{"id":3832,"date":"1947-07-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"1947-07-01T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/july-1947-vol-28-no-7-the-canadian-indians\/"},"modified":"1947-07-01T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"1947-07-01T01:00:00","slug":"july-1947-vol-28-no-7-the-canadian-indians","status":"publish","type":"rbc_letter","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/july-1947-vol-28-no-7-the-canadian-indians\/","title":{"rendered":"July 1947 &#8211; Vol. 28, No. 7 &#8211; The Canadian Indians"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"layout-column-main\">\n<p class=\"boldtext\">No one knows for sure where the                     Indians came from, but if you ask an Indian he will instinctively                     turn to the north. <\/p>\n<p> Experts say that long before there was any civilization                     in Greece or Egypt, small bands of hunters moved out of Asia                     into Alaska and through there to Canada. Every party that                     drifted across the Bering Strait brought its own customs,                     and many had different languages. That is why the white men                     found no fewer than fifty distinct tribes in North America,                     speaking eleven languages. <\/p>\n<p> The Indians attained a closely knit community life in this                     new continent because of their loyalty to the tribe and tribal                     customs, and obedience to their chiefs. This way of living                     suited a country that was thinly populated, with little personal                     and no economic connection between groups. <\/p>\n<p> Political structure varied from tribe to tribe. Usually                     it involved only recognition of a chief or headman, but in                     some tribes the clan and totem organization formed a fairly                     elaborate social system. T. R. L. MacInnes, Secretary of the                     Indian Affairs Branch, said in a paper at the annual meeting                     of the Canadian Political Science Association last year: &#8220;The                     nearest approach to established government was among the Iroquois,                     whose League of the Six Nations constituted an effective mutual                     aid pact with quite modern connotations. None of the aboriginal                     Indian tribal organizations are really adaptable to the economic                     and social life of the present era. Therefore an attempt has                     been made to introduce democratic, local self-government                     on Indian reserves&#8230;At the present time practically all the                     bands in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces are under                     the elective system. In the West, with a few exceptions, mostly                     in British Columbia, the Indians continue to follow their                     tribal methods.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p> Originally the Indians were hunters. A little corn was grown                     in New Brunswick and in Ontario, but mainly the Algonkians                     depended for food and clothing upon deer, rabbits, small game                     and fish. The Hurons and Iroquois of the St. Lawrence Valley                     and southern Ontario lived in relatively permanent villages                     and cultivated extensive fields of corn, but their hunting                     was important. Wood was used for houses, canoes, containers                     and the handles of tools. Working in stone was not very good,                     but use of bone was highly developed, particularly for awls,                     bodkins, and punches. Pottery was poor in quality but useful.                     The prairie Indians depended upon the bison, or buffalo. Its                     flesh was the most important source of food, its skin served                     for blankets and as covering for tents, and its bones for                     scrapers and other implements. The Pacific coast Indians were                     fishermen, users of wood, and artists. Other characteristics                     marked tribes of the North-West and the interior Of British                     Columbia, where life was lived according to a pattern set                     by natural surroundings. <\/p>\n<p> It will be noted that nowhere in this picture of Indian                     life is mention made of industries, wholesalers, retailers,                     banks, or the other professions and businesses so necessary                     to mid-twentieth-century society. The problem of                     Indian adjustment has not been one merely of meeting a new                     mode of life, but a mode of life controlled by entirely new                     principles. The white man changed the whole shape of Indian                     ways of existence. <\/p>\n<p> Morally, the Indians had high standing. Their system of                     ethics and code of honour was almost Spartan in its rectitude.                     They had developed culturally, too. Speaking of the Blackfeet                     of Alberta, Ven. Archdeacon S. H. Middleton says: &#8220;Several                     of their stories, legends and myths have an equal standing                     with the ancient classics. It is a little startling to see                     in the story of the Medicine Pipe a close parallel to the                     classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In another of their                     stories is an incident which might have been taken bodily                     from the Odyssey.&#8221; <\/p>\n<h3>Then Came The White Men<\/h3>\n<p> Let us turn from considering the Indians as they were, their                     culture, economics, ethics and political organization, to                     look at what the coming of the white man meant to them. When                     the first Spaniards came to America, human development on                     this continent was 6,000 years behind the Old World, according                     to H. G. Wells. This ancient way of living was attacked by                     many new features: the white trapper, competitive trading,                     efficiency of modern weapons in war and the chase, natural                     catastrophies, and the operation of animal population cycles                     for which the restricted areas of reserves did not allow enough                     room. Habits of the Indians were broken, and their cultural                     and economic patterns were destroyed. Old and noble families                     lost prestige; whole tribes were degraded to pauperism when                     white hunters ruthlessly killed off the buffalo and deer.                     