Call to Social Workers

“Until the bear speaks only the narrative of the hunter will be known.” [Wab Kinew]

Although I intended to just address criminalization due to the Indian Act, I further explored the intersecting ways that Indigenous peoples and communities experience colonial oppression. So to share actions for change, I feel my best choice is to amplify the voices of Indigenous peoples. As a society of Indigenous peoples, Treaty people and settlers, and as professionals with eminent power in Indigenous peoples lives and livelihoods, it is up to us to take real action.

I say this to myself as much as anyone. I know my own tendencies to fear being wrong or worse – disliked, or to having my privilege shine too bright, have influenced my choices to sit back, read and then rant in anger. But by having those fears the depth of my privilege is proven. So instead of continuing to wallow in my own fears, much like I did those moments of silence in high school, I have been working to take a socially just approach in life and to act against injustice. The words I share below are some inspirations that push me to do so.

In a speech on truth and reconciliation – Wab Kinew (from the Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation) – shared some insightful knowledge:

1. The truth makes you stronger if you embrace it and act on it.

2. There are two crucial parts to working with Indigenous peoples: (1) ground people to community, identity, place and (2) free people to be the fullest expression of self — be grounding & inspiring. Never forget that community needs should drive your interventions.

3. Reconciliation is up to each and every one of us to do something tangible — build bridges & learn. Walk the walk, talk about it, be about it. A fully formed human greets dysfunction with love, kindness and respect.

4. Listen before you talk. Learn to be meaningfully engaged in society. Smart people are everywhere and we need people to be allies to work together.

5. Understand the United Nations Declaration for Indigenous Peoples.

Wab expressed the need to turn words into actions. In his forward for Unsettling the Settler Within, Mohawk educator Taiaiake Alfred makes that statement clearly (2010, x):

Words must be accompanied by concrete action at all levels of Canadian society. If such actions are to be transformative, they cannot be predicated on good intentions but must be rooted instead in a fundamental recognition of the human dignity and right to freedom of self-determining Indigenous peoples.

Apply this to the social worker’s role. Working with people in vulnerable states and the intimacies of life, this call to action should resonate deeply and be accepted with respect and humility. Educator Paulette Regan provides powerful reflexive writing to help guide non-Indigenous settlers in support of Taiaiake’s claim. In her own efforts to decolonize her mind and actions, to embrace responsibility, and to work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and Nations, Paulette explains (2010, p.18):

[my] own deepest learning has always come when I was in unfamiliar territory culturally, intellectually, and emotionally…this space of not knowing has power that may hold a key to decolonization for settlers…Sometimes we are offered a gift we are reluctant to accept. Perhaps we do not recognize it as a gift because it feels like a burden, like a heavy responsibility that we don’t quite know how to carry, and we are afraid that we will do so poorly.

That is powerful! Paulette reflects on the importance of learning in a holistic way – akin to Indigenous worldview – that doesn’t separate mind, body and spirit. She also discusses the impact of responsibility, but expresses it as a gift. Think of your ability to practice social work and create change as a gift – how does that alter your approach?

In solidarity – we share the gift to challenge colonial structures and to act toward reconciliation. To be a social worker, it is crucial that whatever sector we practice in we understand colonization and intergenerational effects. Furthermore, we must learn to work with and alongside Indigenous peoples by helping to create culturally safe environments.

Yours in solidarity. Miigwech.

Mallory Hilkewich

Indigenous Activism & the UNDRIP

Although genocidal and assimilation practices were legislated within the Indian Act, endless resiliency of Indigenous peoples prevented such completion. Here I will explore a sampling of Indigenous activism that is by no means exhaustive or reflective of all efforts within Canada.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was created in response to effects of the residential school system legislated by the Indian Act, and considered to be the cause of great inequalities today. The TRC report shares survivors stories and includes ‘Calls to Action’ that target systemic injustices represented in Canada’s criminal justice system, among other vital sectors. It highlights punitive judicial oversights that disregard Indigenous sovereignty and negate culturally safe and appropriate approaches to governance and justice.

