The Indian Act of 1876 gave the Department of Indian Affairs wide ranging powers over property, land use, health regulations, elections and justice.
Indian agents were almost a law unto themselves. The agent could lodge a complaint with the police against a First Nations person, order that a prosecution be conducted and then sit in judgment over the same case.
In 1914 the Act barred Indians from wearing “Aboriginal costume” in any “dance, show, exhibition, stampede or pageant” without official permission from the department.
An owner or operator of a pool room could face a fine or up to a month in jail for allowing an Indian who “by inordinate frequenting of a pool room either on or off an Indian reserve misspends or wastes his time or means to the detriment of himself, his family or household.” The present form of the Indian Act no longer carries these amendments.
The year 1927 saw the addition of an amendment requiring anyone soliciting funds for Indian legal claims to obtain a license from the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs. This severely limited the ability of First Nations to pursue land claims through the courts.
A major overhaul of the Indian Act in 1951 saw many of these restrictions struck down. However the Act still kept from Indians the right to vote. In 1949 the Province of British Columbia extended the provincial vote to First Nations people and in 1960 they gained the right to vote in federal elections.
