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A Review of Research on Criminal Victimization and First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples 1990 to 2001
9. Explanations for Aboriginal Victimization
9. Explanations for Aboriginal Victimization
This section examines the explanations offered in the literature for the high rate of Aboriginal criminality and how they may relate to Aboriginal victimization. In addition, explanations for the extraordinarily high rates of domestic victimization are explored. Convergence seems to be forming around versions of a cross-cultural or trauma theory of victimization that is rooted in the overall effects of colonization. In addition, we examine, in particular, the impact of racism on Aboriginal victimization in this part of the report.
9.1 Victimization and the Impact of Colonization
There is virtually no literature or research that explains the high rate of Aboriginal victimization on a general level. There are a few theories that attempt to explain the high prevalence of family violence in Aboriginal communities (ANAC & RCMP, 2001). We examine in greater detail the discussion of why family violence is so prevalent later in this section.
There is, however, no shortage of research and literature that attempts to explain the over-representation of Aboriginal offenders in penal institutions. There is no general consensus in this literature as to the sources and causes of Aboriginal crime, although the majority of theories offered support a colonization theory to explain such over-representation. Although not directly dealing with victimization, we examine some of the literature that examines Aboriginal crime and violence below. This literature is relevant because the high rates of violence and crime in Aboriginal societies is a mirror image of Aboriginal victimization rates since studies show that most Aboriginal crime is committed against Aboriginal victims in Aboriginal communities.
Smandych, Lincoln, and Wilson (1993)provide a very useful study that summarizes the various theories for explaining Aboriginal criminal behaviour. They examine various explanations of Aboriginal over-representation such as racial bias, visibility, cultural factors, legal factors, extralegal factors, over-policing, and other explanations. The goal of their work is to identify a "cross-cultural" theory of Aboriginal crime that would be broad enough to explain all aspects of Aboriginal criminal behaviour. Although the authors note that additional work needs to be done in this area, they point to the research of two authors that they "feel should be the direction taken by theory and research on aboriginal criminal justice issues"
(p. 18). They refer to La Prairie (1992) and Marenin (1992). For example, they summarize La Prairie as follows:
[M]any of the research findings that have been reported show ‘disproportionate levels of crime and violence, both on and off-reserve' and suggest that these are the result of ‘a serious rupture of traditional control mechanisms in contemporary aboriginal communities.' She implies in her discussion that the processes of colonization … and modernization… have both contributed to creating the social and economic conditions faced by indigenous peoples and that these conditions have in turn led to serious disruption in, and sometimes even the total disintegration of, more traditional ‘communitarian' Aboriginal methods of dispute settlement and social control. (Smandych et al., 1993, pp. 18-19)
This "cross-cultural" theory (i.e. colonization and modernization) is not only valuable and relevant to explaining Aboriginal criminal behaviour, but also Aboriginal victimization. It is similar to the "trauma theory" offered by the ANAC and RCMP study as the predominate explanation of the high rates of Aboriginal family violence.
The joint review by ANAC and the RCMP (2001) provides a useful summary of the various theories that attempt to explain the prevalence of high domestic violence rates in society.[30] The majority of theories summarized are culturally neutral except for the "trauma theory" which attempts to explain disproportionate rates of victimization and crime based on the effects of colonization.[31] These other theories, however, have not gained general acceptance. Currently, the "trauma theory" has also been the main explanation adopted by majority of researchers including the many Aboriginal justice inquiries (Manitoba in 1990, Alberta in 1991, Saskatchewan in 1992). It is the preferred theory in many of the studies that examine family violence in Aboriginal communities (Ursel, 2001). Ross (1996) provides an insightful summation of the impact of colonization and its connection to domestic violence. He states:
[R]esidential schools were not the solitary cause of social breakdown amongst Aboriginal people. Rather, they were the closing punctuation mark in a loud, long declaration saying that nothing Aboriginal could possibly be of value to anyone. That message had been delivered in almost every way imaginable, and it touched every aspect of traditional social organization. Nothing was exempt, whether it was spiritual beliefs and practices, child-raising techniques, pharmacology, psychology, dispute resolution, decision-making, clan organization or community governance…. And what happens when you are told, from every direction and in every way, that you and all your people have no value to anyone, no purpose to your lives, no positive impact on the world around you? No one can stand believing those things of themselves…. At some point people brought to this position stand up and demand to be noticed, to be recognized as being alive, as having influence and power. And the easiest way to assert power, to prove that you exist, is to demonstrate power over people who are weaker still, primarily by making them do things they don't want to do. The more those things shame and diminish the weaker person, the more the abuser feels, within the twisted logic of victimization, that they have been empowered and restored themselves. [italics in original] (pp. 46, 48)
The following discussion in the RCAP report is also worth quoting at length, particularly in regards to the inter-generational impact of violence.
