Federal Governance

The right to vote was extended to all Aboriginal people, under the condition that they gave up their tax-exempt Indian status. Meaning, that any person who was "non-status" was eligible to vote, however, barriers to accessing the vote still remained. Universal enfranchisement for First Nations people was granted in 1960.

Indian Affairs Branch transferred to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.

The Special Joint Parliamentary Committee on Indian Affairs was appointed in order to examine the post-war experiences of Aboriginal people across the country. Particular focuses of the committee were treaty rights, band membership, taxation, enfranchisement, encroachments on Indigenous land, schools, and the social and economic advancement of Indians. The committee met with various groups representing Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan, including the Protective Association for Indians and their Treaties and the Saskatchewan Indian Association. These delegates recommended to the committee that all education, welfare, and social initiatives should be run by Aboriginal people and be non-denominational.

After defeats at Fish Creek and Cut Knife General Frederick Middleton asked Indian Commissioner Edgar Dewdney to "issue proclamation warning breeds and Indians to return to their Reserves and that all found away will be treated as rebels." Middleton hoped to fight just the Batoche Metis and avoid inciting an Indian war. Dewdney who had been seeking for a justification to pass ordinances to bring about greater control over the western Aboriginal population supported Middleton's idea. Within hours of receiving Middleton's telegram he issued a notice that all loyal Indians must remain on their reserves.

The House of Commons Committee on Post-war Reconstruction and Reestablishment met to discuss Indian Affairs for two days, May 18 and 24. The economic circumstances of Aboriginal people were at the forefront of the meetings. Proceedings began with a discussion of fur trade economies and the move to First Nations home industries in the face of the fur trade’s failure.

In 1934, the Department of Indian Affairs introduced relief funding caps which were tied to family size. This created a universal value scale, and was the first major change to relief funding since the relief scale had been put in place. In a circular to all Indian Agents dated 10 February 1934, A.F. MacKenzie authorizes the agents "to place on food relief Indians who are indigent and who are unable to obtain employment at the following rates: minimum allowance ($4/month), 2 or 3 persons in the same family ($6/month), 4, 5 or 6 persons in the same family ($7/month), 7 and 8 persons in the same family ($9/month), 9 and 10 persons in the same family ($10/month). Add $1.00 supplementary for each person in a family above ten persons. Please furnish the Department with a list of those Indians who are receiving relief in excess of the above rates at the end of each month, showing number in family and amount of expenditure."

Following the resolutions that had been put forward the year before at the League of Indians in Western Canada’s first conference at Saddle Lake, the resolutions passed in 1932 were more specific. The group requested that all teachers at boarding and industrial schools be fully qualified, all farm instructors removed from Alberta and Saskatchewan, section 45 of the Indian Act (concerning permits) be abolished, and various amendments to the Indian Act since 1876 be abolished.

The Churchill River Power Company established a dam on the Churchill River at Island Falls, near Sandy Bay, to supply power to the Hudson's Bay Mining and Smelting mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba. The mine began receiving power from the dam in 1930. The company claims that in 1928 it held public hearings concerning the project, and that there was not a community established at that location until after the dam was constructed and Aboriginal inhabitants moved closer to the project for work. The Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation states that they had established a reserve on that location before the dam project started, but once the company expressed interest in the land the federal government took the reserve lands from the band. The project employed many Cree workers. The working conditions for these employees were usually very poor, and they were often paid in rations rather than money. Between 1930-35, Etienne MacDonald (1984), Moise Bear (1984) and Mathew Nateweyes (1984) confirmed that the Cree workers were being paid in groceries at a rate equivalent to thirty cents an hour. In addition, overtime hours, which were frequent, were not remunerated. In 1935, workers on the dam successfully organized to raise their pay to 35 cents an hour (in cash) and reduce work hours to an eight hour day.

The herbicides used were very powerful. They made the workers tired and sleepy, yet they were unable to sleep because of the itching. The herbicide killed both trees and animals. Women were therefore asked not to pick berries from the powerline area. The water quality was also affected, as garbage and sewage were often dumped in the river. Some residents recall the high number of infant and child related sickness and death during this period.

Sandy Bay was only two miles away from the dam, it did not receive power from it at first. It was only in 1958 that the people of Sandy Bay got a powerline.

The Antapa shooting club, whose membership included Department of Indian Affairs employee William Morris Graham (he was likely the Prairie Indian Commissioner at the time), requested a lease for duck-hunting on Antapa Point, which was part of the Pasqua reserve. The lease was granted, but neither the chief nor the membership of the Pasqua reserve had consented to the lease. Furthermore, the lease included a clause allowing the group to bring in alcohol for the purpose of hunting parties, which conflicted with the alcohol rules appearing in the Indian Act. MP J.S. Woodsworth accused Graham of using his position and influence for his personal benefit.

The Superintendent General of Indian Affairs was given regulatory power over pool rooms, dance halls, and other recreational locations in order to discourage Aboriginal people from frequenting these establishments. Further restrictions were enacted in 1930 when it became illegal for the owner of a pool hall to allow an Aboriginal person in their establishment.