Forced Relocation of Indigenous Peoples in Canada
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FORCED RELOCATION OF 5 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN CANADA FORCED RELOCATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN CANADA Planning your FIRST STEPS learning journey Indigenous Peoples have lived on the land now known What are some examples as Canada for thousands of years.1 When Europeans first arrived, Indigenous Peoples provided assistance of forced relocation of to help them survive in unfamiliar environments. In some areas, Indigenous Peoples maintained their distance from European newcomers, while in other Indigenous Peoples across areas closer bonds formed. Conflict also occurred, and Indigenous populations were decimated by new what is now known as diseases to which they had no immunity. The diversity among nations meant that each had a different Canada? experience with European newcomers, and each was uniquely impacted.2 The Doctrine of Discovery originated in Europe in the 1400s. It was based on the supposed “racial superiority” of Christian Europeans, was used to justify the taking of Indigenous land by Europeans and ignored the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples.3 Indigenous Peoples were viewed as nonhuman because they were non-Christian, thus making the land terra nullius in the eyes of European explorers.4 Terra nullius claims that no one owned the land now known as Canada prior to European assertion of sovereignty. However, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that this never applied in Canada, as confirmed by the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which recognized Indigenous title.5 It was the Royal Proclamation that necessitated the making of treaties and other land agreements between Indigenous Peoples and the Crown, and later Canada.6 In spite of this, the Crown and Government of Canada enacted many policies and engaged in many An image of a scrip coupon for 160 acres issued to practices that displaced Indigenous Peoples from their Andrew McAuley. original homelands. The lasting impacts of this forced Source: LAC RG15, Volume 1408 disconnection from the land are still being felt by Indigenous Peoples today. Land is culture… The had input into where their reserves Métis land grants “towards the land connects us to would be located, but in other cases extinguishment of the aboriginal our language and our they were chosen by missionaries or title,” as recognized in the Royal spirituality, our values, our the Crown’s representatives.12 Proclamation. This land was to be traditions and our laws of given to the “children of half-breed Reserves were used as a method mino bimatasiwin, which heads of families.”19 The Half-Breed of managing and controlling First is the good life. In short, Scrip Commission issued scrip as Nations populations in order to make the land personifies who either 140 or 260 acres or dollars, way for European settlement. As well, we are. It is the heart of depending on the situation of each the reserve system was used to force our identity. It is our very individual applicant. This process, First Nations peoples to transition lives, our souls, which are connected known as Métis Scrip, was marked to an agricultural way of life.13 By to the land of our ancestors. by widespread fraud and coercion. forcing them onto small plots of land —Doris Young, Member of the Indian rather than the vast territories on Applicants did not have a say in Residential School Committee7 which they customarily traversed, where the land was located, and the Crown and later Canadian they had to uproot their lives and FORCED RELOCATION government were engaging in a travel hundreds of kilometres from OF FIRST NATIONS policy of “aggressive assimilation.”14 their homes to find the land they had been promised; therefore, Métis Some examples of forced relocation PEOPLES individuals either sold or did not of First Nations peoples in the land From the time of contact, European pursue this promised land. Many now known as Alberta include settlement spread westward and Métis fell victim to land speculators the Papaschase First Nation from impacted First Nations people along such as Richard Secord and Frank southwest Edmonton,15 Michel First the way. Europeans first came to Oliver who closely followed the Nation from northwest of Edmonton present-day Alberta due to the fur Half-Breed Scrip Commission. They and Stoney First Nations from Banff.16 trade. Indigenous Peoples played would offer to pay cash for the piece a central role as trading partners, of paper that often destitute Métis interpreters and mediators.8 As people had in hand or use people to the economy began to shift from a With the increase of impersonate the Métis individual focus on the fur trade to agriculture population and increase who the scrip coupon belonged and the Crown promoted European of value of land, there to, and many took them up on the settlement