Summary
The Saskatchewan legislature unanimously passed a resolution in 1961 to request that Ottawa transfer complete control over Indian Affairs administration to any province that wanted it. Premier Douglas suggested implementing a 25-year transition period for the transfer of power. Ottawa rejected the request from Saskatchewan.
Implications
The Saskatchewan provincial government sought to gain more unilateral control over Aboriginal affairs, but the federal government continued to hold onto as much control as possible under the law. While the CCF saw a transfer of power to provincial government as the best way to address issues directly effecting Indigenous peoples, the assumption that power should be given to the provincial government instead of local Indigenous governments shows the paternalistic approach that politicians perpetuated.
Sources
Glenbow Archives, M125, series VI, file 56, CCF 1954-61, Douglas, To my Indian Friends, 30 May 1960
Resources
Date
1961-00-00
Theme(s)