First Nations Voice

PAGE 6 • MAY 2016 Road to Niagara Reclaiming First Nations Traditional Governance and Lawmaking On July 8, 2016, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) begins the "Road to Niagara" journey, from Winnipeg, MB, to Niagara Falls, ON, in a symbolical and historic trip to raise collective awareness with grassroots First Nations people and Canadians on the importance of returning to the original spirit and intent of the treaties. Awareness of spirit and intent of the original relationships with newcomers to our ancestral lands is critical for envisioning a future outside of Indian Act colonial legislation. In 1764, the Crown and 24 Nations from the Six Nations, Seneca, Wyandot of Detroit, Menominee, Algonquin, Nipissing, Ojibwa, Mississaugas and others of the Seven Nations of Canada and the Western Lakes Confederacy signed the Treaty of Fort Niagara.This treaty laid the political foundation for the Covenant Chain Relations between Great Britain and the Indigenous Nations of the Great Lakes and Northeastern Woodlands. It reaffirmed peaceful relations with the Crown and guaranteed self-government. Indigenous peoples have always understood that treaty signing did not dissolve our nationhood, but instead affirmed and solidified our nationhood. At Old Fort Niagara, the Crown and Indigenous peoples entered into treaty relationship, recognizing each other as sovereign. Treaties laid out how the Crown and Indigenous peoples would co-exist on the land. International law also affirms this relationship because it is sovereign nations that enter into treaties. A As a precursor to treaty, the Crown issued the Royal Proclamation 1763, laying the foundation for constitutional recognition and protection of Indigenous collective rights in what is now Canada. The Royal Proclamation, referred to in the Constitution Act 1982, section 25, guaranteed Aboriginal, and Treaty rights concerning the original peoples of Canada. At Niagara, Indigenous nations exchanged wampum to express notions of equality and freedom, while the Crown did the same with the Royal Proclamation. When the Treaty concluded on August 1, 1764, a living relationship was born. Today, this living relationship has not been honoured. In fact, it has been systematically and purposely degraded. The Crown passed racist colonial laws in an att t empt to dissolve the nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous peoples. The Indian Act, 1876, crafted by Canada's First Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, combined separate pieces of colonial legislation, such as the Gradual Civilization Act of 1857 and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869, in order to segregate, divide, control, marginalize and assimilate Indigenous peoples. The great aim of our legislation has been to do away with the tribal system and assimilate the Indian peoples in all respects with the other inhabitants of the Dominion as speedily as they are fit to change. - Sir John A. Macdonald, 1887 Indian Act provisions The Indian Act upheld central administration at the Depart r ment of Indian aff f airs, with a Superintendent General of Indian Aff f airs holding the power in dealing with Indigenous people and their lands. The Act imposed a definition of Indian status, where an "Indian" was any male of Indian blood belonging to a specific band, any child of that person and any woman who is or was married to the male. These definitions emphasize male lineage, contradicting common matrilineal practices found in Indigenous societies. The Act increased the reach of enfranchisement, where Indigenous peoples lost their Indian status and gained full Canadian citizenship.Mandatory enfranchisement occurred for Indigenous women when they married non-Indigenous men. Indigenous people receiving university degrees, and those who became doctors, lawyers, clergymen or who joined the army also lost their Indian status. The Act imposed a system of elected Chiefs and band councils, giving the Superintendent General further power to impose foreign rules on Indigenous groups. The Act allowed reserves to be surveyed and divided into lots, requiring band members to obtain tickets for plots of land. Through this, the government promoted individualism, breaking up community use of reserve lands and encouraging individual property ownership. Indian Act amendments Indian Act amendments introduced for the sole purpose of controlling Indigenous peoples: • 1876: Criminalization of Indigenous peoples' values, family relations and spiritual practices; • 1884: Amendments to aid the starvation policy to subjugate the Plains Cree and break treaty promises; • 1894: Residential schools and compulsory education, children taken from families, trespass laws kept parents away; • 1894: Removal of band control over non-Indigenous peoples living on reserves; • 1905: Removal of Indigenous peoples from reserves near towns with more than 8,000 people; • 1911: Power to take away port r ions of reserves for roads, railways and other public works; • 1914: Permission required before appearing in Indigenous "costume" in any public dance, show, exhibition, stampede or pageant; • 1918: Uncultivated reserve lands leased to non- Indigenous peoples; • 1927: Illegal to off f er funds for Indigenous legal claims without license, giving government control over the ability to pursue land claims; • 1930: Indigenous peoples banned from entering pool halls. We should not be proud of the history of colonization in Canada and the Indian Act; nor should we ignore this

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