Looking for more Indigenous news? Find our stories here.
Statistics Canada data shows discrimination is increasing for Indigenous people across Canada.
At a press conference on Friday over an alleged racist incident at a Vancouver hotel, Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Centre executive director Cal Albright said “Canadians are hardwired for anti-Indigenous racism (and) have been groomed to believe stereotypes of Indigenous people.”
When Indigenous people need support they are often met with backlash. And experts say this is partially to do with common misconceptions and stereotypes that are believed about Indigenous people like they don’t pay taxes and rely on handouts, they’ve ‘done this’ to themselves or they’re all the same.
And having to regularly deal with racist remarks and stereotypes can lead to negative mental health and overall well-being. Below, experts address some of the most common.
Did Indigenous people cause their own challenges?
“Indigenous people did not do this to themselves; the government, the state and the churches (did),” said settler-historian and Douglas College professor Carling Beninger. “Canada was set up from the beginning to enforce assimilation and genocidal policies.”
Beninger outlined how settler colonialism and many government policies attempted to dispossess and assimilate Indigenous people.
“The state wanted Indigenous people to cease to exist and a way that they did that is they set up the residential school system,” she said.
“They wanted to assimilate Indigenous (people) by destroying Indigenous culture, traditions and language through cultural genocide.”
Beninger said that in addition to the residential school system, there were many other measures of oppression and forced assimilation.
“There was forced relocations of Indigenous populations, outlawing Indigenous spiritual practices, the pass system that restricted movement of Indigenous people and forcing government structures as outlined in the Indian Act and failing to live up to treaty obligations.”
While the government wasn’t successful, said Beninger, the trauma from Canada’s attempts has left lasting impacts.
“It’s really important to understand intergenerational trauma. So even if a person didn’t go to residential school, but their parents did, or their family or community did, that trauma can be brought back to the community and impact everyone,” said Beninger.
Do Indigenous people get to skip out on taxes?
“It’s not true, that’s a myth,” said Kyle Willmott, an assistant professor of sociology at Simon Fraser University and Tyendinaga Mohawk. “Section 87 of the Indian Act ‘tax exemptions’ cover a limited amount of monies that would be taxed.”
Willmott said tax exemptions cover income earned on reserve and a limited amount of sales taxes.
Get breaking National news
“This idea that every Indigenous person has access to those legal rights is part of the myth. Because you have non-status people, you have Métis and Inuit who don’t have access to those things. It’s only people with status.”
Willmott’s research looks at why some people believe there’s a blanket tax exemption.
“Settlers hear these myths constantly, they come to see themselves, Indigenous people through the lens of their alleged fiscal relationship,” said Willmott.
“So you hear, ‘Indigenous people don’t pay tax,’ ‘They’re all on welfare,’ all of these pernicious myths but it really comes down to this kind of possessive desire. And, ‘my tax dollars are supporting you, therefore, I get to I get to control how it is that you should be living.‘”
Is post-secondary education free?
“Post-secondary education is not free, it really is a case-by-case basis, depending on the community and if they’ve been able to allocate funds,” said Elliott Young, Indigenous engagement director and Nêhiyaw from Ermineskin Cree Nation.
“For my community, they were able to use money from oil royalties back in the ’70s and ’80s and put it into a trust fund that is now called the Ermineskin Education Trust Fund,” he continued. “They use the interest and the dividends from that trust fund to help pay for post-secondary students or education for community members. But it’s very limited.
“They have a tiered system to ensure that they’re funding students that are most in need.”
Some communities aren’t able to fund their students to attend post-secondary at all, while others are limited to who they can support, or there are rules, such as funding ends if grades or attendance aren’t maintained.
Young says stereotypes like these perpetuate toxic rhetoric.
“There’s this concept that the relationship between Indigenous people and the federal government has led to some type of ‘benefits’ that Indigenous people have and that somehow these ‘benefits’ outweigh the impacts of colonization and assimilation and cultural genocide of residential schools,” said Young.
Are all Indigenous people the same?
“The simplest answer is no,” said Young.
In Canada, there are more than 630 First Nation communities, which represent more than 50 Nations and 50 Indigenous languages. There are also Métis settlements and more than 50 Inuit communities.
“There are so many different cultures and languages. There’s so much diversity and amazing culture, language, experiences, stories, teachings and narratives that these communities hold,” said Young. “There’s just so much to learn.”
Beninger regularly tells her students that Indigenous people aren’t homogenous.
“That whole ‘Indigenous people are the same’ really came from settler colonialism,” she said. “They homogenized First Nations, Métis and Inuit people because their policy was set up that way.“
Why is it important to tackle stereotypes?
“Encountering stereotypes has negative impacts on Indigenous people,” said Iloradanon Efimoff, an incoming psychology faculty member at Toronto Metropolitan University and Haida-European researcher. “Research shows that hearing stereotypes about Indigenous people can make (them) feel angry, annoyed, degraded, demeaned, helpless, hopeless, insulted, irritated, judged and unsafe.”
While not knowing the single best way of dealing with these stereotypes, Efimoff’s research shows that Indigenous people endorse education and relationships as an effective way to challenge racism.
“It can be easier to correct someone’s stereotypes about Indigenous people through education if you have a relationship with that person,” said Efimoff.
Beninger agrees that education is the right path, but taking that on can often be a lot and it shouldn’t always be left up to Indigenous people to do the work.
“It’s exhausting for people that have to deal with it, and I know there’s been a movement to call on people like me, settler historians, to help take up that space,” said Beninger.
“There’s a need to take some of that work away from Indigenous people if they don’t want to do it.”
Comments