Antr1007wk3w15 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Antr1007wk3w15 - Essay Example They sought to pacify the â€Å"savages† by converting them to Christianity and many felt sincerely that this was what God wanted them to do. However they were not conscious of the negative effects this had on their culture. They acquired land from the Indians by negotiating treaties in exchange for services and products such as medical although many treaties were broken when the Europeans felt they had sufficient power to overcome any Indian resistance. When Canada became a country in 1867 this paternalistic attitude was continued by the federal government as it organized the remaining Indian population, decimated by war with the invaders and deadly European diseases, under the Indian Act. In keeping with the government’s paternalistic attitude, they micromanaged Indian life under the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs with no input from the aboriginals.(Hanson) This authority has ranged from overreaching political control such as imposing government structures on Indian communities in the form of land councils to control over the rights of Indians to practice their culture and traditions. The Indian Act has also enabled the government to determine the land base of these groups in the form of reserves and even define who qualifies as an Indian in the form of Indian status. Although reserve Indians do not have to pay federal taxes, they do not have the right to vote in federal elections. The original Indian Act was passed in 1876 as a consolidation of the Gradual Civilization Act and the Gradual Enfranchisement Act. The primary aim of this legislation was to do away with the tribal system and assimilate Indians with other inhabitants of Canada as the melt ing pot theory in the US until recently attempted to assimilate immigrants. The primary difference of course is that in Canada the Indians, although in the minority, were the original inhabitants and the Europeans the immigrants. In any