Indian Act Essay

From its first enactment in 1857 up to at least the 1960s, voluntary enfranchisement was the cornerstone of Canadian Indian policy. Since the Indian Act seemed to have set a bad example of communication, treaties had more success in the developmental stage of communication between the two parties, the First Nations people and the Crown.

The Indian Act was created in 1876 and has been amended many times through history. The Act was created by European settlers under the British crown in order to assert control over the Indigenous people of Canada. It developed into the takeover of Indigenous land, imposed the rule of the Crown on Indigenous affairs, openly allowed discrimination, and restricts hunting. Also, the act implemented the abolishment of band councils, entrapment within harsh reserve living conditions, the creation of residential schools, the constraint on traditions, culture, ceremonies, and the systematic growth of cultural genocide. This racist relic has imposed a great deal of injustice towards Indigenous people. It establishes a “us v. them” mentality and separates

In 1830, the Jackson administration instated the Indian Removal Act. This act removed the Native Americans from their ancestral lands to make way for an increase of additional American immigrants. This act forced many Native American tribes from their homes including five larger tribes, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creek, and Seminole. These tribes had populations were estimated to be around 65,000 people strong that lived in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. (Foner, 2012) The American Indians fought for their rights and beliefs through the American court system. Their other objective other than fighting for their rights was but in the end, they were forced out of their homes to move

The Indian Act was an attempt by the Canadian government to assimilate the aboriginals into the Canadian society through means such as Enfranchisement, the creation of elective band councils, the banning of aboriginals seeking legal help, and through the process of providing the Superintendent General of the Indian Affairs extreme control over the aboriginals, such as allowing the Superintendent to decide who receives certain benefits, during the earlier stages of the Canadian-Indigenous' political interaction. The failure of the Indian Act though only led to more confusion regarding the interaction of Canada and the aboriginals, giving birth to the failed White Paper and the unconstitutional Bill C-31,

In 1876, the Indian Act was passed. This act enforced a law that required all First Nations, children below the age of 16, to attend residential schools until they were 18. To elaborate, these schools were run by not only the church, but funded by the government. Children were dragged from their homes; their ways of life, family, and friends stripped from them. While attending these schools, the native children were forced to dress, talk, and act like the white people. Any trace of First Nations culture was stripped away, leaving a raw, abused Indian. Native children experienced sexual, and physical abuse. The Christian faith was forced upon them. If the did not speak English, or follow European customs, and ways, they faced cruel consequences.

To reconcile the relationship between Canada and the Aboriginal community means to effectively restore peace and instil positive relations amongst the two parties. In the interest of reconciliation, the Canadian government must undo its actions against the aboriginal community and furthermore acknowledge responsibility on its part. In 1949, the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons considered and delegated the content of the Indian Act. By 1949, the Indian act was modified to allow first nations students to be educated in public schools. The Canadian government recognized the inexcusable conditions Aboriginal youth were exposed to through residential schooling and yet failed to formally accept guilt and liability. Furthermore, bill C-31 was introduced in 1985 as an act which aimed to amend the horrific laws enforced through the Indian Act and gave. This gave the Aboriginal community hope for equality amongst non-Aboriginals within Canada. The bill aimed to reinstate Indian status to all individuals whom were forcibly stripped of their status because of the Indian act. However, the result of the bill proved it to be extremely unproductive as large numbers of women and children were still not reinstated with Aboriginal status for over thirteen years, thus failing the Aboriginal community.

The Indian Act was a challenge by the Canadian government to adjust the aboriginals into the Canadian culture including bring in residential schools, separating every First Nations in trying to “improve”, and practice them for standard society (Emberley, 2009). First Nations people were also not allowed to possess any land or offer the land that used to be theirs before the Indian act as this segregation put limits maintaining or even owning anything (Emberley, 2009). This lead to the point on everything being restricted for the First Nations including losing history, practicing

Thesis: The Indian Act effectively required Aboriginals to give up large amounts of land and rights followed by moving onto reserves. It negatively changed the lives of many Indian men and women who married non-status Aboriginals and harshly withdrew Aboriginal children from their families and put them into residential schools for the purposes assimilation. The Indian Act was known for creating an atrocious life for Indians.

