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How Did The Indian Act Affect Canada

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The Indian Act is a key law used by the federal government to manage Indian status, First Nations governments, reserve lands, and communal funds. Enacted on April 12, 1876, it does not apply to Métis or Inuit peoples. This Act merged various older colonial laws aimed at controlling and assimilating Indigenous peoples into Euro-Canadian culture. Although it has been amended many times to remove restrictive and oppressive laws, the Indian Act has had significant and lasting effects on First Nations cultures, economies, politics, and communities, contributing to inter-generational trauma, especially related to residential schools (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2024). The Doctrine of Discovery is a concept described by Métis lawyer Bruce McIvor as …show more content…

This doctrine was legally solidified in the 1823 United States Supreme Court case Johnson v. McIntosh and influenced Canadian law through cases like St. Catharine’s Milling and Calder. Despite modern repudiation by the Catholic Church, the doctrine's legacy persists, deeply affecting Indigenous land rights and ownership (Beaver, 2024). There are many examples of Indian Act policies that deeply affected the lives of Indigenous Peoples. Bob Joseph’s 2018 novel 21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act outlines the Act. One of the policies listed was that Indigenous Peoples were renamed using traditional European names. Names hold so much meaning, especially when they are tied to culture. This completely stripped Indigenous Peoples of their identity. Another example would be the prohibition of alcohol for Indigenous peoples. This is something that no non-Indigenous person in this lifetime can …show more content…

Many churches have as well, including the Anglican Church of Canada, stating, “I accept and I confess before God and you, our failures in the residential schools. We failed you. We failed to do so ourselves. We failed God” (1993). The totality of the Indian Act has done inerasable damage to Indigenous Peoples as a whole, although it has been amended multiple times, it does not change the racist origins behind it and the trauma it has caused. Past and present, Indigenous Peoples have resisted the Indian Act, a notable example was in 1970. Aboriginal women started to unite against discriminatory laws. In 1979, Jeanette Corbière Lavalle and Yvonne Bedard sued the Canadian government, arguing that Section 12 of the Indian Act (a woman who married a person who is not an Indigenous is not entitled to be registered) violated the Canadian Bill of Rights. However, they lost their case at the Supreme Court of

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