Summary
Building on amendments made to the Indian Act in 1881 which enabled magistrates to have jurisdictional authority on reserves, this 1882 amendment granted the Indian Agent the same power as magistrates, despite lacking formal legal training.
Implications
The intent of this amendment was to increase the amount of surveillance, power and control available to the Department of Indian Affairs to keep Indigenous people in line with the forced governmental agenda of assimilation.By doing this, Indian Agents had a disproportional amount of power over Indigenous peoples despite not being trained on how to implement it, or a legal understanding - most inevitably leading to abuses of power that remained unchecked for lack of concern or care.
Sub Event
Indian Agents Given Power of Magistrate
Date
1882