Canada is a country extremely rich in multiculturalism, with a unique history. A main component of Canada's distinct identities are Canadian Aboriginals. Aboriginal peoples also referred to as First Nations, Indians and Natives, have always played a central role in Canadian society (Miller 2002; 3). Although it is not known as to where Canada's Aboriginals originated, most agree that they have been calling Canadian soil their home for 30,000 to 100, 000 years (Carter 1999; 17). Before European explorers discovered Canada, Aboriginals lived peacefully with a thriving population of around 350,000 (Canadian Encyclopedia 2011). During this pre-colonial era, Canadian Aboriginals survived Canada's diverse environments by following migration patterns to hunt and fish their food, ensuring their survival. According to Statistics Canada's 2006 census, as of today, the population of Aboriginals in Canada total 1,172,790 people, or 3.8% of the national population. Canadian Aboriginals are comprised of over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands, each with their own distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music. Although Indian is the legal term still used in the Canadian Constitution to refer to this unique cultural group, I choose to use the term Aboriginal, as Indian is an inaccurate label first used by Christopher Columbus when he arrived in what he thought was India. The reason for which I have chosen a research topic pertaining to Canada's Aboriginals comes from my personal ties with the culture. My life has always had an undercurrent of social Aboriginal influence that I can attribute to my extended family. My godparents, accomplished members of the Alaskan Tlingit tribe, have been the leading examples of Aboriginal identity in my personal life. As such, I had always associated Aboriginal culture and life with that of my family's. It was not until I reached high school that I realized that my perception of the Aboriginal lifestyles was slightly skewed. I became close friends with a self identified Aboriginal, and through my friendship with him I became aware of the negative contentions many associate with Aboriginal culture. This is an active member of the Musqueam tribe and lives on the reservation in Vancouver. As I began to spend more time within his community, I realized that serious social inequality and issues had rendered many within his community to live in what I deem to be Third World-like conditions. I realized that the Third World existed in my own backyard. Like most reservations, garbage was strewn in the streets. What should have been considered a condemned home sat decaying behind a yard cluttered with junk. Emaciated stray animals ran by as I was faced with the sobering reality of life on one of British Columbia's Aboriginal reservations. I took immediate interest in this community, which led me to volunteer with several non-profit organizations that worked with at-risk Aboriginal youth in community programming. Through my volunteer work I was exposed to the abuse, racism and overall poverty that plight many of these people. Despite being faced with such grave social issues, I could not help but admire the Vancouver Aboriginals strong sense of community and preservation of culture. It is astounding that Canada, a country so rich in culture, could continually fail to address the social implications early history had on Canadian Aboriginals. For this reason, I have chosen to take a look at Canada's history in the treatment of these people to determine to what extent the Eurocentric missionaries in Canada during the late 1800's early 1900's demise Canadian Aboriginal Culture. The main focus of this paper is to first explore the theoretical frameworks such as colonialism, that enabled missionaries to set up these residential schools in order to assimilate and inevitable erase Aboriginal culture. By taking a close look at the missionaries paternal treatment of Canadian Aboriginals through language, religion, hygiene and clothing, I will assess how these factors set the stage for evoking the same feelings of old colonialism, white mans superiority and the desire for cultural assimilation. Uncovering the extent at which Aboriginal culture was lost is important and relevant in today's Canadian society as through its exploration we may be able to educate for the future and promote the restoration of Canadian Aboriginal culture.
