Aboriginal Quality of Life in Canada Essay Example for Free

pristine Quality of Life in Canada EssayThe state of wellness and wellness c atomic number 18 for Canadian primitive hatful is currently not improving, Canadian indigenes tend to bear a disproportionate burden of illness an outcome linked to their economic and genial conditions and oppression ( new(a)b over growd 1998). European mite would forever change the course of life for the keys and their communities in Canada. It was just after the encounter between the old valet de chambre and new world that two round outly separate ecosystems had interaction between each other. twain worlds changed in radical ways through nation, plants, animals, varmints and pathogens, this is known today as the Columbian Exchange. The New pathogens introduced to the Indigenous people who had no immunity, caused study de population up to 80 90% during the 1500s.See more enlisting and selection process essayThis completely changed the Indigenous people and posed as a commodious thre at to extinction of their population and culture. Contact between the Canadian indigenouss and European voy suppuraters brought in a ken amount of deadly and infectious unsoundnesss. Some of the diseases entangled smallpox, typhoid, the bubonic plague, influenza, mumps, measles, whooping cough, and later on cholera, malaria, and scarlet fever. variola major was a virgin soil epidemic, meaning that it was the first outbreak ever to the population that has had no preliminary dumbfound with it. The Aborigines of the new world had no immunity to smallpox and the entire population was in insecurity of extinction. At around that time smallpox had a very high mortality rate which stone-broke down the primitive communities social mechanisms. This brought forth the break down of social the devices which were built within the fundamental culture, because the people were unable to hunt and gather food for the elders.This caused great knowledge loss as the elders in the primitive c ommunity would perish from the disease. The greatest example of this is when Spanish explorer Cortez defeated the Moctezuma at Tenochtitlan. Cortez, had only 500 soldiers going up against the Aztec population of 200,000. When the battle began Cortez surely should yield been defeated but it was not the strength of his army but the diseases they had brought with them that defeated the Moctezuma. Smallpox and the other various diseases brought over from the old world to the new world contributed to millions of deaths, severely diminishing communities, and it some cases erasing populations and communities completely. The disease was not controlled until the 1870s when vaccination campaigns were introduced and implemented. after(prenominal) the epidemic of contagious diseases had slowed the Canadian indigens were in the midst of assimilation, residential give instructions were established in the mid 1850s to the 1990s. Residential drill were implemented by the Canadian government to assimilate autochthonic people into the plethoric nightclub. The primaeval children despatchd from their communities and placed in the Residential schools. Children as young as three to age eighteen were removed from their homes, mostly forcibly, and placed in boarding schools, where they stayed isolated from their family, community, culture, and the rest of Canadian society (Barton, Sylvia S., Thommasen, Harvey V.,Tallio, Bill ,Zhang, William, Michalos, Alex C. 2001 pg. 295). Residential schools assimilated indigen populations, however in doing so drastically reduced the wellness of the children be forced to attend these schools. Children were beaten, raped and starved while attending these schools leaving them physically and mentally pock for life.Children who attended these schools, in particular, suffered from the loss of culture, identity, and language as residential school life altered the tralatitious ways of Aboriginal peoples and broke up traditional ways of Abori ginal family life. In addition to physical, sexual, mental, emotional, and ghost wish abuse, many children who attended residential schools were opened to unhealthy environmental conditions, as well as malnutrition. lower-ranking self-esteem and self-concept problems emerged as children were taught that their own culture was inferior and uncivilized, and it is believed that as a result, many residential school survivors suffer from low self-respect, and long-term emo- tional and psychological effects (Barton, Sylvia S., Thommasen, Harvey V.,Tallio, Bill ,Zhang, William, Michalos, Alex C. 2001 pg. 296).The main aspect of the Residential schools was to ask the children abandon their heritage and traditions taught to them by their Aboriginal communities. This is the most signifi domiciliatet reason why todays Aboriginal youth is confused about their culture and heritage. If the children were not separated from these traditions the Aboriginal youth whitethorn not have been so vulne rable to substance abuse and other from of health constraints.Canada in its bribe day does not have diseases like smallpox to destroy. Aboriginal populations, also Residential school have been eliminated and no longer assimilate the Aboriginal youth. Still, the deteriorating health conditions for the Aboriginal community are dangerously high. This is mainly because of low caliber of reenforcement conditions, very limited access to doctors or health boot centers, and the major diseases that bushel the modern world today.The Aboriginals that live in highly populated urban areas still have poor persona living standards. Nearly two thirds of the Aboriginal population lives in the western part of Canada, the legal age being in 4 or 5 cities. The issues that are considered social detriments