Summary
An Indian Affairs branch directive was sent out stating that complaints and inquiries made by Aboriginal people could not be made directly to Indian Affairs, but had to first go through the band's associated Indian agent. The reasoning behind this was that having Aboriginal people deal directly with government was not sufficiently productive and therefore financially inefficient.
Implications
This directive posed a number of problems and violations. For example, an 1895 Indian Act amendment afforded Indian Agents the power and authority of Justices of the Peace. This increased the surveillance and control that Indian Agents held over First Nations people and their lands. No auditing bodies or system of checks and balances were simultaneously applied to compensate for the increasing expansion of bureaucratic oversight. This is indicative of the belief that it was "uncivilized" Indigenous people who posed a threat to societal order, and from whom settler society needed to be protected, obscuring the abuses of state-imbued power and vulnerability to harm from unelected Indian Agents or other colonial officials. There does not appear to have been discussions of rights that applied to First Nations people or potential routes of advocacy in cases of corruption, such as unjust accusations of criminality. As such, following this directive, some First Nations raised concerns about making complaints to their Indian Agent as they were worried they would not be heard. If Indian Agents were engaged in abuses of power, appealing to the Indian Agent for help in this regard would likely be unhelpful. It should also be noted that First Nations people were not afforded the same rights as settlers, in that they were not able to elect officials or contact Crown representatives at their need.
Sources
Joint Committee, 1947, p. 1405, Complaint of the Garden River Band; p. 1302, Complaint of the Union of Ontario Indians and the general statement of Professor T.F McIlwraith.
Date
1933-00-00
Theme(s)