Native Culture And Spiritual Beliefs example essay topic

By the end of the Victorian period hardly a people remained on the face of the earth whose social structure, culture, and basic way of life had not been more or less violently disrupted. -Cell, Imperial Conscience 1 When the first explorers reported that they had reached the Pacific coast, they mentioned that there were inhabitants already occupying the territory. Although sometimes reluctant to even bother reporting on the Native peoples, the explorers stated that it wasn t worth looking into the cultures of these people 2. This attitude of ignorant explorers laid the groundwork for prejudicial preconception of the future settlers that ultimately resulted in assimilation. One conclusion that white men made was that the Natives would eventually annihilate themselves because they were not a self-sufficient nation. This assumption has proved to be faulty, in that through all the turmoil that the Aboriginals of British Columbia have suffered through racism, reserve systems, residential schools, and prohibition of practicing their cultural traditions, they have survived and in fact, have prospered and continue to prosper in the present day.

Colonization During the colonization period of the 1800's, settlers started to fill up Britain's western colony. The gold rush enhanced the popularity of the colony and the settlers became preoccupied with its wealth to deal with themselves adapting to the rights of the Natives and instead were pushed aside and European assimilation began 3. The settlers were told of the extreme racial differences and beliefs and decided that the only theirs were valid. They saw the Native culture and spiritual beliefs as heathenistic and barbaric; nonetheless, there was the odd settler that saw the cultures o the Northwest Coast to be astounding. Overall, the settlers knew that if they were going to dominate the colony, they would have to constrain the Natives and rid them of their culture. Assimilation Before British Columbia reached provincial status in 1871, the colony started to enforce assimilation.

The first act of assimilation were the 14 Douglas treaties which took place from 1850 to 1854, when the settlers wanted to free the land from Native occupation on Vancouver Island. The fourteen treaties involved moving the Natives onto small reserves and camps; as well as granting them small allowances such as cash, clothing for the chief, and livestock. In the 1860's it was viewed that the Natives didn t have a sophisticated society, and were not competent to settle the land. This opinion lead to the creation of reserves for the rest of British Columbia when the Indian Act was constituted 4. The next step in assimilation was the British North America Act.

The BNA Act was created in 1876, and it legislated that Natives became a federal responsibility (section 91) 5. This meant that all native relations were to be dealt with by federal government and the Douglas treaties came to a halt. The reasons why there was no more treaties was because the land became the responsibility of the province and the provincial government didn t agree with Native land title; funds were cut by the colonial office in Britain; and because the majority of the settlers disagreed to give public funds, Douglas also no longer believed that Natives retained land title 6. The Indian Act The end of the Douglas treaties didn t stop assimilation. The Indian act was created in 1876.

This act demoralized the Natives by more or less treating them like wild animals. Reserves for the rest of the province were formed and laws became enforced to keep order among the savages. The laws of the Indian Act were inhumane, for example, there was a pass law in which any one Native person could not leave the reserve without permission by their Indian Agent. With regard to Indian agents, only they could determine who was status and who was not. The Indian agent could also strip a Native of their status. Such was done when a Native woman married a white man or, if a Native got a University degree, his status would be taken away.

Church Influences The churches also had a big part in assimilating Natives. William Duncan was among the missionaries who believed that Christianity was best for the Natives 7 The churches wanted to convert all Natives and abolish Native culture, this was when the potlatches were prohibited 8. The potlatch prohibition is easily one of the most monstrous acts of cruelty that the Europeans imposed on Natives. The potlatch was the way Natives governed themselves. Every important event that occurred in Native society resulted in a potlatch. Birth, Death, marriage, shame, settlement, and victory feasts were all common practice.

The purpose of having a feast was to resolve a problem, tragedy, or celebrate a joyous event. In the feast hall, the participants were seated according to clan, house, and finally rank. This is where social structure is most important because it was the way that Natives honored and respected the living and the dead, paid out debts, and thanked clans and people for their kindness and assistance. The churches also suggested residential schools. The children that were sent away from their families were forced to learn how to be European and they were not allowed to speak their language, let alone see or speak to their siblings, which was punishable if they were caught doing so. Many tragedies occurred in residential schools including sexual, physical, and mental abuse which has caused psychological harm to many of the children who attended residential schools 9.

The potlatch wasn t the only tradition that the church eradicated. Wearing traditional regalia and dancing were also outlawed. This was a grave adversity. For the Natives, oral history was how they educated their future chiefs and matriarchs. The history was often told by a story from an elder, a ceremonial dance, or by art.

Before the settlers came, lineage were passed down from generation to generation in either of these forms. There are a variety of dances along the northwest coast. Each nation has there own dances; in which each clan, house, and chief own. Regalia would often be worn for dances or potlatches with various art work which was exclusive to that of the owner.

The art work alone was an aspect of history and was always created for a purpose, every object that had art work on it symbolized a story or ownership. The natives continued to have potlatches, they would have them in secret, out of sight from the Indian agent. When Alert Bay Natives were caught having an illegal potlatch, their Indian agent offered their freedom in exchange for their regalia 10. Attitudes toward Natives By the late 19th century the majority of settlers saw the Native people as a nuisance. These people were extreme capitalists and were only concerned about their personal gain and not the respect of a different culture.

Barman suggests that there were four major misconceptions surrounding the view of Natives 11. During this period, nationalism became very prominent across the world. It was no different in North America, now that the Europeans were the dominant race in British Columbia, they were not afraid to treat the Natives like inferiors. The Europeans also assumed that the land the Natives traditionally lived - off of was just being wasted if it was not cultivated. Barman also stated that the Native culture and spiritual beliefs were irrelevant to the Europeans, and they didn t care too much to actually realize that there was structure and governance which was not unlike that of European hierarchy. The final and most dreadful misconception was that the Europeans figured that the Natives would eventually disappear.

The Europeans believed in these misconceptions to their full extent. It was from the thoughts and idealism of the ignorant settlers that the Indian policy became a reality. Conclusion To truly understand the effects that assimilation had on the Northwest coast Natives, one must live the life of a Native. It is difficult for non-natives to interpret the hardships that occurred in the lives of the Natives by only reading from a book.

The unjust realities that took place could never be obliterated, but over the years Natives have become more than just an alien in a European society, but a part of Canadian society. The European idealism that was determined to make Canada has long since passed and the Canada that has been made is proud to be multicultural. Assimilation didn t work in British Columbia and today Natives are on their way to regaining their lost culture. There are numerous Native organizations that strive ensure that their culture will never die again. These organizations also encourage non-natives of all ethnic groups to share in the prosperity of their culture. Today Native edification is thriving, there is still a presence of prejudice, but the majority of British Columbians have become less ignorant and more understanding; which truly lives up to the name of today's Canadian.

Work Cited: barman, Jean The West Beyond The West (1996) University of Toronto Press. vs. Fisher, Robin. Contact And Conflict Second Edition (1994) UBC Press. vFrideres, James. S Aboriginal Peoples In Canada Fifth Edition (1998) Prentice Hall. vs. Johnston, Hugh J.M. The Pacific Province (1996) Douglas & McIntyre. vs. McMillan, Alan D. Native Peoples And Cultures of Canada Second Edition (1995) Douglas & McIntyre.