[M]any factors contribute to weakening the fabric of a society and loosening the bonds of relationships and self-regulated behaviour: social change that is rapid or beyond the control of a society; family breakdown, which interferes with the nurturing and socialization of children; poverty and economic marginalization, which restrict opportunities for youth and contribute to a loss of hope; loss of respect for the wisdom of Aboriginal people's culture; and learned patterns of self-defeating or self-destructive behaviour passed on from one generation to another.
We pointed out in Choosing Life that these depressing conditions afflict Aboriginal people more frequently than others in Canada, and this is no accident. Aboriginal people were not simply caught in an onslaught of development. In fact, they were subjected persistently and systematically to interventions that sought to eliminate or replace Aboriginal institutions with the allegedly better institutions of colonial society. In Volume 1 of our report, particularly chapters 8 to 13, we documented the historical policies that had a devastating effect on the culture and cohesion of Aboriginal nations and communities and lasting intergenerational consequences in the lives of families and individuals.
In our hearings and commissioned research we found further evidence that assaults on Aboriginal identity, culture and community institutions continue today. Aboriginal people recounted racially motivated incidents experienced in their daily lives. The stereotyping and devaluing of Aboriginal women, a combination of racism and sexism, are among the most damaging of attitudes that find expression in Canadian society. These attitudes are not held exclusively by non-Aboriginal people either. Indeed … members of powerless groups who are subjected to demeaning treatment tend to internalize negative attitudes toward their own group. They then act on those attitudes in ways that confirm the original negative judgement. (RCAP, 1996d, pp. 62-63)
The negative impact of colonization on identity and the subsequent social pathology that results has been an offered as an explanation for some time (Robbins, 1974). However, the links and the relationships between colonization and subsequent pathology, identity and victimization needs to be clarified by further research. There are few recent studies that have examined identity and its relevance to Aboriginal victimization. There has been some related work in terms of examining the relationship between cultural preservation and suicide rates in Aboriginal communities. Chandler and Lalonde (1998) have found that those communities that have taken active steps to preserve and to maintain their Aboriginal cultures and collective identities have dramatically lower suicide rates. If one of the negative effects of colonization is its impact on self-identity and cultural connection then we should examine the relationship between victimization and the strength of individual and community self-identity and cultural connection.
Although there is considerable research on Aboriginal family violence against women, much of this research is of a "snap-shot" variety.[32] Consequently, it is not surprising that a review of literature on Aboriginal women's policy issues made the recommendation that "priority be given to the development and implementation of longitudinal studies"
to track key indicators pertaining to Aboriginal women's victimization over time (Dion Stout & Kipling, 1998). We agree that this is a research gap. We suggest, however, that this need for more longitudinal studies should be conducted on Aboriginal victimization with communities including women, men and youth. As discussed earlier, the normalization of violence in Aboriginal communities is of serious concern and there is a need to learn more about this socialization process where crime and victimization become accepted everyday realities (Stewart et al., 2001).
The predominant theory of colonization or "trauma theory" (ANAC & RCMP, 2001) to explain Aboriginal domestic violence has obvious implications for supporting a broader theory of Aboriginal victimization generally and can be applied by analogy to explain why there is such a disproportionate rate of Aboriginal victimization generally.
Racism has been identified as a separate explanation for Aboriginal victimization. It too can be explained as a symptom of the impact of colonization. However, it is thought that its importance as a factor in Aboriginal victimization is worth discussing in a separate section. The following section examines the impact of racism on Aboriginal victimization in greater detail.
