Christopher Columbus: Champ or Chump

For most of the past 500 years, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) has been widely regarded as a great discoverer – the Admiral of the Ocean Sea. The Spanish histroican Francisco Lopes de Gomorra called the voyage of Columbus to the New World “the greatest event sicne the creation of the world.” Columbus has left a considerable historic legacy; there is a country named after him (Colombia), a Canadian province (British Columbia), two national capitals (Colombo, Sri Lanka and Washington, District of Columbia, USA), and a major River (Columbia). The United States has at times seen him as a national symbol and celebrated a national holiday, Columbus Day, in his honour.

It is known that the first people Columbus met in the Caribbean were the Tainos. They greeted him with great kindness but later suffered under his rule. Two of Columbus’s children, Diego and Ferdinand, sailed with him to the New World and one wrote a biography of his father.

Many people have begun to question the celebrated fame of this sailor from Genoa, Italy. Some stories about Columbus are legends and thus not completely (or even largely) true. For example, it is often said that he was a modern thinker who dared to claim that the earth was round, and that those who opposed him were closed-minded, religious fanatics who believed  that the world was flat. In truth, Columbus was not as visionary as this legend suggests – it was already widely accepted at the time of his voyage that the earth was globe-shaped. 

There is no doubt that the world we live in (especially in North America) would be incredibly different if Columbus had not accomplished what he did. That is why he is considered such an important character in history. But now it is your turn. After watching the videos, reading and discussing this dude in class, should Columbus be considered a Champ (hero, courageous, adventurer, explorer) or Chump (promoter of slavery, greedy, misinformed, mean)? Fill out the following survey found here.

Want to read more before you make up your mind? Click here

What is Coltan

What is coltan from DaleFriesen

Residential Schools

Great website for more inquiry: http://www.wherearethechildren.ca
What is a residential school?

The Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and caring for the country’s aboriginal people. It thought their best chance for success was to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. Ideally, they would pass their adopted lifestyle on to their children, and native traditions would diminish, or be completely abolished in a few generations.

The Canadian government developed a policy called "aggressive assimilation" to be taught at church-run, government-funded industrial schools, later called residential schools. The government felt children were easier to mould than adults, and the concept of a boarding school was the best way to prepare them for life in mainstream society.
Residential schools were federally run, under the Department of Indian Affairs. Attendance was mandatory. Agents were employed by the government to ensure all native children attended.

Eleven hundred students initially attended 69 schools across the country. In 1931, at the peak of the residential school system, there were about 80 schools operating in Canada. They were in every territory and province except Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. There were a total of about 130 schools from the earliest in the 19th century to the last, which closed in 1996.

What were the effects of the residential school system?

Residential schools were established with the assumption that aboriginal culture was unable to adapt to a rapidly modernizing society. It was believed that native children could be successful if they assimilated into mainstream Canadian society by adopting Christianity and speaking English or French. Students were discouraged from speaking their first language or practising native traditions. If they were caught, they would experience severe punishment.

Throughout the years, students lived in substandard conditions and endured physical and emotional abuse. There are also many allegations of sexual abuse. Students at residential schools rarely had opportunities to see examples of normal family life. They were in school 10 months a year, away from their parents. All correspondence from the children was written in English, which many parents couldn't read. Brothers and sisters at the same school rarely saw each other, as all activities were segregated by gender.

When students returned to the reserve, they often found they didn't belong. They didn't have the skills to help their parents, and became ashamed of their native heritage. The skills taught at the schools were generally substandard; many found it hard to function in an urban setting. The aims of assimilation meant devastation for those who were subjected to years of mistreatment.

In 1990, aboriginal leader Phil Fontaine called for the churches involved to acknowledge the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse endured by students at the schools. In 1991 the government convened a Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Many people told the commission about their residential school experiences, and its 1996 report recommended a separate public inquiry into residential schools. That recommendation was never followed.
What is the Truth and Reconciliation process?
The Truth and Reconciliation process is an initiative meant to raise awareness of the impact on human dignity caused by the residential school experience. The goal is to create a shared narrative of former students and their families in a culturally appropriate environment.

The approach is known as a form of "restorative justice," which differs from the customary adversarial and retributive justice. The truth and reconciliation process seeks to heal relations between opposing sides by uncovering facts, distinguishing truth from lies, and allowing for acknowledgement, appropriate public mourning, forgiveness and healing. Sixty million dollars will be allocated to the creation of a Truth and

Apology by the Anglican Church --1993
My Brothers and Sisters:

"Together here with you I have listened as you have told your stories of the residential schools. I have heard the voices that have spoken of pain and hurt experienced in the schools, and of the scars which endure to this day. I have felt shame and humiliation as I have heard of suffering inflicted by my people, and as I think of the part our church played in that suffering. I am deeply conscious of the sacredness of the stories that you have told and I hold in the highest honour those who have told them. I have heard with admiration the stories of people and communities who have worked at healing, and I am aware of how much healing is needed. I also know that I am in need of healing, and my own people are in need of healing, and our church is in need of healing. Without that healing, we will continue the same attitudes that have done such damage in the past. I also know that healing takes a long time, both for people and for communities. I also know that it is God who heals, and that God can begin to heal when we open ourselves, our wounds, our failures and our shame to God. I want to take one step along that path here and now. I accept and I confess before God and you, our failures in the residential schools. We failed you. We failed ourselves. We failed God. I am sorry, more than I can say, that we were part of a system which took you and your children from home and family. I am sorry, more than I can say, that we tried to remake you in our image, taking from you your language and the signs of your identity. I am sorry, more than I can say, that in our schools so many were abused physically, sexually, culturally and emotionally. On behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada, I present our apology."

