The Bagot Commission recommended various actions aimed at assimilating Indigenous peoples. The Indian Act of 1876 was heavily inspired by this report, forcing the sedentarization of First Nations and attempting to impose European culture on them. This law was accompanied by the signing of numbered treaties to cede land to the government.
The governments wanted Indigenous communities to abandon their culture to become English-speaking Protestants or French-speaking Catholics, depending on where they lived. The government then implemented various means to achieve this.
Assimilation refers to the act of a dominant group seeking to integrate a group or minority into its population by removing its distinctive character (its culture).
In the 19th century, the governments and churches (Protestant and Catholic) worked together to carry out missions to evangelize Indigenous populations. These missions aimed not only to spread their religion, but also to change the way of life of Indigenous peoples. The goal was to assimilate them.
Evangelization is the teaching of the Christian Gospels, rites and values to non-Christians, with the aim of converting them to Christianity.
One of the unique characteristics of the evangelization missions of this period was the competition between the Catholic Church and Protestant churches. Each sought to gain as much influence over the territory as possible, which involved converting the Indigenous populations to Christianity.
The Catholic Church tasked the Oblates with the mission of evangelization in the Mauricie, Témiscamingue, and Saguenay regions of Quebec. Missions were also opened in the northwest, near the forts of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Protestant missions were mainly operated by three churches: the Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches. They set up their missions in northern Upper Canada (which became Ontario in 1867 with the passage of the BNA Act) and in Western Canada.
Around the 1840s, the British government began to reflect on how best to manage the Indigenous peoples who inhabited the territory. It was for this reason that the Governor General of the British North American colonies, Charles Bagot, launched a commission of inquiry into the administration of “Indian Affairs” in 1842.
The Bagot Commission submitted its report in 1844. It made a number of recommendations. The report addressed important issues such as Indigenous land management and how to promote Indigenous assimilation.
It recommended the creation of residential schools run by religious communities, where Indigenous children would learn English or French as well as European customs. It also proposed removing the children from their families and housing them in these residential schools, which would make it easier to assimilate them.
This commission was one of the factors that led to the creation of the residential school system in Canada, which would only come to an end in 1996.
To better manage the Indigenous population, the Canadian government, led by Alexander Mackenzie, adopted the Indian Act in 1876. This law applied to members of First Nations, but not the Métis or the Inuit.
The purpose of the Indian Act was to force the integration of Indigenous peoples into Canadian society by assimilating them. Under this law, “Registered Indians” (Indigenous peoples) were considered minors, meaning they were not recognized as adults. This meant that they did not have the same rights as Canadian men and women. The government managed many of their affairs, including their land. They found themselves in a state of dependency on the Canadian government. The government used this relationship of dependency to achieve its goal and assimilate the First Nations peoples.
Prime Minister of Canada between 1873 and 1878
Source: Alexander Mackenzie [Photograph], before 1892, Wikimedia commons, (URL). CC0 1.0.[1]
- Registered Indian was a legal term used to identify members of the First Nations who were registered as Indians on the official registry by virtue of the Indian Act.
- The Métis are a distinct Indigenous people with both First Nations and settler ancestry. They were officially recognized in 1982 by the Canadian Constitution.
- The Inuit are northern Indigenous peoples who live in Inuit Nunangat, which translates as “the place where Inuit live.”
The Indian Act has been amended several times over the years, and it is still in application in Canada today.
The term Indian (Indian Status, Status Indian, Non-Status Indian, Indian Act) is used in Canada in a legal context in relation to the 1876 Indian Act.
Today, the term Indian in any other context is considered offensive and disrespectful. Indigenous person or First Nations person are the correct terms.
The purpose of the Indian Act was to assimilate Indigenous peoples, making them more like Canadians.
Source: Indiens de la Pointe-Bleue [Photograph], Buies, A., 1896, BAnQ, (URL).[2]
In the 19th century, life became increasingly difficult for the Indigenous peoples of Western Canada.
