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| Chapter Summaries |
Chapter 13
Read quote to Ulysees Grant (194)
The strong desire of speculators and settlers in Canada, especially Canada West, to develop Rupert’s and and the lands beyond it was one of the driving forces behind Confederation.
They saw the region as a source of raw materials and a market for eastern goods.
Most Canadian annexationists wanted to simply brush aside Native people and the HBC and take control of the region.
THE METIS REFUSED TO LET THEM
-Taking up arms in 1869 and 1870, they forced the new Canadian government to address their aspirations and some of their most pressing concerns in the Manitoba Act.
THE CANADIAN INVASION
Having already gained title to all Aboriginal lands suitable for agriculture, developers cast their eyes northwestward to Rupert’s Land for a new area to colonize.
Canadian annexationists did not want to recognize the validity of Aboriginal or HBC titles to the area they coveted.
-They lobbied the British Parliament to review the company’s license and colonizing activities and they drummed up excitement about the development potential of the prairie West.
Their lobbying led the Canada West and British governments to back separate and well-publicized scientific expeditions to the region in the late 1950’s.
-Palliser provided solid information bout the Plains people and those of the Rocky mountains north of the 49th parallel, made detailed descriptions of the agricultural potential of the prairies, gave accounts of coal and other mineral deposits, and discussed possible trans-continental transportation routes.
Politicians and would-be developers and speculators paid little attention to Pallisers ethnographic work, but they were thrilled by their discussion of the economic potential of the sprawling region. Information circulated well beyond Canada
The International Financial Society made a bid to take control of HBC in 1863…subscribers hoped to make a windfall profit for the sale of Rupert’s Land to the British or Canadian government
However the British government had no intention of buying the territory and the Canadian government could not afford the high price the company’s directors led the shareholders to anticipate.
Canada agreed to buy Rupert’s l;and for the paltry sum or 300 000 pounds in 1869.
HBC kept 1 20 th of lands in fertile belt…
Although disappointing the HBC shareholders,
“The reaction of the shareholders.. (quote 196)…What deeply offended Native people was that no one consulted them about their land during the prolonged negotiations.”
The Metis strongly feared the sale of Rupert’s Land would hurt their economic and political interests…
The Red River Colony remained reasonably tranquil until Upper Canadians began to settle there and elsewhere in the north west.
“These newcomers championed annexation to Canada, disdained the HBC, looked down on the hunting a trapping lifestyles of the prairie nations and Metis and gave little credence to the company’s, or the native people’s claims to the land….
By summer 1969, the Metis of Red River had decided to block the unconditional transfer of Rupert’s land to Canada…
A decision that marked a major turning point for Native people in the west.
They sprang into action when a Canadian land survey crew arrived in August
Led by Louis Riel they stopped the government surveyors informing them that Canada had no authority in the territory.
Riel was one of the best educated young Metis greatly respected by his teachers of his abilities and moral character.
Had contemplated a life of serving the church worked as a lawyer
In October 1869, the Metis prevented William McDougall, Leightentant governer designate for Rupert’s land and the North West Company from entering Red River and shortly thereafter seized Fort Garry.
They formed a provisional government and attempted to pull together the colony and present a united front for negotiating terms of union with Canada.
The story of what happened next is well known..
Sir John A invited the people of Red River to draw up a list of demands and send a delegation to Ottawa to discuss them… at a large public meeting Riel proposed that the English speaking and French speaking communities each elect 20 reps to a committee that would determine how to best reply.
The assembly accepted his suggestion and the convention of Forty had drawn up a list of Rights to present to Ottawa… Riel insisted they create a provisional government… which was proclaimed FEB 10 1870 with Riel as president.
ALSO See Chapter 14 on Treaty-Making
CHAPTER 15
Structure of Assimilation
After the North-West Rebellion the federal government redoubled its
efforts to assimilate Native people into the dominant white culture
-outlawed cultural institutions
-sought to re-educate
"The policies implemented by politicians and the DIA bureaucrats at
this time amounted to a plan for cultural genocide." (222)
"They were put into effect in a particularly heavy-handed fashion in
the West, where officials still regarded Plains and coastal nations as
potential threats to orderly settlement."
Banning of the Potlatch
To whip up support for their position, missionaries and Indian agents
drew the attention of politicians and the public to those aspects of
feasts that seemed the most contradictory to the customs and values of
their own society. They stressed repeatedly that coastal nations
"wasted " valuable time attending potlatches when should have been
employed elsewhere in more profitable pursuits." (223) Like the fur
traders before them, the new critics could not understand why Native
people amassed large quantities of material goods only to "squander "
it as feasts and "bankrupting " themselves in the process.
Europeans placed a high value on private accumulation of material
goods and this public destruction of wealth was deemed a problem and
an obstacle to progress.
-Cultural Assumptions: "the high degree of instability that
characterized later societies was the result of massive depopulation
caused by repeated epidemics; the movement of many Native people to
trading pot sites, villages, and towns, increased per capita wealth;
and the disruptive work of missionaries and Indian agents.
Competitive potlatching was one response where ambitious chiefs looked
for an opportunity to extend their power and influence beyond
traditional bounds. In a way though, this played into the hands of
critics when coastal nations had to turn to government for help after
giving away all their possessions at ceremonies. (224)
Government agents decried the continued influence of ceremonies that
promoted traditional values. Eg Quote 5 p. 224 "These dances have been
sadly on the increase… had not the moral courage to oppose the
custom….
-Missionaries raised other objections about Native customs….
Traditional marriage customs gave the impression the young girls were
being sold for the goods exchanged when the marriage pledges were made
and the unions celebrated… "even more shocking to them [missionaries]
was that some native women engaged in prostitution to raise money to
pay for family-sponsored potlatches." (224)
-Sproat, BC 's first Indian reserve commissioner feared the threat to
settlers…. Alleged that the First Nations are easily aroused… the
white population is sparse and the Indians feel that they are lords of
the country in BD. Was therefore interested in banning a ceremony that
brought West Coast native people together.
