The White Paper 1969. In spite of all government attempts to convince Indians to accept the white paper, their efforts will fail, because Indians understand that the path outlined by the Department of Indian Affairs through its mouthpiece, the Honourable Mr. Chrétien, leads directly to cultural genocide. We will not walk this path. —Harold Cardinal, The Unjust Society In 1969, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien, unveiled a policy paper that proposed ending the special legal relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state and dismantling the Indian Act.
This white paper was met with forceful opposition from Aboriginal leaders across the country and sparked a new era of Indigenous political organizing in Canada. What is a white paper? To this end, the white paper proposed to What led to the white paper? In 1963, the federal government commissioned University of British Columbia anthropologist Harry B. Responses to the white paper Recommended resources: Reel Injun by Catherine Bainbridge, Neil Diamond, Jeremiah Hayes. Credits director Neil Diamond co-director Catherine Bainbridge Jeremiah Hayes editor producer Christina Fon Linda Ludwick writer director of photography Édith Labbé executive producer Ernest Webb Catherine Olsen Adam Symansky Ravida Din researcher Ramelle Mair sound Lynne Trépanier original soundtrack Claude Castonguay Mona Laviolette sound editor sound mixer Jean Paul Vialard supervising archival researcher Elizabeth Klinck.
John A MacDonald Complicated Leader. When the cure is worse. USA Committed Genocide Against Native Americans. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the General Assembly on Thursday, 13 September 2007, by a majority of 144 states in favour, 4 votes against (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States) and 11 abstentions (Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine). Click here to view the voting record. Eight years have passed since the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the General Assembly.
Since then, the global consensus around the Declaration has been reaffirmed at several occasions. Click here to view the statement by the Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Professor Megan Davis, on the eighth anniversary of the Declaration, 13 September 2015. A High-level commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was held on 17 May 2012. Press Release >>>Media Advisory. Merchant law firm launches class-action lawsuit for '60s Scoop' adoptees - Saskatchewan. A Saskatchewan law firm is representing more than a thousand victims of the so-called '60s Scoop' who are seeking compensation from the federal government.
The Merchant Law Group served the Federal Government the class-action lawsuit on January 30. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the government ran an Adopt Indian Métis program. That program saw thousands of aboriginal children taken from their homes and adopted into white families in Canada and the United States. Tony Merchant says the Adopt Indian Métis program was misguided and harmful to these children, and he alleges the children suffered physical, sexual and psychological abuse as a result of this program. "It was part of the paternalistic approach, that if we could get children out of the hands of aboriginal people, we could give them a better life in the future by taking away their culture and turning red children into white adults," said Merchant. Survivor of 60's scoop speaks out Snellgrove channelled his anger into sport. Apology coming but no money for Sixties Scoop: Sask. Premier Brad Wall - Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says the province will issue a formal apology for the Sixties Scoop — the practice whereby First Nations and Métis children were taken from their families and adopted out to non-aboriginal families.
However, there will be no compensation, Wall said Wednesday. The Saskatchewan government participated in the Adopt Indian Métis program between 1966 and 1975. Critics say the Scoop robbed thousands of First Nations and Métis children of their language and culture. Robert Doucette, president of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan and himself a Sixties Scoop survivor, said an apology will be meaningful. "It validates that I didn't do anything wrong," Doucette said. Doucette added he was, himself, not seeking compensation but supports those who are. Raven Sinclair, who was also adopted, said a financial settlement would spare people from going through the legal system for compensation. Lawyer says primary responsibility for Sixties Scoop lies with Ottawa. Five reasons the TRC chose ‘cultural genocide’ David B.
MacDonald is a professor of political science at the University of Guelph, and the author of several works comparing the genocidal experiences of indigenous peoples in Western settler states and their continuing legacies. Canada officially recognizes five genocides, five violations of the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948, but the Indian residential schools system is not one of them. Many survivors conclude that genocide was committed by both federal institutions and churches and have said so publicly.
This view seemed to be echoed by the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In a Twitter exchange in early 2012, Justice Murray Sinclair wrote: “IRS policy was an act of genocide under the UN Convention. Yet the recent summary report of the commission called the residential school system “cultural genocide.” First, The TRC couldn’t have declared the First Nations experience to be genocide even if it wanted to. Fifth, the TRC has not said this wasn’t genocide. Canada guilty of cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples: TRC. APTN National News Canada is guilty of committing cultural genocide against Indigenous people, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in a summary of its final report released Tuesday.
The TRC builds a case that leads it to conclude Canada committed cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples and used Indian residential schools used as its main weapon. “These measures were part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as a distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will,” said the TRC report. “Residential schooling quickly become a central element in the federal government’s Aboriginal policy.” The TRC unveiled two volumes and a summary of its final report which is expected to be released later this year. One volume was titled, What We Have Learned, and the other was titled, The Survivors Speak. The TRC was created as part of the multi-billion dollar settlement agreement between Ottawa, the churches and survivors. News@aptn.ca. Walking With Our Sisters. No More Stolen Sisters.