Pass system (Canadian history)

Last updated

The pass system was a system of internal passports for Indigenous Canadians between 1885 and 1941. It was administered by the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA), beginning after the 1885 North-West Rebellion as part of a broader effort to confine indigenous people to Indian reserves, then newly formed through the Numbered Treaties. [1] [2] : 162–5  The system, initially intended as a temporary measure to quell disorder in the prairie provinces, eventually became a permanent feature of federal Indian affairs policy. [3] [4]

Contents

Parliament never sanctioned the pass system; it was an administrative policy of the Department of Indian Affairs. [5] The system remained in place until 1941; its purpose was to limit the freedom of movement of indigenous populations. [5] Federal officials asserted that "Indians had to be kept separate from the rest of society for their own good, as contact tended to be injurious to them". [5] The pass system was mainly implemented in Alberta and other regions in the western prairies, in Treaty 4, Treaty 6, and Treaty 7 areas. [Notes 1] The federal government formally terminated the system in 1941. [6] [7]

The pass system was administered by the Department of Indian Affairs (DIA); its authority to do so derived from a provision of the Indian Act which granted local Indian agents the powers of a justice of the peace. Under the broad powers granted to them to administer the reserves, the agents were responsible for the enforcement of the pass system; this was often done somewhat arbitrarily. Under the pretext of broadly-defined vagrancy and loitering offences, North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) officers were authorized to detain Indigenous people who were off reserve without appropriate documentation. [8] : 30  Detainees would typically be returned to their reserves; punishment for leaving the reserve without a pass could include imprisonment.

The 2015 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) investigation described the policies of the pass system, the Indian reserve system, the Indian residential school system as "aggressive assimilation". [9] : 133 

Context

Map of Numbered Treaties of Canada. Borders are approximated. Numbered-Treaties-Map.svg
Map of Numbered Treaties of Canada. Borders are approximated.

(TRC) described the period from 1764 to 1969 as a time of "Displacement and Assimilation." [9] From 1871 through the 1880s, as agricultural settlements expanded across the prairies, the Canadian government signed the Numbered Treaties, established the reserve system, and encouraged First Nations to adopt farming with the creation of industrial boarding schools. [10] By the 1880s, after 80 years of over hunting, bison populations in the western prairies—upon which the First Nations depended—collapsed, leading to famine. [11] Sarah Carter described how, "The buffalo was the foundation of the Plains economy, providing people not only with a crucial source of protein and vitamins but with many other necessities, including shelter, clothing, containers, and tools." [12] [13] [14] In the late 18th and 19th centuries smallpox epidemics decimated indigenous communities. [13] First Nations had no alternative but to accept the government's policies. [11] The TRC report described the policies—including the reserve system, the residential schools, and the pass system—as "aggressive assimilation". [9] : 133 

Scope

Vancouver Island University historian, Keith D. Smith described the pass system in his 2009 book Liberalism, Surveillance, and Resistance: Indigenous Communities in Western Canada, 1877-1927, as a "highly effective component of a "coercive and flexible" "matrix" of restrictive "laws, regulations, and policies" to "confine Indigenous people to their reserves" and advance the "interests of non-Indigenous settlers." [15] : 60–77  [16] Smith wrote that, "Under this initiative, a reserve resident was required to first secure a written pass from their Indian agent if they wanted to visit family or friends in a nearby village; check on their children at a residential school; participate in a celebration or attend a cultural event in a neighbouring community; leave their reserve to hunt, fish, and collect resources; find paid employment; travel to urban centres; or leave the reserve for any other reason." [15] : 60–77  [16]

The pass system was mainly implemented in Treaty 4, Treaty 6, and Treaty 7 areas, the regions that became the prairie provinces.

The role of federal government officials (1879–1890s)

John A. Macdonald (1815–1891), Edgar Dewdney (1835–1916), and Hayter Reed (1849–1936) were the three federal officials who were the "most prominent in the development and implementation of Indian policy" during this period. [1] Macdonald was Canada's first Prime Minister from 1867 until 1873 and had a second term from 1878 until 1891. From 1879 to 1887 Macdonald, who was both Superintendent General of Indian Affair and Prime Minister, never visited the First Nations. Macdonald had promised a transcontinental railway to link British Columbia, which had joined the Confederation in 1871, with eastern Canada. When he won his second term, he was under pressure to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway. The last spike on November 7, 1885 marked the completion of the railway, for which Macdonald has been honoured by many and condemned by others. [17] [18] Canada's national story often celebrates Macdonald and the CP railway as it brought prosperity to many Canadians. Indigenous peoples were removed from their traditional lands to make way for the CPR, including approximately 5,000 Indigenous people who were "expelled from the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan in the 1880s alone[...] One tactic used by local Indian agents against recalcitrant bands was to withhold rations." [18] In his 2013 book Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life , Canadian scholar, James Daschuk, described how the "institutionalisation of a pass system, which confined First Nations peoples to reserves, later became a vector for the spread of infectious diseases." [19] [13] Ottawa-based Lawrence Vankoughnet, a top-ranking DIA bureaucrat, is often cited as the person responsible for cutting rations to First Nations reserves after the collapse of the buffalo herds, to minimize costs. Other historians place the blame largely on Dewdney who was known for engaging in power struggles with Vankoughnet. [20] It was Vankoughnet who first alluded to a pass system in his 1884 annual report, claiming it had the potential to "prevent Indians from camping indiscriminately near white settlements." [3]