-First Nations made complaints about the suppression of their
ceremonies. Some settlers sympathized and urged the repeat of Section
3 of the Indian Act (226).
-Indian agents lacked the will and it was costly to collect evidence
to prosecute
-As mentioned in previous class…. Some judges were sympathetic and
noted that the Potlatch meant different things in different places.
-Section 114 was brought in to stamp out all associated ceremonies…
Divisions in Native communities intensified sometimes along family and
religious lines ie. Traditionalists and Christians
-Some chose not to interfere with Potlatch fearing that violence could
emerge… some First Nations chose not to dodge the law and chose to
defy it openly
-Circumstances changed however, the (228) quote 13: Titley…. "scum of
the prairies "… shortly after Scott became the
super-intendent-general, he ordered the Indian agents to enforce the
Potlatch Law, thereby ending the conciliatory approach which had
prevailed briefly…
See Brian Titley, A Narrow Vision ie. Biography of Scott, the poet
-Severe jail sentences ensued…this cultural assimilation under the
name of national security has lent credence to the argument that the
treatment of Native people at the hands of the government constituted
genocide defined as…. According to the UN Convention (See Below).
"Today the consensus among historians sense to be that the extent to
which the potlatch ceremony diminished in significance depended more
on the influence of the local missionaries than on the application of
law….(230)
As discussed -pass laws…Reed was vengeful man who supported the pass
laws… Agents had discretionary power so enforcement was uneven (235)
Attacking the Sun (Thirst) Dances (230)
Schools For Indian Children
"This movement away from the policy of granting Native people a say in
deciding when instruction should b begin continued in Treaty 8…
"When Treaty commissioners returned to Ottawa to report on
deliberations they noted that, local Native people, "seemed desirous
of securing educational advantages for their children, but stipulated
that in the matter of schools there should be no interference with
their religious beliefs."
After Confederation, the federal government was obligated to provide
education in its role as custodian of Native people. In Western
Canada, the numbered treaties reinforced that obligation. Native
elders knew that their children would have to gain a "white man 's "
education top hold their own in the new economic order
Although treaty promises indicated First Nations would have control
over the nature of these schools and they would not jeopardize the
integrity of First Nations culture the government soon took over
complete control.
Churches were eager to participate when Federal subsidies were offered
for each student. Churches also felt that "these facilities offered
the best means for advancement of their assimilationist agenda because
children were removed from the influence of their fathers, mothers,
and elders."
See: John Milloy, A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the
Residential School System, 1879 to 1986
For over 100 years, thousands of Aboriginal children passed through
the Canadian residential school system. Although meant to bring
Aboriginal children into the "circle of civilization " the actual
results of the system were far different. More commonly, it provided
an inferior education in an atmosphere of neglect, disease, and often
- abuse.
Using access to previously unreleased government documents, Milloy
provides a full picture of the ideological roots of the system, and
follows the paper trails of internal memorandums, reports from field
inspectors, and letters of complaint. In the early decades, the system
grew without planning or restraint. Despite numerous critical
commissions and reports, it persisted into the 1970s, when it
transformed itself into a social welfare system without improving
conditions for its thousands of wards.
A National Crime shows how the residential system was chronically
underfunded and mismanaged, and how this affected the health,
education and well-being of entire generations of Aboriginal children.
"John Milloy hits you in smack in the heart. His book will be painful
reading for aboriginal people, but the fact that the story is being
told is therapeutic. An unbiased, non-aboriginal effort, Milloy 's book
should be mandatory reading for all citizens of the Americas." – The
Globe and Mail
"Though the book is oriented towards academics and educators, its
clear style . . . should broaden its appeal. Milloy is a careful
scholar." – Winnipeg Free Press
Also See, The Fourth World, by George Manuel: "The Shuswap political
activist recalls his school days: "Three things stand out in my mind
from my years at school: hunger, speaking English; and abuse, and
being called a heathen because of my grandfather. Others tell of
torture, sexual abuse and other crimes.
Also see Victims of Benevolence, Elizabeth Furniss on reserve.
-"Some sociologists maintain that the legacy of institutions is
dysfunctional families and communities, chronic alcoholism, and a very
high teenage suicide rate."
-Another irony is that instead of stamping out First Nations Culture,
they created a new group of determined Native leaders by bringing
children together from disparate cultural areas, by forcing them to
help in another to survive, and by teaching them the ways of their
oppressors. (239)
-the government also had concerns that if First Nations were educated,
they would compete with non-Native people for jobs. They halted the
construction of at least one school designed to train for industrial
skills in BC for this reason. First Nations were essentially being
trained for unskilled labour and were to be kept on the periphery.
(243)
-Taken together, the pass laws, the residential school imposition, the
broken promises related to land has led scholars such as Bruce Clark
to allege that the treatment of Canada 's Aboriginal people constitutes
genocide according to the 1948 U.N. Convention for the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. According to it, "Genocide " means
any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole
or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
a) Killing members of the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental
harm to members of the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to bring about its destruction, in whole
or in part; d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the
group; e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another
group.
His books, Justice In Paradise and Native Liberty, Crown Sovereignty
are available as is a jailhouse interview for Terminal City Magazine
conducted during the Gustafsen Lake Trial in 1997.
Chapter 18
Working for the Industrial Fishery
Many First Nations people looked to the industrial salmon fishery and
fish-processing on the West Coast.
-Cannery work attracted Native workers from a vast area (294).
Northern Groups ventured far to the south often arriving in canoe
flotilla and made a lasting impression in Steveston (near Vancouver)
Description 295: "Here they come on a flood tide in the late afternoon
bowling along ahead of a westerly wind. Great canoes 50 ft and over,
spread to an 8 ft beam, each with 4 or 5 sails… A few hundred yards
out sails were lowered and they started singing Indian songs til they
got to 5 or 6 yards from the wharf. With a final shout a sudden
silence. Dead silence for about a minute. The biggest chief stood up
and with a speaking staff in hand made a short speech. A sudden stop.
