![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.une-sen.org\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/nat_ab_month.png\" "\\"nat_ab_month\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A government bent on assimilation; that\u2019s what our nation\u2019s Aboriginal Peoples had to fight for more than a century. To talk about Aboriginal Peoples\u2019 history, in a human rights context, means recognizing that for many years, the Canadian government\u2019s goal was to make Aboriginal People incapable of directing their destiny \u2013 unable to resist assimilation.<\/p>\n
Shortly after Confederation, the government began to force Aboriginal People into \u2018becoming civilized\u2019. The Constitution Act<\/em> gave the federal government responsibility over \u2018Indians\u2019. The government then gave itself the business of determining who was and who wasn\u2019t \u2018Indian\u2019.<\/p>\n Who was and wasn\u2019t a \u2018status Indian\u2019 became a complicated thing. Indian status was passed down from fathers; if only your father was Indian, so were you. If only your mother was, then you weren’t. A status Indian woman who married a non-status man was suddenly not considered status Indian anymore. That policy stayed in effect until 1985.1<\/sup><\/p>\n Many status Indians automatically also lost their status as a result of graduating college or university.<\/p>\n Band councils were established, but mainly to displace the dominance of elders. By undermining the elders, the Indian Act was designed to weaken Indian communities and make them easier to control.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite this show of respect, the Indian Act allowed band councils limited authority. Indian agents could remove from office chiefs whom they considered unsuitable and overrule band council decisions with which they disagreed.\u201d2<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n The government also attacked Aboriginal Peoples\u2019 spirituality and cultural practices. Powwows and potlatches were banned until 1951. Government officials and missionaries felt that these practices \u201cwere preventing Aboriginal people from assimilating into Canadian society.\u201d3<\/sup><\/p>\n The government also restricted Aboriginal Peoples\u2019 mobility.<\/p>\n \u201cA pass system was introduced after the 1885 rebellion, confining Indians to reserves unless they procured a \u2018pass\u2019 from the Indian agent stating their place of travel, reason, and duration of visit. This pass system was completely extralegal and recognized as such by all Crown officials.\u201d4<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n The pass system was nonetheless enforced by the North-Western Mounted Police, thus preventing traditional gatherings and further confining First Nations People to reserves. It made it impossible or aboriginal communities to work together to form a resistance.<\/p>\n Residential schools were another key mechanism by which the government hoped to assimilate Aboriginal Peoples. Children were separated from their families so they could be \u2018changed\u2019 away from their parents\u2019 influence. These schools punished students severely for speaking their own language.<\/p>\n But the government didn\u2019t have the resources to administer these schools, so they arranged for churches to do the work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe brutal treatment in the schools is said to have resulted in the deaths of some 50,000 native children, with countless others becoming victims of serious physical and sexual abuse.\u201d<\/em>5<\/sup><\/p>\n In 1904, Dr. Peter Bryce was appointed Medical Inspector to the Department of the Interior and of Indian Affairs. Three years later, Bryce conducted inspections of 35 residential schools in the three Prairie Provinces. His report, <\/em>Bryce revealed a surprising rate of sickness and death among the children. Among his recommendations, Bryce urged the government to \u201cundertake the complete maintenance and control of the schools, since it had promised by treaty to ensure such.\u201d<\/p>\n But the report was swept under the rug. Frustrated by the government\u2019s inaction, Bryce resigned and, in 1922, published his findings in a book entitled The story of a national crime<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis story should have been written years ago and then given to the public,\u201d wrote Bryce in the book\u2019s epilogue.6<\/sup><\/p>\n \u201cToday I am free to speak,\u201d he added, after explaining that, after resigning from his position, he was no longer bound by the civil service\u2019s oath of office, which had been the only thing keeping him silent for so long.7<\/sup><\/p>\n [1] Henderson, William B. The Indian Act<\/a>. Canadian Encyclopedia<\/p>\n [2] Berry, Susan & Brink, Jack. (2004) Aboriginal Cultures in Alberta: Five-hundred Generations<\/em>. Edmonton, Alberta: McCallum Printing Group, Inc.<\/p>\n [3] Idem<\/p>\n [4] Harring, S. (2005) There Seemed to Be No Recognized Law: Canadian Law and the Prairie First Nations. In Knafla, Louis A. and\u00a0 Swainger, Jonathan (Eds.), Laws and Societies in the Canadian Prairie West, 1670-1940<\/em>. Vancouver, B.C.: UBC Press.<\/p>\n [5] Akhavan, Payam (2012) Reducing Genocide to Law<\/em>. New York: Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n [6] Bryce, P.H. (1922) The story of a national crime<\/em>, as retrieved from http:\/\/www.archive.org\/stream\/storyofnationalc00brycuoft\/storyofnationalc00brycuoft_djvu.txt<\/a><\/p>\n [7] Idem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A government bent on assimilation; that\u2019s what our nation\u2019s Aboriginal Peoples had to fight for more than a century. To talk about Aboriginal Peoples\u2019 history, in a human rights context, means recognizing that for many years, the Canadian government\u2019s goal was to make Aboriginal People incapable of directing their destiny \u2013 unable to resist assimilation. … <\/p>\n
\n