Indian Act: Part One

Question 1

What is the Indian Act?

Answer 1

The Indian Act is the law the federal government uses to administer Indian status, governments and the
management of reserve land. It also outlines governmental obligations to First Nations peoples. The Indian Act pertains to people with Indian Status.

Question 2

What is the Royal Proclamation?

Answer 2

Laid down the basis for how colonial administration would interact with First Nations people.
- Guaranteed certain rights and protections for First Nations peoples, and established the process by which the government could acquire their lands.

Question 3

What did the Royal Proclamation intend?

Answer 3

The Act subsumed a number of colonial laws that aimed to eliminate First Nations culture in favour of assimilation into Euro-Canadian society.

Question 4

What did the 1850 act provide?

Answer 4

Better protection of the Lands and Property of the Indians in Lower Canada
- One of the first pieces of legislation that included a set of requirements for a person to be considered a legal Indian — a precursor to of “status.”

Question 5

What did the 1850 Act also state?

Answer 5

It said that people were of “Indian blood” and were members of a ‘Tribe of Indians.” All descendants of such people were considered to be indian. So were non-Indians who “intermarried with such Indians,” people whose parents would have been considered Indians, and “all persons adopted in infancy by any such Indians.”

Question 6

What is the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857?

Answer 6

Aimed at removing any special distinction of First Nations peoples
- Assimilate them into the larger settler population

Question 7

What is the Gradual Civilization Act 1859?

Answer 7

The Assembly supported the bill 72-1 with Mr. (William Lyon) Mackenzie being the only vote against.
- Everyone was on the same page as the majority of members of the Legislative Assembly when it came to Indigenous affairs.

Question 8

What was interesting about Macdonalds ‘Indian Policy’?

Answer 8

MacDonald’s Indian Policy: There is nothing in the policy that encourages violence against Indigenous people nor anything that would hint at a genocide which he has subsequently been accused of.
- On the contrary, the legislation he helped craft consistently expressed the incorporation of Indigenous people into setter society
- Nor was there anything in Macdonald’s policies that were out of step with a mainstream view in British or Canadian society at the time

Question 9

What is the Act of 1869?

Answer 9

The Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869 the government unilaterally enfranchising First Nations people.

Question 10

When was the Indian Act passed?

Answer 10

First passed in 1876, the Indian Act received royal assent under a Liberal government headed by Prime Minister Alexander
McKenzie.

Question 11

How did the Numbered Treaties impact the Indian Act?

Answer 11

The Numbered Treaties agreed to with Canadian governments before 1876 defined for them what was considered their legal identity as First Nations people to flow from rather than through the Indian Act.

Question 12

What did the Constitution Act assign?

Answer 12

In 1867, the Constitution Act assigned legislative jurisdiction to Parliament over “Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians.”

Question 13

What did the Government do?

Answer 13

Through the Department of Indian Affairs gave government sweeping powers with regards to:
First Nations identity
Political structures
Governance
Cultural practices
Education.

These powers restricted Indigenous freedoms and allowed officials to determine Indigenous rights and benefits based on “good moral character.”

Question 14

What did the Indian Act attempt?

Answer 14

The Indian Act attempted to generalize a vast and varied population of people and assimilate them into non-Indigenous society. It forbade First Nations peoples and communities from expressing their identities through governance and culture.

Question 15

What did the Indian Act replace?

Answer 15

The Act replaced traditional structures of governance with band council elections.
Hereditary Chiefs: leaders who acquire power through descent, rather than an election (not recognized by the Indian Act)

Question 16

How did the Indian Act have a culture significance?

Answer 16

The Act also made it illegal for First Nations peoples to practice religious ceremonies and various cultural gatherings. In 1884, the potlatch was banned, and in 1895, “any Indian festival, dance or ceremony,” which would include powwows and the sun dance, were banned

Question 17

What did the Indian Act make illegal?

Answer 17

In 1927, the Act made it illegal for First Nations peoples and communities to hire lawyers or bring about land claims against the government without the government’s consent.

Question 18

How was the Indian Act used to restrict First Nations peoples?

Answer 18

The Indian Act was used to support the pass system which restricted the movement of First Nations peoples off reserves and the permit system which regulated the sale of goods off reserves. These restrictive policies have had lasting impact causing damage to Indigenous economies, cultures and societies.

Question 19

Who did the Indian Act define First Nations peoples?

Answer 19

The Indian Act defined who was considered an Indian under the law. It stated than an Indian was “any male person of Indian blood reputed to belong to a particular band.”

Question 20

How did one gain or lose Indian status?

Answer 20

Indian status also applied to “any child of such person” and to “any woman who is or was lawfully married to such person.”

A person lost status if they graduated university, married a non-status person (f they were a woman) or became a Christian minister, doctor or lawyer.