Places And Exchanges

This notion “spaces and exchanges “deals with the geographical and symbolic areas that all societies occupy and the interactions between men and different societies. Our world is built on the exploration and conquest of new spaces. The different cultural, economic, sociological interactions have shaped and characterized our modern-day world. America, throughout its history, is marked by immigration and colonization, which have contributed to the extraordinary diversity of population and culture that people its ground. Nevertheless, taking the example of Canada, this process has inevitably changed first people’s lives. Hence, the question we are going to deal with is: what do borders mean to First People in Canada?

First of all, we will tackle who Natives are, then the opposition that exists between the notion of territory and country. Eventually, we’ll broach the gradual recognizing of First People

I- First people in Canada

First, it seems relevant reminding that Aborigines make up more than 1.3 million of Canada’s population which amounts to 3.5 per cent of its 33.2 million of inhabitants. They are hence, as we could suspect, a minority.

Furthermore, Canada’s aborigines live mostly in remote regions in the North in the Canadian Arctic or on reserves. Therefore, they are seldom in contact with other cultures since most of Canadians live near the American border, where living conditions are easier. Natives sometimes need their help though, as we can see in the movie THE SNOW WALKER. Indeed, their living conditions are very harsh as they are used to living in the most hostile places in the world. In the movie mentioned previously, we can see the immensity of the environment, a pristine place where only a few people would accept to settle.

Besides, the establishment of settlers and the creation of borders often cut peoples in two. Indeed, for example, the Blackfeet territory stretches over both sides of the USA-Canada border which happens to be a problem for Blackfeet who can’t go from one point of their territory to another without having to go through customs.

However, First People don’t reject other cultures. They only disagree with the way other cultures treat them and steal the resources of their land.

II- Territory vs country

On another hand, this leads to the way that borders are perceived by Natives. Indeed, what vision do they have of their land? According to First People, the land belongs to everyone, not just a nation or a community. In the document called “stop stealing our land”, Lynge deplores the situation of Inuits who are left by the wayside when it comes to territory. Indeed, they are the only people in the world to be deprived of the right to their own riches that are stolen from them by big nations. They are disposed of their land and do not dispose of a right of veto on what occurs there. For instance, in an article of the journal Lacroix published on November the first last year, references are made to the Inuit Village of Clyde River. The whole village mobilized against the oil prospection that was threatening the hundreds of marine animals necessary to their way of life.

Therefore, large stretches of land are shared by everyone. The notion of border does not exist for aborigines, who have to deal with new institutions that were

...