Indian Act Research Paper

From the 1870’s until the last school closed in 1996, at least 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools in Canada. More than 130 government mandated schools existed across the country. These schools were church administered, with the express purpose of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their native culture, in an effort to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian culture and thereby “kill the Indian in the child”. Countless families were torn apart as the Canadian government placed

The Canadian government has great control of where the aboriginals are situated and what resources and services are made available to them. In 1876 the Indian act was created by the Canadian government (Indian Act). “The Indian act is a Canadian federal law that governs and matters pertaining to Indian statuses, bands, and Indian reserves”(Indian Act). A part of the Indian Act made the government give some crown land to the Aboriginals; the

Treaty benefits, health, rights to living on the reserve and property are forfeited as a result of losing Indian status. This also happens when an Indian women gets married to another Indian man. She loses her rights to her own band, and has to become a member of her husband’s band. Ultimately, if the women becomes widowed or abandoned then she loses all status of being an Indian all together. On the other hand, men can marry a non-status woman and all of his rights would be kept. With strides of equality throughout history, it takes a step back when Aboriginal women are entirely dependent of their husband. Several cases were took to court in the 1970’s, but not until 1980 is when there was a connection found between the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Canadian Human Rights Act. With this section in direct violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the removal of a woman’s Indian status while marrying a non-Indian man was done and Bill C-31 was passed so victims of the Indian Act can be reimbursed. However, Bill C-31 is still under scrutiny because those who have their status reinstated to them can only pass it on for one generation. This is a violation under Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Payne, 1992). The Indian Act is a controversial piece of legislation that was passed in 1876. It has been amended throughout the times, but the core concept of the Indian Act still

According to the Indian Act (1876), we determined someone’s status by one’s parentage of blood quantum to know how much Indian were they? A First Nations woman, who married with white man, lost her entitlements as Indian, so did her children. However, regardless of race or ethnicity, if another raced woman married a First Nations man, she gained “status” under the terms of the Indian Act. I feel that was completely unfair, and obviously discriminatory, that horrific situation continued until 1985.

Two sections of the Indian Act are particularly discriminatory against Indigenous women. Section 12(1)(b) of the Indian Act states that women who marry outside of their band were to lose status, seize association with their own community, they lose ownership over any property located on the reserve and any property inherited that is located on the reserve land (Lawrence 2004: Jamieson 1978). These women would also lose access to any rights they had with status, including taking part in any band business or voting (Lawrence 2004: Jamieson 1978). Any children born to a woman who married outside her community would not be granted status or considered “Indian” in the eyes of the government and this woman and her children may be prohibited from returning to live with her family regardless of illness, need, divorce, death of her husband or separation (Jamieson 1978). Finally, through this section of the Indian act, upon marriage of an “outsider” an Indigenous woman loses her right to be buried on her reserve land with her ancestors (Jamieson 1978). Section 12(1)(a)(iv) also known as the “double mother clause” states that an “Indian born of a marriage entered into after September 4th, 1952 lost entitlement to registration at the age of 21 years if his/her mother and paternal grandmother were not entitled to registration as Indians before marriages” (Sterritt 2007).

Residential schools in Canada were present for over 100 years and were created by the government to eliminate the Indigenous culture. These schools successfully separated families while creating huge cultural barriers between children and their Native culture (COHA, 2011). These children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to residential schools because Canadians saw Indigenous peoples as “backwards” or “savage” (COHA, 2011). They also believed that they were inferior to Natives and that these schools would help “civilize” aboriginals by replacing their Native traits with Western values (COHA, 2011).

The Indian Act document signed in 1876, resulted in the first nation people to give up their land, religion, culture, and rights. The government wanted the first nation people to give up their Indian status and be them, follow their culture.

The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934, otherwise known as the Wheeler-Howard Act or the Indian New Deal, was a United States federal legislation that attempted to reverse traditional U.S policy, which typically forced Indian assimilation into american culture and regularly took Indian reservation land. It was a radical act in its time and was introduced into congress by John Collier, who was head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The IRA’s main goal was to provide a means for Native Americans to establish sovereignty and self-government, reduce the amount of land loss by reservations, and to build economic self sufficiencies for these tribes. The act also ended the Allotment System and provided loans for Indians to pursue higher education and farm their lands. Whether or not the act was considered a longstanding success is heavily debated, by historians and Native Americans leaders alike.

