"21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act", Bob Joseph provides a brief synopsis of how the Indian Act was created in Canada.
"The Roots of the Indian Act lie in the Bagot Report of 1844 that recommended that
control over Indian matters be centralized,
that the children be sent to boarding schools
away from the influence of their communities
and culture,
that the Indians be encouraged to assume the
European concept of free enterprise,
and that land be individually owned under an
Indian land registry system in which they could
sell to each other but not to non-Indians.
The Bagot Report provided the framework for the Indian Act, 1876." (p. 7)
"By the 1920s, Indian policy took on a much darker tone.
Duncan Scott Campbell, the Deputy Superintendent General
of Indian Affairs, wrote:
'I want to get rid of the Indian problem...
Our objective is to continue until there is not
an Indian that has not been absorbed into the
body politic, and there is no Indian question,
and no Indian Department...' " (p. 8)
Important Note on Terminology:
Bob Joseph states:
"I use the word 'Indian' in the first two sections of the book because of
its legal and historical context. It is not a term we would otherwise
use unless in reference to a community that has made that choice for
their name. One example of this is the Musqueam Indian Band." (p. 10)
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