For two
centuries (1670-1871) the Hudson's Bay Company was the main link between the
Native Peoples on the Canadian prairies and the British government. From 1670
on, the Crown regarded itself as the special protector of the Native Peoples,
but the absence of a settled White population in the vast northwestern territory
of British North America other than for the isolated men in the fur trading
posts, meant that there was no need for agents of the Crown to control contact
between two societies. In the absence of Crown agents, the Hudson's Bay Company
with its extensive network of trading posts and connections with local bands
supplying it with pelts, was entrusted by the Crown with the discretion of
determining and supplying cases of need and hunger.
In a treaty
dated 18 July 1817, the Chippewa or Saulteaux and the Killistine or Cree Indians
surrendered a large tract of land in the Red River district of what later became
Manitoba for the Selkirk settlement, in return for an annual payment, or
annuity, of 100 pounds of tobacco to be delivered to each of these two nations.
The Earl of Selkirk had already purchased the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company
to this land in 1811, for the consideration of ten shillings and certain
agreements and understandings contained in an indenture. In 1836 the Hudson's
Bay Company bought back the whole tract from the heirs of the Earl of Selkirk
for the sum of 84,000 pounds, with the rights of settlers who had purchased land
between 1811 and 1836 being respected.
It was not
until after Confederation that systematic treaties were made between the
government of Canada and Native bands in western Canada. Beginning with Treaty 1
and Treaty 2 in 1871 (covering largely what is now southern Manitoba), local
Native bands surrendered all claim to the lands on which they resided to the
Crown and promised to obey the government's laws and to keep perpetual peace
with it. In return, the Crown granted reserves to Native bands and promised
various other treaty benefits, including such things as schools and annuities.
There were refinements, with time, in later treaties. Treaty 3 (1873) and Treaty
4 (1874), for example, allowed Indians to hunt and fish over the entire tract
they surrendered, and Treaty 7 (1877) quadrupled the size of family holdings to
640 acres.
The
disappearance of the great buffalo herds on the prairies produced a famine
crisis in 1879. This prompted the federal government to send immediate food aid,
and to refine its administration and policy for Native Peoples in the then
Northwest Territories. The reserve system developed in Ontario before
Confederation was fully introduced to the prairies from 1880 on. It was expected
to transform the Native bands from being dependent people whose traditional
forms of subsistence had been destroyed to farmers living in self-sufficient
agricultural communities. The hallmark of the reserve system was a strong
centralized administration served by competent agents out in the field offices,
and with inspectors traveling around to the field offices on regular tours of
inspection.
Unlike
Ontario, where there were initially two types of agencies, there was essentially
only one type of general Indian agent when the system was introduced into
Manitoba. The Indian agent carried out the responsibilities of the Indian Act
at the band level. The powers of the Indian agent were extensive; until the 1951
revision of the Indian Act, an agent had almost complete control over the
implementation of department policy at the local level. The l95l Indian Act,
besides officially replacing the term "agent" with that of
"superintendent", provided for the transfer of certain administrative
powers to bands. Moreover, the establishment of regional offices in the
provinces, the growth of large-scale social programs, and increases in the size
and complexity of the bureaucracy at the national, regional, and local levels
removed some of the agent's freedom to interpret policy. Specialists such as
counselors, social workers, and financial advisers gradually took on tasks
previously performed by the agent/superintendent. Despite changes in the role of
the officer in charge in the field, however, the Indian agency remained the
basic administrative unit of the field bureaucracy until the 1960s.
The creation
of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1966 resulted in
major reorganization of the field offices, some of which had remained little
changed since the 1880s. Agencies were gradually amalgamated to form larger
administrative units, districts, each headed by a superintendent. The rationale
behind this change was that as Indian people took over more responsibility for
their programs, local staff would be withdrawn in favour of specialists based at
larger centres who could serve a number of bands. As more programs have devolved
to band control, the number of district offices has decreased. By the early
1990s only three district offices remained, all in Saskatchewan.