Shaping Public Perception: Canadian Media and Indigenous Poverty

By Dorothy Simon

Abstract

This essay explores the intersection of Canadian media, Indigenous poverty, and the historical roots of systemic discrimination. Despite Canada's high global quality of life ranking, over 4.9 million people face poverty, with Indigenous communities disproportionately affected. The historical context reveals entrenched racism shaping policies and perpetuating inequality. Media representations further exacerbate the issue, reinforcing stereotypes and limiting public understanding of Indigenous communities. This essay calls for a comprehensive approach to addressing poverty, acknowledging its multidimensional nature and advocating for the dismantling of discriminatory structures.

An annual report published by the U.S. News and World Report has declared Canada as the country with the highest quality of life in the world in 2021 based on a set of various indicators, ranging from political stability to the quality of health systems and public education (U.S. News Best Countries, 2022). However, despite this statistic, recent estimates have demonstrated that at least 4.9 million people in the country are facing poverty and over fourteen percent of the population can be described as low-income. Such statistics are further exacerbated for historically marginalized communities, including its large Indigenous population, who experience disproportionately higher levels of poverty and are more likely to face issues that stem from poverty. 

The Government of Canada reports that more than 1.67 million people in Canada identify themselves as an Aboriginal person, according to the 2016 Census. Also collectively designated as Indigenous peoples, the Canadian Constitution recognizes three communities in this classification: First Nations, Inuit, and Métis (Indigenous Peoples 2022). While these three groups of people have unique and distinct spiritual beliefs and cultural practices, all share the common history and intergenerational impact of being forcefully removed from their land through colonization. Existing academic literature has long shown that discriminating practices within various structural systems in Canada, ranging from the legal system to the healthcare system, continue to reinforce the narrative of inferiority that fuels the subjugation and victimization of Indigenous peoples and their lands (Fonseca, n.d.). This continuous oppression is likewise demonstrated through the economic inequalities that Indigenous communities face compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the country. According to the Canadian Institute for Poverty (2018), those who identify as Indigenous face the highest levels of poverty as 1 in 4 Indigenous individuals are living in poverty. 

The public has a range of views on the subject of poverty, shaped by their perceptions of what they believe causes the problem. A significant component responsible for that perception depends on how media organizations represent people living in poverty and the attention they give to the issue. Media portrayals of poverty often shift from discussions that focus on the structural causes of poverty to false depictions of the poor as lazy individuals who abuse welfare programs and do more harm than good. Such illustrations are likewise present in the news representations of Indigenous peoples in Canada. An examination into the history of Canadian media uncovers numerous occurrences in which presented commentary reproduced stereotypes of Indigenous peoples as savages and persons with the aim of stealing from the rest of the Canadian population. Such illustrations leave a range of components that define the complexity of poverty, narrowing the interpretative choices of the audience and leading to the elicitation of negative emotions such as fear and anger (Harding, n.d.). 

Historical Background 

Racism in Canada is a contentious and frequently overlooked topic in academic literature. Given that there appears to be a widespread idea that racism does not exist within Canadian borders, it is critical to investigate how this belief is incorrect and contradicts Indigenous peoples' lived experiences of institutional and societal racism. Racism is a persistent multifaceted phenomenon that has permeated and stained Canada since its inception. Canada was formed through colonization, in which European political power, through the monarchy and the Catholic Church, claimed ownership of Indigenous land and asserted control over it. This displacement of Indigenous peoples from their land was first legalized under the 1493 Doctrine of Discovery, whereby European colonizers were permitted to claim ownership of land if non-Christians inhabited the space. This doctrine purposely disregarded the inherent rights that Indigenous peoples had to the land and the significance of generational lines all with specific philosophies and laws central to Indigenous life. This presumption that the land was available to take continues to subjugate the Indigenous population through the notion that their lives and various aspects of their culture are of lesser value than the dominant White race (Fonseca, n.d.). 