What do you think about this apology? Does it go far enough? Does this seem like an easy way out of this situation?

Colonialism comes to Canada

This first videos gives a brief history of early Canada. It's quick so pay close attention to the details:


Pages 119 - 128 in your textbook give some pictures of what life was like before European contact in North America. Be sure to review these pages before the unit test. Life was significantly different for First Nations peoples of Canada before Europeans arrived.
Based on what you've read in your text and the material we have covered in the video presentations answer the following question in the comment section below:

1. First Nation's lifestyle was significantly different before Europeans arrived. Describe two of these ways of life that have impressed you. Why have these practices faded away? Do you think it would be good to bring back these practices in some way? If so how? If not why not?

2. Read over the timeline Residential Schools in Canada given on page 183. Also read through the FAQ's of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission found at this link. Based on this information and the video we watched in class, explain how the ideas of the White Man's Burden might have lead to residential schools? How did residential schools affect First Nations people? What do you think an appropriate response would be to the experiences that First Nations people had in residential schools?

Conquistadora the Explorer

Assimilation

Definitions :-the act or process by which a sound becomes identical with or similar to a neighboring sound in one or more defining characteristics, as place of articulation, voice or voicelessness, or manner of articulation . http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assimilation
-the absorption of a minority group by a dominant group.
Explication:- taking a lesser group and making them more like a more dominant group.
Metaphor : - this picture the red apple would be the minority group and the green apples would be the more dominant group. the red apple ( minority group) is being absorbed by the green apples (dominant group).
posted by Kassidy

New Imperialism: From G's to B's

Early Imperialism was motivated by:
Gold (Goods) - getting the raw (and often exotic) materials from the new world colonies to produce wealth for the Empire/nation. (Think: mercantilism and slave trade)
Glory - discovering new parts of the world and claiming new territory for your expanding Empire/nation. (Think: Columbus or Sir Francis Drake)
God - converting as many people to Christianity as possible. (Think: missionaries.)

The New Imperialism had new motivations shaped by the new realities in the world.

Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution changed the economic landscape. Now the motivation to get raw materials was driven by European business owners (aristocrats). The methods of turning raw materials into manufactured goods were improving because of new inventions. Factories started to produce more stuff using relatively cheap labour. The bigger the business the better. Making a profit for your company became the most important thing. Colonies started to get upset with having to buy everything from the Mother Country when they could produce the same products themselves usually for cheaper.
The old motivation of Gold had now shifted to the Bottom Line

The old idea of Glory was wearing thin as well. Empires now realized the difficulty of keeping control of distant colonies that were starting to get politically unstable. Great Britain lost the American colonies and other colonies like India were close to gaining independance through force as well. Expanding the empire was no longer the concern. Now it was all about the pride of keeping as many colonies as possible and preserving as much of the empire as possible. Preserving the Empire became a major focus. Even much later on people like Winston Churchill refused to accept that the British Empire was going to fall apart.

Louis Pasteur

"I have not become the King’s First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire."
Glory and recognition now shifted to individuals. New scientific discoveries in medicine were made by people like Louis Pasteur (he is responsible for all those vacine shots you got as a kid). Charles Darwin made trips out to remote islands in the Pacific Ocean and then wrote the Origin of Species where he laid out the basic ideas in the theory of evolution.
The old motivation of Glory had now turned into something more like Bragging Rights

The old motivation to convert as many people for God had also some of its importance. Missionaries had been motivated to teach savages how to live good moral lives according Christian standards. While the drive to convert people remained, the idea of being superior to the ethnic groups found in the colonies expanded beyond just religion. This eurocentric and ethnocentric perspective was driven by the perception that Europeans were generally more advanced people. European advancement in production, new inventions, scientific discoveries, and sophisticated philosophies reinforced the idea that Europeans were better than other people groups. From that point of view it became the European's responsibility to 'help' the 'backward' people to become more European. A British writer named Ruyard Kipling captured the idea of European responsibility to the rest of the 'savage world'...

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

This poem demonstrates how Europeans considered themselves parents to the other races. Any resistance that Europeans faced from the colonies or other racial groups was seen as the burden they had to bear.

This advertizement for soap shows that cleanliness was seen as something that made white people better than other people groups. It seems crazy to think that a soap company could see itself as helping to 'clean' the dirt of the savages in other parts of the world. But in this eurocentric point of view everyone need to bear the white man's burden.
To the old motivation of God was now added a European or White Man's Burden.
It is easy to criticize the over inflated sense of superiority that dominated European Imperialism. This written response is intended to help you imagine what it would be like to have such a strong eurocentric perspective.

Imagine you are a British doctor who has recently accepted a position in a remote hospital in interior of India in the late 1800s. You have been taught the eurocentric values throughout your schooling. Everything has prepared you to do your duty to help these 'half-devil and half-child' type of people. You have been living in this remote village for several months. Write a letter to your mother and father about your experiences. Remember to tell them about how conditions in your village are different from life back home in England. Also remember to tell them why your work there is so important.