In 1879, Macdonald had chosen Dewdney to succeed David Laird as Superintendent of Indian Affairs because of Dewdney's "firmness and tact, mature judgement and experience, and 'knowledge of the Indian character'." [20] : 66  Dewdney served as Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories from December 3, 1881 until his resignation on July 1, 1888 as governor and as commissioner. [21] : 124  Dewdney hired Hayter Reed (1849–1936) as his Assistant Commissioner. [20] : 63–120  Reed, who was recommended by Dewdney as his replacement as Indian Commissioner, continued to implement departmental policies that promoted "protection, civilization, and assimilation." Reed said, "If the Indian is to become a source of profit to the country, it is clear that he must be amalgamated with the white population." [20] : 101  [21]

Role of local Indian agents

In the 1870s, the DIA put in place local Indian agents to "ensure social control and social transformation of First Nations groups." In 1885, the power of the local Indian agents was expanded giving them the authority as a justice of the peace in legal matters, as well as the right to confine Indigenous people to their reserves through the pass system. They already had the power "to recommend a Chief be removed from council and to force children either attend or to refuse a child to attend residential schools." [22]

Resistance and post-rebellion

In the mid-1880s in the Saskatchewan District of the North-West Territories, Treaty 6 Cree people led by Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear) (1825–1888) were facing starvation as bison herds disappeared. Big Bear rose up in frustration against the government, and protested treaty agreements. In five months in 1885, the Métis engaged in armed conflict with the Canadian government. These combined events are known as the North-West Rebellion. The armed response from the federal government ended the uprisings and discouraged others. After this unsuccessful rebellion, the Canadian government faced little opposition to its expansion, [23] the arrival of settlers, and the construction of the railway.

Reed, then Indian agent for the Saskatchewan region, [24] asked Macdonald to restrict the movement of Indians and stressed that the security and well-being of the country and the white settlers was at risk. On March 26, 1885, the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) Superintendent attempted to seize what he considered an important supply point. As a result of that confrontation, 12 men of the NWMP died and 11 were wounded. Five Metis and 1 Cree were also killed in the battle. [25] : 207–9  [26]

In 1884 and 1885, the pass system emerged as Dewdney instructed the newly-formed North-West Mounted Police to "detain native leaders as they attempted to travel to meetings, breaking up gatherings where legal resistance and court challenges were being discussed, and [used] rations to squeeze the Plains peoples into submission". [27] : 53 

Following the 1885 rebellion, Macdonald and his administration introduced the "most restrictive policies and legislation" with the goal of "breaking up the tribal system and assimilating First Nations people". [1] [28] Historian Sarah Carter described the pass system—"first initiated on a large scale" during the 1885 crisis—as the "most notorious of the post-1885 measures." [2] : 162–5  In the post-rebellion years, the eastern regions began to learn about how Plains Indigenous people were starving. [17]

As requested by Dewdney, Reed, who was then Assistant Indian Commissioner to Indian Commissioner, drafted a "Memorandum on the Future Management of Indians" which outlined policies in response to the 1885 rebellion. [24] [1] [29] The Memorandum supported harsh punishments for the perpetrators of the uprisings to prevent "future turbulence". It called for the abolition of the tribal system, the repression of medicine dances, and confinement of all rebels to their reserves through the use of a pass system. [29] The horses of rebels should also be confiscated. [29] Reed had already begun to implement a system of "keeping the Indians on their respective Reserves and not allowing any [to] leave them without passes", according to an August 16, 1885 memo from Reed to Dewdney. [3] [30] Reed wrote that, he was aware that the pass system was "hardly supportable by any legal enactment but we must do many things which can only be supported by common sense and by what may be for the general good. I get the police to send out daily and send any Indians without passes back to their reserves." [3] [30] Dewdney added his comments to the Memo and forwarded it to Macdonald and Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, Vankoughnet in August 1885. [31] : 36  The pass system emerged from this final document with its revisions and refinements. [29] The pass system was mentioned in correspondence between Macdonald and his Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, Lawrence Vankoughnet. An August 1885 letter said, "As to the disloyal bands this [pass system] should be carried out in consequence of their disloyalty. The system should be introduced in the loyal Bands as well and the advantage of the change pressed upon them. But no punishment for breaking bounds could be inflicted and in case of resistance on the grounds of Treaty right should not be insisted upon." [32] [33] : 168 