In order to understand why residential schools were established or the implications of missionary involvement in Aboriginal life, a theoretical social foundation must be explained. To commence, the actions taken against Canadian Aboriginals by the Europeans can only be described as an example of colonialism. Colonialism is defined as the, "Territorial conquest, occupation, and direct control of one country by another. In some instances (as with Canadian Aboriginals), it also involved a large scale settlement and nearly always brought systems of great political inequality and economic exploitation (Haslam, Schaffer & Beaudet 2009; 500)." From the very beginning of settlement in Canada, European's wished to instill their own cultural attitudes and practices upon Canadian Aboriginals, establishing a system of colonial domination (Furniss 1999; 11). Canada's beginnings as a European settler colony that exerted imperialistic authority over the Aboriginal population has only been perpetuated in recent times, with Canadian government sometimes acting in a similar matter. Western society and the settler mindset continue to profoundly influence the ongoing practice of colonialism. The reason for these resonating colonial mindsets can be accredited Orientalism. Edward Said (1979) drew attention to Orientalism as a theoretical tool used by colonizers to enforce European Imperialism. Orientalism is the process by which the East is created and socialized to be different, subordinate to and exotic when compared to the West (Said 1979). Orientalism uses representations to emphasize differences between Aboriginals and the rest, such as the imagery of red skin, feathered headpieces and loincloths. Orientalism also perpetuates a notion of colonizers being superior to the colonized, as it portrays the colonized as barbaric when compared to modern society. It comes as no surprise that the effects of Orientalism still hold a place in today's society, with leaders such as Richard Pound (2008), former chancellor of McGill University being quoted, "We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European descent." Not only are such labels, like savage, extremely inaccurate and insulting, it just enforces the Western worlds fascination yet intolerance of exoticism. Another example of colonial repression can be found through the Indian Act, which criminalized Aboriginal law and customs (Hall 2003; 494). The purpose of the Indian Act was to, "enable the Canadian Federation to monopolize the exercise of sovereign authority in the lands, waters, courts and legislatures covering the northern half of North America (ibid)." As Anthony Hall (2003) continued, "the Aboriginal reserves and reservations that have been set aside in the course of European Imperialism stand as monuments to the central place afforded partition and to ethnic cleansing in the expansion of western civilizations." The Indian Act was an important policy that attempted to launch a trend of assimilation within Canadian Aboriginal communities. This desire of assimilation led to my final theory of Transculturation. This theory is used to describe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures, or in the case of Canadian Aboriginals, the destruction of culture (Ortiz 1995). Transculturation describes how the imperialistic European settlers essentially shaped Aboriginals into what they wanted, and in the process Aboriginal identity and culture is lost. With this being said, although Aboriginals could not control European action, they were able to control what aspects of western life they wanted to absorb and what of their own culture they wanted to keep. Despite the Europeans best attempts at assimilation, Aboriginals were able to maintain some aspects of their culture while most remains lost in history. By considering these basic principles, it is evident to see how European Imperialism led to the colonization of Canadian Aboriginals, while promoting Orientalism and Transculturation, which inevitably led to the loss of the Aboriginal culture. Now to put these theories into practice, we must first explore why missionaries were imperative in the colonization of Aboriginals
At confederation, the Federal Government was given responsibility for Aboriginals and Aboriginal lands. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald stated "the great aim of our civilization has been to do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian people in all respects with the inhabitants of the Dominion, as speedily as they are fit for the change (Fleras & Elliot 1992;39)." Like in all colonization, early Canadians desired Aboriginal assimilation in to the model European lifestyle. Beginning in the 1870s, the federal government began an effort to assimilate Aboriginals by promoting education as a means of becoming a productive member of society. The government's ideal scenario was for Aboriginals to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs in the hopes that their adopted lifestyle would be passed on in each generation, completely diminishing Aboriginal tradition. The most sensible people to carry out this task would be missionaries. A missionary, as defined by the Webster dictionary, is a person undertaking a religious mission. From the beginning of the European colonization, Christianity had made its presence within Aboriginal interactions. When Jacques Cartier reached Baie des Chaleurs in 1534, he presented the Aboriginals with a rosary, and erected a large cross with the inscription "Vive le Roi de France", combining patriotism with religion (Maurice 1911; 1). Christians and missionaries alike have always possessed a very evangelical mentality, due to Jesus' advice to spread his word. Their main objective was to convert Aboriginals, then to make them civil and more European in behavior. By 1931, there were 44 Roman Catholic, 21 Anglican, 13 United Church, and 2 Presbyterian residential schools in Canada run by these missionaries (Austin and Scott 2003; 36). Residential schools were the product of assimilation based on the assumption that Europeans were superior technologically, morally, artistically and intellectually and that Aboriginal people were child like savages, with little social organizations, superstitious and their beliefs paganistic (Carney 1995; 13). Ontario's chief superintendent of schools outlined an Aboriginal educational policy in 1847 which states that Aboriginal children should be schooled in separate, denominational, boarding, English-only and agriculturally-oriented institutions. (ibid; 16) For the most part, the children were taught Christian doctrine, French, song and music, training in stonework, tailoring and shoe making for the boys and domestic skills for the girls (ibid). Between the years 1880-1990, thousand of children were removed from their rural homes; disrupting Aboriginal families, in order to re- socialize them to be members of a non-Aboriginal world. The full extent to which these residential schools run by missionaries destroyed Aboriginal culture will now be examined.
