Suicide is an increasingly pressing issue in Aboriginal communities in Canada. Along with self-harm, they a are the leading causes of death for Aboriginal people up to 44 years of age (Source, 9999). From 1999 to 2003, the suicide rate in Inuit regions across Canada averaged 135/100,000, over 10 times the national rate (Government of Canada, 2006). According to a 2008-2010 survey, 22% of First Nations adults report suicide ideation at some point in their lifetime compared to 9% of adults in the general population (First Nations Information Governance Centre, 2010). On the other hand, colonialism has had an important impact on the history of Aboriginal people in Canada by influencing their access to land, their cultural practices and their social cohesion. These factors have shaped their physical and psychological reality and thus must be understood in order to provide better care to Aboriginal individuals contemplating suicide. In this paper I will address the question: what is colonialism’s contribution to the suicide epidemic in Aboriginal communities in Canada? The course discussions about race’s influence on the relations between groups, identity and most importantly the historical and ongoing colonization of Aboriginal people will be reflected in this analysis. Using a Complex Systems Theory approach, I will consider a large number of this topic’s elements and their interactions.
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In this framework, the population’s health is considered as an emergent property of the complex system’s parts and their nonlinear relationships (Rioux, 2016). To explore the feedback loops between factors it is essential to investigate multiple elements on different scales as well as their functioning to create a comprehensive model. Social and environmental contributions can be studied through population and individual outcomes, such as historical trauma and its psychological consequences. Economic, political and cultural abuses are exerted in policies affecting Aboriginal communities. Furthermore, these abuses have participated in the development of suicide risk factors such as internalized negative stereotypes and a loss of communal and individual identity. I will examine colonialism’s role in Aboriginal distress by focusing on power relations through the application of Critical/Anti-Racist theory and Michel Foucault’s notion of discourse. Critical/Anti-Racist theory was developed as a reaction to the abuse of power taking place in the application of the law and the systemic discrimination based on white privilege and stereotypes of racialized groups (Berry, 2016). Also, Foucault developed the concept of discourses as “ways of constituting knowledge, together with social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations [which reflect the nature of] the body, mind and life of the subjects they seek to govern” (Weedon, 1987, p.108). Each of these theories will inform how colonialism abuse caused bla and bla. Subheading /Racialization Identity control through political impositions has been identified as an aspect of colonialism that has had a negative impact on the psychological well-being of Aboriginal communities (Lawrence, 2003). In the same way as many of the laws regulating Aboriginal life did, the creation of the “Indian” status came from the Canadian Indian Act of 1876. This identification measure acted as an external descriptor that had been meaningless to Aboriginal people before colonization. This status was only attributed to those who could prove that they were related, through the male line, to people who already had a “Indian” status. Without it, Native individuals could not live on any of the Canadian reserves. By 1985, the legislation from the Indian Act caused two-thirds of all Native people in Canada to be landless and unable to take part in their own community (Holmes, 1987). Critical/Anti-Racist theory highlights how race is affected by social constructions and defines an individual’s access to social groups, political influence, and material resources, which ultimately results in distinctive health outcomes (Berry, 2016a). The reduction of the Aboriginal community to the raced identity of “Indian” reflects this scheme since race was the foundation of social exclusion and systematic racism resulting in psychological health inequalities between the Aboriginal community and the general population. (Lawrence, 2003). Furthermore, Critical/Anti Racist theory’s point that identity results in differential outcomes for members of a defined racialized identity group (Berry, 2016a) is reflected in the pattern of historical trauma, from colonialism’s racialization process which diminished diverse nations to common experiences of subjugation, and elevated suicide rates. Historical trauma has been found to have an impact on health above and beyond any contemporary stressors such as family violence, material problems
In this framework, the population’s health is considered as an emergent property of the complex system’s parts and their nonlinear relationships (Rioux, 2016). To explore the feedback loops between factors it is essential to investigate multiple elements on different scales as well as their functioning to create a comprehensive model. Social and environmental contributions can be studied through population and individual outcomes, such as historical trauma and its psychological consequences. Economic, political and cultural abuses are exerted in policies affecting Aboriginal communities. Furthermore, these abuses have participated in the development of suicide risk factors such as internalized negative stereotypes and a loss of communal and individual identity. I will examine colonialism’s role in Aboriginal distress by focusing on power relations through the application of Critical/Anti-Racist theory and Michel Foucault’s notion of discourse. Critical/Anti-Racist theory was developed as a reaction to the abuse of power taking place in the application of the law and the systemic discrimination based on white privilege and stereotypes of racialized groups (Berry, 2016). Also, Foucault developed the concept of discourses as “ways of constituting knowledge, together with social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations [which reflect the nature of] the body, mind and life of the subjects they seek to govern” (Weedon, 1987, p.108). Each of these theories will inform how colonialism abuse caused bla and bla. Subheading /Racialization Identity control through political impositions has been identified as an aspect of colonialism that has had a negative impact on the psychological well-being of Aboriginal communities (Lawrence, 2003). In the same way as many of the laws regulating Aboriginal life did, the creation of the “Indian” status came from the Canadian Indian Act of 1876. This identification measure acted as an external descriptor that had been meaningless to Aboriginal people before colonization. This status was only attributed to those who could prove that they were related, through the male line, to people who already had a “Indian” status. Without it, Native individuals could not live on any of the Canadian reserves. By 1985, the legislation from the Indian Act caused two-thirds of all Native people in Canada to be landless and unable to take part in their own community (Holmes, 1987). Critical/Anti-Racist theory highlights how race is affected by social constructions and defines an individual’s access to social groups, political influence, and material resources, which ultimately results in distinctive health outcomes (Berry, 2016a). The reduction of the Aboriginal community to the raced identity of “Indian” reflects this scheme since race was the foundation of social exclusion and systematic racism resulting in psychological health inequalities between the Aboriginal community and the general population. (Lawrence, 2003). Furthermore, Critical/Anti Racist theory’s point that identity results in differential outcomes for members of a defined racialized identity group (Berry, 2016a) is reflected in the pattern of historical trauma, from colonialism’s racialization process which diminished diverse nations to common experiences of subjugation, and elevated suicide rates. Historical trauma has been found to have an impact on health above and beyond any contemporary stressors such as family violence, material problems