The Indian Act and the (Re)Shaping of Canadian Aboriginal Sport Practices

Abstract

A critique of state power that sees oppression as an inevitable function of the state, even when it is constrained by a constitu-tionally defined social-political contract, should have special resonance for indigenous people, since their nations were never party to any contract and yet have been forced to operate within a framework that presupposes the legitimacy of state sovereignty over them. Arguing for rights within that frame-work only reinforces the state's anti-historic claim to sover-eignty by contract. (48) According to Alfred, it is not possible for Aboriginal people to argue for legitimacy within a framework that they did not construct because that framework was not established to privilege or protect Aboriginal ways of living and viewing the social world but to maintain the power and author-ity of its non-Aboriginal creators. Alfred's (1999) critique has merit. In 1876, the Government of Canada created the Indian Act Historically, the Indian Act was established to protect Aboriginal lands from the encroachment of non-Aboriginal settlers and to establish Aboriginal autonomy from the developing society, but soon came to be interpreted by policy-makers as an instrument to control almost every aspect of Aboriginal life. Unlike the treaties, Aboriginal people did not formally approve this piece of legislation. No agreements were signed. No verbal promises were made. In short, it was drafted by federal bureaucrats in Ottawa who took responsibility for defining the Government's relationship with Aboriginal people, who were positioned as wards of the state (Wotherspoon and Satzewich 2000). With this type of bureaucratic power, federal officials asserted the right to regu-late Aboriginal lives and restrict their access to resources that could be used to develop their human and financial potential. More than one hundred and thirty years later, the Indian Act continues to regulate Aboriginal lives from the "cradle to the grave" in spite of Aboriginal efforts for self-determination (Mecredi andTurpel 1993,81). In this paper, I examine the relationship between federal policies directed at Aboriginal people, the major institutions that took responsibil-ity for implementing these strategies, and the shaping and reshaping of Aboriginal sport practices in Canada. More specifically, this paper focuses on how the Indian Act shaped the types of sporting opportunities that were made available for Aboriginal people in the late 19 th to the mid-20 th centuries. The developments that took place during this era, including the repression of traditional Aboriginal practices and residential school-ing, are examined and, together, they demonstrate how federal authorities, working in conjunction with various religious groups, relied on Euro-Canadian sports and games to help them achieve their assimilative goals.