Perceptions of Indigenous Peoples in Canada: Modern Racism, Benefit Finding, and Moral Obligations for Descendants of Residential School Survivors

Abstract

The victimization of Canada's Indigenous peoples is becoming increasingly salient, due to greater focus on the Indian Residential Schools (IRS). Four studies investigated how this salience might impact Canadians' expectations of Indigenous peoples. Our research follows up on moral obligations research in the Canadian context, in which observers are members of the historical perpetrator group, and in which accumulated effects of the victimization are ongoing. After being presented with information about the IRS, participants completed a meaning-making task, followed by a survey assessing victim moral obligations, and other measures, such as modern racism and perceived benefit finding. Manipulation occurred either in the group for whom meaning was to be made or in the framing of Indigenous peoples, These manipulations were to test the effect of focusing on the