Legislative and
Legal Impacts of the Royal
Commission
As outlined by the
Commissioners themselves,
consent had to be given by the majority of adult male Band
members before
the government could make any changes to the physical layout of the
reserves [See Background
narrative for details]. Because
consent was not received, the
Federal and Provincial governments agreed to pass two pieces of
legislation to give themselves permission to ignore this requirement.
The Federal government passed their law first in 1919, entitling it The
Indian Affairs Settlement Act.
The Province of British
Columbia followed in 1920 with the Land
Settlement Act. After passing
these acts, the governments cut
off over 36,000 acres of land from reserves all over British Columbia
without consultation, consent, or compensation.
Organized
opposition and umbrella organizations
already active for many years prior to the Commission, such as the
Indian Rights Association and the Interior Tribes of British Columbia,
fought against the government in the struggle to protect Aboriginal
Title and Rights. Resistance specific to the McKenna McBride Royal
Commission emerged immediately following the creation of the Commission
in 1913.
In 1916, the Allied
Indian Tribes was formed out
of a conference held by prominent First Nations activists, Andrew Paull
and Peter Kelly. The goal of the Allied Tribes was to seek a resolution
to land claims in British Columbia through negotiation with the Federal
and Provincial governments. On behalf of the Aboriginal Peoples
of
British Columbia, the Allied Tribes lobbied relentlessly against the
adoption of the cut-offs recommended in the Report of the Royal
Commission. The Allied Tribes also produced a detailed rejection (Statement
of the Allied Tribes) of the
report. It consisted of nine
reasons for refusal to accept, including:
- the Commission's
failure to deal with, or even
recognize, Aboriginal Title and Rights
- the
Commissioners had failed to address the
inequalities between tribes with respect to both area and value of
previous reserve allotments
- the
Commissioners had failed to make
adjustments to water rights
The recommendations
of the Royal Commission were
eventually adopted in 1924 without First Nations' consent and without
adequate amendments addressing the concerns expressed by the Allied
Tribes and other activists. The investigation of the Royal Commission
and the advocacy of Indian rights pursued by the Allied Tribes and
other political organizations and activists contributed to the long and
successful history of political activism among First Nations in British
Columbia.
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