Vankoughnet said, "The status of the Indians in Canada is that of a minor with the government as the guardian. It has been stated that his "remarks represent the quintessential statement of federal government policy in the early period, 1873-1912." [31] : 36 

According to the TRC, Indian Affairs instituted the pass system following the North-West Rebellion, with the intention of confining First Nations "to their reserves in selected areas of the prairie west". [9] [3] : 25 

Aggressive assimilation: reserves, residential schools, and the pass system

Female students at Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School Post Card of the children at the Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School.jpg
Female students at Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School

The pass system is considered to be one aspect of the assimilation process that also included the reserve system first introduced in Upper Canada in the 1830s [8] and the residential school system, with its roots in the boys' day school for Six Nations Reserve children—the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Upper Canada in 1828—the first of the residential schools established with the goal of assimilating Indigenous children. [3] : 26  The March 14, 1879 Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds by Nicolas Flood Davin [Notes 2] was commissioned by Macdonald and informed the establishment of industrial boarding schools in Canada, the precursors of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Davin reported on American industrial schools that had been introduced while Ulysses S. Grant was President of the United States. [34] [35]

According to a 1980 Geographical Review article, Canadian government policy in the 1880s and 1890s "set the pattern for the segregation of prairie Indians from Canadian society, despite government rhetoric that promised to assimilate the Indian in Canadian life." [10]

As First Nations members were moved to the reserves, many of them became successful farmers and ranchers. The NWMP preferred to buy hay from Treaty 7 ranchers since it was considered superior feed for NWMP horses. However, non-indigenous farmers and ranchers believed that First Nations farmers were being given handouts, which were seen as unfair competition. That became one of the reasons that First Nations had the pass system imposed on them. [12] : 117–9 

On July 11, 1856, Sir John A. Macdonald wrote to the Provincial Secretary in Toronto in a letter stating, "2nd: As to the mode of managing the Indian property so as to secure its full benefit to the Indians without impeding the settlement of the country." [36]

The policy—which was never enacted through legislation, but was endorsed by the ministry of Indian Affairs—vested Indian Agents with the authority to control the length of time and the purpose of leaves and visits to reserves, through the use of obligatory signed passes, according to the University of Saskatchewan's Department of Native Studies' professor, Frank Laurie Barron. [3]

Because the "ban lacked any legislative basis it was enforced through an amendment to the Indian Act giving the Indian agent the powers of a Justice of the Peace so that he might enforce the provisions of the criminal code dealing with vagrancy and loitering." [8] : 30 

Those who did not possess a pass or permit were charged under the Vagrancy Act. Many officers knew that the First Nations members were not able to pursue legal matters in court. [37] The North West Mounted Police Superintendent McIlree in Calgary had his officers return people from Sarcee (Tsuu T'ina) to the reserve, whether or not they had a pass.[ citation needed ]

Prime Minister Macdonald said that, "I beg to inform you that there has never been any legal authority for compelling Indians who leave their Reserve to return to them, but it has always been felt that it would be a great mistake for this matter to stand too strictly in the letter of the law." [38] : 93 

Macdonald was aware that the measure violated the treaties. [39] : 301  The only way that the pass system could be implemented was through the powers that Indian agents held, which was similar to that of the police, over the First Nations.

Premiership of Wilfrid Laurier

Wilfrid Laurier, who was a Liberal Prime Minister from 1896 until 1911, said that Dewdney had caused unrest among the First Nations, which in turn had caused the North-West Rebellion. Dewdney was accused of being too generous to the First Nations because he increased rations and met with various groups to inquire about the treatment First Nation peoples were getting from government officials. [20] : 78–81 

Clifford Sifton served as Laurier's Minister of the Interior from 1896 until 1905. [40] : 33  Sifton "left Indian policy in the hands of an "Indians Affairs" bureaucracy with little sympathy for the aspirations of First Nations." [40] : 4  Sifton's mandate was to oversee development of the land, to shape immigration policy to increase immigration, particularly to attract immigrants to the Prairie provinces who would contribute to building "a nation of good farmers." To fulfill this mandate Sifton promoted railroads by convincing the federal government to help finance the Canadian National Railway which included a section that went through the Crow's Nest Pass. [41] : 169  Under Sifton, the DOI "aggressively promoted settlement in Western Canada". [42] [43] Sifton had reorganized the department early in his mandate, placing the DIA—which was intended to focus First Nations' concerns—at a lower priority compared to the Interior department—which supported the rights of settlers. This was also reflected in the people hired in the DIA—they had little sympathy for First Nations and no experience working with them. [44]

