First Peoples in Canada p.3

Question 1

When? What was the impact of the Indian Act?

Answer 1

1876
Gave white officials ultimate authority over the First Nations peoples.
Responsibility for their education was granted to churches.
Forced cultural assimilation in residential schools
Prepared them for low paid jobs
Punsihed for pracitising own religion/speaking own language

Question 2

What were two ways First Nation people resisted?

Answer 2

Some refused to seek permission from Indian Agents to sell their produce or leave reserves.
Ignored bans on cultural pracitices, such as Sun Dances
Métis rebelled over land loss in 1870 and 1855, but the government quashed them and did nothing to alleviate poverty.

Question 3

when? Why was the League of Indians in Canada established

Answer 3

1919. Indian Acts of 1905 and 1911 enabled the Canadian government to expropriate or exchange reserve lands
      Shared experiences in WWI increased pan-Indian consciousness
      Department of Indian Affairs was unsympathetic
      Other Canadians were hostile/indifferent

Question 4

What was the situation for First peoples in 1945?

Answer 4

Average lifespan was half that of other Canadians
Infant mortality rates were four times the national average
Many died from excessive alcohol use to numb their pain
Poor nutrition and inadequate housing
Discriminated against in employment, housing and schools

Question 5

When? What did the revised Indian Act do?

Answer 5

1945
Reverse the ban on potlaches and Sun Dances

Question 6

When? What did the Citizenship act do?

Answer 6

1956
Granted formal citizenship to Inuit and status Indians.
Given the vote in provincial elections, followed by federal elections in 1960.

Question 7

Who were status Indians?

Answer 7

They were listed on the Indian Register and entitled to benefits under the Indian Act.

Question 8

Why was the National Indian Council (NIC) created?

Answer 8

Improve Native unity.

Question 9

What led to the creation of the Native Council of Canada?

Answer 9

Disagreements between status Indians and non-status Indians and Métis, led the non-status Indians and Métis to establish their own organisation, sepearte from NIC.

Question 10

Which organisation was formed by status Indians, after their disagreements with non-status Indians and Métis?
When?

Answer 10

National Indian Brotherhood (NIB) 1968

Question 11

Why did Native people respond with increased militancy and organisation after 1960?

Answer 11

Organisational traditions of the League of Indians to build on

Inspired by other groups

1961 Canadian Bill of Rights increased rights-consciousness

Canadians grew increasingly wealthy after 1945, and First Nation people sought to decrease disparity

Activism was prompted by discovery of raw materials in Northen Canada, which threatened traditional ways of life

Government insensitivy encouraged activism, for example with the White Paper

Question 12

What did the Trudeau government White Paper propose? When?

Answer 12

1969
Abolishment of the Indian Act
Department of Indian Affairs to be dismantled and responsibility for Aboriginal people devolved to the provinces
Aborigional land claims to be rejected
First Nations people lose their special status, and should be assimilated into the Canadian population with ‘other ethnic minorities’

Question 13

What was the impact of the White Paper?

Answer 13

It was dropped due to the First Peoples reaction.
NIB led the attack on the paper, stating that Natives wanted self-government and reasseration of their culture, not assimilation. Claimed the policy would support ‘culutral genocide’

Question 14

When? Why was the Indian Claims Commission established?

Answer 14

in 1969
Established by Trudeau to settle land claims. But the gov was too slow and Natives looked to the courts instead.

Question 15

What was the impact of industrial developments near reserves?

Answer 15

Damaged wildlife
Posioned the waters they depended on
Didn’t even offer them jobs

Question 16

What was one of the events that lead to the establishment of the Indian Health Transfer Policy?

Answer 16

In 1970, severe mercury poisioning was found in First Nations people in Ontario, due to water pollution by the Dryden Chemicals Company.

Question 17

When was the residential school system phased out?

Answer 17

From the 1960s. Pressure from NIB increased Native responsibility for their education.

