Indigenous Australians and Canadians 'destroyed by same colonialism'
Indigenous Australians and Canadians 'destroyed by same colonialism'
Communities in the two countries are grappling with the same problems of child welfare and high rates of imprisonment, says Canadian expert
Calla Wahlquist
@callapilla
Wednesday 24 February 2016 15.00 EST
Aboriginal disadvantage in Canada mirrors that of Indigenous people in Australia because both are survivors of colonialism, a leading Canadian advocate has said.
Aboriginal peoples in Canada were grappling with record numbers of their children being placed in the child welfare system and a huge over-representation in the criminal justice system – the same issues that faced Australia, said Jonathan Rudin, head of Aboriginal Legal Services of Canada.
“It’s the same story,” he said at a Legal Aid Victoria event in Melbourne on Tuesday. “And the reason it’s the same story is English settler colonialism works the same way, which is that you find a place with an indigenous population and then you destroy them as a people.”
The statistics were almost identical. Aboriginal peoples make up 4% of the Canadian population and 25% of its prison population. In Australia, the 3% of the population who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders make up 27% of those in prison.
More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/25/indigenous-australians-and-canadians-destroyed-by-same-colonialism
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