I've been on other forums where if you ignore a subject's original poster, the whole thread disappears. I don't necessarily want that to happen. On a thread started with racially biased intentions and it's hard not to call the OP out on it time and time again. The content within the thread thankfully often rises above straight up racism. I'd still like to ignore *him* though.
I found some good reading for ya'll on what the good ol' Indian Act was designed to do.
This site is an excellent source for Indian Act tid bits which also supplies all the citing you'll need to insure its validity.
https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things...he-indian-act-
The Indian Act:
1. denied women status;
Marriage clause usually. *never go home again
2. introduced residential schools;
taking the indian out of the child
3. created reserves;
separating old ties with other tribes
4. renamed individuals with European names
Not uncommon to see "indian woman" on a family tree
5. restricted First Nations from leaving reserve without permission from Indian Agent - see picture above (update: 18/04/16 - the pass system was a policy endorsed by the government; it was never an Order In Council or Regulation but was definitely designed to keep First Nations on the reserve)
6. enforced enfranchisement of any First Nation admitted to university;
Never go home again
7. could expropriate portions of reserves for roads, railways and other public works, as well as to move an entire reserve away from a municipality if it was deemed expedient;
hydro uprooted a few reserves too for dams, reeking havoc on ecosystems
8. could lease out uncultivated reserve lands to non-First Nations if the new leaseholder would use it for farming or pasture;
that's great. first nations also needed permits to sell any produce they happened to cultivate... if the indian agent was available in time to issue that permit before the produce went bad.
9. forbade First Nations from forming political organizations;
10. prohibited anyone, First Nation or non-First Nation, from soliciting funds for First Nation legal claims without special license from the
Superintendent General. (this 1927 amendment granted the government control over the ability of First Nations to pursue land claims);
HUGE one; Essentially made it illegal for uneducated status indians to ask for law help in any case.
11. prohibited the sale of alcohol to First Nations;
alcohol isn't the only substance to help kill yourself. although from a business and libertarian perspective, I don't think alcohol is any of the federal gov't's business.
12. prohibited sale of ammunition to First Nations;
With a limited hunting window thanks to the Indian agent, made traditional hunting methods a bit of a stretch.
13. prohibited pool hall owners from allowing First Nations entrance;
I've heard of this one.. what, white guys scared sharp shooting injuns would take their game away?
14. imposed the “band council” system;
Tribes all had unique methods to elect leaders and that wasn't the pleasant euphemism they call "band council". That was just an injun sounding municipality type arrangement. Not traditional, highly corruptible.
15. forbade First Nations from speaking their native language;
Language is a cornerstone of culture. This still makes me sad my grandparents feared for teaching their kids Cree. I know some stuff, but I'd like to see a large concentrated effort on re-teaching language for future generations.
16. forbade First Nations from practicing their traditional religion;
praise jebus. I know a lot of native Christians. It's weird given what they went through to be indoctrinated.
17. forbade western First Nations from appearing in any public dance, show, exhibition, stampede or pageant wearing traditional regalia;
This was really just to prohibit tribes from getting together. Divide and conquer.
18. declared potlatch and other cultural ceremonies illegal;
19. denied First Nations the right to vote
No right to complain if you can't vote, isn't that what they say in a democracy?
20. created permit system to control First Nations ability to sell products from farms;
why bother farming?
21. is a piece of legislation created under the British rule for the purpose of subjugating one race - Aboriginal people.
They planned to erase aboriginal existance. Nothing they did in the early days was there to help first nations.
So when someone says Canada created the Indian Act to help first nations, don't kid yourself, it was created to eradicate any semblance of what was once the dominant North American cultures and legally declare first nations extinct with its patriarchal laws.
They tried to do it by isolating tribes so they couldn't meet and possibly gain some sort of upper hand on the new dominion. They subjugated them to ridiculous laws that would have sucked the life out of most people. As I'd mentioned, how would you like to live in a place full of natural resources but you couldn't leave your back yard to tap them without your hyper controlling babysitter telling you to go home? Oh but you could leave, if you sold off your status and left your tribe (which is family, your rock) forever, never being allowed to return, still never being allowed to practice any traditions. And if you failed in the new western world with all the pre-civil rights hassle to deal with... you still can't go home. Welcome to main street and welfare and validating the white man belief that first nations were drunken losers.
With a shattered culture and no dreams in store, is it any wonder generation after generation have a hard time escaping a new harder unwelcoming way of life? I respect the hell out of those old main street bums, and I'm also very sad for them because they'll never escape their pain. I'm lucky. We were able to pretty much fly under the radar for about 150 years thanks in part to the Indian Act's own loopholes. ggg-grandpa despite giving up status, because of where he decided to live - out in a bush town, he had to keep living off the land. I think that's another cornerstone to culture - the land you live on will shape you.
People act like these laws and genocidal customs was 100's of years ago, that we should "get over it" and get a job. But nothing significantly improved until the 1960's when first nations could actually vote in elections without giving up their status. But the schools were still in action until 1996 (21 years ago!) and good luck going past grade 8 with your status intact until the 80's. The next big leap may have been 1985 when women who lost their status rights were able to get them back, as well as one generation of off-spring (still leaving me behind thanks to ggg-grandpa selling out in the 1800's (and future generations still marrying native women who then lost their status). I was able to apply for my rights... uh, sometime in the last 10 years I think with another amendment.
Never having them, I still don't know why I need the federal government to tell me I'm indigenous. Everyone knows. In fact, if it were up to individual tribes, with their own carefully thought out constitutions and solid leadership voted in with their traditional methods, I wouldn't be surprised to find them accepting members who I call honourary indians. Left in a healthy state, we're quite welcoming, eager to share. It's the way of Turtle Island. How do you think Europeans got their foot in the door? If an honourary indian who practices ceremonies, perhaps knows some language, loves the culture and is embraced by that culture wants to be a member of a certain tribe, I don't see why not. Dances with Wolves is a good name eh?
It's a different time we are in now. Perhaps one of the biggest changes is that you
can go back home now, to your rock, if you need to. There are many other changes, that list up there is significantly smaller now thanks to proper legal representation. Reconciliation to me is a restorative effort. I do want the Indian Act abolished, but I feel it'll take time. Continue scaling back the issues with it, continue to re-grow old values and customs. I feel if native people and customs were fully revitalized we'd have a ton to offer Canada and we'd all be better off.
The way this thread starts off is a distraction. Meant to point fingers at negative stuff still going on (thanks to how the system was built in the first place) in order to continue to subjugate first nations and ignore all the good things happening. That is only one reason I'm mildly surprised that guy is still allowed to post here.
Prev
Linear Mode
