Aboriginal Lives under Fire Throughout the novel The Day Road by Joseph Boyden, there are scenes, attitudes, and references that relate to issues that indigenous people face.The issue of aboriginal men and women being physically, verbally, and mentally assaulted in Canada on a daily basis.This is presented through both Xavier and Niska’s experiences, Xavier’s being through his treatment in the war and Niska’s being from all throughout her life. Now imagine living in an area where your race is treated differently, where the mass population calls you a waste of space. A place where where racism has become so common place it has become second nature to Canadians. It has gone as far as to deem Winnipeg “most racist city in Canada". Justice must …show more content…
It is appalling that after all this throughout Canadian history we would still have this racism as a major issue. So straight to the nitty gritty, sexual abuse/assault towards aboriginals there are thousands of stories out there but many don’t get to live to tell their stories since they are killed after the event. In three day road though Niska is able to tell of her experiences with the French trapper and other white men, exampled …show more content…
One of those social issues would be the different treatment they receive. For instance, there are some individuals who have issues with their assault cases not being taken seriously or disregarded. In a number of cases the police have ruled violence within the family to be the issue instead of looking further into the case. This assumption is challenged in The Globe and Mail when Mr. Yaksic says, “by stating that the problem is rooted in family violence, the police are deflecting attention away from the broader problem of stranger victimizations because they cannot get a handle on it” (Blaze and McClearn 7). This notion is appalling as there are many different factors that can contribute to these tragedies and not just family violence. In Niska’s situation, she did not have many of her family around while being with the French Trapper, nor did the Trapper do any violent acts towards her and many other women are in the same position (Boyden 164). Therefore, it is obvious that many cases going overlooked and their issues are quickly assumed and