Context: Canada & Australia
Aboriginal flag for Australia
While Canada and Australia are located on opposite sides of the globe, they have in common multiple important similarities. Australia and Canada have the distinction of being the only two countries that have official government policies of multiculturalism. What is interesting about multiculturalism is that it is often discussed in terms of cultural diversity pertaining to immigrants, refugees and visible minorities, while Indigenous peoples are too often excluded from such conversations. However, Indigenous peoples are not only left out of cultural diversity discussions, but they are also steadily, and arguably more acceptably, oppressed. Indigenous peoples form an integral part of these countries’ social fabrics but face continual discrimination and experience multiple inequities and issues at disproportionately higher rates than their non-Indigenous counterparts.
Additionally, both Canada and Australia are British Commonwealth countries and one of the most significant similarities they share is their histories of European colonialism. The relationships between the colonialists and the Indigenous peoples of these two countries have yielded immense consequences that began from the initial point of contact and continue on through to the present day.
While there is incredible diversity amongst the Indigenous peoples of these two countries, they share markedly similar detrimental experiences. As such, it is interesting, as well as imperative, to question, why is this so?
Additionally, both Canada and Australia are British Commonwealth countries and one of the most significant similarities they share is their histories of European colonialism. The relationships between the colonialists and the Indigenous peoples of these two countries have yielded immense consequences that began from the initial point of contact and continue on through to the present day.
While there is incredible diversity amongst the Indigenous peoples of these two countries, they share markedly similar detrimental experiences. As such, it is interesting, as well as imperative, to question, why is this so?