Lasting impact of 60 years of the pass system

The Numbered Treaties were signed in the 1870s granting the newly established government of Canada in the Post-Confederation period large tracts of land throughout the Prairies, Canadian North and Northwestern Ontario on traditional indigenous lands. [45] [46] : 26  Barron described how First Nations, who had once served as allies to the British, became wards of the newly-formed Canadian nation. In the 1870s, the government undertook a project of remaking First Nations to become more like the "white rural farmer". Reserves and residential schools became the sites for that training. [3] : 26 

The First Nations "were cut off from their children in residential schools, other relatives, and dispossessed of the ability to freely hunt, fish and trade, resulting in devastating and lasting financial impacts, with obvious human consequences." [47] The policy's effects included First Nations' inability to conduct trade and commerce or to attend cultural and social gatherings with neighboring Reserves and their isolation from Canadian society.

Bourgeault described how the pass system and vagrancy laws prevented First Nations from participating in the larger economy except as labourers. [48] : 293, 295, 296  The sale of agricultural products for example was seriously restricted by these policies.

The pass system affected hunting, commerce, and cultural ceremonies. First Nations visiting other reserves were required to obtain a pass from the Indian agent, regardless of the proximity of the reserves to each other. Cecile Many Guns from Brocket, Alberta, in 1973 told of two men visiting from another nearby reserve without a permit. The police retrieved them and forced them to sleep on a stone floor for the night. The next day, the two men were returned to where they came from. She indicated in her interview with Dila Provost and Albert Yellowhorn incidents details on the lack of dignity shown to Indians, who were viewed with suspicion by white people. [38] : 46 

Victoria McHugh recalled that even going from Siksika to Tsuu T'ina, people were allowed only up to five days to visit and return to Siksika. Bill McLean mentioned[ where? ] that the missionaries, with the help of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) and government officials tried to stop the Sun Dance, and condemn the ceremony. Sun Dances had allowed First Nations from various groups to travel from community to community, but the pass system did not allow for the intercommunity travel.[ citation needed ] Elva Lefthand said that hunting became more restrictive under the pass system. [49] : 152–3 

The pass system in the prairies, which is now considered to be "segregationist scheme", was studied by a delegation from South African in 1902, as a "method of social control". [3] : 26 

End of the pass system

In the 1890s, First Nation farmers protested the pass system, and many Indian agents and farmer instructors sided with them. As a result, they were fired for their efforts to bring to light that First Nations were being required to get a permit to sell grain and other farm products. The pass system continued to be enforced until the 1940s, and in some cases into the 1950s. [50] : 53–4 

Objections to the policy were raised by the NWMP in 1893, and Commissioner William Herchmer instructed police to request, not order, First Nations to go back to their reserves. [51] Herchmer was aware that the pass system was not entrenched in law. Reed wrote in a June 14, 1893 letter that he disagreed strongly with Herchmer, saying it was preferable that the NWMP abstain from 'requesting' that First Nations return to their reserves, because it would draw their attention to the fact that the NWMP were "powerless to enforce" these requests. He said, "Had the order been kept quiet, the Indians might have remained for some time in ignorance, but as I have already seen references to it in the public press, no expectation of withholding it from them need now be entertained." [38] : 93 

The pass system was phased out after a July 11, 1941 letter was circulated to all local Indian agents by then Department of Mines and Resources Indian branch director, Harold McGill. The letter included orders for all passes to be sent to Ottawa for destruction. [6] [7]

Missing archives

The policy is the subject of a 2015 documentary film, The Pass System . [52] [53] [54] In producing his 50-minute documentary which uncovered the "hidden history of the pass system", filmmaker Alex Williams spent five years searching in archives and in communities for evidence of its existence. [47] [55] [6]

In her June 26, 2016 article in the Toronto Star which discussed Williams's 2015 documentary, Joanna Smith wrote that the federal government admitted that "some records of the pass system—the apartheid-like policy that forbade First Nations from leaving their reserves without written permission—were destroyed before anyone knew of their historical value." [7]

A 1941 federal government directive requested that all passbooks be returned to Ottawa for destruction. Williams says that the reason for the directive "remains a mystery." [7] One of the Saskatchewan Archives Board's original signed permission slips, that had been issued by the Department of Indian Affairs on June 3, 1897, is featured in the documentary. An adult resident, Sawphawpahkayo, from a reserve not far from Duck Lake, Saskatchewan had received a 10-day pass in order to get married. [7] Williams was able to piece together the hidden stories with "first and second hand accounts of elders who experienced and lived under this system or have information that was passed down of their parents and grandparents about living under this system of segregation." [56]

By 1974, when the Treaties and Historical Research Centre undertook a study for the DIA to "determine whether the pass system had even existed", archival material such as historical passes and stubs, had already been destroyed. [6] A director of library and archives at the Calgary-headquartered Glenbow Museum said in a 2016 interview with The Star, that it was "absolutely astonishing" that in 1974, "federal government had to rely on outside sources to study its own policy." [6]

Even among First Nations and in Canadian society, very little is known today about the pass system and the policies surrounding its implementation.

