Federal Governance

Indian Act Amendment

Summary

1. The amendment to the Indian act allowed the government to declare any poorly-equipped institution an industrial or boarding school for Aboriginal peoples. It also allowed the government to claim Aboriginal lands for the creation of a residential school. 2. The Superintendent-General was given the power to appoint an executor of the estate of a deceased Aboriginal person. 3. The Superintendent was given supreme authority over sanitation, including the cleaning of public spaces and homes, and supplying necessary medicine.

Implications
These amendments represent a trend in amendments to the Indian Act in which bureaucratic surveillance and control of Indigenous affairs increased over time. No accountability structures or system of checks and balances were simultaneously applied to compensate for the powers afforded these expansions of bureaucratic oversight. This is indicative of the belief that it was Indigenous peoples 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. For more information, please see related entries on Indian Act amendments.
Sources

PAC, RG10, Vol. 6809, file 470-2-3, vol. 6: Scott to Roche, 30 January 1914 with draft bill and brief, p. 6-9.

Sub Event
Increased Power over Creation of Residential Schools, Superintendent-General Power over Deceased Person's Estate, Public Sanitation
Resources
Statutes of Canada
Date
1914-00-00
Theme(s)
Residential Schools
Federal Governance
Indian Act
Documents
File
event391-2daf0430.pdf485.27 KB
File Description
An Act to Amend the Indian Act: 4-5 George V, Chapt. 35, 12th Parliament, 3rd Session

Indian Act Amendment: Reserve Residents to Work on Public Roads

Summary

Amendments to the Indian Act in 1898 allowed those living on reserves who were not engaged in agriculture to be recruited to work on public roads. It also allowed the Superintendent General the ability to dispose of grass and timber on reserve land without band surrender. Further power over band funds was also bestowed on the Governor-in-Council.

Implications
The federal government ignored the ways in which First Nations had organized themselves, their labour, and their resources prior to colonial interference. By allocating any on-reserve labour towards road work that was not being used in agriculture, it both denied and controlled reserve populations from utilizing their labour in ways that benefited their communities. Mandatory reallocation of labour also prepared for the settlement of the West, which was reliant on the segregation of Indigenous peoples. To summarize, the amendment ultimately forced reserve labour into creating the conditions wherein settlement could occur while also redirecting the labour and time of First Nations that could be focused on their communities. This could have also been implemented in an attempt to prevent political/physical mobilization (similar to the North-West Resistance) and increase surveillance on First Nations populations. First Nations peoples were not compensated for their labour.

The further control over band spending was an attempt to deal with band resistance in regard to what Indian Affairs identified as unapproved 'spending.' The government was extending paternalistic control over Indigenous governance, wherein they assumed that the government was more knowledgeable about the needs of reserves rather than band councils and precolonial governing systems
Sources

PAC, RG10, Vol. 6809, file 470-2-3, vol.. 4, (vol. II, part 4): Bill, An Act further to amend the Indian Act, 1898, p. 3; J.D McLean to Sifton (copy), Memorandum for the Minister in re proposed amendment to the Indian Act, 11 January 1898, p.7; Orr's comments on section 38 in Amendments to the Indian Act suggested by Agents and others, p. 3; Suggestions as to Amendments to the Indian Act, 15 Nov. 1897 Secretary D.C Scott. CP, Statutes of Canada (61 Vic, cap. 34), 13 June 1898, p. 143: sec. 33 under the 1st clause of an Act further the amend the Indian Act; section 70 under 6th clause, p. 145. CP, House of Commons Debates, 3 Sess., 8 Parl., 1898, vol. 11, col. 5964: Indian Act Amendment BIll, 23 May 1898.

Sub Event
Reserve Residents to Work on Public Roads, Superintendent General Powers over Grass and Timber, Governor-in-Council Power over Band Funds
Date
1898-00-00
Theme(s)
Federal Governance
Indian Act

