Question from reader: What’s wrong with the Indian act
by Tosh Southwick
February 08, 2012
Question from reader: What’s wrong with the Indian act and why do so many First Nations want it abolished?
In one word, everything. This is a piece of legislation that was brought into effect in 1876 for one purpose, the assimilation of Canadian aboriginals. I find it embarrassing for our Government to still enforce an Act with the word Indian in the title, this is how behind the times this legislation is.
There is not a First Nation person in the Yukon, or in Canada, that is not effected in some way by the Indian act. It is this piece of legislation that makes it ok, and in fact encourages and demands that aboriginal people in Canada be treated differently than everyone else. The Indian Act makes Indians (First Nations) a ward of the government and gives responsibility of Indians and Indian land to the Government. If we consider that the Indian Act was used as the blueprint by which the South African Government practiced cultural genocide in the form of apartheid on its people we need to really question what was or is right with this legislation. In order for First Nations to become self-sufficient it’s important that they be given the same rights and freedoms as every other Canadian. In my opinion one of the major obstacles standing in the way of First Nations and the Government of Canada working together for the betterment of all Canadians is the Indian Act. In order for that to happen the Indian act must be repealed and replaced with a model of true partnership between Aboriginal people and the Canadian Government.
I hope that the Indian act will not be an issue for my children when they grow up. I hope that Canadians force the Government to do what should have been done decades ago and fix a longstanding wrong by removing the Act all together. I hope that we will have a future where First Nations people are equal Canadians. I hope that I will be alive to see the end of the Indian Act.
Here is a link to the Indian Act as it reads today. I encourage everyone to read through it and make their own judgments of this piece of Canadian law.
