McKenna-McBride Commission

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The McKenna McBride Commission (actually: Royal Commission on Indian Affairs for the Province of British Columbia ) was a commission from 1913 to 1916 that was supposed to solve the "question of Indian reservations " in British Columbia . It recommended that a total of about 16,000 hectares ( 47,000 acres ) of land be drawn from 54 reserves and at the same time about 30,000 hectares ( 87,000 acres ) of other land be given to the Indian tribes . Although this enlarged the reserves, the value of the confiscated land, at 1.35 to 1.53 billion dollars , outweighed that of the land , albeit more extensive, that was spent.

Members

The commission consisted of four members, two of whom represented the provincial government and two of the government of Canada . A chairman was added, who was appointed by the four commissioners.

In contrast to Commissioner James Andrew Joseph McKenna , who represented the government in Ottawa , Richard McBride was co-namesake, but was never a member of the commission. Many a chief may have expected his participation to be a certain moderation, because in negotiations with the Songhees in the Victoria area and the Squamish near Vancouver in 1911, although he did not recognize the inviolability of the reservations that had been promised, he nevertheless made extensive concessions when buying reservations there that he had been made chief. He also spoke Chinook . McBride had only approved the establishment of the commission because he was under strong political pressure at the time.

McKenna also had experience of negotiating with Indian tribes, especially in the Numbered Treaties , ie No. 8 (1899-1900 in the District of Athabasca and northwestern British Columbia) and No. 10 ( Cree and Ojibwa in northern Saskatchewan and the east from Alberta ), as well as in negotiations with Métis groups.

The tribes and the Indian agencies

British Columbia was divided into 15 Indian Agencies, or simply agencies, with a view to the indigenous population. These were Babine , Bella Coola , the Cowichan Agency , Kamloops , Kootenay , Kwawkewlth , Lytton , Nass , New Westminster , Okanagan , the Queen Charlottes Agency , Stikine , Stuart Lake , West Coast and the Williams Lake Agency . Several of the 200 or so tribes that were recognized by Canada and were entitled to reservations were summarized here . A separate report was submitted for each of these agencies, which accordingly took years to compile.

Action

The Commission examined the exact dimensions, land requirements and resource allocation for each of the reserves concerned . To this end, they not only surveyed archival documents and administrative files, but also representatives of the First Nations , Indian agents, settlers and representatives of the churches and mission orders. To do this, they went to each of the 15 Indian agencies.

The interviews with the Indians took place after the area of ​​responsibility had been explained and delimited by means of interpreters , and the interviewees were sworn in. In addition, the commission stated that according to the laws of the Dominion of Canada no land confiscation should take place without the consent of the residents. These meetings were prepared by the Indian agents and, if the Indians refused to attend such a meeting, they were also the witnesses for the current conditions, needs and deficiencies of the respective reservations. As a result, in many cases the decision was made practically by the Indian agents.

Although some First Nations would have preferred to work with knowledgeable legal representatives such as the Indian Rights Association , the commission refused to accept their presence.

Fears of ultimately being at the mercy of arbitrary decisions were compounded by the fact that urgent decisions, e.g. B. for railway or road construction that should be carried out urgently, a fait accompli could be created very quickly. In addition, sources close to the government, whether written or oral, were more likely to be believed than the residents of the reservations.

Basically, the fears related to several sub-aspects. On the one hand, the First Nations saw their land claims in general at risk. This initially concerned fishing and hunting rights, but also the right to mineral resources such as coal, wood and water rights. Alienation by settlers was on the agenda as well as problems with the practice of the still unfamiliar agriculture, especially since the equipment was perceived as increasingly inadequate in the context of an industrializing agricultural economy.

In addition, there was a need for regulation with regard to the previous reserve borders if burial sites, fishing grounds or entire villages had been left out in the older regulations. Finally, there were complaints about poor facilities in terms of medical care and schools.

The points raised often exceeded the authority of the commission, but they were all collected in one report, the Confidential Report , which was published on June 30, 1916. For this purpose, four volumes of statistics were created, plus a separate volume for each of the 15 Indian agencies.