Unfortunately, only one ‘Call to Action’ has been implemented by the government: #41 – an inquiry into MMIW (TRC Calls to Action, 2015, p.4). If findings are acted upon, the inquiry is crucial for accepting responsibility and addressing implications related to high rates of gender violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls, transgender and 2-spirited people under effects of patriarchal colonial rule.

Even prior to the TRC, grassroots organizing challenged similar systemic issues. Led by Indigenous women, The Red Dress Project and Idle No More made strides demanding action in support of Indigenous women and Indigenous rights.

Ultimately, these all share global connections. Globalization has changed the realm of activism by Indigenous peoples. Shared experiences of colonial oppression – in differing political, cultural and social contexts – have led to unified acceptance and support across borders as Indigenous peoples fight similar powers the world over. Similar to Amartya Sen’s (2002) analysis on poverty – they have demands for justice and freedom (of movement, expression, belonging, etc), which are further oppressed by experiences of poverty and inequality.

Central to representing this international call, is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The UNDRIP is widely considered an integral framework for respecting Indigenous rights (Indigenous Bar Association, 2011). Rights which aren’t effectively afforded through piecemeal policy changes, the UNDRIP calls for an integrated systems change. It demands a change to systems, to governance language, to rights and to freedoms.

Justice Murray Sinclair has said the UNDRIP is a “starting point for reconciliation” (Raaymakers, 2015).

This is because it calls for legal assertion of Indigenous peoples rights to practice and pursue economic, social, cultural and political development (UNDRIP, 2007). It centers the uniqueness of Indigenous rights by acknowledging the effects of the global colonial paradigm – practiced by governments and corporations.

Canada originally refused to sign the declaration for fear of Indigenous sovereignty and territorial land control (Raaymakers, 2015). Even in signing on in 2010, Canadian leaders called it an “aspirational document” (Hui, 2010), thus emphasizing a non-commital and non-pragmatic approach to the true value and meaning of the declaration.

Since the 2015 election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has committed to fully implement the TRC and UNDRIP. While PM Trudeau seems to recognize these changes are vital, the government has not outwardly taken necessary action towards delivering on its promises.

With the release of the 2016 federal budget, some hope was held for these promises to be funded. Although Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde responded positively and cited the budget as a historic move, other Indigenous peoples were less impressed (Fontaine, 2016). Mi’kmaq lawyer, professor, activist and politician, Pam Palmater, and Gitxsan child welfare activist, Cindy Blackstock, both commented on the budgets failure to adequately fund First Nations education, child welfare and to afford any funding to implement the TRC and UNDRIP (Palmater, 2016; Fontaine, 2016).

It is obvious there is a disconnect between words and action, yet at the core of reconciliation is the need for action. There are clearly many changes needed to dismantle Canada’s colonial control and subsequently transform its prejudicial criminal justice system. The answer doesn’t simply lie in abolishing the Indian Act and doesn’t rely solely on implementing the UNDRIP. Still, tied up in this global system is the unanimous call for Indigenous sovereignty and honouring Indigenous rights to self-determination. Ultimately that involves all members of society, because we are all Treaty people.

Next Post: My call to social workers.

Sources:

Fontaine, T. (2016, March 23). Perry Bellegarde, AFN national chief, calls federal budget ‘historic’. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/perry-bellegarde-afn-national-chief-calls-federal-budget-historic-1.3503029

Hui, S. (2010, March 3). Throne Speech Offers “Illusion of Support” for U.N. Declaration, First Nations Leader Says. The Georgia Straight. Retrieved from http://www.straight.com/article-296383/vancouver/throne-speech-offers-illusion-support-un-declaration-first-nations-leader-says.

Indigenous Bar Association. (2011). Understanding and Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: An Introductory Handbook. Indigenous Bar Association and University of Manitoba, Faculty of Law. Retrieved from http://www.indigenousbar.ca/pdf/undrip_handbook.pdf

Palmater, P. (2016, March 23). PM Trudeau’s Nation to National Relationship Disappeared with Empty Budget Promises. Ecocide Alert. Retrieved from http://ecocidealert.com/?tag=pam-palmater 

Raaymakers, P. (2015, July 21). Peter Raaymakers: Canada’s government shamefully refuses to implement the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. National Post. Retrieved from http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/peter-raaymakers-canadas-government-shamefully-refuses-to-implement-the-un-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples 

