Colonialism: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Social Essay

Past and Present Colonization in Canada
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The past impacts the future and regarding colonialism, it is no different according to Patricia Monture (2007: 207). The deeds of the past have impacted the present Canadian society and to understand why one must look into past trajectories and relationships in order to get a well-developed historical understanding of colonialism. One of the societies whose present has been affected by colonialism is the Aboriginal People which is unfortunate because the Canadian people have little understanding of the origin of the relationship between Aboriginal People and non-Aboriginal Peoples. It is not all down to the Canadian people however as the Colonial country paint a different picture with their narrative of the role of police in the containment and management of the Aboriginal population. This essay is meant to explain the concept of colonialism and how Canadian law got to influence the life of the indigenous people in the past and present.
Colonialism which is the act of taking control and influencing the political structure in a country began in Canada in the seventeenth century. The main intention was to construct a white settler society which in turn meant that the indigenous people were alienated. They were however valued for their skills but this came with restriction of their mobility and they had to relinquish their land to the government. The passing of the Indian Act acted as a confirmation towards the sexist and racist approach being used by the Canadian government agencies in dealing with the indigenous people. This law heavily impacted the mobility of the indigenous people as its intentions were to shape the “confinement of natives to reserves”. To control them, they were relegated to smaller tracks of land and a rule was imposed on them in 1885 that required them to have a pass from the Indian agent in order to move out of their reserves. Failure to secure a pass meant that they risked getting charged for trespassing. Other restrictions included the outlaw of Potlatch (ceremonial gift-giving) and Taman a was (medicine or healing ceremony) that warranted imprisonment of two to six months for any Aboriginal person caught in violation.
This arrangement meant that indigenous women were marginalized from the dominant societies and were forced to live along boundaries and highways. Poverty levels among them were high and they also had to deal with the “squaw” stereotype which labeled them as promiscuous. CITATION Mor16 \l 1033 (Morton, 2016) This made them vulnerable to violence and unable to acquire basic needs such as employment and education.
Colonialism in the present age has not disappeared rather it has evolved into new forms to accommodate contemporary times. The Aboriginal people have been portrayed as savage, uncultured and in need of heightened surveillance and control which creates a radicalized discourse. The radicalization means that the larger Aboriginal population is associated with poverty, crime, and violence leading to their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system. Today's infrastructures have allowed inequality in which the indigenous people are socially excluded and the sad truth is that a new Aboriginal baby is likely to live a life of poverty. For people living in the urban areas, they are twice as likely to live a life of poverty than the ones living in the reserves, This is a byproduct of colonialism as it has been able to marginalize the Aboriginal people socially and economically leading to their low status and living conditions in the society.
Their place in society can easily be measured by looking at the Canadian press in the coverage of missing/murdered Aboriginal women. Are the victims newsworthy compare to white women who are victims of similar cases. More than 500 Aboriginal women have gone missing or murdered since the 1980s but unfortunately, there has been minimal press coverage to bring this to public attention. CITATION Gil10 \l 1033 (Gilchrist, 2010) Aboriginal women account for 2% of the Canadian population but they are overrepresented as victims of the major social injustices in the country such as homicide and sexual violence. The missing women often are found murdered and the majority of cases remain unsolved. The number of unsolved murders and sexual violations is almost half which is a huge number, therefore, the question is why they are not getting any coverage and attention.
Newsworthiness is something that defines a story worth telling and this is a criterion that changes based on the reporting organization. In the media world events that qualify to be categorized as newsworthy have to be dramatic, unusual or basically carry a continuing theme that is popular at that point in time. Kristen Gilchrist’s analysis is intended to prove just how the Aboriginal are being marginalized even by the media in the present society. She looks at the cases of three Aboriginal women from Saskatchewan: Daleen Bosse (age 26) who disappeared in Saskatoon, and Melanie Geddes (age 24) and Amber Redman (age 19) who disappeared in the Regina area. The comparison is made with cases of three white women; Ardeth Wood (age 27) who went missing in Ottawa, Alicia Ross (age 25) who vanished in the Toronto area, and Jennifer Teague (age 18) who disappeared in the Ottawa area. CITATION Gil10 \l 1033 (Gilchrist, 2010) The six women all disappeared between the years 2003 and 2005 and were all school-going with solid connection friends and family. For the reporting, the white women received a whooping 511 mentions in the local press to only 82 times the Aboriginal women received. In articles that discussed women missing and murder cases, the white women were included in 187 articled compared to 53 for the Aboriginal women.
The above case presents women who went through similar circumstances but their ordeal received different press coverage entirely. The minimal coverage the Aboriginal women got can be attributed to ...