THE ROLE OF THE CANADIAN

STATE: FORCIBLY IMPOSING

CANADIAN EDUCATION ON FIRST

NATIONS

By: Janice Makokis B.A., M.A., L.L.B.

WHO AM I?

SITUATING MYSELF IN

THIS DISCUSSION

INDIGENOUS UNDERSTANDING

OF TREATIES AND TREATY

MAKING

Questions to Consider

• What does it mean to be a ‘Treaty Person’ (Indigenous

and/ or non-Indigenous)?

• What obligations does being a beneficiary of Treaty carry?

• What parties made Treaty? Why is this an important

piece of information in current Canadian state –

Indigenous relations?

Locating Self: Saddle Lake Cree Nation

• Treaty No. 6 (Fort Pitt)

• Chief Pakan (James

Seenhum)

• Chief Onchiminahos

• Chief Blue Quill

Treaty Trivia: How Many Nations are

located on Alberta side of Treaty 6?

Oral History and Oral Tradition

• Indigenous Knowledge is learned, held, and transferred in a very sophisticated way from knowledge holder to learner

• History and knowledge is passed on by using methodology of story-telling (land/location based)

• Use of detail by Elders

• Collective Memory

Indigenous Reason for Treaty Making

• Crown and settlers were entering territories without

treaties (ex: surveyors, HBC etc.)

• Treaty (peace and friendship) required to enter into

Indigenous territory; sharing land through treaty making

was a known process to Indigenous peoples

• Exercising, asserting and protecting Indigenous land

jurisdiction

Process of Making Treaty No. 6

• Treaty Commissioner came to Chiefs and Headmen -> for

future security of settlers, Peace and Friendship Treaty be

entered into.

• Indigenous People met and deliberated for days before

‘making/ signing’ treaty

• Treaty Pipe was used to solemnize the sacred covenant

between the two parties.

Spirit and Intent: Natural Law Teaching

As long as the sun shines and waters flow

Oral Understanding of Treaty

• Education

• Health

• Housing

• Laws

• Language

• Culture

• Land

• Territory

• Ability to Make Agreements

Treaties

Treaty Relationship Inherent Rights Imperial Crown

Dominion/

Canada

Provinces

Promises/ Rights Under Treaty

Health

Education

Social

Protection

Canada’s Legislation

Royal

Proclamation

BNA Act, 1867

Indian Act

NRTA, 1930

Canadian

Constitution,

1982

Meaning of ‘signing’ Treaty

Source: http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100028710/1100100028783#chp1

Signature’s on Treaty Document

Three Things Requested by

Treaty Commissioner The Treaty Commissioner requested 3 things at time treaty was signed:

1. Use of land to depth of the plough for Queen’s subjects

to farm

2. Trees to construct houses

3. Grass for the animals brought by settlers

* Treaty rights of Queen’s subjects were they could live in peace and share the lands with Indigenous Peoples. In return, Indigenous Peoples were to receive ‘benefits’ for ‘as long as sun shines, grass grows and water flows

Promises Made to Indigenous Peoples

10 Sticks • Health Care (medicine chest clause) – universal health care

• Education (school house clause) – universal access to education for all Indigenous Peoples

• Water – never gave up rights to water or what lived in water

• Birds – Queens subjects would bring own birds

• Social Assistance (pestilence and famine clause) – distribution of food in times of need

• Minerals – only share land to depth of plough

• Indian Agent – was to be a servant to Indigenous Peoples

• Farm Instructor – appointment of farm instructor and supply equipment

• Treaty Money – gift from Queen for entering into Treaty; monies set aside for future use ($12 to $5 – land trust)

• Treaty Citizenship – Indigenous People would control their citizenship (treaty citizens/ treaty cards)

The Beginning of State Imposed

Control Through Policy/ Law on

Indigenous Lives

“The great aim of our legislation has been to do away with

the tribal system and to assimilate the Indian people in all

respects with the other inhabitants of the Dominion, as

speedily as they are fit for the change.“

1887, First Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald

And here…..

