The Indian Act is an act of legislation established in 1876 to control First Nations people in Canada. It refers to the imposition of Western Patriarchal systems placed on colonial subjects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1. Government of Canada: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2002-I0038-25. Retrieved from http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/fp/fpz4d03e.shtml 

 

An insidious result of colonialism has been the externally imposed definition of Indian identity through processes that create cultural ambiguity for Aboriginal women. (Bourassa et al 2004). 

 

Under the Indian Act, the Canadian government was able to exercise political power over indigenous people. This forced assimilation was exercised through various methods, including:

 

• The abolition of Aboriginal status as independent, self-governed peoples.

• Legislated rules for band membership.

• Abolition of traditional political systems.

• Imposition of federally-controlled election systems.

• Banning spiritual Aboriginal activities.

• Formal creation of residential and industrial schools administrated by religious clergy. 

• Mandatory school attendance for Aboriginal children with the later imposition of fines and jail sentences for parents who failed to comply (CAID, 2015).

 

For Aboriginal women, the affirmation of colonial power led to the subjugation of their bodies and their children. Under this act of legislation, the status for Indian women within their bands was regulated if they married non-status Indians or non-Indians (Emberley 2007). This legislation was not amended until 1951, after nearly 100 years in practice (Barlett 1978). Additionally, once an Indian woman left her reserve to marry, she lost all property rights and could not return, nor could her children. (Bourassa et al 2004). Despite amendments being made to the Act in recent decades, the implications regarding the health, legal rights and cultural identity of Aboriginal women in Canada are still evident today. Given that over 25,000 Indian women lost their status and were forced to leave their communities between 1876 and 1985, descendants of these women have also lost their cultural identity. Thus generations of Aboriginal people have been subject to the government’s assimilation process of enfranchisement whereby the removal of Indian status has resulted in cultural genocide (Bourassa et al 2004).

 

Through the Indian Act and centuries of colonization, Aboriginal women have consequently been subject to lower health outcomes. For example, for the Dogrib peoples in Canada’s Northwest Territories, colonization has transformed traditions of community in the sharing of child birth stories and wisdom into a ‘medicalized, isolated and personal affair’ (Moffitt 2014). Instead of spending time surrounded by their family, towards the end of their pregnancy Dogrib women are moved to the city of Yellowknife ‘without the support of family and community’ (Moffitt 2014). This removal of ceremony and tradition in birth is identifiable in numerous other bands. Thus, for maternal health care, the Indian Act has resulted in traditional practices of birthing and midwifery becoming lost.

 

The lasting repercussions of the Indian Act have left Aboriginal women with a government and system which has historically discriminated and oppressed them. For example, by examining statistics from the 1930s onwards, it is evident that ‘both maternal and infant deaths were higher than the national average among 'status Indians', and considerably higher again among the Inuit’ (Jasen 1997). As a result, implications for the health of Aboriginal women in Canada can be identified. As stated by the National Organisation of Aboriginal Health, these implications include: ‘loss of life, denigration of culture, destruction of self-respect and self-esteem, rupture of families, and the impact of these traumas on succeeding generations’ (NAHO 2004). The ability to maintain, promote and practice health care has thus been fractured in the aftermath of the Indian Act.

 

 

References

 

Barlett, R. (1978). The Indian Act of Canada. Buffalo Law Review, 24(4), 581-615.

 

Bourassa, C., McKay-McNabb, K., & Hampton, M. (2004). Racism Sexism, and Colonialism: The Impact on the Health of Aboriginal Women in Canada. Canadian Women Studies, 24(1), 23-29.

 

Canadian Museum of History (2002). Indian Act. Retrieved from http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/fp/fpz4d03e.shtml

 

Christian Aboriginal Infastructure Developments. (2015). Forced Assimilation: Cultural Genocide. Retrieved from http://caid.ca/assimilation_policy.html#pol-culutralgenocide

 

Emberley, J. (2007). Defamiliarizing the Aboriginal: Cultural Practices and Decolonization in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

 

Jasen, P. (1997). Race, Culture, and the Colonization of Childbirth in Northern Canada. The Society for the Social History of Medicine, 383-400.

 

Moffitt, P. (2004). Colonialization: A Health Determinant for Pregnant Dogrib Women. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 15(4), 323-330.

 

National Aboriginal Health Organisation. (2004). Midwifery and Aboriginal Midwifery in Canada. Retrieved from www.naho.ca/documents/naho/english/.../DP_aboriginal_midwifery.pdf