The Challenges and Solutions in Achieving Sovereignty by Aboriginals

The Challenges and Solutions in Achieving Sovereignty by Aboriginals
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The Challenges and Solutions in Achieving Sovereignty by Aboriginals
The First Nations individuals are divided into groups each of which is controlled by foreign constitution. The rules are implemented to be obeyed by anybody who resides in the country including the natives and the nonindigenous people. The new system of governance has led to the loss of the original customs of the Aboriginal people. Specifically, the native people of Canada such as the Nisga’s community have attempted to become independent and their right of cessation recognized (Bell, & Adams, 2016). The people have currently tried to achieve a system of self-governance which is different from the constitution that the foreigners enforced in the nation. However, the Aboriginals have seen several challenges in their journey to achieve self-government and have their identity recognized. Therefore, this work focuses on the problems faced by the Aboriginals in an attempt to achieve self-governance and the strategies to be adapted to achieve a meaningful and true justice.
The Aboriginals have seen several challenges in their attempt to become independent. First, their population size is small as compared to the non-indigenous people that reduce the level of influence which they have in the nation (Abele, Alexiuk & MacQuarrie, N.d). The rate of assimilation through intermarriages that occurred between the foreigners and the natives and the large number of the people who died while trying to defend their land reduced the population of the community. Moreover, the high rate of migration into the nation has also made their population size to be smaller than those of the foreigners. The small size of the population makes their efforts of having self-government and achieving self-determination meaningless (McLeod et al., 2015). Once an issue has been raised in a county, people must vote for or against the idea. However, the number of foreigners is greater than that of the natives which enable their decisions to prevail over those of the indigenous. As a result, the efforts of the Aboriginals in attempting the achieve sovereignty will always fail as it has to be in agreement with the interest of the public majority.
Moreover, the courts have failed to listen to their idea of becoming an independent nation. The cases are reported but the court proceedings are delayed, and, also they receive unfair rulings regarding the issue. Further, the courts base their ruling on the original treaties that were signed between the natives and the non-indigenous people. The treaties required everybody to abide by the Indian Act that was originally documented and implemented (Dussault & Erasmus, 1996). Additionally, the treaty was made to protect the identity of the natives. Therefore, it will be difficult to the natives to change the Act because they have little influence in the judicial system. Moreover, most of the workers at the courts are nonindigenous persons who do not support the idea. Therefore, they are able to influence the proceedings to delay the rulings, and, also give unfavorable judgment regarding the issue. Hence, so long as the justice system is still dominated by the nonindigenous persons, the idea of cessation and self-government will not be realized.
Further, most of the people who occupy top government positions are nonindigenous persons which enable them to have much influence on the debate regarding the issue. Majority of the population are illiterate compared to the foreigners who have enough resources to access better education. Only few native people are employed at the top positions in the country which lower their income and their level of influence. In fact the majority of them are employed as clerks and interpreters which are low level jobs as compared to those of the non-native persons who better jobs. Also, most of the natives are poor individuals who are still rooted on their traditional beliefs (Abele, Alexiuk & MacQuarrie, N.d). The continued beliefs in their traditions make them less exposed to current issues and opportunities. Therefore, their low level of education is the major factor that contributes to their high rate of unemployment. Similarly, the low level of education reduces the number of opportunities which they can exploit in the country. Therefore, the low income per capita that the population possesses reduces the level of influence that they may have on national issues. Hence, they will experience a challenge in achieving sovereignty as they have few people at the political front to push their idea.
Another challenge to the idea of self-determination is that the population is less civilized and has fewer resources to use in setting up their own government. A government system will need more resources to operate and literate people to control various activities within the country. Contrarily, the literate individuals that they need to start the government oppose the idea because they believe that the community will experience several challenges in future if they are granted their wish of becoming independent (Sossin, 2012). Therefore, the community still needs to gather more resources and skills which are required to run their new government before continuing with the idea. Moreover, the various sectors in the economy will need people who have the necessary skills to operate them.
Finally, the native people have fewer resources to make their own rules that will guide their new nation including punishing the lawbreakers. The people still rely on the Indian Act that was implemented long ago. The lack of resources to make their own constitution inhibits the population from becoming independent. Similarly, the community depends on the services of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal People’s (RCAP’s) to push their idea of seeking sovereignty (Dussault & Erasmus, 1996). The commission leads the negotiation with other governments to protect the identity and culture of the community. Also, the commission will help in making a great impact in adjusting the constitution in the favor of the native people with major reforms being made.
Despite the need to become independent, there are various strategies that can be used to solve the problems that the community is currently experiencing. The strategies will make the community to feel that they are equality valued and their culture and identity protected. One of the reasons why the Aboriginals believe that they should seek for self-determination is that they do not trust the current Indian Act that rules them. The native people believe that the Act lacks transparency and is full of issues of nepotism (Qu...