ABSTRACT
Aboriginal policy in Australia and Canada has a long history of discrimination—a history that has deeply affected family structure, cultural knowledge, values and beliefs, economic viability and individual and collective identity. This chapter argues that multiculturalism is an ideology or practice of the immigrants to these lands, which often ignores the unique position of the indigenous peoples. It briefly presents essential characteristics of Aboriginal and multicultural policies in Australia and Canada as a way of providing a contextual understanding for the sociocultural and political positions Aboriginal artists are taking in each country. For many indigenous artists art is a concept that has been artificially separated from other facets of life. In a multicultural society there is a tendency for cultures to blend, sharing their best attributes and in the end creating a new culture. Yet for Aboriginal peoples, this would mean losing some sacred symbols to a capitalistic economy and weakening a cultural belief system.