The pass system in literature

In his 1973 book "Voices of the Plains Cree", Reverend Edward Ahenakew's fictional character Old Kayam described how every man on the reserve had to beg for permits. Kayam said, "for myself I would rather starve than go beg for such a trifling thing as a permit to sell one load of hay." [2] : 230  [57]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Cree and Saulteaux First Nation band governments representatives signed Treaty 4 or Qu'Appelle Treaty in 1874. Treaty 4 land included most of what is now southern Saskatchewan, as well as small areas in what is now western Manitoba and southeastern Alberta. Signatures to Treaty 6 were added from 1871 to 1877 by Plains Cree and Woods Cree, Assiniboine, and other band governments at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt. Treaty 7 (1875) was signed by the Blackfoot, First Nation band governments in what is today the southern portion of Alberta.
  2. ↑ Known as the Davin Report.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North-West Rebellion</span> 1885 resistance by the Métis and Cree peoples against Canada

The North-West Rebellion, also known as the North-West Resistance, was an armed resistance movement by the Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by Cree and Assiniboine of the District of Saskatchewan, North-West Territories, against the Canadian government. Many Métis felt that Canada was not protecting their rights, their land, and their survival as a distinct people. Fighting broke out in late March, and the conflict ended in June. About 91 people were killed in the fighting that occurred that spring before the conflict ended with the capture of Batoche in May 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgar Dewdney</span> Canadian politician and lieutenant governor

Edgar Dewdney, was a Canadian surveyor, road builder, Indian commissioner and politician born in Devonshire, England. He emigrated to British Columbia in 1859 in order to act as surveyor for the Dewdney Trail that runs through the province. In 1870, Dewdney decided to take up a role in Canadian government. In this year, he was elected to the Legislative Council of British Columbia as a representative from the Kootenay region. In 1872, he was elected as a Member of the Parliament of Canada for the Yale region representing the Conservative party. He was reelected to this position in 1874 and again in 1878. Dewdney served as Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories from 1879 to 1888, and the fifth Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia from 1892 to 1897. Additionally, he served as the Indian commissioner in the North-West Territories from 1879 until 1888. In 1897, Dewdney retired from politics and began working as a financial agent until his death in 1916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North-West Mounted Police</span> Former Canadian police force

The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company, the Red River Rebellion and in response to lawlessness, demonstrated by the subsequent Cypress Hills Massacre and fears of United States military intervention. The NWMP combined military, police and judicial functions along similar lines to the Royal Irish Constabulary. A small, mobile police force was chosen to reduce potential for tensions with the United States and First Nations. The NWMP uniforms included red coats deliberately reminiscent of British and Canadian military uniforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leif Newry Fitzroy Crozier</span> Canadian police officer (1846–1901)

Leif Newry Fitzroy Crozier, commonly known as L. N. F. Crozier, was a Canadian Militia officer and a superintendent of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), now best remembered for his role in the North-West Rebellion of 1885, a resistance movement headed by Métis leader Louis Riel in what is now the modern province of Saskatchewan.

Treaty Five is a treaty between Queen Victoria and Saulteaux and Swampy Cree non-treaty band governments and peoples around Lake Winnipeg in the District of Keewatin. Much of what is today central and northern Manitoba was covered by the treaty, as were a few small adjoining portions of the present-day provinces of Saskatchewan and Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Laird</span> Canadian politician (1833–1914)

David Laird, was a Canadian politician. He was born in New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island, into a Presbyterian family noted for its civic activism. His father Alexander had been a long time Reformer and Liberal MLA. David became a Liberal MLA for Belfast. He also established and edited The Patriot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post-Confederation Canada (1867–1914)</span>

Post-Confederation Canada (1867–1914) is history of Canada from the formation of the Dominion to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Canada had a population of 3.5 million, residing in the large expanse from Cape Breton to just beyond the Great Lakes, usually within a hundred miles or so of the Canada–United States border. One in three Canadians was French, and about 100,000 were aboriginal. It was a rural country composed of small farms. With a population of 115,000, Montreal was the largest city, followed by Toronto and Quebec at about 60,000. Pigs roamed the muddy streets of Ottawa, the small new national capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty 4</span> Treaty between First Nations and Canadian Crown

