Migration from a Canadian Indian reserve

erected may not be supplied with European, and other produce and Manufactures, with greater faci:ity, and upon easier terms, by the Subjects and thro the Territories of the United States of America than by Our Subjects...." 60. See Morton, Identity, p. 19. 61. Cf. Louis Hartz, "Liberalism as Foundation," The Political Imagination (Edgar Litt ed., Glenview. Illinois, 1966), p. 106: " ...and there is about it all, [American liberal language of the Revolution] as compared to the European pattern, a vast and almost charming innocence of mind." 62. See Craig, United States and Canada, p. 170, for a discussion of this point. 63. Cf. Craig, United States and Canada, p. 112: "To them it Migration from a Canadian Indian reserve 1· TREVOR DENTON INTRODUCTION There are many unspoken assumptions that go into the myth of the "Indian Problem ." One of these assumptions focuses on the migration of Canadian Indians to white cities. It is not an uncommon stereotype among whites that Indians leave their reserves in order to escape a barren and destitute existence. Those who can make it in the big city stay there. Those who cannot adapt return to their reserve - failures. This paper examines this assumption by providing an overview of migration from one acculturated Canadian Indian reserve.2 In particular, three problems will be considered - what is it that has brought many villagers to leave the reserve, how can we characterize their adjustment in the white communities to which they have moved, and what overall model of the migration process emerges? Setting The reserve is in the settled southern part of Canada. It is a community of some 400 residents and is located within commuting distance (35 miles) of a city of over 40,000 persons (here given the pseudonym "Smallcity "). The reserve is less than 200 miles from one of Canada's major industrial cities {here called "Bigcity"). 54 was clear that the United States, having been a real enemy, was still a potential one, and as a corollary it was equally clear that the one hope for safety and security lay in clinging closely to the British tie." 64. See either of Lower's books for consideration of the role religion plays in American and Canadian traditions. 65. Cf. Craig, United States and Canada, p. 113: "Thus the War of 1812 strengthened a sense of identity on both sides of the Canadian-American border." See also Lower, Canadians , p. 176. "It was not the American tradition that was destined to prevail in British North America but the Loya:ist American tradition." The reserve is both isolated from and integrated into the wider Canadian society. Legally, it is an Indian reserve as defined in the Indian Act. Physically, it is on a peninsula and is isolated from neighbouring white communities . And yet, almost all facets of reserve life are integrated into the white society. Villagers watch television, read the Smallcity newspaper, listen to the radio, receive medical care in and near Smallcity, are bussed out to white schools for all but the primary school grades, and profess membership in the nationwide United Church of Canada. The reserve is located in an area of excellent job opportunities. Most village women do piecewo_rk in their homes for a village Indian craft goods enterprise. A very few men work as guides or trappers in anc around the reserve, but most drive out each day m work on construction sites, and about 15 work on steady factory jobs in Smallcity. In order to study migration from the reserve the writer spent ten months living on the reserve in 1967/68 gathering information on village social structure, on the history of village migration, on returned migrants, and on current migrants (via their friends and kin in the village). Also at this time data were gathered on migrants in and near Smallcity . Following this, five months were spent in Bigcity working with migrants there. II SELECTIVE PROCESSES OF MIGRATION Migration from the village is not new. For years villagers have been moving away Revue d'etudes canadiennes some staying away, some returning. Why have they left? Their reasons are important to understand because they shape the later patterns of adjustment in...