# The Indian Act: Its Ongoing Impact on First Nations | NDN POV

**Channel:** TVO Today
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUPUHiDHxRQ
**Transcript page:** https://www.withtranscript.ai/video/iUPUHiDHxRQ

## Chapters

- 0:03 — Origins and Purpose of the Indian Act
- 3:45 — How the Act Reshaped First Nations
- 5:38 — Resistance and Status Discrimination
- 8:06 — Beyond the Act Toward Self-Government

## Transcript

**[0:03]:** the relationship between the federal government and First Nations it's still founded on a piece of legislation that is extremely Colonial and where the minister of Indian Affairs still has ultimate authority over us in our

**[0:26]:** land the Indian Act is federal legislation that shapes a relationship between the government of Canada and Indians who are now known as First Nations the Indian Act was introduced in the 1800s as a piece of legislation that was essentially meant to and effectively does govern really every aspect of first nation's life I don't think there's any kind of other piece of legislation in Canada that really has any parallel which has really kind of been used for over 150 years to define a relationship a lot of the colonial statutes and policies and laws that were in place at the time to structure that relationship between the First Nations and the British government were Consolidated in the mid 1800s into a single act when Canada became a country it became the Indian Act the Indian Act had several objectives but its main purpose was to control First Nations and forcibly assimilate them this is evident when you

**[1:22]:** look at the legislation that's based on 1755 British officials created the first Indian Department to manage their relation relationship with Indian nations 1763 in the Royal Proclamation where King George III claimed North America is a British territory he also stated that Indian lands could only be acquired by settlers if first seated to the crown 1850 the act for the better protection of the lands and property of the Indians in lower Canada introduced early legal definitions of who qualified as an Indian 1857 the gradual civilization act encouraged Indians to enfranchise meaning to give up their Indian status 1867 Canada became a country and assumed jurisdiction over Indians and lands reserved for the Indians 1869 the gradual enfranchisement act aimed to forcibly assimilate Indians by removing Indian status from women who married non-indian men 1876 the Indian Act came into power and Consolidated previous laws respecting Indians continuing the goal of enfranchisement the management of Indian reserves

**[2:29]:** and money and setting rules for the chief and Council government structure Colonial Minds came in and said we can't have First Nations operating on completely different principles in our territory than the ones that we're trying to promote white supremacy patriarchy capitalism it was a modee to control almost everything that we did and where we were and open up the land in this whole racist idea of European superiority it became an instrument for ensuring that the governance structures of First Nations themselves were harmonized with the gradually developing governance structure of the country of Canada once the Indian Act was established as law it became increasingly more oppressive which is evident when you look at some of the early amendments 1880 the department of Indian Affairs was created increasing Federal control and oversight over First Nations peoples 1884 the Potlatch ceremony was outlawed setting a precedent for policies Banning religious and cultural freedoms 1906 the governor general

**[3:28]:** was given Authority to establish industrial or boarding schools and make rules for the arrest and Detention of truin children 1927 Indian Affairs was given authority to enfranchise Indians without consent 1927 it became illegal for lawyers to obtain money

**[3:45]:** to pursue Indian legal claims there are over 630 First Nations bans and more than 3,390 reserves across Canada they form 50 different nations each with their own languages cultures laws and traditional governing structures what does it mean when all of those diverse forms of government of citizenship of belonging are replaced with this what does that do to your sense of self your sense of community you replace that with an Indian Act system where it's populated by people who have been convinced of the assimilation agenda who are tied economically to the development of industries that are prominent businessmen that are assimilated culturally and you make them the Chiefs instead of of the people who are tied to the land and you get what you want now the native people in a lot of situations don't have an alternative and therefore they dependent on this system due to First nation's advocacy the Indian Act was amended in

**[4:41]:** 1951 to remove some of the more oppressive laws but at the same time the government established an Indian registar to enforce stricter rules on Indian status and despite numerous amendments since the Indian Act is still problematic not only for what's in it but also because of what's missing from it social assistant housing child welfare policing like all of these what we now see as essential Services there's absolutely nothing in the Indian Act at all on any of those water as well emergency infrastructure nothing neither the federal government nor the provinces wanted to have to provide these services to First Nations it has allowed both governments sometimes to not to provide the service at all or to provide a much more watered down inadequate version of the services that other people rely on not to mention the Indian Act disempowered first nation's governments stripping them of the authority and resources required to provide adequate Social Services