The implementation of such legislation is further seen through the 1876 Indian Act, in which it was mandated that Indigenous peoples were to be separated until they were prepared to assimilate into the dominant culture in numerous avenues including education and nourishment. This act was created to govern all aspects of Indigenous life, ranging from imposing governing structures on Indigenous communities to the control of Indigenous rights to practice their culture and traditions (Fonseca, n.d.). The present continuance of the amended form of the 1876 Indian Act and the embodiment of the act in other facets demonstrates the fundamental notion that the Indigenous population are inferior to non-Indigenous Canadian citizens. 

European powers often employed theories based on racial hierarchy and pejorative  stereotypes to justify the heinous exploitation of Indigenous peoples. Such exploitation encompassed the description of Indigenous people as savages who must be controlled and transformed in order to create a civilized population. Anti-Indigenous racism thus can be defined as the ongoing oppression of Indigenous peoples based on their race and state-constructed identities. This oppression furthermore exacerbates the continuing struggle that Indigenous communities face (Fonseca, n.d.). Previous research has shown that such racist histories have both pronounced and unrevealed remnants in current Canadian legislation and practices, especially in the sector of healthcare. Often based on their appearance and identification as Indigenous, Aboriginal peoples face inequalities within these settings through procedural neglect and other negative behaviors including nonverbal communication. Such negative behaviors are overt discrimination and lead to the subjugation of these individuals to deteriorating health.

Media Representation

This discrimination displayed through the healthcare sector is likewise illustrated through the media representation of the Indigenous population and the issues they often face such as poverty. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples in 1996 concluded that stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, especially that of them being “angry warriors” and “pitiful victims”, pervaded all forms of public discourse including the media. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015) and the Journalists for Human Rights organization found troubling patterns of representation of Indigenous peoples in the media. These patterns include stereotyping, decontextualization of issues with long historical antecedents, the conflation of diverse Indigenous identities into a singular Aboriginal identity, and coverage framed in terms of us versus them (Harding, n.d.). 

The Canadian media has long illustrated Indigenous people negatively in the news, which has led to the creation of stereotypes and binary framing of complex problems that the Indigenous community faces. In the book Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspaper, Professor Carmen Robertson examines Canadian newspaper stories between 1869 and 2009 and their portrayal of Indigenous people. Their examination found that news media plays an active role in perpetuating imagined Native inferiority and contributing to the marginalization of Indigenous peoples in the country. Media reports about Indigenous topics tend to include highly restricted and selective context, minimizing the harmful implications of such occurrences. This is well depicted when journalists speak about treaties and activities of resource extraction, both of which often give rise to claims of unfairnesses and racial bias of the public institutions of the country such as its court system and housing departments. This overlooking of the historical roots of many issues including poverty is also shown through news commentators’ typical focus on the immediate threat posed, rather than the additional inclusion of an extensive analysis of its historical antecedents. These black-and-white depictions purposely exclude a wide range of differing stances, severely reduce the interpretative choices available to audiences, and elicit emotional reactions against the Indigenous population (Lisk).

Policy and Program Recommendations

The continued challenges of inferior education and health services, inadequate and insufficient housing, and non-potable water, among other issues, heavily indicate the urgent need for increased financial investment to alleviate the surrounding environment of poverty Indigenous peoples face. The Canadian Poverty Institute, established in 2014, conducts research on the causes and consequences of poverty in order to improve public policy and encourage education about the issue in Canadian communities. The definition of poverty provided by this academic institute is essential in the recommendation of policies and programs tailored to address the issue of poverty among Indigenous communities. The Canadian Poverty Institute (2018) defines poverty as a multidimensional problem with material, social, and spiritual components. Material poverty develops when people do not have access to enough material and financial resources to thrive, while spiritual poverty occurs when people feel as though their lives lack purpose and meaning. People experience social poverty when they are isolated and lack the support needed to remain resilient during times of crisis. 

