Cultural Appropriation Of Indigenous Culture

It’s Halloween night. Many people are dressed up in all sorts of unique, eye catching costumes. However, there are people dressed in big native headdresses, as China dolls, Egyptian Gods and Sugar skulls. It may not seem like a big deal, but all of these ‘costumes’ belong to different cultures, and each have their own historically significant story. No matter how important it is to support other cultures, the line between cultural appreciation and appropriation still exists. It is natural for different cultures to blend and develop together as society evolves. Different groups pick up different elements of one another, thus creating diversity. There are many examples of this seen in fashion, media and art. Many clothing styles use traditional

Apologies are thrown around, but very little progress towards change is made. Those who have the power are not using it to their advantage to advocate towards this issue. The Canadian law does not even protect Indigenous culture. However, there is a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) a United Nations agency that works together to protect culture. The problem is, people working at a National level are quite frankly ‘clueless’ on this topic and minimal contributions are being made. Not enough Indigenous representatives are a part of those communities and organizations. "The consequences of ignoring that now is more or less to say that perpetuating cultural appropriation of Indigenous culture in Canada is okay and has no real consequences, and it's untrue. It has real consequences” (Brault). As for the steps Canada should take, they should continue to bring awareness to the harm cultural appropriation has towards Indigenous people. It is usually not a conscious decision for people to wake up and intentionally try to appropriate another culture. However, many people are unaware of the disrespect and theft it really brings because it is sometimes difficult to picture yourself in another person’s shoes, as Canada is such a privileged country. There should be stronger enhanced laws to protect Indigenous art and culture,because so many pieces are being illegally sold to the public without any credit. It’s easy for artists to view this topic and argue that it is a freedom of expression, but in reality it is more so laziness and instead desiring a right to speak over historically silenced cultures. Indigenous cultures are asking for nothing more than respect anda chance to speak. By making a change and ending cultural appropriation altogether, Canada will be united and powerful as all equal