British North America administrators in unison
with the Colonial Office in Britain were of one mind to establish a system(s)
of assimilation in regards to Indian tribes roaming past the height of land
(present day Thunder Bay). This concentrated effort, this push if you will, at
the behest of the Conservative Government of John A. McDonald; was in response
to the conclusion of the US civil war and its growing interest in annexing
Canada within the United States. Another more pressing issue was the financial
health of the Canadian Railway in the eastern provinces of Canada. Establishing
railway lines south of the border proved expensive and difficult to do business
against established railway companies in the United-States; as such McDonald
looked towards the west and the Pacific Coast as a means to open up future
markets by way of a Pacific sea port.
Now the consortium in which made these issues
unfold was as complex as the issues themselves. Firstly the need for land; this
was made possible by the Hudson`s Bay Company. Economic conditions in 1840
became at a crisis. The Company had dwindling assets other than its Charter;
therefore concluded an agreement with McDonald in terms of a land transfer
which became known as the (Rupert’s Land Act) transaction. The resulting pact
did considerably alleviate the financial strains of the Company; providing its
managing partners the opportunity to sit on future board of the Pacific Trunk
Railway. It also provided McDonald with the necessary means to pursue the
transcontinental railway.
Secondly, the Indian Wars in the United-States
(1865-1890) kept American Interest towards the annexation of Canada at bay.
Manifest Destiny1 ideologies made some Americans in
the Republican Party; such as journalist John
L. O’Sullivan to further American expansionism into the West and South.
“O’Sullivan believed that Providence had given the United-States a mission to
spread republican democracy. Because Britain would not use the territory of
Oregon for the purposes of spreading democracy, thought O’Sullivan, British
claims to the territory should be overruled. O’Sullivan believed that Manifest
Destiny was a moral ideal (a "higher law") that
superseded other considerations. O'Sullivan predicted that Canada would
eventually request annexation as well.” 2
1869 was a decisive year for the Conservatives.
Louis Riel intent on preserving French and Métis rights pressed McDonald in
acceding to the provisional provincial government of Manitoba’s demands in
order to ratify a law admitting Manitoba into confederation. The successive
series of events in reference to Louis Riel, the Red River Settlement and
ultimately the loss of French and Métis rights in the province is not
reflective of assimilating Indian tribes west of Saint Boniface. The advance of the Grand Trunk Pacific
Railway however did; specifically in Saskatchewan.
Efforts by the ‘Confederation League’ in
British Columbia proved fruitful and in 1871 requested to be part of
Confederation as per the agreement of McDonald to assume British Columbia’s
debt, to create subsidies for public works and a railroad would be built from
Ontario to British Columbia within 10 years.
Thirdly, the reserve ‘system’ began in earnest
by 1865 in British North America, “The Indians really have no right to
the lands they claim, nor are they of any actual value or utility to them: and
I cannot see why they should either retain these lands to the prejudice of the
General Interests of the Colony, or be allowed to make a market of them to the
Government or to the individual.”3
The process by which McDonald deemed necessary to make way
for the eventual introduction of Homestead Act; involved identifying areas of
interest to the Crown and make treaty with the predominant Cree tribes along
the Saskatchewan River. Governor-General Alexander Morris acted on the behest
of Her Majesty’s government in establishing these treaty agreements. The
contentious issue of segregating Indian populations within the reserves
presented McDonald two options; creating conditions aimed at furthering the
assimilation of a people and permanently extinguishing Indian rights to the
land.
Examples of increasing encroachment of European settlements
upon Indian lands abound. One such incident occurred in the 1850’s. James Douglas, the Chief Factor of the
Hudson's Bay Company and the governor of British Columbia, negotiated a series
of treaties with coastal Indians (commonly called the Douglas treaties).
However, treaties soon fell out of favor with provincial officials and, after
1859, the government placed First Nations people on reserves without granting
them compensation for their lands.
McDonald as Prime Minister and Superintendent General of
Indian Affairs, Edgar Dewdney, Commissioner of Indian Affairs and Hayter Reed,
Assistant Indian Commissioner of Indian Affairs manipulated the concentration,
movements and assimilation of a people within the reserve system by the
re-defined interpretation of the Indian Act.
The permit system enabled Indian
Agents control in regards to commercial transactions benefiting band members
and non-natives within the reserve. It also monitored and restricted who could
leave and return to the reserve. The permit system was illegal since it was
never passed into law; nevertheless this practice was in effect well past
mid-1940. Reed’s belief was that an Indian farmer was to become
self-sufficient; without the ability to compete in the open market system.
The most controversial system introduced by McDonald was the
application of the “location ticket”. Its purpose was to further the
enfranchisement process among First Nations. It stipulated that if a band member
demonstrated the ability to successfully implement farming principles (in
similar fashion as a white settler could manage) for a probationary period of
three years and had sufficiently evolved as to be completely capable of joining
Canadian Society; the said Indian could therefore be given title to the land.
Theoretically, all ban members of a reservation could enfranchise themselves in
this manner.
The pursuance of a university degree also was a means of
enfranchisement, as the Indian could receive immediately a location ticket and
become enfranchised- As the probationary period would be rendered null and
void. “Not only was the Indian as a distinct cultural group to disappear, but
also the laboratory where these changes were brought about would disappear, for
as the Indian was enfranchised, that is, he became assimilated, he would take
with him his share of the reserve. Therefore when all the Indians were
enfranchised, there would be no longer be any Indian reserves.” 5
Dewdney determinately pressed forward his agenda; often
starving or withholding vital resources needed by band members to survive.
These tactics were in accordance with McDonald’s vision; to break the
will and coerce the eventual demise of First Nations culture in Canada. New
regulations under the Indian Act, affecting the sexual, marital and divorce
laws of Indian women inherently incited renewed violence, and abuse from and
within reserves. It also rendered First Nations completely unable to become
self-sustaining; becoming in effect, wards of the Federal Government. “Indian
Agents were given the powers of a justice of the peace to enforce sections of
the criminal code relating to vagrancy, in order that the western Indian could
be kept on the reserve where he might be taught to farm and learn the value of
work.6
The position of First Nations peoples within
Confederation was not to be a one of reconciliation within the European fabric,
“For the original people there was no
partnership, no degree of home rule, to protect and encourage the development
of a valued and variant culture, as was the case with French Canada. Not only
were the Indians not a necessary element in the creation of Confederation as
the French Canadians were, but their cultural aspirations their desire to
create a new Indian culture on the reserves, was rejected.” 7
1 Scott, Donald. The
Religious Origins of Manifest Destiny National Humanities
Center
2 McCrisken, Trevor B., Exceptionalism: Manifest Destiny Encyclopedia of American
Foreign Policy, Vol. 2, p. 68.
3Joseph
Trutch, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, 1864.
4Manitoba Historical Society: The contribution of the Jews to the
Opening and Development of the West.
5 John L. Tobias, Sweet Promises: a Reader on Indian-White Relations
in Canada.
6 Ibid, M. Musgrove to F. Talfourd, 2, April 1861
7John S.Milloy, Sweet Promises, a Reader
on Indian-White Relations in Canada.
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