A barked order, and then all hell broke loose: every paddle clawing to
sidle the canoe up to the wharf… "
-Native people eagerly participated in the industry as it was very
compatible with their own economies… Because the sockeye season
proceeded the Chum season, Native workers usually finished their
fishing and plant work at the end of summer for the canneries in time
to head off to the fall chum runs for their own supply.. (296)
Cultural Shifts: Native people had to make significant adjustments .
The factory environment was very different than anything Native women
who made up a majority of the cannery labour force had experienced.
They worked 12 hours a day in racially segregated areas. (297)
-West Coast people were motivated by a desire to lessen their
dependence on fur trading, guiding, trail blazing, freighting and work
on pack trains, providing wood.
-Unlike Native groups, who incorporated their fishery work into their
seasonal round of economic activities, the Japanese fishermen and
cannery workers depended entirely on the industry for their livlihood.
Conflict was inevitable. See pages 300-301
-They established the Native Fishing Society, which "aimed to unite
all the tribes into one body for mutual protection of what they
considered their natural native rights." (300)
-In addition to trying to block any further influx of Japanese
workers, Native people joined white workers in fishing and plant
strikes, and organized some of their own; to pressure canning
companies for better wages... they took part in the first general
fisherman 's strike on the Fraser in 1893. (301)
-other Labour actions had the unintended consequence of giving the
Native people a reputation for being difficult to work with and gave
cannery operators a further incentive to hire more compliant immigrant
workers.
"Over fishing by the industrial fishery threatened to destroy the
resource that had always formed the basis of their Cultures. It also
led the government to attempt to prohibit Native groups from taking
salmon and other fish in most of their traditional ways… " (302)
- As a prelude to accusations that continue today and we witnessed at
Burnt Church, "The canners and white fishermen wasted no time blaming
the Native people for the shortfall, claiming that their upriver
fishery was the culprit which prompted Fisheries officials to take
action… they soon launched a relentless assault on the Native fishery
in the name of conservation, a battle that continues to this day."
(302)
-Fisheries officials came to regard the Native food fishery as a
"privilege " instead of as an inherent right and considered eliminating
the Native food fishery.
-One change to the Indian Act made it an offence for Native fishers to
bring freshwater salmon to the coast for their own consumption.
-Skirmishes and raids took place beginning in 1904, when fisheries
officers ripped out an ancient network of salmon weirs along the upper
Skeena, Babine and Bulkley rivers… (303)
-The federal Fisheries inspector of the Northern region was convinced
that the industrial and Native fishery would collectively destroy all
the Skeena salmon unless stringent measures were taken and chose to
place severe limits. First Nations had no political representation and
could not vote and faced obvious obstacles.
-Propaganda in the newspapers compounded the problem with headlines
claiming, "Indians Wiping Out sockeyes!)" which promoted the notion
that the resource, belonged to the newcomers and not the original
residents of the province.
-the onset of the depression brought further challenges. Until that
time the industry had continued t expand into new areas and Native
women still made up the bulk of the labour force.
Defending Aboriginal Fishing Rights
-Native people attempted to counteract the worst effects of the
changes to the industry by organizing to protect their economic
interests.
-They campaigned for better prices for their fish and more liberal
credit. They also created the Pacific Coast Native Fisherman 's
Association in 1936.
-Of all the traditional fisheries in the province, those of the Fraser
River groups suffered the greatest damage from the salmon-canning
industry ad other economic development.
Quote page 308: "In 1913, a rock slide, which was triggered by railway
construction, killed off a massive spawning run. The resulting
shortfalls of fish in the years immediately after the disaster led the
Fisheries Department to ban the Native food fishery in two very
important stretches of the river-at Hell 's Gate, one of the best
salon-drying places… needless to say Native people resented having to
pay for mistakes make by others… Native residents were to be given the
"privilege " of fishing only when other sources of food were not
available." (308)
- Indian Affairs made a "modest effort " to counteract the actions of
the Fisheries Department suggesting that Fisheries was undermining
rights Aboriginal people had been guaranteed in the Douglas treaties
and that it should be easier for Aboriginal people to fish for
subsistence purposes. Most of these pleadings fell on deaf ears.
-"Even when the Fraser River runs finally started to rebound in 1929,
the chief federal supervisor for Fisheries made the unsubstantiated
claim that the food fishery still represented an unwarranted threat to
the industry and that Native people no longer needed it to survive."
(308)
-By the late 1920's, it was clear to Native leaders that they could
not count on Indian Affairs to defend their interests. Andy Paull who
played a key role in the formation of the of the Allied Tribes of BC
argued that fishing territories be set aside of the exclusive use of
the various Nations. Although a parliamentary committee admitted that
Paull had some compelling arguments, the Fisheries position was upheld
and the struggle continued.
-The disgraceful removal of persons of Japanese ancestry from the
coast as an emergency war measure in 1942, although now openly
criticized did open up many cannery and fishing jobs…
-The salmon fishery continued to lurch from crisis to crisis.
Commissions of inquiry and advice from economists largely ignored
Aboriginal interests in their economic models. For most Native people,
fishing remained one of the several economic activities.
– "Operating on the advice of its economic gurus, the federal
government adopted the Davis Plan in 1968; it was devastating for most
fishermen, but especially for those of Native ancestry." Details on
page 310.
-Uncontrolled development, particularly hydroelectric power generation
and logging, was one of the reasons salmon stocks did not increase
despite the Davis Plan. These activities also destroyed spawning
habitats.
-When the Fisheries Department blasted out a rock in the Wet 'suwet 'en
traditional fishing grounds arguing this would enhance salmon runs in
another area… Native groups across BC resorted to civil disobedience
and the courts. They openly ignored fishing regulations to provoke
government authorities into arresting them so they could assert their
Aboriginal rights in court.
-For example, in 1970, one hundred Coast Salish staged a fish-in off
their reserve near Chillilwack. They claimed they had protection under
the RP of 1763. The lower courts ruled otherwise.
