Summary
In 1860, control of Indian Affairs was transferred to Canada from the British Government, becoming a branch of the Crown Lands Department. This was one of the last services to be transferred from imperial to colonial government. This meant that the Canadian Government was now in control of Treaty making, land sequestering, economic, social, and legal policy in regards to Indigenous peoples, and officials were largely unchecked in their assertion of power (which was aimed on securing the settlement of European immigrants on Indigenous lands and procurement of resources).
Implications
This paved the way for the establishment of the relationship between the federal government and Indigenous peoples that would be the foundation of colonial policy throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century. The transfer of Indian Affairs allowed the Canadian Government to enact a wide scale policy of genocide against Indigenous peoples that have had profound long-term effects on the population that is still evident within contemporary society. In fact, from recent reports published in the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, it could be argued that the genocide is ongoing but has taken different forms that those of the past, such as Residential Schools.
Resources
Date
1860-00-00
Theme(s)