'Enough to Keep Them Alive': Indian Social Welfare in Canada, 1873-1965 (Heritage) by Shewell Hugh E.Q

Author:Shewell, Hugh E.Q. [Shewell, Hugh E.Q.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Published: 2004-02-06T21:00:00+00:00

Here then, was a perfect example of how the panel proposed to work. The identified problem in this case was Indian education and educability. The study suggested to administrators a twofold approach: one, develop programs to counteract the cultural disadvantages experienced by Indian children when they encountered white education, and two, develop broader measures to promote general Indian acculturation and integration. Science would thus help the Indian.

Another research project typical of those which interested the government came from Dorothy Woodward, an anthropology student at the University of Toronto. She proposed an ambitious three-month study of the Chippewa at Sarnia, Ontario, which would focus on their adaptation to urban life. She hypothesized that Indians’ claims that there was racial discrimination in hiring practices was probably a misinterpretation. Instead, poor results occurred because of ‘[the Indian’s] failure to incorporate the work ethic and his lack of industrial training.’29 Furthermore:

The charge of descrimination [sic] against the Indian may be confused in the mind of the Indian as racial descrimination [sic] per se. The real factor probably lies in the lack of the work ethic stemming from the survival of cultural factors handed down as the remnants of another way of life. This phenomenon is not different … from that which is taking place in … formerly rural Quebec. The world view of the Indian … is out of kilter with the psychological demands of industrial society.30

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