**[5:38]:** for their citizens yet repealing the Indian Act may not be as easy as it sounds 1969 prime minister Pierre Trudeau and his minister of Indian Affairs Jean cren introduced the white paper on Indian policy aiming to abolish the unique legal relationship between First Nations and the federal government by repealing the Indian Act dismantling reserves and ending treaties this proposal was was met with significant resistance from First Nations leaders across the country sparking a new era of first nation's political organizing and advocacy in Canada indigenous people saw this for what it was was an attempt to assimilate us and so they fought to keep the Indian Act in place we will use every tool in the toolbx in order to assert our rights and to continue existing and if that includes having to use Canada's system of law for whatever Advantage we can we do and I think that that is a real beautiful part of

**[6:32]:** how we continue to fight colonization first nation's vision of course of self-government is of them controlling their own land by their own laws to live out their own culture with their own priorities Canadian government may say that is given up the assimilative objective but it still is quite intent on maintaining the basic level of control it has over so-called Indian lands and the membership of people in Indian communities and of the types of government that native people can have to run their own Affairs the Indian Act has also interfered with first nation's right to self-government and the right to set their own citizenship rules in fact current Indian Act provisions on status risk the legislative Extinction of Indians unless amended until 1985 the provision that if a First Nations Woman married a non-first Nations person they would lose status their children would lose status it's not just holding a card it's the right to live

**[7:25]:** in a community it's the right to vote in a community to be a part of that community in really every active sense and so the Indian Act for for many many years and many generations dispossessed indigenous women deliberately in the 1980s Sandra Lovel Nicholas won her case at the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning Canada for removing Indian status from women who married non-indian men in response Canada enacted the bill c31 amendment in 1985 restoring status to women who had married out but unlike the children of men who had married out the children of these women received only half status diminishing their ability to pass status on the amendment also introduced what's known as the

**[8:06]:** second generation cutoff rule meaning the loss of status after two generations of marrying out continuing the agenda of forced assimilation one of the things that the Indian Act has done by its definition of status has made us be seen as a race we're not a race we're a people and people belong to a group based on things like acceptance but also loyalty and fidelity to the group and sharing the same sort of values of the group but if we only go to ancestry and blood we are playing into a system that's ought to purposely racialize us for the purposes of our extinguishment as bad as the Indian Act is it should be understood within the larger policy context Federal and provincial governments have implemented other laws and policies designed to oppress dispossess control and eliminate First Nations including the illegal pass system which confined First Nations to reserves the 60s scoop forced adoptions the establishment

**[9:01]:** of Indian residential and day schools and Indian hospitals where many children were taken there were forc relocations of communities forc sterilization of women and starvation policies particularly on the Prairies these laws and policies have been recognized by the national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls as constituting historic and ongoing genocide we're going to have to unlearn the ways that the Indian Act has affected our sense of self our sense of community talk about things like patriarchy relearn what our governance systems looked like think about citizenship in a more fullsome way than the Indian Act has allowed us so that when we do win in those Court battles when we do dismantle the Indian Act we are able to put something in its place that is actually meaningful and worthwhile and representative of who we are as a people we don't want to just replace the Indian Act with another framework for dependency

**[9:56]:** what I think should happen with the Indian Act is that the federal government should commit to the re-empowerment of traditional governments so that our people can begin to develop the capacity to have a system of government to govern our Affairs to govern our land and to represent us to the outside world which is true to oursel While most first nations would agree that the Indian Act is a racist outdated piece of colonial legislation many have cautioned against repealing it without first establishing protection for their rights and their special status and law First Nations have made many suggestions which include negotiating self-government agreements amending the Constitution and implementing First Nations laws whatever the solution the lesson learned from the 1969 white paper is that Canada should not do anything without First Nation consent in other words nothing about us without us people are almost sometimes Frozen in a state of it's not my issue not my

**[10:52]:** problem colonialism is all of our problems don't cop out don't take the easy way out learn ask questions reconciliation does take everybody you can say all you want about reconciliation you can say all you want about decolonization but that act is still enforced every single day