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Post-War Developments Aboriginal Rights, Land Claims, Resistance Part One
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Post-War Developments

Feb 01, 2016

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Miroslav Emling

Post-War Developments. Aboriginal Rights, Land Claims, Resistance Part One. The Right to Vote. BC – 1949 Federally – 1960 First Aboriginal Member of the Legislative Assembly – Frank Calder Also, first Aboriginal Cabinet Minister Also started the Nisga’a Tribal Council. Dr. Frank Calder. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Page 1: Post-War Developments

Post-War Developments

Aboriginal Rights, Land Claims, ResistancePart One

Page 2: Post-War Developments

The Right to Vote• BC – 1949• Federally – 1960

• First Aboriginal Member of the Legislative Assembly – Frank Calder – Also, first Aboriginal

Cabinet Minister– Also started the

Nisga’a Tribal Council

Page 3: Post-War Developments

Dr. Frank Calder• Dr. Frank Calder was the first

status Indian admitted to UBC; first to be elected to the Legislature, serving for 26 years; first to Canadian Parliament; and first appointed a Minister of the Crown. He was a tireless champion of equality for Aboriginal peoples.

• He founded the Nisga'a Tribal Council, the first established in B.C. He served as its president for 20 years, then as research director and consultant since 1974. He was named Chief of Chiefs, an unprecedented tribute by all four Nisga'a clans.

http://www.protocol.gov.bc.ca/protocol/prgs/obc/2004/2004_FCalder.htm

Page 4: Post-War Developments

• Most discriminatory clauses dropped– Ban on Potlatch– Ban on Land

Claims activities

• Women get the right to vote in Band Council Elections

Potlatch RegaliaDance regalia given up by Kwakiutl who attended Dan Cranmer's potlatch in 1921 at the village of Alert Bay, NWT (courtesy Royal British Columbia Museum).

1951 – Major Changes to Indian Act

Page 5: Post-War Developments

Studies, Hearings, Papers

• A Joint Committee report on 1963 recommended a land claims commission – went no where

• 1963 – a study, called the Hawthorn Report

• 91 Recommendations– ‘Integration or assimilation are not

objectives anyone can properly hold for the Indian’ (see remainder, p. 134)

Page 6: Post-War Developments

White Paper, 1969• Statement of the Government of Canada on

Indian Policy– Issued by then Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean

Chretien, who would later become the Prime Minister

– The Prime Minister at this time was Pierre Elliot Trudeau

• Proposed:– Repealing the Indian Act– End any status of First Nations had at Confederation

(ie, title)– Denied Government responsibility for Inuit and Metis

Page 7: Post-War Developments

Response to White Paper• Storm of protest across

the country – the politicians had underestimate the fury by First Nations and their sense of betrayal– Strengthened Aboriginal

people to keep fighting

• Union of BC Indian Chiefs – BC had a particular interest as it had no treaties (formed as a result)

Current Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, right, with David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, at a press conference at the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs’ headquarters in Gastown , 2009

Page 8: Post-War Developments

Court Cases

• Most changes to Aboriginal rights and title will come through the court cases– Calder Case, Nisga’a, final ruling 1973

• After 1982 Charter and new Constitution– Sparrow Case– Van der Peet v. The Queen– Delgamuukw v. The Queen

Page 9: Post-War Developments

Calder Case

• 1907 Nisga’a Land Committee formed• 1969 – after years of work, they finally

took the BC Government to Court• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN2fOB

qJpEA– Filed under the name of Frank Calder– Argued that Aboriginal Title to the Nass Valley

had not been extinguished– Supreme Court of BC did not agree because

Royal Proclamation did not apply in BC Appealed to BC Court of Appeal, upheld as above

Page 10: Post-War Developments

Appealed to Supreme Court of Canada - 1973

• Did not succeed at court again, but still considered a major victory

• Agreed the Nisga’a had held title to their land when the colonial government was formed

• Judges split on whether title still held in 1970

Page 11: Post-War Developments

Federal Treaty Process Put In Place

• Comprehensive Land Claims– Where no treaty had been written– Therefore the land was unsurrendered

• Specific Land Claims– Where treaties were written, but where

the Department of Indian Affairs had not lived up to its responsibilities• Cut-off lands• DIA mismanagement of Band funds• Terms not met

Page 12: Post-War Developments

Problems with the Land Claims program

• Sign the deal, extinguish rights• BC, not recognizing title, refused to

participate• Federal Government would not consider

Self-Government –now on the agenda for First Nations

• Two claims were negotiated under this:– James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement– Northeaster Quebec Agreement

Page 13: Post-War Developments

Tribal Councils Formed• A few had already

existed – Nuu-chah-nulth and Nisga’a

• Now more created as they worked to show rights to territory in order to achieve land claims

• Needed to document traditional use of the land for the process

Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council

Page 14: Post-War Developments

Toward Self-government

• Away from bureaucracy of the Department of Indian Affairs

• Tribal Councils and Band Councils take over more management responsibilities