Indian Act Amendment

Summary

Following the amendment made the previous year (see entry for Indian Act Amendment 1894 - this allowed the superintendent general the power to lease the land of any Indian unable to cultivate it without having to secure a surrender) a new amendment allowed the Superintendent General to lease without the surrender any Indian land he saw fit upon his request. ----------------------------------------- During one House of Commons debate regarding the proposed amendment, the minister of Indian Affairs noted “As the law stands, no reserve or portion of reserve can be sold or alienated unless surrendered to the Crown...What we do now is...to provide that the SIG may lease for the benefit of any Indian the land to which he is entitled without the same being re-leased or surrendered. In a number of cases, particularly in Ontario, Indians have engaged in other occupations and are fairly well off…In a number of cases, the neighbours, through spite or pique, have used sufficient influence to prevent [Indians from engaging in other occupations]. This Bill provides that the SIG may lease these lands for the benefit of these Indians. This gives us no further power to alienate, but simply provides for the leasing of them.” The 1895 amendments to the Indian Act would entitle Indians who were "emancipated" (enfranchised) to receive their money and land benefits in a lump sum. The 1895 amendments also reinforced that the Indian Act had magisterial jurisdiction over the territories within their agency and beyond, and that when an Indian is admitted into membership to another band, he loses all interest in the lands and moneys of the band to which he was formerly a member. He is then entitled to the lands and moneys of the band to which he has been newly admitted.------------------------------- Section 88 was amended to read that Indians must possess exemplary good conduct and management of property to prove that they are qualified to receive their share of moneys of the band. Section 88.3 was amended to read that shares of money of unmarried children of full age would only be obtained if they were qualified by the integrity, morality and sobriety of their character. Otherwise, they would be required to pass through a probationary period. Section 117 was also amended to read that Indian Agents have the power and authority of two justices of the peace.

Implications
Total control over who was able to hold land was given to the superintendent general. It was suggested by the government that this amendment would stop Aboriginal people from refusing requested surrenders out of spite. It was also suggested by the minister of Indian Affairs that societal racism was a problem that had resulted in Indigenous people being unable to find success in occupations other than agriculture. Leasing these lands for the benefit of the Indians without requiring their permission was a paternalistic measure that would supposedly increase the amount of income which flowed into the reserve. Although, the leasing of such land would undoubtedly have benefited white settlers as well. In the long-term, it removed decision-making power from Indigenous people thereby undermining their economic autonomy and success. The amendment of legislation which enabled "emancipated" Indians to receive their money and land benefits in a lump sum ensured that the land base of reserves would be eroded, hastening the disappearance of reserves and of Indigenous people as a distinct ethnic group by increasing the rate of assimilation. The amendment of legislation which stated that an Indian loses all interest in the lands and moneys of the band to which he was formerly a member, and gains the land and moneys of the band to which he has been newly admitted was clearly gender biased, as it exclusively uses the pronoun "he." Women's rights to land and band money were not protected as such. These rights were definitely lost if women "married out," that is, married a non-Indigenous individual, although men were not subject to the same consequences. This discrimination was used to reduce the number of individuals who qualified for Indian status, thereby decreasing the government's financial obligations and increasing the rate of assimilation.---------------------------------------------------- In the 1894 amendment, the Indian Agent was granted the jurisdictional oversight accorded to a Justice of the Peace, further increasing the power imbalance between colonial authorities and Indigenous people, and enhanced the potential for abuses of such power. It appears as though no accountability structures or system of checks and balances were simultaneously applied to compensate for the powers afforded this expansion of jurisdictional oversight. This is indicative of the belief that it was "savage" and "uncivilized" Indigenous people who posed a threat to societal order, and from whom society needed to be protected, obscuring their position of vulnerability to harm from the Indian Agent. There is also no discussion of rights of Indigenous people or potential routes of advocacy in the case that they are unjustly accused of activities construed as criminal. Increasing the power and authority of the Indian Agent to equate to two justices of the peace is indicative of the degree to which colonial officials perceived their dominance and control to be threatened by Indigenous contraventions of Eurocentric moral and legal standards. It is also representative of the desire to force assimilation through augmented disciplinary efforts.------------------------------------------------------ The overarching intention of these amendments was to hasten the assimilative process. The sections noted above (88, 88.3) contain references to "exemplary good conduct and management of property," and "integrity, morality and sobriety." While these descriptions of moral behaviour were intended to impose Victorian Judeo-Christian notions of right and wrong, they were also not specifically defined and thus provided greater leeway by leaving such decisions to the arbitrary discretion of the Indian Agent. The existence of such legislation was culturally oppressive by implying that Indigenous ethics and morality were inferior and incapable of maintaining a sufficient level of social order. In conjunction with the amendment of section 117, which increases the power and authority of the Indian Agent on the reserve but provides no system of democratic accountability or of checks and balances, these amendments were intended to make the reserves easier to control and to impose conformity to Eurocentric standards.---------------------------------------------------
Sub Event
Increased Land Control Given to Superintendent General; Local Governance/Deposition of Life Chiefs; Moral Qualifications to Receive Band Monies
Resources
Statutes of Canada
Date
1895-00-00
Theme(s)
Federal Governance
Local Governance
Women and Gender
Indian Act
Racism

