The Indian ActPaternalism and Assimilation

What is the Indian Act?• A statute (act of Parliament) that covers how the Canadian

government deals with First Nations bands

• The act was first passed in 1876 and is still in effect (with amendments)

• The act is very wide-ranging and gave the federal government total power over First Nations and their land

• Purpose was to encourage assimilation

• The act was paternalistic and treated Aboriginal people like children that needed parents to look after them

• The Indian Act is not a treaty and was not negotiated; it was imposed on Aboriginal Peoples by the government

“I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone… Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Dept.”

– Duncan Campbell Scott, head of Canada’s Department of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932

What is the Indian Act?

• It says how reserves and bands can operate

– Defines how bands can be created and spells out the powers of "band councils“

– Disregarded the traditional line of heredity that many First Nations

followed in choosing their leaders

– Government officials had power to remove chiefs (for reasons such

as dishonesty, incompetence, or immorality)

• Government refused to honour treaty payments or to provide

services to any band that failed to obey

• It defines who is, and who is not recognized as an "Indian"

Definitions• Status Indian

– A person listed on the official Indian register maintained by the federal government

– Status Indians are entitled to certain rights and benefits under the law (often those established by treaties)

• Non-Status Indian

– People who consider themselves First Nations but are not recognized by the government as Indians

– Either because they are unable to prove their status or have lost their status rights

– Non-status Indians do not have the same rights and benefits as Status Indians

• Treaty Indians

– Status Indians who belong to a First Nation band that signed a treaty with the government

Loss of Indian Status

• Until the 1960s, Status Indians could be “enfranchised” – which

meant the government could take Status away from an Indian, with

or without consent, and replace it with Canadian citizenship

• Reasons for loss of status could include:

– Voting in a federal election

– Getting a university degree

– Serving in the military

– Being a clergyman or a lawyer

– Aboriginal women who married non-Native or non-Status men (their

children would also lose status)

Indian Agents• Federal government’s representative on reserves

• Usually non-Aboriginal and male, and held great power

• Most lived on the reserve and were responsible for its administrative affairs (controlled band council meetings, approved bylaws, managed finances)

• Could remove chiefs and band councilors for refusing to follow the government’s rules and regulations

• They inspected reserve

schools and health conditions

Indian Agents (continued)

• They could prosecute and hand down sentences for Act violations

• First Nations people not allowed to drink on or off reserves –

Indian agents could punish them for doing this

• First Nations were not allowed to leave the reserve without the

Indian agent’s permission until the mid-1950’s

• Indian agents could even become chiefs, despite the fact that they

were not aboriginal

• Basically, the Indian Act gave one individual control over a vast

array of social, political, economic and cultural functions that used

to be managed by the community

Timeline of changes to the Indian Act:• 1879: First amendments were passed; “half-breeds” were

withdrawn from the treaty agreements.

• 1880: Native people of the West could not sell their crops (wheat

and vegetables), to keep them from competing with White farmers

• 1884: The potlatch and other religious ceremonies and dances

were banned; Aboriginal people could be sentenced to 2-6 months

for breaking the law

• 1894: Any Native land not being used for cultivation could be

leased to non-Aboriginal people

Timeline of changes to the Indian Act:• 1905: Indigenous people could be removed from reserves that

were too close to White towns of more than 8000 residents

• 1911: Municipalities and companies allowed to take portions of

reserve land, without the consent of the band, for roads, railways,

and other public works

• 1914: Status Indians required to get official permission before

appearing in Native costume in any dance, show, exhibition,

stampede, or pageant

• 1918: Aboriginal people could not be conscripted into the army,

but if they volunteered they would not lose status

Timeline of changes to the Indian Act:• 1927: Made it a crime to raise money for Indian land claims

without a special license from the government, banned Indigenous

people from forming political organizations, and prohibited Indians

from speaking their Aboriginal languages

• 1930: Banned Status Indians from playing pool if they “did it too

often and wasted their time to the detriment of themselves and

their families”

• 1951: The Indian Act was completely overhauled

– Lifted the ban on potlatches

– Allowed Indigenous people to purchase alcohol and enter public bars

Native Voting Rights• In 1960, Indigenous people received the right to vote in federal

elections (without losing status) under the government of Prime

Minister John Diefenbaker

• They were the final group of people in Canada to get the vote

John Diefenbaker

being named Chief

Walking Buffalo by

Chief Little Crow of

the Sioux Indian

Tribe

The 1969 White Paper:• Under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian government

released its White Paper on Indian Policy

• It called for the complete assimilation of First Nations peoples

into Canadian society

• White Paper proposed to:

– repeal the Indian Act, ending federal

responsibilities to First Nations

– end Indian status and treaties

– eliminate reserve land

– transfer all responsibilities for Aboriginal

peoples to the provinces

The 1969 White Paper:• The paper was presented by the Indian Affairs minister at the

time, Jean Chrétien

• The reaction was immediate

and fierce, with almost every

Indian organization

protesting against the plan

• The paper was dropped and

Indigenous political organizations became stronger and more

unified

• Also in 1969, Indian agents were removed from the reserves

The 1982 Constitution:• The Constitution Act recognized

“existing aboriginal and treaty rights”

that guaranteed equality to Aboriginal

men and women

• The Canadian Charter of Rights and

Freedoms stated that the protection of

individual rights would not take away

from the protection of “aboriginal,

treaty or other rights or freedoms that

pertain to the Aboriginal peoples.”

Bill C-31:• In 1985, Bill C-31 was passed in Canada to end the discrimination

against Aboriginal women found in the original Indian Act (and

make it compliant with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms )

• Aboriginal women who married non-Native or non-Status men

would no longer lose status (nor would their children)

• However, there was a “two-generation

cut-off clause”

• Marry out of status for two generations,

and the children of the second union are

non-status

Who has Status now?• In the past, if you were a Status Indian you automatically qualified

for band membership

• Now there are two aspects of identifying “Indians”

– The federal government maintains a list of all Status Indians who qualify

for federal services and benefits

– Each local band also keeps a list of band members eligible for band

entitlements (the Indian Act allows band to maintain their own

membership codes)

• This creates a situation where an Indigenous person might qualify

for federal Indian status, but be denied band membership because

they fail to meet local criteria!

Indians now limiting Indian Status• The land and resources that Indigenous people control are

finite, but populations continue to grow

• In response, many bands have adopted strict membership

codes in order to limit new members

• Indian status is not solely about culture; it is about

entitlement to resources

• For bands, accepting new members

means cutting an already small

“pie” into smaller pieces