to Aboriginals in these regions are education, health care, employment, Aboriginal status, social exclusion, unemployment order and job security. Societys negative attitude towards Aboriginal people has been a significant link between their living conditions and the overall note of life. As stated by Hanselmann In spite of the size of the urban Aboriginal populationthe discussion about treaties, self-government, finance, housing, and other issues reduce exclusively on First Nation communities and rural areas. This is a problem because the majority of the Aboriginal population is left out of the equation, it ignores the urban realities and an acute public policy should therefore exist for broadening of perspectives to include not just on-reserve Aboriginal communities but also urban communities (Hanselmann 2001 pg. 1).The Canadian Aboriginal populations living in urban areas have been exposed to worse living conditions, also aboriginal families are over doubly as likely to be lone arouse families, and more likely to experience domestic power (Hanselmann 2001 pg. 4). Lone parents tend to have lower living conditions, therefore lowering the quality of health for Aborigi nals. wound up stress and poverty are common factors among single parent families these cause children to have lower social capital because they are unable to be active to develop social skills. Consequently, children with a single parent will likely be subject to psychiatric disorders, social problems, and academic difficulties, which all can calculate to further health problems and issues.Another major aspect regarding health and the quality of life of CanadianAboriginal communities is education. In a study done by Michael Mendelson he states The category less than high schoolthe Aboriginal population fared much worse than the total population, with at least 54 percent weakness to complete high school compared to 35 percent in the population as a all told (Mendelson 2006 pg. 10). Urban populations of Aboriginals have more individual without the education of grade 12 thence the rest of the country. tuition is important to the quality of life for Aboriginal communities because Aboriginal males and females contingent on whether or not they arrive at a high school diploma, attend technical school or go to universityresults show that an Aboriginal male who drops out gives up over $0.5 millionand a female can earn over $1 million by obtaining a high school diploma (Mendelson 2006 pg. 8-9). This can better the quality of living for Aboriginals through better health care and living conditions.Living conditions as stated beforehand can severely decrease the health and quality of life of Aboriginal communities, but it is not the only factor. Aboriginal people have a high susceptibility to chronic diseases and HIV/AIDS causing a higher mortality rate, higher suicide rate, and the reason for high alcohol and drug abuse. The Aboriginal people of Canada bear a disproportionately larger burden of disease and die a decade preceding than the average population. This is a shocking reality but not more then discerning the mortality rate for children of Aboriginal dece nt, the infant mortality rate for Aboriginals is double the national averagethey experience high rates of infections, diabetes, substance abuse, renal disease, mental illness, and suicide (Sin, D., Wells, H., Svenson, L., Man, P. 2002) .The two leading diseases that are currently affecting the Aboriginal population are cardiovascular disease/ terabyte and diabetes. Cardiovascular diseases like tuberculosis among Aboriginal people are more at risk than other Canadians of getting a tuberculosis infection. Some of the germ causes are related to poor socio-economic conditions where they live (Health Canada 2010). This is because Aboriginal people have significantly higher rates of smoking, glucose intolerance and obesity. Type 2 diabetes is a major problem among the Aboriginal youth and is increasing at a rapid rate.Health Canada says, First Nations on reserve(s) have a rate of diabetes three to cinque times higher than that of other Canadians. Rates of diabetes among the Inuit are e xpected to rise significantly in the next given that risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity, and unhealthy eating patterns are high (Health Canada 2011). A reason for the high aims of diabetes in Aboriginal communities is because there is low participation in physical activities and traditional food is not consumed as much. Cardiovascular/Tuberculosis disease and diabetes considerably decrease the health and quality of life of the Aboriginal population.The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are a very dangerous and major health concern for the Aboriginal population. HIV if left untreated will cause AIDS. HIV attacks the immune system, as the illness progresses it results in chronic and deadly infections. Health Canada states HIV severely weakens the immune system, leaving people vulnerable to many different types of infections and diseases. HIV is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse, needle-sharing and pregnan cy/ preservation through birth (Health Canada 2010).Due to the lower level living conditions, low grade incomes, and under certain education are more probable to be exposed to HIV/AIDS. Aboriginal women in Canada are at higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS Aboriginal women constituted 49.6 percent of newly diagnosed HIV cases among Aboriginal people while Non-Aboriginal women comprise 20 percent of newly diagnosed (Ship, Norton 2001 pg. 25). Injection of drugs is the major contributor to contracting HIV/AIDS for Aboriginal women, which stages the affects of drug use and disease and how it negatively affects the