Aborginal And Dominanant Relations In Canada: Rethinking Multiculturalism Policy

Canada, as the owner of many glorious titles, attracts the worldwide attentions. It is perennially ranked by the United Nations as the world's best place to live, but aboriginal peoples (their first nations) on reserves are ranked sixty-third on a human development index, which inevitably provoked our considerations. The thesis began with the perspective of Aboriginal-Dominant relations to explore the reasons of the evolution. By means of detailed description and deep analysis of the ever-changing aboriginal policies, the author attempted to argue that the government policy or management strategies played a remarkable part in determining the orientations of Aboriginal-Dominant relations. From the colonial temporary pacification and military partnership, to the early Confederate assimilation and multi-faceted rulings; from the post-World War II integration attempt to normalize Indianness, to the application of the Multiculturalism (devolution returning the power to the aboriginal peoples, and conditional autonomy to realize aboriginal self-governance), the Canadian government went through the conceptional transformation from White Superiority to Ethnic Equality, and the ideological revolution from assimilation and genocide to multiculturalism and multiethnic coexistence. This historical shift attributed, on one hand, to the historical progress and social movements including the American Civil Rights Movement, the Pan-Indian Movement, and the disastrous aftermath of the World War II, on the other, to the re-examination of the former policies and their effects including the formal apologies and compensation for the Indian Residential School. We cannot alter the historical tragedy, but we are capable of reflecting the roots of the tragedy and modifying our improper ideology and strategies not to follow the same disastrous road. Recalling the four-decade development of Multiculturalism, it has undergone the initiative stage celebrating cultural diversity, the progressing stage promoting institutional equity, and turned to the mature stage constructing commonly-shared citizenship ( this is the Canadian ideal: create"diversity"within"unity"). Meanwhile, the aboriginal policy also progressed accordingly from maintaining the aboriginal languages and cultures, re-investigating the grievances and litigations of the aboriginal peoples, taking their political appeals into account and bringing aboriginal rights into the provision of the Constitution, and putting the prescription into practice step by step. The adjustments of the aboriginal policy will greatly contribute to construction of the cooperative and peaceful Aboriginal-Dominant relations. Short of the argument of the policy, the author put the same emphasis on the aboriginal cultural values----the distinctively charming cultures, stressing the comments on their uniform philosophy: sacred hoop and the lessons from it, their elementary morals and values giving more warnings and enlightenments to the modern people. The purpose of the author is to demonstrate their wisdom and foresight, the openness and generosity, the civilization and amicability to the earthling; they possess nearly all the outstanding qualities that the Western"Civilized"people have, and even more merits than theirs. The Indian Civilization their forefathers created perennially occupies an undisputable position among the world civilizations; moreover, it is bound to exert even greater influences on the social progress due to their rationality and scientism.The construction of the cooperative coexistence and appropriate resolution of the"aboriginal issue"require the government to thoroughly transform the notion of Superiority and various prejudice, respecting the aboriginal choices and inherent rights, implementing a series of effective policies to the advantage of the aboriginal renaissance in politics and economy, and in particular promoting the flourish and diffusion of the aboriginal cultures and absorbing the theoretical essence in order to enhance mutual understandings and respects. It is a formidable but great historical mission representing the human justice and ideals; it demands persistent exertions and struggles generation by generation.