LAW 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Indian Act, Potlatch, Civilizing Mission

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Law
• Course: LAW 202
• Professor: Hugo Choquette

Document Summary

Cultural genocide : limitations in place by the. Traditional councils - governance structures replaced by: municipal government - would threaten the social organization of aboriginal peoples. Elections: monitored & sometimes controlled by the indian department. Intoxication for an aboriginal person = imprisonment: the raising of funds to pursue land or rights = an offence. Important spiritual practices - the potlatch ceremony of west coast peoples & the sundance/thirst dance = banned by the indian act. Sometimes, indian department agents went beyond law to control on some western reserves. The pass system: prevented any first nations person from leaving the reserve without a pass. The most damaging measure to aboriginal societies= mandatory attendance at residential schools for aboriginal children. The federal government funded, oversaw, and decided the policy behind residential schools. The schools were run by various churches and religious orders. Clearly, the assimilation mission clear: expressed as to kill the indian in the child.