Introduction
The tenets of Indigenous emerge from the interrelations and interconnection a people have with each other and with nature. The relationality of a significant indigenous population flows from a spiritual connection with nature, mainly land. Thus, the small community depended on the ground, and there was no possessiveness towards land. This principle of selflessness was affected by the “ravenous” people who sought to quench their unsatisfying appetites for land and the minerals the land provided (Monchalin, 2016). The colonial people encroached on the lands that the indigenous people occupied, displacing them as they possessed the lands building churches and schools.
Additionally, they sought to change the ideologies that indigenous people lived by seeking to assimilate them into their ways and beliefs. These structures affected the indigenous people’s way of life, darkening their spirituality to nature and land. The crimes that were committed by the “ravenous” people towards the indigenous population are still fresh, and their reservation to interact with the criminals who have committed heinous atrocities renders them to seclude themselves in the small areas that they were left with.
Currently, research on these atrocities is carried out to understand better the culture, norms, and beliefs of the forgotten people. Their pain provides a sense of togetherness and is related to the novel generation through stories. Stories of Inut tribes and other indigenous populations inflict an understanding of how the dark clouds still linger (Friedland, 2018). Research on indigenous people offers insight into the rich culture that has been overlooked and the need for reconciliation and atonement.
Personal biography
I am a 24-year-old student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in criminology with an emphasis on criminal law and vulnerable populations’ justice, which focuses on gender, vulnerable people, and indigenous populations’ studies. During the course, I have had significant accomplishments in diverse tenets, mainly in sports, and interacted with a diverse pool of people. The research on indigenous populations and vulnerable populace has helped broaden my understanding of the faculty. The remaining personal goal is the completion of the degree.
My primary goal is to learn about my weaknesses and strengths as I interact with others in the faculty and the research doctrine on other populace. This will help me advance in my mindset, grow my education achievements, and help ethically develop my professionalism. This will help me grow as a person through personal experiences and research. I want to broaden my understanding of criminology and its various tenets. Analysis and insight into the vulnerable and indigenous population will generate a more robust person who can affect the needed changes.
The tenet of multiculturalism entwined in criminology alienates the concept of people’s challenges to accepting their identity in practice. The program allows students to be conversant with a diverse cultural richness with different identities, norms, and ideologies. This helps one to feel proud of one’s culture. The learning of traditional indigenous nurturing family settings gives rise to the acceptance of the novel and conventional tenets of criminology. The facets of accommodating these two doctrines give a novel accepted equal practice for all races, cultures, and ethnicities (Angelino et al., 2023). Understanding how crime relates and develops in various cultures and what causes rates to differ from one culture to another helps integrate cultural-specific policies in mitigating these causes, thus reducing crime rates.
The criminal justice system is the backbone of Canadians’ productivity, safety, and wellness. Making the country law-abiding through an efficient, accessible, and fair system contributes to the fitness of every person in the country. The respect of the criminal justice system by all other arms of government and multidisciplinary cooperation and coordination make the jurisdictions for justice incorporate defending the law, establishing a fair court system that protects the constitution, and prosecuting various individuals with criminal offenses (Angelino et al., 2023). This system comprises a diverse multidisciplinary team of law enforcement, the bar, the prosecution, legal aid, courts, correctional and victim services, and other stakeholders.
Indigenous, colonial, and crime
Leanne Simpson’s article relates the doctrines of belief in the eighth fire narrated by elders. The richness of the paper follows several topics that are significant in understanding the tenets of lighting the fire. The narration begins with the origin of the man lowered to the earth doorway of Nishnaabeg country (Monchalin, 2016). The concept of identity is shown here where bilinguals will reach a place that dictates the choice of one identity to be accepted in citizenship of one. The effects of colonialism have been adverse, and the need for tracing one indigenous roots is critical for rebuilding a nation with a people who are proud of their identities. This rebuilding dictates that we revisit the ancient teachings to understand indigenous culture’s richness and ways of “mnobimaadzimin” ( S I M P S O N, 2009). additionally, this will only be possible by incorporating indigenous knowledge into the systems in place. The significant advantage of the indigenous knowledge system is that it is process-oriented and leaves systems derived from decontextualized ideology.
Making the younger generation conversant with the tenets of the spiritual world that entwines nature with nurture, thus creating a balance that is currently lacking in significant areas and frameworks. Frameworks of lack produce students who have tendencies to abuse society and others. The learning that is presently prone to violence, abuse, and crime builds retrogressive legacies. These legacies boost alcoholism, broken families, psychological disorders, and violence, mainly domestic. These effects are significant in the indigenous population and have shown an intergenerational legacy of violence, as researcher Deborah Chansonneuve’s study found ( S I M P S O N, 2009). She says the causes of these violent tendencies develop from childhood experiences of mistreatment and abuse, and the effects ripple through to childhood. This is further expounded by criminologist Irvin Cohen’s study showing that 49% of indigenous school survivors have been incarcerated for various crimes ranging from robbery, murder, drug abuse, theft, and arson. The study further showed that the offenders were once victims of abuse, including sexual abuse and physical abuse.