-Native people pressed on and scored a major victory with the Sparrow
case in 1990 which was the first the test Section 35 of the 1982
Constitution Act. See page 331 regarding Ronald Sparrow of the
Musqueam band where the Supreme Court took the position that the
Musqueam had an unextinguished Aboriginal right to fish, and that
legislation intended for conservation purposes has to be justified if
it detracts from Aboriginal rights protected under Section 35.
See page 312 for comment on further litigation consistent with the
Marshall Case and paternalistic overtones throughout history of Fur
trade and Industrial fishery.
Chapter 16 and 9
-Plains Nations knew they would have to abandon their old livelihood before they shot the last buffalo
AN ALTERNATIVE TO STARVATION
-Although Plains FN had become the most highly specialized large animal hunters in Aboriginal Canada, by the 19th century, they were familiar with crop cultivation
-First Nations on Missouri River and Plains Ojibwa had brought agriculture and horticulture from the Upper Great Lake area.
-Missionaries encouraged FN to take up agriculture.
-Native people were also increasingly seeking employment as farm hands
(p.246)-Some FN viewed religion as connected with agriculture and as an "alternative to starvation "
CHARLES PRATT
-signified the meeting of the two ideological worlds
- His mother was Assiniboine and his Father was of mixed French and Native, likely Cree parentage
-Pratt 's family belonged to a group of Assiniboine and Cree known as the Young Dogs led by Pratt 's First Cousin, the famous Chief Piapot.
-This group was among the most fiercely independent Buffalo hunters.
-However, they were also forward-looking people and when the HBC and NWC consolidated the they could see that the company would be in a much stronger position: "They were very aware that the HBC traders held those who were able to read and write in the highest regard, and that these skills enabled one to understand what the traders wrote in their accounts. It would be in their best interests, they decided, to have one of their own boys educated by white men. Pratt was selected." (246)
-Pratt was selected to attend the Church Missionary Society of London at Red River.
-Pratt was a good student who applied himself to Bible Studies and learned to read and write and farm.
-the teachers had a practical reason for teaching agriculture as well as the school was supposed to be self-sufficient by depending on farm and produce its students grew
-Although many students pursued work in agriculture Pratt followed a different course.
-After spending about ten years as a student, he returned to the prairie to hunt buffalo
-In 1835, he signed up as a bowsman on HBC brigades
-In 1847 he left the company to take up hunting again and also did volunteer work for the missionaries who then retained him as a lay teacher for the Church
-He was a man between two cultures and respected in both and his story challenged some of the essentialist notions that indicated a black and white divide between Native and Non-Native cultural views: "His respect for and understanding of the customs and relatives of those of other nations earned him a warm welcome. Even the medicine men, who had reason to regard his Christian message as a threat, cordially accepted him." (248)
-In 1852 and 1853 Pratt was ordered to build a new mission in an area where buffalo had largely diminished and persuaded his friends to take up farming; "He was dedicated to their survival above all else and did everything he could do to help them succeed. He gave them seed from his own limited supplies; he provided each convert with a young heifer, and on one occasion he butchered his only bull to feed the struggling would-be farmers."
-By the late 1870's Pratt had become critical of the Church Missionary Society for not offering more assistance. He thought that the government of Canada might be more helpful and wanted his people to sign a treaty for this reason.
-His optimism faded rapidly after the agreement was signed.
"Short sighted government policies and attitudes, adverse weather, and harsh economic times were among the chief obstacles to his group 's success as farmers "
Cree historian Winona Stevenson, a descendant of Pratt's suggests that initially the Indian missions did help to serve Native people in some ways as distinct societies and that although the schools were viewed as a failure sometimes by English standards but did offer an option to adapt Christianity and agriculture which helped them survive under trying circumstances.
However, regarding Pratt 's eventual disillusionment wrote, "Pratt died lamenting the state of his world and the plight of his people… His last entry indicates that his Christian faith in the afterlife kept him, and possibly others, going through times that offered little hope." (248)
CH 9
Important Information and Themes in Chapter Nine
p.122
By the mid 18thcentury it was obvious to Native people that unless they refocused their diplomatic and military strategies the rising tide of Europe was overrun them
p.124: Seven Years War/French and Indian War
-France 's final srtruggle against England: The French adopted a military strategy that depended heavily on their Native Allies
-Iroquois remained neutral as long as possible but eventually helped turn the tide towards a British victory at Fort Niagara
-The Plains of Abraham was the final defeat for the French
Chief Pontiac, Michilimackinac and the Lacrosee game that led to military victory
-Pontiac 's rising and how it inspires the Royal Proclamation of 1763 ie. to maintain allegiance of Native allies as 13 colonies threaten to attack (see page 129)
CHOOSING SIDES
-The 1774 Quebec Act was signed to appease French interests for similar reasons ie. support against the 13 colonies
-Joseph Brant persuaded British Colonial officials to establish a refuge for Iroquois Loyalists who followed him in the American War of Independence
WAR OF 1812
-Chief Tecumseh was attempting to rally Native allies near Ohio
-he was attacked by American forces at the Battle of Tippecanoe
-Two fronts developed in the War of 1812:
1) American vs. FN (similar to Tippecanoe)
2) American vs. British (see page 138)
-Native allies played a huge role - see page 138…
-At Beaver Dams, near present-day Thorold, Ontario: "Acting under their own command the Native force inflicted heavy losses on the invaders [Americans]… "
-ambushed an invading force of 500 men
-There were tensions as some FN had warriors on both sides
- Although FN played important roles in Imperial wars they were not rewarded with large tracts of land and promises were not always kept.
Indian Act
Context in the west was the Metis uprisings in the
west making the federal government realize the
seriousness of First Nations aspirations. While
granting limited rights under the Manitoba Act, the
government moved more slowly to establish the legal
and administrative frameworks that it believed it
needed to deal with other Native people.
It took a major step in that direction in 1876 when
Parliament passed the Indian Act. This crucial piece of
legislation consolidated earlier colonial acts dealing
with First Nations. The primary goal of the act was to
encourage assimilation. It was also designed to
protect the interests of Native people, most of whom
resided west of Ontario.
