Abolishing Indian Act Essay

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 ended the allocation of lands to individual Native Americans, encouraged them to preserve their culture, and to develop their own governments. It allowed tribes become sovereign nations. This act created a cultural resurgence but halted economic progress for the tribes. The political structure of the tribes were also unstable and

John Ross once said "Brothers: The tradition of our Fathers . . . tells us that this great and extensive Continent was once the sole and exclusive abode of our race. . . . Ever since [the whites came] we have been made to drink of the bitter cup of humiliation; treated like dogs . . . our country and the graves of our Fathers torn from us . . . through a period of upwards of 200 years, rolled back, nation upon nation [until] we find ourselves fugitives, vagrants and strangers in our own country. . . .” (1830). In may of 1830 the Indian Removal act was passed, From then on indian life was never the same. Removing the indians from their land was unconstitutional and was not justified.

The indigenous people have a long and proud history, including the rich cultural and spiritual traditions. However, many of these traditions have been changed or even disappeared after the arrival of the European settlers. Forced introduction of European culture and values, Aboriginal community, indigenous land being deprived, and the imposition of a period of governance outside the pattern of the beginning of a cycle of social, physical and spiritual destruction. You can see the effects of today. Some of the effects include poverty, poor health, and drug abuse. The basis of these problems is a loss of identity and a sense of knowing that their values are oppressed, and their rights are ignored. Likewise, non-indigenous Canadians have become increasingly aware of the unfairness of the richness of indigenous and aboriginal cultures that are taking place.

The Dawes Act of 1887, some of the time alluded to as the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 or the General Allotment Act, was marked into law on January 8, 1887, by US President Grover Cleveland. This was approved by the president to appropriate and redistribute tribal grounds in the American West. It expressly tried to crush the social union of Indian tribes and to along these lines dispose of the rest of the remnants of Indian culture and society. Just by repudiating their own customs, it was accepted, could the Indians at any point turn out to be genuinely "American." This paper will give an overview of the act and how it impacted the Indigenous community into becoming

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a starting point; however, it is simply not enough to integrate the aboriginals into Canadian society. Apologizing for wrong doing and compensating individuals that have lived through the terror of residential schools is not enough to prevent the issue from recurring again. There are multiple steps that need to be taken in order to correct for Canada’s original sin. First, negotiations between the federal government and the aboriginal people need to take place. Next, Canadians need to educate their youth of the historical truth. Lastly, it is necessary to look at aboriginals as people, and not a foreign

In order to control even more the natives, another Indian Appropriation Act was passed in 1871. It said that Indian tribes were no longer seen as an indepedent nation but that all Indians were just individuals, like everyone. But also that they were "wards" of the federal government. This obviously made the natives less powerful, because as a tribe, they were numerous so they had more power and they could have treaties with the government. But with the act, it did not work anymore. Indeed this was a way to control them even more, they took away from them some power that they had, plus putting them on reservations by force, they were truly "wards" now. As a consequence, since they were no longer tribes, it was easier for the government to take

Indigenous people were self-governing long before Europeans arrived in Canada but in 1876, the Indian Act came into effect, dismantling traditional governance systems and Indigenous peoples ' lives (Bc Treaty Commission). Today, the Federal government recognizes that Indigenous people have an inherent, constitutionally protected right to self-government, a right to manage their own affairs (Bc Treaty Commission). Self-government agreements are one means of building sound governance and institutional capacity that allow Aboriginal communities to contribute to, and participate in, the decisions that affect their lives and carry out effective relationships with other governments (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada). Thus, this essay explains

The name “Sioux” is short for “Nadouessioux”, meaning “little snakes”, given to them by their spiteful long time rival the Ojibwa tribe. The Sioux community was divided into a organized nation of seven different, smaller tribes; later becoming known as: Oceti Sakowin, which translates into “Seven Council Fire” in the Sioux indigenous language. To keep their history alive, the Sioux practiced oral tradition in sharing their past, through the Siouan language and occasionally, they communicated through sign language. They were a dominant tribe in Minnesota that later migrated continuously through the northern Great Plains region following buffalo patterns. The Sioux depended on bison for most of their food source, clothing, and shelter. They

In the 1930s the federal government had put in place a set of policies know as the Indian New Deal. Natives of the Northwest Coast were encouraged to adopt governmental forms and constitutions to establish relations. The government had the final say in how tribes were coordinated, they controlled who sat in chairs of power and how things would be running. Following the 1950s federal policies towards the Indian people continue to vacillate. During the last past two decades of the twentieth century the tribes of Washington have been still making attempts to have the terms of the 1850 honored by the state and federal governments mostly in regards to fishing rights, to bring economic stability to the Native community through the utilization of

Canadians opposing them or treating them like ‘‘wards.’’ The Indian Act is a written law which

The conflict between the Americans and the Natives for the Native’s lands caused the government to created an Act to move the Natives. This compromise was the Indian Removal Act, “An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories and for their removals west of the river Mississippi” (United). The Act was passed on May 30, 1830 (Removal), and moved the Natives’ across the country from Georgia to Oklahoma (adamelhamouden). The Removal Act was for all Indians, but there were many other treaties that the government used to move the Natives. The Cherokees used the Treaty of New Echota. This was a Treaty that “traded all Cherokee lands East of the Mississippi for $5 million” (PBS staff). Most

The Indian Act, first introduced in 1876, was primarily a way for Canada to exercise complete control over the Indigenous population, limiting their rights and dissolving their identity. Firstly, the Indian Act did not allow Indigenous peoples to sell their cows or crops without the

The Indian Removal Act was passed in the year 1830 and by 1837 46,000 Native Americans were forced from their lands. “Long time we travel on way to new land. People feel bad when we leave old nation. Women cry and make sad wails. Children cry and many men cry, and all look sad like when friends die, but they say nothing and keep on going towards west. Many days pass and people die very much. We bury close by trail.” (Lynn Peppas pg 4) A Trail of Tears survivor described it like this, imagine walking not really knowing when you are going to stop and watching people, your friends and family, die right in front of you.

In Chapter eight of Byron Williston’s Environmental Ethics for Canadians First Nation’s perspectives are explored. The case study titled “Language, Land and the Residential Schools” begins by speaking of a public apology from former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He apologizes for the treatment of “Indians” in “Indian Residential Schools”. He highlights the initial agenda of these schools as he says that the “school system [was] to remove and isolate [Aboriginal] children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them[…]” (Williston 244). By doing this, colonial Canadians assumed that aboriginal cultural and spiritual beliefs were invalid in relation to European beliefs (244). The problem with ridding the First Nations Peoples of their languages, as Williston points out is to “deprive them of the sense of place that has defined them for thousands of years” (245). The private schooling system was an attack on First Nations identities, and their identity is rooted in “a respect for nature and its processes” (245).

After the Red River Rebellion, the Metis received many of their demands in the Manitoba Act, but because of the scrip system, many didn’t receive the land they were promised causing them to move west into nowadays Saskatchewan. While living in the west, the Metis were losing patience with the Canadian government to gain title to their land. The government had surveyed the land out to pay for the Canadian Pacific Railway, which the Metis didn’t know, and wouldn’t give any away. The government was treating the Aboriginals cruelly; they let them starve and didn’t keep their promises to help them flourish in the western economy. The Metis had had enough with the government and decided to bring back Louis Riel from Montana. With Riel back in Canada, the government was worried about the uprising of another rebellion.