Being “Indian” Throughout the 20th Century and Beyond

Images from The Fraser River Journey film by Robert Broad and Gareth Madoc-Jones
Political Efforts to Silence the Aboriginal Voice Between the 1880s and 1930s, Aboriginal leaders pursued provincial recognition of their rights and title in an aggressive and organized manner. Leaders formed associations such as the Allied Tribes and the Native Brotherhood to develop policies outlining their position. Delegations were sent to Victoria, Ottawa, and across the Atlantic to London, England. Both the governments of Canada and British Columbia were embarrassed by this action. So, to counter this organized pursuit of Aboriginal rights and title, the Government of Canada passed a series of amendments to the Indian Act. These amendments made it illegal for Aboriginal people to seek legal counsel or organize in groups to discuss land claims or rights and title issues. You have to remember that for over 100 years (from 1850 through 1991), it was the policy of the BC Provincial Government to deny the existence of Aboriginal rights and title. This policy made it difficult or impossible for Aboriginal leaders and associations to make positive steps to resolve outstanding issues. To compound this problem of the lack of provincial policies toward Aboriginal people, the Federal Government continually worked in breach of its legal responsibility to look after the rights of Aboriginal people. The federal government implemented a 100-year campaign to assimilate Aboriginal people into the European-Canadian culture and remove the concept of ‘Nativeness’ from the Canadian cultural landscape. It was not until the 1990s that this ‘correctness’ of the Federal Government’s role was challenged in court. When thus challenged, the Supreme Court of Canada found that the Government of Canada was operating in breach of its defined responsibilities. They had a responsibility to serve and protect its Aboriginal peoples, and to honour the agreements from the past. These court decisions provided a pivotal turning point for the development of Aboriginal rights and title in British Columbia.  
Living in a Society that Doesn’t Recognize You It is difficult for non-Aboriginal people to understand what life was like for an Aboriginal person in British Columbia during the 20th century. What did your future hold? What plans and dreams could you have? Remember, you are not a Canadian citizen; you are a ward of the State. You cannot hold a passport. The Band, defined by the Government of Canada, is your social unit and the establishment of land reserves continues to alienate you from the dominant mainstream culture. To participate in the mainstream culture you must forfeit your Aboriginal rights and status. You must become a non-Indian. As an Aboriginal person, you could not vote in British Columbia until 1960. You owned no property, you could not live off-reserve or leave the country (unless escorted by an Indian Agent), you could not meet in groups that numbered more than 7, nor pursue land claims. Your major cultural ceremonies were outlawed and it was against the law for you to talk to a lawyer. What message was Canada sending to the Aboriginal population? How welcome and part of society would you feel with treatment like this? Reclaiming Aboriginal Rights and Status In 1969, the federal government circulated a draft document that would fundamentally change the Aboriginal landscape. This paper, known as “The White Paper”, proposed to remove the concept of the Status Indian and the existence of Indian Reserves. The overriding goal of this paper was to see the assimilation of Aboriginal people into mainstream Canadian culture. This policy outraged most Aboriginal leaders and provided a catalyst for the forming of a number of Aboriginal Associations committed to fighting for Aboriginal, that is First Nations, Métis and Inuit, rights. The federal government quickly realized that there was a significant amount of unfinished business with Canada’s Aboriginal people and they initiated a series of programs to address a variety of land claims. In address to this unfinished business between the Government of Canada and the Aboriginal people, their rights were entrenched in the new Canadian constitution of 1982: The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In British Columbia a number of Aboriginal communities undertook a series of court cases to define their rights and title to lands. In the mid to late 1990s the Supreme Court of Canada released a number of decisions in favour of the Aboriginal peoples. As a result of these decisions, the Province of British Columbia realized they were a party to the consequence of these decisions and agreed to participate in defining outstanding land, human rights, and title in the province.  

Images from The Fraser River Journey film by Robert Broad and Gareth Madoc-Jones
Being Aboriginal Today For Aboriginal people, the end of the 20th century provides a much different picture than the end of the previous century. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Aboriginal peoples of Canada can see their identity and rights entrenched in the Canadian Constitution; and their rights and title are recognized by both the provincial and federal governments. Today the Aboriginal people of British Columbia are beginning to represent a third level of government. These changes have put a focus and pressure on the development of leadership skills among Aboriginal leaders. It is interesting to remember that, for many Aboriginal people in British Columbia, they are coming from a culture that is much different than the mainstream Canadian Culture. In sum, the Aboriginal communities found along the Fraser River today are much different in socio-economic terms than they were two hundred years ago. Today, the reserve communities represent survivors of extreme cultural challenges. Once looked upon as residual from a time past, Aboriginals are now defining their place within contemporary society. Their self-definition is being forged through the provincial and federal court systems with the definition of Aboriginal Rights, Title and Treaties, rights and recognitions which have been fought for continuously over the past 150 years.