Indian Policy and Indigenous People

The article by Pamela Palmater provides a discussion on the aim of early Indian policy in Canada in terms of its efforts to eliminate indigenous Indian people in Canada. The article asserts that remedies introduced through the court have achieved little in addressing the injustices that have been meted on the Indians. Lack of federal recognition of non-status Indians has led to the indigenous culture, identity and communal connection being wiped out. The writer terms it arrogance the assumption that one has a right to tell a person belonging to a different culture, tradition or community that they cannot live in their land. (Palmater, 40) A comparison is made with other indigenous peoples who have been living in North America and who have been provided with the benefits, rights and responsibilities attached to their identities. The paper aims at reviewing the main points addressed in the article and looking into the strength and weaknesses in the information provided by the writer.

 The Indigenous people viewed their identities as being inseparable from land while their culture held significant information on the land use, water ways navigability, and various rules involving the protection of such space for current and coming generations. These factors shows that the indigenous identity is so much ingrained in culture , family and community that denying a person these factors may lead to traumatic impacts on their sense of self and individual’s identity (Palmater,27).  The power to restrict status Indians number has evolved outside court systems by use of internal policies like INAC to ensure their extinction. The Indian Act also promoted exclusion of some sects of indigenous from Indian registration, acts which were a matter of policies but not permitted by law (Palmater, 28). The denial to recognize the Indian status especially for children taken out of their homes to assimilate them to non-Indian homes made these individuals to continue struggling while trying to determine birth parents, or find home communities. In this regards , while it may be said that government policies are normally well-intended , the Indian policy in early times were aimed at enabling easy access to indigenous resources and land while reducing financial obligation of government to the indigenous people .While apologies for past actions by Canada against indigenous people have been offered by some government officials . Others have risen against these apologies by denying the level of harm caused, financial impacts of such apologies and colonial history of the country. The article applies United Nation’s fundamental definition of genocide to show how the Indian policies can be considered genocidal.  The Indian Act consists of laws that have an aim of controlling, defining and eventually eliminating Canadian Indians that are federally recognized (Palmater, 31).  The process of determining who is and who is not an Indian has been one of the most effective ways of eliminating Indians.

In line to the assertions made in the article, the Indian Act tends to place a lot of emphasis on undermining indigenous relations or connections to their land and other resources. This is a major strength in the argument put forward by the writer given that the act may have led to various forms of discrimination against these indigenous people. By limiting the obligations the Canadian government had to the indigenous people in terms of finances and land, these legislations extended the discrimination of the Indian people (Palmater, 47). The efforts to assimilate the Indian people into the non-indigenous people compares with the tendency of the society to reduce people and their characteristics to their biological or racial trait and the infamous goal of breeding out populations that are considered undesirable. In this case the tendency is shown through legislative extinction. Instead of rewarding the indigenous people whose land has been acquired by the colonial government and those who had participated in the building of the nation, the Indian policy assumed the goal of assimilating the indigenous people into the society so as to lessen these obligations. The writer argument has more strength through her comparison of the assimilation efforts to genocide. She denounced the colonial states attempt to downplay the degree of violence used in their efforts to eliminate the Indian people through physical destruction. She used the definition of genocide as per the United Nations, which includes acts carried out with an aim of destroying entirely or partly national, racial, ethical or religious groups of people. The emphasis was on deliberate efforts to inflict on a group life conditions which are calculated with an aim of destroying physically the entire or part of it.

 Through direct act or attempt , a scheme to commit or through complicity ,  the country enacted policies and laws while carrying out acts that fall under the many genocide categories outlined by the United Nations. Furthermore, the Indian Act played a major role in ensuring that Indigenous people are considered as Indian on their own accord.  The act also curtailed the growth of self –identified Indians in the society which also lowered individual self-worth among the indigenous community. The acts of legalizing murder through Indian policy for financial reward goes against human morals and  adds more weight to the writers claim of  genocide meted on the indigenous women. Furthermore, the denial of Indian Status has impact negatively on the wellbeing of indigenous people in terms of self –worth, recognition, acceptance, communal support and a right to have joy in ones culture(Palmater,41). On the other hand, the writer only highlights the negative effect of the Indian act on the indigenous people while disregarding the possibility that the, such a legislation had positive impact in the creation of Canada state.  While there is no excuse for eliminating or assimilating a particular group of population on the due to their distinct culture or ethnicity, the legislation may have been aimed at having a homogeneous society. In addition, there may be other factors which lead to one’s-health and well-being other than status or non-status of the Indians. Another weakness is the assumption that the Indian’s indigenous culture could have remained intact over the years without the disruption of colonial policies. Cultures are bound to change.

The article can be very useful to both the Indigenous Studies students who intend to understand the effects of the early Indian policy and Indian Act on the indigenous community since the colonial periods. The information provided also helps in understanding the effects of culture disruption among communities especially if such disruption has the backing of the government. The information provided in the article can also help the non-indigenous Canadian in advocating for the need for multicultural society. Moreover, the non-indigenous society can assist in creation of legal or social space for addressing the inequalities among the population.

Reference

Palmater, Pamela.Genocide, Indian Policy, and Legislated Elimination of Indians in Canada. Aboriginal policy studies Vol. 3. 3, 2014 .27-54.