Hiya, folks! As my title suggests, I'm interested in learning about the legal organisation, rights and representation of Canada's First Nation communities at the beginning of the 20th century? To my extremely limited understanding, First Nations people had been, and would continue to be, subject to widespread and systematic disenfranchisement and exploitation by the Canadian government both prior to and long after the turn of the century. This said, what form/s did their legal status take around 1900? Was there any form of national unity or identity like that which we see encompassed in today's "First Nations" concept? How did indigenous leaders and populations succeed in leveraging what legal status they did hold?
Thanks!
Edit: Accidentally a word in the title, "Federal Government."
Native Canadian here - problems lie in our lack of knowledge about this stuff - including me - and I'm freakin Native!
As far as I know, we didn't properly start to represent ourselves until the 70s with the formation of the national indian brotherhood - which later became the Assembly of First Nations (AFN)
Before that, we were more or less treated as wards of the state, anything we wanted to do was requested from the government and they had the last word - which was mostly negative. You also have to view this from a colonial, European turn of the last century perspective. Natives were viewed as a remnant of the past that would soon die out. Duncan Campbell Scott, one of the representatives that signed Treaty nine, one of the largest treaty areas and encompasses almost all of northern Ontario (equivalent to the size of France) went on to start the residential school system for Native people in Canada - with the sole aim of assimilating Native people. He is famously quoted in the 1920s or 30s, as saying that Native people or those identifying as Native would die out in a generation or two and that there 'would cease to be a Native problem in Canada' and that the country would eventually do away with any form of law regarding Native people.
Ever since then, it has been a constant fight between Native people seeking recognition for the land they live on and the agreements that had been historically made. Oddly enough, we recognize the Queen prominently because as the historic crown head of Canada, she embodies the individual we hold accountable for honouring our treaties. Lose the treaties and the royal family loses face by dishonouring historic agreements. The danger to that is the idea that historic treaties with anyone then comes into question the world over, especially when it comes to British law and its historic connections to many other peoples, countries and regions it created treaties with. I like to think that it would also put the royal family into question because the only reason they are who they are is the fact that everyone honours a certain family just because of historic precedent. If it becomes so easy to do away with the past, why not do away with all the history that makes our modern lives complicated.