Treaty 4 is a treaty established between Queen Victoria and the Cree and Saulteaux First Nation band governments. The area covered by Treaty 4 represents most of current day southern Saskatchewan, plus small portions of what are today western Manitoba and southeastern Alberta. This treaty is also called the Qu'Appelle Treaty, as its first signings were conducted at Fort Qu'Appelle, North-West Territories, on 15 September 1874. Additional signings or adhesions continued until September 1877. This treaty is the only indigenous treaty in Canada that has a corresponding indigenous interpretation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Pitt Provincial Park</span> Historic trading outpost and provincial park in Saskatchewan, Canada

Fort Pitt Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Fort Pitt was built in 1829 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and was a trading post on the North Saskatchewan River in Rupert's Land. It was built at the direction of Chief Factor John Rowand, previously of Fort Edmonton, to trade for bison hides, meat and pemmican. Pemmican, dried buffalo meat, was required as provisions for HBC's northern trading posts.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), formerly known as the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, is a Saskatchewan-based First Nations organization. It represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan and is committed to honouring the spirit and intent of the Numbered Treaties, as well as the promotion, protection and implementation of these promises made over a century ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation</span> First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada

Ahtahkakoop First Nation is a Cree First Nation band government in Shell Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada belonging to the Wāskahikaniwiyiniwak division of nēhiyawak. The Ahtahkakoop First Nation government and community is located on Ahtahkakoop 104, 72 kilometers northwest of Prince Albert and is 17,347 hectares in size. The community was formerly known as the "Sandy Lake Indian Band", a name which is still used interchangeably when referring to the reserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cowessess First Nation</span> Saulteaux First Nations band government in Canada

Cowessess First Nation is a Saulteaux First Nations band government in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. The band's main reserve is Cowessess 73, one of several adjoining Indigenous communities in the Qu'Appelle Valley. The band also administers Cowessess 73A, near Esterhazy, and Treaty Four Reserve Grounds 77, which is shared with 32 other bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold Lake First Nations</span> First Nations band government in Alberta, Canada

The Cold Lake First Nations is a First Nations band government. This band is the governing body for people descended from several different historic groups, hence the plural, nations, used in the band's name. In August 2019, there were 2,960 members of this band, of which 1,322 lived within five reserves, about 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi) large within the province of Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hayter Reed</span> Canadian politician

Hayter Reed was a Canadian politician. He served on the 1st Council of the Northwest Territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation</span> Native American tribal organization in Saskatchewan

Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation is a Nakota (Assiniboine) First Nation in Canada located about 80 km (50 mi) east of Regina, Saskatchewan and 13 km (8.1 mi) south of Sintaluta. The reservation is in Treaty 4 territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation</span> First nation in Saskatchewan, Canada

The Muscowpetung Saulteaux Nation is a Saulteaux band government in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Their reserves include:

Lawrence Vankoughnet was an agent with Canada's Department of Indian Affairs in the late 19th century. Vankoughnet moved quickly up the ranks of the DIA, beginning as a clerk with family connections to prime minister John A. Macdonald. From chief civil servant to deputy superintendent, Lawrence accomplished a lot when he was present. After a 3-month sick leave for a "disordered nervous system", he wasted little time picking up where he left off. Vankoughnet was noted by many historians to be the man who cut costs on the rations the government supplied to the reserves. Despite only visiting the reserves once, where he was reluctant to socialize with the chiefs, Vankoughnet announced his change of policy plans in Battleford shortly afterwards: Indians would only be supplied with rations if they were unable to sustain themselves. Vankoughnet’s goals as deputy superintendent of the DIA was to keep costs to a minimum. He thought that so long as they were supplying reserve peoples with rations, they would remain dependent on the government and therefore a significant burden to their expenditures.

The Little Pine First Nation is a Plains Cree First Nations band government in Saskatchewan, Canada. Their reserves include:

The Peeaysees Band was an enfranchised Indigenous First Nation's band of mixed-raced, Woodland Cree people's in the area of Lac La Biche, Alberta. Signed to Treaty no. 6 on September 9, 1876 at Fort Pitt by Chief Peeaysees, the band received annuity payments till 1885 when a majority of the band members were discharged from the treaty as a repercussion for involvement in the North-West Rebellion. After 1911 all traces of the band disappeared.

