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2.1 The Indian Act – how this controls Indigenous People in…
2.1 The Indian Act – how this controls Indigenous People in CanadaThe Indian Act
Laws can take abstract ideas and implement them in real life. A law makes following a rule mandatory, and law enforcement ensures that people obey that rule. But while laws can provide order and protection, they can also express prejudice and be used to discriminate.
In this photo, an Indigenous woman is shown on a reserve in Canada, 1930.
The Indian Act of 1876 granted the Canadian government control over many aspects of Indigenous Peoples’ lives, including the management of housing, health services, the environment, and other resources on reserves.
In 1876, the British North America Act united three British colonies into the first four provinces of the Dominion of Canada, providing Canada with its own government and federal structure. This new Canadian government inherited the colonial legacy of Great Britain, including two legislations: the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869. Both aimed to force Indigenous Peoples to give up all ties to their heritage through a Euro-Canadian education or by leaving the reserve and becoming owners of private property.
Since the 1830s, the British authorities, and later the Canadian government, had set up reserves to settle the Indigenous Peoples and remove them from areas the newcomers desired to settle or develop. The reserves were small, unproductive land tracts where the Indigenous Peoples were forced to live by the act.
Eventually, the Canadian Parliament consolidated the Gradual Civilization Act and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act into the Indian Act of 1876. This new legislation, which still exists today despite its many amendments, brought Status (registered) Indians under federal jurisdiction. The Department of Indian Affairs, formed by the act, governed nearly all aspects of the lives of First Nations communities, including band membership, reserve infrastructure and services, systems of governance, culture, and education.
The Indian Act of 1876 created the legal category of a category that had long-lasting implications for the First Nations of Canada. Once it entered into law, the act imposed a single common legal definition, lumping together different nations and languages into the broad category of First Nations.
What does The Indian Act mean if one is Indigenous:
1. land: all land is named after location, not after the people who traditionally lived there; people are moved onto lesser quality lands to make room for European settlers
2. membership — the Indian Agent arrives and puts a person on the list, thus making that person a Status Indian
3. government: impose elected chiefs and council that are accountable to the government of Canada; does NOT recognize hereditary chiefs, a system based on cultural practices
What does it mean to be a Status Indian?
The original document of 1876 defined someone as being legally Indian if that person fit these descriptions:
1. Any male person of Indian blood reputed to belong to a particular band;
2. Any child of such person;
3. Any woman who is, or was, lawfully married to such person.
A key element was the law’s definition of who was Indian and what Indianness was. (The term was used several centuries beforethe law simply formalized its use. It is worth noting, however, that none of the many clans, bands, alliances, and nations ever called themselves Indian.)
According to the Indian Act of 1876, the “only individuals who could consider themselves Indian were those who could prove they were related, through the male line, to individuals who were already Status Indians,” writes Bonita Lawrence. Thus the policy created “new” members of society whose legal status, rights, and limitations were defined by law; the Indian Act made formal a new Canadian group.
Equally powerful was the Indian Act’s power to exclude. Among the groups that were not considered Indians were the Inuit and Métis people.
Individuals could easily lose their status, and “without Indian Status and the band membership that goes along with it,” Lawrence notes, “Native people are not allowed to live on any land part of an Indian reserve in Canada. . . . They cannot take part in the life of their own community unless they have Indian Status and hence band membership in that community.” In fact, she writes, “the colonial act of establishing legal definitions of Indianness, which excluded vast numbers of Native people from obtaining Indian status, has enabled the Canadian government to remove a significant sector of Native people from the land.”
The Indian Act has been reformed many times since 1876. Over the years, its most offensive clauses were repealed or altered, including those restricting the movement of individuals outside of reserves, outlawing Indigenous ceremonies, and discriminating against women. But to this day, the Indian Act continues to regulate significant parts of life for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, such as band membership, taxation, band governance, elections, rights to land and other resources, and education.
But however bad this legislation is, it recognizes the First Nations of Canada’s legal relationship with the Canadian government and affirms their rights and status not as minorities but as independent groups.
Few indigenous activists would like to see it simply go away before settling the relationship between the Crown and First Nations on a better foundation.
21 Quick Facts about the Indian Act that you may not know (Source: Bob Joseph):
The Indian Act:
Denied women status if they married non-Indigenous men
Introduced residential schools
Created reserves, thus pushing Indigenous people into less desirable land and giving away their original territory to settlers
Renamed individuals with European names
Instituted the “pass system” which meant that they could only leave their land if they received a pass from the Indian agent (see below)
A two week pass for Edward Yahyahkeekoot from the Saskatchewan Archives Board. This is one of the few remaining passes found in a Canadian archive, and is proof of the pass system, implemented in 1885. The policy controlled the movement of First Nation people off reserves. (Tamarack Productions)
Enforced enfranchisement of any First Nation admitted to university
Could expropriate (take away) portions of reserves for roads, railways and other public works, as well as move an entire reserve away from a municipality if it was deemed expedient
Could lease out uncultivated reserve lands to non-First Nations if the new leaseholder would use it for farming or pasture
Forbade First Nations from forming political organizations
Prohibited anyone, First Nation or non-First Nation, from soliciting funds for First Nation legal claims without special license from the Superintendent General. (this 1927 amendment granted the government control over the ability of First Nations to pursue land claims)
Prohibited the sale of alcohol to First Nations
Prohibited sale of ammunition to First Nations
Prohibited pool hall owners from allowing First Nations entrance
Imposed the “band council” system
Forbade First Nations from speaking their native language
Forbade First Nations from practicing their traditional religion
Forbade western First Nations from appearing in any public dance, show, exhibition, stampede or pageant wearing traditional regalia
Declared potlatch and other cultural ceremonies illegal; Indigenous culture is about reciprocity (give and take)
Denied First Nations suffrage (the right to vote)
Created permit system to control First Nations ability to sell products from farms
Created under the British rule for the purpose of subjugating one race Aboriginal Peoples
Answer the following question in 5 short paragraphs, and submit to the appropriate drop box in Assignments. This is a formative assignment that will form the foundation for a future summative assignment:
What does this Indian Act, in its current state, reflect about the relationship between First Nations and Canadian society? State your position and support it with three specific examples. Make sure you structure your answer as a 5-pargraph essay, with an introductory paragraph, three separate body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. this should be 300-500 wrds