The goal of the Indian Act was to integrate the First Nations people into Canadian society

Amerindians has been set apart and delay their development which makes first people life hard. Indian people had special status. It was a response to American Indian Movement. “The White Paper” was a voice of first people to Canadian Government for individual human rights. The American Indian Movement spread to Canada. The Canadian government announced, “to enable the Indian people to be free-free to develop Indian cultures in an environment of legal, social and economic equality with other Canadians” (Dickason 372). The first people had special status, which brought to native people many difficult things. However, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s do see that special status for first people was wrong in a democratic society. Ottawa makes possible to give fifty million dollars available for economic development to Amerindians. In the same year, Indian Claims Commission established for making the equal right as Canadian citizens. As a result of “the White Paper”, first people gets the individual rights instead of collective rights. The cancellation of Indian Act brings changes such as losing the compensation for the ancestors land. In formulating “the white paper” Ottawa did not involve Amerindians that brings many troubles. The National Indian Brotherhood admits their view on this act, “We view this as a policy designed to divest

Aboriginals have faced histories and centuries of oppression. From a system of state sanctioned apartheid, institutionalized racism, and de facto discrimination, aboriginals across Canada have been marginalized, victimized and alienated. Treated unjustly by federal and provincial governments, and by the legal system, aboriginals faced de jure segregation through policies of assimilation within residential schools, land reserves, and potlatch bans for the intention of dissolving aboriginal cultures into Canadian society. Moreover, under the doctrine of discovery, doctrine of occupation, and doctrine of adverse possession which elevated the rights of Canadians, aboriginals were forced out of their native lands and disenfranchised. To this day, although significant improvements to Aboriginal rights have been made, the tradition continues, as aboriginals still face systemic prejudices and stigmas within greater society and kept out of the bastions of opportunity. Since the affirmation of the Constitution Act in 1982, the court has acquired massive roles within interpreting and concentrating the broad texts of what necessitates aboriginal rights.

For decades, Controversial and intrusive piece of federal legislation governed almost all aspects of Aboriginal life, from the nature of band governance and land tenure systems to restrictions on Aboriginal cultural practices. Most critically, the Indian Act defines the qualifications for being a “status Indian,” and as such has been the centerpiece of Aboriginal anger over federal attempts to control Aboriginal identity and membership. Since being passed by Parliament in 1876, the Indian Act has been the touchstone for Aboriginal affairs in Canada. Few documents in Canadian history have generated as much debate, anger and sorrow as the Indian Act. Yet the legislation persists as a central element in the management of Aboriginal affairs in the country. While Aboriginal anger with historic and current terms of the Indian Act is deep and powerful, Indigenous politicians and governments remain strongly divided as to the value and purpose of the legislation. This is hardly surprising, given that the political structures and political cultures of Aboriginal communities across the country have, for generations, been created and distorted by the imposition of Indian Act government systems

For over a century, beginning in the mid1800s and continuing into the late 1990s, Aboriginal children in Canada were taken from their homes and communities, and were placed in institutions called residential schools. These schools were run by religious people in with the Canadian government and were attended by children as young as four years of age. These schools were all across Canada but sometimes very far from the children’s homes. Separated from their families and stopped from speaking their native languages and practicing their culture the majority of the 150,000 children who were sent to these schools experienced neglect and suffering.

Residential schools for Aboriginal people in Canada funded by the government were set up to eliminate parental involvement in the intellectual, cultural, and spiritual development of Aboriginal children. The continuing influence of residential schools has persisted and led to the continued existence of social problems. There were many negative effects, they were robbed of their mother tongue, the residential schools also prohibit the use of their traditions, teachings, and customs. Children have not seen their families for months or even years.

The Indian Act drafted in 1876 as a legislative tool to implement the Dominion's Jurisdiction over "Indians and Lands reserved for Indians under Section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly the British North America Act). Because the Dominion considered to have exclusive authority over Indian affairs the Indian Act contained Provisions governing many areas that fell under provincial legislation and thus was extremely comprehensive in its scope. Therefore, the Indian Act, which enacted in 1876 and has since amended, allows the government to controle aspects of aboriginal life: Furthermore, Indian States, land, resources, wills, education, band administration. Furthermore, The act is wide-ranging in scope, covering governance, land,