7/22/2021 Indian Act and Treaties Objectives • Identify how the Indian act of 1876 affected the Indigenous peoples emotional, spiritually, mentally and physically. • Define cultural genocide • Analyze how the Indian act of 1876 contributed to the cultural genocide of the Indigenous peoples • Define what treaties are What is the Indian Act? • It authorizes the Canadian federal government to regulate and administer in the affairs and day-to-day lives of registered Indians and reserve communities • Assimilation policies intended to terminate the cultural, social, economic, and political uniqueness of the Indigenous population by absorbing them into mainstream Canadian life and values Assimilation • Europeans thought: •The Indigenous population was inferior •Unable to govern themselves •Canadian “authorities” knew best on how to protect their interests and well being Indian Act and Treaties Objectives • Discuss the concept of Jordan’s Principle • Explain how the Indian Act and other governmental policies contribute to murdered and missing Indigenous women. Assimilation • The process by which a minority population is absorbed into a prevailing dominant culture • Resulting in Loss of: • language • education • tradition practices • values, customs, and practices Denied Women Status 1869-1985 • Loss of: •Treaty benefits •Health benefits •The right to live on her reserve •The right to inherit her family property •The right to be buried on the reserve with her ancestors. 1 7/22/2021 Bill C-31 • Created with the specific intent of correcting more than 150 years of discrimination against First Nations women. • Passed into law in the mid 1980’s to bring the Indian act into line with gender equality • Goals: • Address gender discrimination • Restore Indian status to women who had been forcibly enfranchised Created Reserves 1876-Present Day to protect the Indigenous people, but instead isolated and impoverished them Prohibited Traditional Ceremonies 1884-1951 • The Potlatch • Government viewed it as wasteful and barrier to assimilation • Government knew it was an integral part of Indigenous culture. • Government thought it would ensure assimilation • The Sundance • Government viewed it as savage like Expropriate portions of reserve land for public works • “Created” • Families, houses, and clans were randomly joined disrupting social networks. • Restricted from leaving with out permission from the Indian agent. Enforced Enfranchisement 1876-1985 •Legal process for terminating a person’s status •Lost their cultural and legal identities •It would mean the termination of their recognition as distinct nations or people •This meant the beginning of their assimilation into non-Indigenous society • Government could use portions of reserves for roads, railways, and other public works • Government could move an entire reserve away from an area or land if it was deemed beneficial for the government Enforced Enfranchisement •Serving in the Canadian armed forces •Getting a University education •Leaving the reserve for long periods of time •Aboriginal women who married non aboriginal men or if their husbands died or abandoned them 2 7/22/2021 Residential Schools 1886-1996 • Government sponsored religious schools established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture Residential Schools • Students at some residential schools in the 1940’s and 1950’s were subject to nutritional experiments without their consent or the consent of their parents. • Mandatory to attend • Physically, emotionally, verbally, and sexually assaulted Band Political Organizations 1869-Present Day • Displaced traditional political structures and did not reflect, consider or honor First Nations needs or values • Did not consider each Nation had its own style of governance • Most tribes had a system that included a chief and advisors or elders Renamed Individuals with European Names 1880-undetermined time • To extinguish traditional ties • Euro-Canadians found many of the names confusing and difficult to pronounce • Went against assimilation objectives - it was feared that leaving them with their traditional names would take away the motivation to assimilate. Denied First Nations the right to vote 1876 - 1960 • Excluded because of the Treaties • Status Indians lived on reserve lands owned by the Crown and received annuities from the Treaties • These liabilities effectively disqualified them from exercising the right to vote. Traditionally •Did not have Christian name or a surname • They had hereditary names, spirit names, family names, clan names, animal names and nicknames 3 7/22/2021 Cultural genocide •Is the destruction of structures and practices that allow a group to continue as a group. Cultural Genocide • Land is seized and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. • Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. • Destroy the political and social institutions • Families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next Treaties Provided Treaties •The government of Canada and the courts understood treaties between the crown and the first nations to be solemn agreements that set out promises, obligations and benefits for both parties. •A Shared future •Prevented war and assured peace •Defined and shaped relations through mutual respect •Guaranteed shared economic bounty from rich and productive lands around them. Treaties •land to be set aside for First Nation use only •money to be paid to a First Nation every year •hunting and fishing rights on unoccupied Crown land •schools and teachers on reserves to be paid for by the government •one-time benefits (such as farm equipment and animals, ammunition and clothing). Jordan’s Principle From Norway House Cree Nation • Born with complex genetic disorder •Severe developmental delay, tracheotomy, •Died in Winnipeg never being able to go back to Norway House Cree Nation • 4 7/22/2021 Jordan’s Principle •Status children are frequently left waiting for services they desperately need, or are denied services that are available to other children •It ensures there is no denial or delay for First Nations children in receiving essential public services that are available to all other children Jordan’s Principle • Between July 2016 and February 28, 2019, more than 216,000 requests were approved under Jordan's Principle. Including: • speech therapy • educational supports • medical equipment • mental health services Women traditionally played a central role with Midwives • Due to residential schools, colonization, Indian act, western medicine midwifery essential became non existent Spiritual Ceremonies • Pipe Ceremony • Sweat lodge • Drumming Jordan’s Principle • respite care • mental health services • rehab therapies • services for children in care • transportation to appointments • medical supplies and equipment • special education • supports and services • long-term care for children with specialized needs Indigenous Women Facts • Matriarchal Society • Women were never considered inferior in Aboriginal society until Europeans arrived • Women traditionally played a central role with • Family caregivers • Healers • Midwives • spiritual ceremonies Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women • Colonization, governmental policies, and legislation and regulation contribute to murdered and missing Indigenous women. • Racist and sexist stereotypes not only hurt Aboriginal women and their sense of self-esteem, but actually encourage abuse. • Close to 4,000 Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or murdered in Canada since the 1970s 5 7/22/2021 Pathways that maintain colonial violence •Historical, multigenerational and intergenerational trauma. •Social and economic marginalization. •Maintaining the status quo and institutional lack of will. Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women •Residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, the child welfare and the justice system place them at a higher risk of going missing or being exploited and/or murdered. •Traditional teachings tell us that “it is upon women that all life depends” as they are life and water carriers. 6
