Allies or Subjects? Shifting Canada-Indigenous Political Relations from Treaty Six to the Electoral Franchise Act by Joshua Hazelbower BA Anthropology, University of Victoria A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Departments of Anthropology and Political Science ©Joshua Hazelbower, 2017 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. Supervisory Committee Allies or Subjects? Shifting Canada-Indigenous Political Relations from Treaty Six to the Electoral Franchise Act by Joshua Hazelbower BA Anthropology, University of Victoria, Supervisory Committee Co-Supervisor Dr. Michael Asch (Anthropology) Co-Supervisor Dr. Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark (Political Science) ii Abstract This thesis considers the diferences in the politccl relctonship between Ccncdc cnd Indigenous peoples cs estcblished in Trecty Six (1876) by Alexcnder Morris cnd thct of the Indicn Act (1876) cs driven by Dcvid Lcird cnd Electorcl Frcnchise Act (1885) by John A. Mccdoncld. Through using historiccl cnd contemporcry sources relcted to Trecty Six, cnd House of Commons debctes relcted to the two Acts, this thesis crgues thct the relctonship cs estcblished in Ccncdicn policy cnd conceived of by Ccncdicn politcicns of Trecty Six wcs ckin to c “ncton-to-ncton” relctonship, cnd thct the Indicn Act cnd Electorcl Frcnchise Act represent c turning cwcy from this towcrd c less equitcble relctonship thct plcced Ccncdc cbove Indigenous polites. This thesis clso shows thct within the Ccncdicn politccl mcinstrecm there wcs considercble dissent to this turning cwcy from more equitcble relctonships, cs shown by the contnued oppositon by politcicns less well-known todcy such cs Willicm Pcterson. iii Table of Contents Supervisory Committee........................................................................................................................................ ii Abstract..................................................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents................................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................................. vi Introduction.............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Treaty Days........................................................................................................................................................... 4 Treaties as a Beginning.................................................................................................................................... 6 A Test of Ideas................................................................................................................................................... 10 A Word About “We”........................................................................................................................................ 12 Chapter One: Treaty Six..................................................................................................................................... 14 Treaty Historiography................................................................................................................................... 21 Circumstances leading up to Treaty Six.................................................................................................27 Negotiation of the Famine Clause............................................................................................................. 32 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................................... 38 Works cited........................................................................................................................................................ 41 Chapter Two: the 1876 Indian Act Debate.................................................................................................43 The Indian Act’s Continuing Legacy......................................................................................................... 45 The Indian Act Debate................................................................................................................................... 47 iv What was meant by franchise..................................................................................................................... 49 The Introduction of the Indian Act to the House of Commons.................................................53 Final Day of the Indian Act Debate...................................................................................................... 71 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................................... 81 Works cited........................................................................................................................................................ 84 Chapter Three: The 1885 Electoral Franchise Act Debate..................................................................85 A Debate Over the Word "Indian"............................................................................................................. 92 "The Disturbance in the North-West"..................................................................................................... 96 Indigenous Allies or Indigenous Subjects?.........................................................................................103 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................... 107 Works Cited..................................................................................................................................................... 110 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................................ 111 v Acknowledgments Thanks to my family and friends for their love and support, and to my supervisors, Dr. Michael Asch and Dr. Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark. Thanks also to my external examiner, Dr. Peter Cook. Thanks to Towagh Behr and Kwusen Research and Media, whose MITACS internship helped me to be able to complete my M.A. This thesis is a product of numerous meetings, directed studies courses, and research assistantship work with Michael Asch, who directed me to look at the House of Commons debates and other historical materials, and whose intellectual mentorship has been invaluable. Special thanks to the ever kind and patient Carly Bagelman, without whom this undertaking would have brought more angst and less joy. vi Introducton In this year 2017, Canada is celebrating its 150th birthday. When we speak of a birthday for a country, we tend to be speaking metaphorically. To call the 150th anniversary of a country's existence a "birthday" humanizes what may seem otherwise remote and inaccessible: namely, politics and history. We want to make what is abstract concrete, and give it a human face, so that we may relate to it. Canada is a country, but Canada is also like a person, is like us. We are told that 150 years is young for a country, though it seems old for a person. Canada can only be considered 150 years old from the perspective of the Canadian state. Ask someone in Italy what year their country was born, and they may give you this answer: 1861. However, they would be referring only to the formation of the contemporary Italian state; it would be foolish to think that the roots of the country– social, cultural, historical– went only that deep. In Canada, we are frequently this foolish. By "we", I mean "we settlers". Unlike Italy, the social, cultural, and historical roots of Canada are different than those which comprise its contemporary state. The Canadian state’s roots are different from those which precede it on the territories it rests upon. As Asch illustrates (2014) its legitimacy to exist is granted only by those Indigenous societies which precede it on those territories, and in that respect Canada has often not lived up to its side of the relationship. As Dene leader and National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations noted Georges Erasmus about Canada's 125th birthday, there is not a "solitary thing we should be celebrating unless we do something different in the future" to make right the relationship with 1 Indigenous peoples (http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/georges-erasmus-nothing-to- celebrate). The celebration of a birthday is typically a time for reflection over one's life. If Canada is so young as we hear it is, perhaps it has not had time for adequate reflection. I have heard the adage: regret is the convocation of adulthood. Canada’s regrets are numerous: the turning away of Indian people aboard the Komagata Maru in 1914, the internment of Japanese citizens during the Second World War, the infamous "head tax" and associated discriminatory immigration policies toward Chinese