2. Women's Perspectives - Christian Aboriginal Infrastructure ...

This is not to say that Aboriginal women enjoyed prominent roles in all pre-contact
societies. For example, we note that decisions among Inuit concerned mainly hunting and
fishing. Leadership was organized but not institutionalized. Decisions were most often
made by consensus, with one individual (usually a man) putting the group decision into
action. 3
With the onset of colonization, the position and role of Aboriginal women were
undermined by imported ideas and values that displaced and devalued them:
Before colonization, Aboriginal peoples had social and political organizations with
distinct social classes, which ranged from simpler structures to highly complex systems
of social order, social control in governments. Every individual filled a particular role and
had a specific purpose within the community; life unfolded with much harmony. Since
European contact, our traditions, dignity and self-respect have been systematically taken
away from us.
Joyce Courchene
Indigenous Women's Collective of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba, 3 June 1993 *
The imposition of the Indian Act over the last 120 years, for example, is viewed by many
First Nations women as immensely destructive. Residential schools and relocations
subjected Aboriginal communities to such drastic changes in their way of life that their
culture suffered immeasurable damage. In Volume 1, particularly Chapters 8 to 13, we
examined these areas of federal policy and action. In this volume, we focus on their
impact on Aboriginal women.
We begin with a brief demographic overview. Of the total Aboriginal population of
811,400, an estimated 51 per cent (414,100) are women. 4 As of 1991, women
outnumbered men in each of the Aboriginal groups except Inuit. The female-to-male ratio
is higher among Aboriginal people than in the general population of Canada (96.1 versus
97.7 males per 100 females — see Table 2.1). Over time the ratio will become higher for
females; that is, Aboriginal women will represent an even greater share of the Aboriginal
population and, by the year 2016, even Inuit women will outnumber Inuit men. The
reason Inuit men outnumbered Inuit women in the past, particularly in the older age
groups, is not well understood. It may have to do with differential mortality patterns
experienced by the population at an earlier point in history.
One of the more dramatic demographic changes anticipated in the next 25 years is that
Aboriginal women's share of the population, both in the labour force age group and in the
older age group (65+), will increase. In particular, the share of Aboriginal women aged
65 and over will more than double by 2016, rising from 1.7 per cent of the Aboriginal
population to 3.9 per cent, while the share of men in that age group will reach only 2.8
per cent (Table 2.1).
TABLE 2.1
Comparison of Demographic Characteristics, 1991 and 2016
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