Duncan Campbell Scott – 1920

Department of Indian Affairs

And here…

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, that is the whole object of this Bill.”

Early Indian Policy and Legislation

• 1857: Gradual

Civilization Act

• 1869:Gradual

Enfranchisement Act

• Purpose:

• Assimilate Indian

people into Canadian

settler society

Indian Residential Schools in Canada:

The Painful Legacy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIKPE_urY8A

Residential Schools System in Context

“The system forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Aboriginal

heritage and culture or to speak their own languages. Children were severely punished if these, among other, strict rules were broken.”

Source: http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/government-policy/the-residential-school-system.html

FAMILY HISTORY IN BLUE QUILLS

Blue Quills First Nations College

The legacy and history of Residential Schools is a part of

everyone’s collective history (families)

Pre-1867

Inherent Education

1876: Treaty 6

Signed: Fort

Carleton/ Pitt

1867: BNA Act

91.24 “Indians and Lands

Reserved for Indians”

1876: Consolidated Indian

Act (Provided for Day

Schools

1892: Fed Gov’t Order in Council -

enter into contractual agreement

with 4 churches in Canada for the

operation of Res Schools.

1898: Sacred Heart Mission

School Moved & rebuilt in

SL (renamed BQ)

1931:BQ Res School

Opens at current site

1951: Indian Act Amendments

(Minister of Indian Affairs

invested with total control over

education of Indian children)

1957: Hawthorne Report –

integration of children into

public schools would hasten

assimilation.

1963: DIAND funds reserves to

establish school committees

for the purpose of supporting

integration policy.

1966: DIAND signs a

tuition agreement with St.

Paul school division that

provides for Kehewin, SL,

GFL & FL reserves.

Reserves 100 seats for

high school students in

St. Paul Regional.

Blue Quills First Nations College

1969: White Paper on Indian

Policy (Educ for Indians to be

turned over to Province).

1969: St Paul School Board

Reports 94% drop-out rate.

1969: Contracts with

churches to provide Res

Schools dissolved by Fed.

Govn’t.

1970 (June 4): Citizen’s

Plus or the “Red Paper”

presented to Parliament by

Indian Assoc. of Alberta

(IAA)

1970: Peaceful occupation

of BQ concludes inthe BQ

Native Education Council

takeover of the facilities

effective January 1, 1971.

1971: BQ Native Education

Council becomes first to

manage and operate a school

by Indian people.

1972: ‘Indian Control of Indian

Education’ report tabled by NIB

with the Fed Gov’t.

1973: Federal government adopts NIB

recommendations based on administrative

principles, jurisdiction remains with federal

department.

1990: Blue Quills becomes a

College, established by a

constitution of 7 Chiefs. (SLCN,

FLCN, GFLN, HL, BLCN,

Kehewin, CL.

Purpose: To ‘Kill the Indian in the Child’

Indian Act – Its Purpose • Protection

• Control

• Assimilation

• Civilization

• “The Indian Act has been an unjustified infringement on the Aboriginal and treaty rights of the First Nations”

Source: “The Indian Act: Protection, Control, or Assimilation?” A Review of Crown Policy & Legislation, 1670-1996

Indian Act – Contents cont

• IA gave DIA and its officials control over reserve lands and

resources and authorized them to regulate commerce and

trade with Aboriginal people.

• Amendments to the Indian Act banned crucial cultural

ceremonies, such as the Sun Dance and the Potlatch,

barred Aboriginal communities from hiring lawyers to

pursue claims against the government, made public

meetings illegal to discuss Indigenous affairs, and

establish pass systems which allowed Indian Agents to

regulate movement of people on/ off reserves.

Indian Act – contents cont

• Key concerns raised by Indian leadership – self-

government, treaties, land question – were ignored and

dismissed by officials. Efforts were made to ensure that

future ‘consultations’ would be under former government

control.

• In 1951, a revised Indian Act was adopted by Parliament.

In most respects it was the same as the 1876 Indian Act.

The Protective obligations of the Crown were seen as a

temporary duty which would disappear once complete

assimilation had been achieved.

