Aboriginal Mothering

Demographics and Government Interaction

Demographically, Canada reports approximately 4 percent of its population as Aboriginal, which includes Inuit, Métis, and First Nations people; while in the United States, approximately 1.5 percent of the population is Aboriginal. In Australia, just over 2 percent of the population is Aboriginal, while the Maori in New Zealand represent 14 percent of the population. Reporting statistics may not be accurate, as some Aboriginal communities are remote and do not always report their census data, while other communities have reported being suspicious of governmental efforts to enumerate Aboriginal people. Two trends appear consistent in all locations. The reporting of Aboriginal identities seems to be increasing, and there is a trend toward urbanization among Aboriginal populations. Aboriginal mothers are usually at the heart of their communities and these trends reflect their life experiences.

A consistent experience across Aboriginal communities is the history of colonization and systemic, state-sanctioned oppression. Aboriginal mothers were at the center of these experiences because many governmental policies were aimed at children, families, and cultural practices. The European settlement brought with it new diseases, new treaties, and laws. In addition, a new community [Page 2]organizational structure was enforced, called reservations (reserves), which relocated Aboriginal people to live apart from the European settlements. By the early 1900s, Australia, Canada, and the United States had legislated acts that specified rights and restrictions of Aboriginal mothers, including the loss of the right to practice spiritual ceremonies. Compulsory, government-run educational programming, which in many cases meant children were removed from their families and communities to be educated in other locations, also contributed to the loss of indigenous knowledge, traditional medical practices, and language. Without the rights to teach, parent, and heal their own children and community members, Aboriginal mothers lost their roles and rights as community members.

In some regions, when Aboriginal women married non-Aboriginal men, they and their children lost their legal Aboriginal status. This legislation was not overturned in some areas until the late 1900s. Child welfare policies and practices authorizing Aboriginal children to be placed in non-Aboriginal families and communities also had devastating effects on entire generations. These policies are still in effect in some locations. Such child welfare practices have been widely criticized for providing a legal vehicle to continue to control and dominate Aboriginal mothers and their communities by essentially cutting children off from their culture and heritage. This, in turn, left a generation of children without guidance from their Aboriginal mothers—what is sometimes referred to as the lost generation. There continues to be lingering negative health effects, poor access to medical treatment in some communities, and shorter life spans for many Aboriginal people. There is also a greater threat of dying young because of higher risks of violence, higher rates of children in foster care, and higher rates of poverty.

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