Apartheid
"From
1927 until the early '50s, there was a law in Canada that forbade Indians to
raise money and hire lawyers to fight land claim suits. They had actually been
shut out from using the law on the basis of race; this was a discriminatory law
that would have done credit to the apartheid regime of South Africa."
Ronald Wright
"RECEIVING MONEY FOR THE PROSECUTION OF A CLAIM
141. Every person who, without the consent of the Superintendent
General expressed in writing, receives, obtains, solicits or requests from any
Indian any payment or contribution or promise of any payment or contribution
for the purpose of raising a fund or providing money for the prosecution of any
claim which the Tribe or Band of Indians to which such Indian belongs, or of
which he is a Member, has or is represented to have for the recovery of any
claim or money for the said Tribe or Band, shall be guilty of an offense and
liable upon summary conviction for each such offence to a penalty not exceeding
two hundred dollars and not less than fifty dollars or to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding two months."
The Indian Act, 1927
[This section of the 1927 Indian Act placed an impossible burden upon Bands
that wished to take legal action against the Crown or file a claim:]
"The 1927 Indian Act amendments, which were in force until 1951,
brought about a shameful period in Canada's history.
Our people were, by Canadian law, virtually forbidden to leave our reserves
without permission from the Indian agent, who now controlled almost every
aspect of our lives, and the courts were effectively cut off to us as an avenue
for addressing a land claim against the government. Our reserves began to
resemble the internment camps that were set up during the world wars for enemy
aliens."
Arthur Manuel, Unsettling Canada A National
Wake-up Call
"Civilization
in India (1947) and other dependent colonies was not without impact in Canada .
. . Indigenous people found inspiration in such decolonization for their own
struggles. Canada had been a leader in expelling South Africa from the Commonwealth
in 1961 because of its race laws discriminating against Black people. Yet the
Indian Act had resulted in a Canada form of apartheid with its race-based
discrimination laws for Indians."
Jim Reynolds, Canada and Colonialism An Unfinished
Business
[The British Commonwealth of Nations was made up of equal nations
which were once governed by Britain but were now united under the British
monarchy. In March 1961 South Africa voted to become a republic and had to
reapply for membership in the Commonwealth. Canadian Prime Minister John
Diefenbaker, shown at the head of the table, opposed South Africa’s policy of
apartheid but feared that a vote on South Africa’s admission might split the
Commonwealth along racial lines. Diefenbaker helped draft a statement of basic
principles stating the importance of equality for all members of the
Commonwealth regardless of race, colour or creed.
This forced South Africa to make a choice before the matter of its admission
was put to a vote. South Africa refused to accept the principles and withdrew
its application for membership. It would rejoin the Commonwealth in 1994.]
"The
concentration camps [reserves] were invented in Canada and transported to South
Africa."
Heather Robertson, Reservations are for Indians
"When the ranchers were given the Land, First Nations were crowded
into concentration camps that were called reserves."
Lorraine Weir with Chief Roger Williams
Lha Yudith'in We Always Find a Way.
"Don't
knock a man down and then ask why he lives in the dirt. Don't strip a man of
his clothing and then ask why he is naked. Don't filch a man of his authority,
his right to rule his home, his dignity as a man, and then ask him why his
culture is substandard."
Chief Dan George, 1966
