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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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Indigenous people across Canada have been suppressed by the government, system, and settlers still to this day. The residential school system was a system of boarding schools that were established by the Canadian government and administered by various churches to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. Many of these children suffered physical, sexual, and emotional abuse from school staff. Even though residential schools have been abolished they can still affect indigenous people today. The book “Indian Horse” clearly represents the intergenerational trauma of Indigenous communities in Canada.

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“The Indian Act was (and many would say, continues to be) a discriminatory piece of legislation”, this quote from (Government of Canada, Department of Justice, 2023), shows how the Indian Act to this day is still very discriminatory, and still affects Indigenous communities today, the name “Indian” was a derogatory term used when creating this act who is still used today, proving the discrimination they still face today through government. Going back to the discrimination through the justice system, an example, many Indigenous people go through something called “systemic discrimination”, which is Indigenous overrepresentation in the Canadian Justice system, the cause of this among many other things is the Indian Act, Indigenous people are more likely to be policed aggressively, brought before the court and detained more than non-indigenous individuals, These are all due to failed attempts to amend certain parts of the Indian Act, which still portrays superiority over Indigenous communities, such as limitations in granting Indian status, the discrimination and stereotypes that were shown during the now affect them through justice systems, “Systemic discrimination, and negative stereotypes result in more indigenous people being arrested, charged, and entering the criminal justice system”, this quote from, (Government of

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The Indian Act was constructed to reflect the Canadian government’s primary goal of assimilation. The government anticipated that the process of organized assimilation through legislation would reduce the number of status Indians in Canada, remove the government from the responsibility of First Nations affairs, and make available the land that was currently reserved for First Nations. Without the responsibility of the ‘Indian problem’, the Canadian government would no longer be required to spend limited federal funds on its burdensome inhabitants. However, the ‘Indian problem’ did not go away and instead produced gender-based discrimination towards the women of Canada’s First Nations communities, resulting in a loss of status, status rights, and identity for generations to come.

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