THE INDIAN ACT AND RESIDENTIAL

SCHOOLS

THE INDIAN ACT - 1876

THE INDIAN ACT

Three main aims:

To assimilate the First Nations peoples through
enfranchisement
To manage the First Nations communities and their
reserves
To define who could and could not be classified as a
First Nations person

WHAT WAS THE INDIAN ACT BASED ON?

Ethnocentrism the view that ones own group is
better than the others
Xenophobia fear of those who are different from
yourself

MAIN PROVISIONS
First Nations people were made wards of the
government
A band council was created on each reserve to
govern and keep order
Outlined who would have Indian status
Children were required to attend residential schools
No alcohol was allowed to be sold, made, or drank
on reserves
Banned some traditional ceremonies

QUESTION
Do you think that a First Nations person could lose
their Indian status? If so, who do you think could
lose their status? Why?
Women who married non-First Nations men would
lose status for themselves and their children in
perpetuity
First Nations people who got a university degree
First Nations people who joined the military
First Nations people who joined the clergy

WHO ENFORCED THESE RULES?

The federal government employed Indian agents to

enforce the Indian Act
Mostly of European descent
Most only spoke English

RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

WHERE THE SPIRIT LIVES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os5KqErc7XY

RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS
Amended the Indian Act in 1920 to include the
Residential Schools
Idea began in the United States also called
industrial schools
First Nations children were required by law to
attend these schools
Would be taken from their homes at the age of 5 to
attend school outside the community

Separated children and youth from their families to

promote assimilation to a Euro-Canadian way of life

WHAT WERE THE AIMS OF RESIDENTIAL

SCHOOLS?
Forced assimilation through education
Hoped to destroy the oral stories that were the
foundation of the First Nations cultures

Edgerton Ryerson The education of Indians

consists not merely of training the mind, but of
weaning from the habits and feelings of their
ancestors and the acquirements of the language,
arts, and customs of a civilized life.
Ethnocentrism
Racism

FIRST NATIONS HOPES FOR EDUCATION

First Nations people hoped that education would:

Support the survival of their culture and language

Give their children the ability to interact with the EuroCanadian settlers

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RESIDENTIAL

SCHOOLS?
Children were separated from their siblings
Forced to wear European-style clothing
Prohibited from speaking their language English
only
Physical and sexual abuse
Only half the day was spent doing actual school
work, the majority of the time involved girls doing
housework and boys doing outside work

CLOSURE?
The last federally funded residential school closed
in 1996
On June 11, 2008, Stephen Harper issued a formal
statement of apology on behalf of the Government
of Canada