2. Women's Perspectives - Christian Aboriginal Infrastructure ...

identity and everything to do with administration, bureaucracy and an apparently
continuing federal policy of assimilation that persists to this day.
The Indian Act was conceived and implemented in part as an overt attack on Indian
nationhood and individual identity, a conscious and sustained attempt by non-Aboriginal
missionaries, politicians and bureaucrats — albeit at times well intentioned — to impose
rules to determine who is and is not 'Indian'. A woman's view of herself as an Indian and
the views of Indian nations about the identity of their citizens were not factors in the
equation.
In these and many other ways, the Indian Act undermined Aboriginal rights, Aboriginal
identity and Aboriginal culture. It created divisions within peoples and communities that
fester to this day. The grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Ovide Mercredi,
described the legacy of the act thus:
What is especially hurtful about the Indian Act is that while we did not make it, nor have
we ever consented to it, it has served to divide our peoples. We sometimes buy into
Indian Act definitions and categories in our own assessment of people and politics. This
is part of the legacy of colonialism. When Parliament tried to correct its mistakes in 1985,
it exacerbated them instead. What else could be expected of a law imposed on us by the
federal government 14
For many Aboriginal women, the Indian Act is a monument to the history of
discriminatory federal policy. Thus, to understand the present situation of women under
the Indian Act, it is helpful to look at how that policy developed and how Victorian
notions were transformed into fundamental policy principles that continue to affect the
lives of First Nations women today.
3.1 Policy Development and its Impact on First Nations Women
The first 100 years: 1850-1950
Historically the Indian Act has thoroughly brainwashed us. Since 1869 Indian women
already were legislated as to who she should be. Six times the Indian Act changed on
Indian women. But each time she lost a little bit of her rights as an Indian.
Nellie Carlson
Indian Rights for Indian Women
Edmonton, Alberta, 11 June 1992
The earliest laws dealing directly and explicitly with Indian people date from the middle
of the nineteenth century and were enacted as part of the reserve policy of imperial and
colonial governments to protect reserve lands from encroachment by non-Indian settlers.
Once protected lands had been set aside for exclusive Indian use and occupation, it
became necessary to define who was Indian.
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