Talking Back to the Indian Act: Critical Readings in Settler Colonial Histories by Mary-Ellen Kelm and Keith Douglas Smith (review)

For the past 145 years, Canada’s oldest assimilative policy, the Indian Act (the ‘Act’) has dominated and dictated Indigenous identity. Using the Act as the main framework for analysis, Canadian historians Mary-Ellen Kelm and Keith D. Smith provide valuable insights into the gross injustices of the legislation on Indigenous peoples, in the form of residential schools, gender bias, stolen land and self-governance. The very title symbolizes ‘talking back’ to those sections of the Indian Act which have historically oppressed Indigenous Canadians, and continue to do so.

The main aims of this ‘textbook’ are three-fold: (1) to provide a deeper understanding of the Act through an historical and legislative lens; (2) to highlight the detrimental effects of the policy, which continues to permeate inequities today; and (3) to hold true to the promises of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action. Five seems to be the magic number in this book: five chapters, five themes (Indian Act, governance, enfranchisement, gender, lands) and five concepts for laying the foundation for historical thinking (change over time, context, causality, contingency, and complexity). While the book is rooted in history, what it is not is a history of the Indian Act. Rather, “it is an organized set of lessons in interpretation around specific sections of the Act and the historical documents it generated” (9). In essence, “it brings together historical thinking, Indigenous methodologies and intersectional analysis to develop sophisticated methods for reading the archives of settler colonialism in Canada” (9).

By connecting the past to the present (through legislation), the book illustrates how historical disparities are reflected in biases towards Indigenous peoples, and situates policy at the core of shaping Indigenous identity. Talking Back to the Indian Act is written in both past and present tense. It is a well-written, comprehensive, howto-guide, which uses plain language, allowing for broader readership. Organized thematically, the five-chapter book uses 35 primary sources to analyze the Act, some of which include legislative debates, interviews, letters, transcripts, legal opinions, reports, speeches and testimonies.

The authors outline four criteria of Indigenous methodologies: relationship, responsibility, respect, and reciprocity, and utilize 7 maps and 14 images to visually establish their narrative. The research draws from political, historical, sociological, anthropological and ethnographic perspectives. Through dissecting sections of the Act, the authors captivate and challenge the reader to critically analyze the Indian Act in a way that I have not seen before.

Each chapter focuses on selected sections of the Act, the impact of its content, and Indigenous responses. The inquiry-based questions posed in each chapter help the reader to grasp and evaluate the documents. Chapter 1 begins with the Indian Act of 1876 and some key definitions.

Passed shortly after Confederation, and continuing to prevail today, the Indian Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation governing Indigenous peoples. “Among the other settler colonies, such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, Canada is the only one to use a single piece of legislation to order its affairs with Indigenous peoples” (1). As such, “the Indian Act reveals much about Canadian politics (1) and contributes to race-based policy in Canada” (2). Chapter 2 examines sections 61–63 of the Act, reinforcing surveillance, controlled autonomy, exclusion of women from the political process, reduction of local responsibility of leaders, and lack of right to self-determination. Chapter 3 grapples with the complexities around Indigenous peoples adopting Canadian citizenship, while abandoning Indian status, resulting in the loss of lands and removal from Indigenous communities. Through examination of specific acts within the Indian Act, Chapter 4 features patriarchal and hierarchical forms of marginalization of Indigenous women, highlighting the repercussions of marrying non-Indigenous men, in the form of losing claims to land and access to finances. Here...