Introduction of Timber, Mineral, Coal and Indian Land Regulations

Summary

The federal government established a set of regulations which dictated the sectioning of reserve lots (known as the severalty system) and methods of purchase and settlement of Indian lands, including the method of paying the purchase money to Indians and disposal of timber from surrendered reserve lands. These regulations dictated that lawful use of reserve land required not only settlement and occupation, but improvement as well. As well, these regulations indicated that if said reserve land was unfit for cultivation, the Superintendent General could dispose of Indian land or of its resources (timber, saw logs, staves, lathwood, shingle bolts, cordwood, or any other wood cut for sale) for the Indians without having to justify it on the basis of occupation, improvement, or cultivation/agriculture.

Result

Government interference and the paternalistic management of Indigenous affairs were based on the assumption that Indigenous peoples were incapable of managing their own lands and resources.  As well, it's insistence on land use patterns through occupation, improvement and cultivation constituted the imposition of Eurocentric cultural norms regarding land "productivity," to the detriment of Indigenous practices that prioritized stewardship.

The policy of severalty was created to eliminate the tribal system, specifically by creating family-run farms, replacing communal and cooperative farming efforts.  This policy was part of the government's plan of assimilation by implementing capitalist economic systems on reserves, which required undermining values of collectivity and replacing them capitalist values of  individualism and self-interest.  

Resources
Indian Affairs Record Group 10 (RG10) Inventory
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Date
1888-00-00
Theme(s)
Economic
Land Use (Subsistence Patterns)
Reserve System
Resource Development/Degradation
Federal Governance
Local Governance

Red River Colony Loses Their Crops Four Consecutive Years

Summary

In the summer of 1868, the Red River colony had their crops destroyed by insects for the fourth consecutive year. By mid-summer the Council of Assiniboia had allocated all available funds for relief, an international campaign was launched, and the Canadian government pledged assistance to the colony.

Implications
The successive crop failures highlight the difficulties which arose as Metis people on the Canadian Plains shifted from the fur trade to an agrarian economy. The crop failures resulted in food shortages, malnutrition and an increase in illness. The financial assistance promised by the Canadian government never reached Red River. Instead, the government decided to construct a road linking the Red River colony to Lake Superior.
Resources
Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life
Date
1868-00-00
Theme(s)
Federal Governance

The Selling of the Hudson Bay Company

Summary

In 1863 the International Financial Society bought controlling interest in the HBC. This signaled a shift in the company's outlook since most of the new shareholders were interested in real-estate speculation and economic development in the West, rather than the fur trade. This sale, in addition to the discovery of gold deposits near Fort Edmonton, greatly undermined the fur trade during the early 1860s.

Implications
The selling of the Hudson Bay Company sealed the fate of the Canadian fur trade and marked the beginning of a shift towards and agrarian economy. A year later, in 1864, the Canadian government announced their plans that the Plains would be capable of sustaining a large agrarian population. Although the gold deposits found near Fort Edmonton were less productive than anticipated, the number of gold seekers doubled the European population on the Plains which further undermined the fur trade.
Resources
Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life
Date
1863-00-00
Theme(s)
Federal Governance

An act to amend “An Act respecting the appropriation of certain lands in Manitoba.”

Summary

The Canadian Government amended the Manitoba Act Section 32. This amendment stated that all claimants had to demonstrate “undisturbed occupancy” and “actual peaceable possession.”

The government had been informed by Henry Youle Hind that in the summer, many Metis were trying to make a living by hunting buffalo or freighting supplies for the Hudson’s Bay Company, and were not present to confirm their land occupancy.  These amendments, therefore, were used to alienate Metis and their families from a protected land base. 

 

Result

Sprague argues definitively that this amendment was passed to undermine the ability of Metis to obtain patents for their land. However, Thomas Flanagan indicates that this amendment was not malicious, but was a method of ensuring land was being used. In this argument, Flanagan assumes the position of a Eurocentric apologist, based on the Lockean philosophy that humans have been given a divine command to dominate the land through constant agricultural use. This constitutes land "productivity" and is an ideal that was and is central to the project of European colonization, as it validates colonization of new lands to use said land in accordance with one interpretation of a passage from the book of Genesis in Christian scripture ("Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it").