The Peasant Farm Policy was a set of Canadian governmental administrative guidelines which placed limits on the agricultural practices of First Nations on the Canadian Prairies between 1889 and 1897.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Indian Policy and the Early Reserve Period". University of Saskatchewan. Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on June 26, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Carter, Sarah (1990). Lost Harvests. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN   9780773557444 . Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Barron, F. Laurie (1988). "The Indian Pass System in the Canadian West, 1882-1935" (PDF). Prairie Forum. 13 (1): 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 14, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  4. ↑ Cram, Stephanie (February 19, 2016). "Dark history of Canada's First Nations pass system uncovered in documentary". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Carter, Sarah (1999). Aboriginal People and Colonizers of Western Canada to 1900. University of Toronto Press. p. 195. ISBN   0802079954.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Smith, Johanna (April 9, 2016). "Documentary chases fragile trail of pass system that once controlled movement of First Nations". The Star. Ottawa, Ontario. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Smith, Joanna (April 10, 2016). "'The Pass System' explores dark chapter in Canadian history". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 Barron, F. Laurie (1984). "A Summary of Federal Indian Policy in the Canadian West, 1867–1984" (PDF). Native Studies Review. 1 (1): 28–39. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 26, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 4 What We Have Learned: Principles of Truth and Reconciliation (PDF) (Report). 2015. p. 192. ISBN   978-0-660-02073-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 7, 2021.
  10. 1 2 McQuillan, D. Aidan (1980). "Creation of Indian Reserves on the Canadian Prairies 1870-1885". Geographical Review. 70 (4): 379–396. doi:10.2307/214075. ISSN   0016-7428. JSTOR   214075 . Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  11. 1 2 Dobak, William A. (1996). "Killing the Canadian Buffalo, 1821-1881". The Western Historical Quarterly. 27 (1): 33–52. doi:10.2307/969920. ISSN   0043-3810. JSTOR   969920 . Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  12. 1 2 Carter, Sarah (2007). "'We Must Farm To Enable Us To Live': The Plains Cree And Agriculture To 1900". In Francis, Douglas R.; Kitzan, Chris (eds.). The Prairie West As Promised Land (PDF). Calgary: University of Calgary Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 10, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 Daschuk, James (2013). Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life. University of Regina Press. p. 386. ISBN   9780889776210. OCLC   840250989.
  14. ↑ Plummer, Kevin (December 5, 2013). "An Unsettling Prairie History: A Review of James Daschuk's Clearing the Plains". Active History. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  15. 1 2 Smith, Keith Douglas (2009). Liberalism, Surveillance, and Resistance: Indigenous Communities in Western Canada, 1877-1927. Athabasca University Press. ISBN   978-1-897425-39-8.
  16. 1 2 Smith, Keith (2016). "Living with Treaties". In Belshaw, John Douglas (ed.). Canadian History: Post-Confederation. Victoria, B.C. Retrieved June 28, 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. 1 2 Hopper, Tristin (August 28, 2018). "Here is what Sir John A. Macdonald did to Indigenous people". National Post. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  18. 1 2 Andrew-Gee, Eric (March 3, 2020). "'The railways got very wealthy on our land': How rail's colonial past made it a target for blockades". Toronto. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  19. ↑ Boateng, G. O. (2016). "Book Review of Daschuk, J. (2013). Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life". The International Indigenous Policy Journal. 7 (1). doi: 10.18584/iipj.2016.7.1.6 .
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 Titley, Brian (February 1, 2009). The Indian Commissioners: Agents of the State and Indian Policy in Canada's Prairie West, 1873 - 1932. Edmonton: The University of Alberta Press. ISBN   978-0-88864-489-3.
  21. 1 2 Gavigan, Shelley A.M. (2013). Hunger, Horses, and Government Men - Criminal Law on the Aboriginal Plains, 1870-1905. UBC Press. ISBN   978-0-7748-2253-4 . Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  22. ↑ Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortium, "Treaties 4, 6, 7", Alberta Schools Council, Alberta Schools Conversation Guide, archived from the original on June 30, 2021, retrieved June 30, 2021
  23. ↑ McLeod, Neil (1999). "Rethinking Treaty Six in the spirit of Mistah maskwa (Big Bear)" (PDF). The Canadian Journal of Native Studies. XIX: 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 3, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  24. 1 2 Nestor, Robert James (1998). Hayter Reed, Severalty, and the Subdivision of Indian Reserves on the Canadian Prairies (PDF) (M.A. diss.). Regina, Saskatchewan: University of Regina. p. 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 27, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  25. ↑ Olive Patricia Dickason; William Newbigging (2015). A Concise History of Canada's First Nations (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
