History Chapter 8

First Nations and the Indian Act

• Act defined who qualified for Indian status (who could receive the benefits promised in treaties, which included government-funded health care and education) • Act restricted FN and violated their rights • Lost their right to govern themselves and to vote • Restricted how they earned a living • Required to ask permission to leave reserves • Prohibited from alcohol consumption • Government appointed Indian agent to control activities

British Home Children

• Although some British home children were treated well by the families who took them in, others were exploited • They worked long and hard for food, shelter and a few dollars a month • Once the children were placed in homes, where they were supposed to remain for seven years, little was done to supervise their care • Some people argued that the home children were poorly treated, and others said that Canada had enough to do taking care of Canadian children who needed help • In 1925, the federal government banned what were called juvenile immigrants, who were younger than 14 years old • By the beginning of the next decade, the program had ended

Assimilation

• And government officials decided that the annual benefits promised in treaties discouraged First Nations people from finding jobs. • So these payments were reduced and made only grudgingly. • At the same time, rules limiting economic activities meant that few jobs were available on reserves, so unemployment was high. • Housing on reserves was usually primitive, lacking running water and indoor toilets. • Poor health care and infectious diseases also took a toll. • Poverty meant that children were undernourished, and suicide rates jumped. • As a result, the quality of life on reserves declined. • In 1500, about 500 000 First Nations people lived in Canada

Seeking Religious Freedom

• Before WW1 people would immigrate to Canada to escape religious persecution • They believed in communal ownership of property • These people had been forced to move from country to country to find a home where they could live and practice their religion in peace • If there were farmers from Hutterites, Mennonites, and Doukhobors they were welcomed to settle in to Ontario and the Prairies • Canadians didn't not advertise for French speaking immigrants since there were already so many they would rather English speaking immigrants or other languages so they could learn English

What Were the Impacts of Immigration Policies?

• Before World War I the Canadian government had actively recruited about three-quarters of more than 2.5 million immigrants from Britain and Ukraine • This was in 1896-1914 and 150 000 were from Ukraine • Immigration is affected by push and pull factors • Push factors are poverty, lack of political or religious freedom and famine • Pull factors are promises of better life, political and religious freedom • Many Jews and Armenians from Europe faced persecution • Advertisement campaigns promised farmland to if you immigrate • Doukhobors and Mennonites groups fleeing from Russia were attracted by their relative religious freedom in Canada

Assimilation

• By the early 1920s, the number of status Indians was reduced to about 100 000. • When they returned home they found that not much has changed • Many Firs Nations veterans were denied the benefits that were available to the non-Aboriginal veterans • Some First Nations were forced to give up reserve land so that the government could offer it to non-Aboriginal veterans who wanted to be farmers • Some first nations people decided that it was time to make their voices heard • Fred Loft, a Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve in Ontario and a war veteran, was a key figure in this movement

Did government actions help or hinder Aboriginal peoples?

• Canada's changing society: Veterans returned with different expectations Immigrants brought different languages and traditions Women sought equality Britain ties weakened while American ties grew More rural Canadians moved to urban centres Modern conveniences and new technologies

Storm Clouds Ahead

• Change that happens over a long period of time can reveal a trend, either bad or good. • If a long-term change is more or less positive, we call it progress. o E.g. The slowly rising life expectancy of Canadians • If the change is generally negative, we call it decline o E.g. Inflation, which gradually lowers people's buying power. • The 1920s was a period of progress. o Eg. 2014, Russian absorption of Crimea from Ukraine. o On one hand, Russians might see it as progress because Russia becomes larger. o But Ukrainians would view it as a decline because they seem to have lost a sizeable portion of their territory

The Legacy of Residential Schools

• Children were sent away from home for long periods of time • Many became very distant from their parents and forgot their culture • They often forgot their language that their parent and grandparents knew • Were not taught their cultural traditions • Some children also suffered from physical or sexual abuse • Once children graduated from these schools they received the right to vote and became eligible for citizen rights • In doing so they would have to give up their Indian status • A change was made in the Indian act in 1920 • Graduates were to receive these rights even if they didn't agree or request it