Sen, A. (2002). How to judge globalism: Global links have spread knowledge and raised average living standards. But the present version of globalism needlessly harms the world’s poorest. The American Prospect. Available at http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dludden/SenGlobalism.htm

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Retrieved from http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Honouring_the_Truth_Reconciling_for_the_Future_July_23_2015.pdf

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action. National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. Retrieved from http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf 

UN General Assembly. (2007, October). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: resolution / adopted by the General Assembly. A/RES/61/295, Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/471355a82.html

Picture #1: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/ben-powless/2010/11/canada-endorses-un-declaration-indigenous-rights-time-party

Picture #2: https://twitter.com/theagenda/status/615890392786030592

Picture #3: http://rabble.ca/news/2013/06/decolonization-fundamental-struggle-liberation

Picture #4: http://globalnews.ca/news/2508887/pre-inquiry-on-missing-murdered-indigenous-women-to-be-held-in-edmonton/ 

The Pathway to Prison

While the overall crime rate has been dropping, incarceration rates of Indigenous people are on the rise (MacDonald, 2016).

Indigenous peoples make up 4 per cent of Canada’s population yet Indigenous women account for 36 per cent of all provincially and federally sentenced women and Indigenous men 25 per cent (Ibid). More shocking disparities are shown by the number of Indigenous youth in correctional facilities. In 2014 First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth accounted for 53% of girls and 38% of boys in correctional facilities (Correctional Services Program, 2015).

No province showcases Indigenous overrepresentation in the prison system better than Manitoba. Here, crime rates are falling, prisons are overwhelmingly overcrowded and correctional officers are a fast growing occupation (Marcoux & Barghout, 2015). Where Indigenous people make up approximately 15 percent of the population they account for over 70 per cent of the prison population (Ibid).

But overrepresentation in correctional facilities isn’t the only way Indigenous people are criminalized. Studies have found Indigenous people are overrepresented at all stages of the criminal justice system, with racially targeted over-policing as part of the issue (Corrado, Kuehn & Margaritescu, 2014). Research by Jonathan Rudin for the Ipperwash Inquiry explicitly connects over-policing of Indigenous peoples to Section 94 of the Indian Act (2006). In this section it was an offence for an ‘Indian’ to have alcohol. Rudin suggests that since abolishing this law, police continue to use drunk in public laws to grossly over-target Indigenous people (2006).

Furthermore, Jonathan Rudin and the Ontario Human Rights Commission (2003) have pointed out ways Indigenous peoples are under-policed. Take for example the minimal charges placed against those accused of physically and sexually abusing thousands of children who survived residential schools (Troian, 2016). Or the dismissive response by the Canadian government that delayed a national inquiry into the genocidal violence targeting Indigenous women, girls, transgender and two-spirited people (Huntley, 2015). Published reports have implicated police failure and systemic discrimination for the thousands of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Girls/Transgender/Two-Spirited people (Ibid).

Elsipogtog First Nation Member Amanda Polchies at Anti-Fracking protest in 2013

This systemic discrimination – Gitxsan journalist, artist and writer Angela Sterritt writes – stems from the Indian Act (2007, p.4):

Without question, the Indian Act remains the primary legislation responsible for the cultural genocide and impoverishment of Indigenous peoples in the occupied ancestral lands of what is now called Canada….European colonizers needed to establish that the land was unoccupied and unorganized in order to prove that the Original owners of the land were illegitimate. 

The Indian Act is a failed colonial policy that has legislated structural inequalities with laws that prevent economic opportunities and freedom of movement (Wab Kinew, speech, February 24, 2016). These laws create outcomes (ie/ poverty) that are criminalized within a punitive justice system that is admonished for targeting racialized bodies.

Rudin highlighted three major causal factors for criminalization are: culture clashes, socioeconomics and colonialism (2006). These three factors are pronounced in the findings of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP), but it emphasizes that ongoing colonization explains the persistence of Indigenous peoples represented within the criminal justice system (Canada, 1996). Three of the RCAP’s summarizing findings are:

1. There are divergent cultural perspectives regarding crime and justice between Euro-Canada and Aboriginal peoples. 
2. There is severe poverty in Aboriginal communities and instances of poverty are explicitly linked to crime. For example, an accused person is more apt to plead guilty to avoid the costs of bail, and people dealing with poverty are more likely to be unjustly effected if a judge considers socio-economic factors such as employment and possession of a fixed address when setting bail costs. 
3. Endemic poverty and subsequent crime that comes from it is the direct result of the legacy and ongoing effects of colonialism.

