A History of Relations between Government and

First Nations

Aboriginals relations with the BC government14 land treaties were

signed on Vancouver Island before Confederation between the First Nations and James Douglas

1899 – the 1st and only land treaty signed on mainland BC (Treaty 8)

Aboriginals relations with the Canadian GovernmentThe Canadian

government signed 11 treaties with Aboriginals

Between 1871-1877, 7 treaties were signed dividing up land on the Prairies (once known as the Northwest Territories)

Overall objective = assimilationGovernment of Canada decides who is an Indian;

people with “status” have certain rightsForced all First Nations to live on reservesFirst Nations could not leave reserves unless they

had a passFirst Nations can’t leave reserves to fish or huntAboriginal women who marry non-Aboriginal men

lost their Indian status, as did their childrenAboriginals who wish to vote lose their Indian statusChildren will be sent to residential schools

Indian Act 1876

Residential Schools

Began by federal government in 1892 to educate and assimilate First Nations into European culture

Objective: “kill the Indian in the child”How? Children as young as 5 were taken away

from their families and required to attend residential schools that were run by the church

Children attended these schools year round and rarely had visits with their familiesChildren dressed in European clothing and assumed

European namesChildren learned European subjects and were forced

to speak EnglishChildren went to school in the mornings and had to

complete jobs/chores in the afternoon

Result: First Nations children lost their language, culture, and identity

Result: Children suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of the Church

Result: In adulthood, these students turned to alcohol, drugs, and crime to dull the pain of their experiences

Result: Multiple generations of First Nations families have suffered since the last school closed in 1996

I Lost My TalkI lost my talk

The talk you took away

When I was a little girl

At Shubenacadie school.

You snatched it away

I speak like you

I think like you

I create like you

The scrambled ballad, about my word.

Two ways I talk

Both ways I say,

So gently I offer my hand and ask,

Let me find my talk

So I can teach you about me.

~ Rita Joe

The Federal Government under Stephen Harper (Conservatives) officially apologized in the House of Commons on June 11, 2008

Canadian Government Apology

Federal Government’s Response

Establishment of a 5 year Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission

$2 billion settlement reached in 2006 among government, church, and former students

Two types of reconciliation payments: Common Experience Payments and Independent Assessment ProcessBy Dec 2008, 96,000 applications were received71,759 have been approved for payments = $1.3

billionAverage payments is just over $20,000IAP = $88 million

Many survivors who have received payment have spiralled downward; has led to suicides, substance abuse, and depression

Q1. Do you think the government should apologize for injustices of the past?

Q2. If government does apologize, what form should this apology take?- written apology in a letter- official apology read in the House of Commons- money(If so, to whom? How much?)- give back whatever was taken at today’s current value

Critical Thinking Journal

Aboriginals won the right to vote in 1960 without losing their status

Many Aboriginals still live on reserves with a poor quality of life

Trudeau gov’t outlined new policy – White Paper 1969Abolish the Indian Act, reject land claims,

assimilationAboriginal Response – Red Paper

Self-government, control over their own affairs

Current relations between First Nations and the Canadian Government

Aboriginals have taken control of the education of their children (band schools)

Concerned about the effects of development and business on traditional hunting, fishing, and trapping activities

1980: creation of the Assembly of First Nations to represent all Aboriginals in their dealings with the federal governmentAboriginal rights are entrenched in CCR&FBill C-31: band councils can decide who lives on

reservesLavell vs. Regina 1985

Aboriginal women could maintain their status when they married outside the reserve

Taking Control

Continued Confrontation – Oka 1990Town council wanted to

expand a golf course onto Mohawk sacred ground

Mohawk erected a blockade

Police called in; shots were fired and 1 officer was killed

Escalation of conflict; Canadian Forces called in

Crisis was solved when the land was purchased by the Cdn gov’t and given to the Mohawk

Status of First Nations treaties in BC

Land Claims and Treaties

Socials 11

March 2010

Created by Miss Ross