Question 2: In this lesson I say that it should be clear that the discourse on nationalism is also about ethnicity and ideologies of “race.” If you trace the historical overview of nationalism in Canada in the CanLit guide, you will find many examples of state legislation and policies that excluded and discriminated against certain peoples based on ideas about racial inferiority and capacities to assimilate. – and in turn, state legislation and policies that worked to try to rectify early policies of exclusion and racial discrimination. As the guide points out, the nation is an imagined community, whereas the state is a “governed group of people.” For this blog assignment, I would like you to research and summarize one of the state or governing activities, such as The Royal Proclamation 1763, the Indian Act 1876, Immigration Act 1910, or the Multiculturalism Act 1989 – you choose the legislation or policy or commission you find most interesting. Write a blog about your findings and in your conclusion comment on whether or not your findings support Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility.
First enacted in 1876, the Indian Act allowed the government to control most aspects of “Indian” life; it has since been amended (several times, most prominently in 1951 and 1985), but it continues to discriminate against First Nations peoples today (“Background: The Indian Act | CBC News”). The Act was first introduced as a means to eradicate First Nations culture and assimilate the “Indians” into Euro-western Canadian society and ideology. In 1876, the Canadian government developed specific criteria for who would be considered an Indian and who would qualify as having “Indian” status; Inuit and Métis are not included within this criterion of “Indian” and are therefore not governed by the Indian Act (“Indian Status”). Additionally, the Indian act created a category of non-status Indians; to this day “registered Indians, also known as status Indians, have certain rights and benefits not available to non-status Indians, Métis, Inuit or other Canadians. These rights and benefits include on-reserve housing, education and exemptions from federal, provincial and territorial taxes in specific situations” (Northern Affairs Canada).
The Indian Act introduced residential schools, created reserves, denied women of Indian status, renamed individuals, restricted the movement of First Nations people, enforced enfranchisement, forbade First Nations from forming political organizations, prohibited First Nations from practicing their religions and ceremonies and speaking their languages, prohibited the sale of alcohol and ammunition to First Nations, denied their right to vote, imposed the “band council” system, among many other discriminatory restrictions and policies. Bob Joseph’s article (which became a book that I’m now really interested to read!) “21 Things You May Not Have Known About The Indian Act” beautifully sums up significant aspects of the Indian Act and allows you to click on specific details for more information (I went down a bit of a rabbit hole after discovering his article).
In my last post, I discussed some of the contemporary repercussions of the government’s imposition of a “band council” system on Indigenous groups and how it has led to conflicts within Indigenous groups regarding jurisdiction over land titles when “elected band chiefs and councilors also belong to family houses and have their places in the hereditary system” (Procaylo). It’s devastating to read about how this act continues to perpetuate discriminatory policies and create discord among Indigenous groups who had no control over the creation of the Indian Act.
It’s interesting that despite the victory of the French over the English, French speakers (as the largest group of non-English speakers) have been accommodated, while other groups, including the Indigenous, have consistently been expected “to assimilate to the notion of Canada as British” (CanLit Guides “Nationalism, 1500–1700s: Exploration and Settlement”). This supports Coleman’s argument that there has been a “literary endeavor” to “formulate and elaborate a specific form of [Canadian] whiteness” beginning with early nation-builders (Coleman 5). So, while the French were not British (duh, they were French), their apparent “whiteness” afforded them many allowances not extended to the Indigenous population in Canada. The Indigenous peoples’ deviation from the “fictive ethnicity” of “British Whiteness” set the foundation for the government to target their people and enact policies that attempted to erase Indigenous identities through the prohibition of their cultural and spiritual practices, as well as the systematic elimination of their languages. The Indian Act functioned as the vessel that the government utilized to force the Indigenous peoples to conform to European ideals of governance and culture; a major example of this was the banning of the Sun Dance and the potlatch, fundamental ceremonies practiced by many Indigenous groups (CanLit Guides “An Introduction to Indigenous Literatures in Canada”).
Works Cited
“Background: The Indian Act | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 14 July 2011, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/background-the-indian-act-1.1056988. Accessed 25 Feb 2019.
CanLit Guides Editorial Team. An Introduction to Indigenous Literatures in Canada. CanLit Guides. 2016. Web. http://canlitguides.ca/canlit-guides-editorial-team/an-introduction-to-indigenous-literatures-in-canada/. Accessed 26 Feb 2019.
—. Nationalism, 1500–1700s: Exploration and Settlement. CanLit Guides. 2016. Web. http://canlitguides.ca/canlit-guides-editorial-team/nationalism-1500-1700s-exploration-and-settlement/. Accessed 26 Feb 2019.
Coleman, Daniel. White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2006. Print.
“Indian Status.” Indigenousfoundations, indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/indian_status/. Accessed 24 Feb 2019.
Joseph, Bob. “Blog.” Indian Act and Women’s Status Discrimination via Bill C31 and Bill C3, 2 June 2015, www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-indian-act-. Accessed 24 Feb 2019.
Northern Affairs Canada. “What Is Indian Status?” Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada; Communications Branch, 9 Aug. 2018, www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100032463/1100100032464. Accessed 24 Feb 2019.