Based on these assertions, we can see how the Indian Act legislated colonization within Canada. It subsequently informs the prison industrial framework that unjustly criminalizes structural inequalities experienced at greater rates by Indigenous peoples. Furthermore, due to an ongoing refusal for true reconciliation by the Canadian government and people, international avenues for justice are being explored by Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Next post: Let’s talk United Nations declaration.

 

Sources:

Canada. (1996). A Report on Aboriginal People and Criminal Justice in Canada. [Ottawa]: Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Retrieved from http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/webarchives/20071115053257/http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sgmm_e.html  

Corrado, R., Kuehn, S. & Margaritescu, I. (2014). Policy Issues Regarding the Over- representation of Incarcerated Aboriginal Young Offenders in a Canadian Context. Youth Justice 2014, 14(1), 40–62.

Correctional Services Program. (2015). Youth correctional statistics in Canada, 2013/2014. Statistics Canada. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2015001/article/14164-eng.htm 

Huntley, A. (2015, April 26).Breaking one of Canada’s best kept secrets: MMIW. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/breaking-one-of-canada-s-best-kept-secrets-mmiw-1.3048352 

MacDonald, N. (2016, February 18). Canada’s prisons are the ‘new residential schools’. Retrieved from http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/canadas-prisons-are-the-new-residential-schools/ 

Marcoux, J. & Barghout, C. (2015, October 29). Manitoba jails bursting at the seams even though crime rates continue to fall. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-jails-busting-crime-rate-falling-1.3293068 

Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2003). Paying the Price: The Human Cost of Racial Profiling. Inquiry Report. Retrieved from http://www.ohrc.on.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/Paying_the_price%3A_The_human_cost_of_racial_profiling.pdf 

Rudin, J. (2006). Aboriginal Peoples and the Criminal Justice System. Prepared for the Ipperwash Inquiry. Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/e_records/ipperwash/policy_part/research/pdf/Rudin.pdf 

Sterritt, A. (2007). Racialization of Poverty: Indigenous Women, the Indian Act and Systemic Oppression : Reasons for Resistance. Vancouver, B.C. : Vancouver Status of Women. 

Troian, M. (2016, February 02). Indian residential schools: 5,300 alleged abusers located by Ottawa. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/residential-school-alleged-abusers-iap-1.3422770 

Cartoon: http://staff.gsacrd.ab.ca/~rwirth/FAV2-00065DDF/FOV2-00065DE1/FOV2-00065F92/?OpenItemURL=S01B3B444-01B3B452 

Picture: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/10/mikmaq-anti-fracking-protest-brings-women-front-lines-fight-water-152169 

Understanding the Indian Act

Would you be surprised to learn that this is a photo from the Apartheid era in South Africa? Do the words on the sign remind you of a history much closer to home?

To begin I’m going to make two general assumptions about Canadians. (1) Many Canadians know about the horrors of the Apartheid in South Africa and (2) Canadians generally feel empathy for the ongoing disparities between Black and White South Africans – and don’t question the Apartheid is to blame.

But in Canada do we hold the same regards for systemic barriers faced by Indigenous peoples?

It is easy to see how Canada prides itself in multiculturalism. Just look to the governments multiculturalism homepage. On it, you will see the missing piece to the puzzle is any honour or recognition to the First Peoples who live within these territories and the diverse cultural knowledge and practices they carry into today.

In Canada we have a clear tendency to disregard our more horrific acts – genocide and slavery included (Harris, 2012). This is particularly important given the Canadian Indian Act was a guiding framework to Apartheid practices in South Africa. The pass system originated in the Indian Act, was used to control freedom of movement by First Nations, much like it was used to govern Black people in South Africa.

Simply put, the Indian Act is a colonial tool that creates stifling Crown control over land, culture, economic opportunities, spirit, love, political structures, learning and education, rights and freedoms. First Nations have been resilient through this patriarchal oppression and continue to experience the effects of it.

