Ethics

For a long time, aboriginal peoples not only in Canada but in many other parts of the world have been faced with many challenges that have threatened other very existence. Just like other First Peoples in other nations, the aboriginals in Canada have had a difficult life trying to remain true to their traditional way of life. Although it cannot be claimed that all the First Nations of the world have had exactly the same problems, a common trend observed over time has been their subjection to social ills ranging from colonization, denial of welfare rights, and attempts to expose them to genocide. Children have particularly been impacted owing to their helplessness. In Canada, the First Peoples or Aboriginals, who comprise the First Nations, the Mtis, and the Inuit, have been the subject of constant debate regarding their rights and the need to have their lives improved (Knopf, 2008). There have been many policies put in place to specifically address one or more issues affecting them but almost with equal zeal there has been opposition to all or some of these policies. The result has been that the First Peoples there have never had a chance at good and fulfilling life. This paper explores the history of policy and social issues affecting Canadian First Peoples, including the child welfare and protection policies, claims about attempted genocide on aboriginal children in the past, and how the healing process can for the wounds inflicted on the people can be approached using the Medicine Wheel (Roberts, 2008).

Policy Issue History
There has been as need to have aboriginal families integrated into the more modern and contemporary life so that they can be able to move in step with the rest of the society. It has been very difficult, sometimes even totally impossible, for other communities in Canada to accept the Aboriginals owing to their rather unusual approach to life issues. The most common issue has been the attempt to change their way of life by having their children removed from them so that they could be brought up in a different ways. The goal was to use separation from parents and the community to force the children to be brought up under different circumstances so their new environment could force them to change their lifestyles (Roberts, 2008). Many people were opposed to this move which came to be described under international law as genocide because it resulted in forceful removal of children from their parents and so constituted oppression.

Residential school programs for aboriginals were designed to have the children dropping the perceived retrogressive culture of their upbringing and adopting the culture of the civilized majority of the people. The main methodology used was to get, by force, children from aboriginal parents and then get them adopted by foster mothers from other cultures so that they could not be able to follow aboriginal norms and cultures (Turner, 2005). There was an outcry from child welfare groups who needed changes to be enacted so that this practice would be stopped. There was also the need to end the schooling program which was designed to change the culture of aboriginal children. Although it is a policy in the country that everyone is entitled to education, the aboriginal culture is such that schooling is not given priority. Cultural integration has therefore been a very controversial matter. These acts were more or less like colonizing these communities, and it was not until 1982 that the rights of the aboriginal children were protected in the Canadian constitution. Henceforth, some states began enacting laws to this effect although there still remained controversies as to whether this was right or not.

There was a real colonization of natives in Canada, though (Proulx, 2000). The colonial era served as the genesis of the woes for the aboriginals. Their land was taken away by European settlers who also meted on them and their children other atrocities including oppression, forced labor, rape, and even infection with diseases which the natives could not have a natural immunity against. Colonization has been documented as being responsible for the rapid decline of the Aboriginal populations to the minority that now remains (Roberts, 2008). Institutionalized inequality was enhanced because the colonizers took away the resources that belonged to aboriginals and later used the institutions to legalize what they had obtained illegally. Currently, the First Nations are among the most impoverished communities in the country and who have lagged behind in general development. The Indian Act led to significant losses of land that had belonged to aboriginal communities. It is estimated that the natives lost 98 of their land in deals that later came to be made legal by the colonizers (Roberts, 2008).

Policy Impacts
Child welfare programs have had impacts in the nation and especially on the aboriginal people and their communities. Every policy has its own effects. In Canada, the policy to stop forceful integration of cultures and to have children welfare programs put in place specifically to protect aboriginal communities has diverse impacts. Various perspectives, however, have been fronted by those in support and those opposed to the policy. The so-called enlightened people of Canada are still not happy with there being among them people who lead a lifestyle that is considered out of place, outdated, and retrogressive. On the other hands, those in support of the aboriginal cause have lauded the measures to have children welfare programs in place (Binda, 2001).