Entire forests fell before the woodsman&#8217;s axe. Said Mark A.                     Dawber, Executive Secretary of the Home Missions Council,                     New York, at the 1939 University of Toronto &#8211; Yale University                     conference: &#8220;The economic condition of the Indian is the white                     man&#8217;s sin. He has taken everything worth while that the Indian                     ever possessed and given to him the poorest land, and he is                     responsible for conditions that have always been an economic                     handicap.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p> The British, from the time of their first contact, decided                     that Indian land should be taken over only by formal agreement.                     The Magna Charta of Canadian Indians is the proclamation of                     1763 which set forth that no Indian could be dispossessed                     of his lands without his consent and the consent of the Crown.                     D. C. Scott, then Deputy Superintendent General of Indian                     Affairs, was able to say in 1931: &#8220;The sacredness of treaties                     and agreements with Indians has been respected.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p> Only 63,238 Indians are receiving the treaty annuity, but                     all other Indians, with this exception, are given the same                     services and benefits. By the treaties, groups of Indians                     ceded to the Crown all their title and interest in the lands                     over which they formerly roved and hunted, in exchange for                     the guarantee of residential reserves, education, annual cash                     payments, and other considerations. <\/p>\n<p> Administration is carried out by the Indian Affairs Branch                     of the Department of Mines and Resources, except in health                     matters which were transferred in 1945 to the Department of                     National Health and Welfare. <\/p>\n<p> There are nearly a hundred Indian agencies looking after                     600 bands on 2,000 reserves. The Indian Affairs Branch is                     charged with controlling education, developing agriculture                     and other pursuits, administering Indian lands, community                     funds and estates, and the general supervision of welfare.                     An important division of the work is collection and expenditure                     of the trust fund, derived from the proceeds of sale or lease                     of lands, timber or minerals and various other sources. This                     fund, amounting to about $17 million, is spent as capital                     for public works and community equipment, while the interest                     is disbursed in cash distribution, medical attendance and                     relief. <\/p>\n<h3>Education<\/h3>\n<p> Education, started by missionary enterprise, is now carried                     on jointly by the government and the churches. There were                     346 schools with an enrollment of 18,805 pupils in 1946. <\/p>\n<p> Archdeacon Middleton, principal of St. Paul&#8217;s residential                     school on the Blood reserve near Cardston, Alberta, may be                     quoted as one of Canada&#8217;s leading authorities on Indian education.                     Speaking the language fluently, he is guide and friend to                     the whole Indian band, understands the Indian philosophy,                     and while he believes in progressive education is also seized                     of the idea of making haste slowly. Here is what he says today,                     after 42 years&#8217; experience: &#8220;Our education emphasis should                     be: Preparation for the utilitarian life of earning a living;                     the development and inclusion of advanced education; and to                     inculcate the ethics of culture for social progress on the                     assumption of potential citizenship. The standardized curriculum                     has not met with the success expected. A more flexible course,                     allowing full scope for the individual and for natural talent                     is proving beneficial. Civilized and educated, the Indian                     of the better class is not less intelligent than the average                     white man and he has every capacity for becoming a good citizen.&#8221;                   <\/p>\n<p> Speaking to the special parliamentary committee, the Director                     of Indian Affairs suggested that the annual appropriation                     be doubled to $14 million for 15 years to provide proper educational                     facilities to bring the Indian nearer to achievement of rights                     of citizenship. <\/p>\n<h3>Health<\/h3>\n<p> Health also demands attention. After their first collision                     with white men, Indians tended to sicken and degenerate physically.                     They left their tents and became shack and cabin dwellers.                     They knew nothing of the sanitation needed for close-living                     permanent communities. They forsook their diet, rich in vitamins,                     and turned to bread and lard. They became easy prey to tuberculosis                     and deficiency diseases. <\/p>\n<p> Statistics are hard to come by, because of the scattered                     nature of Indian settlements, and such as there are prove                     to be contradictory. D. C. Scott reported in 1931 that tuberculosis                     is about five times more common among Indians than among the                     general population. Dr. E. L. Stone, Superintendent of Medical                     Services, Indian Affairs Branch, told the 1939 Conference                     that while the death rate from tuberculosis in all the population,                     including Indians, in a recent year was 59.7 per 100,000 persons,                     &#8220;The alleged death rate from the same cause among Indians                     was 769.3 per 100,000.