Policies remain largely unchanged over the past 100 years

TORONTO, August 6, 2004 -- According to York University Professor Hugh Shewell, successive Canadian governments imposed inappropriate welfare policies on Aboriginals for almost 100 years without taking into account the impact of cultural differences. Shewell’s new book Enough to Keep Them Alive: Indian Welfare in Canada 1873 –1965 is the first major history of Aboriginal welfare in Canada and in it Shewell portrays how early policies led to both assimilation and resistance.

Many of these welfare policies, Shewell notes, were rooted in 19th century English poor laws or in early attempts by the Hudson’s Bay Company to provide relief during difficult winters when furs were scarce or not easily obtained. “These laws,” says Shewell, “were premised on an archaic system that viewed social assistance as a last resort when an individual failed in a European-style market economy – and were characteristically blamed on laziness or ineptitude.

“But Aboriginal philosophies were not based on the individual’s ability to ‘make it’ in some capitalist marketplace,” he adds. “Aboriginals were much more communal, much more community-minded. And so our attempts to apply English welfare policies to their way of life represented nothing less than an attempt to assimilate Aboriginals – an attempt that many Aboriginals have ironically resisted by accepting welfare and refusing to participate in our capitalist economy.”

Shewell observed that the Hudson’s Bay Company’s early attempts at social assistance encouraged a form of dependency amongst Aboriginals. Eventually the HBC negotiated a transfer of its relief responsibilities to the federal government.

Regrettably, not much has changed in Aboriginal social welfare policy in the last 100 years, Shewell notes, and he attributes this to reluctance on both sides around changing the Indian Act. “Since the mid 1980s the federal government has moved towards more flexible funding arrangements with Indian bands including how they provide social assistance,” he observes, “However, these arrangements are still constrained by certain standards that are inherently Eurocentric and biased towards individualistic rather than communal solutions. It is still unclear what current, small pilot projects are seeking to achieve and upon what principles they are based.”

Shewell is a member of the faculty of York University’s Atkinson School of Social Work. His interest in Aboriginal welfare dates back over 20 years to when he worked for a branch of the federal government called ‘Indian Affairs and Northern Development.’ Much of his indictment of the federal government’s Aboriginal welfare policies comes from extensively researching its own archival documents.

Aboriginal and indigenous research is one of a number of specialized research areas at York. York professors involved in this particular research area also serve in local communities and throughout government ensuring that effective public policy is based on sound research and knowledge. York also houses the Aboriginal Resource Centre and the First Nations Aboriginal Students Association, both of which provide invaluable service to students and faculty working in research.

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For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:

George McNeillie
Media Relations
York University
416-736-2100 x22097
gmcneil@yorku.ca
YU/102/04