Canada is known for many good things but there are also moments in Canadian history that are not true to the Canadian identity.
The Indian act became an object of assimilation. under the act, first nations peoples were made wards of the federal government. As well first nations peoples were forced to give up their status if they were to get a university education or a professional job. As well, if an aboriginal woman married a non-aboriginal man she would lose her status.
The white paper, is a government proposed policy whose purpose was to make Aboriginal people to be assimilated into Canadian society. The policy made the special right to Aboriginal reserves such as not paying taxes to be abolished and encouraged them to search for jobs outside their reserves and therefore lose their identity.
A dark part of Canada's history, that should be studied more in schools, is that of the residential schools. the residential schools were in themselves a form of cultural genocide. Aboriginal youth were taken from their families and were forced into these schools where they were not allowed to practice their language culture or religion. most schools were government sanctioned and were run by religious groups. in most schools abuse was rampant and in others, students were raped by teachers.
The Somalia affair is another dark moment in Canada's history, one that tarnished the Canadian reputation worldwide. Two Canadian peacekeepers beat to death a Somali teenager. this incident became a global issue and led to changes in Canadian forces.
The province of Quebec has always had a feeling of separatism from Canada and there were times when the Quebecois took matters into their own hands. Some Quebec nationalists kidnapped important members and demanded that Quebec be given her own nationality as ransom. The Canadian government used the war measures act which gave the government absolute power.
Canada had immigration policies in place that restricted the flow of immigrants from certain countries. these immigrants were not allowed to enter the country because they were willing to work for a fraction of the current pay. those immigrants who entered Canada were subject to racism and abuse in their communities.