The construction of the railroad gave thousands of settlers access to the territory, thus accelerating the colonization of the West. The arrival of these settlers had a big impact:
- New diseases were introduced, with devastating consequences for Indigenous communities.
- The creation of settlements and the development of agriculture considerably reduced the hunting and fishing territories of Indigenous peoples. At the same time, overhunting of bison, which was encouraged by the government, deprived Indigenous peoples of an essential resource. This put them in an increasingly precarious situation.
After the Métis uprising of 1869, the Canadian government decided to take legal possession of the western territories by negotiating treaties with the Indigenous peoples who lived there. Indigenous communities agreed to sign these treaties, known as Numbered Treaties, because their living conditions had become so difficult. Communities negotiated to include aid to survive and protect their future in the treaties. However, what was written in the treaties did not always correspond to what was promised verbally at the time of negotiation. These differences between the spoken word (the most important element for Indigenous peoples) and the written word caused a great deal of discontent and continue to do so to this day.
Between 1871 and 1921, 11 Numbered Treaties were signed. These treaties led to the creation of several reserves.
Treaty 6 is one of 11 numbered treaties. The Indigenous peoples who signed this treaty negotiated and obtained the promise of assistance in the event of epidemics or famine, as well as maintainingf a “medicine chest” to ensure access to health care.
Cree Chief Big Bear refused to sign Treaty 6 for many years to protect his people’s freedom and traditional way of life. After seven years of resistance, the dwindling bison population and a famine forced him to capitulate in 1883. He agreed to sign the treaty in order to prevent his people from starving.
Source: Mistahi maskwa (Big Bear) ca. 1825-1888, a Plains Cree chief [Photograph], Buell, O., 1885, Library and Archives Canada, (URL).[3]
To learn more about this treaty, see the article “Treaty 6” in the Canadian Encyclopedia.
Data source: Themightyquill, 2011.[4]
As colonization advanced in the 19th century, colonists increasingly encroached on the lands where Indigenous peoples lived. As a result, native communities found it hard to meet their needs: their hunting grounds grew progressively smaller as colonists settled the area. To support colonization and to gain control over the land, the government gave small clearly-defined areas to Indigenous communities in the 1870s. These lands were called “reserves.” From then on, Indigenous peoples no longer had access to the vast territories that they had previously occupied.
In exchange for taking their land, the federal government gave them money and services through the reserves. However, the services offered were sometimes insufficient, creating severe problems in some reserves, such as safe access to drinking water. Among other things, Indigenous peoples had hunting and fishing rights on the reserves, but the land belonged to the federal government and the communities had no autonomy.
The government created the reserves so that the different groups of Indigenous peoples would settle in one place and be forced to adopt agriculture as a means of subsistence. The government believed that this would make it easier to assimilate the First Nations peoples into Canadian society.
As of 2021, the Canadian government is still “responsible” for the Indigenous peoples of Canada. The government is in charge of ensuring that communities have access to proper services. However, much of the infrastructure that carries drinking water to the reserves is defective. This means that many people living in reserves all over the country do not have access to safe drinking water or have trouble maintaining the infrastructure due to a lack of resources. This is a problem that has major negative impacts on communities.
To find out more about this topic, see the following articles:
This map shows the different Indigenous nations currently in Quebec. They include the Inuit nation, which, as mentioned earlier, is not subject to the Indian Act.
- (n.a.). (before 1892). Alexander Mackenzie [Photograph]. Wikimedia commons. (URL).
- Buies, A. (1896). Indiens de la Pointe-Bleue [Photograph].BAnQ. (URL).
- Buell, O. (1885). Mistahi maskwa (Big Bear), circa 1825-1888, a Plains Cree chief [Photograph]. Library and Archives Canada. (URL).
- Themightyquill. (2011, March 26). Numbered-Treaties-Map.svg [Image]. Wikimedia Commons. (URL).
