Image retrieved from CBC Books
Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
This week’s reflection post highlights Bob Joseph’s Canadian bestseller, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act.[1] Bob Joseph is an initiated member of the Hamatsa Society, and he inherited a Chief’s seat in the Gayaxala (Thunderbird) clan.[2] Joseph is also the founder and President of Indigenous Corporate Training Inc, which provides training and development in Indigenous relations on both a national and international level.[3]
Bob Joseph had the idea to write 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act after a viral article[4] he wrote in 2015 for his blog Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples received enormous response online.[5] The book expands on the original article by providing background and commentary on 21 “rules, regulations and prohibitions” created by the 1876 Indian Act which remains in force today with substantially the same framework.[6] If you would like to read the provisions of the Indian Act, you can find it here.[7] One of the aims of the book is to educate non-Indigenous Canadians on how deeply the Indian Act continues to penetrate and control most aspects of the lives of First Nations people.[8] Bob Joseph writes that an understanding of the Indian Act and the ways it continues to direct the lives of and constrain opportunities for First Nations is essential if true reconciliation between Indigenous Peoples, the federal government and non-Indigenous Canadians is going to be achieved.[9]
The first part of the book includes a contextual discussion of each of the ‘21 Things’ and describes the historical place and timeframe of each rule or prohibition. Some of the ‘21 Things’ continue to exist in present day, such as the imposed elected chief and band council system[10] and the maintained reserves system as segregated places for the habitation of Indigenous groups and Peoples.[11] However, others have been delegated to history. For example, the Indian Act was the vehicle for the creation of residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996.[12] Another example is the process of voluntary and enforced enfranchisement which ended only recently in 1985.[13] In large part, the enfranchisement occurred through the process of the status system, the system under which Indigenous Peoples registered as “status Indians” and which precluded them from being considered “people” according to Canadian laws until the Indian Act was revised in 1951.[14]
The second part of the book is titled “Dismantling the Indian Act” and provides a discussion around the role of Indigenous self-government in community healing following the roughly 150 years of damage which ensued as a result of the Indian Act.[15] Joseph believes self-government would have a significant impact on the social and economic well-being of Indigenous groups and communities.[16] He also describes the common elements of self-government, which would include provisions for structure and accountability for Indigenous governments; revenue from land-based resources; and financial resources to fund, for example: education, police services, law-making powers, child welfare, and land and resource governance.[17]
In his final chapter, Bob Joseph contends that a country committed to reconciliation no longer requires the Indian Act.[18] Instead, the focus should be on dismantling the Indian Act and creating a self-governing future for Indigenous Peoples outside its provisions.[19] Dismantling the Indian Act will also allow Indigenous Peoples to pursue the objectives of self-determination and self-reliance.[20] Joseph defines ‘self-determination’ as “the right to decide who your people are”.[21] Currently, the Indian Act imposes rules governing membership, as well as the requirement of bands/First Nations to maintain a registry of community members based on the membership rules.[22] In the absence of such requirements, “[s]elf-determination would allow for both status and non-status members to be part of a self-governing community, which would be driven by the communities’ own membership code.”[23] Self-reliance means “getting out of the perpetually underfunded arrangements currently offered by Canada.”[24] Joseph calls for Indigenous communities to have the right to collect their own revenue resources, such as collecting property taxes, and royalties and taxes from development on their lands.[25] This would allow groups to run efficient and self-sustaining communities and allow participation in the economic mainstream.[26]
If you would like to learn more about Bob Joseph and his educational resources, please visit his website here.[27]
Yours Truly,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] Bob Joseph, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality (Port Coquitlam: Indigenous Relations Press, 2018).
[2] Indigenous Corporate Training Inc, “Bob Joseph”, (last visited 27 January 2020), online: Indigenous Corporate Training Inc <www.ictinc.ca/ict-team/bob-joseph>.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Bob Joseph, “21 Things You May Not Have Known About The Indian Act” (02 June 2015), online (blog): Working Effectively with Indigenous Peoples <www.ictinc.ca/blog/21-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-the-indian-act->.
[5] Supra note 1 at 13. Note: Page numbers reference the Ebook by Bright Wing Books.
[6] Ibid at 16.
[7] RSC 1985, c I-5, online: CanLII <www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-i-5/latest/rsc-1985-c-i-5.html?autocompleteStr=indian&autocompletePos=1#document>.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Supra note 1 at 13.
[10] Ibid at 21.
[11] Ibid at 25-26.
[12] Ibid at 41.
[13] Ibid at 27.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid at 63-70.
[16] Ibid at 67.
[17] Ibid at 68.
[18] Ibid at 71.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Indigenous Corporate Training Inc (last visited 27 January 2020), online: Indigenous Corporate Training Inc <www.ictinc.ca>.
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