Aboriginal populations health.Substance abuse, such as drugs and alcohol, has been documented as having harmful affects to the human body. Aboriginal communities have been exposed to the addiction of these substances and have cause significant deterioration of the individuals health and social attributes, razing relationships within their families and community. As more and more Canadian Aboriginals become addicted to the substances the more the degradation of the community and weakening of the quality of life within the community. Aboriginals are more exposed to substance abuse then others. This puts them at risk of being introduced at a young age and taught it is a social norm. My father was a chronic alcoholic. His parents had seven children and five died of alcoholism, including my father.My mom drank also and I started drinking at age eight. I was in and out of group homes and foster care and by the age of fifteen I was ordered to attend AA. I started on IV drugs at sixteen (Chansonneuve, Deborah 2007). With the combination of alcohol, drugs, and smoking the Aboriginal population is seemly wasting away. The leading issue occurring today is the age at which Aboriginal youth are beginning to abuse substances. The use of these substances only enhances outlook that youth will not complete their high school diploma, will be at greater risk for crimina l offences, and will only get lower grade incomes.Aboriginals being highly vulnerable to disease as mention before (Tuberculosis/CVD, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS) add with the substance abuse, the Aboriginal population have greater health care inevitably then that of the Non-Aboriginal population. Bruce Newbold explains the greater need to access doctors for healthcare and call for for greater funding. Analysis reveals that geographic location, as compared with Aboriginal identity, appears to have a large impact with respect to health status and use of physician services. On-reserve Aboriginals, for example, reported a lower likelihood of having seen a physician and were more likely to rank their health as fair or poor. Location also influenced perceived community health problems and solutions. Self-identified problems included drugs, crabmeat and arthritis, while corresponding solutions included education, counseling and service access.Although the problems and solutions were relati vely consistent across space, they too vary in their importance. In general, the results tend to reinforce the determinants of health framework, suggesting that the provision of health services is insufficient to remove health disparities on its own. Instead, broader social-welfare provisions must be considered. (Newbold 1998 pg. 59) It seems that Aboriginals who consider themselves of good health are considered to be actually of low health by the rest of society. From a Geographically view, Canadian Aboriginals on reserves do not have the same access to physicians as urban communities do. This causes Aboriginals on reserves to travel, which reduces the chance of them using a physician. The quality of proper health care is out of reach for most Aboriginal communities, mostly because of geographical isolation, cultural barriers and jurisdiction disputes by the federal and provincial government.Improving health conditions and the quality of life for Aboriginal people of Canadian curr ent issue that solutions are being reviewed and implemented annually. The problem is not easy because of the substance abuse and low education levels of the Aboriginal youth. Government politics dawdle a huge role in the funding and improving the health care system for the Aboriginal communities, but over time the aboriginal people will have to look to themselves to change their quality of life. Both Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal people need to be more educated of the health risks concerning the Canadian Aboriginal population. The health of Aboriginals has not been treated in the proper manner Bruce Newbold explains past attempts to improve aboriginal health status have tended to focus upon a condense definition of health as the absence of disease or illnessthis focus neglects a much broader range of determinants, including poverty, living conditions and education.The government needs to put into prospective that Improvements in health will likely depend on the improvements in t he socioeconomic conditions faced by Aboriginalsby the direct participation of Aboriginals in the health reform process (Newbold 1998 pg. 70). Therefore, to improve health condition in Canada for the Aboriginal population the people and the government cannot be narrow minded, any aspect that being social, financial or physical must be addressed. The major improvement of the Aboriginal financial economy and social conditions is needed to repair the deteriorating health and quality of life of the Aboriginal population.Aboriginal Health in Canada has drastically deteriorated since the first contact with European decedents. The early contagious diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis have threated to destroy Aboriginal populations and now have become chronic diseases like CVD, diabetes and HIV/AIDS for existing Aboriginal communities. Substance abuse among youth and seniors mixed with low level education and poor living conditions are advancing the decline for the quality of life in Aboriginal communities in Canada. The Government and Aboriginal communities must work together and not have a narrow mind when solving these issues and implementing them in society. Improving the socioeconomic conditions in the regions of Aboriginal communities along with health care issues is the start to improve the quality of life for Aboriginals in Canada.