What is the Indian Act?
The Indian Act was established to ‘protect’ the Aboriginals of Canada and their land. But they were stripped from their land (the land that still belonged to the Crown so it would be made available for other uses) and put into reserves. The reason for this act is that the government wanted to assimilate the Aboriginals native culture, and rebuild them to become ‘Canadian’. This meant that the Aboriginal people had to adapt the Euro-Canadian culture, language, faith, lifestyle and education.
1857 Civilization of Indian Tribes Act
The 1857 Civilization of Indian Tribes Act was a law that the British government made that if an educated Aboriginal man were to promise to live as a Canadian (white man) he was allowed to vote, own property etc. However, if he chose to live this lifestyle, he would lose all his aboriginal rights. Only a few amount of people pledged to this, but the others saw it bribing their land and rights for a citizenship.
Aboriginal People's Response
The response given by the Aboriginal’s was clearly negative. They did not want to adapt the ‘white culture’ or have theirs vanish. They did not want to lose their rights, as aboriginals or as people. Because they needed to stand up and protect their rights, they formed political groups. Gradually, they began to rise to provincial and national level. But their efforts could not demolish the Indian Act, which would continue for generations to come.