A History of Relations between Government and First Nations

1. A History of Relations between Government and First Nations

2. Aboriginals relations with the BC government • 14 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)

3. Aboriginals relations with the Canadian Government • The 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)

4. Indian Act 1876 • Overall objective = assimilation • Government of Canada decides who is an Indian; people with “status” have certain rights • Forced all First Nations to live on reserves • First Nations could not leave reserves unless they had a pass • First Nations can’t leave reserves to fish or hunt • Aboriginal women who marry non-Aboriginal men lost their Indian status, as did their children • Aboriginals who wish to vote lose their Indian status • Children will be sent to residential schools

5. Residential Schools

6. 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 families • Children dressed in European clothing and assumed European names • Children learned European subjects and were forced to speak English • Children went to school in the mornings and had to complete jobs/chores in the afternoon

7. 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

8. I Lost My Talk I 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

9. Federal Government’s Response • The Federal Government under Stephen Harper (Conservatives) officially apologized in the House of Commons on June 11, 2008 • Canadian Government Apology

10. 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 Process • By Dec 2008, 96,000 applications were received • 71,759 have been approved for payments = $1.3 billion • Average payments is just over $20,000 • IAP = $88 million • Many survivors who have received payment have spiralled downward; has led to suicides, substance abuse, and depression

11. Critical Thinking Journal 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

12. Current relations between First Nations and the Canadian Government • 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 1969 • Abolish the Indian Act, reject land claims, assimilation • Aboriginal Response – Red Paper • Self-government, control over their own affairs

13. Taking Control • 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 government • Aboriginal rights are entrenched in CCR&F • Bill C-31: band councils can decide who lives on reserves • Lavell vs. Regina 1985 • Aboriginal women could maintain their status when they married outside the reserve

14. Continued Confrontation – Oka 1990 • Town 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 Cdngov’t and given to the Mohawk

15. Land Claims and Treaties • Status of First Nations treaties in BC

16. Created by Miss Ross Socials 11 March 2010