Indians in the Canadian Period in Canada

The Canadian Period (1830)

In 1830 the administration of Indian affairs was transferred from the British military authorities to the provincial government. Not long afterwards Upper and Lower Canada began a systematic endeavour to educate the Indians, with the cooperation of the missionaries as to finances and system. It is claimed that their methods have been successful. and that many of the Indians are adapting themselves to the ways of modern Canadian life, although it is probable that all of these contained much white blood in their veins. Shortly after Confederation, the Dominion gov­ernment extinguished the aboriginal title to the vast areas east of the Rocky mountains by annual gifts of cash, to­gether with promises of assistance in agriculture and education, and the reservation system was extended to the Plans. In British Columbia no attempt to extinguish the Indian title has been made, but the provincial government has set aside reserves, and the Dominion government has followed the same policy there as on the prairies. The coastal Indians are an important labour factor in the fisheries of the Eraser and Skeena rivers. Both the western and eastern Indians have benefitted from the medical service extended to them by the Department of Indian Affairs, but in spite of this they have declined considerably and their future is un­certain. Doubtless all tribes will eventually disappear. The period of their greatest influence upon European civilization was probably in the seventeenth century. As one eminent authority has said, “Culturally they have already contributed everything that was valuable for our civilization beyond what knowledge we may still glean from their histories concerning man’s ceaseless struggle to control his environment.”

Source : A. G. BAILEY, “Indians”, in W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada , Vol. III, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 396p., pp. 257-264.

Further Reading

• H. A. Innis, The fur trade in Canada (New Haven, 1930)
• De Smet’s Life, letters, and travels (New York, 1905)
  Manual of the Indians of Canada, J. White (editor)
• Rev. George BRYCE, “The Indians of Western Canada”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 220-227.
• G. Bernard GILPIN, “The Micmacs of Nova Scotia”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, J. Castell HOPKINS, ed., Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 241-245.
• J. Castell HOPKINS , “The Indians of Canada “, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 206-214.
• J. Castell HOPKINS , “Canadian Treaties with Indians”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 272-278.
• J. Castell HOPKINS, “The Iroquois and the Land Issue”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 240-241.
• J. Castell HOPKINS, “Indian Attitude to Europeans in their First Encounters”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 236-239.
• J. Castell HOPKINS, “Indian Cruelty?”, Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 239-240.
• J. Castell HOPKINS, “Indians of British Columbia”, Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., p. 245.
• J. Castell HOPKINS, “Indians of the Yukon and British Columbia”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 245-249.
• E. Pauline JOHNSON, “The Organization of the Iroquois”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, J. Castell HOPKINS, ed., Toronto, Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 215-217.
• Rev. John MACLEAN, “The Indians of the Canadian North-West”, in Canada. An Encyclopaedia of the Country, Vol. 1, Toronto, The Linscott Publishing Company, 1898, 540p., pp. 228-235.
• Map of Indian Treaties in Canada , 1850-1921 (Land surrender by Canadian Indians/Extinguishment of Native rights over land in Canada)
• Map of Indian Treaties in Ontario, 1784-1850 (land surrender by Canadian Indians/Extinguishment of Native rights in Ontario

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