Procaylo, Nick. “Wet’suwet’en Dispute over Pipeline Deal Illustrates Complexities of Indigenous Law.” Vancouver Sun, 12 Jan. 2019, vancouversun.com/news/local-news/wetsuweten-dispute-over-pipeline-deal-illustrates-complexities-of-indigenous-law. Accessed 26 Feb 2019.
Thanks for you clear and brief summary of the Indian Act, Kirsten. I think Bob Joseph’s work has clearly illuminated the violence perpetuated through the Indian Act to Canadians, Indigenous and non– so thank you for holding it up!
This is what I chose to write about too… although I’m so fired up and disturbed by the policy that I rambled and ended up writing 1500 words too many, which I’ve yet to cut down. One of the things I wrote about in my end notes was one the Trudeau Liberal’s government “solutions” to the Indian Act which is the Indigenous Rights, Recognition and Implementation Framework, which takes a fractured, sectoral approach to solving the “Indian problem,” without actually addressing the biggest question, which is LAND. It’s a costly and timely “solution” which calls for every single aspect of Indigenous rights to be negotiated with the Federal government… and also, in some instances, tries to alleviate the Feds of their responsibility to Indigenous people and nation-to-nation relationships by delegating agreements to the provinces, NGOs, and corporations. This, to me, seems like a particularly troublesome issue on Treaty territories where there are two way responsibilities in relationships between First Nations and Canada (too many of which haven’t been honoured). That being said, I strongly feel that the Indian Act needs to be dismantled, but the solutions MUST MUST MUST come from Indigenous people and nations.
I hope that, as a teacher, you find creative ways to educate young people on the Indian Act and some of the harm it continues to cause for Indigenous people and communities. If you’d like to in your reply, I’m always curious about how teachers are working to incorporate Indigenous content and knowledge into their classrooms.
Warmly,
Georgia
Hey Georgia,
Thanks for your comment. I too think it’s really problematic when politicians play this “we’re going to make policy changes for the better,” just watch us. But then when they do, it’s with the same old colonial settler attitude and ideas. In my Indigenous Lit class last semester we dissected The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which is one of those big name documents, and how it continues to perpetuate Western ideals and policies, despite its good intentions.
In terms of educators incorporating Indigenous content – this is a question a bunch of students in the class have asked in various blog comments. It’s great that people are so interested, but also quite intimidating, because, as a new teacher, it’s a bit scary – especially having not had a good foundation taught to me during my own schooling. I think educating with and through the community is essential. The school district that I work in does a pretty decent job of making community connections available, but there’s still more work to be done. I think including Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing cross curricularly is important (not just in social studies, where it might be the easiest to include, but in math, or science as well).
Hi Kirsten!
Great article you’ve written here, and I as well went down that rabbit hole of “21 things you may not have known about the Indian Act”.
The thing that list summarizes great though I think is how completely the government took control over First Nations lives. Literally every aspect imaginable was put under control of the Canadian government. From movement, to language, to land, to inheritance, it was all managed and attacked. That being said I feel like another significant lack of knowledge I have, whether it be my own lack or the lack of the education system, is to how this Act came into being without that much resistance. Every part of me screams that there must have been resistance to this, and that the First Nations would have fought against this to the extreme. But I can’t say I can think of, or heard of, any wars fought between the First Nations and the colonizers over this. Do you know if I’m mistaken about this, and this did happen and I’m just unaware? Or if there was no real push against it, why that might be?
Thank you in advance if you are able to shed some light on this for me, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!
Ross
Hey Ross,
I’m really in the same boat as you. All I can really say is I think that by the time is was enacted, the Europeans had such a stronghold that it would have been difficult for the Indigenous to fight back against it, especially with such language and cultural differences. I know there was pushback, where Indigenous communities would continue their festivals and ceremonies (like the potlatch) in secret, but I also haven’t heard of any huge resistances against it.
Hey Kirsten, I found your article very thought provoking in regards to who is racialized in Canada (ie: Inuit and Métis are not included within this criterion of “Indian” and are therefore not governed by the Indian Act (“Indian Status”)) and who has the agency to create race categories (Canadian Gov’t). I didn’t realize that the Inuit and Metis were not considered “Indian” in the Indian Act, but that does not mean they were not subordinated by Colonial powers. With that being said, I am intrigued. I want to know more about the diversity of experiences faced by those who were considered “Indian” in the Indian act, and those that were not. Thank you for sharing,
Lexi.
Hey Lexi,
Yeah, I totally agree. This was news to me as well. And definitely, the Metis and Inuit experienced so many of their own hardships and discrimination outside of the Indian Act, but it was surprising to me that they weren’t included as “Indians.”
Hey Kirsten,
Great blog post! I wrote about the Immigration Act but a lot of the similarities you mentioned seem to apply to many of Canada’s governing policies. When it comes down to it, I always look at how the Canadian government still under British influence at the time created their policies with assimilation in mind. “Whiteness” holds true throughout and worked to eradicate the presence of indigenous peoples and their culture. It seems that policies that were created were there to discriminate the parties is was named after. ie. Indian Act – discriminatory policy on indigenous people. Immigration Act – discriminatory act against immigrants.
Cheers,
Kynan
That’s a really astute comment. It’s kind of funny (sad, depressing funny) to think of it like that – how obvious it is to us now that that’s what these acts were doing, discriminating against whoever fit the category the Act was named after, but it’s so true.