Aboriginal people represent less than 3% of the total population in BC. Yet, they account for more than 9% of all suicides in BC (Chandler). The numbers of suicides amongst aboriginal youth are even more alarming – nearly one-fourth of all youth suicides in BC are committed by aboriginals and more than half of all aboriginal suicides are committed by youth (Chandler). The fact that indigenous communities in Canada have the highest rate of suicide of any culturally identifiable group in the world implies that these alarming statistics may not solely be a result of aboriginal communities belonging to a minority cultural group. I will attempt to build a speculative hypothesis behind the significantly high suicide rates amongst aboriginal

In Document D, John Ross said, “Ever since [the whites came] we have been made to drink of the bitter cup of humiliation; treated like dogs... our country and the graves of our fathers torn from us.” As you can see, the Indians feel sick and tired of being controlled by Americans. They want to be independent and want to live along the graves of their ancestors without it being taken away. In conclusion, the Indian Removal act caused Indians to be treated very poorly due to their land being forcibly taken away and walking the Trail of

Politics, education, culture, and personal lives, were all in the destructive hands of the government. The Indian Act was created in hopes to assimilate First Nations into mainstream Canadian society. This act restricted them to small reserves, it banned them from their cultural practices and forced many children into residential schools. The devastation created by the Indian Act is still prominent today.

For many survivors of residential schools, alcohol has become a solution to escape their past. However, over 50% of Indigenous peoples are alcoholics. This poses a threat in their health (mentally and physically) as well as their influences on their children. Valuable parenting skills and transmission of language and culture have been lost from removing the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children from their parents, for extended periods of time. Many Aboriginal people now do not speak their traditional language currently, and lost their cultures. Parents who experienced abusive behaviours from residential schools now pass their abuse and trauma to their children. There are high levels of self-abuse, caused by the sense of worthlessness that teachers taught students at residential schools. This impacts Aboriginal communities greatly, even after so many years. First Nations women attempt suicide eight more times than other Canadian women, and First Nations men attempt suicide five more times than other Canadian men. All of these long-term impacts are still present today, caused by Indian Residential

Different laws like the Indian Act and other treaties played an outstanding role in shaping Aboriginal relationship in Canada. The Indian Act led to a huge conflict of interest following its effect on the Indians living in Canada during its implementation. The Indian Act was a mechanism that strengthened the eviction of Indians ad also a means of displacing Indians from their tribal lands. On the onset of the 19th Century, land hungry Canadian settlers clustered in the coastal south of Canada and slowly moved into the neighboring states. Since most of the tribes occupying that area were the Indians, the Canadian settlers petitioned the Canadian government to remove them as they perceived them as an obstacle to expansion towards the west. The rationale for the Indian Act was that the southeast Indian tribes had no attachment to any particular land. However, this rationale ignored the fact the Indian tribes had vast crops of corn and lived in settlements.

Cherokees ravaged American settlements in North and South Carolina, killing men, women and children. Cause would be about waged that indians get. That make fear for normal American people, because they won’t know when or why Cherokee people hurt or kill American people again. So, American government choose them to move from America. Also, government said, place that Cherokee people move to, government will give them more then 70,000 square miles of land in Louisiana Territory, and each Cherokee person will get more than 1 square mile. That is good land, on the banks of two major rivers that join the Mississippi River. Resultingly Cherokee people moved to that place. But, was that indian removal act of 1830 justified?

The Indian Act was enacted in 1867 by the Parliament of Canada. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development administered the act. The act defines who an “Indian” is and the legal rights of the Aboriginal people in Canada. Regulation of the economic system between aboriginal people and the government of Canada is included in the Indian Act. It also includes the power the ministers have on the aboriginal people including children and disabled Aboriginals. If the laws are not obeyed, the punishment is written in the act. The Indian Act was influenced by the legislative foundation of the Royal Proclamation, 1763, which recognized Aboriginals as a distinct political unit (Residential schools). The Royal Proclamation, 1763, thought that it was their duty to protect the Aboriginal people from the Canadian society. The Royal Proclamation, 1763, had the responsibility for Aboriginal affairs in Canada with British imperial authorities. However, by the mid-1800s Britain began to transfer this responsibility to Canadian colonies. Then the Canadian authorities passed the First Indian Act. Over the years many amendments have been made to the Indian Act.The Indian act passed out a law that any children under the ages of 16 had to study at Residential schools (Residential schools), the children there were physically abused, especially girls. (Churchill, 55-56). The Indian act is significant today because on June, 11 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on behalf of the