Question 18

What was a main problem for First Nation high school students?

Answer 18

High schools were not buit near to reserves, so many children had to spend several hours travelling to and from school.

Question 19

What successes did the First Peoples see in terms of land disputes?

Answer 19

Many Supreme Court decisions reaffirmed the principles of Aboriginal rights.

Mackenzie Valley - the Trudeau gov proposed oil projects here, he appointed Justice Berger to do this. Berger listened to the indigenous population and recommended that the construction be halted for half a decade.

Question 20

What did the Constitution Act do, for First Peoples?
When?

Answer 20

1982
Aboriginal rights and treaty rights were recognised, but individual cases had to be decided by the courts.

Question 21

What is an example of a favourable ruling for Native Peoples after the 1982 Constitution Act?

Answer 21

Inuit of the east Artic got 350,000km2 of land in 1992.
In 1999, the eastern Arctic became a sparely administered territory called Nunavit. This was considered a brave experiment in Native self-government.

Question 22

Did resolution of land claims always bring economic advancement?

Answer 22

No. In the 1980s, a federal study of Inuit and Cree of north Quebec found them living in poverty, despite financial compensation from the provincial governments.

Question 23

Was the federal government slow to settle land claims? Why?

Answer 23

Yes. In 1990, there were 500 outstanding claims, with only 3 or 4 settled per year. This lead to greater militancy.

Question 24

What is an example of militancy succeeding for the First Peoples?

Answer 24

Québec 1990, provincial police clashed with Mohawk Warriors over the development of a golf course on Mohawk land near Oka.
- One policeman died. Premier Robert Bourassa called in the Canadian army.
- Federal government criticized the warriors as terrorists, but their activism forced the government to buy the lands and give it to the Mohawks,

Question 25

What did Quebec demand at Meech Lake 1987? What was the Aboriginal response?

Answer 25

Quebec demanded a modification of the 1982 Constitution in order to preserve provincial rights.
Aborigionals critcised the Meech Lake Accord, saying that it sacrificed Native self-government for provincial rights.

Question 26

Who was Elijah Harper? How did he stop the passing of the Meech Lake Accord?

Answer 26

Elijah Harper was the first treaty Indian to be elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.
He used procedural methods to stop Manitoba from passing the accord.

Question 27

When was the Charlottetown Accord produced? By who?

Answer 27

1992 by some Native leaders

Question 28

What did the Charlottetown Accord propose to do?

Answer 28

Called for the ‘recognition of the inherent right of self-government’
Preserve Native language, culture, economies, identities, institutions and traditions
Gave the Métis the opportunity to access Aborigional programmes and services.

Question 29

What was the opposition to the Charlottetown Accord?

Answer 29

Parti Québécois leader, Jacques Parizeau, said that under the accord, Aboriginal people would end up controlling most of Canada
Natives were critical, saying that it did nothing to speed up land claim
Status Indians asked why (As sovereign peoples), they had to negotiate with federal and provincial governments.
Consequently, the Charlottetown Accord was rejected.

Question 30

How did the Churches and federal government attempt to bring justice surrounding the residential school system?

Answer 30

After being taken to court in the 1990s by ex-pupils, the Canadian government announced the Aboriginal Action Plan. This was to deal with past injustices, acknowledge government role in the schools and provide $350 million in compensation.
No agreement resulted.
Many churches were bankrupted due to the legal fees.

Question 31

Who created the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples? When?

Answer 31

1991, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney

Question 32

What did the 1996 report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples propose?

Answer 32

Self-government for the First Nations people, and that the Candaian government should negotiate ‘nation to nation’ with a First Nation government.
$2 billion grant to the First Nations government
‘20 year agenda to change’

Question 33

What did the Aboriginal Right to Self-Government Policy 1995 do?

Answer 33

Recognised the right of the indigenous population to decide on a suitable form of self-government. As a result, the Indian Health Transfer Polucy granted self-determination in health.