1. Gendering the Indian Act
November

2. Gendering the Indian Act Lecture Outline
Background to the Indian Act
2. Gender discrimination in the Indian Act
- status & marriage
- education
- governance
3. Conclusion

3. Numbered Treaties

4. What is the Indian Act? 1876 Act – consolidation of previous Acts
1763 Royal Proclamation
Ideas about ‘Britishness’

5. Duncan Campbell Scott
Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs ( )
Poet & author
Goal: assimilation of aboriginal people

6. Indian Act, 1876 Main goal: Assimilation of Aboriginal people through:
Paternalistic rules & regulations
Marriage
Education
enfranchisement
Governance

7. Gender Discrimination in the Indian Act
Determining who is and isn’t legally an Indian
Marriage: women could gain or lose status through marriage
Ignored traditional matrilineal and matriarchal customs

8. Gender & the Residential School System
Residential Schools: 1870s – 1980s
Indian Act mandated enrollment & attendance
Cornerstone of the drive to assimilate
Curriculum – very gendered

9. Gendered Curriculum - Boys

10. Gendered Curriculum - Girls

11. Christianity & Domesticity ?

12. Governance Indian Affairs chose what positions could be filled
Only men over 21 could vote or run for a position on band council
Indian Affairs controlled elections
Band councils had minimal power

13. Conclusions Women disempowered in many ways by the Indian Act
- Through marriage, and education & also politically
Women resisted the Indian Act in formal & informal ways
- participating in banned customs, advising band councils, challenging the Act in the court system & at the international level