After Confederation, The Canadian government faced the
difficult job of developing the legal framework it
needed to discharge the responsibility for Aboriginal
affairs it had inherited,with reluctance from the
Imperials government
- Previously First nations had been dealt with a
similar department in England and also through
representatives of the Crown in Treaty negotiations.
Confederation was 1867. Nine years later the Indian Act
provided for uniform yet highly problematic treatment
of First Nations everywhere in the country.
The Act defined “Indians” as being men who belonged to
a band that held funds in trust.
The wives and children of these men also had status.
-Women who married outside the status-Indian
community—and their children born of the marriage lost
their Indian statusand all rights associated with the
status and band membership forever.
-this provision violated long-standing post-contact
practices although it was allegedly designed to protect
Indian bands from white opportunists. Indian men were
free to choose a non-Indian partner, who then acquired
status. According to the act, all “legal” Indians were
wards of the federal government and were to be treated
as minors without the full privileges of citizenship.
(In this and subsequent chapters, the term “Indian”
is applied to those who were defined as such under
the 1876 act and its various revisions.)
The new legislation placed Indian reserve land in the
trust of the Crown and stated that this land could not
be mortgaged or seized for defaulted debts, nor could
it be taxed. In the spirit of the Royal Proclamation of
1763, it specified that reserve lands cold be sold
only with the approval of a majority of the adult band
members and the superintendent-general of Indian
Affairs. Furthermore, only the Crown could purchase
it.
The government was supposed to hold the proceeds from
any such sales in trust, although 10 percent of the
revenue could be paid directly to band members.
Likewise, timber and mineral resources on reserve land
could not be harvested or removed unless the same
procedures for obtaining consent had been followed.
Parliament make no provision in the act to accommodate
the different kinds of Aboriginal governments that
existed at the time of Confederation. It simply stated
that elected chiefs and councils would govern all
bands for three year terms. Only the adult makes could
vote. Band councils were given various
responsibilities, including overseeing public works
and the suppression of “intemperance.”
-The Indian Act outlawed the manufacture, sale or
consumption of liquor on reserves. Because the
government aimed to “civilize” all Indians eventually,
the original legislation included a provision for
enfranchisement
-Although First Nations often view this Act as a gross
form of Colonization and cultural assimilation like
the Royal Proclamation of 1763 there were some aspects
that were designed, like the 1969 White paper ton
great some First Nations people democratic rights as
understood in developing western democracies.
More convincing argument that the RP was such an act…
-As a first step towards becoming a full-fledged
Canadian citizen, an Indian had to prove that he was
literate in English or French, of good moral
character, and free of debt-terms most Canadians would
have found difficult to meet.
-Next, the applicant had to obtain an allotment of
reserve land and manage it for three years in the same
way a non-Indian would. At the end of this
probationary term, the superintendent-general of
Indian Affairs could make the candidate a full-fledge
citizen and give him title to his allotment.
Subsequent amendments to the Indian Act made
enfranchisement easier in the hope of encouraging
assimilation. A 1929 amendent (repealed two years
later) and one reintroduced in 1933 gave the
super-intendent general the power the enfranchise
Native people without their approval. Most resisted
because, until 1960, they lost their Indian status
when they gained full citizenship rights.
Superficially, the Indian Act of 1876 created a
structure that was designed to teach Native people
democratic principles, while it protected their
interests until they could stand on their own feet as
Canadian citizens. The reality was that the act
allowed the federal government to interfere in all
aspects of Indian’s lives, because Parliament had the
right to amend it without first obtaining their
permission. The government frequently amended the act
over the years to push forward its own agenda for
these people. In short, th act created a special class
of people designed solely on the basis of their race,
and it established a means for governing them
autocratically.
INSERT PERSPECTIVE HERE
Because Canada had assumed the responsibility for
governing Indians very reluctantly, the government
did not give any priority to their needs. In this
respect the country was no different from its colonial
predecessors.
The Indian Affairs Department began its existence as
an unwanted stepchild in the public service. (In the
1860’s a separate branch had been created within the
colony of Canada’s Crown Lands Department, and the
commissioner of that department also served as chief
superintendent of Indian Affairs)
For the first Eight years after Confederation, the
Dept of the sec of st of the prov looked after IA.
In 1873, federal politicians created the Indian Lands
Branch, shifting the portfolio to the Dept of the
Interior, which mainly promoted western Development.
Simultaneously, a short-lived B of Commisioners was
appointed to administer IA in Manitoba, BC and the
NWT. Two years later, the board was replaced with a
system of superintendents and agents, but had a
commissioner for the NWT was retained. In 1880
Pariliament created a separate DIA, but its minister
also held the portfolio of Min of the Interior.
ALL THIS TO SAY…
This constant restructuring shows that politicians
believed that it was a good idea to tie IA to the
federal ministry responsible for natural resources
and western development. Once established, this
tradition remained in place, except for a short period
between 1950 and 1966, when IA was housed in the Department
of Citizenship and Immigration. Linking the department
to the ministries responsible for natural resources,
immigration and economic development was a bad
arrangement for native people everywhere in Canada.
Conflicts were inevitable, because the minister resp
for reserve lands and aboriginal title in
unsurrendered territories also looked after the
acquisition and disposition of public lands. It is
hardly suprising, there fore,. That th department
often did not defend the interests of native people.
Cultural assumptions about First Nations weave throughout Can
history related to the Indian act and the amendments
that followed
Eg P 257
When Hayter Reed took over as Indian commission for
the NWT in 1888 he attempted to remake First Nations families
into self-supporting peasant families who would not
compete with whites. Besides political consideration,
theories about cultural cultural evolution shaped the
commisioners thinking.
He claimed that buffalo hunters could not become
mechanized grain farmers without first becoming yeoman
farmers (define).
They would need to make their own simple equipment and
produce their food without the aid of machinery. Reed
opposed the use of machinery because it encouraged
Indians to pool their resources to buy it and this
undermined the deptartment’s goal of promoting individualism.
Also, it fostered commercial grain growing at the
expense of subsistence food production.
Even it its day, this peasant farmer plan was
ludicrous and most India agents strongly opposed it.
