Indian Association of Alberta facts for kids
The Indian Association of Alberta (IAA) is an important group that works to protect the rights of First Nations people across Alberta. It was started in 1939 by John Callihoo and John Laurie. Before this, it was part of another group called the League of Indians in Western Canada.
How the IAA Started and Grew
Before 1946, First Nations groups in Alberta were not always united. The Indian Act of 1927 was a Canadian law that made it hard for Indigenous people to form political groups or practice their traditional cultures and languages.
Even with these challenges, some Cree and Stoney First Nations people in central Alberta formed the League of Indians of Alberta (LIA) in 1933. John Callihoo, who was the president, helped to reorganize the LIA in 1939, and it became the IAA. For a few years during the war, the association wasn't very active, and it mostly represented First Nations from central Alberta.
In 1943, Chris Shade and other Indigenous people from southwestern Alberta started their own group called the Blood Indian Local Association. John Callihoo met with them, hoping they would join the IAA. They found many things they agreed on, but the Blood tribe still felt a bit separate from what they called the "Cree Association."
Over the next few years, the IAA worked hard to include more First Nations groups across Alberta. James Gladstone, who was Cree but worked with the Blood tribe, helped improve the relationship between their association and the IAA. In 1946, the Blood tribe formed two local IAA groups and sent eight people to the IAA meeting in Hobbema.
James Gladstone spoke for the Blood groups, bringing up eight ideas about education, ranching, and land ownership. He showed he could help unite the different tribes, and he was chosen as a director of the IAA.
Sometimes, differences between tribes would come up again. For example, in the mid-1950s, Blackfoot leader Clarence McHugh and Cree leader Albert Lightning each served as president for a year. James Gladstone helped bring everyone together again. He also helped the IAA grow even more into northern Alberta when he was president from 1950 to 1953 and again from 1956 to 1957.
With leaders like James Gladstone, John Laurie, and Malcolm Norris, the IAA became much more active. They worked to convince the provincial and federal governments to make changes and also gained public support. They helped bring about new legislation that gave financial support to Indigenous people and made other social improvements. They even got involved in planning new laws when the federal government started a special committee in 1946 to look at changing the Indian Act.
Protecting Aboriginal and Treaty Rights
The IAA sent people to this government committee to share their ideas. They wanted to protect Treaty rights, improve education, and get more social support for Indigenous people. They also disagreed with some ideas that the government and other groups had.
Most First Nations people in Alberta did not want to lose their special status and tax exemptions. They also did not want their reserve land to be divided into smaller pieces, because they had been using the common reserve land for ranching for many years.
The updated Indian Act of 1951 did not divide their lands, and Indigenous people were not given the federal vote at that time. The Act also stopped supporting forced assimilation, which was when the government tried to make Indigenous people give up their unique culture. The IAA was successful in changing many parts of the first draft of the new Act, including giving more powers to Indian band councils. However, government officials still often treated each band as if they were "wards" or children who were not ready to make their own decisions.
The new Indian Act also changed who qualified for special status as an Indigenous person. In 1956, some members of the Samson Cree band in Hobbema were removed from their status because of this change. A court decision reversed this in 1957, but worries about Indigenous special status continued. The IAA pushed for more changes to the Indian Act to protect their treaty rights. In 1959, another special committee was formed, and James Gladstone was a co-chair.
In 1958, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker appointed James Gladstone to the Canadian Senate. This showed that the government was more willing to work on behalf of Indigenous interests. However, the 1951 Indian Act stayed in place until it was changed again in 1985.
The IAA became very active in federal politics again in 1969 when the Liberal government released its "White Paper Policy." This policy suggested ways to bring Indigenous people into the "mainstream" of Canadian society. This included giving control of reserves to the provinces and taking away Indigenous people's special status. The IAA strongly disagreed with these ideas. In 1970, they released their own plan called "Citizens Plus." Because of this strong opposition, the government finally dropped the White Paper in 1971.
For many years, the IAA and other Indigenous groups had pushed for Aboriginal rights and treaty rights to be protected in the Canadian Constitution, which is Canada's main law. When Prime Minister Trudeau announced plans in 1980 to bring the Constitution to Canada and add a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Indigenous groups across Canada fought to include their rights in the Charter.
The IAA organized a large demonstration at the Alberta Legislature, with over 6,000 Indigenous people from all over Alberta. The new Charter only recognized "existing" Aboriginal and treaty rights, but it did allow for these rights to be discussed and changed later. Several meetings about the Constitution after this failed to make these rights clearer, including the Meech Lake Accord signed in 1987. However, the IAA and other Indigenous groups helped to stop the Accord in 1990 because it didn't protect their rights enough.
Past Presidents
- John (Johnny) Callihoo
- Clarence McHugh
- Albert Lightning
- James Gladstone (1950-1953, 1956–1957)
- Harold Cardinal
- Eugene Steinhauer
- Mel H. Buffalo
- Marilyn Buffalo (2012-?)