&#8221; He went on to say: &#8220;In our opinion                     the figure for Indians is exaggerated,&#8221; and pointed out that                     about 20,000 Indians live in remote areas where &#8220;the registrars                     of vital statistics lack the knowledge necessary to determine                     accurately the causes of death, and the tendency is in these                     and in better organized districts to assign all deaths to                     tuberculosis unless there is some other obvious cause. We                     cannot tell to what extent the statistics given are distorted.                     If the figures are accepted at their face value, Indians are                     some thirteen times as tuberculous as white persons in Canada.&#8221;                   <\/p>\n<p> Whether five times or thirteen times, there were only 990                     tubercular Indian patients being given treatment in hospitals                     of various types, according to the report of the Indian Affairs                     Branch for the year that ended in 1946. <\/p>\n<p> Infant mortality is another matter about which it is hard                     to arrive at definite figures. The Montreal Gazette said editorially                     in May last year: &#8220;Indian health is a constant problem. A                     study by the medical service of the Indian Affairs branch,                     published in the Canadian Medical Journal in March of this                     year, said the infant mortality rate among the Indians studied                     reached the astounding figure of slightly under 400 per thousand                     live births, as compared with the white figure of 52. Such                     health conditions in any section of the population menace                     the whole.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p> Indians are disqualified from old age pension benefits and                     pensions for the blind, but they receive full benefits under                     the Family Allowances Act. The 1946 annual report of the Family                     Allowances Division said: &#8220;It would appear through reports                     of Indian agents and others that allowances have resulted                     in considerable improvement in food and clothing available                     to Indian children.&#8221; There were 16,215 families registered                     at the beginning of 1946, representing 47,021 children. <\/p>\n<h3>Indians are not a Vanishing Race<\/h3>\n<p> This suggests that the Indians of Canada are not a vanishing                     race. The best estimate available is that there were about                     200,000 Indians in what is now Canada at the time of the European                     invasion. The Indian Affairs Branch takes a census of Indians                     every five years, and the latest, in 1944, showed a population                     of 125,686 Indians. This was an increase from 118,378 in 1939                     and 112,510 in 1934, or 11.7 per cent in ten years. Today&#8217;s                     population is divided in this way: Ontario 32,421; British                     Columbia 25,515; Manitoba 15,933; Quebec 15,194; Saskatchewan                     14,158; Alberta 12,441; Northwest Territories 3,816; Nova                     Scotia 2,364; New Brunswick 2,047; Yukon 1,531, and Prince                     Edward Island 266. <\/p>\n<p> This minority race, amounting to a little over one per cent                     of the total population of the Dominion, has not the rights                     and powers of British subjects or Canadian citizens. Indians                     may become enfranchised, but great carefulness is exercised                     by the government because Indians who become enfranchised                     lose the special protection provided by the Indian Act. In                     most cases those who take up full citizenship are people who                     have left the reserves, abandoned the Indian way of life,                     and are living as white people do in settled communities.                     There were 314 persons enfranchised during the last fiscal                     year reported. <\/p>\n<p> It is not surprising that many, especially the older people,                     cling to the reserves which are the only prospect of security                     open to them. It must be said that the reserves were not intended                     to be concentration camps. It was thought that they would                     become training schools in which the Indians could learn to                     adapt themselves to modern conditions, from which to graduate                     as full citizens. &#8220;By this means,&#8221; said Hon. T. A. Crerar                     when he was Minister of the Department of Mines and Resources,                     &#8220;it was thought Canada might honourably discharge her obligations                     toward the native inhabitants of the Dominion, and, at the                     same time, by encouraging the Indians to become self-reliant,                     change a grave financial and social burden into an asset.&#8221;                   <\/p>\n<p> There is set aside for use by the Indians 5,571,000 acres,                     of which only 189,000 acres are under cultivation. This sparse                     agricultural development is not such a shocking state of affairs                     as the bare figures might be taken to indicate. According                     to the eminent Sir John Lubbock in &#8220;The Origin of Civilization&#8221;                     the North American Indians seem, as a general rule, to have                     had no individual property in land. To own and develop tracts                     of farm land would, therefore, be contrary to their ancestral                     custom, and agriculture is not one of their strong points.                   <\/p>\n<p> Income of the Indians from all sources &#8211; agriculture, fishing,                     hunting, trapping, livestock, and wages earned &#8211; amounted                     to $143 per person in the fiscal year which ended in 1946.                     