A. Macdonald on the Canadian $10 bill.

"The great aim of our civilization has been to do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the inhabitants of the Dominion [of Canada] as speedily as they are fit for the change." –Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, 1887



The assimilation of Aboriginal peoples in Canada was the reason for the imposition of liberal ideology. The Aboriginal people of Canada had liberal values imposed upon them by assimilation since their first contact with European settlers.

"With the coming of the Europeans, our experience as a people changed. We experienced relationships in which we were made to feel inferior. We were treated as incompetent to make decisions for ourselves. Europeans would treat us in such a way as to make us feel that they knew, better than we ourselves, what was good for us." –Georges Erasmus, a First Nations leader, 1977.

from Erasmus, Georges. "We the Dene." in Mel Watkins. Dene Nation, The Colony Within. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977.

The White Paper, 1969


In government, a white paper is like a report or guide for making decisions. In 1969, the Canadian government, led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, produced a White Paper by the Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien, that proposed

  • the abolition of the Indian Act

  • the rejection of land claims

  • the assimilation of Aboriginal people into the Canadian population

Aboriginal people would then have the same status as other Canadian ethnic minorities. No longer would they be treated as a distinct group.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau

"It's inconceivable I think that in a given society, one section of the society have a treaty with the other section of the society. We must all be equal under the laws and we must not sign treaties amongst ourselves... We can't recognize Aboriginal rights because no society can be built on historical might-have-beens. –Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau (August 8, 1969)

What point was Trudeau trying to make? ...that perhaps Aboriginal peoples, to be equal with other Canadians, need to become just like them; that is, they must assimilate.




What do you think?

  • Is assimilation of another culture the right thing to do?

Please watch the following video explaining Harold Cardinal and 20th Century Fight for Indigenous Rights & Culture:

 


The Indigenous Chiefs of Alberta, in a response by Harold Cardinal, explained the widespread opposition to the White Paper. The National Indian Brotherhood issued a document titled Citizens Plus, which is more commonly known as the "Red Paper". After this response from the Aboriginal communities, Prime Minister Trudeau and the government began to back away from the White Paper.

Today, Indigenous people, along with the Canadian government, have been working toward resolving the issues created by assimilation.

In 2008, the Canadian government formally  apologized for residential schools. The imposition of residential schools was an assimilation policy that forced 150,000 First Nations children into residential boarding schools that were far from their homes and in which the First Nations languages and cultural traditions were banned. Many survivors of the residential systems have said also that they were abused, sexually and physically. The Roman Catholic Church operated about 75 per cent of the residential schools from the 1870s to the 1970s.


       

Visit the CBC News: The National to understand more about Residential Schools.

Stolen Children/ Residential School survivors speak out

In 2008, the Canadian government apologized formally for residential schools. The imposition of residential schools was an assimilation policy that forced 150 000 First Nations children into residential boarding schools that were far from their homes and in which the First Nations languages and cultural traditions were banned. Many survivors of the residential systems have said also that they were abused sexually and physically. The Roman Catholic Church operated about 75 per cent of the residential schools from the 1870s to the 1970s.

History has shown Canadians that the imposition of liberal ideology on Indigenous peoples has affected the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit in many ways. As settlers came to Canada, greater efforts were made by government to impose liberal ideology on Indigenous peoples. Differences in beliefs and values led to conflicts over land ownership. Government attempts at assimilating Indigenous peoples into the mainstream were abusive and destructive, and assimilation limited First Nations peoples' freedom and control over their own lives. Trudeau's White Paper of 1969 continued the efforts to absorb Indigenous peoples into the mainstream culture by trying to create a "just society" and to disregard treaty agreements and Indigenous land claims.


Read "Aboriginal Experiences of Liberalism" on pages 219-230 of your textbook, Understandings of Ideologies. These pages will further your understanding of the Aboriginal perspective on the imposition of liberalism.

You should make notes, either on paper or on your computer, about what you have read. You may want to read the tutorial How to Make Notes. When you are finished the tutorial, retun here to continue this unit.