On the whole, there has been witnessed a lot of tolerance for aboriginal children and with all forms of forceful integration forbidden, aboriginal children are able to lead a life that is more autonomous (Binda, 2001). The entire aboriginal communities have been able to come out as a group of people who are ready to assert their own autonomy in their most unique ways. They relish in the recognition given them internationally even though they are still faced with challenges stemming from past injustices. Education attainment may be low for the aboriginal children but they are not forced to get a Western kind of education as before.

Current Developments in Aboriginal Children Welfare and the Values Implied by Policy
A leading problem of Canada today has to do with handling issues of aboriginal children who are seriously affected by social ills like extreme poverty and lack of access to proper social amenities. Every child welfare group in the country is concerned that the rate at which aboriginal children are being affected by poverty and many other social ills is alarming (Wilkins, 2004). There is supposedly just too much pressure on child welfare groups and other charitable organizations to deal with the situation. The problem has been compounded by the legal requirement that every foster parent who happens to adopt an aboriginal child must be able to commit to bring up the child in a way that does not depart from the cultural roots of the child. This has been the main area of contention. Many contend that the government will have to decide to have aboriginal children brought up by foster parents in a different lifestyle from that in which their parents raised them or have them living in poverty all their loves (Binda, 2001).

The greater controversy has been the validity of such claims and whether it is right to have aboriginal children still being taken away from their parents when the law clearly forbids it. While it has been claimed that it is only by caring for them under different environments that these children can ever hope to have a bright future through being allowed a chance to get an education however basic, aboriginal communities are opposed to this move. They believe their indigenous lives are the best for them and there is no need for the children to be separated from parents even with the parents consent as required by law. Instead, the plan is to have a lot of children welfare programs that are run by aboriginals so that the children will be raised up under aboriginal cultural practices.

As of today, there is an estimated 4 aboriginals in Canada. The shocking news is that of these - a small minority - as many as 30-40 of the children under welfare programs throughout the country are from aboriginal families (Wilkins, 2004). This shows that aboriginal children are still in need of welfare programs even though these programs ought to be made to be more commensurate with the cultural requirements of the children. In the future, therefore, there is need to have more aboriginal-based child welfare agencies so that there is an incorporation of empowerment and culture in the whole process. The policy framework above tends to underscore the need for culture-based welfare programs for aboriginal children. Family bonds are usually very strong and severing them for any purpose might be costly to those concerned (Olsen, 2008).

The Development of the Issue as a Social Problem
The current problem has its roots in the failure of successive governments in Canada to recognize cultural autonomy of the aboriginals as a basic human right. It is a deep-seated desire in people to have what they value being appreciated, recognized and encouraged to grow or develop. The failure of the government to do this, coupled with the attempts to impose policies that are unpopular with aboriginal communities owing to their being opposed to their cultural way of life, has made them to conclude that the government is out to do them harm.

Every community of people tends to react to issues based on past relationships or historical encounters. Having been colonized earlier, it is only logical for aboriginals of today to expect that the government is out to do the same again. This explains their reluctance to collaborate with it. Had the authorities sought to understand the needs of the people, especially children, and tried to work together with the people themselves to resolve the problems and to bring about a positive change, then there would have been no controversies as there are now. Children welfare programs would be going on without as many problems.

Aboriginal Practice Framework
Although there are a number of closely interrelated issues in the policies being implemented to supposedly help children adapt to new lifestyles, one main issue can be underpinned. This is discrimination based on social class, education, and race (Olsen, 2008). This discrimination has in turn led to feelings of mistrust between aboriginals and people from other communities whom they view as unfriendly and even bent on ensuring that the aboriginals never enjoy their stay in the country. Social problems are a daily occurrence and are universal. However, the manner in which they are handled can determine whether or not they will recur. Social problems are like a fire that can be lit by virtually anyone but unless the fire is controlled well enough and by an expert, it cannot be tamed once it gets out of control. Human behavior is more or les based on this analogy (Olsen, 2008).

