Canada Day - What are we actually celebrating?
Group of Cree men, c 1900. (Regina Archives)
Canada is often praised for being a progressive multicultural country that seldom goes wrong. However, if we take a look at Canada’s past in comparison with reconciliation efforts in the present day, we can see there is still much work to be done. What is Canada celebrating?
Before the first contact between the Europeans and the Indigenous people of Canada in 1497 it is estimated that the population of Indigenous peoples was around 90 million. In the present day, according to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,807,250 identified themselves as Indigenous to Canada. So, what happened?
There was a shift from the 18th to the 19th century, once Indigenous peoples were “nations or tribes” to being placed under the jurisdiction of the federal government under the Indian Act. The end of respecting Indigenous peoples as independent nations came on as a result of the gradual disappearance of the buffaloes, the end of commercial relationships (fur trade), the end of the hunting-gathering economy for Indigenous nations, and disease. Soon it became the “Indian problem” and the goal quickly became westernizing Indigenous people who were described as “noble savages”.
The disease that the settlers brought with them devastated Indigenous nations, as they had never contracted viruses such as smallpox before. “Under these circumstances, food procurement strategies break down since often there is no one with the physical ability to hunt or collect food” (Daschuk, 2019).
Jumping to 1867, Canada became a nation and under the British North American Act and all Indigenous lands fell under federal government control “Indians and lands reserved for Indians” (Section 91, 24). This marks a drastic shift in the attitudes of the settlers towards Indigenous people, and by the 1890s attitudes became increasingly hostile.
The Enfranchisement Act of 1869 preceded the Indian Act and set up distinctions between Status and non- Status Indigenous peoples.
Treaty 9 Indigenous men at Fort Hope in Ontario, 1905. (Dept. of Indian and Northern Affairs / Library and Archives Canada).
“The Indian Act is a Canadian federal law that governs matters pertaining to Indian status, bands, and Indian reserves. Throughout history, it has been highly invasive and paternalistic, as it authorizes the Canadian federal government to regulate and administer the affairs and day-to-day lives of registered Indians and reserve communities. This authority has ranged from overarching political control, such as imposing governing structures on Aboriginal communities in the form of band councils, to control over the rights of Indians to practice their culture and traditions. The Indian Act has also enabled the government to determine the land base of these groups in the form of reserves, and even to define who qualifies as Indian in the form of Indian status.” (The Indian Act)
In 1876 the Indian Act became law, Indigenous governance was replaced with band-appointed councils, and women were not allowed to participate. Until 1985 (Bill C-31) when amendments were made, an Indigenous woman would lose their status if they married a Métis man, a non-status Indigenous man, or a non-Indigenous man. An Indigenous woman’s status was also determined by the band her husband was in so if he was Mohawk, she would be Mohawk regardless of if she actually was, and if she got divorced, she would lose her status entirely and could only regain it through marriage. Any children from these marriages would not be eligible to gain status. Indigenous men had the ability under the Indian Act to pass their status to their wives and kids. This is a part of the assimilation of Indigenous people into Western culture, by giving Indigenous men all the power and control they are reinforcing a Western hierarchical system in Indigenous communities. Although Indigenous men did not face some of the discrimination faced by Indigenous women, an Indigenous man could lose his status by becoming a Canadian citizen, enrolling in the Canadian military, or if they were educated by a public school, and his wife and kids would also lose their status too.
Front of Old Indian Office with Philip W., Edgar Dewdney’s Hambeltonian stallion in front. c. 1885. (Regina Archives).
It is under the Indian Act of 1920, that made it mandatory for all Indigenous children to attend residential schools. Now recognized as genocide by the Canadian government, the effects of residential schools are still being felt by Indigenous communities today in the form of intergenerational trauma, and the loss of language and cultural practices.
Although the Indian Act today in large part is still very similar to the 1876 version, however; Indigenous peoples do not want to get rid of it entirely because it's important to Indigenous people that they are legally distinguished from Canadian citizens.
“The Mid 17th to 19th centuries deprived Indigenous Nations of their land, independent self-governing political powers, and rights. It brought about the social and cultural disruption of Indigenous community systems and traditions, the end of their traditional economy, and the usurpation of their community-based sovereign powers. All federal policies had a singular aim of eliminating both Indigenousness and Indigenous people’s history by converting them through the process of assimilation into colonizing immigrant settler society's little experimental toys. Indigenous land was no longer Turtle Island; it was now a trail of tears.” (Ojha, 2003)
First Nations encampment at the Regina Exhibition, showing a Tipi being set up. July 27, 1941. (Regina Archives)
More Recent Events:
Looking into the present day we can see that in terms of reconciliation, the Canadian government still has a lot of work to do.
MMIWG
On June 3, 2019, the Final Report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was released. However, 4 years later the NWAC (The Native Women’s Association of Canada) concluded in the 2022-23 Annual Scorecard of the Federal MMIWG2S Action Plan that it has failed in terms of actual implementation of the outlined promises. A sentiment restated throughout the Annual Scorecard is the need for transparency and a plan that is actionable. The cycle of violence against Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit people continues, and it is the inaction of the Canadian government is responsible for the ongoing genocide of MMIWG2S.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Calls to Action
In 2015 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released 94 Calls to Action, in 2022, 7 years later, the Yellowhead Institute released an update on the progress made. Out of the 94 Calls to Action, only 13 have been completed, and another 21 Calls to Action have been stalled. Similarly, to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, there is a lack of transparency and willingness from the Canadian government to address these issues and create a solid implementation plan.
Conclusion
So, does Canada deserve to be celebrated? It seems not. There is still a vast amount of work to be done in terms of measurable success on the path of reconciliation, and framing Canada as a country that can do no wrong is harmful to the progress that needs to be made.