Ktunaxa Nation members gathering in Cranbrook c. 1940

March 29th, 2023 1 Minute

Image: Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History and Cranbrook History Archives – 0213.0013

Members of the Ktunaxa community gather around to take a photo with what was most likely their Indian Agent or superintendent. The Canadian government assigned agents to oversee the daily operations of the First Nations reserves from the late 1800s to the 1960s.

The position was officially removed as First Nations fought and won governance over their interests. Indian agents answered to the Department of Indian Affairs, recording daily events and enforcing policy.

Policy included tracking their movement in and out of the reserve, regulating the education and language of the young through residential schools and banning sacred practices to bring them into mainstream Canadian culture, according to Robert Irwin’s article ‘Indian Agents’ in Canada in the Canadian Encyclopedia.

“The federal government started to eliminate the position of Indian Agent in the 1960s. It was partly due to a rise in First Nations activism. The post-Second World War political organization of Indigenous peoples in Canada sought to abolish Indian agents and to have rights recognition and self-determination.”

Image: Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History and Cranbrook History Archives – 0213.0013