1969 White Paper on Indian Policy • “The Government believes

that its policies must lead to the full, free and nondiscriminatory participation of the Indian people in Canadian society. Such a goal requires a break with the past. It requires that the Indian people's role of dependence be replaced by a role of equal status, opportunity and responsibility, a role they can share with all other Canadians.”

• Source: p. 3, “Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian Policy, 1969”

1969 White Paper Objectives

• Assimilation of First Nations

• Remove legislative Recognition

• Neutralize constitutional status

• Impose Taxation

• Encourage Provincial Encroachment

• Eliminate Reserved lands and extinguish Aboriginal title

• Economic underdevelopment of communities

• Dismantle Treaties.

1982: Canadian Federal Government

Structure • Section 35 of the new

constitution “recognizes

and affirms the existing

Aboriginal and treaty rights

of Aboriginal peoples”

• A series of First Ministers’

Conferences were held in

1983, 1984, 1985 and

1987, to identify and define

the scope and content of s.

35, but these constitutional

conferences failed.

Post 1982 Constitutional Era:

INHERENT, ABORIGINAL / TREATY RIGHTS

and TITLE • Inherent Rights: Creator given rights we are

born with; those responsibilities that come with

being born into a Nation.

• Aboriginal Rights: [A]re collective rights

exercised before contact amongst Aboriginal

Peoples/ Nations (ex: hunting, trapping, self-

gov’t…etc.) recognized under Constitution (s. 35).

Source: http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/land-rights/aboriginal-

title.html

INHERENT, ABORIGINAL / TREATY

RIGHTS and TITLE • Treaty Rights: Rights flowing from promises made by the Crown to First Nations under Treaty and recognized under s. 35 (ex: health, education etc.)

• Aboriginal Title: The Aboriginal right to land or territory. Canadian Law (s. 35) recognizes this as right to the use of and jurisdiction over a group’s ancestral territories.

Source: http://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/home/land-rights/aboriginal-title.html

The Residential School Settlement

Agreement

“The implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement(Settlement Agreement) began on September 19, 2007, following the agreement reached

between legal counsel for former students, legal counsel for the Churches, the Assembly of First Nations, other

Aboriginal organizations and the Government of Canada to achieve a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian

Residential Schools.” (INAC Website)

• Website: http://www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca/english_index.html

• Info: http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1332949137290/1332949312397

The Settlement Agreement Cont -

• The Settlement Agreement includes the following measures to address the legacy of the Indian Residential School system:

1. Common Experience Payment (CEP): to be paid to all eligible former students who resided at a recognized IRS.

2. Independent Assessment Process (IAP), a claimant-centred, non-adversarial, out of court process for the resolution of claims of sexual abuse, serious physical abuse and other wrongful acts suffered at IRS.

3. Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), mandated to hold seven national events, support community events, create public historical record and promote awareness about the IRS system and its impacts.

4. Commemoration, a $20 million initiative which supports local, regional and national activities that honour, educate, remember, memorialize and/or pay tribute to former IRS students, their families and their communities; and

5. Measures to support healing such as the IRS Resolution Health Support Program and an endowment to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF).

The Challenges with the Settlement

Agreement Residential school survivors face 'adversarial' government:

Lawyers say government attitude has 'shifted' as survivors wait for information

• “A number of lawyers from Northern Canada say the federal government's attitude towards residential school abuse claims has changed. Many lawyers say they are seeing more delays and are processing more appeals since the process began.”

• “My clients are phoning in saying 'I'm going to hang myself, I am going to kill myself, I can't stand this anymore," he says. "We are getting e-mails daily from a couple of clients saying 'where is the decision?”

• Source: CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/residential-school-survivors-face-adversarial-government-1.2523520

The Harper Era: Terminate

Aboriginal Rights

In 2006

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, CSIS, and the RCMP begin

doing surveillance on First Nation people - for “future

unrest.”

Source: http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/first-nations-under-surveillance/7434

Source: http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/4640

WHY?

IMPLEMENTING THE FIRST NATIONS

TERMINATION PLAN & 1969 WHITE

PAPER THROUGH LEGISLATION ETC.