These studies show how the indigenous people’s endurance of abuse over the years has retaliated. Professor Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart says the indigenous population has suffered social, emotional, and spiritual violence, diseases, displacements, and forced assimilation. These historical atrocities have continued to affect the integrational traumas currently. This problem also relates that the indigenous people are overrepresented in the 8criminal justice system. The issues of systemic racism, where victimization of the indigenous people continues to escalate, create a resentment ideology that develops certain crimes of retaliation. According to statistics, Stony Mountain Penitentiary has 60% of those incarcerated as indigenous population. The rates show a worrying number, and explanations are proving to be even more appalling as scholars show that the criminal justice system is discriminating against indigenous people from detaining to incarceration, where they are determined in trial, counsel representation, and sentencing (Wilson, 2008). Additionally, there has been evidence that various organizations have been using law enforcement to arrest activists who are enforcing assimilation education, land disputes opposes, and child welfare practitioners. Thus, the criminal justice system is beginning to discriminate against indigenous people systemically.
Examples of these oppressions are seen in the Fort Chipewyan region, which has been affected by the tar-producing companies who retaliate that they are operating by Alberta’s environmental laws. In 2007, Kevin Timoney examined sediments in the area and found that mercury levels were significantly high; thus, fish were ingested, and water was unhealthy for human consumption (Wilson, 2008). Air pollution was also detected; therefore, the residents were prone to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. However, their findings were criticized by government scientists; this resulted in a war of words and lawsuits, which were finalized with the retracting of statements by the government scientists. This evidence shows the extent of the problem, which affects the indigenous populations and the government.
Conclusion
Indigenous studies
This topic was significant in this cause as it has developed an understanding in me about the issues affecting our justice system, the systemic racism targeting the indigenous people, such as the contaminations that are evidenced in Fort Chipewyan region, which is retrogressive, understanding the significant of indigenous people around the area cultural practices and the meanings they have in fish broth shows what’s wrong with the system that needs to check yesterday. Indigenous knowledge is required to avert decontextualized ideologies, as seen in these areas. Additionally, the issues that arise from this corporation to exploit the indigenous population primarily fall in the problems of “funding,” which is a way of modern colonization. To achieve independence for the indigenous people, the First Nation must depend on themselves, and the government must develop the required policies to mitigate this dependence on modern colonialists (Wilson, 2008). Understanding the concepts of Leanne Simpson regarding this funding is an opener for many who can make the necessary changes that will be pivotal to eliminating these ideologies of dependency. Ancient knowledge can survive and thrive in this capitalist, dominant, and commodity-based system as they are not capital-oriented. Their sustainability depends only on the balance of nature and nurture, which has been affected by the commodity-based ideologies that have over-exploited nature for nurture reasons; thus, to achieve this balance, the over-exploitation has to be mitigated to achieve the required equilibrium.
The justice system and the Indigenous population
Through research and my understanding of the justice system relating to the indigenous population, a robust, flexible, culturally equitable system that is fair and upholds the constitution without bias is needed. The tenets of neutrality govern the effective justice system. However, the current system is one riddled with systemic exclusion of the indigenous population. White supremacy ideologies are what is wrong in all aspects of the nation; a system that is structurally racist is oppressing the people. First Nation people need to be involved more in implementing and developing policies that are aimed to be effective and accepted by the Canadian sovereign (Monchalin, 2016). Incorporating culturally appropriate policies and laws will be the first step toward the required sovereign. Where crime will be reduced, and the wellness of all citizens will be upheld, the productivity of Canadian people will mar.
The Indigenous people’s research in institutions and teaching of the traditional ideologies of the people will help improve what is wrong in the system. Given their prior resilience from the oppression they have faced, overcoming the risk factors and creating more protective factors for young children will help improve their success rates. Research has shown that environmental protective factors are significant in improving the circumstances (Monchalin, 2016). These factors induced in schools, individuals, families, communities, and support groups will reduce crime, drug abuse, and violence. This will help create an intervention that strengthens the children’s, youth’s, and adults’ cognitive, psychological, and physical protective factors.
References
Angelino, A. C., Burns, J., LaForme, C., & Giroux, R. (2023). Missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people. Adolescent Health, 7(10), 741–746. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2352-4642(23)00135-9
Friedland, H. L. (2018). The Wetiko legal principles: Cree and Anishinabek responses to violence and victimization. University of Toronto Press.
Monchalin, L. (2016). The colonial problem: An indigenous perspective on crime and injustice in Canada. University of Toronto Press.
s i m p s o n, l. e. a. n. n. e. (2009). Lighting the eighth fire: The liberation, resurgence, and protection of Indigenous Nations. Arbeiter Ring.
Wilson, S. (2008). Research is ceremony Indigenous Research Methods. Fernwood Publishing.
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