Discrimination in Canada

• During the 1920s and 1930s, few people complained about Canada's restrictive immigration policies or about the deportation of immigrants • Immigrants were often viewed as aliens and a threat to jobs • People believed that immigrants were communists that wanted to overthrow the government • No laws prevented employers from using hiring practices that discriminated against Jews and Ukrainians • Some immigrants changed their names to find jobs • Black Canadians were restricted to a small number of occupations • Universities and training programs routinely discriminated by setting higher standards for people whose names did not sound British • Some groups were denied social benefits, like during the depression when people with Chinese heritage received 50 percent lower relief payments • Relief payments for First Nations were lowered due to the belief that they could live off the land • Some immigrants were deported due to applying for relief • Many Canadians strongly believed that immigrants should try to assimilate as quickly as possible by abandoning their own culture, traditions, and language • Public education was used to educate immigrants' kids about mainstream Canadian society • During the 1920s some people experienced prosperity and some did not • Immigrants in particular often toiled for long hours for little pay • Many children worked alongside adults for even less money • Social reformers fought to change some of the inequalities in Canadian society • Under pressure from social democrats, governments took some small steps towards improving the lives of children and senior citizens • Even those steps caused sparked heated debates • Some said the government was going too far and others said it wasn't going far enough • By the 1920s Canadians were living longer but many elders were living In poverty • Fewer people lived on farms • Everyone young and old shared in the work benefits • Some veterans with disabilities received small government pensions senior citizens received nothing • J.S. Woodsworth and other social reformers wanted to change the situation about the pensions • Senior citizens (at that time) received no pensions • Woodsworth had considerable influence over the Prime Minister (William Lyon Mackenzie King) • In 1927, King's government passed the Old Age Pensions Act • The pension paid a maximum of $20 per month • It was available to a limited number of people and the requirements were... • British subjects aged 70 and older • Must have lived in Canada for more than 20 years and in their province of residence for more than 5 years • Annual income of less than $365 • Were not status Indians • Before receiving the pension, senior citizens were required to undergo a means test*** and disclose all their assets • Provincial authorities administered the test • The way they calculated income was based on the province • Child labour had existed ever since the first European newcomers arrived • Attitude towards this issue changed significantly in the late 19th & 20th century • As Canada became more urban and modernized... • Child labour decreased on farms • Children started to enter apprenticeships for skilled occupations • More children found work in factories, mills, and mines • The jobs were poorly paid and failed to provide skills that children could use as adults • During the first decades of the 20th century... • Social reformers campaigned to abolish child labour by making school attendance compulsory • They believed children who were in school could not be at work • They pressured provincial governments to pass laws requiring school attendance • Education laws along with laws banning children from workplaces, forced children to attend school • By 1929, most Canadian provinces had passed laws banning children under the age of 14 from working in factories and mines • Statistics • In 1911 -> 63% of 14-year-olds attended school for any period of time • In 1931 -> 83% • The new laws did not end child labour completely • Some children younger than 14 continued to work full-time (not in mines and factories) • Families often relied on their children's income • Especially during the Depression Definitions: Means Test: An official investigation into someone's financial circumstances to determine whether they are eligible for a welfare payment or other public funds.

The Significance of an Apology

• Gordon Residential School • Last federally run residential school for Aboriginal children • Closing a school has no meaning unless the reason behind closing fits in to a larger story of Indian residential schools • F. J. Deane admired the work of St. Eugene Mission, a newly built residential school near Cranbrook, British Columbia. • Improves the mental and moral condition of the aboriginal children • Beneficial for Indian boys and girls character • Madeleine Dion Stout talks about the pain of being separated from her family to go to school • Her mother would visit from time to time • Phil Fontaine • Survivor of residential schools • Federal government issued an apology for the harm

Lessons of the Chinese Immigration Act

• In 1881, Government recruited 1000's of Chinese labourers to build a railway connecting Canada from east to west. • When the railway was completed in 1885, Canada curbed Chinese immigrants. • All immigrants had to pay special head tax, which was a result of race-based discrimination. • No other immigrants had to pay the fee. • With the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, the federal government barred all immigration from China. • 1923-1947, less that 50 Chinese immigrants were allowed into Canada. • Protesters (Canadian-Chinese businesses) closed their doors on July 1 (called it Humiliation Day).

