Sir John A - Friend to Canada's Native Peoples

The truth and reconciliation process requires both truth and reconciliation.

Unfortunately, many facts regarding Sir John A tenure as Prime Minister and Minister of Native Affairs have not been part of the debate, facts which change dramatically our image of his relations with Canada's native peoples.

It is useful to remember that, in order to move their native population onto reserves, the Americans fought a series of Indian Wars from the 1830's to the 1880's (remember General Custer) across the West.   The American government estimated in 1890 that 20,000 white settlers died in those wars and 30,000 to 50,000 natives.

Sir John A was not interested in repeating this experience, nor were the Canadian natives, and Sir John A's government negotiated treaties across the West that moved 80,000 natives to reserves with virtually no conflict and no deaths.  The contrast in approach is dramatic (admittedly we had learned from the American experience).

In terms of schooling, residential schools existed before Sir John A became PM at the time of Confederation and continued until quite recently.  However, at all times, including Sir John A's time as PM, day schools far outnumbered residential schools and the majority of native students attended day schools.  These facts are easy to determine since Indian Affairs produced reports hundreds of pages in length from the 1860' on detailing every aspect of native schooling, funding, reserves etc.

In addition, during Sir John A's lifetime, and for 30 years thereafter, native school attendance was not compulsory.  No native student needed to attend school - day school or residential.  This was true until 1920 (Sir John A died in 1891).  And the average native who did attend school, went for 1 year.  Grade 1.  In fact, until 1950, the native drop out rate was 50% from grade 1 to grade 2.  

As an aside, the number of residential schools peaked in 1930 and then declined as more students were educated in the provincial system or native day schools.

Sir John A is criticized for supposedly trying to clear the natives off the valuable farm land near the CPR line across Canada.  This is untrue.  In Parliament he vigorously defended the right of the natives to stay on their ancestral lands whether they were valuable farm land or not and more than 100 native reserves  continue to exist today on or near the CPR lands.

Sir John A is also accused of starving the natives to clear them off the CPR lands.  See the point above and then consider as well that the largest famine relief budgets in Canadian history were implemented by Sir John A to save the Plains natives from starvation when the Buffalo population collapsed in the 1880's. 

He had to defend these (for the time)  enormous expenditures (1 to 3% of all Federal government expenditures) against criticisms in Parliament that they were too generous and would make the natives lazy.  The task of distributing famine reliefs across hundreds of thousands of square kilometres lacking roads, rail or any easy mode of transport, was enormous, and largely succeeded. Thousands of native lives were saved.

At the same time (1880's), the government carried on a wide ranging small pox vaccination program to save the natives from the scourge of small pox, to which they were particularly vulnerable.  It was very expensive to conduct this program across the vast Western territory, but it was carried out throughout the 1880's, even during the Riel Rebellion.  Without a doubt the program saved thousands of native lives.  It should be born in mind that in 1885, in Montreal alone, 4,000 Montrealer's (who had refused vaccination) died of small pox. So the native vaccination program was a very progressive program for the time.

He was also criticized in Parliament for the heavy expenses associated with paying farm instructors to live on remote reserves to help the natives transition to agriculture.  The critics argued that 150 years of experience with attempts to educate and transition  Eastern natives showed that it was a waste of money.  He responded that it was the right thing to do, that it would take great patience and that it was not a task for one generation but for our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

None of these facts are being discussed in the media debate over Sir John A.  Reconciliation is not likely if it is not based on a true understanding of the underlying facts which reflect both the good and the bad.

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