Description of Offensive Editorial

The source under review is an editorial publication that appeared in a community newspaper, Morris Mirror, on January 14 2013. The editorial describes the Aboriginal community as lazy and corrupt. The editorial accuses the “Indians/Natives” as acting like terrorists in their own country by demanding too much from the government.

The editorial evokes the themes of racism and discrimination. The sentiments raised in the editorial received criticism from the members of the Aboriginal community and some sections of the Canadian society.  The editorial states that the Aboriginals want too much from the government but it is corruption and laziness that prevent some of them from obtaining it (CBC News). In this regard, the paper casts aspersions on the whole Aboriginal community. The source is critical because newspapers are produced for the public and must be sensitive all sections of the community. The editor of the newspaper only gave a half-hearted response to the public demand for an apology. This shows that the newspaper’s management agreed with the ideas expressed in the editorial. The depiction of Aboriginals as lazy and corrupt will enhance this study and identify the prevailing prejudices of society about these indigenous Canadian citizens.

The major stakeholders represented by the article include the newspaper management, the aboriginal community and the general public. The Newspaper management made the decision to publish the offensive editorial while the Aboriginals are the recipients of the negative sentiment. The general public plays the role of expressing their views and opinions and helps generate discourse about society’s opinions about the Aboriginals. The editorial was written in 2013 during a period of mass protests by Aboriginals and their supporters under the theme “Idle No More”. The movement was initiated as a reaction to alleged federal government failure to honor their obligation regarding the indigenous treaty rights. In addition, the protest has been influenced partly by the omnibus Bill C-45 (Barker, 2015). The source is biased because it condemns a community using general and unacceptable terms to describe the Natives. The article makes reference to Natives as “lazy” and “terrorists in their own country”. Regarding their demands, the editorial states that “Indians/Natives want it all” without specifying. Such terms represent prejudice and represent the inherent bias of the publishers.

The newspaper is mainly distributed among the residents of Manitoba which is Canada’s fifth most populous province. With a population of more than 1.3 million people, the newspaper potentially influences the opinions of a sizeable population in Canada. Canada is the native home of the Aboriginals and yet they continue to suffer discrimination from the federal government and other non-native populations (Leddy, 2017). In this regard, this jurisdiction is important in establishing the salient features of bias and discrimination about an indigenous community in Canada.

Context behind the Editorial

The tabling of the omnibus C-45 Bill sparked the Idle No More protests that were founded by four women. the women; Nina Wilson, Sheelah McLean, Syvia Mc Adam and Jessica Gordon were unhappy by the action of the prime minister to ignore critical environmental legislations by introducing a controversial budget implementation bill (John, 2015). However, the Idle No More protests were about the wider issues concerning the Aboriginals who faced several cases of discrimination from successive Canadian governments. The Aboriginal community thus used the opportunity to express their disgust at the society’s discriminatory attitude that sidelined them economically and politically (Nettelbeck, Smandych, Knafla and Foster, 2016). The editorial was thus prompted by the demands by the Idle No More movement where they perceived the Aboriginals as asking too much from the government. 

The occurrence of indigenous communities has been covered extensively in history.  However, much of the early information about these communities was documented by the non-indigenous authors who left out critical aspects. The origin of indigenous people can now be traced to North America. Although there have been numerous attempts to destroy indigenous populations over the last 500 years, indigenous communities, depicting various cultural and religious diversities (Salisbury, 2017). Regardless of their locations, Indigenous communities are distinguished by their dressing, religious and cultural practices and their food among other aspects.

The Aboriginal community of Canada continues to experience economic and social disadvantages despite the fact that they are natives of the country. Several legislations to protect their rights and culture have not been honored by successive governments. The publishing of the offensive editorial by the Morris Mirror is a evidence that the Canadian society’s discriminatory sentiments towards this community

There still exists the problem of racism against the Native community in Canada despite efforts to integrate the community into mainstream life. The Aboriginal communities are bound by strong cultural bonds and are particularly attached to land. Despite the forces of modernity, the community continues to live semi traditional lives and the practice of their cultural rituals. The demand for their rights under the constitution under the Idle No More movement has provoked the publication of an offensive editorial. This action signifies the entrenchment of discriminatory sentiments by influential institutions in society.

The Action by the Morris Mirror to publish a discriminatory piece in the editorial section of the newspaper does not augur well in modern times. An editorial represents the opinion of the media house about a matter and in this regard, the publication demonstrated the inherent racism of society. Depicting the Aboriginals as lazy is a failure by the media house to understand the cultural orientation of the community. The Aboriginals and their supporters were advocating for their rights under the constitution including legislations that successive governments had failed to implement. The authors of the editorial therefore failed to appreciate the ethic group’s attachment to land are thus guilty of discrimination.

The editorial also mentioned that the natives were acting as terrorists in their own country. Terrorism is a serious accusation and when used against an indigenous community in Canada, it represents bias and racism. The Aboriginals are of a distinctly a different race and their needs under the Canadian government have been officially acknowledged (Asch, M. (2014). However, the entrenched sentiments of racism against this group hinder their enjoyment of these rights leading to social and economic challenges. The Newspaper editorial represented the views of Canadian racists who have refused to accept the unique situation of the Canadian Aboriginal community.

The government and the press in Canada must work to correct the societal sentiment that Aboriginals are lazy and corrupt. The government is the custodian of the rights of every citizen and must enforce these rights without discrimination. The press, on the other hand is widely acknowledged as the voice of the people. In this regard, media houses must use their influence to spread tolerance in the society by publishing editorial opinions with care. The Aboriginals of Canada continue to face discrimination from society and both the government and the press must work to promote their wellbeing in the country.

References

Asch, M. (2014). On being here to stay: Treaties and Aboriginal rights in Canada. University of Toronto Press.

Barker, A. J. (2015). ‘A direct act of resurgence, a direct act of sovereignty’: Reflections on idle no more, Indigenous activism, and Canadian settler colonialism. Globalizations, 12(1), 43-65.

CBC News. Manitoba newspaper sparks furor with racist editorial. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-newspaper-sparks-furor-with-racist-editorial-1.1323976. Retrieved October 8, 2018

John, S. (2015). Idle No More-Indigenous Activism and Feminism. Theory in Action, 8(4), 38.

Kirchhoff, D., & Tsuji, L. J. (2014). Reading between the lines of the ‘Responsible Resource Development’rhetoric: the use of omnibus bills to ‘streamline’Canadian environmental legislation. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 32(2), 108-120.

Leddy, L. C. (2017). Intersections of Indigenous and environmental history in Canada. Canadian Historical Review, 98(1), 83-95.

Nettelbeck, A., Smandych, R., Knafla, L. A., & Foster, R. (2016). Fragile Settlements: Aboriginal Peoples, Law, and Resistance in South-West Australia and Prairie Canada. UBC Press.

Salisbury, N. (2017). The Indians’ old world: Native Americans and the coming of Europeans. In Colonial America and the Early Republic (pp. 1-24). Routledge.