Recommendations (June 30, 1916) and conflicts

The commission recommended reductions in 54 reserves totaling 47,055.49 acres . In return, 87,291.17 acres of other land would be added. The estimated average value of the former was $ 26.52 to $ 32.36, while the latter was only $ 5.10 per acre . Both the First Nations and the British Columbia government were dissatisfied with the recommendations. The former resisted the relinquishment of good versus bad land and the unequal treatment of the tribes, whose claims per family varied extremely between 70 and 700 acres . The government, however, was not ready to spend more land than was confiscated.

This was a conflict of objectives in that the Indians of the coast were to be accustomed to agriculture, on the other hand, their successful maritime hunting and collecting activities served to withhold larger reserves from them. Nonetheless, the commission recommended promoting agriculture and employing instructing staff.

Similar conflicts arose with the recommendations regarding the use of wood. The commission preferred - over the sale of entire forests - either the granting of felling rights for small areas of little economic value to Indians, or the employment of Indians in state companies, whereby the latter should provide work equipment and machines.

Similar difficulties related to the water supply, because numerous reserves were and are in an extremely dry area. The commission recommended the clarification and establishment of water rights in order to promote agriculture and the appointment of an engineer who knew about irrigation technology. At least the commission acknowledged that some of the tribes had done an excellent job on this.

In general, the borders of the reserves had been marked, but many of these landmarks had disappeared. In addition, erosion losses and road construction forced new surveys of the areas and settlement of the disputes that had arisen.

In fishing, the commission clearly recognized the "racial discrimination" (p. 12), the racial discrimination which led to the fact that the Indians were not granted fishing licenses. Japanese fishermen were often preferred. The big salmon fishing companies were supposed to distribute the naturally limited number of fishing permits - the catch had to be delivered to them - more fairly and give preference to the Indians living in the area. But the policy was also aimed at reducing these attached licenses in favor of free licenses for self-employed fishermen. However, the Indians were largely excluded from this by law, so that they had to work as dependent workers in the fish factories. They were also denied the opportunity to fish on a larger scale and in a similar way to fishing operations. According to the Reverend William Duncan , who nevertheless ran a fish factory together with Indians, they are quite capable of doing this. In many cases the prejudice was raised that Indians do not have the virtues that are part of permanent independence.

To this end, the commission recommended examining the privileges issued by former Indian commissioners and, if they withstood the test, actually implementing them, which in many cases had not happened. Finally, the exclusive right to fish in the waters flowing through their reserves should be protected, and finally the sale of small quantities of self-caught fish should be allowed, for many Indians depended on these yields to buy flour, tea and the like .

In order not to further decimate the fur animals, which was done by white trappers who had nothing but the "profit of the day" in mind and did not work on a long-term basis, fur farms should be promoted, but also the already existing type of fur farming.

In terms of education - in British Columbia, there were eight industrial boarding schools with 492 students, ten boarding schools with 398 and 45 day schools with 1,367 students in a Native American population of 25,000 - the commission recognized the successful work of Duncan C. Scott, the Superintendent of Indian Education . However, the Commission proposed a stronger focus on relevant practical activities in agricultural areas, as well as in coastal areas. In addition, those who did not want to become fishermen or farmers should receive more industry-related training. Some commissioners, although generally positive about education, suggested moving all schools into government hands.

Eventually, the Indians' request was taken up to train Indian nurses and to employ them again on the reservations after passing their exams.

Finally, the fines for alcohol abuse should be adjusted so that they do not have a discriminatory effect.

consequences

The disputes over the recommendations dragged on for years and only culminated in the Dominion Indian Affairs Settlement Act (1919) and the British Columbia Indian Lands Settlement Act (1920) in 1919 and 1920 . On the one hand, the government reserved the right to change the recommendations and, on the other hand, it refused to question the Indians in any case. But on this basis it was not possible to reach an agreement with the government in Ottawa , and new negotiations started.

Duncan Campbell Scott , Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs , recommended a joint review of the recommendations. The Government of Canada Representative, WE Ditchburn, and the Provincial Representative, JW Clark, were to represent the interests of the Indians along with anthropologist James Teit . But Teit died in 1922, so that the First Nations were again without representation. So the final Ditchburn-Clark Report came about with practically no participation. It recommended a further reduction in the size of the reservation by 10,000 acres and, in addition, rejected most of the demands for burial sites and the like.

On July 19, 1924, the recommendations of the McKenna-McBride Commission along with those of the Ditchburn-Clark Report were adopted by Parliament. 23 tribes suffered territorial losses in 35 different places.

See also

Web links

Remarks