into the Prairies, First offer, receiving much less than the Nations were forced to adapt to the necessarily comes some actual value of the land. In response changing conditions.9 This settlement clash of interest between the to the widespread fraud being led to increased interaction with Indian and the white man. committed during the scrip process, settlers as well as infringement on the Criminal Code of Canada was Indigenous Peoples’ lands and ways —Frank Oliver, Minister amended to create a three-year of life. As a result, the Crown deemed of the Interior, 1910.17 statute of limitations on Métis land it necessary to make treaty in order to claims, effectively leading to no Frank Oliver was one of many 10 gain access to these lands. democratically elected officials that prosecutions or settlements relating actively worked toward the forced to scrip.20 Treaty 6 (1876), Treaty 7 (1877) and relocation of Indigenous Peoples from Treaty 8 (1899) cover most of Alberta. their lands, and this work was supported As a result of landlessness due to The spirit and intent of treaties by broader Canadian society.18 the fraudulent scrip process and includes an intention of mutual encroachment of settlers, Métis benefit and an agreement to share on FORCED RELOCATION began to establish communities a nation-to-nation basis.11 The Crown’s in road allowances throughout interpretation of the Treaties led to OF MÉTIS PEOPLES Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the creation of many of the reserves In 1870, the Manitoba Act set Alberta. Road allowances were in Canada. In some instances, nations aside 1.4 million acres for 10-feet-wide spaces along roads, Walking Together: Education for Reconciliation railways and other Crown lands wanted, and that a better life NEXT STEPS that were left in order to allow for awaited them. What they found was maintenance or future growth.21 a completely foreign environment, Homes were typically one- or climate and landscape lacking most »»» Disconnection from the two-room shacks with tar paper of their usual food sources such as land has had devastating roofs, and these communities often Canada geese and cloudberries.28 and lasting impacts on popped up wherever employment Inuit in Labrador were also First Nations, Métis and could be found.22 Métis usually did relocated in the 1950s to reduce Inuit peoples in Canada. labour on local farms or became administrative costs. According According to the Interim farmers themselves. They survived to the director of Northern Report of the Standing Senate by hunting and trapping until a Labrador Affairs, Government Committee on Aboriginal 23 law made this illegal, and many of Newfoundland and Labrador, Peoples, “Assimilation continue this way of life today. “Civilization is on the northward affect[s] Indigenous groups Traplines are often handed down march, and for the Eskimo and differently depending on the from one family member to another. Indian there is no escape. The last region and their relationship Some examples of forced relocations bridges of isolation were destroyed with the Crown, although of Métis include Moccasin Flats with the coming of the airplane the effects of relocation and in Fort McMurray24 and the land and the radio. The only course now dispossession [are] especially now known as Jasper National open, for there can be no turning devastating for all, given the back, is to fit him as soon as may Park.25 St Paul des Métis is one of importance of the land as a be to take his full place as a citizen the most prominent cases of forced source of identity, spirituality, in our society. There is no time to relocation. Alberta initially had governance and sustenance. lose.” The community of Hebron These policies and the loss 12 land-based Métis settlements, was closed. The families who of lands have contributed to and 4 were rescinded for economic lived there were told they would a complex intergenerational development: Wolf Lake, Malboro, have to choose how they would legacy that continues to affect Touchwood and Cold Lake. be separated according to quotas Indigenous communities on how many families each host today. This legacy has led to FORCED RELOCATION community would accept. These disparities in such areas as OF INUIT new communities were a mixture health and education, and of Inuit and non-Inuit, but the the overrepresentation of Ausuittuq (Grise Fiord), architects of the relocations did not Indigenous Peoples in the on Ellesmere Island, is the consider the cultural and social child welfare and criminal northernmost community in North diversity among Inuit. This, along justice system, among America. In 1953 and 1955, families with disconnection from the land, others.”30 As educators, it from Pond Inlet and Inukjuak caused extreme hardship for the is important to be aware were moved to the area as part of relocated families.29 of the forced relocation a government-sponsored relocation of Indigenous Peoples as 26 program.