None the less Reed pressed forward. He used a series o
amendments to the Indian Act passed by parliament
between 1880 and 1882 that prohibited Indians from
selling any grain, root crop, or other produce without
first obtaining a permit to do so from their local
agent or farm instructor. Amy who bought contraband
produce could be prosecuted.
Originally this permit system was intended to protect
Indians from being taken advantage of but Reed used
the scheme to limit Indian participation in the budding
commercial economy. After 1891 merchants had to obtain
a permit from Indian Affairs to trade with Indians.
Restricting the use of credit was another feature of
Reeds plan. The Indian Act forbade th mortgaging of
reserve land for any purpose… originally for the
paternalistic purposes of protecting Indians stake
from speculators… but the lack of collateral put the
FN at a disadvantage compared with whites who could
obtain lines of credit.
Chapter 20
Searching For Settlement: History of other First Nations attempts to secure rights that gained international attention but did not escalate into OKA-type armed struggles
UFA in Yukon:
http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/pr/agr/umb/index_e.html
-On a cold, damp December morning in 1972, several dozen Cree and Inuit hunters fled into the Palais de Justice in Montreal to challenge the right of the province of Quebec to go ahead with the largest development project in North American history… a 5.6 billion dollar hydroelectric generation project in the James Bay area.
-The affected area took in the best fishing and trapping areas of the James Bay Cree.
-No one had bothered to consult them or their Inuit neighbours or taken their rights and economic interests into consideration so the Cree and Innuit appealed to the courts. Initially environmentalists backed them and their leader Billy Diamond
Diamond was propelled to prominence by the controversial hydroelectric developments in northern Quebec. He was elected chief of Waskaganish just in time to confront the government of Quebec over the James Bay project. He organized national and international media attention to spotlight the plight of the Cree and Inuit of the region; went to the United Nations to argue the case; helped found the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec to assist in the battle, becoming its first grand chief; and was the prime Cree mover and signatory of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. As a result, the Cree people were awarded $136 million in cash and investment infrastructure that has totaled more than $1.4 billion to date. (Windspeaker Magazine)
Also see, Chief: the Fearless Vision of Billy Diamond by Roy Macgregor
Initially, the lawyers representing the construction companies did not take the Cree and Inuit seriously and did not believe there were existing Aboriginal rights in northern Quebec.
One Quebec Superior Court Justice thought otherwise and granted a hearing. He deliberated for five month then granted the Cree and Innuit an interim injunction.
-This proved to be a temporary victory however as 6 days later the injunction was turned over on appeal and construction resumed.
-The battle played out in the courts.
-The breakthrough judgment in the Calder case created more uncertainty. In that now-famous case, the Nishga Tribal Council hired Thomas Berger to prepare an Aboriginal title case on their behalf. They asserted that their Aboriginal title had never been extinguished.
- The province countered that the title was not valid because the British government had never intended the Royal Proclamation of 1763 to apply to provincial territory. Though turned down at the provincial level, several Supreme Court judges agreed with the Nishga and the National Indian Brotherhood.
- This breakthrough attracted the attention of then Prime Minister Trudeau who invited the Nishga chiefs to Ottawa. Three of the judges Trudeau held in highest regard had endorsed their title claim. For Trudeau, this meant that the Nishga and other First Nations might win future legal battles. Therefore his government altered their course from the assimilationist tendencies of the white paper and began to lay the groundwork for claims negotiations. (337)
The Nishga would go on to have success signing their modern-day Treaty in October 1999. Their efforts to secure hearings in London had been thwarted by DIA representatives such as poet, Duncan Campbell Scott. Scott was responsible for Section 141 of the Indian Act that made it illegal to solicit funds to hire lawyers to fight claims cases unless the government approved. Parliament quickly passed this amendment tin 1927. Not only did this undemocratic measure effectively block white “agitators” from helping the Native cause in Canada, but it also barred Native organizations from forming to promote land claims. (326)
The Calder case was a watershed ruling which began to overturn the notion that Aboriginal title had been extinguished. The James Bay Cree Cree struggle existed in that context.
Their landmark agreement came in 1974. It was essentially the first major settlement that Native people had concluded with the Crown in 45 years
They had gained major concessions on hunting and fishing rights including compensation. The bands retained complete control of lands connected to their communities and obtained exclusive hunting, fishing and trapping rights to
150 000 square km of territory.
-They also secured representation on a wild-life management committee and the recognition that Native subsistence requirements had priority over the interests of others in the districts where Aboriginal people did not retain exclusive hunting rights.
-also an income-security program for hunters and trappers; the recognition of Native languages as official languages of administration in the district; the creation of a development corporation to handle investments for the local Native people; and the creation of a Cree Regional Authority to represent all Cree on local government bodies…(341)
“The accord has had a major impact on the lives of Native people of the James Bay area. Instead of a fragmented band-oriented society, after the 1974 agreement they have created a coherent regional society through the Cree Regional Authority, Cree-oriented education programs, modern business enterprises such as Air Creebec and improved health-care services.
-have also improved the local standard of living by strengthening the hunting and trapping sector of the economy.
By the early 1980’s more Cree were full-time hunters than before the case thanks to a plan that offers hunters a minimum cash income for each day spent in the bush.
-“The pressures that the James Bay Cree…Only time will tell…”(342)
-The Cree have shown they are formidable foes when it comes to battling for public support to oppose such schemes.
-They launched a multi-media campaign against the Great Whale River project and persuaded one of Hydro-Quebec’s biggest customers, the Utilities commission of New York not to buy power unless impact assessment on environmental concerns were properly conducted.
NORTH OF 60
During the struggle of the Cree, the Trudeau government formally reversed its position on Aboriginal title and created the Office of Native Claims within Indian Affairs in 1974. The government recognized two broad categories of claims:
1) Comprehensive which concern “unsurrendered lands” and
2) Specific which are grievances bands and Native Nations hold against governments for alleged failures to honour treaties and rights already articulated such as treaty violations, forced reductions in reserves and mishandling of funds.