They had 2,300 personal savings accounts with total balances                     amounting to $383,894. <\/p>\n<h3>Projects for Rehabilitation<\/h3>\n<p> It has been remarked that the Indians are natural-born                     conservationists of game and fish. There is evidence that                     they trapped, in their aboriginal state, according to a rotating                     system which maintained the fur population. This was broken                     down upon arrival of the white men. In recent years a determined                     effort has been made to assist the hunting Indians toward                     rehabilitation, and remarkable success has been achieved in                     protected areas. <\/p>\n<p> The government has undertaken a number of special projects                     in accordance with needs in various parts of the country.                     These include fur development enterprises, planned agricultural                     operations with advice by competent instructors, and promotion                     of handicrafts. <\/p>\n<p> Practically, Indian crafts are outmoded by modern gadgets:                     artistically, they are still of high economic importance.                     Workers are keen to maintain the quality of their products,                     and are winning world-wide recognition by their unique                     designs and fine artistry. An official in the Indian Affairs                     Branch is directly charged with promoting worthwhile handicraft                     projects and sale of the goods to the wholesale and retail                     trade. In addition to encouraging basketry, woodwork, carving,                     pottery, weaving, leather work and wroughtmetal work, steps                     have been taken to promote another industry which has great                     possibilities, the cutting, polishing and mounting of native                     Canadian semiprecious stones. Indian women are enthusiastic                     about the Homemakers&#8217; Clubs which have brought noticeable                     improvement to their living conditions. <\/p>\n<h3>What Does the Future Hold?<\/h3>\n<p> There are two schools of thought about the future: one favours                     assimilation, the other seeks a separate Indian racial life                     with its own distinctive culture. The most pathetic cases                     are of Indians who fall between the two &#8211; Indians who have                     been weaned from their ancestral ways and have not gained                     the place they desire in this new order. <\/p>\n<p> Perhaps it will help if we reduce the problem to a three-pronged                     choice. The Hon. James Glen, Minister of Mines and Resources,                     said a year ago, according to the Montreal Gazette: Either                     the government must purchase at public expense the additional                     lands and hunting and trapping rights for an Indian population                     of 128,000 or decide on an educational and welfare programme                     that would fit the Indian to enter into competition with the                     white man not only in hunting and trapping but in agriculture                     and industry. To these the newspaper added a third choice,                     one that would need time to work out, but one that could be                     worked out with goodwill on the part of the Indian and the                     rest of the Canadian population. That is to get the Indian                     off the reservation altogether and give him an opportunity                     to become a citizen in every sense of the word. <\/p>\n<p> It will be admitted that absolute preservation of native                     laws and customs is impossible, surrounded as the few islands                     of Indians are by bustling modernity. Annihilation of native                     custom, on the other hand, would be too like the things Canada                     fought the war to destroy. To find out the best course to                     be taken, a special joint committee of the Senate and the                     House of Commons is now in its second year of investigation.                     Unanimous and sympathetic interest has been expressed in Parliament,                     and it may be possible for progress to be made with changes                     and improvements without waiting for the final findings of                     the committee and a possible revamping of the Indian Act.                   <\/p>\n<p> The Churches, which have been active in Indian work since                     the first settlement of Canada, are urging quick and decisive                     action. In March this year, the Anglican Church called on                     the government for &#8220;a clear statement of national policy&#8221;                     on Indian affairs. The Catholic brief, presented by a delegation                     headed by Cardinal McGuigan, Archbishop of Toronto, remarked:                     &#8220;One must not forget that many of the improvements which are                     now suggested would have been put into effect a long time                     ago if the people of Canada had been aware of their necessity,                     and if the Canadian Government had been more generous in appropriating                     funds for Indian education.&#8221; Both Anglican and United Churches                     asked for creation of a separate department to handle Indian                     affairs, increased grants for education, and modernization                     of the curriculum in Indian schools. The United Church recommended                     establishment of Indian education &#8220;on a completely non-sectarian                     basis&#8221; and deletion from the Indian Act of sections providing                     for the segregation of Indian children by religion. <\/p>\n<h3>What Does the Indian Say?<\/h3>\n<p> What does the Indian himself want? He is torn between two                     desires: to be modern, and at the same time to retain his                     memory and love of his rich ancestry. Let us hear first of                     all Buffalo Child Long Lance, a Cherokee Indian, who was made                     an honorary Chief of the Blood Band of Blackfeet. He passed                     through school with honours, graduated from Manlius Military                     Academy, and was appointed to West Point by President Wilson.                     