In 1876 the Indian Act was accepted by the Parliament of Canada to assimilate Indigenous peoples by oppressing cultural, social and political practices. It consolidated the Gradual Civilization Act and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act (Hanson, 2009). A few policies within the Indian Act include the following (some have been amended or abolished, but intergenerational effects exist):

• the legal definition of someone as a “status or non-status Indian” – creating band membership,
• denying women status,
• the residential school system,
• the reserve system,
• a pass system that restricted First Nations from leaving the reserve without permission of the Indian Agent,
• enfranchising First Nations that attended University,
• forbidding First Nations from: potlatch and other cultural practices, speaking native languages, practicing traditional religions, accessing the right to vote (Joseph, June 2, 2015).

Here you can read the Indian Act in full, as it has currently been amended. This list is just a sampling to show how laws within the Act created a framework to legislate endemic poverty and prevent equitable Indigenous participation and belonging in society.

Furthermore, in over 140 years of the Indian Act, Indigenous peoples have protested it, fought for amendments to it, resisted its’ replacement with the assimilationist “White Paper” in 1969, and to this day continue to debate whether it should be abolished or amended (Coates, 2008). The Indian Act continues to be a controversial 76 pages, as explained by Cree leader Harold Cardinal in Unjust Society (1999):

We do not want the Indian Act retained because it is a good piece of legislation. It isn’t. It is discriminatory from start to finish. But it is a level in our hands and an embarrassment to the government, as it should be. No just society and no society with even pretensions to being just can long tolerate such a piece of legislation, but we would rather continue to live in bondage under the inequitable Indian Act than surrender our sacred rights. Any time the government wants to honour its obligations to us we are more than ready to help devise new Indian legislation. (p. 140)

Although the reach of the Indian Act is deep and harmful, it is clear that abolishing it is not a unanimous call to action. What is unanimously known is that Indigenous peoples experience colonial oppression in multiple ways today – as enforced through generations of the Indian Act.

P.S.: to see an informative TV show about the Act – this episode of The 8th Fire is a great place to start.

Next post: The Indian Act and the criminalization of Indigenous peoples today.

 

Sources:

Cardinal, H. (1999). The Unjust Society. 2nd ed. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre Ltd.

Coates, K. (2008). The Indian Act and the Future of Aboriginal Governance in Canada. Research Paper for the National Centre for First Nations Governance. Retrieved from http://fngovernance.org/ncfng_research/coates.pdf 

Joseph, B. (2015, June 2). 21 Things You May Not Have Known About the Indian Act. Working Effectively With Indigenous Peoples. Retrieved from http://www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-indian-act- 

Hanson, E. (2009). The Indian Act. Indigenous Foundations (University of British Columbia). Retrieved from http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/the-indian-act.html

Harris, D. (2012). Expanding our selective memory: studying black history reminds us of Canada’s impact on slavery–not all of which was good. Presbyterian Record, 136(2). p.4.

 Picture: https://espressostalinist.com/genocide/apartheid-south-africa/ 

Race Isn’t The Father of Racism

“An Indian Act: Shooting the Indian Act” Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

“Race isn’t the father of racism; racism is the father of racism” Wab Kinew

[Reconciliation and the TRC, Toronto, February 24, 2016]

This blog will analyze the over-criminalizing impacts of the Indian Act, Canada’s core legislation that dispossess the rights of Indigenous peoples. The Act institutionalized the reserve system, residential schools, and the pass system (Indian Act, 1985). All of which enacted social, cultural and political colonial controls. Overall the Act created a legal framework that is discriminatory and majorly disadvantageous to Indigenous peoples. Subsequently, worldviews of many non-Indigenous Canadians are built on false narratives that continue to serve Canadian state control over Indigenous bodies rather than supporting rights to self-determination and self-government.

I will do my best to identify the specific Nation and heritage of an Indigenous person or group of people in Canada. If unknown, or I am writing generally, I will use the terms Indigenous person/peoples/communities in Canada.