It stands in stark contrast to Indigenous philosophies, which, although also perceive land as a gift from the Creator, does not perceive land as something to be dominated and conquered. Rather, Indigenous worldviews emphasize that humans have a responsibility to steward the land and its creation. This belief extended to the social and political organization of the Metis around the buffalo hunt, as they harvested buffalo judiciously and used every part of the animal. On a deeper philosophical level, Flanagan is also assuming the right to sovereignty of the Canadian government, a right that would be based on the doctrines of Terra Nullius (that the land was empty when the Europeans arrived because Indigenous peoples were not socially or politically sophisticated enough to constitute civilization or nationhood) and the (aforementioned) Doctrine of Discovery (the right of Christian princes to colonize new lands for European expansion).

 

Sources
  • Statues of Canada (1875), Chapter 52: An act to amend “An Act respecting the appropriation of certain lands in Manitoba.”
  • Sprague, D. N. Canada and the Métis, 1869-1885. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1988. 
  • Flanagan, Thomas, and Gerhard Ens. "Metis Land Grants in Manitoba: A Statistical Study." Histoire Sociale/Social History 27, no. 53 (1994): 65-87. 

 

Resources
Canada and the Métis, 1869-1885
Metis Land Grants in Manitoba: A Statistical Study
Statutes of Canada
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Date
1875-00-00
Region
Manitoba
Theme(s)
Community Breaking/Fracturing
Land Use (Subsistence Patterns)
Federal Governance
Scrip

Recognition of Metis Land Rights in the North-West Territories

Summary

The federal government recognized the Aboriginal land rights of the North-West Metis in an amendment to the Dominion Land Act authorizing federal government to satisfy any existing claim with Metis outside of Manitoba on the 15th day of July 1870.

Implications
No concrete action was taken in the following few years, and the Metis continued to petition the government to recognize and compensate them for their land rights. Ignoring land rights meant that Canadian Government could avoid payouts, compensation, and the efforts that would involve physically surveying and addressing the land claims.
Sources

Parliamentary Act, 42 Vict., c. 31, s. 125(3)

Date
1878-00-00
Theme(s)
Federal Governance
Scrip

Legislation Provided Metis Heads of Family with Scrip

Summary

Legislation was introduced in the House of Commons outlining that in order to extinguish the Metis title in Manitoba any head of family who was a resident of Manitoba on 15 July 1870 would be provided with 160 acres of land or scrip worth $160 as a payment for Dominion lands. Scrip was a certificate that could be redeemed for land or money by the applicant.

Implications
Claiming scrip proved challenging and difficult for various reasons including the necessity of attaining the Power of Attorney to attain one’s claim. In many cases, scrip was not honoured and Metis people and their families would not receive their claim. The refusal to honour scrip showed that the government was uninterested in upholding land negotiations, a pattern that was evident through their interactions with First Nations peoples and Treaty implementation.
Date
1874-00-00
Theme(s)
Federal Governance
Scrip

Inspector Report on Runaways and Potential Fire Threat to St. Albans Indian Residential School

Summary

In 1946, Inspector Ostrander of the Department of Indian Affairs submitted a report on St. Albans Indian Residential School. This report claimed that the building interiors and the student housing were unsuitable and that "because of narrow corridors or dry, inflammable material and not easy access to fire escapes or the stairway" it would be a safety hazard should a fire occur. The report also notes that the school is overcrowded, and that there is insufficient space for recreation purposes. According to Ostrander, the lack of playing grounds and poor supervision are to be blamed for truancy among the boys. In conclusion, Ostrander points out that the children were well fed, well clothed, and receiving some education, but advises that the school should not stay open much longer if the necessary renovations are not undertaken.

Implications
The issues found at St. Albans reflect a wide scale pattern across Residential Schools, where conditions of the school were known to be subpar or dangerous to life at the school, yet officials would not take corrective action to solve the problem. This behaviour showed a lack of concern for the well being of Indigenous students, showing that the government was less concerned with the success of Indigenous peoples. Rather, the government used Residential Schools to segregate and control a large portion of the Indigenous population for colonial gain.
Resources
Indian Affairs Record Group 10 (RG10) Inventory
They Came For the Children
Date
1946-04-30
Community
Prince Albert
Onion Lake Cree Nation
Theme(s)
Residential Schools
Federal Governance
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