(The term Indianwas used several centuries before-the law simply formalized its use. 1Ī key element was the law’s definition of who was Indian and what Indianness was. Any woman who is, or was, lawfully married to such person. Any male person of Indian blood reputed to belong to a particular band What does it mean to be a Status Indian? The original document of 1876 defined someone as being legally Indian if that person fit these descriptions: First. ![]() Once it entered into law, the act imposed a single common legal definition, lumping together different nations and languages into the broad category of First Nations. , a category that had long-lasting implications for the First Nations of Canada. The Indian Act of 1876 created the legal category of Status Indian The Department of Indian Affairs, formed by the act, governed nearly all aspects of the lives of First Nations communities, including band membership, reserve infrastructure and services, systems of governance, culture, and education. This new legislation, which still exists today despite its many amendments, brought Status (registered) Indians under federal jurisdiction. The reserves were small, unproductive land tracts where the Indigenous Peoples were forced to live by the act.Įventually, the Canadian Parliament consolidated the Gradual Civilization Act and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act into the Indian Act of 1876. Since the 1830s, the British authorities, and later the Canadian government, had set up reserves to settle the Indigenous Peoples and remove them from areas the newcomers desired to settle or develop. Both aimed to force Indigenous Peoples to give up all ties to their heritage via the acquisition of Euro-Canadian education or by leaving the reserve and becoming owners of private property. This new Canadian government inherited the colonial legacy of Great Britain, including two legislations: the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869. ![]() In 1876, the British North America Act united three British colonies into the first four provinces of the Dominion of Canada, providing Canada with its own government and federal structure. In this photo, an indigenous Canadian woman is on a reserve, 1930. The Indian Act of 1876 granted the Canadian government control over many aspects of Indigenous Peoples’ lives, including the management of housing, health services, the environment, and other resources on reserves. But while laws can provide order and protection, they can also express prejudice and be used to discriminate. A law makes following a rule mandatory, and law enforcement ensures that people obey that rule. Laws can take abstract ideas and implement them in real life.
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