People, children notwithstanding, grow up best under the care of their parents and this explains why the law in most jurisdictions require that the care of a child be under the person whose care the childs best interests are met. Parents and close relatives in that order are given first priority. Problems for the child start developing when a person who does not have the interests of the child at heart is required to care for the child (Castellano, 2001). As has been happening in Canada over time, the aborigines are not exactly opposed to measures to be made more prosperous or to be helped to have a higher standard of living. Instead, they are rebelling against the governments perceived failure to recognize them as people who can make their own decisions and who can change things. It is true that education is a key precursor to a fulfilling life but it is also true that every community has its own way of offering education. The aboriginals might not be very well versed in Western education but their education is largely about family morals and values and how one can live a fulfilling life. After all, life is most precious than anything else.

Case Scenario
Considering the case of an aboriginal man, such effects of being pushed to fit into a certain way of life will only resulted in him being rebellious and opposed to any such moves. A close analysis of his way of life indicates that he has had issues with his upbringing. His parents, grandparents and great grandparents were all victims of colonization and this has caused him to harbor deep-seated resentment for anything and anyone who supports racial segregation and who seems to be a supporter of mistreatments. As a child, he was forcibly removed from his parents and taken into a foster home where he was brought up without any idea of what it was like to have an own mother, family, and culture. The resentments are not of his choosing but a symptom of what has been happening to h is family and friends. The resentments are not able to go away as long as he continues to retain feelings of having been offended by colonial powers and present regimes.

Seeking Redress
For this client to be helped to heal, the contributing factors like the past (and possibly the present) injustices committed against him and his people ought to be revisited and talked over in a stepwise approach to give him a chance to get over them (Hales, 2009). Trying to gloss over them will not help at all. Instead, there has to be an identification of all the evils committed, and the hurts the person had bottled up, so that a healing process can begin. It is also very important that the perpetrators are made to either apologize for the wrongs committed or to compensate him.

Empowering the Man
As is the norm with most social work approaches, it is critical that the man is empowered to be able to get back what was taken away from him. Although it is true that not everything can be returned to him, the best aspect that he needs is to be assured that what was done was then and that there is room for healing (Briskman, 2007). There is need for the man to be able to retrace his steps to the days when he was being subjected to suffering and probably also be allowed time to narrate what he believes or knows was done to his parents, grandparents, and all the others before them. The aim of having him go through these is to allow him to accept them as truths and facts and so be in a position to give reconciliation a chance (Berry, 2007).

Although it would seem that having back the land and the lives of those who might have lost it would be the most appropriate way to go, this would be an impractical step which can only complicate matters further. What he needs instead is to forgive those who wronged him and move on regardless of whether or not they are repentant or not. The injustices committed by authorities on his ancestors can never be fully compensated even though they have effects on the current generation. However, this man can petition the current government to address those past injustices through a legal way. Otherwise, he will have to let go and forgive totally and let bygones be bygones (Gray, 2008).

Theoretical Orientations and Cultural Perspectives
Culturally, there has to be a move to have the man and his family and community compensated for the ills that have been committed against them. The government, which automatically assumes all responsibility for ills committed by the previous regimes (including the colonial government), must be ready to help in the healing process preferably by acting in a manner that portrays its being sorry for the atrocities committed. The truth should be sought and with it justice granted in order that everyone can be in a position where they can benefit (Olsen, 2008).

To conclude, therefore, the entire community ought to be asked to accept forgiveness. In essence, the perpetrators of the various acts of oppression on this man, his ancestors, and other members of the community must apologize and actually prove that they are sorry and regret that such atrocities were committed. Theoretically, all the solutions to clients affected by similar issue will be drawn from the psychosocial frameworks which recommend a community-based approach to solving the problem. Therapy such as cognitive-behavioral therapy can also work well as the injustices are historical.