This process is costly ad time-consuming and continues today. As few communities have the funding to undertake the process advances are made from the federal government but must eventually be repaid. By 1982, the government had provided Native groups with 116 million dollars for research.
-Initially, the federal government insisted that any agreement had to include the total surrender and extinguishment of Aboriginal land rights but this later changed.
The biggest post-James Bay settlements have been made in lands north of 60 which to people the government had largely ignored until recently. The Innuit for instance obtained little help from government even after Arctic Fox prices collapsed and caused severe economic hardship…and sometimes denied responsibility for them
It took a 1939 court case to acknowledge that Inuit were protected under the constitution.
More attention was focused on First Nations people with the outbreak of the Second World War when Canadians and Americans built and operated various airbases in the North to ferry planes and supplies to Europe. After the war ended, the military remained to monitor Canadian airspace against possible Soviet air or missile attack. These personnel brought the plight of the Innuit, particularly their poor health to public attention. (343)
Billy Diamond highlighted some of these issues and in Macgregor’s harrowing account of forced relocation, poor health and missing persons. When these issues came to light the federal government created settlement to provide medical and social services cheaply in Innuvik and Iqaluit. They also set up a program to eradicate tuberculosis however unceremoniously: “For instance, beginning in 1947, the RCMP Arctic patrol conducted shipboard chest X-Rays. Officers quarantined on board any Inuit who tested positive and transported them to sanatoria in Toronto, Montreal, Hamilton and Edmonton for treatment. Officials made not effort to tell the patients kinfolk where they were sent or how their treatment was progressing. When Inuit patients were released, they were often moved to the Arctic settlement that was most accessible from the discharging sanitarium. Often these places were far from the patients’ homes.”
READ quote: “Traditional Unit naming practices…(344)”
-most famous instance of government callousness towards the Innuit was the way they were used to assert sovereignty
CHAPTER 20 – Part two
After forced relocations and pressures on the land from development
project, the Inuit realized they needed to protect their economic
interests and have more control over their own affairs. Development
pressures in the north stimulated by soaring oil and gas
process in the late 60\'s and 70\'s made this urgent.
Up to this point neither government nor drilling companies had given
much thought to the impact drilling operations or pipeline development
would have on the Inuit and other northern communities. This changed
with the Mackenzie Pipeline proposal of 1971.
When it was announced the Inuit, the Dene and environmental groups
began to protest.
The government responded by creating the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline
Inquiry in 1974 and appointed Thomas Berger who had become a justice
on the BC Supreme Court, to lead it.
He took the commission into many remote communities where First
Nations told him the project would destroy their way of life and give
them little of value in return. They demanded that no work begin until
the Government had satisfactorily addressed their land claims… Quote
on p.347 comparing the advocates of the pipeline to General Custer.
Dene Chief T 'Seleie believed that new government institutions and
programs, developed with input from Native people, had to be created
to overcome the problems of economic and social disruption that so
often accompanied large development projects. So Berger recommended a
delay of at least ten years and the federal government agreed.
Never the less the search for Oil and Gas in areas not previously
explored continued in the north unabated. By the early 1970's, the
federal government had issued exploration permits covering 75 000 000
hectares of the Canadian arctic.
The Dene responded to this influx of mineral explorers in several ways.
• In 1973 they sought and obtained from the NWT Supreme Court an order
to stop resource exploration on homelands they claimed. The judge
noted that there was doubt about whether Aboriginal title was
extinguished in Treaties 8 and 11 and also doubt about whether the
chiefs who had signed earlier surrenders understood the terms. Two
years later, the General Assembly of the Indian Brotherhood of the NWT
and Metis Association of the NWT jointly issued the Dene Declaration
demanding autonomy and self-determination within Canada and a just
settlement of their land claims. The federal government agreed to
negotiate with them, believing that it would be cheaper to settle than
to fight the two groups in court.
• The Dene 's eastern Inuit neighbors living at Baker lake wanted to
halt prospecting operations that were scaring off local caribou herds.
They were also angry with wildlife officials they clashed with over
game-harvesting and management issues. The NWT Supreme Court decided
that the Baker Lake people did hold title to the area they claimed
(represented in the Art exhibit we viewed in the first week of class
at the arts centre)
• During this time, the Inuvialuit of the Mackenzie River delta area
moved to file a land claim to combat the adverse effects of any
Beaufort Sea developments. After lengthy discussions they reached an
agreement in principle with federal negotiators in 1978, thereby
avoiding a lengthy and costly court battle. Many of the major
provisions are similar to the James Bay Agreement but more generous,
considering that there were fewer beneficiaries. They gave up rights
to an area of 344 00 square km in exchange for 152 million over 13
years. (Other details on p.348) eg. The agreement made provision for
Inuvialuit to play advisory roles in wildlife management, but it did
not provide income support for hunters.
In general the search for oil and gas led to an opposing reaction from
First nations in the north which had positive outcomes in cases where
injunctions and court challenges sometimes led precedent-setting court
cases that favoured Aboriginal Rights over Corporate Interests.
The First Nations positions was strengthened even more by the
entrenchment of Aboriginal and treaty rights in the Canadian
Constitution in Section 35 in 1982 in response to effective First
Nations lobbying and a more flexible federal claims policy that went
into effect after 1986
In 1982 First Nations lobbied to have Aboriginal and Treaty Rights
entrenched in the Canadians Constitution when Pierre Trudeau
government was attempting patriation from England. The Constitution
was brought home " from England but was done so in a way that honoured
the historical ally relationship with First Nations.
First Nations were more willing to come to the negotiating table after this
The landmark Sparrow ruling was issued by the Supreme Court of Canada
in spring 1990. In this non-treaty fishing rights case, the high court
determined that there as nothing in the fisheries Act that
extinguished the Aboriginal Right to Fish. Even legislation aimed at
conservation must be justified if it detracts from any Aboriginal
rights protected under Section 31. "Government had to consult the
Aboriginal people affected, and it had to compensate them for the
rights that were affected." (349)
The Various groups of the NWT faced different circumstances and
negotiated accordingly. The two northerly groups, the Gwich 'in of the
Mackenzie River Delta and the Sahtu tribal council of the Great Bear
lake Region exchanged extinguishment of title to most of their
territories in exchanged for retaining ownership with subsurface
rights to smaller tracts; extensive hunting, trapping and fishing
grounds and various cash and mineral royalty settlements.