Assimilation

• In 1919, Loft helped found the League of Indians in Canada, which was modelled on the League of Nations • Loft was anxious to work with the federal government • He stated that "We [the League] will cooperate with the government, but we must have its sympathy, encouragement, and assistance so as to make good • However, government officials received Loft's efforts with suspicion and worked actively to undermine the league

Assimilation

• In 1927, for example, changes to the Indian Act made it illegal for First Nations to form political organizations • The league never attracted widespread support and when Loft died in 1934, the organization faded away • Still, this early attempt at organizing a national voice for First Nations people laid the foundation for the Aboriginal groups of the future • Cause and Consequence: Frederick Loft is a good example of an individual who made a difference despite the forces working against him

Were the Roaring Twenties good times for all?

• In the early 20th century, the heritage of more than half of Canadians was British • The second-largest group was French • The government tried to reinforce Canada's British character by attracting immigrants from Britain • The desire to fill Western provinces with Europeans prompted recruiters to expand their efforts to include Western and Eastern Europe • As a result, people arrived from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and other non-English-speaking European countries • European Jews and Chinese people also arrived • Many of these people did not find Canada very welcoming • At times, members of these groups experienced open discrimination • Aboriginals often found themselves displaced by the newcomers and stripped of rights by the federal government

First Nations and the Indian Act

• In the late 1800s, violence occurred between settlers and First Nations (FN) who tried to prevent newcomers from taking over their territory • Government encouraged western FN to sign treaties that offered benefits if they gave up their land • FN believed they were not giving up the land, but sharing it • FN moved onto reserves • In 1876, the Indian Act gave the government complete control over the lives of FN people on reserves

A British home child

• In the late 19th century nearly 100 00 British orphans and children were send to Canada as a program called home children so they could work on farms until they where adults • In the note it says that a boy has reflected on his journey • He was 14 in 1927 got the opportunity to go to Canada he said yes • He then worked on a farm for 6 weeks from 5am - 10pm with only short breaks for food and paid $5 a month • He then was given to another farm for another 6 week period • These people treated him better almost as their own son and was very blessed to be given the opportunity

Government Policies

• Many of the restrictive government policies that had lead to the interment of "enemy aliens" during World War I continued afterward • New immigration policies denied entry to more people after Canadian soldiers returned and unemployment increased • There were many reasons people were barred from Canada because of Canada's Immigration Act of 1919 • In the 1920's the situation improved when railway and steamship companies persuaded government to loosed restrictions on immigration form Europe • At the time no separate category for refugees of persecution so they were treated the same as immigrants • When WW1 was over the federal Government created the Department of Immigration and Colonization to attract British immigrants (most farmers) who where successful on the Prairies • The land was mostly owned be the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railroad • British immigrants could borrow money from railways so they could buy there land • In 1923 the British and Canadian governments co-operated in the 1923 British Settlement Act which promoted immigration of British workers to Canada

Residential Schools

• One of the main advocates of assimilation was Duncan Campbell Scott, who rose through the ranks to lead the Department of Indian Affairs from 1923 to 1939 • Scott, who was also a well know poet, told a parliamentary committee in 1920: "I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think, as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone.... Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department."

Assimilation

• Restrictions on First Nations people under the Indian Act included the following: A First Nations woman who married someone who was not a status Indian lost her Indian status. First Nations people who became doctors, lawyers, and church ministers gave up their Indian status. Those who wanted to vote in federal and provincial elections were required to give up their status. Traditional dances, celebrities, and powwows were prohibited. First Nations could not hire a lawyer to help them deal with issues such as negotiating treaties.

