Violence against Indigenous and Racialized women in Canada society

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Title: Violence against Indigenous and Racialized women in Canada society
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The history of Indigenous women in Canada and their role within their families and
societies is directly related to their exploitation under colonial rule. Since their arrival to North
America, systemtic barriers created by the French and British have led to structural and
institutional transgressions against Indigenous women. Violence against women during colonial
rule was brutal. The deterioration of their socio-economic status corresponded to shifting
changes to their political identity as well. After colonialism the role of Indigenous women in
Canadian society were transformed from the subjects of Empire, straight into abject poverty and
as the subjects of institutional racism and violence. This essay will explore how engendered
identities exist in relation to one another, investigating how the role of indigenous women during
colonial times can be compared with contemporary women’s issues in Western Canada. Hence,
in this paper it will be argued that violence against Indigenous women in Canadian society leads
to a deterioration of their socio-economic status, relative to the restructuring of indigenous
identity during Colonial rule.
Colonial rule was characterised by systemic violence against Indigenous women. This not
only took the form of long-standing laws that prevented indigenous women from ownership of
property or territorial rights of any kind, also policies that impacted how and when their cultures
could be practiced (Fitzgerald 2006). In many respects the condition to which indigenous women
became subject was characterised by dispossession, disassociation and dissociation. The Gradual
Civilization Act, passed in 1857, which also marks the beginning of gender-based restrictions to
Indigenous status disproportionately effecting women. This law allowed men to renounce their
Indigenous status but not women, revealing how politics and reform can also be conceived along
a gendered analysis as well. Colonial rule was in many ways much different than people 
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References
Amnesty International. (2008). Stolen Sisters: A human rights response to discrimination and
violence against Indigenous women in Canada. Canadian Woman Studies, 26(3), 105-
121.
Brownridge, D. (2003). Male partner violence against aboriginal women in Canada: An
empirical analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18(1), 65-83.
Fitzgerald, T. (2006). Walking between Two Worlds Indigenous Women and Educational
Leadership. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 34(2), 201-213.
Harper, A. O. (2006). Is Canada peaceful and safe for Aboriginal women? Canadian Woman
Studies, 25(1), 33-38.
Moss, W. (1990). Indigenous Self-Government in Canada and Sexual Equality under the Indian
Act: Resolving Conflicts between Collective and Individual Rights. Queen's LJ, 15, 279.
Smith, D., Varcoe, C., & Edwards, N. (2005). Turning around the intergenerational impact of
residential schools on Aboriginal people: Implications for health policy and practice.
CJNR (Canadian Journal of Nursing Research), 37(4), 38-60. 


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