The Ontario Ministry of Housing conducted a survey in 2018 to examine the scope and nature of homelessness in Ottawa. Among the six largest cities in Canada, the demographic composition of Ottawa is predominantly white, includes a young, entrepreneurial workforce, and reflects the broader societal reality of an aging population, with the number of individuals over the age of 65 continuing to rise. The data collected from the survey found that 24 percent of the 1,400 respondents identified as Indigenous individuals who are experiencing homelessness, while Indigenous people as a whole make up just 2.5 percent of the total population in Ottawa. While poverty is the biggest driver of Indigenous homelessness in Ottawa, intergenerational trauma, racism, and prejudice through governmental policy likewise have forced Indigenous peoples away from their home communities and into urban areas. As reported by the news source Capital Current, these findings have been used by the government and non-profit organizations to establish the Housing First model, which has the primary goal of moving people into independent and permanent housing. Through a questionnaire called a service prioritization decision assistance tool (SPDAT), the Housing First methodology typically evaluates persons based on need and duration of homelessness. The SPDAT assesses various areas of a client's life and generates a ranking that defines the client's level of need for housing and support services. While opinions on the Housing First model vary, housing experts agree that solutions include increasing the number of affordable housing options, rethinking how people are prioritized for permanent housing, and ensuring culturally appropriate practices are used to assist First Nations, Métis, and Inuit in finding sustainable shelter (Curtis et al., 2019).

The national communications think tank Upstream released a report in July 2019 that detailed the equity gap between Indigenous children and other children in Canada. The data collected found that Indigenous children experience higher rates of child poverty than non-Indigenous children, with the most severe cases being Indigenous children who reside on reserves. Despite being a social construct, race has been an effective instrument for establishing and reinforcing paradigms of which racialized identities are superior and which are inferior, as well as legitimizing inequities in hierarchies based on these conceptions. While some scholars describe the commitment of the Canadian federal government to reduce poverty as laudable, it is evident that additional work must be undertaken to determine how poverty is measured, experienced, and understood by Indigenous peoples. Cases brought before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal resulted in four different compliance orders against the Government of Canada, all reinforcing the need for structural and legislative forces that encompass a broad range of targeted solutions (Beedie & Wilson, 2019). As emphasized by Canadian author Pierre Berton, “Racism is a refuge for the ignorant. It seeks to divide and to destroy. It is the enemy of freedom, and deserves to be met head-on and stamped out” (Toronto Star, 2009). 

References

Beedie, N., Macdonald, D., & Wilson, D. (2019, July). Towards Justice - Assembly of First Nations. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.afn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Upstream_report_final_English_June-24-2019.pdf

Curtis, M., Awad, B., & Heatherly, D. (2019, October 8). Ottawa's Housing First Strategy not working for Homeless Indigenous people. Capital Current. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://capitalcurrent.ca/indigenous-homeless-ottawa-failed-housing-first/#:~:text=The%20first%20Point%20in%20Time,cent%20of%20Ottawa's%20total%20population

Fonseca, S. (n.d.). Institutional Racism in Canada: Indigenous Lived Realities. The Society: Sociology & Criminology Undergraduate Review. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/society/article/view/34003/26078

Government of Canada. (2022, August 30). Indigenous Peoples and Communities. Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1100100013785/1529102490303

Harding, R. (n.d.). Problematic representations of indigenous issues in media. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.cba-alberta.org/Publications-Resources/Resources/Law-Matters/Law-Matters-Spring-2018/Problematic-Representations-of-Indigenous-Issues-i

Lisk, S. (2020, September 3). Rewriting journalism: How Canadian media reinforces Indigenous stereotypes. TVO. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.tvo.org/article/rewriting-journalism-how-canadian-media-reinforces-indigenous-stereotypes

The Canadian Poverty Institute. (2018). Poverty in Canada. Canadian Poverty Institute. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.povertyinstitute.ca/poverty-canada

Toronto Star. (2009, July 3). 9 quotes about racism. thestar.com. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.thestar.com/life/2009/07/03/9_quotes_about_racism.html

Truth and Reconciliation Commission. (2015). Honouring the truth, reconciling for the future: Summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20200513112354/https://trc.ca/index-main.html

U.S. News & World Report. (2022). U.S. News Best Countries. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries

Zhao, S. (2021, February 24). A progressive facade: Comparing the U.S. and Canada's treatment of Indigenous Peoples. Harvard Political Review. Retrieved September 23, 2023, from https://harvardpolitics.com/a-progressive-facade-comparing-the-u-s-and-canadas-treatment-of-indigenous-peoples/