One of the most crucial effects of the attempted assimilation on the part of European missionaries in residential schools is the loss of Aboriginal culture and customs. Having removed Aboriginal children from their homes and placing them in residential schools, Aboriginal culture was losing its grip on its future generations. Aboriginal family heritage was replaced by the values of the modern European. To begin assimilation, missionaries were to only speak English within residential schools. Aboriginal children were rewarded for learning the language, while punished if they continued to use their native tongue. For Aboriginals, language was a piece of their unique identity. With the loss of a language, comes a death of a culture. It is estimated that over the past 100 years, ten once flourishing Aboriginal languages have become extinct with at least a dozen that are almost extinct (Norris 1998). The loss of these languages can be directly attributed to residential schools and with each language that faces extinction comes the loss of a little piece of our Canadian identity and history. Today only three of Canada's 50 Aboriginal languages, Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut, have large enough populations to be considered secure from the threat of extinction in the future (ibid). Often missionaries were faced with severe language barrier, thus religion became a means by which people would communicate. Although missionaries may seemed to have been focused solely on assimilating Canadian Aboriginals, their definitive goal was to see a global conversion to Christianity (Higham 2000;16). Missionaries had the job of trying to convert as many people as quickly as possible. Aboriginal religions are mainly sets of social and cultural customs for dealing with the sacred and the supernatural. Aboriginals worshiped different deities, with each deity being depicted in a tangible form such as a plant or animal. The religions of Aboriginals were very closely linked to the nature, which surrounded them. Europeans considered Aboriginals as pagans, dismissing their beliefs and in an attempt to save their soul, enforced Christian practices, especially within the residential schools. An example of this is that Aboriginal names, which were a part of their tradition and religion, were replaces with Anglo-European names (Child 1993; 65). The influence of European missionaries brought change in to all Aboriginal religious forms, without a single group going spiritually untouched. (Norris 1998). The after effects of these conversions still resonate, out of 111,043 Aboriginals that identify themselves as religious in Canada, 40,820 of them are Catholic(ibid). Religion was also used as subject upon which missionaries were able to infuse messages about hygiene and apparel. In order to capture the minds of Aboriginal peoples, they had to capture their bodies first. (Rutherdale 2003) Hygiene was somewhat of a foreign concept to most Aboriginal communities, but missionaries within the residential schools ensured that strict hygienic routines were enforced. Students were told that as became cleaner, they became more studious since cleanliness was next to godliness. Missionaries introduced the use of coal oil, soap, toothpaste and cod-liver oil (ibid). The introduction of Western products that changed the appearance and customs of Aboriginals was clearly an effect of colonization. With the introduction of hygiene, came the makeovers of traditional appearances. Men's long hair, which was only to be cut when in mourning, became a significant practice, an example of the loss of identity. Missionaries and the Canadian government alike also wanted Aboriginals to dress in European fashions since clothing was an outward expression of successful civilization (Rutherdale 2003). Traditional blankets, furs and skins were replaced with synthetic pants and jackets. It is clear that missionaries ensured they did all in their power to make Aboriginals seem more European. Through language, religion, hygiene and outward appearances, it is undeniable that missionaries forever altered Aboriginal culture.
The presence of colonialism within Canadian history is undeniable yet its country's own Prime Minister Stephen Harper (2009) was once quoted saying, "We are one of the most stable regimes in history. We also have no history of colonialism." Such attitudes must be expelled now more then ever as Canada is a well-educated and modern society. Canadian Aboriginals were faced with what could be colloquially termed as a cultural genocide at the hands of our founding fathers. Even so, the Aboriginal culture has not completely been exterminated and it is up to today's generation to revive and continue the traditions of the Aboriginal peoples. As the generation of tomorrow, we must ensure that Aboriginal culture remains apart of our Canadian education, as it is such an imperative part of Canadian identity. The extent to which the European missionaries in Canada during the late 1800's early 1900's led to the demise of Canadian Aboriginal culture has clearly been explained through the examination of colonialism, missionaries, residential schools, and the resulting loss of language, religion, and tradition. It is not fair to assume that every missionary was bad. To make judgment on all missionaries would be unjust, as many probably believed they were doing the right thing. Nevertheless, the damage done to Aboriginal culture at the hands of these religious leaders is undeniable. It is essential that imperialistic sentiments in regards to minority and exotic populations, such as the Canadian Aboriginals, remain a thing of the past. It is important to recognize the plight of the Aboriginal community in order to help support and sustain their culture today. Canada needs to become a model in development, a model in dealing with diversity. In conclusion, it is extremely evident that the Eurocentric missionaries in Canada during the late 1800's early 1900's were key actors to which the demise of Canadian Aboriginal Culture can be attributed.