The Deh Cho of the signed an interim agreement in 2003 with the
federal government which provided them with a share of annual federal
resource royalties and the right to make interim withdrawals of land
they want to protect while negotiations for a final agreement
continue.
In 1990, The Council of Yukon Indians (350) ratified the UFA with
Canada and YG. See web site and class discussion April 3.
The Agreement signed by the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut was styled
in many ways on the James Bay and Inuvialuit agreement with one main
difference. It eventually led to more political control and the
creation of a new territory from the eastern portion of the NWT.
South of the 60th Parallel
Although negotiations which began in earnest with the creation of a
new Claims process in 1982 less was settled in the south than in the
north. One reason is that provinces hold title to Crown land which is
not true in the territories:
"In the provinces, many seemingly hopeless deadlocks have arisen over
the issues of Aboriginal and Crown title and compensation. Frequently,
it seems that the only way Native people can break the impasses is by
combining political pressure, often involving civil disobedience, with litigation. ' (Ray 351)
Three examples: 1) Lubicon Cree 2) Mohawk at Oka 3) Gitxsan and
Wet'suwet 'en of BC (Delgamukww)
Lubicon Cree
On October 12, 1988, the Lubicon Lake Cree of northern Alberta
declared jurisdiction, ownership, and management of their traditional
lands and forbade any further drilling, or extraction of oil and gas
without band licenses. Three days later they blockaded roads leading
into their territory. They had been struggling for almost fifty years
to obtain a reserve in their portion of Treaty 8 territory.
The problem began at the turn of the century when treaty official
failed to consult with the Lubicon Cree. They were finally visited in
1939 by Indian Affairs officials and promised a reserve but it never
materialized. They government later claimed the location selected was
not convenient and later dropped names from a member ship list and
claimed the size should be reduced as well because the band had
diminished in size. Two judicial inquiries disproved that fact but the
department refused to revise the list. By the 1950's, Alberta
expressed a strong desire to decide the issue to create certainty for
oil and gas development and investment. The problem for the Lubicon
Cree was that any subsurface rights they might hold applied only to
the lands set aside for them by the province in 1940. "They obviously
had very good reasons to resist any attempts to relocate elsewhere."
(Ray 352)
By 1971, after the federal government had made attempts to further
reduce the band membership, Alberta announced plans to open the North
to development. The Lubicon Cree joined forces with several other
Native communities who had never joined Treaty 8 and together
registered a claim to a tract of land over 65 000 square km.
They also demanded an end to development until the government dealt
with their claim. Alberta then passed legislation barring anyone from
filing those types of caveats and made that law retroactive to the
period preceding the band 's motion and therefore the court rejected
the Lubicon Cree application.
Free to go ahead legally, The Lougheed government built an all weather
road across Lubicon Cree territory and unleashed petroleum explorers
"who ran roughshod over the land. The Lubicon Cree claimed that these
people deliberately frightened off game and fur-bearing animals and
disrupted the local hunting economy.
QUOTE p 353. "Apparently, the government 's strategy was….
In the 1980's, the saga dragged on in courts and through negotiations.
One journalist observed that the Lubicon Cree found themselves
manipulated in a back and forth game devised by the federal government
through the Office of Native Claims and the Justice Department who
alternately supported and opposed the band.
Like the James Bay Cree, they went international. After studying their
situation carefully, the World Council of Churches wrote to Prime
Minister Trudeau in support. The UN human rights committee agreed that
the band had an admissible claim to a hearing, since it seemed they
could not obtain effective political or legal redress at home.
They achieved a moral victory by convincing many Native Nations and
museums from around the world to show their solidarity by refusing to
participate in an exhibit, The Spirit Sings during the Calgary
Olympics which featured Native themes.
Undaunted the government continued its development efforts securing an
agreement with Japan based Daishowa Canada Ltd to build a massive pulp
and paper mill on the Peace River. in 1988 the federal government
announced that it would provide 9.5 million for the controversial
project and awarded them timber cutting rights in an area which
included most of the lands claimed by the Lubicon Cree. The
devastating impact on essential hunting-and trapping economies of the
Lubicon were clear and the barricades went up…. "but only after years
of government neglect, followed by decades of failed attempts to
obtain redress through legal means and public pressure." (354) Other
Native communities supported them, including the Mohwak of Kahnawake
who slowed traffic on the Mercier bridge in Montreal, members of the
Six nations at Brantford who held a brief blockade and chiefs from
other bands who gathered in Lubicon territory to express their
support.
Five days after the blockade began the fifty man force of RCMP stormed
through to arrest 27 people while media from all over the world
recorded the vent. The Alberta Premier and Chief Ominayak met at a
hotel on the Mackenzie Highway and came to terms.
Getty announced that Alberta was prepared to grant the nearly
250-square km reserve the band had sought, including mineral rights
over most of the land. Both parties avoided the contentious issue of
the band list that had been reduced by the federal government and they
agreed to hold further negotiations concerning environmental and
wildlife management issues.
The situation looked promising. However the federal government still
had to ratify the agreement and provide a compensation package.
Although they came to quick agreement on the band membership and the
size of the reserve, "they disagreed sharply over the issue of
compensation and control over economic development. The federal
government insisted that ancestors had signed Treaty 8 which limited
compensation. The band also insisted on a land-rights agreement that
offset the destruction of their traditional economy.
Today the Lubicon continue to search for settlement and accuse the
federal government of working against them. After talk collapsed
government officials worked out separate deals with factions of the
Lubicon band who signed inferior deals for much less than what was
negotiated by Chief Ominayak. See p.356 for details.
Created on 04/02/2008 12:46 AM by admin
Updated on 04/15/2008 10:13 PM by admin
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