The Indian Act of 1876 (hereafter referred to as the “Indian Act”) was created to force First Nations members to assimilate into European settler society and in so doing, destroy their culture, languages, and traditions. The Indian Act included policies that gave the government control over First Nations’ “identity, political structures, governance, cultural practices and education” (Henderson). Note that the Inuit and Métis peoples are not governed by it.
Before the Indian Act came to be, there was the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857, which encouraged Indigenous peoples to renounce their First Nations status — and their Aboriginal treaty rights — in exchange for land from the government and the right to vote. When only one person voluntary enfranchised, the government created the Gradual Enfranchisement Act in 1869, which allowed them to enfranchise First Nations people at will (Henderson). These were then consolidated into the Indian Act in 1876. The paternalistic nature of the Indian Act, its two precedents, and the regulations enforces represents the notion of British whiteness being the norm for civility in Canada and is further evidence of the Europeans’ disrespect for Indigenous’ peoples sovereignty and traditions.
As Henderson outlines, the Indian Act’s main purpose was to generalize a diverse group of First Nations communities, halt the evolution of and essentially destroy each of their cultures, and force their members to assimilate into European settler society. This was achieved in part by a series of policies concerning First Nations “status.” For example, attaining a university degree or a professional license to practice law or medicine stripped one of this status.
By the Indian Act, religious practices such as the potlatch were disallowed in 1884, which prevented the passing down of First Nations’ oral histories and values (Scow, in UBC First Nations & Indigenous Studies). Additionally, as dancing was an important component of cultural expression, dancing off-reservation was disallowed in 1914 and any dancing was outlawed entirely in 1925 (Henderson).
The residential school system was first introduced in the 1894 amendment of the Indian Act. At these schools, Métis, Inuit, and First Nations children were taught to adopt Christianity and to speak English and French, and discouraged from speaking their native tongues (CBC News). Some children even suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, not unlike what has occurred at Catholic (and other Christian) schools across the world.
Positive-impact amendments were made in 1951, as women were allowed to vote in their band council elections, the potlatch was decriminalized, and so was making land claims against the government. In 1969, however, the White Paper that then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau released with goals to abolish First Nations status entirely was met with backlash from the Aboriginals, as eliminating this status would strip these peoples of their rights to reserve lands and accordingly, the right to fish, hunt, and strive for economic development on those lands (Henderson).
Trudeau’s means of abolishing the distinction between First Nations peoples and European settler society status in order to assimilate these peoples into the latter, ultimately resulting in a single nation of “Canadians,” is an example of how Coleman describes fictive ethnicity; the White Paper indeed generalizes First Nations peoples and attempts to represent them, together with European settler society, as a “natural community” (7) — “Canadians”. It is also evidence that the Indian Act is rooted in racism and a European, imperialistic, expansionist perspective that is devoid of consideration for the Aboriginal peoples, their beliefs and traditions, and their systems of government that were in place long before European contact. Thus, it is quite obvious that the Indian Act allowed the Canadian government to further the project of white civility and express, knowingly or not, that in order to be considered a member of the nation that is Canada, its inhabitants must embrace British whiteness as the norm of civility.
Works Cited
“The Indian Act.” UBC First Nations & Indigenous Studies, https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/. Accessed March 1, 2020.
Coleman, Daniel. White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2006.
CBC News. “A history of residential schools in Canada.” CBC News, 21 March 2016, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-history-of-residential-schools-in-canada-1.702280. Accessed March 1, 2020.
Elbagir, Nima.”Pedophile priests operated at this California school for decades.” CNN, December 2019, https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/12/us/salesians-of-don-bosco-intl/. Accessed March 2, 2020..
Henderson, William B. “Indian Act.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 23 October 2018, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indian-act. Accessed March 2, 2020.
Montpetit, Isabelle. “Background: The Indian Act.” CBC News, 14 July 2011, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/background-the-indian-act-1.1056988. Accessed February 29, 2020.
Hi Chino, wow you did a bunch of research on this post! It was quite informative and I definitely learned a lot. It was interesting how you brought many different scenarios in history where Canadian authority was trying to create the fictive ethnicity of a Canadian. Do you see any elements in modern times, where there are attempts to assimilate First Nations with European settler society?
Hi Sashini,
Thank you for reading my blog, I am glad you learned something new!
I cannot say for sure that there are isolated elements of modern-day society that are directly attempting to achieve this assimilation of First Nations peoples into Western society. However, I would say that modern-day Western society has already been established in such a way that is advantageous to white people, both socially and economically. This goes hand-in-hand with the idea of British whiteness being the norm for civility in Canada that Daniel Coleman presents in White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada. Lionel in Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water is an example of an Indigenous character who “wants to be white,” and this is exactly the effect that the White Man World has had on many minorities. However, it is great to see that inclusivity and being proud of one’s unique culture and traditions is being celebrated more in recent years, and I hope it continues this way.
Cheers,
Chino
King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Kindle ed., House of Anansi Press, 2003.
Hi Chino, Thank you for this informative blog post. It is really difficult to read about the horrific crimes Canada has committed against the Indigenous peoples, and to think about how those crimes impact each successive generation. I immediately thought of the hypocrisy of the implementation of the Indian Act as a means of “civilizing” (huge air quotes, because yikes) the Indigenous peoples, when the heinous crimes and abuses that were taking place in Residential Schools for example, show a true lack of civility, and further, humanity. What are your thoughts on this hypocrisy? How do you believe the perpetrators of these abuses were able to justify their actions and hold themselves to a different standard than those they were victimizing?
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for reading my blog. This hypocrisy is indeed the driving force behind “British whiteness” becoming the norm for civility in Canada. As Daniel Coleman points out in White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada, for this fictive ethnicity to be, it is indeed necessary to forget the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples by European settlers. I believe that the lack of remorse for these inhumane actions stems from whatever drove these colonizers to leave their home country and come to Canada, including their self-righteousness and perhaps belief that “God wants us to do it.” One could also say that the savagery committed (and the subsequent forgetting of this savagery) is an extension of the European imperialist ideals that perhaps drove them to sail across the Atlantic to expand their territory in the first place.
Chino