The Cadre

Soc-Anth Honours

[Ee a aren

1998

A welcomed additon to the Soc-Anth department

BY SUZANNE WILLIAMS

An honours program de- vised for the Sociology/An- thology department was ap- proved January 9. It was created through the collabora- tion of students and professors in both departments.

he idea forthe program was brought into discussion in December of 1996, and a year was spent revising the pro- posal. Sociology and anthro- pology students will be able to take advantage of the honours degree beginning in Septem- ber.

In the past, sociology or anthropology majors from UPEI who were looking to further their education with a

graduate degree have needed to take an extra year of school- ing. known as a "qualifying year." before entering gradu- ate school.

Because sociology and

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anthropology operate as a joint department, one honours de- gree will be intended for either of the two subjects.

“This makes ita little dif- ferent than other honours pro- grams,” explains Satadal Dasgupta, chair of the depart- ment. “It is thought of as a stronger program than if there were two separate ones for

each subject.”

Students who are inter- ested in this honours degree musteither be completing or in the process of completing their degree in either sociology or anthropology. Through the hon- ours course, students complete a number of courses, as well as a research component and an honours essay.

Unfortnately, most of the students who helped create the programme will not be able to benefit from it, as they are in their final year at UPEI. But, if they opt to, they may return for a year to follow the hon- ours programme and update their degrees.

The development of the programme relied on these stu-

dents and professors of the department working together.

Michael Drake, presi- dent of the Soc-Anth Society, said that this collaboration was the key to the creation of the honours degree.

"Students working with the faculty, inany department, can be a valuable asset," he said.

Aboriginal people find gov't response to Royal Commission report disappointing

OTTAWA (CUP) — The fed- eral government has formally apologized for decades of as- similation efforts and abuse suffered by aboriginal peoples as a result of official govern- ment policies.

Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart made the an- nouncement Jan. 8, ina much- anticipated response to the

| 4,000-page report released last | yearby the Royal Commission

on Aboriginal Peoples. Stewart apologized for

| the governments historic mis-

treatment of aboriginal people,

| placing specific emphasis on | the physical and sexual abuse

many suffered at Canada s residential schools. ; Stewart also announced the establishment of a $350- million fund to help victims of the residential school system. “[The schools] left lega- cies of personal pain and dis- tress that continue to rever- berate in aboriginal communi- ties to this day,” she said. Canada s residential school system was established at the beginning of the century as part of a federal assimila- tion policy, which was intended, according to then-Deputy Su- perintendent General of Indian Affairs Duncan Campbell Scott, to “continue until there

isnota single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian department.”

By the 1940s, approxi- mately 8,000 aboriginal chil- dren were enrolled in residen- tial schools, which continued to operate until the 1950s and 1960s, when students were gradually transferred to pro- vincial schools.

The residential school system has since gained public notoriety following revelations of physical and sexual abuse of children, suppression of abo- riginal languages and tradi- tional practices and manda- tory residential-school attend- ance enforced by the Depart- ment of Indian Affairs, even over the wishes of parents.

“Let this moment mark the end of paternalism in our relations and the beginning of empowerment of first ples,” First Nations Grand os Phil cranaktes S cepted Stewarts apology, said.

2 But other aboriginal leaders present at the apology ceremony dismissed the gov- ernment’s response, citing its various inadequacies.

The statement failed to recognize Metis or Inuit peo- ples, Gerald Morin, president

of the Metis National Council, said.

“Our people are not go- ing to be satisfied with the response we ve had today.” he said.

The government s re- sponse was also criticized for being far weaker than the apol- ogy offered by the Mulroney government to Japanese-Ca- nadians interned during the Second World War.

There are also concerns that the response barely scratched the surface of the recommendations issued in the Royal Commission report. And ironically, some say the fed- eral government ignored one of the underlying precepts of pip reser *sreport when it deve its response.

Paul Chartrand, a com- mission member and a former professor of Aboriginal stud- ies at the University of Mani- toba, says the government should have consulted more with aboriginal on its emanated from jt.

“The main criticism is [the government's] failure to follow a guiding principle for policy that our report which is 1 withoutthe participation of abo- riginal peoples. Unfortunately

that happened and that’s why you saw some disappointment expressed,” he said. Chartrand adds com- mission members were ex- pecting something more sub- stantial from the government in its response, to signify the turning of a new page in abo- riginal-government relations. “Theroyal proclamation that [the commission] envi- sioned was one that would be given by the Queen s repre- sentative, the Governor Gen- eral, and ideally, by the Queen herself, to add that symbolism. [A]nd it would be accompanied by some real, in- stitutional change,” he said. Eric Robinson, a mem- ber of the Manitoba legisla- ture, says the apology should have come from Prime Minis- ter Jean Chretien himself. “If we re to hear a true . it should have come from Prime Minister, a Prime Minister who tried to assimilate us into Canadian society,” he said. In 1969, when Chretien modpuemenneenlaen: is acon- proposed stripping aboriginal eee eee? ilitate assimilation into the Canadian mainstream.