Residential Schools

• Scott believed that education was the key to assimilation • Many First Nations children already attended school, but in 1920, Parliament changed the Indian Act and required all children between the ages of 7 and 15 to go to school • For some, this meant travelling hundreds, even thousands of kilometers from home • The goals of the schools was to "civilize" the children so that they would fit into Canadian society • English was the language of instruction, and children were not allowed to speak their first languages • Since most schools were run by churches, Christian religious values were emphasized, while Aboriginal spirituality was condemned

The End Part of Residential Schools

• Siblings and friends were separated and put into dorms • Many of the teachers were cruel and harsh • Children were not allowed to speak their first language • English was the only language allowed to be spoken • Children had to do chores (housework and manual labour) in order to reduce the schools operating cost • There 80 operating residential schools in Canada by 1931 • Roughly 150 000 Aboriginal students went to these schools through out the years

Not welcome in Canada

• The Canadian government was trying to attract certain immigrants to Canada but discourage others • The group they tried to discourage was African Americans from the united states and people from India, China and Japan • Government statements said that Black people were ''unsuited for the climate of Canada'' • Separate schools for black students were set up in Nova Scotia • The quebec Superior Court ruled that racial segregation was acceptable in the provinces theatres • Chinese immigrants were required to pay a head tax since 1885 • Chinese and Japanese people were allowed to vote • in 1923 parliament passed the Chinese Immigration act which stopped all Chinese immigration this law meant that male Chinese workers couldn't bring their wives and children to Canada • Fewer than 50 Chinese immigrants were allowed into Canada from 1023 to 1947 • People from India were not allowed to vote, run for public office or become lawyers, accountants or dentists in British Colombia • In a further effort to discourage immigration from india the continuous passage act was made in 1908 which didn't allow a ship coming from india to stop at any Canadian port along the way (impossible on a two month voyage)

Assimilation

• The goal of the Indian Act was to assimilate Aboriginal peoples into the broader Canadian society. • Over the years, Parliament changed the act several times--- without consulting First Nations. • For the First Nations, the treaties were binding contracts. • But governments and the courts viewed treaties as promises that the government were not bound to keep and many of the promises were not kept. • Many of the reserves were not small for First Nations to sustain themselves or carry on traditional activities. • In addition, budget cuts in the federal Department of Indian Affairs reduced services.

The Significance of an Apology

• The school policy was assimilation founded on racist premises — premises of inferiority, disrespect, discrimination, and inequality • Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke these words of apology to former residents of Indian residential schools in the House of Commons on June 11, 2008. • The oldest residential school survivor attended the apology ceremony in the House of Commons. • For more than a century, Indian residential school separated over 150 000 Aboriginal children from their families and communities. • The residential schools system was to remove and isolate children from their homes, families, traditions, and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture. • Some sought, as it was infamously said, "to kill the Indian in the child".

Fleeing Persecution

• World war 1 about 4000 hutterites from Russia immigrated to Alberta • The us had them persecuted because of their German speaking language led them to refuse military service • Officials of America had taxes direct to red cross instead of paying for the war • 1919 Canada was also turning against hutterites, Mennonites and doukhobours because they where foreign • Conservative government stopped immigration after world war 1 • in 1922 the liberals where into power now and they started to let immigration in again • 1923-1929 more than 22 000 Mennonites settled in Ontario for farming

The Komagata Maru Accident

• in 1914 a ship called the Komagata Maru was hired to carry Indian passengers to Vancouver from Asia • The ship took passengers from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Yokohama • Canadian officials refused to let the passengers off the ship • the ship had violated the continuous passage act • The Komagata Maru waited in the harbour for 2 months • The indian community in Vancouver supplied the passengers with food and appealed to the courts for help • Public opinion was overwhelmingly against allowing entry • the ship was escorted out of the harbour and sent back to India on July 23 • The ship was met by a British police who treated the passengers as criminals • some were killed and others were jailed