First Nations Resist Termination – Idle No

More • The Long Standing Prophecy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKMYX_IxZVU

First Nations Termination Plan

• What is ‘Termination’?

• “Termination means the ending of First Nations pre-

existing sovereign status through imposed legislation,

policy and federal coercion of First Nations into Land

Claims and Self-Government Final Agreements that

convert First Nations into municipalities, their reserves

into fee simple lands and extinguishment of their Inherent,

Aboriginal and Treaty Rights”.

Source: http://intercontinentalcry.org/harper-launches-major-first-

nations-termination-plan-as-negotiating-tables-legitimize-canadas-

colonialism/

Canada’s

First Nation’s Termination Plan

Legislation Land Claim/ Self-

Government Agreements

Policies

The Termination Framework

Harper’s Termination Plan (Policy)

• Achieving ‘termination’ through Harper’s 3 new Policy

measures:

1. A “results based” approach to negotiating Modern Treaties

and Self-Government Agreements

2. Funding Cut and capped of First Nations regional & national

political organizations.

3. Elimination of funding for advisory services for First Nation

band and tribal councils over next 2 years.

Source: http://intercontinentalcry.org/harper-launches-major-first-nations-

termination-plan-as-negotiating-tables-legitimize-canadas-colonialism/

Status of Canada’s Termination

Legislation BILL: Title: Status:

Bill C-38/ 45 Omnibus Bills Passed (2012)

Bill C-27

First Nations Financial Transparency Act Passed (March 2013)

Bill S-2 Family Homes on Reserves and Matrimonial

Interests or Rights Act

Passed (June 2013)

Bill S-8 Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act Passed (June 2013)

Bill S-6 First Nations Election Act Committee – Next is

3rd Reading

Bill C-428 Indian Act Amendment and Replacement Act In Committee (May

2013)

Bill S-212 First Nations Self-Government Recognition Act Dropped from Order

Paper (2013)

Proposed

FNPOA

First Nation Private Property Ownership Act To Be Introduced

Proposed FNEA First Nation Education Act To Be Introduced

The Proposed First Nations Education Act (FNEA)

Why is this a PROBLEM?

Key Timeline Leading to Proposed FNEA • Feb 2012: “Report of National Panel on First Nation…” released.

Recommends a FNEA.

• Dec 2012: INAC releases “Discussion Guide: Blue Print for Legislation” to begin intensive consultations

• Jan – April 2013: 8 Regional ‘Consultations’ held across Canada

• July 2013: “Blueprint for Legislation” released by INAC

• Oct 2013: INAC releases “Proposal for a Bill on First Nations Education”

Source: http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1358799301258/1358799341720

CONCERNS RAISED BY FIRST NATIONS ABOUT

THE PROPOSED BILL • The proposed Act is being imposed despite nationwide protests by

peoples/ nations/ leaders.

• Federal accountability to ensure adequate funding has not been included or addressed.

• Imposes many requirements on First Nations but none for Canada.

• Imposes provincial standards on reserve without addressing inadequacies of why current education system is failing First Nations.

• There is no opt-in or opt-out clause – legislation will automatically apply to all First Nations.

Source: http://www.oktlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/jfrFNEducation.pdf

STOP the First Nations Education Act

Poster and Art

created by: Tannis

Monkman Neilson

Being Allies: Unsettling the Settler Within

“We must face our history honestly and with courage in ways that transform not just our minds but our hearts and

our spirits. Challenging our assumptions, exploring our myths about our shared history is the first step towards

engaging in a deeper transformative dialogue with Indigenous peoples about what really constitutes a just

reconciliation and how we might work towards an ethical peace. “

• Paulette Regan: “Unsettling the Settler Within”

Source: http://web.uvic.ca/igov/research/pdfs/A%20Transformative%20Framework%20for%20Decolonizing%20Canada.pdf

IDLE NO MORE: Working Together

Questions for Discussion:

• How do we inform Canada/ Canadians of their obligations

to honour Treaty?

• What does it mean to decolonize Canada?

• What is meaningful/ true reconciliation?