Over the years, the Indian Act had long been a hack employed by the Canadian regulators within its work so you’re able to absorb (“civilize”) Canada’s Indigenous peoples. The Operate conflated all the varied regions from Native individuals to the new management group of Indians, imposing colonial different governance on the communities and you will setting up rigid laws to choose who you are going to hold updates given that an Indian.
The many incarnations of legislation functioned to overturn centuries-old assistance of governance and inheritance, which were often matriarchal, and you can imposed supposedly civilized values you to spotted all the assets from inside the a married relationship-in reality, possibly the girlfriend and children by themselves-while the of the kid of your loved ones.
Because 1st 1850 Operate into the Greatest Defense of one’s Places and you can Assets of Indians during the Lower Canada laid out Indian broadly, and people that married Indians otherwise was indeed then followed toward Indian teams, which depth soon narrowed. Read more