When war broke out, Long Lance went overseas as a private                     in the Canadian infantry and retired as a captain after three                     years&#8217; service during which he was wounded at Vimy Ridge and                     Lens. As newspaper reporter, author of several books, and                     lecturer he became as well known throughout the continent                     as he had been in his younger days for his racing and boxing.                     Then he was given the leading part in &#8220;The Silent Enemy&#8221;,                     a motion picture on the life of the aborigines. And here is                     how this educated, travelled and sophisticated man showed                     the actuality of a dual Indian personality: &#8220;All I did in                     that picture was very real. At times I felt surging within                     me all the things that had been done to us, and seemingly                     within me were the Spirits of our people of sixty thousand                     years ago &#8211; simple, true, defiant; assertive of all the loftiness                     of character which we once possessed. The other Indians felt                     it too, and at times when I acted they openly cried.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p> There is something of calm majesty in the language used                     by Indians presenting their views to the parliamentary committee:                   <\/p>\n<p> <em>&#8220;We, the Hereditary Chiefs of the St. Regis Reservation,                     members of the Six Nations Confederacy, and the Band, assembled                     to a Great Council Fire&#8230;beg to approach the Dominion Government&#8230;The                     eightieth belt of wampum may be only strings of cheap coloured                     beads, but to Indians its long white line parallel to the                     red one symbolizes JUSTICE in peace time just as the red line                     means PROTECTION in war time for our red brothers who have                     buried their tomahawk, now rusty.&#8221;<\/em> <\/p>\n<p> One Band asks that industrious and competent Indians should                     be released from the permit system which hampers their freedom                     of trading; others want old age pensions; the Cowichan Indians                     say no objection is taken to taxes on money earned off the                     reserve &#8220;if Indians are given the same rights as white men.&#8221;                     Spokesmen for the Six Nations ask for full control of Indian                     lands and exemption from land taxation, more autonomy, abolition                     of denominational schools, social services, and more power                     over the use of their own band funds. In refusing to approve                     taxation of Indians, the Bloods comment pithily: &#8220;The taking                     of the whole of the Dominion of Canada by the government should                     be sufficient taxes forever.&#8221; <\/p>\n<h3>&#8220;Children of Our Great White Mother&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p> If there is something of a lament for the past in what the                     Indian says today, and a groping aspiration for better days                     to come, there is behind these sentiments a deep-rooted                     loyalty to the Crown. <\/p>\n<p> Lying side by side with white comrades in the foxholes of                     every battle front, the Indian found acceptance on a basis                     that brave men know. One family of the Cape Croker Agency,                     the McLeods, has a magnificent record. The father served in                     the first war and in the veterans&#8217; guard in the recent war;                     his six sons and one daughter enlisted; two sons were killed                     and two wounded. The latest message of the Bloods to the parliamentary                     committee closed with this expression of loyalty: &#8220;Long may                     we remain the children of our great white mother, Her Majesty                     our late Queen Victoria.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p> Everyone with sympathy for the Indians and care for Canada&#8217;s                     obligations will wish success to the parliamentary committee                     in its search for an honourable and thorough way of discharging                     the Dominion&#8217;s responsibilities to these First Citizens of                     Canada. It is not enough to save the Indian from extinction.                     If the Indian Affairs Branch can provide a fulcrum to help                     the Indian reach a new and more satisfying; life, it will                     be a fine demonstration of practical democracy. <\/p>\n<p> The school crest of St. Paul&#8217;s shows, against a background                     of mountains and a tepee, a youthful Indian gazing into the                     distance. Around the crest is a motto whose origin is lost                     in the antiquity of western Indians: <em>Mokokit-ki-aekakimat<\/em>:                     &#8220;Be Wise and Persevere&#8221;. That is the spirit of young Indians                     today, and a motto fit for all who wish to help the Indians                     to find a better way of life. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"rbc_letter_theme":[],"rbc_letter_year":[27],"class_list":["post-3832","rbc_letter","type-rbc_letter","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","rbc_letter_year-27"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>July 1947 - Vol. 28, No. 7 - The Canadian Indians - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/july-1947-vol-28-no-7-the-canadian-indians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"July 1947 - Vol. 28, No. 7 - The Canadian Indians - RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No one knows for sure where the Indians came from, but if you ask an Indian he will instinctively turn to the north. Experts say that long before there was any civilization in Greece or Egypt, small bands of hunters moved out of Asia into Alaska and through there to Canada. 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Experts say that long before there was any civilization in Greece or Egypt, small bands of hunters moved out of Asia into Alaska and through there to Canada. 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