  26. ↑ Aftermath of the North-West Resistance/Riel Resistance, Gladue Rights Research Database, retrieved June 27, 2021
  27. ↑ Belshaw, John Douglas (2016). Canada and the First Nations of the West. Canadian History: Post-Confederation. Victoria, B.C. ISBN   9781989623138 . Retrieved June 28, 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  28. ↑ Carter, Sarah (December 25, 1999). Aboriginal People and Colonizers of Western Canada to 1900. University of Toronto Press. ISBN   978-1-4426-9076-9.
  29. 1 2 3 4 Reed, Hayter (July 20, 1885). Memorandum on the Future Management of Indians (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 21, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  30. 1 2 PAC, Dewdney Papers, North-West Rebellion, MG 27,2076-87
  31. 1 2 Shewell, Hugh (January 1, 2004). "Enough to Keep Them Alive": Indian Welfare in Canada, 1873-1965. University of Toronto Press. ISBN   978-0-8020-8610-5.
  32. ↑ Vankoughnest to Superintendent General, vol. 3710, August 17, 1885, pp. 550–3 PAC, RG 10
  33. ↑ F. Laurie Barron; James B. Waldram, eds. (1986). 1885 and after: Native society in transition. Canadian Plains Research Center (CPRC). Regina. ISBN   978-0-88977-042-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Conference proceedings of a conference held at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon in May 1985
  34. ↑ Davin, Nicolas Flood (March 14, 1879). Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds (Report). Ottawa. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  35. ↑ Henderson, Jennifer; Wakeham, Pauline, eds. (2013). "Appendix A: Aboriginal Peoples and Residential Schools" . Reconciling Canada: Critical Perspectives on the Culture of Redress. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN   978-1-4426-1168-9 . Retrieved May 5, 2017.
  36. ↑ Hodgins, Bruce W. (1973). Johnson, J. K.; Stelmack, Carole B. (eds.). "The Papers of the Prime Ministers. The Letters of Sir John A. Macdonald: II (1858–1861)". The Canadian Historical Review. 54: 85–88. ISSN   1710-1093 . Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  37. ↑ Hall, D.J. From Treaties To Reserves The Federal Government and Native Peoples in Territorial Alberta, 1870-1905 Montreal. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2015. p.302.
  38. 1 2 3 Smith, Keith D. (August 20, 2014). Strange Visitors: Documents in Indigenous-Settler Relations in Canada from 1876. University of Toronto Press. ISBN   978-1-4426-0568-8.
  39. ↑ Hall, David John (2015). From Treaties to Reserves: The Federal Government and Native Peoples in Territorial Alberta, 1870-1905. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN   978-0-7735-4595-3.
  40. 1 2 Marchildon, Gregory P., ed. (February 25, 2009). Immigration & Settlement, 1870-1939 (1 ed.). Regina: University of Regina Press. ISBN   978-0-88977-230-4.
  41. ↑ Stevens, G.R. (1973). History of the CN Canadian National Railways. New York: Collier-Macmillan Publishers.
  42. ↑ Hall, David J. (1981). Clifford Sifton. Vol. 1.
  43. ↑ Hall, David J. (1985). Clifford Sifton. Vol. 2.
  44. ↑ "Treaty Eight (1899)" (PDF). Indian and Northern Affairs Canada INAC. Treaty Research Report: 83. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  45. ↑ "Numbered Treaty Overview". Canada in the Making. Canadiana.org. Archived from the original on April 9, 2004. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  46. ↑ "First Nations in Canada". Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs. June 7, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  47. 1 2 Williams, Alex (Director) (2015). The Pass System Official Trailer. The Pass. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  48. ↑ Bourgeault, Ron (2006). "Aboriginal Labour in the North-West". Prairie Forum. 31 (2).
  49. ↑ Treaty 7 Elders; Hildebrandt, Walter; Rider, Dorothy First; Carter, Sarah (1996). The True Spirit and Original Intent of Treaty 7. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN   978-0-7735-1522-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  50. ↑ Buckley, Helen (April 4, 1992). From Wooden Ploughs To Welfare: Why Indian Policy Failed in the Prairie Provinces. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. ISBN   978-0-7735-6328-5.
  51. ↑ Cram, Stephanie (February 19, 2016). "Dark History of Canada's First Nations pass system uncovered in documentary". CBC News.
  52. ↑ Benjoe, Kerry (November 26, 2015). "First Nation reserves prior to 1960s were 'open-air prisons,' says Saskatoon filmmaker behind The Pass System". Leader-Post . Postmedia Network . Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  53. ↑ Smith, Johanna (April 9, 2016). "Documentary chases fragile trail of pass system that once controlled movement of First Nations". The Star. Ottawa, Ontario. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  54. ↑ Smith, Joanna (April 10, 2016). "'The Pass System' explores dark chapter in Canadian history". Toronto Star. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  55. ↑ Benjoe, Kerry (November 26, 2015). "First Nation reserves prior to 1960s were 'open-air prisons,' says Saskatoon filmmaker behind The Pass System". Leader-Post . Postmedia Network . Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  56. ↑ "Pass System viewing examines history of racial segregation". Lakeland Today. St. Paul. March 22, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  57. ↑ Helen Buckley (1992). From Wooden Plow To Welfare: Why Indian Policy Failed in the Prairie Provinces. Montreal: McGill–Queen's University Press. pp. 57–58.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.