Big Head Joins Cumberland Band

Summary

Big Head and a group of followers requested that they be allowed to join the Cumberland band. The request was approved.

Implications
Requiring approval by the Department of Indian Affairs for band amalgamation is indicative of the paternalistic interference of the government and an undermining of Indigenous capacities for self-government. It should be noted that Indigenous peoples had their own systems of self-governance and political philosophies in place before Contact. The perception that these systems and philosophies were insufficient or inferior is based on Eurocentric understandings of authority and political structures.
Date
1888-00-00
Community