Federal Governance

In 1915, hoping to gain war enlistments from the Red Pheasant reserve, recruitment agents presented a magic lantern show of war scenes to the community.

Through a 1914 amendment to the Indian Act, First Nations people who wished to travel off-reserve for fairs or stampedes were required to obtain permission from the Indian agent. Throughout the years up to 1918, Department of Indian Affairs officials routinely refused to grant approval for off reserve events. Through the 1920s, officials were more lenient with granting these passes and fair organizers were less inclined to respect the instructions of the DIA.

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.

Between 1882 and 1885 Metis peoples living in the Batoche region (called the Constituency of Lorne during the period) sent various petitions to the Territorial Government in Regina and the Federal Government in Ottawa. The main concern of the petitions was the recognition of land rights and the surveying of the Metis river lot system. Government response was vague and no action was taken.

In the aftermath of the North West/Riel Resistance the Rebellion Losses Commission was established to provide compensation to those who had suffered losses as a result of the armed conflict. The general opinion of the commission’s members was that “having contributed to their own losses, the Métis were not eligible for any compensation.” Many Metis were angered that those who implicated Metis individuals in the resistance were provided with compensation for their losses - this demonstrates the government's efforts to consolidate power by implementing various means of rewarding or punishing its allies and enemies.

In 1884, the government of Canada passed an amendment to the Indian Act which prohibited potlatch, or "the Indian dance known as Tamanawas". In 1894-95, the laws against Indigenous ceremonies were made more repressive by banning any type of 'giveaway' dances or ceremonies, and any type of ceremony that involved self-mutilation. In an 1895, amendment to the Indian Act, the Sun Dance and Thirst Dance were prohibited. This was enacted after Deputy Superintendent Lawrence Vankoughnet requested that Edgar Dewdney abolish it.

The dominion government appointed a governor and council to govern the prairie region that had only recently joined the dominion of Canada. Under the North-West Territories Act, which came later, the region would be governed by a council of appointed and elected representatives.

Band members and File Hills Farm Colonists were becoming frustrated with the increasing outsider settlement on their reserve. Observing this, Graham persuaded Ottawa to pay each member of the reserve twenty dollars to sign an agreement allowing settlement on the reserve, rather than taking a vote, which was the legal way to get approval for settlement. Graham tried to avoid the concerns raised by band members about settlement on the reserve, instead circumventing the proper procedure and simply bribing members for their compliance. According to Graham, once the amount was paid out to band members, the Department would have the right to admit graduates of Industrial Schools onto the reserve without having to consult with the band.

This joint Sun Dance and council was meant to be a platform for chiefs to discuss government policies. The issue of rations came up when a farming instructor refused to provide rations to a member of Lucky Man's band, nearly resulting in a violent standoff between the Aboriginal participants in the council and the NWMP. The government saw this incident as an outright rejection of their ration policy, and although they saw no need to change their welfare policies, they did decide to better equip themselves with police officers if such an event should happen again.

The initiation of the government's policies to encourage agricultural production on reserves.