Understanding how colonization is constituted in Canada should be learned by all social workers. We must shoulder the responsibility of this profession’s practices in cultural genocide facilitating ‘The 60’s Scoop‘. We must also shoulder our colonizing power working with people and communities, particularly in child welfare and the justice system where a disproportionate number of Indigenous people are represented (Gough, Trocmé, Brown, Knoke & Blackstock, 2005; Correctional Services Program, 2015). And in working relationships between white and racialized colleagues that can produce effects of structural violence (Sinclair & Albert, 2008).

Truthfully, it has only been in the past few years that I have dedicated real energy to critically understand Canada’s colonial paradigm.

I worked in Kenya and saw Indigenous groups fight the same fight as those in Canada – for rights to ancestral lands and rights to practice culture freely. In witnessing these struggles I was reminded of my own ignorance about the Canadian landscape and Indigenous peoples.

I grew up all over Saskatchewan, criss-crossing Cree, Dakota, Saulteaux and Nakota First Nation territories within Treaty 2, 4 and 6 boundaries (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, 2010). For two years I lived in Lloydminster, a city home to First Nations, Métis and Inuit people, and situated near Onion Lake Cree First Nation which comprises two reserves. I was taught “Native Studies” by an uninformed teacher, with peers who were so disinterested and racist that I was name-called simply for showing interest. Instead of hearing their comments for what they were, I pitied myself, retreating into the ‘woe is me’ mindset rather than challenging my peers or trying to understand how their racism impacts the lives of actual Indigenous peoples. Due to my inaction, I have been and continue to be complicit in racism.

If part of reconciliation is truth telling, it is time for us non-Indigenous folk to recognize our implications in the colonial paradigm. We must understand how racism informs and shapes harmful experiences that are normalized in the stark silence of colonization that maintains Indigenous peoples as ‘Other’ (Sinclair & Albert, 2008). This ‘Othering’ is embedded in social contexts and relationships, and it causes deleterious personal and structural effects (Loppie, Reading & Leeuw, 2014). Although I know this, all too often I remain shamefully silent to colonization and racism. 

To shift power and enable healing, it is our collective responsibility to engage in un-learning and take actions that deconstruct and dismantle colonial systems. This goes beyond our 9-5 work efforts and implores us to appreciate our daily interactions and motivations to actually work toward social change. To understand how Canada’s colonial paradigm criminalizes Indigenous peoples, I will look at how the Indian Act is connected to Indigenous experiences with the “justice” system, and I will discuss the rallying cries of Indigenous peoples and the United Nations about the “true north strong and free”.

 

 

 

Next post: Details on the Indian Act and policy impacts.

 

Sources:

Correctional Services Program. (2015). Youth correctional statistics in Canada, 2013/2014.Statistics Canada. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2015001/article/14164-eng.htm 

Gough, P., Trocmé, N., Brown, I., Knoke, D. & Blackstock, C. (2005). Pathways to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in care. Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare. Retrieved from http://cwrp.ca/sites/default/files/publications/en/AboriginalChildren23E.pdf

Indian Act (1985, c. I-5 ). Retrieved from the Department of Justice website: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-5/

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (2010). First Nations Map of Saskatchewan. Retrieved from: https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/DAM/DAM-INTER-SK/STAGING/texte-text/fnl_1100100020617_eng.pdf

Loppie, S., Reading, C. & Leeuw, S. de. (2014). Aboriginal Experiences with Racism and its Impacts. National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health. Retrieved from http://www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/131/2014_07_09_FS_2426_RacismPart2_ExperiencesImpacts_EN_Web.pdf

Macdonald, N. (February 18, 2016). Canada’s prisons are the ‘new residential schools’. MacLeans. Retrieved from http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/canadas-prisons-are-the-new-residential-schools/

Sinclair, R. & Albert, J. (2008). Social Work and the anti-oppressive stance: Does the Emperor Really Have New Clothes? Critical Social Work, 9(1). Retrieved from http://www1.uwindsor.ca/criticalsocialwork/social-work-and-the-anti-oppressive-stance-does-the-emperor-really-have-new-clothes

Cartoon #1: https://inequalitygaps.org/first-takes/racism-in-canada/inequalities-of-status-and-the-indian-act/ 

Cartoon #2: https://blogs.ubc.ca/karenshi/